Everett Ferguson has a well-earned international reputation as a church historian. A Bible professor at Abilene Christian University, Fergu
son has written or contributed to more than a dozen books, most dealing with the early history of the church. This book should be on the shelf of anyone wanting to better understand New Testament backgrounds.
In Backgrounds of Early Christianity, Dr. Ferguson explores the geographic, historic, religious, cultural and Judaic backgrounds of Christianity. He also explores the interaction of early Christianity with the world around it.
Ferguson starts out with the political history that impacts the Bible lands. Understanding Alexander the Great’s expansion to the east and the subsequent division of his empire and Rome’s rise to power play an important role in understanding the sudden shift of political landscape from the end of Malachi to the beginning of Matthew. Backgrounds helps bridge that gap.
Many average Bible students may have some sense of the political history of the region but the chapters on Society and Culture deal with issues such as slavery in the Roman Empire, Roman citizenship, morality, economics, music and the arts. As an example, American readers who, when they read of slavery in Paul’s letters, think of slavery in terms of their own nation’s history will benefit from the book’s discussion of societal structure in Rome, including slavery.
One of the things I like about the book is its updated bibliography at the end of each section. Those working on research papers or who simply want to know more about a given topic will find ample resources cited that can point you to both original sources and recent works. One downside is that all cited works are print versions; there are no listings of web resources in the book.
As Ferguson notes in the Preface, this is “a textbook, not a history of the ancient world.” That means you may not find as much material as you would like on some niche topic but overall, Ferguson has earned his reputation as a historian and his efforts on this book, now in its third edition, have proved useful.
Backgrounds of Early Christianity, Third Edition, is 648 pages in paperback. It contains an index of subjects, an index of scripture references plus charts, maps and scores of photographs. Suggested retail price: $38.00. Available from Amazon.com.
Our take: Highly Recommended
Other works by Ferguson:
Baptism in the Early Church– The most in-depth study of baptism in the first few centuries of church history. Destined to be the definitive study of baptism for years to come.