The book that I have chosen for my book review is entitled, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul, written by Wayne A. Meeks. The book is an account of what it was like to be a Christian in a Pauline church living in the first century. The book draws upon archaeological biblical and non-biblical literary sources to back up its claims. Since the author is a professor at Yale University, it is written in a scholarly manner and relies on up to date history and anthropology.
The book is divided in to six specific chapters and main thesis that include the urban and social environments, government, and rituals of Pauline Christians, the development of the Ekklésia, and the patterns of belief and patterns of life. I believe that book was a good evaluation of the origins of “cults” in urban and rural areas, and they intertwined and differed from one another. Meeks attempting to make an argument that Pauline Christianity (the beliefs and doctrines adopted by Paul the apostles writings) was essentially a cult that spread through the entire empire.
Chapter One begins with the urban environment of the Pauline Christians. He uses the book of acts to make his points. The daily lives of the Mediterranean people are talked about. An interesting topic in the chapter regarded women. Meeks talks about during the …show more content…
In it, there is a lot of analysis of individuals names and backgrounds to identify what rank or status they held at the particular time. This chapter was difficult for me to understand because it was a bit choppy and some examples were unclear. What I gathered is that except for the middle class, the other ends of the social spectrum were barely covered. The very top, which I assume would be the politicians, or higher priests were not talked about more, nor the very lower class, which would be peasants, paupers , and farming slaves were left out of the picture as
The book is divided in to six specific chapters and main thesis that include the urban and social environments, government, and rituals of Pauline Christians, the development of the Ekklésia, and the patterns of belief and patterns of life. I believe that book was a good evaluation of the origins of “cults” in urban and rural areas, and they intertwined and differed from one another. Meeks attempting to make an argument that Pauline Christianity (the beliefs and doctrines adopted by Paul the apostles writings) was essentially a cult that spread through the entire empire.
Chapter One begins with the urban environment of the Pauline Christians. He uses the book of acts to make his points. The daily lives of the Mediterranean people are talked about. An interesting topic in the chapter regarded women. Meeks talks about during the …show more content…
In it, there is a lot of analysis of individuals names and backgrounds to identify what rank or status they held at the particular time. This chapter was difficult for me to understand because it was a bit choppy and some examples were unclear. What I gathered is that except for the middle class, the other ends of the social spectrum were barely covered. The very top, which I assume would be the politicians, or higher priests were not talked about more, nor the very lower class, which would be peasants, paupers , and farming slaves were left out of the picture as