The Earliest History of the Christian Gathering: Origin, Development and Content of the Christian Gathering in the First to Third CenturiesRecent research has made a strong case for the view that Early Christian communities, sociologically considered, functioned as voluntary religious associations. This is similar to the practice of many other cultic associations in the Greco-Roman world of the first century CE. Building upon this new approach, along with a critical interpretation of all available sources, this book discusses the social and religio-historical background of the weekly gatherings of Christians and presents a fresh reconstruction of how the weekly gathering originated and developed in both form and content. The topics studied here include the origins of the observance of Sunday as the weekly Christian feast-day, the shape and meaning of the weekly gatherings of the Christian communities, and the rise of customs such as preaching, praying, singing, and the reading of texts in these meetings. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 A new approach to the study of the early Christian gathering | 2 |
2 A brief survey of previous research | 9 |
3 The present study | 14 |
Chapter One The Origin of the Weekly Gathering in the Early Church | 17 |
b Gatherings of pagan cult associations | 23 |
c Gatherings of Jewish associations | 27 |
d Gatherings of Christian communities | 30 |
Conclusions | 181 |
Chapter Five Preaching in the Gathering of the Early Church | 183 |
2 The development of preaching in the gatherings of the early Church | 191 |
b Preaching in the Christian gathering in the second century | 195 |
c Preaching in the Christian gathering in the third century | 202 |
3 Preachers in the gatherings of the early Church | 205 |
Conclusions | 210 |
Chapter Six Singing and Prayer in the Gathering of the Early Church | 211 |
2 Time and place of the gatherings of the early Church | 40 |
b The meeting places of the early Christians | 49 |
3 Content and order of the community gatherings in the early Church | 57 |
b Christian symposia | 62 |
c The order of the Christian gathering | 65 |
4 The leaders of the gatherings in the early Church | 69 |
Conclusions | 76 |
Chapter Two The Gatherings of Christians in the Morning | 79 |
2 The morning gatherings in the second and third centuries | 91 |
Conclusions | 101 |
Chapter Three The Lords Supper in the Early Church | 103 |
b The Lords Supper and the Eucharist in Paul and the Didache | 108 |
2 The Last Supper of Jesus and the Lords Supper | 114 |
b The Lords Supper in the Gospel tradition | 128 |
3 The Eucharist in the second and third centuries | 132 |
b The Eucharist in the third century | 142 |
Conclusions | 146 |
Chapter Four The Reading of Scripture in the Gathering of the Early Church | 147 |
b Reading of Scripture in Jewish communal gatherings | 150 |
c Public reading in Christian communities | 155 |
2 Development of the public reading of Scripture in the Christian communities | 158 |
b Public reading of Scripture in the second century | 168 |
c Public reading of Scripture in the third century | 175 |
3 The office of reader | 178 |
b Singing and music in the Christian gathering during the first three centuries | 215 |
2 Prayer in the gathering of the early Church | 228 |
b The evolution of the eucharistic prayers during the first three centuries | 232 |
c NonEucharistic prayers in the Christian gatherings during the first three centuries | 246 |
Conclusions | 253 |
Chapter Seven Other Ritual Actions in the Gatherings of the Early Church | 255 |
2 The laying on of hands and ordination | 260 |
3 Ritual footwashing and oil anointing | 266 |
4 Collections almsgiving and offerings | 268 |
5 Healing and exorcism | 275 |
6 Liturgical acclamations and doxologies | 277 |
Conclusions | 283 |
General Conclusions | 285 |
Appendices | 291 |
1 The earliest history of the Christian gathering | 293 |
2 The order of the proceedings in the Christian gathering | 294 |
3 The frequency of the Christian gatherings and their distribution over the morning and the evening during the first three centuries | 296 |
4 An Ancient Religious Community Meeting at Sunrise | 298 |
5 Plans of two thirdcentury Christian gathering places | 299 |
| 301 | |
| 323 | |
| 341 | |
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Common terms and phrases
According Acta Acts Apol Apostolic assembly associations beginning bishop blessing body bread celebration Chris Christ Christian communities Christian gathering Church clear Clement congregation context continued Corinthians custom death Didache discussed drink early Christian eucharistic prayers evidence followed give given Gospel Graeco-Roman hands held History holy hymns institution interpretation Jesus Jewish Jews Justin kiss Last Supper letter liturgical Lord Lord’s Supper Mark meal means meetings mentioned morning offered origins pagan participants passage Paul Paul’s periodical person practice pray preaching present Press probably Prophets psalms reading reading of Scripture reason receive reference reflect regarded religious Roman Rome Sabbath second century seems sermon singing speaks Sunday symposium synagogue teaching Tert Tertullian texts third century tion took Trad tradition University week whole wine worship writings