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14 - Early Christians and Their Socioeconomic Contexts

from Part IV - Contested Cultures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2023

By
James R. Harrison
Edited by
Bruce W. Longenecker  and
David E. Wilhite
Bruce W. Longenecker
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
David E. Wilhite
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
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Summary

This essay will assess scholarship from the last two decades on the socioeconomic profile and diversity of the early Christian communities. Several methodological observations about recent studies on social stratification and its implications for early Christian groups in the Greco-Roman world will also be offered, touching on poverty and the dynamics of rank and status in antiquity.1 The transitions in scholarly consensus prior to twenty-first-century scholarship on social stratification in the early Christian communities are well known and need only be briefly summarized below.

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Chapter
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The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity , pp. 325 - 346
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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