Bücher der Reihe Studies in the Ancient Church

Roman Centurions feature prominently in the New Testament. A centurion stood at the foot of the cross when Christ was crucified. Jesus healed a centurion's servant and Paul interacted with centurions on multiple occasions. A centurion was even the first non-Jewish convert to Christianity. But who were these men, really? What did it mean to be a centurion? Why did the New Testament authors include them in their writings? This illuminating work provides the most thorough and comprehensive treatment to date on New Testament centurions in order to answer these questions and bring to light these often overlooked characters. Through a careful analysis of available military history and primary source texts, this book highlights the importance of centurions to the biblical narrative and sheds new light on the role these men played in the early church.