Light from the Gentiles: Hellenistic Philosophy and Early Christianity

Rather than viewing the Graeco-Roman world as the ＂background＂ against which early Christian texts should be read, Abraham J. Malherbe saw the ancient Mediterranean world as a rich ecology of diverse intellectual traditions that interacted within specific social contexts. These essays, spanning over fifty years, illustrate Malherbe’s appreciation of the complexities of this ecology and what is required to explore philological and conceptual connections between early Christian writers, especially Paul and Athenagoras, and their literary counterparts who participated in the religious and philosophical discourse of the wider culture. Malherbe’s essays laid the groundwork for his magisterial commentary on the Thessalonian correspondence and launched the contemporary study of Hellenistic moral philosophy and early Christianity.

Carl R. Holladay, Ph.D. (Cambridge, 1975), is C. H. Candler Professor of New Testament at Emory University. A specialist in Hellenistic Judaism and Luke-Acts, he has published Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors (4 vols.; SBL, 1983-1996) and A Critical Introduction to the New Testament (Abingdon, 2005).

John T. Fitzgerald, Ph.D. (Yale, 1984), is Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author or editor of nine volumes, including Early Christianity and Classical Culture (Brill, 2003), a Festschrift in honor of Abraham J. Malherbe.

Gregory E. Sterling, Ph.D. (GTU, Berkeley, 1990), is Professor of New Testament and Dean of Yale Divinity School. He is a specialist in Greek-speaking Jewish and early Christian authors, especially Philo, Josephus, and Luke-Acts. He is the author of three books, including Historiography and Self-definition (Brill, 1992).

James W. Thompson, Ph.D. (Vanderbilt University, 1974), is Onstead Professor of New Testament at Abilene Christian University. He has published extensively in Pauline studies. His publications include Moral Formation According to Paul (Baker, 2011), Hebrews (Baker, 2008), and Pastoral Ministry According to Paul (Baker, 2006).