Stoicism in Early Christianity

How usefully do distinctly Stoic ideas illuminate the meaning of first- and second-century Christian texts? This book suggests that early Christians--the authors of New Testament and noncanonical writings, including some early apologies--were often more influenced by Stoicism than by Middle Platonism. This insight sheds an entirely new light on the relationship between philosophy and religion at the birth of Christianity.

Tuomas Rasimus (PhD, Universite Laval; DrTheol, University of Helsinki) is research fellow in the department of biblical studies at the University of Helsinki and at the Institut d'etudes anciennes, Universite Laval. He is the author of Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence. Troels Engberg-Pedersen (DPhil, University of Oxford; DrTheol, University of Copenhagen) is professor of New Testament in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen. He is the author or editor of eleven books and more than a hundred articles. Ismo Dunderberg (DrTheol, University of Helsinki) is professor of New Testament studies at the University of Helsinki. He is the author or editor of four books and numerous articles in the field of early Christian literature.