The earliest history of the christian gathering : origin, development and content of the christian gathering in the first to third centuries

Abstract

During the past ten years a shift has occurred in the study of the periodical gatherings of the early Christians. The essence of this new approach can be formulated as follows: the local Early Christian community, as a sociological phenomenon, functioned as a voluntary religious association just like many other associations in the Greco-Roman world of the first century CE. Though the Christian banquets had a twofold structure, the emphasis in current scholarship has been predominantly on the study of the first part of the early Christian gathering, that is, on the supper, also called the Eucharist. Less attention has been given to the study of the second part of the Christian gatherings, which corresponds to the symposium part of the Greco-Roman banquet. The paradigm shift of the later 90’s makes it necessary to re-examine the tradition-historical roots of what happened in the non-eucharistic part of the Christian gathering. Yet the Eucharist and the non-eucharistic elements of the gathering should be seen as paparts of the twofold whole of meal and accompanying social activity. The intended project will focus on the origins and early history of Sunday as the specific Christian day of gathering. In particular, it will concentrate on the social and religio-historical background of the weekly gatherings, their coming into being and the development of their form and content. The areas of study include the origin and development of the observance of Sunday as the weekly Christian feast-day, the shape and meaning of the weekly gatherings of the Christian communities, the rise of the customs of praying, singing, and reading of texts in these meetings and the homilies, admonitions and other oral communication that took place in them. The overall aim of the study is to contribute to the study of the origins of Christianity and its ritual.