This volume deals with how Christians of the first centuries looked back on the period of the nascent Church. Thanks to the incomparable stature of its founder, Jesus Christ, who had descended from heaven and commissioned his Apostles, this period was authorative for all Christians in matters of doctrine, institutions, rites and morality, a new phenomenon in the Graeco-Roman world. Its implications are explored in sixteen essays dealing with various subjects such as liturgy, the canon of Scriptures, the role of miracles, art, monasticism, and ministry. All contributions, taking into account both the views of individual Church fathers and Gnostic and Manichaean texts, make a large amount of primary material available.

This collection of essays explores the way early Christians looked back on the apostolic age. It shows the unique authority which that period enjoyed in matters of doctrine, institutions, rites and morality, even in dissident circles.

A scientific study of the influences that shaped Christianity in the years immediately following the death of Christ, clarifying disputed points of history and dogma and synthesizing the influences of the period.