“Given their changed context it was also a challenge, one imagines, to keep their biblical exegesis sound and their theological thinking straight. As theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once observed, “It is wonderful what a simple White House invitation will do to… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“This, the Christians believed, was God’s work and not theirs. So they did not engage in frantic action to save those who were not… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“An unmixed marriage, Christian with Christian—this according to Tertullian enabled believers to live life in its fullness. This is not what we expect from… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“At the heart of early Christian worship was table fellowship. Throughout the first three centuries Christian communities gathered once a week for a meal.… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“Does my subjectivity shape the book? Of course it does, and that dynamic can be bad or good, or both! For example, in reading… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“According to Tertullian, impatient actions do not produce what they promise. Instead, impatient actions make things worse, bringing about massive misfortunes. “Now, nothing undertaken… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“The Christians’ focus was not on “saving” people or recruiting them; it was on living faithfully—in the belief that when people’s lives are rehabituated… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“When people seek to follow Christ, according to Origen, God forms them into people who embody this patience. Christ’s followers are not in a… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“Origen was most articulate about this struggle. “For you who are redeemed by Christ,” he challenged believers in Caesarea, “a physical sword has been… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“So, in our imaginative scenario, Constantine the Christian decided to adopt a policy of mission true to the early Christians’ tradition of patience: Regarding… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“We can hear the catechist intoning precept 26: “That it is of small account to be baptized and to receive the eucharist unless you… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“As Tertullian put it around AD 200, “Christians are made, not born.” 4” — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“In all their activities Christians are “filled with joy uttering and doing the precepts of the Lord,” teaching their children never to lose hold… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“the church’s growth; it is life in “the way of Christ,” distinctive and hopeful. Christians, as Cyprian knew well, were growing in numbers because… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“Ancient writers, we have seen, more often mention exorcism than anything else as a cause of conversion to Christianity.” — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
“In this chapter and the next, I will contend that the Christians’ habitus was formed patiently, unhurriedly, through careful catechesis as well as through… — Alan Kreider Copy Share Image
