Early christian identity formation amidst conflict

Abstract

This article examines the historical development and nature of early Christian identity during the first two centuries C.E. The formation of early Christian identity was inextricably related to conflict. There were conflicts within the emerging movement itself, and conflicts with both Judaism and the Roman Empire. Within these contexts, early Christian identity evolved from being a Jewish ethno-religious identity into a Christian identity that was unattached to a particular geopolitical and ethno-cultural identity. Even though early Christians constructed their identity by means of ethno-racial language, it simultaneously superseded and absorbed existing identities and hence was a meta- or transethnic identity.