LAUSR

notes is, however, often emulated today as contemporary churches favor methods and programs over personal care of congregants and new converts. The book ends with a challenge to return to the patient ferment that offered a deeper and more enduring commitment to the Gospel that was less concerned with numbers and more concerned with character and forming committed Christians. Kreider freely admits that his own habitus as a Mennonite influences his telling of the story of early Christianity. While this reviewer did notice various places where the pacifist tradition was emphasized perhaps more than warranted, such as in the Lactantius material in Part Four, one cannot argue with the fact that Kreider has presented a tour de force which challenges many of the assumptions on how the early church grew. In our postmodern world, the church would do well to learn from the “patient ferment” of those early years, which inculcated an authenticity and care for the individual that proved more attractive than any program or method of evangelism ever would. I highly recommend this book.