Roman House Churches for Today
Roman House Churches for Today

Author: Reta Halteman Finger

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2007-09-14

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 080280764X

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Placing the biblical book of Romans in its historical and cultural context, Reta Halteman Finger here creates a simulation of the Roman house churches that first heard Paul's Romans letter and its call for inclusiveness among the people of God. Finger guides readers in small groups to re-create house churches as in first-century Rome. Based on the text of Romans, participants play various roles and converse, even debate, with other characters from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. This experiential approach makes Romans come alive in new, concrete ways and applies Romans theology to current issues that often still divide groups of Christians. Roman House Churches for Today includes aids and suggestions for simulation leaders, sample character sketches, and website links with resources for further, deeper study. Not only small groups but also individuals will profit from this unique Bible study.

Paul and the Roman House Churches
Paul and the Roman House Churches

Author: Reta H. Finger

Publisher: Wipf and Stock

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781532666841

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In AD 57 or 58, the apostle Paul sent his faithful coworker and patron Phoebe on an eight-hundred-mile journey to deliver a letter to all the Christians in Rome. He was concerned about racial, lifestyle, and political tensions in the house-church groups there. Some believers were more conservative, some more liberal. How could they live in unity and help Paul in his mission? Today we have Paul's letter but know little about its historical context. Yet similar tensions still trouble churches. Too often Romans has been misused to divide Christians from Jews, or Christians from each other. Finger claims we cannot understand Romans for our day unless we grasp its original setting. She guides users of the book to re-create house churches as in first-century Rome. Participants assume various roles and hear Phoebe proclaim Paul's message afresh. They will not all agree on what Paul means. Where they do catch his meaning, they may not accept it. How does Jesus' gospel teach them to get along together when they can't agree? This book will also benefit individual readers, and the learning through simulation is adaptable to groups of many ages and levels of education, biblical awareness, and spiritual maturity. Diversity stimulates and enhances discussion! The goal is to hear and apply the message of Romans to our lives today -- and have fun in the process!

Paul and the Roman House Churches
Paul and the Roman House Churches

Author: Reta H. Finger

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2006-01-25

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1597525413

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In AD 57 or 58, the apostle Paul sent his faithful coworker and patron Phoebe on an eight-hundred-mile journey to deliver a letter to all the Christians in Rome. He was concerned about racial, lifestyle, and political tensions in the house-church groups there. Some believers were more conservative, some more liberal. How could they live in unity and help Paul in his mission? Today we have Paul's letter but know little about its historical context. Yet similar tensions still trouble churches. Too often Romans has been misused to divide Christians from Jews, or Christians from each other. Finger claims we cannot understand Romans for our day unless we grasp its original setting. She guides users of the book to re-create house churches as in first-century Rome. Participants assume various roles and hear Phoebe proclaim Paul's message afresh. They will not all agree on what Paul means. Where they do catch his meaning, they may not accept it. How does Jesus' gospel teach them to get along together when they can't agree? This book will also benefit individual readers, and the learning through simulation is adaptable to groups of many ages and levels of education, biblical awareness, and spiritual maturity. Diversity stimulates and enhances discussion! The goal is to hear and apply the message of Romans to our lives today -- and have fun in the process!

A Woman's Place
A Woman's Place

Author: Carolyn Osiek

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2009-12-01

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 9781451413557

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This focused look at women in the household context discusses the importance of issues of space and visibility in shaping the lives of early Christian women. Several aspects of women's everyday existence are investigated, including the lives of wives, widows, women with children, female slaves, women as patrons, household leaders, and teachers. In addition, several key themes emerge: hospitality, dining practices, and the extent of female segregation.

Roman Domestic Art and Early House Churches
Roman Domestic Art and Early House Churches

Author: David L. Balch

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9783161493836

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Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Rome have yielded hundreds of wall paintings from domestic buildings. Greek myths and tragedies, especial by Euripides were visually represented. Balch presents an interdisciplinary study inquiring what earliest Jews and Christian in such houses might have been seeing as they read and interpreted scripture and performed core rituals, especially the Eucharist. This recent study of Roman domestic architecture suggests new perspectives on the social history of early Christianity.--Publisher.

Roman Pilgrimage
Roman Pilgrimage

Author: George Weigel

Publisher: Constellation

Published: 2013-10-29

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 0465027695

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The annual Lenten pilgrimage to dozens of Rome’s most striking churches is a sacred tradition dating back almost two millennia, to the earliest days of Christianity. Along this historic spiritual pathway, today’s pilgrims confront the mysteries of the Christian faith through a program of biblical and early Christian readings amplified by some of the greatest art and architecture of western civilization. In Roman Pilgrimage, bestselling theologian and papal biographer George Weigel, art historian Elizabeth Lev, and photographer Stephen Weigel lead readers through this unique religious and aesthetic journey with magnificent photographs and revealing commentaries on the pilgrimage’s liturgies, art, and architecture. Through reflections on each day’s readings about faith and doubt, heroism and weakness, self-examination and conversion, sin and grace, Rome’s familiar sites take on a new resonance. And along that same historical path, typically unexplored treasures—artifacts of ancient history and hidden artistic wonders—appear in their original luster, revealing new dimensions of one of the world’s most intriguing and multi-layered cities. A compelling guide to the Eternal City, the Lenten Season, and the itinerary of conversion that is Christian life throughout the year, Roman Pilgrimage reminds readers that the imitation of Christ through faith, hope, and love is the template of all true discipleship, as the exquisite beauty of the Roman station churches invites reflection on the deepest truths of Christianity.

Sacred Ritual, Profane Space
Sacred Ritual, Profane Space

Author: Jenn Cianca

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2018-05-23

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 0773554254

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The first three centuries of Christianity are increasingly seen in modern scholarship as sites of complexity. Sacred Ritual, Profane Space examines the Christian meeting places of the time and overturns long-held notions about the earliest Christians as utopian rather than place-bound people. By mapping what is known from early Christian texts onto the archaeological data for Roman domestic spaces, Jenn Cianca provides a new lens for examining the relationship between early Christianity and sites of worship. She proposes that not only were Roman homes sacred sites in their own right but they were also considered sacred by the Christian communities that used them. In many cases, meeting space would have included the presence of the Roman domestic cult shrines. Despite the fact that the domestic cult was polytheistic, Cianca asserts that its practices likely continued in places used for worship by Christians. She also argues that continued practice of the domestic cult in Roman domestic spaces did not preclude Christians from using houses as churches or from understanding their rituals or their meeting places as sacred. Raising a host of questions about identity, ritual affiliation, and domestic practice, Sacred Ritual, Profane Space demonstrates how sacred space was constructed through ritual enactment in early Christian communities.

Let the Church Meet in Your House!
Let the Church Meet in Your House!

Author: Emerson T. Manaloto

Publisher: Langham Publishing

Published: 2019-10-31

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1783687215

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The communities in which we live all suffer alienation from God and the sin, social disorder and brokenness that follows. As Christians, we yearn to see our communities saturated with the good news of Jesus Christ, but there are countless obstacles to overcome in our churches and mission agencies as we seek to fulfil this vision. In this book, Emerson Manaloto offers the model of New Testament-based house churches as the vehicle for gospel ministry in communities around the world with specific applications for the Filipino context. Examining four areas – leaders, learners, lessons, and locations – Dr Manaloto presents foundational principles of the New Testament that can be the basis for our own contemporary churches and ministry. Manaloto critically analyzes the house church in terms of its concepts in the first century, its context in the Greco-Roman world and its practices as outlined in the New Testament. This analysis is then used to draw conclusions for how twenty-first century small groups in the Philippines can be stable, mature, and multiply, resulting in the birth of more churches locally and globally, and the transformation of lives and communities as they encounter Jesus Christ.

Letters to the House Church Movement
Letters to the House Church Movement

Author: Rad Zdero

Publisher: Xulon Press

Published: 2011-03

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 1613790228

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Real Letters. Real People. Real Issues.God is raising up the simple, organic, house church movement. And this book gives you, for the first time, a real-life inside look at the controversies, struggles, victories, and personalities emerging from within this revolution. This book is a collection of real letters to real people facing real issues. These letters challenge, persuade, and encourage. They address theological issues and practical problems. They were sent to friends, acquaintances, strangers, radicals, and critics. This book will not just satisfy your curiosity about today's house church movement, but it will propel you to complete the task to which Jesus Christ has called you."Rad is one of those that has taken the time to... give us all a sort of house church FAQ that unzips and unpacks the current revolution and makes it more tangible than ever."Wolfgang SimsonAuthor of Houses that Change the World"Rad Zdero has labored to usher in a new/old paradigm in church life... a courageous, candid, and vulnerable publication of the letters that have chronicled his journey... an important work..."David Garrison, Ph.D.Author of Church Planting Movements"I am thrilled that Rad Zdero has released this series of insightful letters into book form... a timely, biblical, poignant yet gracious response to real-life concerns... Highly recommended!"Andrew JonesBlogger and founder, Boaz ProjectRAD ZDERO has a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has been involved in the house church and small group movement since 1985. Rad is the author of The Global House Church Movement. He is also the editor of Nexus: The World House Church Movement Reader and The Starfish Files house church magazine. Rad lives just outside Toronto, Canada.