Foundations of Christian Music: The Music of Pre-Constantinian Christianity

In the study of Christian liturgical music the first three centuries of the Christian era are foundational. Seldom however does this period receive serious attention from scholars. One of the reasons for this oversight is the fluid auditory environment of this period and the inadequacy of the Western concept of music to describe this environment. Foundations of Christian Music addresses this lacuna by exploring the auditory environment of first-century CE Judaism and emerging Christianity until the time of Constantine (d. 337). Through a consideration of the text styles forms performance and settings of Jewish and early Christian worship Foundations offers an unusually rich perspective on the lyrical nature of emerging Christian worship.