History of the Origins of Christianity. Book VI: The Reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius

The age of the apostles had passed. Christianity now faced a new challenge: defining what it believed, defending itself before the Roman world, and determining what kind of religion it would become.

In The History of the Origins of Christianity, Book VI: The Reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, Ernest Renan follows the Christian movement through a decisive period of the Roman Empire. He examines the reign of Hadrian, the catastrophic Jewish revolt under Bar Kokhba, and the changing relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Particular attention is given to the Johannine writings, the emergence and influence of Gnosticism, the growth of Christian apologetic literature, and figures such as Justin Martyr who sought to present the new faith to the educated Greco-Roman world.

As Christianity spreads and its communities become increasingly organized, Renan traces the formation of doctrine, the struggle between competing interpretations of the faith, and the gradual development of a distinct Christian identity. Combining religious history, biblical criticism, and a vivid examination of the intellectual world of the Roman Empire, The Reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius presents a provocative account of the era in which Christianity moved beyond its apostolic beginnings and increasingly assumed the character of an independent and enduring religion.