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The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul

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Biblical scholar Wayne Meeks wrote the first edition of THE FIRST URBAN CHRISTIANS in the mid 1980's. He collected not only scriptural information, but also historical and sociological information to reconstruct the world of the earliest Christians. At the time it was considered to be groundbreaking research. Today this work is considered by many to the standard bearer of sociological studies concerning first century Christians.

Meeks studies the earliest Christian communities established by St. Paul. Meeks acknowledges that in the minds of most people, the first Christians were poorer peasant and agrarian people, but the reality is probably different. While the gospel may have been first preached in such settings, the faith started in urban areas and spread first from one city to another, then to the countryside. While Meeks does mention many of the early Christian leaders in his work, his primary focus is on the writings of St. Paul and the day to day life behind these writings, since historically these writings are the earliest Christian sources.

Topics in the book include the urban environment of Pauline Christianity, social life of the early Christian community, the formations of churches, conflicts, rituals, and how belief shaped the lives of the early Christians. The book also has an index to help with information on specific subjects and a scriptural reference index for people who need to use the book for a quick reference for study or preparation of preaching.

Meeks has a scholar's attention to detail and provides a great deal of information in this work. He also has the reader in mind. Knowing that the work will be read both by scholars, students, and those interested in a deeper knowledge of scripture, the work is informative and readable.

While the information in the book is no longer new, it is still current. Students and those wishing further study will find Meeks' copious notes as well as his bibliography helpful for further study.

Wayne Meeks, professor of Biblical studies at Yale, looks at the world of the first century Christian church in this book, 'The First Urban Christians'. He has a follow-up volume, 'The Origin of Christian Morality', that progresses into the world of the second century Christian church. Together these volumes give a rare insight into the earliest development of the church -- as so many denominations take as their authority the actions, decisions, and conventions of this time (as they understand them), a look at the formative years of Christianity (and later Christendom) is valuable indeed.

This book looks at social description of early Christianity, bringing in history, politics, sociology and philosophy in various degrees. Meeks is looking for the 'ordinary Christian' in the early church, something he claims we do not often find in the scriptures or other writings of the time. This requires that we know as much as possible about the general cultural setting in which early Christians found themselves, as their writings and practices handed down to us constitute a response, if not directly then at least indirectly, to their times.

Despite the pastoral setting of many of the gospel stories and parables, Christianity was largely an urban phenomenon in its earliest days (as would be true of most any sect or cult that would grow in early times -- it would take root in and transfer by movement between cities; indeed, Antioch, one of the major cities of the time, was where the term Christian was first coined). Meeks looks at the issues of city growth, from village to city to empire (it is no mistake that the Roman Empire derived its name from a city). Urban Judaism had unique traits that are examined here as influential in early Christianity. Meeks also explores different issues such as the role of women in urban society, mobility issues and the kinds of interconnections people in cities would make, intra-urban and inter-urban.

After this examination, Meeks continues to look at specifically church-related issues in urban, Pauline Christianity. These include the various rituals such as baptism and eucharist, governance and hierarchy issues in the early church (very different from later, imperial Christianity), and patterns of belief -- remember, this is a time when there was not only no set canon of scripture, but no creeds formulated yet, either. Meeks also explores briefly the unknown and controverted rituals -- how did the early Christians marry (or remarry)? How did they bury and mourn their dead (for we know it was of concern to many early Christians that people were dying prior to the return of Christ)?

Meeks provides ample footnoting citations, a generous bibliography of secondary sources (35 pages of this!), and indexes of biblical references, modern authors, and subjects. This is an excellent text for study and reference, and gives good insights into a world we take for granted often that we understand (due to our familiarity with the New Testament scriptures), yet really is foreign in time and space.

Meeks takes a look at the first Christians from a perspective rarely found in typical Christian Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, and commentaries. The strength of this work lies in the fact that Meeks is specifically unveiling the social customs and mores of the first century. Especially helpful are his discussions on the living and working conditions of the first Christians.

Since we are nearly 2000 years removed from the social context on the early church, a book such as this helps us to see what we have been missing.

Very up-to-date information, thoroughly discussed and analyzed. The book is laid out by subject, so it's easy to go back and find information. It is basically a complete description of the Roman World of Paul's time, right down to the tiniest detail that we have available. The only downside is the sheer density of it. But if you can muck your way through it, this book is simply groundbreaking in its analysis of the world that Christianity was born into.

Meeks, Wayne A., The First Urban Christians, The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven, Yale University Press, Second Edition, 2003)

We are concerned about reversing the decline in respect and attention given to the faith which sustained our parents, and we should be. If our witness to that faith no longer merits attention, there may be something wrong with our understanding and evangelism on behalf of that faith. One source of answers may be to return to the beginning to see how Christianity was so remarkably successful in its growth over the first century after its revelation. That is the subject of this book, written by one of the top two or three top Biblical scholars in English in the latter half of the 20th Century.

This is primarily a study in the social sciences, which uses the scriptures and other Christian writings as source documents to analyze the nature of the early Christian communities. By this kind of analysis, one can, to some extent, understand ancient events by seeing similarities in more recent developments. One may speculate, for example, that the rise of Russian communism may have been due to opportunities similar to those present in Imperial Rome. The irony is that both movements developed in arenas which were opposite to the milieu where each was born. Marxism was born in the industrial cities of Germany and England. Christianity was born and raised in a rural setting. But, to quote professor Meeks: `Paul was a city person. The city breathes through his language. Jesus' parables of sowers and weeds, sharecroppers, and mud-roofed cottages call forth smells of manure and earth, and the Aramaic of the Palestinian villages often echoes in the Greek. When Paul constructs a metaphor of olive trees or gardens, on the other hand, the Greek is fluent and evokes schoolroom more than farm.'

In 45 CE, Greek was the universal language of the Empire, especially to the east of the Italian peninsula. The Greeks had even colonized far to the west of Italy, in Spain and North Africa. Even educated inhabitants of Rome spoke Greek, and all the Roman gods were simply Greek gods with their names changed. By 45 CE, the largest body of Jews, Greek speakers, were living in Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa, with small settlements in Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, Italy, and Spain. Their scripture was the Greek Septuagint, the `Bible' of the New Testament writers.

Overlaid on this Greek `substrate' was a Roman civil authority, which was far less antagonistic to Jews and Christians than Hollywood may make you believe. As Paul writes in Romans 13:1--3 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except form God; and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God...For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Most Roman presence in the East was in cities they colonized with gifts to retired soldiers, given by Emperors, Augustus, Tiberius, and Claudius. Three of these cities, Corinth, Philippi, and Ephesus, also happened to be some of Paul's greatest missionary successes, and his frequent headquarters.

The backbone of ancient Middle Eastern society was the extended family, which included a large number of relatives, freedmen employees, and slaves. Within families and across family lines, things got done as a result of patronage and honor. Everyone was someone's patron or vassal, and usually patron to some and vassal to another. Even the empire itself was run as if it were a family business, with many key government and army positions being held by the famila caesaris.
From the Gospels, one gets the impression that most early Christians were from the lowest strata of society. In analyzing the figures in Paul's letters and in Acts, the author demonstrates that almost all named Christians come from the middle three-fifths of society. There are no `world leaders' until Constantine, but there are also no country slaves living at the poverty level. Many are wealthy or comfortable merchants or craftsmen, much like Paul himself. And, Paul usually converted families and not individuals, which suggests an historical error in Acts, which suggests Paul always went to the synagogues in new cities. His letters suggest his first congregation in a city was a `house church' in a family residence.

The importance of the family was one aspect which presented Paul with a fertile soil in which to plant. Another was the disparity between ones aspirations within the Roman society straining against the three level Roman class system of patricians, equestrians, and publicans. To achieve public office, you needed to be part of a patrician or equestrian family, and aside from being born into one, the only chance was marriage, and that didn't happen very often. As a result, there arose a tension between one's sense of ability and importance with the much lower social recognition of that importance. This gave rise to many different kinds of social and economic organizations where one could exercise one's talents. Since the state religion locked out those who were not members of a high social order, and since, generally, the Roman civil service didn't care about your religion, Paul and his fellow missionaries were able to start hundreds of small churches throughout the Greco-Roman world. These churches supplied everything we do today, plus much more, since the civil government did nothing to provide education, health services, or welfare to the poor. The great Roman genius was channeled exclusively into the army, civil engineering, and keeping the peace.

This book goes far to give us a sound understanding of what made Christianity an early success. Read it and be wise.

I believe that Meeks has the right approach in writing a sociological analysis for the early Church organization and growth. He raises some good points about how blinding and narrow some religion-centered analyses can be. So a book with this intent is worth reading . However, the author's Dartmouth roots get in the way with his complex academic style. Reading this book is like walking through a literary swamp or perhaps deep, fresh powder snow. It's slow and exhausting with frequent stops for rest and regeneration. If you're a common person with a traditional education and average reading skills and experiences, then this book will frustrate you no end. At the same time it will open you up and broaden you to a new vocabulary, but one which you'll likely never use in everyday life. Keep the dictionary at your fingertips...a good, thick dictionary. You'll be using it like a person with a mid winter head cold would use a box of tissues. While Meeks' purpose is good, he loses that inertia with his wasted, Ivy League style. There must be other books like this one that speak everyday English. Choose those instead of this one.