This monumental work by two outstanding New Testament scholars is the first comprehensive social history of the earliest churches. Integrating the historical and social data, they locate the ancient Galileans, Judeans, and the Jesus Movement in their respective matrices. The Stegemanns deal with such issues as conflict between the messianic communities and the rest of Judaism, religious pluralism, social stratification, group composition, gender division, ancient economics, and urban/rural distinctions. This volume offers an introduction to these social issues as well as fresh insights and analysis and also includes an integration of social history, social-scientific analyses, and theological analyses. This book also features a focus on the role of women in the Jesus movement and early churches as well as maps, tables and diagrams.
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