In reading the chapter “The Conversion of Christianity” from The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown and  “The Early Christian Preference for the Codex” from The Earliest Christian Artifacts by Larry Hurtado, we experience two very different opinions and points of view concerning a similar topic and time frame- the spreading of Christianity during the fall of the Roman Empire. Both are very informed, intelligent pieces of writings, designed to educate readers, but they vary in many ways. Peter Brown uses his extensive knowledge on the topic, opinion and own thoughts to educate readers, while Larry Hurtado uses evidence, others’ arguments, and facts to inform. Both get the same job done in different ways of writing.

Peter Brown is clearly an expert on the topic of Christian influence, and he writes with extreme knowledge, confidence, and understanding of exactly what he is writing about. Because of this, he does write solely in his own opinion and thoughts, not citing any other sources or evidence throughout the paper. Although he does seem to be biased, he uses his knowledge and clear opinion on the topic to inform readers, not particularly to persuade. Because of his lack of citing, it seems as less of an educational text, and it feels more like reading a story rather than a textbook. However, it is notable that he seems to be writing to an audience that already has a sense or some form of education on the topic, not someone that would be reading about this for the first time. His use of pictures in his writings give a sense of the time period that he is writing about, but they are not really a form of evidence or citation.

Similarly to Peter Brown, Larry Hurtado’s writing is packed with knowledge and facts on the topic. Larry Hurtado solely focuses on Christian artifacts, specifically the use of the codex. Hurtado’s writing seems to be much more organized and similar to textbook writings. Unlike Brown, he cites nearly every sentence, and compares and contrasts his arguments with those of others. He rarely uses his own opinion, just his stance on each argument.  He writes in a very textbook type of way in the sense that every page/ paragraph follows the same pattern of writing. Hurtado uses graphs and some pictures to back up his arguments and cite as evidence. Because of his pattern of writing, it was easier to understand and obtain knowledge from Hurtado’s writing than from Brown’s. Larry Hurtado seems to be writing to an audience that has no prior knowledge or education on the topic, for it is packed with facts and evidence to follow up.