With this book, Robert Louis Wilken, one of the most distinguished patristic scholars of our time, presents a history of the first Christian millennium that is both scholarly rigorous and accessible for the general reader.
Any historical periodization is to some extent arbitrary, and so is the definition of the end of “early Christianity.” Wilken carries his narrative beyond the usual markers, such as the barbarian invasions, the pontificate of Gregory the Great or the iconoclastic controversy in Byzantium. He has chosen two significant developments to conclude his volume: the reign of Charlemagne in the West (often, it seems, neglected in Anglo-Saxon scholarship) and the establishment of Christianity among Kiev Rus in 988. “By the year 1000,” he argues, “the map of the early Christian world was largely complete” (1) and lasted for centuries to come.
The title indicates the scope of the book: Christianity as a global phenomenon already in the first millennium. This includes not only the Mediterranean world, but also the Middle East, and later northern and eastern Europe. Wilken pays particular attention to Syriac-speaking Christianity and his view extends to such regions as Nubia, Ethiopia, Persia, India, and China. Special consideration is given to the rise and spread of Islam, which proved to be the most consequential external factor in shaping Christian history of the first millennium. Wilken records the early experiences of Christians under Muslim rule, and his dispassionate account of the martyrs of Cordoba helps to dispel anachronistic notions of the coexistence of religions in conquered Spain.
Church history is often dominated by questions of doctrinal and theological development, and this is for good reasons. The author gives admirably clear and concise accounts of the Council of Nicaea and of the Christological controversies of the fifth century. However, the strength of the book lies in its treatment of how the Christian faith formed and transformed cultures. As in previous publications, Wilken shows a particular sensitivity to questions of language, but also to rituals, institutions, laws, works of charity, and the arts. Thus the book includes chapters on “Architecture and Art,” “Music and Worship,” and “The Sick, the Aged, and the Poor: The Birth of Hospitals.” Moreover, the contribution of Christian archaeology to our understanding of the early Church is fully recognized. The book's illustrations (in color) and maps provide a welcome visual supplement.
Anyone who has delved into the topics treated in the thirty-six short chapters will recognize that Wilken is in command of the latest scholarship and offers well informed judgments. Two points may be noted: First, the brief discussion of clerical celibacy in connection with the synod in Trullo of 692 (299) would profit from recent research on the early requirement of continence for all clergy, including the married one (especially Stefan Heid, Celibacy in the Early Church: The Beginnings of a Discipline of Obligatory Continence for Clerics in East and West, trans. M. J. Miller [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000]). Secondly, regarding the work of Cyril and Methodius (349), Francis J. Thomson has shown that “trilinguism,” that is, the idea that the liturgy could only be celebrated in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, was a generic piece of Byzantine polemic rather than a position actually held in the Latin West (“SS. Cyril and Methodius and a Mythical Western Heresy: Trilinguism. A Contribution to the Study of Patristic and Mediaeval Theories of Sacred Languages,” Analecta Bollandiana 110 [1992], 67–122).
The book is delightful to read and wears its erudition lightly. However, the editorial decision not to have any footnotes or bibliographical indications in the chapters is unfortunate. Not even the most essential references are given, as when works of Cyprian or Augustine are quoted. The general reader with “little background in the history of Christianity” (4), whom Wilken had in mind when writing the book, may not find this a limitation. A university student or anyone else who wants to explore an author or subject further would profit from some references or suggestions for further reading related to each chapter and not just a general bibliography at the end. This could hopefully be done in a second edition.
A historical overview of such outstanding quality is a notable achievement in an age of ever increasing specialization and I highly recommended Wilken's book to anyone interested in Christianity's first millennium.
