Table Of ContentEarly Christianity
and Society
Early Christianity
and Society
Seven Studies
ROBERT M. GRANT
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HARPER 8c ROW, PUBLISHERS
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early Christianity and society: Seven Studies. Copyright © 1977 by Robert
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FIRST EDITION
Designed by Jim Mennick
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Grant, Robert McQueen, 1917—
EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIETY.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Sociology, Christian—Early church, ca. 30-600—
Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Title.
BR166.G7 261.1 77-7844
ISBN 0-06-063411-1
Contents
PREFACE vii
ABBREVIATIONS xi
I. The Christian Population of the Roman Empire
II. Christian Devotion to the Monarchy 13
III. Taxation and Exemption 44
IV. Work and Occupations 66
V. Private Property 96
VI. The Organization of Alms 124
VII. Temples, Churches, and Endowments 146
NOTES 165
BIBLIOGRAPHY 193
207
INDEX
Preface
This book is intended for people whose interest in the life and
thought of early Christianity is not strictly academic. In having
to deal with the modern world, such readers have necessarily
become interested in facts and figures, population trends, at¬
titudes toward the government, taxes and deductions, pros
and cons of different occupations, property and charitable
gifts, and buildings and capital funds. They are likely to be
concerned about such matters not only for themselves and
their families, but quite possibly for religious groups with
which they are involved.
Early Christianity and Society was written in Chicago and Rome,
cities where one is not likely to forget practical Christianity.
The chapter on private property is a slightly revised version of
an Andrew W. Mellon Lecture delivered at Dumbarton Oaks
for the program in Early Christian Humanism of the Catholic
University of America. Much of the chapter on work and the
work ethic was delivered as a lecture for the Institut for Kirke-
historie of Copenhagen University.
Far too often in modern religious thought one jumps from
the Bible to the world today without paying attention to any of
Preface
Dili
the practical problems religionists had to face in antiquity. Too
often we are content with a mythical or even fabulous picture
of the religious past and thus are unable to relate ourselves to it
or it to ourselves. According to Acts 14, crowds at Lystra in Asia
Minor thought that the apostles Barnabas and Paul were Zeus
and Hermes. The two vigorously denied this, claiming to be
men just like the others. Unfortunately the writers of church
history have not always taken advantage of this insight.
Modern historians are usually fascinated with figures and
speak of quantification. Ancient Christians undoubtedly had
more figures than they passed on to us, but the rhetorically-
minded preachers and theologians whose writings tended to
be preserved usually talked about “myriads” rather than pre¬
cise numbers of people or monetary units. In Chapter I I have
tried to overcome this situation and examine what evidence
there is. After we consider the possible number of Christians in
the Roman empire, we go on to observe their attitudes toward
the empire and the emperor. We shall also investigate how
Christians interpreted one of their earliest dogmas concerning
the kingdom or reign of God. What could this concept of king¬
dom have meant in the Palestine of Jesus’ time? What later on?
As throughout the book, I emphasize the practical effect of the
church’s gradually becoming a well-organized state within a
state—the main subject of Chapter II.
In Chapter III we turn to even more mundane concerns,
viewed in one context when Jesus discussed the payment of
tribute to Caesar. These are also explored in other contexts
which relate his thinking to various Roman taxes and the
exemptions provided some pagan priests and all orthodox
clergy, as well as Jewish leaders under Constantine. In the
same vein, Chapter IV examines, in some detail, work and
occupations in early church society. Was there a special Chris¬
tian or Jewish view of work or “work ethic”? Were certain oc-
Preface IX
cupations off limits for Christians and Jews alone? This chap¬
ter will show that Jews and Christians shared the ideas of the
dominant groups in their society and did not innovate. The
same is true of their ideas regarding private property (Chap¬
ter V).
There is a considerable measure of agreement between my
own views and those of G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, whose essay on
“Early Christian attitudes to property and slavery” appeared in
1975. Perhaps as a Marxist, he is unenthusiastic about almsgiv¬
ing and charity, but I view this expression of human concern
more favorably and have devoted Chapter VI to it. The last
chapter treats the “triumph of Christianity” in the fourth cen¬
tury as an economic matter involving the closing of pagan tem¬
ples, the building or at least remodeling of churches, and the
concomitant attacks on pagan endowments and the obtaining
of Christian ones.
What I am discussing here is not the whole story about early
Christianity. There is not much about the history of doctrine as
such or of exegesis or even about the wrangles among church¬
men that constitute so much of church history. To write a
scenario based on such themes is both legitimate and neces¬
sary, but not my goal. If taken by itself, this book could rightly
be viewed as an extreme answer to the extreme “churchiness”
of Eusebius of Caesarea, who mentioned events in the life and
history of the Roman world only when Christians were being
persecuted by the state. An adequate history of the church
needs to take all these aspects into account. But this is not a
history of the early church. It is a venture into the reconstruc¬
tion of early Christian practicality.
Years ago, when some friends of mine were discussing the
menace of secularism, I suggested that we could most readily
examine it by considering the way we ourselves think and act. I
still think that to differentiate the sacred and the secular too
A Preface
sharply is a mistake. In this book 1 attempt to show that mam
earlv Christians had concerns remarkabh like some of our
own. In spite ot'this. or perhaps because ot' it. the church did
survive.
Mv thanks are due to mam colleagues, including students,
who have labored with me in these areas, and especialh to
Professor R. Krautheimer for guidance at Rome M\ book is
O
obviously related to mv father's study of 1'he Fcvwmv
Background of the Gospels. published ti11\ years ago. Mam of the
New Testament quotations are taken from the Revised Stan¬
dard Version. Others are mv own translations.
Rorfri M. Oranr
Chicago
October 1976
