Sources

What follows is a consolidated reading list assembled over several years of research. It draws on the per-chapter reading lists and footnotes of The Winner’s Tale (Book 7) - an unpublished manuscript by Tom Schuster that serves as the source base for Age II - together with the podcasts and YouTube channels that have shaped the work. It is not exhaustive. It is what has been most useful.

Primary & ancient sources

The texts and documentary materials cited directly, in translation or in the original, across the episodes of Age II.

• Athanasius. Life of Anthony.
• Athanasius. Orations Against the Arians.
• Athanasius. Festal Letters.
• Clement of Alexandria. Stromata.
• Clement of Alexandria. Protrepticus.
• Clement of Rome. 1 Clement. c. 96 CE.
• Cyprian. Epistulae.
• Cyprian. De unitate ecclesiae.
• Dead Sea Scrolls. c. 250 BCE - 70 CE (discovered 1946-1956).
• Didache. c. late 1st / early 2nd century.
• Didascalia Apostolorum.
• Ephrem the Syrian. Commentary on the Diatessaron.
• Ephrem the Syrian. Hymns on Faith.
• Epiphanius of Salamis. Panarion. Late 4th century CE.
• Epistle of Barnabas. c. late 1st / early 2nd century.
• Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History. Penguin Classics, 1989.
• Eusebius. Vita Constantini.
• Gospel of Mary.
• Gospel of Thomas (Nag Hammadi Codex II, 2).
• Hegesippus. Memoirs (preserved in Eusebius).
• Hippolytus. Refutation of All Heresies. Early 3rd century CE.
• Ignatius of Antioch. Letters (Smyrnaeans, Magnesians, Romans, Ephesians, etc.).
• Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies. c. 180 CE.
• Jerome. De Viris Illustribus.
• Jerome. Preface to the Gospels (Vulgate).
• Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews.
• Justin Martyr. Apologies.
• Lactantius. De mortibus persecutorum.
• Leo I. Epistola 28 (Tome to Flavian).
• Marcion of Sinope. Antitheses. c. 140 CE (surviving through hostile citations).
• Nag Hammadi Codices. c. 350-400 CE (discovered 1945).
• Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Hendrickson, 1994.
• Odes of Solomon.
• Optatus of Milevis. Against the Donatists.
• Origen. Contra Celsum.
• Origen. On First Principles (De Principiis).
• Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis. c. 203 CE.
• Philo of Alexandria. De Opificio Mundi (On the Creation).
• Pontius the Deacon. Vita Cypriani.
• Pseudo-Clementine Homilies.
• Shepherd of Hermas. c. mid-2nd century.
• Socrates Scholasticus. Ecclesiastical History.
• Sozomen. Ecclesiastical History.
• Suetonius. Divus Claudius.
• Tacitus. Annals.
• Tertullian. Ad Scapulam.
• Tertullian. Adversus Marcionem (Against Marcion).
• Tertullian. Adversus Praxean.
• Tertullian. Adversus Valentinianos.
• Tertullian. Apologeticus.
• Tertullian. De praescriptione haereticorum. c. 200 CE.
• Theodoret of Cyrrhus. Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium.
• Theodoret of Cyrrhus. Ecclesiastical History.

Modern scholarship

Historical, textual, and archaeological scholarship from the last century, arranged alphabetically by author.

• Alexander, Loveday. “Luke’s Passion Narrative.” In The Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Ando, Clifford. Law, Language, and Empire in the Roman Tradition. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
• Ando, Clifford. The Matter of the Gods. California, 2008.
• Assmann, Jan. Cultural Memory and Early Civilization. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
• Ayres, Lewis. Nicaea and Its Legacy. Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Balty, Jean. La mosaïque antique en Méditerranée. Paris, 1990.
• Barnes, Timothy D. Constantine and Eusebius. Harvard, 1981.
• Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Eerdmans, 2006.
• Bauckham, Richard. Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church. T&T Clark, 1990.
• Bauer, Walter. Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity. 1934; Eng. trans. Fortress, 1971.
• Beck, Roger. The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire. Oxford, 2006.
• Beckwith, John. Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Yale, 1979.
• Benjamin, Walter. “Theses on the Philosophy of History.” In Illuminations. Schocken Books, 1969.
• Benko, Stephen. The Virgin Goddess: Studies in the Pagan and Christian Roots of Mariology. Brill, 1993.
• Bowersock, Glen W. Hellenism in Late Antiquity. Cambridge, 1990.
• Bowersock, Glen W. Roman Arabia. Harvard, 1983.
• Bowes, Kimberly. Private Worship, Public Values in Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Brakke, David. Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism. Oxford, 1995.
• Brakke, David. The Gnostic Scriptures. Fortress Press, 2010.
• Brakke, David. The Gnostics. Harvard University Press, 2010.
• Brent, Allen. Cyprian and Roman Carthage. Cambridge, 2010.
• Brent, Allen. Ignatius of Antioch and the Second Sophistic. Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
• Brock, Sebastian. The Luminous Eye. Cistercian, 1992.
• Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo. California, 1967.
• Brown, Peter. The Cult of the Saints. Chicago, 1981.
• Brown, Peter. The Rise of Western Christendom. Oxford/Wiley-Blackwell, 1996 (rev. 2013).
• Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. Yale, 1997.
• Brown, Raymond E. The Birth of the Messiah. Yale, 1993.
• Brown, Raymond E. The Community of the Beloved Disciple. Paulist, 1979.
• Brown, Raymond E. The Gospel According to John I-XII. Anchor Bible, 1966.
• Bruce, F. F. New Testament History. Doubleday, 1971.
• Brusin, Giuseppe. Aquileia: La Basilica e gli Scavi. Rome, 1961.
• Burkert, Walter. Ancient Mystery Cults. Harvard, 1987.
• Burns, J. Patout. Cyprian the Bishop. Routledge, 2001.
• Bynum, Carolyn Walker. Christian Materiality. Zone Books, 2011.
• Cameron, Averil. Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire. University of California Press, 1991.
• Carriker, Andrew. The Library of Eusebius of Caesarea. Brill, 2003.
• Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. Penguin, 1967.
• Charlesworth, James H., ed. The Odes of Solomon. Scholars Press, 1977.
• Clark, Elizabeth A. The Origenist Controversy. Princeton, 1992.
• Clarke, Catherine. Isis and Mary. 1997.
• Clauss, Manfred. The Roman Cult of Mithras. Routledge, 2000.
• Cohen, Shaye J. D. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Westminster John Knox, 2006.
• Coleman, Christopher R. The Treatise of Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of Constantine. Yale, 1922.
• Collins, Adela Yarbro, and John J. Collins. King and Messiah as Son of God. Eerdmans, 2008.
• Crossley, James. The Date of Mark’s Gospel. T&T Clark, 2004.
• Crouzel, Henri. Origen. T&T Clark, 1989.
• Cullmann, Oscar. Peter: Disciple, Apostle, Martyr. SCM, 1962.
• Davies, W. D., and Dale C. Allison. Matthew 1-7 (ICC). T&T Clark, 1988.
• Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs and Steel. W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
• Dorival, Gilles. Origen et la Bible. Beauchesne, 1982.
• Drake, H. A. Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance. Johns Hopkins, 2000.
• Drake, H. A. Violence in Late Antiquity. Ashgate, 2006.
• Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners. Yale University Press, 1997.
• Dunbabin, Katherine M. D. Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World. Cambridge, 1999.
• Dunn, Geoffrey D. Tertullian. Routledge, 2004.
• Dunn, James D. G. Beginning from Jerusalem. Eerdmans, 2009.
• Dunn, James D. G. Christology in the Making. SCM, 1980.
• Dunn, James D. G. Jesus Remembered. Eerdmans, 2003.
• Dunn, James D. G. The New Perspective on Paul. Eerdmans, 2005.
• Dunn, James D. G. The Theology of Paul the Apostle. Eerdmans, 1998.
• Dunn, James D. G. Unity and Diversity in the New Testament. SCM Press, 1990.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Forged: Writing in the Name of God. HarperOne, 2011.
• Ehrman, Bart D. How Jesus Became God. HarperOne, 2014.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Jesus Before the Gospels. HarperOne, 2016.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Jesus, Interrupted. HarperOne, 2009.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities. Oxford University Press, 2003.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Scriptures. Oxford, 2003.
• Ehrman, Bart D. Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene. Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. Oxford, 2003.
• Ehrman, Bart D. The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture. Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Elm, Susanna. Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church. Berkeley, 2012.
• Elsner, Jaś. Art and the Roman Viewer. Cambridge University Press, 1995.
• Elsner, Jaś. Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph. Oxford, 1998.
• Evans, J. A. S. The Age of Justinian. Routledge, 1996.
• Finney, Paul Corby. The Invisible God: The Earliest Christians on Art. Oxford, 1994.
• Fiorenza, Elisabeth Schüssler. In Memory of Her. Crossroad, 1983.
• Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish. Vintage, 1995.
• Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge. Pantheon, 1980.
• Fox, Robin Lane. Pagans and Christians. Knopf, 1987.
• Frank, K. S. The Encratites and Early Asceticism. Gorgias Press, 2008.
• Frankfurter, David. Religion in Roman Egypt. Princeton, 1998.
• Fredriksen, Paula. From Jesus to Christ. Yale, 2000.
• Fredriksen, Paula. Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle. Yale, 2017.
• Fredriksen, Paula. When Christians Were Jews. Yale University Press, 2018.
• Frend, W. H. C. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church. Blackwell, 1965.
• Frend, W. H. C. The Donatist Church. Oxford, 1952.
• Frend, W. H. C. The Rise of Christianity. Fortress Press, 1984.
• Goodman, Martin. Rome and Jerusalem. Penguin, 2007/2008.
• Goodman, Martin. The Jewish Communities of the Roman Empire. Princeton University Press, 2007.
• Goodson, Caroline. The Rome of Peter and Paul. Cambridge, 2021.
• Gregory, Andrew, and Christopher Tuckett, eds. The Reception of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers. Oxford, 2005.
• Guidobaldi, Federico. Le origini dell’architettura cristiana ad Aquileia. Padova, 1998.
• Hachlili, Rachel. Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the Diaspora. Leiden, 1998.
• Hanson, R. P. C. The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God. T&T Clark, 1988.
• Harari, Yuval Noah. Sapiens. Harper, 2015.
• Harnack, Adolf von. Marcion: The Gospel of the Alien God. 1924; Eng. trans. 1990.
• Harvey, Susan Ashbrook. Asceticism and Society in Crisis. University of California Press, 1990.
• Hawting, G. R. The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam. Cambridge, 1999.
• Heffernan, Thomas. The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity. Oxford, 2012.
• Hengel, Martin. The Four Gospels and the One Gospel of Jesus Christ. SCM, 2000.
• Hengel, Martin. The Septuagint as Christian Scripture. T&T Clark, 2002.
• Hopkins, Keith. “Christian Number and Its Implications.” Journal of Roman Studies, 1998.
• Hoyland, Robert G. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge, 2001.
• Humphries, Mark. Communities of the Blessed. Oxford, 1999.
• Hurtado, Larry W. Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Eerdmans, 2003.
• Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun. Oxford, 1996.
• Jenkins, Philip. The Lost History of Christianity. HarperOne, 2008.
• Jensen, Robin M. Understanding Early Christian Art. Routledge, 2000.
• Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Letter of James. Anchor Bible, 1995.
• Jones, A. H. M. The Later Roman Empire, 284-602. Oxford, 1964.
• Jones, F. Stanley. An Ancient Jewish Christian Source on the History of Christianity. Scholars Press, 1995.
• Jungmann, Josef A. The Early Liturgy. Notre Dame, 1959.
• Kaplan, Steven. The Monastic Holy Man and the Christianization of Early Solomonic Ethiopia. Wiesbaden, 1984.
• Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Doctrines. Harper, 1978.
• King, Karen L. What Is Gnosticism? Harvard University Press, 2003.
• Koester, Helmut. Ancient Christian Gospels. Trinity, 1990.
• Krautheimer, Richard. Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture. 4th ed., 1986.
• Krautheimer, Richard. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton, 1980.
• Lampe, Peter. From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries. Fortress, 2003.
• Layton, Bentley. The Gnostic Scriptures. Doubleday, 1987.
• Lecker, Michael. Jews and Arabs in Pre- and Early Islamic Arabia. Ashgate, 1998.
• Levi, Doro. Antioch Mosaic Pavements. Princeton, 1947.
• Lieu, Judith. Christian Identity in the Jewish and Greco-Roman World. Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Ling, Roger. Ancient Mosaics. Princeton, 1998.
• Luz, Ulrich. Matthew 1-7 (Hermeneia). Fortress Press, 2007.
• MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Viking, 2010.
• MacMullen, Ramsay. Christianizing the Roman Empire. Yale University Press, 1984.
• MacMullen, Ramsay. Voting About God in Early Church Councils. Yale, 2006.
• Marcus, Joel. Mark 8-16 (Yale Anchor Bible 27A). Yale, 2009.
• Markschies, Christoph. Gnosis: An Introduction. T&T Clark, 2003.
• Markus, Robert. Gregory the Great and His World. Cambridge, 1997.
• Markus, Robert. The End of Ancient Christianity. Cambridge, 1990.
• Martyn, J. Louis. History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel. Westminster John Knox, 2003.
• Mathews, Thomas F. The Clash of Gods. Princeton University Press, 1993.
• McGuckin, John. St. Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy. SVS Press, 1994.
• McLynn, Neil B. Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital. California, 1994.
• Meeks, Wayne A. The First Urban Christians. Yale University Press, 1983.
• Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew, vols. 1-2. Doubleday, 1991-1994.
• Metzger, Bruce M. The Canon of the New Testament. Oxford University Press, 1987.
• Metzger, Bruce M. The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford, 1977.
• Meyer, Marvin. The Gospel of Thomas. Harper, 1992.
• Milavec, Aaron. The Didache: Faith, Hope, & Life of the Earliest Christian Communities. Paulist, 2003.
• Momigliano, Arnaldo. The Classical Foundations of Modern Historiography. Princeton, 1990.
• Moore, R. I. The Formation of a Persecuting Society. Blackwell, 1987.
• Moss, Candida. Ancient Christian Martyrdom. Yale, 2012.
• Moss, Candida. The Myth of Persecution. HarperOne, 2013.
• Nongbri, Brent. God’s Library. Yale University Press, 2018.
• Osborn, Eric. Clement of Alexandria. Cambridge, 2005.
• Osborn, Eric. Irenaeus of Lyons. Cambridge, 2001.
• Osiek, Carolyn. The Shepherd of Hermas: A Commentary. Fortress, 1999.
• Overman, J. Andrew. Church and Community in Crisis. Hendrickson, 1995.
• Overman, J. Andrew. Matthew’s Gospel and Formative Judaism. Fortress Press, 1990.
• Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. Random House / Vintage, 1979.
• Painter, John. Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition. Fortress, 1997.
• Pearson, Birger. Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman and Coptic Egypt. T&T Clark, 2004.
• Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition, Vol. 1. Chicago, 1971.
• Peters, F. E. The Hajj. Princeton, 1994.
• Petersen, William L. Tatian’s Diatessaron. Brill, 1994.
• Pietri, Charles. Roma Christiana. École Française de Rome, 1976.
• Price, Richard, and Michael Gaddis, eds. The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon. Liverpool, 2005.
• Pritz, Ray. Nazarene Jewish Christianity. Magnes Press, 1988.
• Ramelli, Ilaria. Bardaisan of Edessa. Gorgias, 2009.
• Ramelli, Ilaria. The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis. Brill, 2013.
• Rankin, David. Tertullian and the Church. Cambridge, 1995.
• Rickman, Geoffrey. The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome. Oxford, 1980.
• Robinson, James M., ed. The Nag Hammadi Library in English. Harper, 1988/1990.
• Rousseau, Philip. Athanasius. University of California Press, 1995.
• Rousseau, Philip. Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth-Century Egypt. California, 1999.
• Runesson, Anders. Divine Wrath and Salvation in Matthew. Fortress, 2016.
• Runia, David T. Philo of Alexandria and the Timaeus of Plato. Brill, 1986.
• Russell, Norman. The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition. Oxford, 2004.
• Salisbury, Joyce E. Perpetua’s Passion. Routledge, 1997.
• Salzman, Michele Renee. The Making of a Christian Aristocracy. Harvard, 2002.
• Sanders, E. P. Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE-66 CE. SCM Press, 1992.
• Sanders, E. P. Paul and Palestinian Judaism. Fortress, 1977.
• Sanders, E. P. Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought. Fortress, 2015.
• Sanders, E. P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993.
• Schäfer, Peter. The Jewish Jesus. Princeton University Press, 2012.
• Scheid, John. An Introduction to Roman Religion. Indiana University Press, 2003.
• Schoedel, William R. Ignatius of Antioch (Hermeneia). Fortress, 1985.
• Schwartz, Seth. Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 BCE to 640 CE. Princeton University Press, 2001.
• Scott, James C. Seeing Like a State. Yale University Press, 1998.
• Shahîd, Irfan. Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century. Dumbarton Oaks, 1995.
• Shaw, Brent D. “The Myth of the Neronian Persecution.” Journal of Roman Studies 105 (2015): 73-100.
• Shepardson, Christine. Controlling Contested Places: Late Antique Antioch. California, 2014.
• Sim, David C. The Gospel of Matthew and Christian Judaism. T&T Clark, 1998.
• Skarsaune, Oskar. Jewish Believers in Jesus. Hendrickson, 2007.
• Snyder, Graydon. Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life Before Constantine. Mercer, 2003.
• Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine. Routledge, 2001.
• Spong, John Shelby. Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism. HarperOne, 1992.
• Stewart, Alistair. The Original Bishops: Office and Order in the First Christian Communities. Baker Academic, 2014.
• Sullivan, Francis A. From Apostles to Bishops. Paulist, 2001.
• Tabbernee, William. Montanist Inscriptions and Testimonia. Mercer, 1997.
• Tabor, James D. Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity. Simon & Schuster, 2012.
• Tabor, James D. The Jesus Dynasty. Simon & Schuster, 2006.
• Talley, Thomas J. The Origins of the Liturgical Year. Pueblo, 1991.
• Trevett, Christine. Montanism: Gender, Authority and the New Prophecy. Cambridge, 1996.
• Ulmer, Christoph. Der Dom von Aquileia. Ulmer Kunstbuch. ISBN 978-3-8186-1564-2.
• Vansina, Jan. Oral Tradition as History. University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
• Veilleux, Armand. Pachomian Koinonia. Cistercian, 1980.
• Vermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. Penguin, 2011.
• Waldstein, Michael, and Frederik Wisse. The Apocryphon of John. Brill, 1995.
• Ward-Perkins, Bryan. Early Christian Archaeology. Oxford, 1999.
• Warner, Marina. Alone of All Her Sex. Oxford, 1976.
• Weitzmann, Kurt. Age of Spirituality (Catalogue). Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979.
• White, L. Michael. The Social Origins of Christian Architecture, Vols. 1-2. Yale, 1990-1997.
• Wilken, Robert L. The Christians as the Romans Saw Them. Yale University Press, 1984.
• Wilkes, John J. The Roman Danube. Oxford, 2005.
• Williams, Michael Allen. Rethinking “Gnosticism”. Princeton, 1996.
• Williams, Rowan. Arius: Heresy and Tradition. Eerdmans / SCM, 2001/2002.
• Wilpert, Giovanni. Le Catacombe Romane. 1903.
• Yarnold, Edward. The Awe-Inspiring Rites of Initiation. London, 1994.
• Young, Frances M. From Nicaea to Chalcedon. SCM, 1983 (rev. Fortress, 2010).
• Young, Frances M. The Making of the Creeds. SCM, 1991.
• Zanker, Paul. The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. University of Michigan Press, 1988.

Podcasts & YouTube channels

Ongoing public scholarship and conversation in the field. These have been consistently useful, for their range of perspectives as much as their specific findings.

• Misquoting Jesus - the Bart Ehrman podcast on the New Testament and early Christianity.
• James Tabor - YouTube channel on Jesus, Paul, and Jewish-Christian origins.
• ReligionforBreakfast - short-form academic videos on religious history.
• Alex O’Connor - philosophy of religion, debates, and long-form interviews.
• Centre Place - sustained teaching on early Christianity and textual history.
• History Valley - interviews with scholars of early Christianity and Judaism.
• Yale Courses - free university lectures, especially Dale Martin’s New Testament course.
• Kedem - historical and textual scholarship on the ancient Jewish and Christian worlds.
• Bart D. Ehrman - Ehrman’s own YouTube channel and blog material.
• C. J. Cornthwaite - textual criticism and manuscript studies on YouTube.
• Esoteric Thoughts - comparative religion and alternative early Christian traditions.
• Religious Historian - historical reconstruction of religious traditions.
• World of Antiquity - ancient Near East, biblical world, and archaeological context.
• History in the Bible - long-form narrative podcast on the history and formation of the Bible.

This list is consolidated from the per-chapter reading lists of Book 7, The Winner’s Tale, and from the ongoing reading and listening that shapes the series. It will grow as later Ages are recorded.