Cultural Christians in the Early Church - by Nadya Williams (Paperback)

About the Book

Cultural Christians in the Early Church considers the challenge of culture to the earliest converts to Christianity, as they struggled to live on mission in the Greco-Roman cultural milieu of the Roman Empire, and argues that cultural Christians were the rule, rather than the exception, in the early church.

Book Synopsis

In the middle of the third century CE, one North African bishop wrote a treatise for the women of his church, exhorting them to resist such culturally normalized yet immodest behaviors in their cosmopolitan Roman city as mixed public bathing in the nude, and wearing excessive amounts of jewelry and makeup. The treatise appears even more striking, once we realize that the scandalous virgins to whom it was addressed were single women who had dedicated their virginity to Christ.

Stories like this one challenge the general assumption among Christians today that the earliest Christians were zealous converts who were much more counterculturally devoted to their faith than typical church-goers today. Too often Christians today think of cultural Christianity as a modern concept, and one most likely to occur in areas where Christianity is the majority culture, such as the American "Bible Belt." The story that this book presents, refutes both of these assumptions.

Cultural Christians in the Early Church, which aims to be both historical and practical, argues that cultural Christians were the rule, rather than the exception, in the early church. Using different categories of sins as its organizing principle, the book considers the challenge of culture to the earliest converts to Christianity, as they struggled to live on mission in the Greco-Roman cultural milieu of the Roman Empire. These believers blurred and pushed the boundaries of what it meant to be a saint or sinner from the first to the fifth centuries CE, and their stories provide the opportunity to get to know the regular people in the early churches. At the same time, their stories provide a fresh perspective for considering the difficult timeless questions that stubbornly persist in our own world and churches: when is it a sin to eat or not eat a particular food? Are women inherently more sinful than men? And why is Christian nationalism a problem and, at times, a sin? Ultimately, recognizing that cultural sins were always a part of the story of the church and its people is a message that is both a source of comfort and a call to action in our pursuit of sanctification today.

Review Quotes

'After reading this book I will be more careful when I invoke the so-called 'countercultural' nature of the ancient church when criticizing the cultural captivity of American evangelicals. Nadya Williams is a model for how to think about the relationship between the past and the present.'--John Fea, professor of American history, Messiah University

'Cultural Christians in the Early Church offers the reader the chance to peer into ancient Christianity in a unique way. Reading this book, one has the sensation of peeking through the window of a church, while simultaneously seeing part of one's own reflection in the glass, as if partially mapped onto the people on the inside. Instead of offering a romanticized view of an ideal early church that only later fell into compromise, and instead of perpetuating a narrative about an emerging hierarchical church wedding itself to power and stamping out diversity, Nadya Williams introduces a series of captivating stories and vivid scenarios that help us see the past and the present in conversation. And it is a conversation important to any person of faith today, regardless of their prior knowledge of early Christian history.'-- David E. Wilhite, professor of theology, George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University

'Greed, lust, selfishness, prejudice, Christian nationalism--we wrestle with all these issues in the twenty-first-century church. But we moderns are not alone. In this poignant and perceptive work of historical and cultural analysis, Williams shows that such vices have plagued Christian communities from the beginning. She hopes that these ancients can put up a mirror for us to see our own blind spots and vices in their stories. But it's not all bad news. The early church had those few but powerful witnesses to the authentic, countercultural, and transformative way of Jesus. Williams creatively uses early Christian history to illuminate the narrow road of faithful discipleship.'-- Nijay K. Gupta, professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary

'In this convincing and convicting book, Williams demonstrates that while Christianity ultimately transformed Roman society, early Christ followers struggled to resist the surrounding culture as much as believers do today. The author combines vivid stories of 'cultural Christians' in the early church with expert analysis of the social, cultural, and historical context that shaped their worldview. The result is a nuanced account of the early church and the sinners who filled it. Williams calls on contemporary Christians to stop idealizing people in the past and challenges us to renew our efforts to resist sin in all its forms, from the familiar vice of avarice to the more insidious idolatry of Christian nationalism.'-- Meghan DiLuzio, associate professor of classics, Baylor University

'In Cultural Christians in the Early Church, Dr. Nadya Williams turns to the first five centuries of Christianity to remind contemporary evangelical Christians that the well-known modern phenomenon of the 'cultural Christian' has its roots in the very origins of Christianity. Though the most vivid stories about Christians of this period focus on persecution, martyrdom, and the radical rejection of the Roman secular world, our ancient texts provide abundant evidence that these 'countercultural Christians' were not the norm. Indeed, as Williams demonstrates, there is another history of early Christianity to be told, one which highlights the extent to which most early Christians struggled to reject the values and social obligations of the secular Roman world. For Williams, it is in these struggles that modern readers can see the gap between Christian teaching and the everyday practices of many early Christians. Drawing on ancient evidence ranging from first to fifth centuries AD, and from Rome and North Africa to the Greek East, Williams makes a strong case for understanding that early Christians shared many of the same struggles that contemporary Christians face as they attempt to live in the secular world while holding fast to their faith.'-- Dr. Jennifer Ebbeler, associate professor of classics at the University of Texas at Austin, author of Disciplining Christians

'Nadya Williams has written a fascinating account of how Christians have, since ancient times, faced the temptation to imitate resident cultures rather than adopt an authentic Christian life. Whether it is about food, sex, money, or politics, Christians have, from the Tiber to Tallahassee, faced the temptation to give themselves over to worldly vices rather than holy habits. An excellent example of how understanding the struggle of Christianity and culture in antiquity can help us to understand our own cultural struggles in the present. Thoroughly recommended!'-- Rev. Dr. Michael F. Bird, academic dean, Ridley College, Melbourne, Australia

'Nadya Williams's thesis is unsettling and irrefutable. There was never an idyllic period in church history, when believers consistently shared goods, stayed true to the gospel, and joyfully gave their lives in martyrdom. Even the much romanticized 'early church' (from AD 100 to 400) was sometimes tainted by compromise, apostasy, and mere going-through-the-motions. Nominal or cultural Christianity, in other words, is not just a problem in modern Sydney or Atlanta. It was present among the persecuted Christians of second-century Bithynia, the rapidly growing church of third-century Carthage, and even the famous desert fathers of fourth-century Egypt. Cultural Christians in the Early Church is not a work of 'presentism, ' judging our ancestors by the values of today. In some ways, it is the reverse. By shining a gospel light on ancient Christians, Williams succeeds in providing a scorching critique of aspects of contemporary Christianity. This book is not for the fainthearted, but it is highly recommended.'-- John Dickson, Jean Kvamme Distinguished Professor at Wheaton College, host of Undeceptions, and author of Bullies and Saints

'Once upon a time, early Christians were stereotyped as sturdy white-robed heroes, who seemed little less than angels walking the earth. In her very readable (and thoroughly researched) book, Nadya Williams performs the amazing feat of presenting those ancient believers as real human beings, with highly recognizable virtues and flaws, living in environments not that different from what we know today. Indeed, as she shows, those Christians often acted very much like their modern counterparts and faced many of the same dilemmas in their everyday lives. Her book is a major achievement of imaginative inquiry.'-- Philip Jenkins, author of A Storm of Images, distinguished professor of history, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University

'Punchy and provocative, Williams's book offers an approachable, entertaining read on a serious theme. Her rich selection of historical examples and illuminating contextualization of early Christianity in its Greco-Roman context build to a point that could hardly be more timely, however much Christians then and now may disagree on what constitutes 'cultural Christianity.' Early Christianity was never an Eden, immune to the perennial problem of human sin. We should idealize neither the early church nor ourselves.'-- Han-luen Kantzer Komline, professor of church history and theology at Western Theological Seminary, Humboldt Fellow at University of Tübingen