AS 4 - Early Christian Church
 (30% of the AS final mark)
Assessed by Exam - (1 hour 20 minutes) 2 questions from 4

Outline of Course

1. Life and worship in the Early Church

Doctrine and practice of Baptism
Doctrine and practice of Eucharist
(Church membership - meaning/responsibility)

Reference to the writings of:
Justin
The Didache
Hippolytus
Tertullian
Cyprian

The emergence of early Christian Creeds and their importance in the Early Church

Introduction to the idea of the New Testament Canon

The origins of Monasticism

2. The Expansion of Christianity

The spread of Christianity

The causes and course of Persecution in the first two centuries

Key figures in the persecutions:
Nero
Domitian
Trajan
Marcus Aurelius

The Pliny Trajan correspondence

Jewish & Pagan perceptions of persecution

3. Early Christian Literature

The Apostolic Fathers
Particular reference to the writings of Ignatius of Antioch

Second century Apologists
Especially, the life and writing of Justin Martyr

Function of Apologists
Apologists and Apologetics

Idea of Apostolic Tradition
Idea of Apostolic Succession