Mission and Conversion: Proselytizing in the Religious History of the ...

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Oxford Scholarship Online

Contents

Mission and Conversion: Proselytizing in the Religious History of the Roman Empire Martin Goodman ABSTRACT

This book tackles a central problem of Jewish and comparative religious history: proselytization and the origins of mission in the Early Church. Why did some individuals in the first four centuries of the Christian era believe it desirable to persuade as many outsiders as possible to join their religious group, while others did not? In this book, the author offers a new explanation of the origins of mission in this period, arguing that mission is not an inherent religious instinct, that in antiquity it was found only sporadically among Jews and pagans, and that even Christians rarely stressed ... More Keywords: origins of mission, conversion, Jewish history, comparative religious history, proselytization, Early Church, pagans, Jewish missionary attitudes, Second Temple, Talmudic period BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Print publication date: 1995

Print ISBN-13: 9780198263876

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263876.001.0001

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Front Matter 1 The Significance of Proselytizing 2 The Diffusion of Cults and Philosophies in the Pagan Roman Empire 3 Judaism before 100 CE Attitudes to Gentile Paganism 4 Judaism before 100 CE Proselytes and Proselytizing 5 Mission in the Early Church 6 Judaism in the Talmudic Period Attitudes to Gentile Paganism 7 Judaism in the Talmudic Period Proselytes and Proselytizing 8 The Consequences and Origins of Proselytizing

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AUTHORS Affiliations are at time of print publication.

Martin Goodman, author Wolfson College, Oxford and the Oxford Centre for Hebrew Studies Author Webpage