The Earliest Christian Meeting Places: Almost Exclusively Houses?

Description

Edward Adams challenges a strong consensus in New Testament and Early Christian studies: that the early Christians met ‘almost exclusively’ in houses. This assumption has been foundational for research on the social formation of the early churches, the origins and early development of church architecture, and early Christian worship. Recent years have witnessed increased scholarly interest in the early ‘house church’. Adams re-examines the New Testament and other literary data, as well as archaeological and comparative evidence, showing that explicit evidence for assembling in houses is not nearly as extensive as is usually thought. He also shows that there is literary and archaeological evidence for meeting in non-house settings. Adams makes the case that during the first two centuries, the alleged period of the ‘house church’, it is plausible to imagine the early Christians gathering in a range of venues rather than almost entirely in private houses. His thesis has wide-ranging implications. CONTENTS Acknowledgements Abbreviations INTRODUCTION 1. Early Christian Meeting Places: Almost Exclusively Houses 2. Shops and Workshops as ‘House Church’ Settings 3. Reassessing Early Christian Meeting Places 4. The Aims, Approach and Structure of the Book Part I -- EVIDENCE FOR HOUSES AS MEETING PLACES Chapter 1. NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE: EPISTLES 1. The Undisputed Pauline Letters 2. The Deutero-Pauline Letters 3. The General Epistles 4. Conclusion Chapter 2. NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE: GOSPELS AND ACTS 1. The Synoptic Gospels 2. The Book of Acts 3. Conclusion Chapter 3. LITERARY EVIDENCE FROM 100 TO 313 CE 1. Evidence for Houses as Meeting Places 2. Evidence for Adapted Houses as Church Buildings 3. Conclusion Chapter 4. ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 1. The Christian Building at Dura Europos 2. The Christian Prayer Hall at Megiddo 3. The Titular Churches of Rome 4. Other Claimed Pre-Constantinian Domestic Domus Ecclesiae 5. Conclusion Chapter 5. COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE 1. The Domestic Cult 2. Houses as ‘Schools’ and Places of Teaching 3. Houses as Collegial Meeting Places 4. House Synagogues 5. Conclusion Part II -- EVIDENCE AND POSSIBILITIES FOR NON-HOUSE MEETING PLACES Chapter 6. RETAIL, INDUSTRIAL AND STORAGE SPACES 1. Shops and Workshops 2. Barns 3. Warehouses 4. Conclusion Chapter 7. COMMERCIAL HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE SPACE 1. Hotels and Inns 2. Rented Dining Rooms 3. Bathhouses 4. Conclusion Chapter 8. OUTDOOR SPACES AND BURIAL PLACES 1. Gardens 2. Watersides 3. Urban Open Spaces 4. Burial Sites 5. Conclusion CONCLUSION Appendix 1. THE SETTING OF THE CORINTHIAN COMMUNAL MEAL Appendix 2. FIGURES Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors