Download or read book The Early Church written by W. H. C. Frend and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frend's masterful survey, here presented with a new Preface and updated bibliographies, traces the historical and theological development of the Christian church from apostolic times through the fifth century. Frend charts the tumultuous and momentous process by which an obscure Palestinian Jewish sect became the official religion of the Roman Empire and achieved, despite conflict, schism, and heresy, a firm organizational, liturgical and doctrinal identity.