Historical events have long been the standard lens through which

scholars have sought to understand the theology of Christianity in late antiquity.

The lives of significant theological figures, the rejection of individuals and

movements as heretical, and the Trinitarian and christological

controversiesthe defining theological events of the early

churchhave long provided the framework with which to understand the

development of early Christian belief. In this groundbreaking work, esteemed

historian of Christianity Justo Gonzalez chooses to focus on the literature

of early Christianity. Beginning with the epistolary writings of the earliest

Christian writers of the second century CE, he moves through apologies,

martyrologies, antiheretical polemics, biblical commentaries, sermons, all the way

up through Augustines invention of spiritual autobiography and beyond.

Throughout he demonstrates how literary genre played a decisive role in the

construction of theological meaning. Covering the earliest noncanonical Christian

writings through the fifth century and later, this book will serve as an

indispensable guide to students studying the theology of the early church.