New from OUP: Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies

This announcement, however, comes not from Oxford University Press itself but from Dove, which is offering an introductory special on this title here. Given the exorbitant list prices of the hardcover volumes in this series, I will almost certainly be waiting for a paperback edition. But for those interested readers with deeper pockets, this will be well worth a look.

Ashbrook, Susan David Hunter (eds)
Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies
(Oxford University Press, 2008) 1032 pages
Hardcover List: $155.00 Dove Price: $125.99 Save $29.01 (19%) NYP Due: 08/15/2008

Description
The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies responds to and celebrates the explosion of research in this inter-disciplinary field over recent decades. As a one-volume reference work, it provides an introduction to the academic study of early Christianity (c. 100-600 AD) and examines the vast geographical area impacted by the early church, in Western and Eastern late antiquity. It is thematically arranged to encompass history, literature, thought, practices, and material culture. It contains authoritative and up-to-date surveys of current thinking and research in the various sub-specialties of early Christian studies, written by leading figures in the discipline. The essays orientate readers to a given topic, as well as to the trajectory of research developments over the past 30-50 years within the scholarship itself. Guidance for future research is also given. Each essay points the reader towards relevant forms of extant evidence (texts, documents, or examples of material culture), as well as to the appropriate research tools available for the area. This volume will be useful to advanced undergraduate and post-graduate students, as well as to specialists in any area who wish to consult a brief review of the 'state of the question' in a particular area or sub-specialty of early Christian studies, especially one different from their own.