Light from the Ancient East

This invaluable study of non-literary Greek and Latin texts from the period leading up to and contemporary with the rise and early development of Christianity is once again available after being out of print for nearly a decade.  Deissmann’s work with inscriptions on stone, metal, papyrus, and potsherds has long been widely recognized for the light it sheds upon the New Testament in its historical and cultural context.

Deissmann showed in Light from the Ancient East how late nineteenth-century discoveries shed light on early Christian social and religious life. Working from the now common thesis that Christianity must be understood in its historical setting, Deissmann posits that Christianity be seen as a movement of the lower classes.

You may also be interested in Deissmann’s Bible Studies.

Light From the Ancient East
The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-Roman World
• Author: Adolf Deissmann
• Translator: Lionel R. M. Strachan
• Text of 1910 version published by Hodder and Stoughton