Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.

The fertile second century -- Blood in the arena : the age of persecutions and resistance : second to third centuries -- Coming of age : Christianity in the third century -- The gospel on the throne : Christians in the fourth-century East -- Reconciling the world : Christian ascetical and penitential imperatives -- Remaking society : the church in the west in the fourth to sixth centuries -- A church of the nations : ancient global Christianity -- The rise of the ecumenical conciliar system in the fifth to sixth centuries -- The emergence of Christians Byzantium in the sixth to ninth centuries -- The flourishing of medieval Rome in the seventh to tenth centuries -- The formation of Christian liturgy -- The great parting of ways : Greek East and Latin West in the tenth to eleventh centuries -- The Bible and its interpretation in the early church -- The church and war -- The development of Christian hymnography -- Ways of prayer in the early church -- Women in ancient Christianity -- Healing and philanthropy in early Christianity -- The exercise of authority in the church : orders and offices -- Christians and magic -- The church and wealth -- Church and slavery in an age of oppression -- Attitudes to sexuality in the early church -- A brief account of ancient Christian art.

John McGuckin, a world-renowned expert on ancient Christianity, has synthesized a lifetime of work to produce the most comprehensive and accessible history of the first millennium of the Christian church. This readable account explores the history in chronological order and then examines the same period thematically, looking at issues like women, war, and the Bible.