The First Urban Churches 3: Ephesus (Writings from the Greco-Roman World Supplement Book 9)

Investigate the challenges, threats, and opportunities experienced by the early church in Ephesus The third installment of The First Urban Churches focuses on the urban context of Christian churches in first-century Ephesus. As with previous volumes, contributors illustrate how an investigation of the material evidence will help readers understand properly the challenges, threats, and opportunities that the early Ephesian believers faced in that city. Brad Bitner, James R. Harrison, Michael Haxby, Fredrick J. Long, Guy M. Rogers, Michael Theophilos, Paul Trebilco, and Stephan Witetschek demonstrate decisively the difference that such an approach makes in grappling with the meaning and context of the New Testament writings, particularly Ephesians, Acts, and Revelation. Features Analysis of urban evidence of the inscriptions, papyri, archaeological remains, coins, and iconographyProposed reconstructions of the past and its social, religious and political significanceA nuanced, informed portrait of ancient urban life in Ephesus L. L. Welborn is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Fordham University and Honorary Professor of Ancient History at Macquarie University. He is the author of Paul, the Fool of Christ: A Study of 1 Corinthians 1–4 in the Comic-Philosophic Tradition (2005), An End to Enmity: Paul and the Wrongdoer of Second Corinthians (2011), Paul's Summons to Messianic Life: Political Theology and the Coming Awakening (2015), and the coeditor of Yale University Press’s book series Synkrisis: Comparative Approaches to Early Christianity in Greco-Roman Culture. Read more