HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY
Migration and the Making of Global Christianity
Beginning from Jerusalem
Jehu J. Hanciles
James D. G. Dunn
Foreword by Philip Jenkins
The second volume in the magisterial Christianity in the Making trilogy, Beginning from Jerusalem covers the early formation of the Christian faith from 30 to 70 CE. After outlining the quest for the historical church (parallel to the quest for the historical Jesus) and reviewing the sources, James Dunn follows the course of the movement stemming from Jesus “beginning from Jerusalem.” Dunn opens with a close analysis of what can be said of the earliest Jerusalem community, the Hellenists, the mission of Peter, and the emergence of Paul. Then he focuses solely on Paul—the chronology of his life and mission, his understanding of his call as apostle, and the character of the churches that he founded. The third part traces the final days and literary legacies of the three principal figures of first-generation Christianity: Paul, Peter, and James, the brother of Jesus. Each section includes detailed interaction with the vast wealth of secondary literature on the many subjects covered.
A magisterial sweep through 1500 years of Christian history with a groundbreaking focus on the missionary role of migrants in Christianity’s spread Human migration has long been identified as a driving force of historical change. Building on this understanding, Jehu Hanciles surveys the history of Christianity’s global expansion from its origins through 1500 CE to show how migration—more than official missionary activity or imperial designs— played a vital role in making Christianity the world’s largest religion. Church history has tended to place a premium on political power and institutional forms, thus portraying Christianity as a religion disseminated through official representatives of church and state. But, as Hanciles illustrates, this “top-down perspective overlooks the multifarious array of social movements, cultural processes, ordinary experiences, and non-elite activities and decisions that contribute immensely to religious encounter and exchange.” Hanciles’s socio-historical approach to understanding the growth of Christianity as a world religion disrupts the narrative of Western preeminence, while honoring and making sense of the diversity of religious expression that has characterized the world Christian movement for two millennia. In turning the focus of the story away from powerful empires and heroic missionaries, Migration and the Making of Global Christianity instead tells the more truthful story of how every Christian migrant is a vessel for the spread of the Christian faith in our deeply interconnected world. “In Beyond Christendom and other writings, Hanciles did so much to define an emerging field. Now, it is wonderful to see him applying his insights about migration and mission to an earlier era—nothing less than the first three-quarters of Christian history.” — PHILIP JENKINS from the foreword
Jehu J. Hanciles is the D. W. and Ruth Brooks Associate Professor of World Christianity at Emory University. Originally from Sierra Leone, he is also the author of Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transformation of the West and Euthanasia of a Mission: African Church Autonomy in a Colonial Context.
Christianity in the Making, VOLUME 2
“A wealth of historical insights about the earliest churches reflected in Acts and the letters.” — MICHAEL J. GORMAN in INTERPRETATION “A truly remarkable achievement, reflecting a lifetime of research, writing, teaching, and supervising.” — PAUL BARNETT in THEMELIOS James D. G. Dunn (1939–2020) was a renowned New Testament scholar and the longtime Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University. His many other books include The Theology of Paul the Apostle and Jesus according to the New Testament. 978-0-8028-7800-7 | Paperback | 1363 pages | $65.00 US | $87.99 CAN £52.99 UK | Available
ALSO AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK: VOLUME 1 OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE MAKING
Jesus Remembered
978-0-8028-7799-4 | 1037 pages | $60.00 US
978-0-8028-7562-4 | Jacketed Hardcover | 464 pages | $45.00 US | $60.99 CAN £36.99 UK | Available March 2021
14
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
www.eerdmans.com
toll free 800 253 7521
