In the book The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown, he explores the spread of Christianity and how it effected those at the time. While Larry Hurtado did something similar in his book Earliest Christian Artifacts, he instead analyzed how Christianity affected early codices. They are similar in that they recognize how the wave of Christianity spread across the globe, however their formats differ as well as their approaches.

An extremely blatant difference between Brown and Hurtado is that Brown uses a few sources while Hurtado has references galore. These are seen at at the bottom of each page in the paragraphs of footnotes. Also, on pages 90 through 93 in Earliest Christian Artifacts, Hurtado utilizes charts and pie graphs to exemplify his point. Also, Brown uses some minor opinions to back himself up while Hurtado is purely facts based. A similarity between the two is that they both back themselves up with facts. The sentences composed of the facts, in Brown’s case, are extremely long. He utilizes long, sweeping sentences to convey his point and even includes some foreign words, such as “demi-vierge” and “kyriako oikos” (Brown, pg. 92, 94). Brown’s equivalent to Hurtado’s footnotes are his use of pictures; there is one on every page. Hurtado’s piece is more freeform in both structure and argument, while Brown follows a stricter format. They use similar language to convey their arguments, but they are appealing to different audiences. Brown seems to be writing for educated people who have an average understanding of world history and how it was affected by religion. Hurtado instead gives us all the numbers and facts we could ever need, one just needs the understanding that religion affected the course of history. While both are professional in how they present their information, Hurtado’s writing style is simpler and therefore more appealing than Brown’s. Both of them are passionate about their topic, so much so that they practically transport you back in time. Hurtado’s past is that of rapid change and development, new technology, new ways of thinking. The past through Brown’s eyes is that of new people, new brains, and how the lower classes were affected by the belief system of the upper class.

Hurtado explores a fact-based and footnote splattered argument while Brown utilizes wordy sentences riddled with facts to convey the affect that Christianity had on history. Brown notices how it changed people and art while Hurtado noted how it effected people and how they passed along information. Even through the stark contrasts in their delivery, one is still transported back in time and emerges with an understanding of the past.