Includes bibliographies and indexes.

Jews and Christians. The Jewish background ; Jesus of Nazareth ; Paul and the first expansion 30-65 ; The Christian synagogue 70-135 ; Opposition cult 135-80 ; Acute Hellenization 135-93 ; The emergence of orthodoxy 135-93 -- Christianity and the Roman empire. Out of the shadows 193-235 ; Struggle and advance 235-60 ; The third century : the Western churches 190-260 ; The third century : Christian Platonism of Alexandria and its opponents 190-275 ; Church and people in the third century ; The age of Diocletian 270-405 ; The Constantinian revolution 305-30 -- From Constantine to Chalcedon. Toward Byzantium 330-61 ; From pagan to Christian society 330-60 ; Hero of a lost cause : the Emperor Julian 360-63 ; New perspectives in West and East 363-99 ; The North African dimension 370-430 ; Christianity and barbarism : the West 380-450 ; The road to Chalcedon 398-451 -- The parting of the ways. The Catholic recovery in the West 452-536 ; Justinian and the Byzantine achievement 527-65 ; "And East is East" 565-604.

The definitive text in early church history, Frend's The Rise of Christianity offers a vast, panoramic sweep of Christianity's first six centuries, from the dust of Palestine to the court of Justinian and the parting of Eastern and Western Christianity. With many maps, chronologies, and graphics, Frend's text is an engaging story but also an immensely learned and careful work of scholarship. - Publisher.