Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
Christian Origins
See Main Page for a guide to
all contents of all sections.
Contents
See Internet Medieval
Sourcebook for the later history of Christianity
Christian Origins
- WEB Resources for Biblical Studies
- WEB Internet Resources for the Study of Judaism and Christianity, compiled by Jay C. Treat [Internet Archive backup here]
- WEB Bible GateWay
An amazing site that has the Bible available in the original languages, and in many English translations, and in other languages. The site lets you look at any chapter or verse and compare
texts between multiple examples. In this example you can see Genesis Chapter 1 in two English versions, Hebrew, and Latin. This is very handy if you are trying to see what different translators have though a word means.
- WEB Bible Hub
Similar to Bible Gateway, but with more emphasis on access to comments and dictionaries.
- WEB The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are by far the earliest
Hebrew manuscripts with the text of the Bible (and other religious literature).
- WEB Early Jewish Writings [Internet Archive back up here]
Biblical and non-biblical texts, Josephus, Philo, Talmud.
- WEB Sacred Text Archive: Christianity [Internet Archive back up here]
- WEB Early Church Texts [Internet Archive back up here]
Latin and Greek originals of many early church documents, freely available [and with an English translation for a subscription].
- WEB e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha [Internet Archive back up here]
Back to Index
Source Problems
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Jesus of Nazareth (c.4 BC-c.30 AD)
- Context
-
Model of Herodian Temple [At K.C. Hanson's Website] [Internet Archive version here]
- Josephus (37- after 93 CE): Galilee, Samaria, and
Judea in the First Century CE, from The Jewish War, [This Site]
- Josephus (37- after 93 CE): Complete
Works [At CCEL]
Includes Antiquities of the Jews, The Jewish War and Against Apion
-
WEB Palestine in the Time of Jesus [Website/Course - K.C. Hanson] [Internet Archive version here]
-
WEBThe Capernaum Synagogue [Maidan Project[ ]Internet Archive version here]
- WEB Ancient Synagogue Literary Library [Internet Archive]
Contains many texts about the institution of the synagogue in the Second Temple
period.
- WEB The Aramaic Language [Was At Aldawood, now Internet Archive]
- WEB Divine Mediator Figures in the Biblical World [Was At St. Andrews, now Internet Archive]
- 2ND Daniel Boyarin, “Two Powers in Heaven; or, The Making of a Heresy,” in Hindy Najman and Judith R. Newman, eds., The Idea of Biblical Interpretation: Essays in Honor of James L. Kugel (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 331–370 [Academia]
Compare summary in the Jewish Chronicle.
- Teaching [links are to Bible Gateway]
- Ethics: The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7
- Parables: The Sower Matthew 13:1-30, The Weeds 36-43, The Canaanite Woman 15:21-28; The Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37
- Wikipedia: Parables of Jesus: List of 37 Parables
- Instructions to Disciples: Matthew 10:1-42, 16:13-28, 24:3-31, 25:31-46
- Claims to Divinity
- Gospels
- Matthew
Matthew
is concerned to show that Jesus fulfils the scriptures. It is organised as five book, like the Torah and the Psalms, and repeatedly cites Old Testament texts as point to or fulfilled by Jesus.
- Mark
The most urgent gospel, with two high points, the confession of Peter in 8:29 and the confession of the Centurion in 15:39
- Luke
Luke has the most extended infancy narrative, but with its companion Acts, presents the story as a series of journeys: around Galillee, from Gallilee to Jerusalem (Luke); from Jerusalem to Samaria and the
Coast; from Jerusalem to the Greek world; and to Rome.
- John
John is notably different than the other gospels. It presents Jesus as the incarnate Logos of God.
- Death
In addition to the canonical gospels, see,
- Gospel of Peter (2nd century) [Was At
Theological Network, now Internet Archive]
A somewhat expanded account, seen by some scholars (Crossan) as containing stories unknown
to the canonical writers. It is an ealry witness to the intense interest in Jesus'
resurrection among 2nd cent. Egyptian Christians.
- Historical Evidence
- The Pilate Inscription [At K.C. Hanson's website] [Internet Archive Version here]
An inscription found in Caesarea which first proved the existence of Pilate.
- Josephus (37- after 93 CE): Description
of Jesus [Antiquities of the Jews 18:3][At PBS] [Internet Archive Version here]
A much debated text. Many think it is all, or in parts, an interpolation.
- Josephus (37- after 93 CE): Description of Jesus Antiquities of the Jews 18:3 [Was At UPenn, now Internet Archive]
With Greek and Arabic versions.
-
2ND The Gospel Truth, TIME
Magazine, April 8, 1996 Volume 147, No. 15 [Was At Millersville, now Internet Archive]
On the Jesus Seminar and its critics.
- 2ND Birger A. Pearson: The Gospel According to the Jesus Seminar [Was At UCSB, now Internet Archive]
A vigorous attack on the methods.
- WEB Ancient Jewish Accounts of
Jesus [At UPenn] [Internet Archive Version here]
Texts given in full.
WEB From Jesus to Christ [PBS Website] [Internet Archive Version here]
-
WEB Jesus
of Nazareth in Early Christian Gospels [Gospels.net] [Internet Archive Version here]
A really useful site. Includes the texts of the "non-canonical gospels.].
-
WEB The Jesus Puzzle [now Internet Archive]
Denial of the historicity of Jesus by "Jesus Mythists".
-
WEB The Jesus Seminar Forum [At Virtual Religion] [Internet Archive Version here]
Excellent collection of primary and secondary sources.
- 2ND Tim O'Neill: Jesus Mythicism [At History for Atheists] [Internet Archive version here]
- WEB Conference on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus, 13-17 June 1998, [Was At St Andrews, now Internet Archive]
With extended paper abstracts.
-
Monty Python: The Life of Brian [Script][Was At the Unofficial Monty Python Homepage, now Internet Archive]
Thought by some to be blasphemous, this film [explicitly about Brian, not Jesus] raised in
a quite interesting way some of the issues discussed in scholarship.
- 2ND Tim O'Neill: The Great Myths 2: Christmas, Mithras and Paganism [At History for Atheists] [Internet Archive version here]
- Films about the Life of Jesus [This Site]
Back to Index
Early Church: First Century
Josephus, a Jew writing in Greek, and Tacitus, Suetonius, and Pliny the Younger, are
the earliest non-Biblical witnesses to the existence of Christianity. The Didache seems to be a source independent to some degree of the Biblical texts.
- The Earliest Christians
- Paul of Tarsus (d.c.65 CE) and the Pauline Churches
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Early Church: 2nd-3rd
Centuries
- Persecution and Survival
- Pliny the Younger (61/62-113 CE): Letters
of Pliny on the Christians (Book X, 45-46) [At PBS] [Internet Archive Version here] ; and in
Latin/English [At K.C. Hanson's website] [Internet Archive Version here]
; and in Latin [Was At Upenn, now Internet Archive]
- Pliny the Younger: Letter on the Christians.[At this Site]
- The Martyrdom of Polycarp, 2nd Century. Several translations. [At Early Christian Writings] [Internet Archive Version here]
- The Persecution and Martyrdoms of Lyons in 177 A.D.: The Letter of the Churches of Vienna and Lyons to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia including the story of the Blessed Blandina.
- Perpetua: The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 203. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Sts. Felicitas and Perpetua; and Peter Dronke's Discussion of Perpetua [At Internet Archive, from Millersville]
- Perpetua: The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 203, excerpts. [At this Site]
- Vibia Perpetua (d. 203 CE): Perpetua's
Diary in Prison 203 CE [At PBS] [Internet Archive Version here]
- Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History: The Martyrdom of St. Domnina and Her Daughters.
- The Passion of The Scillitan Martyrs.[At this Site]
- The Passion of Sergius and Bacchus, full text of early passion. [At CMU] [Internet Archive Version here]
-
Tertullian (c.155-after 220 CE): The
Apology [At New Advent] or here [At CCEL] [Internet Archive Version here]
A Christian view of the persecutions.
- Hippolytus: On Christ and Antichrist (c.200 CE), tran. by Andrew S. Jacobs [Internet Archive Version here]
- The Ritual Cannabilism Charge Against Christians,
excerpts from Mincius Felix and Hippolytus, [At this Site]
One of the earliest Christian discussion of the figure of the Anti-Christ.
- Certificate of Having Sacrificed to the Gods, 250 CE [At this Site]
As a way of proving you were not a Christian - under Decius.
- Diocletian: Edicts of Persecution. [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Lactantius (c.250-c.325): Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died [At Calgary] [Internet Archive Version here] [Wikipedia article]
- Lactantius (c.250-c.325): Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died [At New Advent]
- Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155/160 CE – c. 240 CE): "The Blood of the Martyrs" from Apologeticus pro Christianis (In Defense of Christians), chapters 49-50 [At this Site]
- Deeds of Zenophilus: How the Romans Tried to Seize
Christian Books, c. 395 CE [At this Site]
- Eusebius (c.260-340 CE): The
Martyrs of Palestine [At Calgary] [Internet Archive Version here]
from the Ecclesiastical History
- WEB The Christian Catacombs of Rome [Internet Archive Version here]
Texts, modern accounts, and images.
- 2ND James Rives: The Piety of a Persecutor Journal of Early Christian Studies 4 (1996) 1-25 [At Academia.edu] [Internet Archive Version here]
On Hilarianus, the persecutor of Perpetua.
- Challenge to Social and Political Norms of Antiquity
- Church Organization
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The Emergence of Theologies
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Early Christian Art
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The
"Triumph" of the Church
- Eusebius of Caesarea (c 260/265-339): Ecclesiastical History:
conversion of Constantine. See also
Catholic Encyclopedia: Labarum
(Chi-Rho)
- Eusebius of Caesarea (c 260/265-339): In Praise of the Emperor Constantine [At Calgary] [Internet Archive Version here]
- Edit of Galerius and
the "Edict of Milan" 311/313 [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Constantine I: Laws for Christians [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Constantine I: On the Keeping of Easter [At Medieval Sourcebook]
- Codex Theodosianus: On Religion, 4th Cent CE. [At
Medieval Sourcebook]
- Theodoret (c.393-466 CE): St. Ambrose Humiliates
Theodosius the Great, Ecclesiastical History, V.17-18, [At this Site]
- Junillus: Instituta Regularia c. 542 CE [Was At UPenn, now Internet Archive]
- Jews and the Later
Roman Law 315-531 [At this Site]
Laws by Constantine the Great, Constantius (337-361), Theodosius II (408-410), and
Justinian (527-565).
- Julian and the Jews,
361-363 [At this Site]
From Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History written about 443-450
- Legislation Affecting the Jews, 300 to 800
CE
Index to Roman, Western and canonical laws
- Anonymous Sermon on the Pantheon, trans. William North. PDF [At Carleton] [Internet Archive version here]
Sermon describing the conversion of the Roman Pantheon into a Christian Church by Pope Boniface IV (608-15).
- Prayers for Making a Synagogue into a
Church, in Latin. [At this Site]
From the Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Ecclesiae
- Socrates Scholasticus (c.379-440): Ecclesiastical History [At New Advent site] [From Ante-Nicene and Nicene Fathers Series] [Covers 305-446 CE]
- Socrates Scholasticus (c.379-440): Ecclesiastical History [Wikisource] [Covers 305-446 CE]
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Modern
Perspectives on Early Christianity
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NOTES:
The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. The date of inception was
4/8/1998. Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site
name or location]. WEB indicates a link to one of small
number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable
overview.
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall, created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 20 Oct 2025[CV]
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