Table Of ContentEARLY CHRISTIANITY IN CONTEXT
Editor
John M. G. Barclay
Editorial Board
Loveday Alexander, Troels-Engberg-Pedersen, Bart Ehrman, Joel Marcus,
John Riches, Matthias Konradt
LIBRARY OF NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES
450
Formerly Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series
Editor
Mark Goodacre
Editorial Board
John M. G. Barclay, Craig Blomberg,
R. Alan Culpepper, James D. G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans, Stephen Fowl,
Robert Fowler, Simon J. Gathercole, John S. Kloppenborg, Michael Labahn,
Robert Wall, Steve Walton, Robert L. Webb, Catrin H. Williams
ii
THE EARLIEST CHRISTIAN MEETING PLACES
Almost Exclusively Houses?
Edward Adams
LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY
Bloomsbury T&T Clark
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway
London New York
WC1B 3DP NY 10018
UK USA
www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing plc
First published 2013
© Edward Adams, 2013
Edward Adams has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identi(cid:191)ed as Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining
from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury
Academic or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-0-56728-257-6
ePDF: 978-0-56715-732-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Adams, Edward
The Earliest Christian Meeting Places / Edward Adams p.cm
Includes bibliographic references and index.
ISBN 978-0-5672-8257-6 (hardcover)
Typeset by Forthcoming Publications Ltd (www.forthpub.com)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations xi
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Early Christian Meeting Places: Almost Exclusively Houses 1
2. Shops and Workshops as ‘House Church’ Settings 5
3. Reassessing Early Christian Meeting Places 8
4. The Aims, Approach and Structure of the Book 10
Part I
EVIDENCE FOR HOUSES AS MEETING PLACES
Chapter 1
NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE: EPISTLES 17
1. The Undisputed Pauline Letters 17
1.1. ‘The Church at the Home’ 18
1.2. Household and Family Terminology 21
1.3. The Church at Corinth 24
1.3.1. Subgroup Gatherings 25
1.3.2. The Whole-Church Gathering 26
1.4. The Christian Community at Rome 30
1.5. Other Locations 33
2. The Deutero-Pauline Letters 35
2.1. Colossians and Ephesians 35
2.2. The Pastoral Epistles 37
3. The General Epistles 40
4. Conclusion 43
Chapter 2
NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE: GOSPELS AND ACTS 45
1. The Synoptic Gospels 45
1.1. House Settings of Jesus’ Ministry 46
1.2. The House Missional Rule 49
vi Contents
2. The Book of Acts 51
2.1. House Meetings and Houses as Meeting Places:
Unambiguous Texts 52
2.2. House Meetings and Houses as Meeting Places:
Debatable Texts 55
2.3. Houses as Meeting Places: Speculative Inferences 61
2.4. Other Settings of Mission and Meeting 63
3. Conclusion 67
Chapter 3
LITERARY EVIDENCE FROM 100 TO 313 CE 68
1. Evidence for Houses as Meeting Places 69
1.1. The Late First and Early Second Centuries 69
1.2. The Later Second and Early Third Centuries 72
1.3. The Apocryphal Acts 77
2. Evidence for Adapted Houses as Church Buildings 80
2.1. The First Half of the Third Century 81
2.2. The Later Third and Early Fourth Centuries 84
3. Conclusion 88
Chapter 4
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 89
1. The Christian Building at Dura Europos 89
2. The Christian Prayer Hall at Megiddo 96
3. The Titular Churches of Rome 99
4. Other Claimed Pre-Constantinian Domestic
Domus Ecclesiae 104
5. Conclusion 111
Chapter 5
COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE 113
1. The Domestic Cult 113
2. Houses as ‘Schools’ and Places of Teaching 116
3. Houses as Collegial Meeting Places 119
4. House Synagogues 124
5. Conclusion 132
Contents vii
Part II
EVIDENCE AND POSSIBILITIES
FOR NON-HOUSE MEETING PLACES
Chapter 6
RETAIL, INDUSTRIAL AND STORAGE SPACES 137
1. Shops and Workshops 137
1.1. Evidence for Shops and Workshops
as Christian Meeting Places 137
1.2. Roman Shops and Workshops 138
1.3. Shops and Workshops as Possible
Christian Meeting Places 143
2. Barns 146
2.1. Evidence for Barns as Christian Meeting Places 146
2.2. Roman Barns 147
2.3. Barns as Possible Christian Meeting Places 148
3. Warehouses 149
3.1. Evidence for Warehouses as Christian Meeting Places 149
3.2. Roman Civil Warehouses 150
3.3. Warehouses as Possible Christian Meeting Places 153
4. Conclusion 156
Chapter 7
COMMERCIAL HOSPITALITY AND LEISURE SPACE 157
1. Hotels and Inns 157
1.1. Evidence for Hotels and Inns as Christian
Meeting Places 157
1.2. Roman Hotels and Inns 159
1.3. Hotels and Inns as Possible Christian Meeting Places 164
2. Rented Dining Rooms 166
2.1. Evidence for Rented Dining Rooms as
Christian Meeting Places 166
2.2. Rentable Dining Rooms in the Roman World 166
2.3. Rented Dining Rooms as Possible Christian
Meeting Places 170
3. Bathhouses 171
3.1. Evidence for Bathhouses as Christian Meeting Places 171
3.2. Roman Bathhouses 173
3.3. Bathhouses as Possible Christian Meeting Places 176
4. Conclusion 179
1
viii Contents
Chapter 8
OUTDOOR SPACES AND BURIAL PLACES 181
1. Gardens 181
1.1. Evidence for Gardens as Christian Meeting Places 181
1.2. Roman Gardens 183
1.3. Gardens as Possible Christian Meeting Places 184
2. Watersides 186
2.1. Evidence for Watersides as Christian Meeting Places 186
2.2. Watersides as Possible Christian Meeting Places 188
3. Urban Open Spaces 189
3.1. Evidence for Urban Open Spaces as Christian
Meeting Places 189
3.2. Urban Open Spaces as Possible Christian
Meeting Places 190
4. Burial Sites 192
4.1. Evidence for Burial Sites as Early Christian
Meeting Places 192
4.2. Tombs and Tombside Dining Facilities in the
Roman World 194
4.3. Burial Sites as Possible Christian Meeting Places 195
5. Conclusion 196
CONCLUSION 198
Appendix 1
THE SETTING OF THE CORINTHIAN COMMUNAL MEAL 203
Appendix 2
FIGURES 207
Bibliography 232
Index of References 253
Index of Authors 261
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project has dominated my research activity over the period covered
by the Research Excellence Framework (2008–13). The main research
was carried out during a period of study leave in 2009–10 made possible
by a Leverhulme Trust fellowship. I am extremely grateful to the Lever-
hulme Trust for this award, which included an allowance to spend a
week at the archaeological excavations of Pompeii. In the autumn of
2012, I was granted sabbatical leave by my university, King’s College
London, to enable me to complete the writing of the book. I want to
thank my (then) Head of Department, Paul Janz, for facilitating this
sabbatical and for his support of my project all the way through.
The Maughan Library, King’s College London, together with the
Warburg Institute Library and the Institute of Classical Studies Library,
provided the main resources for my research. I made use of Tyndale
House library and Glasgow University Library as well. I also took advan-
tage of my university’s electronic resources. The excellent websites,
Pompeii in Pictures, http://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/
index.htm, and Ostia – Harbour City of Ancient Rome, http://www.ostia-
antica.org, allowed me to revisit Pompeii and Ostia at the convenience
of my home or of(cid:191)ce.
I am glad to have had a number of opportunities to present my
research, as it developed, at conferences (the British New Testament
Conference, Durham, 2008; the Annual Meeting of Society of Biblical
Literature, Book of Acts unit, New Orleans, 2009; the Irish Biblical
Association Annual Meeting, Dublin, 2010) and university research
seminars (the New Testament Senior Seminar, Cambridge, 2011; the
New Testament Research Seminar, Durham, 2011; the Centre for
Biblical Studies research seminar, Exeter, 2009, 2011, 2013; the Biblical
Studies Research Seminar, King’s College London, 2010; the Depart-
ment of Biblical Studies research seminar, Shef(cid:191)eld, 2011). I am most
grateful for the feedback I received on those occasions.
I wish to record my thanks to Richard Burridge, who, in his capacity
as my line manager at King’s, monitored my progress throughout the
period of my Leverhulme Trust award. He read and reacted to (very
rough!) draft chapters written during this time, offering positive criticism
