Christian Theology and Its Institutions in the Early Roman Empire

Tension between unity and diversity plagues any attempt to recount the development of earliest Christianity. Explanations run the gamut — from asserting the presence of a fully formed and accepted unity at the beginning of Christianity to the hypothesis that understands orthodox unity as a later imposition upon Christianity by Rome. Christoph Markschies seeks to unravel the complex problem of unity and diversity by carefully examining the institutional settings for the development of Christian theology. Specifically, the author contends that theological diversity is closely bound up with institutional diversity. He concludes by arguing that the complementary model of the »identity« and »plurality« of early Christianity is better equipped to address the question of unity and diversity than Walter Bauer's cultural Protestant model of »orthodoxy and heresy« or the Jesuit model of the »inculturation« of Christianity.
Published in North America by Baylor University Press, Waco.