The remarkable diversity of Christianity during the formative years before the Council of Nicea has become a plain, even natural, "fact" for most ancient historians. Until After the New Testament, however, there had never been a sourcebook of primary texts that revealed the many varieties of Christian beliefs, practices, ethics, experiences, confrontations, and self-understandings.

1) General Introduction ; 2) The Spread of Christianity: Early Christians and their Converts ; 1. The Acts of John ; 2. The Acts of Thomas ; 3. Justin: Dialogue with Trypho ; 3) The Attack on Christianity: Persecution and Martyrdom in the Early Church ; 4. Pliny's Letter to Trajan ; 5. The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans ; 6. The Martyrdom of Polycarp ; 7. The Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons ; 8. The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs ; 9. The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas ; 4) The Defense of Christianity: Pagan Antagonists and Early Christian Apologists ; Pagan Antagonists ; 10. Minucius Felix: Octavius ; 11. Celsus ; 12. Porphyry ; Christian Apologists ; 13. Justin: First Apology ; 14. Athenagoras: Plea Regarding the Christians ; 15. The Letter to Diognetus ; 16. Tertullian: Apology ; 17. Origen: Against Celsus ; 5) Anti-Judaic Polemic: The Opposition to Jews in Early Christianity ; 18. The Epistle of Barnabas ; 19. Justin: Dialogue with T rypo ; 20. Melito of Sardis: On the Passover ; 21. Tertullian: Answer to the Jews ; 6) The Diversity of Early Christianity: Writings Later Deemed Heretical or Sectarian ; Jewish-Christian Texts ; 22. The Gospel According I o the Ebionites ; 23. The Letter of Peter to J ames and Its Reception ; 24. The Homilies of Clement ; Gnostic-Christian Texts ; Sethian Texts ; 25. The Secret Book of John ; 26. The First Thought in Three Forms ; 27. The Apocalypse of Adam ; Valentinian Texts ; 28. The Gospel of Truth ; 29. The Treatise on the Resurrection ; 30. The Gospel of Philip ; Thomasine Texts ; 31. The Hymn of the Pearl ; 32. The Book of Thomas ; Other Gnostic Texts ; 33. On the Origin of the World ; 34. The Wisdom of Jesus Christ ; 7) The Internal Conflicts of Christianity: Writings Against the "Heretics ; Proto-Orthodox Heresiologists ; 35. Irenaeus: Against the Heresies ; 36. Tertullian: Prescription of the Heretics ; 37. Tertullian: On the Flesh ; 38. Tertullian: Against Praxeas ; "Gnostic" Heresiologists ; 39. The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter ; 40. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth ; 8) Apostolic Writings Outside the Canon: New Testament Apocrypha ; Apocryphal Gospels ; 41. The Proto-Gospel of James ; 42. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas ; 43. The Gospel of Thomas ; 44. The Gospel of Judas ; 45. The Gospel of Peter ; 46. The Gospel of Mary ; 47. The Epistle of the Apostles ; Apocryphal Acts ; 48. Acts of Thomas ; 49. Acts of Peter ; 50. Acts of Paul ; 51. Acts of John ; Apocryphal Epistles ; 52. The Letters of King Abgar and Jesus ; 53. Paul's Third Letter to the Corinthians ; 54. Paul's Letter to the Laodiceans ; 55. The Correspondence Between Paul and Seneca ; Apocryphal Apocalypses ; 56. The Apocalypse of Peter ; 57. The Apocalypse of Paul ; 58. Ascension of Isaiah ; 9) The New Scriptures: Canonical Lists in Early Christianity ; 59. The Muratorian Canon ; 60. Irenaeus: Against the Heresies ; 61. Origen of Alexandria ; 62. Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History ; 10) The Interpretation of Scripture: The Use of the Bible in the Early Church ; 63. Ptolemy's Letter to Fl1ra ; 64. Irenaeus: Against the heresies ; 65. Tertullian: Prescription of the Heretics and Against Marcion ; 66. Origen: Commentary on John ; 67. Origen: On First Principles ; 11) The Proclamation of the Word: Homilies in Early Christianity ; 68. Second Clement ; 69. Origen: Homilies on Luke ; 70. Origen: Homilies on Genesis ; 12) The Structure of Early Christianity: The Development of Church Offices ; 71. First Clement ; 72. The Didache ; 73. The Letters of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, and Smyrneans ; 74. Hippolytus: The Apostolic Tradition ; 75. The Didascalia ; 76. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Catholic Church ; 13) The Development of the Liturgy: Ritual Practices in Early Christianity ; 77. The Didache ; 78. Justin: First Apology ; 79. Tertullian: Apology ; 80. Tertullian: On the Crown ; 81. Hippolytus: The Apostolic Tradition ; 82. The Didascalia ; 14) Women and Gender: Christianity in a Patriarchal World ; 83. The Acts of Thecla ; 84. The Acts of Peter ; 85. The Gospel of the Egyptians ; 86. Irenaeus: Against the Heresies ; 87. Clement of Alexandria: Miscellanies ; 88. Tertullian: On the Dress of Women ; 89. Women Montanist Prophets ; 15) Leading the Upright Life: The Role of Ethics in Early Christianity ; 90. The Didache ; 91. Clement of Alexandria: The Educator ; 92. Tertullian: To His Wife ; 16) The Emergence of Orthodoxy: Theological Writings of Proto-Orthodox Christians ; 93. Tertullian: Against Praxeas ; 94. Origen: On First Principles ; 95. Novatian: On the Trinity ; 96. Dionysius of Rome: Letter to Dionysius of Alexandria

"This is simply the best available sourcebook of its kind."--Susan Harvey, Brown University "Anyone who teaches a class on early Christianity needs access to a collection of primary sources that have a brief introduction to each author, a clear and recent English translation, and excerpts short enough to be useful in an undergraduate survey class. This book fills that need, and I have been extremely grateful for its existence."--Christine Sheparson, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville "I find After the New Testament to be very helpful and accessible. It is currently the best textbook available, since it offers a broad and rich selection of primary sources from early Christianity."--Charlotte Radler, Loyola Marymount University

Selling point: Provides a wide range of primary texts from the first three centuries of early Christianity. Selling point: Includes both "heterodox" and "orthodox" writings. Selling point: Offers complete texts or large selections of texts rather than brief snippets. Selling point: Up-to-date and readable translations. Selling point: In addition to a general introduction to the development of Christianity in the period (chapter 1), the collection provides concise and informative introductions to each of the historical categories of texts and to each individual text.

Bart D. Ehrman is James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written or edited more than twenty-five books, including The Bible (2013), Forgery and Counterforgery (2013), The New Testament, Fifth Edition (2012), and The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, Second Edition (2011), all published by Oxford University Press.

Selling point: Provides a wide range of primary texts from the first three centuries of early Christianity. Selling point: Includes both "heterodox" and "orthodox" writings. Selling point: Offers complete texts or large selections of texts rather than brief snippets. Selling point: Up-to-date and readable translations. Selling point: In addition to a general introduction to the development of Christianity in the period (chapter 1), the collection provides concise and informative introductions to each of the historical categories of texts and to each individual text.