This is the first volume of a monumental, inspired and thoroughly engrossing multi-volume history of the Catholic Church by the distinguished French scholar, Henri Daniel-Rops. Complete in itself, this two-volume Image Books edition opens with an illuminating account of the origins of the Church to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, provides a magnificent study of St. Paul and describes the relations between the infant Church and the imperial Roman government including the persecutions under Nero, Domitian and the Antonines, presents a fascinating picture of Christian line and worship in the Catacombs. Included is a survey of early Christian literature and the crucial period of the third century, ending with the victory of the Cross under Constantine.
The intellectual problems of the fourth century which gave rise to the first major heresies and the steps taken to define Catholic dogmas are fully explored. The author vividly re-creates the administrative, cultural and spiritual features of the Church in the closing years of that century when Theodosius the Great established Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. This is truly 'a vivid account of the most stirring period of the Church's history.'