Handbook of Early Christianity: Social Science Approaches
Insightful... the book [belongs] in every library that has an interest in the social-scientific analysis of earliest Christianity.(Michael J. Gorman, The Ecumenical Institute of Theology, St. Mary's Seminary & UniversityBridges)A helpful introduction to socio-scientific methods for interpreting the New Testament and reconstructing first-century Christianity…an enormous resource for sociologists and New Testament scholars alike who are attempting to understand each other's disciplines and their intersection. (Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review)Grouped under six topic headings, the 27 contributions include both topical surveys and case studies illustrating applied theory. Three articles introduce New Testament social scientific criticism. The selected articles that follow reflect accurately the volume's title by covering specific, but often neglected, social-scientific approaches such as archaeology, literary criticism, stylometric analysis, rhetorical criticism, psychology of religion, and structuralism alongside expected sociological topics like the sociology of knowledge, group formation and identity, the politics of power, and economics... The volume's comprehensive bibliography is ... complemented by lists of both ancient authors and compilations of ancient sources, along with author, biblical citation, and subject indexes. (J. C. Hanges, Miami UniversityCHOICE)