Fortress Press

"This study is so masterful in its grasp of a vast array of evidence, so solid and innovative in its methodology, and so audacious in conception that it is bound to become a classic. It is the most important historical and sociological study ever written on Roman Christianity."
– Robert Jewett, Interpretation

"This impressive work puts our study of early Roman Christianity on a new and more certain empirical basis and must now serve as the point of departure for all subsequent research....Lampe has expanded our database and has provided the most extensive social profile of Roman Christianity currently available."
– John H. Elliot, Catholic Biblical Quarterly

"Lampe shows that there are both archaeological and literary grounds for saying that the early Roman Christian community was at first indistinguishable from the Jewish one, form which it emerged as perhaps a less affluent underclass of God-fearers. Lampe's book will impress all who read it as a well-informed attempt to synthesize a vast amount of data in a serious, informed, and scholarly way."
– Alan F. Segal, Journal of Biblical Literature

"Peter Lampe's extremely thorough study of the Roman Christians ... I would judge it the best work on an early Christian Church I have read in the last decade ... Lampe exhibits such balance and care that I would find myself hard-pressed to write the usual review, agreeing with some points and disagreeing with others. His conclusions are likely to be the basis of most on-going discussion ... The interest of these (Lampe's) theses for church history, as well as for New Testament, should be obvious."
– Raymond E. Brown, em. Professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary, NY, in: The Heythrop Journal, July 1988, 359-60

"This is a learned and enjoyable study of the social history of the Christian community in Rome ... It is not one of those social histories that wishes to substitute social factors for ideas and theologies, but a book which derives its strength from its perceptions of the intimate links between doctrine and life. Dr Lampe knows how to use epigraphic and juristic evidence ... He equally knows his way round the catacombs and the archaeological evidence ... And the freshness of his approach enables him to illuminate familiar texts from the Apostolic Fathers or the Apologists ... Among the most interesting parts of a very good book are the pages on Justin Martyr."
– Henry Chadwick, em. Professor of Divinity, Cambridge University, in: Journal of Theological Studies, April 1990, 228-9

"The author's interesting and informative work is a notable landmark ... The sociological approach to the evidence, successfully exploited by Wayne Meeks in his study of the Pauline churches, has found an able continuator in Lampe's thorough and scholarly examination of the first two centuries of Roman Christianity."
– W. H. C. Frend, em. Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Glasgow, in: Journal of Ecclesiastical History 1990, 278-9

Foreword by Robert Jewett
Editor's Note
Introduction

PART 1: INTRODUCTION: FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF URBAN ROMAN CHRISTIANITY TO THE SEPARATION FROM THE SYNAGOGUE


1. The Entrance of Christianity via the Trade Route
2. The "Edict of Claudius" and Separation from the Synagogue
   
   PART 2: TOPOGRAPHY
   
   
3. In Which Quarters of the City Did the Christian Population Concentrate?
4. Did Particular Strata of the Population Predominate in the Quarters under Investigation?
   
   PART 3: FIRST DIACHRONIC SECTION: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT URBAN ROMAN CHRISTIANITY
   
   
5. Jewish and Gentile Christians
6. Information from Paul's Letter to the Romans and Acts 28:30f.
7. Information in Conjunction with the Persecution by Nero
8. Information from First Clement
9. Information from Ignatius' Letter to the Romans
10. The Shepherd of Hermas: Social Stratifications in the First Half of the Second Century and the Attendant Conflicts
11. The Writings of Justin: The Social Structures of Christianity at the Middle of the Second Century
12. The Excavation Complex at the Vatican
13. Social Stratification at the Time of Commodus
14. Traditio Apostolica
15. Summary and Conclusion
    
    PART 4: SECOND DIACHRONIC SECTION: PROSOPOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATION
    
    
16. The Roman Christians of Romans 16
17. Claudius Ephebus and Valerius Biton (1 Clem. 63:3; 65:1)
18. Aquila and Prisca
19. Pomponia Graecina
20. T. Flavius Clemens and Flavia Domitilla
21. The Author of First Clement
22. The Person of Hermas
23. The Woman from Justin's Apology 2.2
24. Marcion
25. Justin
26. Tatian and Rhoden
27. Valentinians
28. Carpocratians
29. The Martyr Apollonius
30. Marcus Aurelius Prosenes and Other Members of Caesar's Familia
31. Two Wives of Governors: Women of Senatorial Rank
32. Representatives of Western Latin Education
33. The Theodotians
34. Praxeas, Gaius, and the Problem of "Hippolytus"
35. Summary
    
    PART 5: THE FRACTIONATION OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITY
    
    
36. The Evidence of Fractionation
37. Private Property Utilized by the Church Community
38. The External Image of Christian House-Church Congregations
39. Fractionation and Theological Pluralism
40. Fractionation and Tolerance of People with Other Theological Opinions
41. Practionation, Monarchical Episcopacy, and Presbyterial Governance
    
    PART 6: FINAL REMARKS
    
    Appendix 1
    Addendix 2
    Appendix 3
    Addpenix 4
    
    Abbreviations
    Bibliography
    Maps, Diagrams, and Figures
    Indexes