From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries

Rating:
Summary: A great book.
Review: A great book, pathbreaking, and based on solid evidence.

Rating:
Summary: Extensively researched and superbly presented
Review: From Paul To Valentinus: Christians At Rome In The First Two Centuries by Peter Lampe (Professor of New Testament, University of Heidelberg, Germany), amalgamates world history, archaeology, theology, and social analysis in a scholarly and informationally impressive presentation on the rise and shape of the earliest Christian churches in Rome. Extensively researched and superbly presented, From Paul To Valentinus successfully strives to present a multifaceted picture of a once-struggling faith's crucial formative era that would be of immense interest to both academia and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the history of the Christian church.

Rating:
Summary: Sociological speculation in the psychohistory mode
Review: I have only read the chapter on Valentinus, who is an interest of mine. What disturbs me is the speculation which completes the chapter, that Valentinus was an example of a politically powerless intellectual whose power drive was frustrated and so he created a form of religious ideology where his displaced drive could have a kind of imaginative revenge. Well, Nietzsche made a very similar case about all of Christianity. There's a kind of ad hominem politico-material reductiveness about this, as well as the enormous speculative leap involved, which makes me question the whole enterprise. Shall we apply the same criteria to the authors and suggest that they are projecting their own professorial power drive and political powerlessness onto Valentinus? I have degrees and experience both in theology and psychology. Both are noble disciplines, but if not carefully watched, they can start to sound like the opinions of wine-tasters and astrologists, making me wonder: "Is there less to this than meets the eye?" As I say, I read only one chapter. I hope the rest of the work is better.

Rating:
Summary: A brillant illustration of early church life
Review: I was fascinated by the analysis of the early Christian house churches in Rome and by the fact that the office of a monarchical bishop developed relatively late (in the second half of the 2nd century) in the city of Rome. The social world of the early Christians and Jews in Rome becomes very much alive.

Rating:
Summary: A brillant illustration of early church life
Review: I was fascinated by the analysis of the early Christian house churches in Rome and by the fact that the office of a monarchical bishop developed relatively late (in the second half of the 2nd century) in the city of Rome. The social world of the early Christians and Jews in Rome becomes very much alive.

Rating:
Summary: A great illustration of early Christianity
Review: On the basis of inscriptions, ancient texts and archaeological results the author paints a picture of early Christianity and its social world in a brilliant and solid way.

Rating:
Summary: A great book.
Review: This is clearly one of the best books about early Christianity and ancient social history that I have read.