What Are They Now Saying about Christ Groups and Associations?

Abstract

Over the past decade and a half a considerable number of scholarly books and articles have addressed directly the relationship between associations and early Christ groups. Some, albeit not all, of the Pauline communities have been subjected to thorough investigation, while preliminary studies have been undertaken with the Gospels, Acts, and other early Christian writings. The majority of scholarly works leave little doubt regarding the relevance of the associations for understanding the organizational and ideological predilections of the early Christ groups. In their structure and organization Christ groups look and sound like associations. Thus, it no longer makes sense to construe the investigation, as has so often been the case in past scholarship, as focusing on three separate and distinct categories such as 'synagogues, churches, and associations'. A review of the data available and the trends in recent scholarship is suggestive for new and fruitful avenues of exploration that dismantle such falsely constructed categorical boundaries.

Communities of Romans and Italians abroad

“…3 Before I proceed to the examination of these criteria in the collectivities of Romans and Italians abroad, an overview of the chronological and geographical diffusion and a comparative observation of these groups are necessary. In the following overview, I don't aspire to offer an exhaustive presentation of the evidence, since there is abundant source material and numerous local particularities that require closer 2 A part of the related bibliography focuses mainly on a taxonomy of associations and on the question of classification of Christian groups, but refers also to general descriptions of associations: see selectively Ascough 2002; with a review of earlier bibliography ;Ascough 2015;Harland 2013: 13-14 and19-69. Gabrielsen 2009 attempts a definition of the basic features of public and private associations; see also Gabrielsen & Thomsen 2015.…”