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With Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley Ulrich Huttner offers a microstudy of Christian history in southwestern Asia Minor (first to fifth century C.E.).

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Introduction -- Starting points -- Sources and chronological framework -- Questions : community formation and the search for a position -- Historyof research -- Fundamentals, surveys, conclusions -- Epigraphy and archaeology -- Archaeological perspectives -- Theology -- Geography and natural resources -- Basic geography -- Infrastructure -- Agriculture and textile production -- Building trades and technologies -- Settlement geography I : Carura, Attouda, Trapezopolis, Tripolis -- Settlement geography II : Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colossae -- Historical background -- Cultural and social background : identities and associations -- Political background -- Colossae in the "early period" -- The Lycus Valley in the Hellenistic period : new foundations and political changes -- Laodicea as a central city of the Roman province -- Indigenous and Greek cults -- Cults of Zeus -- Cults of Apollo -- The sanctuary of Lairbenos -- Men -- The mother of the Gods -- The Hellenistic ruler cult -- The Roman emperor cult -- Jewish communities -- Judaism in the Lycus Valley : the beginnings -- Laodicea as a Jewish Center -- Conflicts between Jews and Greeks -- Symbiosis of Jews and Greeks in the Imperial Period -- Pauline influence : Philemon and Colossians -- Persons and networks -- Paul's journeys in Asia minor -- The prosopography of Philemon and Colossians -- The network of churches and the Epistle to the Laodiceans -- Nympha of Laodicea -- First summary : social networks and Paul's authority -- The Epistle to Philemon -- Date -- The social status of Onesimus -- The religious service of Onesimus -- Second summary : symbiosis of Christians and Pagans -- The Epistle to the Colossians -- The Pseudepigraphic problem of Colossians -- Date -- Addressee and author -- Knowledge of Christ -- The christological Hymn -- The admonition against "philosophy" -- Angel worship -- Local color in the catalog of Vices -- Renewal and liberation -- Liturgical Hymns -- The domestic code and stabilization of the social order -- Mission through rhetoric -- Third summary : the quest for a Christian position in Colossians -- Summary regarding the Pauline Epistles -- The letter in the apocalypse of John -- Context -- Historical Imponderables -- Geographical setting.

Philadelphia -- The Lukewarm Laodiceans -- Material prosperity and self-righteousness -- Pure gold -- White robes -- Eye salve -- Invitation to a banquet -- Christian participation in God's dominion -- Summary : local color and open questions -- Philip and his daughters -- John and Philip : apostolic competition in the Lycus Valley? -- Laodicea in the Acts of John -- Early references to Philip in Hierapolis -- The daughters of Philip : prophecies from Hierapolis -- Divergent traditions -- The prophetic activity of the daughters of Philip -- The institutionalized prophets of Apollo -- Competing kinds of prophecy? -- The message of Philip's daughters : miracle stories -- Pagan miracle stories -- Rival tombs -- Summary : vague memories of a Holy Family -- Papias and Apollinaris : bishops in Hierapolis -- Bishop Papias : a separate Christian path? -- Historical placement -- The Judas tradition -- The work and its sources -- The problem of oral tradition -- Eschatology -- The Hebrew Ur-Matthew -- Bishop Apollinarius : conflict resolution through communication -- The rain and lightning miracle -- Chronological placement and catalog of works -- The apology -- Against the Hellenes -- Against the Jews -- On the Paschal feast -- On truth -- Against the Montanists -- The plague -- Summary : defining the place of Papias and Apollinarius -- Institutionalization : clerical offices, synods, and councils -- Processes of institutionalization -- Early bishops and the institutionalization of the clergy -- The potential for communication in the pre-constantinian era -- Administrative consideration -- The synod of ancyra (314) -- The council of nicea -- The participants -- The date of easter -- Metropolitan privileges -- Christological conflicts after nicea -- The Synod of Laodicea -- Province and Diocese -- The date of the Synod -- The decisions -- The 5th-century councils -- The first council of Ephesus (431) and the competition between Laodicea and Hierapolis -- The second council of Ephesus (449) -- The council of Chalcedon -- Summary : conflict resolution through institutions -- Persecution and legends -- Persecution in the Lycus Valley -- Byzantine accounts of Martyrdom in the Apostolic Age -- Sagaris -- Christians or Crypto-Christians : Pre-Constantinian inscriptions -- Persecutions and lists of Martyrs -- The legends of the saints : genesis and impact -- Trophimus and Thallus -- Artemon : an itinerant legend -- The Acts of Philip -- The legend of St. Michael from Colossae/Chonae -- Legend and cult -- Summary : legends in differing contexts -- Conclusion : communitization and the search for a standpoint -- Christian communities in the Lycus Valley : socialization and communitization -- Search for a standpoint -- Sources and bibliography -- Sources -- Bibliography -- Indexes -- Persons -- Places / geographical terms -- Subjects -- Passages -- Old Testament -- New Testament -- Apocryphal works -- Talmud -- Legal texts -- Acts of councils / Canon law -- Ancient, Byzantine, and Medieval authors and works -- Inscriptions -- Clergy and functionaries (prosopographic index).