The first urban churches / edited by James R. Harrison and L.L. Welborn.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

v.1. Methodological foundations. The first urban churches : introduction / James R. Harrison. Assessing the potential of archaeological discoveries for the interpretation of New Testament texts : the case of a gladiator fragment from Colossae and the letter to the Colossians / Alan Cadwallader -- The city in Roman Egypt : the evidence of the papyri / Malcom Choat -- Epigraphy and the study of Polis and Ekklēsia in the Greco-Roman world / Paul Trebilco -- Gaia, Polis, and Ekklēsia at the Miletus Market Gate : an eco-critical reimagination of Revelation 12:16 / Brigitte Kahl -- Coinage and colonial identity : Corinthian numismatics and the Corinthian correspondence / Bradley J. Bitner -- The Polis and the poor : reconstructing social relations from different genres of evidence / L.L. Welborn -- Methodological considerations in using epigraphic evidence to determine the socioeconomic context of the early Christians / Julien M. Ogereau -- Urban portraits of the "barbarians" on the fringes of the Roman Empire : the archaeological numismatic, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence / James R. Harrison --

v.2. Roman Corinth. Introduction: Excavating the urban life of Roman Corinth / James R. Harrison -- Inequality in Roman Corinth : evidence from diverse sources evaluated by a neo-Ricardian model / L.L. Wellborn -- Negotiating multiple modes of religion and identity in Roman Corinth / Cavan Concannon -- Between polis, oikos, and ekklesia : the challenge of negotiating the spirit world (1 Cor. 12:1-11) / Kathy Ehrensperger -- Brother against brother : controversiae about inheritance disputes and 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 / Michael Peppard -- The changing rural horizons of Corinth's first urban Christians / David K. Pettegrew -- Mixed-language inscribing at Roman Corinth / Bradley J. Bitner -- "The God of this age" (2 Cor 4:4) and Paul's empire-resisting Gospel at Corinth / Fredrick J. Long -- Paul and the Agōnothetai at Corinth : engaging the civic values of antiquity / James R. Harrison --

v.3. Ephesus. An epigraphic portrait of Ephesus and its villages / James R. Harrison -- An Ephesian tale : mystery cults, reverse theological engineering, and the triumph of Christianity in Ephesus / Guy MacLean Rogers -- The Jewish community in Ephesus and its interaction with Christ-believers in the first century CE and beyond / Paul Trebilco -- Acclaiming Artemis in Ephesus : political theologies in Acts 19 / Bradley J. Bitner -- The gladiator graveyard of Ephesus as evidence for the study of martyrdom / Mikael Haxby -- [Ekklasia] in Ephesians as godlike in the heavens, in temple, in [gamos], and in armor : idealogy and iconography in Ephesus / Fredrick J. Long -- From Zeus or by Endoios? : Acts 19:35 as a peculiar assessment of the Ephesian Artemis / Stephan Witetschek -- Ephesian cultic officials, their benefactors, and the quest for civic virtue : Paul's alternative quest for status in the epistle to the Ephesians / James R. Harrison -- Ephesus and the numismatic background to [neokoros] / Michael P. Theophilos.

v.4 Roman Philippi Excavating the urban and country life of Roman Philippi / James R. Harrisson Rooted in heaven and resident in Philippi, but no έϰϰλησία? Kathy Ehrensperger The social constituency and membership of the first Christian groups at Philippi: a literary and epigraphic survey / Julien M. Ogereau Vindolanda tablet 2.154, RPC 1651, and the provenance of Philippians / Paul A. Holloway Polis and Ekklēsia at Philippi: a response to Kathy Ehrensperger, Paul Holloway, and Julien Ogereau / Angela Standhartinger First-century Philippi: contextualizing Paul's visit / Cédric Brélaz Did the Philippian Christ group know it was a "missionary" society? / Richard S. Ascough The imperial authorities in Paul's letter to predominantly Greek hearers in the Roman colony of Philippi / Peter Oakes "Every knee bowed": Jesus Christ as reigning Lord over "the heavenly, the earthly, and the subterranean gods" (Philippians 2:10) / Fredrick J. Long and Ryan Kristopher Giffin Rivals, opponents, and enemies: three kinds of theological argumentation in Philippians / Samuel Vollenweider From Rome to the colony of Philippi: Roman boasting in Philippians 3:4-6 in its Latin west and Philippian epigraphic context / James R. Harrison

This collection of essays examines the urban context of early Christian churches in the first-century Roman world. A city-by-city investigation of the early churches in the New Testament clarifies the challenges, threats, and opportunities that urban living provided for early Christians. Readers will come away with a better understanding of how scholars assemble an accurate picture of the cities in which the first Christians flourished--Publisher's website.