The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire Paperback – March 29, 2016
by Alan Kreider (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 118 ratings
How and why did the early church grow in the first four hundred years despite disincentives, harassment, and occasional persecution? In this unique historical study, veteran scholar Alan Kreider delivers the fruit of a lifetime of study as he tells the amazing story of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Challenging traditional understandings, Kreider contends the church grew because the virtue of patience was of central importance in the life and witness of the early Christians. They wrote about patience, not evangelism, and reflected on prayer, catechesis, and worship, yet the church grew--not by specific strategies but by patient ferment.
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From the Back Cover
"A timely history for the church in our secular age"
"Alan Kreider has done it again. Here he utilizes his immense grasp of early Christian sources, texts, and scholarship to illuminate for us the virtue of Christian patience and its formative nature in articulating an approach to worship and life. Highly recommended."
--Maxwell Johnson, University of Notre Dame; author of Praying and Believing in Early Christianity
"In this lively and insightful study, Kreider draws on deep learning to offer a picture of the early Christian communities at a time when their future was anything but certain. Ancient men and women come to light as people whose improbable success in winning converts was the direct result of their own struggle to live with--and live up to--the powerful ideals of patience and humility. Kreider has the rare ability to read ancient sources from a fresh perspective. A marvelous and inspiring book."
--Kate Cooper, University of Manchester; author of Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women
"At a time when many scholars interpret the rise of Christianity in terms of power, Kreider provides a refreshing and warranted scenario of early Christian growth from the 'inside.' The reader is invited to discover the slower and more subtle processes that have been neglected in arguments for the rapid rise of Christianity. Herein one will find a means to better balance the scholarly dialogues prevalent today."
--D. H. Williams, Baylor University
"In this remarkable book, Kreider refocuses our attention on patience, the cardinal virtue of the early church's witness, with rich attention to how this was cultivated in worship and catechesis. I can't imagine a more timely history for the church in our secular age."
--James K. A. Smith, Calvin College; author of Desiring the Kingdom and You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit
"'Time is greater than space.' Pope Francis has been urging this principle on both the church and movements for peaceful social change. As he wrote in The Joy of the Gospel, 'This principle enables us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results' or 'trying to possess all the spaces of power and of self-assertion.' Kreider's thoroughly researched yet marvelously readable book demonstrates that Francis is actually calling Christians back to the nonviolent patience and winsome witness of the church's first centuries."
--Gerald W. Schlabach, University of St. Thomas
About the Author
Alan Kreider (1941-2017; PhD, Harvard University) was professor emeritus of church history and mission at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. For many years he lived in England, where he was director of the London Mennonite Centre and later director of the Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent's Park College, Oxford University. Kreider authored several books, including The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom and Worship and Mission after Christendom.
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Top reviews from the United States
D. Hesselbarth
5.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly challenging; I'm going back to this over and over
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2017
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The remarkable growth of the early church has puzzled and challenged scholars. How did a tiny sect that attracted mainly the poor and unimportant and faced waves of persecution grow? How did they sustain their vigor and their distinctiveness such that well into the third century they were still well known for their non violence and care of the poor and downtrodden? Why did the church make baptism and membership so difficult? I've never found satisfactory answers. Kreider's exhaustively researched book did more than answer those questions. It stirred and challenged my thinking about how to "do church."
He argues, with compelling evidence, that a central conviction by the early Christians had much to do with their sustained vitality. They centered on the teachings of Jesus, in particular the sermon on the mount. They actually believed they were to live in obedience to the upside down Way of Jesus. It was this distinctive and intriguing lifestyle - Kreider uses the term "habitus" or their habitual behavior - that the church insisted upon and that attracted others. They patiently lived in community, expecting that over time, the impact of the light of their lives would "bubble up" or ferment in the lives of their neighbors.
So, rather than emphasize evangelism, the early Christians emphasized catechesis - careful formation and teaching. Only after a lengthy period of time - up to three years! - during which the prospective member was mentored and drilled in the life of Christ, was the person allowed to be baptized and take the Lord's Supper. They had to demonstrate, prove, that they were indeed genuinely living the life of Christ. Caring for the poor, sharing their resources, returning good for evil, turning the other cheek - those things had to be demonstrably evident.
Kreider ends by contrasting this patient habitus with the changing focus after Constantine. His examination of Augustine's redefinition of faithful Christian living that provided a way for Christians to both claim allegiance to Jesus' teachings yet use force and violence was both incisive and deeply saddening.
These days, most followers of Jesus do a better job of rationalizing why they can't take the Sermon on the Mount as more than platitudes. This book further challenges me, and I hope, the church at large, to actually live like Jesus! What a novel idea.
There are just a handful of books that have deeply influenced me, books that I find myself returning to again and again. The Patient Ferment is one of those books now. I hope this book becomes widely read, and even more, widely influential. May it disturb our comfort...
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18 people found this helpful
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Jonathan Enrique
5.0 out of 5 stars Patience and Christianity
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2020
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Short review: buy it
Long review:
It is incredible the simplicity of the Christians praxis in its origins, and how Saint Augustine and then Luther totally misunderstood these origins.
I can’t give you all the thoughts about this book, but here a glimpse of some ideas:
- The forgiveness between Christians is still powerful mean to live in peace and in a productive way
- The peace kiss is now forgotten, but it was a very powerful practice that maintain unity in the communities
- Women in the church were extremely important, they helped with maintain the union and share information
- The first Christian didn’t think that mission was most important than behavior, and for good reasons: talk is cheap, actions are more important.
- The testimony was noting about believe, it was about behave as a Christian, you can only access the great teachings of the New Testament once you showed with your actions that you are worthy of that.
Incredible simple, I think that is difficult to destroy religion only with reason, because religions have nothing to do with theology, is about behavior and cooperation.
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4 people found this helpful
Rob Y
5.0 out of 5 stars The power of patient presence
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2020
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We are all shaped by the culture we live in and it's hard to imagine a way of being other than what we see around us. Kreider takes us back 2000 years to examine what animated the Church in the first four centuries CE and he invites us to watch how it changes as we move into and through the 4th century. There are HUGE lessons for us to learn as we navigate our current reality by looking back to see what happened when patience became more elastic, love became more pragmatic, and a sense of anxious urgency began to shape the Church's way of being in the world.
4 people found this helpful
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars A pacifist's look at early Christianity .
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2018
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If I came away with one thought , it was that the early church began to decay immediately after the death of the Apostles. How the church can go from the Ethiopian eunuch being baptized immediately upon belief to the church requiring two years of catechism before a person can be baptized within 50 years of Jesus's death is beyond me. Also , it was interesting how women were an intricate part of the early church , but as the church formalized , it became increasingly male-dominated . I especially appreciate the authors humble call for the church to return to a patient habitus without dictating how that is to be accomplished. Also, a step-by-step guide would be easier to follow . It just wouldn't be practical.
6 people found this helpful
BrokenArrow
5.0 out of 5 stars Meticulous scholarship combines with a very readable manuscript to create one of the most compelling stories of the early church
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2018
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Meticulous scholarship combines with a very readable manuscript to create one of the most interesting and important featuresof the faith of the early church. Moving from critical thinking about the patristic age to theological reflection about our own time, the esteemed author demonstrates a very strong case for a parochial theology that is both attractive and faithful in its public witness to the life of Christ. I not only commend THE PATIENT FERMENT OF THE EARLY CHURCH to others, but as a professor have already incorporated it into several of my courses. This is an important book for church leaders navigating the “Secular Age” (Charles Taylor).
3 people found this helpful
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Russell Sawatsky
5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons from the Early Church for the Church Today
Reviewed in Canada on April 9, 2017
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A fascinating introduction to the early church. In my opinion, this study of the pre-Constantinian/pre-Christendom church offers a great deal of insight for us in these post-Christendom times.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book. makes the early church it's worship and ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2017
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Excellent book. makes the early church it's worship and spirituality come alive. We need to rediscover the mind set of the early Christians before the unfortunate Constantine 'take over 'of the Chuch in the fourth century.
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