JESUS TRADITION IN PAUL AND PAULINE CIRCLE

BOOK REVIEW

Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul

Submitted by: Keringgumle Hau

Submitted on: 15th Dec 2017.

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The First Urban Christians written by Wayne A. Meeks is a research of the social background of
the early Christianity in which the apostle Paul lived and composed. It illustrates what it was
extremely like to be a first century Christian in a Pauline church, drawing on archeological
evidence and additionally both biblical and non-biblical scholarly confirmation. The author here
describe the tensions and the surface of life of the first urban Christians. His scholarly insights
enable us to comprehend the culture surrounding and within the early churches established by Paul
in Urban Centers.
Meeks analyzes the letters of Paul to describe the life of the first urban Christians. His work
depends vigorously on the portrait of such Christians painted in the book of Acts. He often quotes
first-century Greek and Latin sources to portray the daily life of first-century Mediterranean
people. The urban environment of the Pauline Christianity depicts the way in which the early
Christian people kept up their division from the remains of the world and a presence of mind of
group with different houses of worship. Greek was the universal urban language of the eastern
Roman provinces. The excellent Roman road network enabled exceptional mobility for Paul to
travel. Paul’s cities, Philippi excepted, were likewise all centers of trade open to foreigners, a
crucial detail for his entry into urban social life. Socially, the cities were “stratified and stable,”
with a modest bunch of men occupying 200 equestrian and 600 senatorial posts and most others
in generational positions. Manumission was the most well-known status change, and freedmen
could do well, particularly in an exceptional city like Corinth. These cities were also full of
diversity and complexity. Women were considered hypothetically equal status with men by a few
Stoics, though they most often were fitted into traditional roles. Still some were dynamic sellers
of luxury goods, and others were involved in religious associations or as organizers of men’s clubs.
The cities also featured organizations and professional associations, which ought to be pointedly
outlined from current unions. Frequently, their purpose was to ensure that individuals received a
decent burial; in life, they would gather for a good meal, some better than expected wine, and
perhaps celebrate the birthday of their supporter or the feast day of one of the gods. Meeks points
out that Pauline Christianity spread so quickly in light of the fact that urbanization had truly paved
the way for it. Here, Meeks additionally presents the essential wonder of status irregularity, that
is, the “crisscrossing of categories” among citizens. For instance, a freedman may gain enormous
wealth in a city like Corinth but however may not be accorded the level of respect befitting his
economic status. Hence, social and economic status conflict and, to psychologize this may prompt
sentiments of loneliness, frustration, and despair which are immensely essential elements for
religious communities.
The predominant perspective of the societal position of the first Christian converts and its
significance for the development of Christianity originated from poor and dispossessed of the
Roman provinces as indicated by Deissmann. On contrary, Meek quotes Floyd Filson approvingly
that “The apostolic church was more nearly a cross section of society”. Meeks presents a more
mind boggling arrangement of social status in olden times. Rather than simply labeling groups
“high or low,” he proposes that they be positioned by class, order, and status. Thus, Priscila and
Aquila were most likely moderately wealthy but, because of their occupation, had low status.
Meeks critically presumes that “the most active and prominent of Paul’s circle (including Paul
himself) are people of high status inconsistency and their accomplished status is higher than their
attributed status. Here, he attempt to depict the social levels of Pauline Christians.
The formation of the Ekklesia gives a thick portrayal of the early urban church. Small groups of
Christians scattered across the Mediterranean Sea were able to maintain affectionate community
and view themselves within the larger, overall development. The household was a basic unit within
Roman society. Likewise, the early Christian movement met in private houses, and households
were often converted. Meeks states that the environment offers four models that are helpful to
understand the formation of the local church: household, voluntary association, synagogue, and
philosophic or rhetorical school. Here, similarities and differences between the ekklesia and the
four models are underlined.
The methods used to maintain order within communities examines what kind of people could issue
commands or make proposals that would typically be acknowledged within early Pauline
communities. Letters and visits tightened these authoritative bonds. These communications also
afforded the means of more direct and specific attempts at social control. Paul utilizes diverse
methods, but some occur repeatedly, e.g., appeals to scripture, revelation(s), and tradition, or
noting his own experience and explicating the experience of the congregation. Those who exert
authority include apostles, fellow workers, and local leaders. Unlike Greco-Roman associations,
the groups had no institutionalized offices. However, functional leadership obviously played an
important role: “informal modes of control predominate”. Generally, Paul’s communities seem to
manage the stamp of Christ’s death and resurrection as the example of genuine power and
authority. The governance of the church is thus explored. Here the focus of interest depends upon
the organizational dimension of the local church. Conflicts reflected in the letters are the essential
point of research.
Rituals briefly examines minor rituals and the two constitutive rites, baptism and the Lord’s
Supper. Meeks lays out a broad social scientific definition of ritual as “a form of communication,”
adding that it is “performative” and “does something”. Minor rituals incorporate meeting up to
read letters; the social affair most likely occurred weekly, perhaps included a reading and singing,
and “a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation, all toward upliftment” (1 Cor.
14:26). Baptism is then helpfully analyzed: it is not a preparatory rite for initiation as it is in the
Eleusinian mystery or proselytes entering into Judaism; instead, baptism is the cleansing initiation.
While baptism is a rite of initiation, the Lord’s Supper is a ritual of solidarity and communal
cohesion: “the single loaf used in the ritual symbolizes the unity of Christians and of the believer
with Christ and, consequently, the unity of the community and its participation in Christ”. This is
the way in which the two major Christian rites functioned within the worship community.
Patterns of belief and life discusses the social power of what one typical member of the Pauline
churches believed in the first century. The author highlights an information gathered from the
undisputed Pauline letters as well as from the deutero-Pauline ones. Pauline churches are
considered as millenarian movements, which is explained using models from anthropology. It
attempts to put the socio-historical pieces together by examining the “social force” of Paul’s
theology. For example, Paul inculcates a complex version of Jewish monotheism; practically this
leads to a “missionary theology admonishing everyone and teaching everyone is all wisdom, in
order to present everyone perfect in Christ’”. If God is one and there is only one Lord, missions
are a must. Meeks then goes on to characterize Paul’s movement as “millenarian”; that is, Paul is
able to hold onto tradition while transforming it at the same time. And this comes with its
challenges. Millenarianism ordinarily flourishes among the socially, politically, and economically
downtrodden, a portrayal that Meeks has been cautioned to problematize. He, in this way, appeals
to “status inconsistency” to ground millenarian longings among Rome’s urban Christians.
Furthermore, Meeks notes that Paul’s theology and practice leads to complex communities that
are both intimate and exclusive while also being “vigorously expansive”. On a psycho-social level,
status inconsistency may account for the fascination of urban inhabitants to these communities that
represented “a welcome refuge emotionally charged language of family and affection and the
image of a caring, personal God”. This is how conviction shaped the lives of the early Christians.

Meeks gathered scriptural information as well as historical and sociological information to recreate
the world of the earliest Christians. Meeks admits that in the minds of most people, the first
Christians were poorer peasant and agrarian people, but the reality is likely extraordinary. While
the gospel may have been first preached in such settings, the faith started in urban areas and spread
first from one city to another, then to the countryside. While Meeks mentions a considerable lot of
the early Christian pioneers in his work, his primary focus is on the writings of St. Paul and the
everyday life behind these writings, since historically these writings are the earliest Christian
sources. Meeks’s work is informative and readable. His major contribution to the study of Paul
was the accumulation of data derived from social description. The introduction gives a discussion
about the approach through social description. Ideas such as the interaction between separation
from and openness to the world that Meeks underlined for the Pauline communities is very much
informative. In fact, this would be helpful for other Christian communities for various researches
even today.