Knowledge, Faith, and Early Christian Initiation

In this book, Alex Fogleman presents a new history of the rise and development of catechesis in Latin patristic Christianity by focusing on the critical relationship between teaching and epistemology. Through detailed studies of key figures and catechetical texts, he offers a nuanced account of initiation in the early Christian era to explore fundamental questions in patristic theology: What did early Christians think that it meant to know God, and how could it be taught? What theological commitments and historical circumstances undergirded the formation of the catechumenate? What difference did the Christian confession of Jesus Christ as God-made-flesh make for practices of Christian teaching? Fogleman’s study provides a dynamic narrative that encompasses not only the political and social history of Christianity associated with the Constantinian shift in the fourth century, but also the modes of teaching and communication that helped to establish Christian identity. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Alex Fogleman is an assistant research professor at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, and the founding director of the Catechesis Institute. He received his Ph.D. in patristics and historical theology from Baylor University.