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The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (1983) is a book by Wayne A. Meeks.

Abstract

"Analyzes the letters of the disciple Paul in order to discover what life was like for the early Christians in Antioch, Corinth, Ephesus, and Thessalonica--Book cover"

"In this classic work, Wayne Meeks analyses the earliest extant documents of Christianity - the letters of Paul - to describe the tensions and the texture of life of the first urban Christians. In a new introduction, he describes the evolution of the field of New Testament scholarship over the last two decades of the 20th century, including developments in fields such as archaeology and social history."--Publisher description.

"This study draws on the letters of Paul, his associates and disciples, to elucidate the world of the early Christians. In this second edition, which includes a new preface, Meeks presents a social history of the early Christian movement discussing such subjects as the urban community, city versus country, women, social stratification, the relationship between Judaism and early Christianity, government, religious ritual and belief systems."--Publisher description (2nd ed.).

Editions

Published in New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983. Translated into Korean (1992) and German (1993). Reissued in 2003.

Translations

• Los primeros cristianos urbanos: El mundo social del apóstol Pablo = The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (1988 Meeks), book (Spanish ed.)

• 古代都市のキリスト教 : パウロ伝道圈の社会学的研究 = The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (1989 Meeks / Kayama), book (Japanese ed.)

• I cristiani dei primi secoli: il mondo sociale dell'apostolo Paolo = The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (1992 Meeks), book (Italian ed.)

• 바울의 목회와 도시사회 : 1세기의 기독교인들 = The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (1992 Meeks / Hwang), book (Korean ed.)

• Urchristentum und Stadtkultur: die soziale Welt der paulinischen Gemeinden = The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (1993 Meeks / Denzel, Naumann), book (German ed.)

Table of contents

Introduction -- The urban environment of Pauline Christianity -- The social level of Pauline Christians -- The formation of the Ekklesia -- Governance -- Ritual -- Patterns of belief and patterns of life.

External links