Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life Before Constantine

Much new information on early Christian archaeology has emerged during the last 100 years, prompting a sweeping reinterpretation of past evidence. However, before the publication of Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church life before Constantine, there was no introduction or source book for early Christian archaeology available in English. With this book, Graydon Snyder has performed an incalculable service for all who are interested in the life and worship practices of the earliest Christian church. The church after Constantine was filled with ritual and expressed many of the traditions and practices of the pagan religions it supplanted. But what was church life like from A.D. 100 to A.D. 300? It is usually viewed as similar to church life as it was known after Constantine. But is this a correct view? Ante Pacem challenges a concept of second-and third-century church life that has prevailed for more than 400 years. This book has all the ingredients to foster a totally new understanding of the early Christians. If Snyder is correct-and his marshaling of the evidence is compelling-then the whole idea of a ritualistic church will have to undergo serious reconsideration. Lucid, scholarly, and thorough, Ante Pacem may just prove to one of the most influential books of our time. It is a work that must either be accepted, with all its implications, or must be answered with scholarship as thorough as Dr. Snyder's.