The First Urban Churches: Introduction

2015

Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. BE bulletin épigraphique BGU Aegyptische Urkunden aus den Königlichen Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden. berlin: Weidmann, 1895-. Bib Biblica bibint biblical interpretation series BR Biblical Research BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin bWanT beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom alten und neuen Testament bZnW beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft CbeT Contributions to biblical exegesis and Theology CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum. edited by august boeckh. 4 vols. berlin, 1828-1877 CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. berlin, 1862- .

This is a examination of the second volume of a series that explores the urban context of earliest Christian churches from Jerusalem to Rome. The first volume focused on methodologies, and this second volume investigates Roman Corinth in the first century. A critique of the imperial cult in Corinth is included.

2017

In the tradition of The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks, this book explores the relationship between the earliest Christians and the city environment. Experts in classics, early Christianity, and human geography analyze the growth, development, and self-understanding of the early Christian movement in urban settings. The book's contributors first look at how the urban physical, cultural, and social environments of the ancient Mediterranean basin affected the ways in which early Christianity progressed. They then turn to how the earliest Christians thought and theologized in their engagement with cities. With a rich variety of expertise and scholarship, The Urban World and the First Christians is an important contribution to the understanding of early Christianity.

Electronic Christian Media, 2023

This will cover some 85 New Testament cities/towns in Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Perea, the Decapolis, Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Achaia (Greece), in the Mediterranean Sea, and Italy. It will cover the identity, and historical background, along with the New Testament relevance for each city. It will be beautifully illustrated with over 325 colourful, maps, timelines, charts, photographs, and illustrations. Publisher: Electronic Christian Media, 2023 7 X 11 format, 662 pages Paperback Colour ISBN: 979-8371891075 Amazon ASIN: B0BRDHRCZV Paperback Black & White. ISBN: 979-8372255494 Amazon ASIN: B0BRDCPW46

Religion and Urbanity Online, 2024

The phrase New Testament and urbanity refers to ways New Testament writings attest to practices and imagination of urban spaces and the ways urban spaces affected the practices and forms of imagination those documents describe. The phrase rests on a heuristic model of urbanity described by Rau (2020) as ‘a city-related phenomenon that materialises, takes spatial and temporal form. Taking spatial form means urbanity can emerge out of spatial practices and that these practices can also be translated into spatial structures. Taking temporal form means urbanity can emerge out of temporal practices and that these practices can also be translated into temporal structures – rhythms, for example.’ When applied to New Testament writings this heuristic understanding prompts us to ask, what role did religious actors, practices, and ideas found in the New Testament play in the emergence and ongoing development of cities and urbanity? What role did urban spaces and urban practices play in the emergence and ongoing development of Christ religions attested to by New Testament writings? How did spatial practices and forms mutually shape one another? What forms of temporality were expressed by that mutual formation? What urban rhythms arose, consequently? We refer to differing modes of urbanity, which is to say different kinds of relations and practices of urban spaces expressed through the various kinds of literature that constitute the New Testament (apocalyptic, gospel or sacred biography, types of letters, etc.), demography (ethnicity, economic power, social status), and the variety of imperial locations in which they were produced. The confluence of these elements resulted in rich spatial imagination and practices that reconceptualised urban spaces even as those spaces prompted forms of thought and practice.

The Citywide Church: Biblical Evidence & Practical Application, 2019

A topic that has had little scholarly discussion is the concept of a citywide church. Rather than discussion, the citywide church receives brief mention during lengthy discussions of subjects such as house churches, multisite churches, and church polity. Those finding evidence of the city church concept claim New Testament Christians in a particular city considered themselves to be members of one citywide church. D. A Carson writes, "…only 'church' (ekklesia in the singular) is used for the congregation of all believers in one city, never 'churches'; one reads of churches in Galatia, but the church in Antioch or Jerusalem." 1 The purpose of this paper is to conduct a thorough analysis of the New Testament's descriptions of the church to see if evidence of a citywide church structure exists in the New Testament. It will then provide application based on the findings, with specific consideration to multisite church situations. Defining the Terms and the Subject The terminology surrounding the citywide church is muddy. Most mentions in books and articles use "city church" or "church in the city" to define this group of believers who comprise the church in that city. The problem with these terms is, a search for them in academic circles provides an abundance of sources for urban ministry and urban churches, but little to nothing on 1 D. A. Carson, "Church, Authority in The," in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Daniel J. Treier and Walter A. Elwell, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017), 345, accessed April 29, 2019, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/swbts/detail.action?docID=5188207. Evaluating the First Century City While a definite number cannot be established, scholars believe Ancient Rome had a population between 450,000 to 1,000,000. 5 Jerusalem, by contrast, was an average city of the period, and had an estimated population between 20,000 and 75,000 in the mid first century. 6 These cities, along with many others in between of various sizes, were the hubs of the ancient world, where commerce took place and knowledge was discovered. They were also where churches began, the Gospel was preached, and the message then went out to various other locales. Ancient cities were not only populous, but they were dense. Most ancient cities packed many people within the protection of its walls, and were only five to ten acres. Frank Frick notes that the population density was around 240 people per acre. 7 The early church began in larger cities, covering more acreage, but even so, these were not the sprawling metropolises common in the United States today. Ancient Rome was under 3500 acres in size. 8 By comparison, Atlanta,

Asia Journal of Theology, 2021

Urban Loft Publishers, 2015

Often times the Bible is associated with rural pastoral settings. The Israelites wandering in the desert wilderness living in tents, David playing his harp for sheep out in the pasture, and Jesus strolling along dusty roads between remote villages. But what if I told you that the Bible is an urban book and that the center stage for where the drama of biblical events played out was truly the city? Starting in Genesis, all of the way to the end of the Bible in Revelation, the whole trajectory of humanity and the focal point for the Missio Dei was and is urban and not rural. When Jesus erupted into history through the womb of a teenager he lived in the most urban region in the world. The early church was birthed in the city and spread to the largest most influential cosmopolitan urban centers of the day. For the first-century Christian, to be a follower of Jesus was synonymous with being an urbanite. The Urbanity of the Bible explores the urban nature of the Bible and displays the urban trajectory of the Missio Dei. The city was and is a dominant theme of the setting, backdrop, and purposes of God throughout history. As the world today has flooded to the cities this book is good news. We were meant to live in the city.