Early "Christianity"
The Early "Christian" s" is a term used to refer to the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth, before the emergence of established Nicene "Christianity". The term essentially refers to the Jewish "Christian" s" of the early period of "Christianity", before it was constituted as the official religion of the Roman Empire, by emperor Constantine I, in 312 A.D.
Early "Christian" image of "Christ" as the Good Shepherd. Second Century A.D. Museo Epigraphico, Rome (foto: kleuske)
Among those writers commonly referred to as Early "Christian" are:
- Paul of Tarsus
- Clement of Rome
- Ignatius of Antioch
- Papias
- Polycarp of Smyrna
- Justin Martyr
- Tatian
- Athenagorus
- Irenaeus
- Clement of Alexandria
- Tertullian
- Hippolytus
- Origen
- Cyprian
- Dionysius of Alexandria
- Arnobius
- Lactantius
- Didache
- Apostolic Constitutions
The term is less often, but with equal validity, applied to the authors of the books of the New Testament.