[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]
The title of the collection under review evokes an earlier book, Peter Lampe’s From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003). Lampe’s monograph, translated into English from its German second edition of 1989,[1] continues to be influential nearly forty years after its initial publication, providing a review of the archeological, epigraphical, and literary evidence for early Christianity in Rome while also offering a substantial prosopography of known Christians in the city. Early Christianity in Rome seems to promise a multi-disciplinary update of Lampe, which was why I wanted to review this book. My hopes and expectations for the volume, however, were only partially met.
The collection consists of fifteen papers and a brief introduction, all in English, and all but one written by scholars affiliated with academic institutions in Europe. Contributions are divided unequally between the three adjectives listed in the subtitle: only one paper represents the “archaeological,” while the other fourteen lean more heavily in the direction of “literary” than “historical.” A few of the papers even have little or nothing to do with the presence of Christians at Rome and instead fit under the broader category of the New Testament in relation to the Roman Empire.
Jens Schröter begins the collection with a survey of the evidence for the presence of early Christians in Rome. The essay leans heavily on the small collection of passages in the New Testament relating to Rome, but with surprising emphasis on a fragment of Porphyry, via Augustine (Ep. 102), in support of the claim that Christians were already present in Rome during the reign of Gaius.
Juan Manuel Granados Rojas then discusses the debated references to the “weak and the strong” in Paul’s letter to the Romans (14:1–15:13), seeking to find some middle ground between sociohistorical and theological approaches to the issue. Rojas proposes that the categories of “weak” and “strong” were based on ethical criteria, rather than anything to do with the social classes or ethnic origins of Rome’s early Christians.
Joseph Verheyden reassesses the evidence relevant for the date and authorship of 1 Clement, arguing that the material from Eusebius is more reliable than has often been believed. The review of evidence is substantial, but the argument hinges on the claim that Eusebius would not have dared to say anything controversial about 1 Clement.
Emanuele Castelli explores stages in the composition of the Shepherd of Hermas, advancing an argument that the layers of additions to the text help to reveal a conflict between the authority of the visionary, Hermas, and that of the presbyters of the church. This paper offers an intriguing response to the recent suggestion that the work reflects a conflict about whether women could be community elders.
Armant Puig i Tàrrech surveys perceptions of the Roman Empire across the New Testament, identifying Revelation as unique in its more negative and confrontational attitude towards Rome. The paper’s opening section on the Roman Empire functions as a helpful introduction for readers of the New Testament seeking some orientation to Rome.
In a technical and specialized paper, Paolo Costa tests and finds wanting the common claim in New Testament scholarship that there were significant legal barriers to forming voluntary associations such as collegia in the Roman Empire. Costa’s revisionist arguments provide substantial reasons to question the suggestion that early Christians were perceived as being part of a collegium.
Next, Edmondo F. Lupieri’s short contribution addresses the image of the Beast in Revelation, offering a series of learned observations about the text with minimal discussion of early Christians in Rome. The paper concludes with speculation that the prostitute of Revelation 17 may have been inspired by Berenice and her relationship with Titus.
Tobias Nicklas seeks to update Lampe’s treatment of the relationship between Jews and early Christians in first-century Rome. Nicklas works through the small set of sources (the famous passages discussing Christians in Suetonius and Tacitus, plus the few relevant sections from the New Testament) and concludes that almost nothing can be known about Jewish-Christian relations in Rome during this period.
Lucrezia Spera provides the lone paper relating to archaeology, surveying the literary and monumental evidence for the purported burial places of Peter and Paul in Rome. Spera connects developments in the memorialization of Peter and Paul with the emergence of a monarchical episcopate in Rome.
The brief contribution of the late Antonio Pitta discusses four New Testament passages (2 Tim 4:6-8; Acts 23:11; John 21:18-19; 2 Pet 1:12-15) that prophesize after the fact about the deaths of Peter and Paul. The chapter often reads more like a commentary on the four passages, with an understated argument about the veneration shown for Peter and Paul, despite uncertainty about the exact circumstances of their deaths.
Peter Gemeinhardt discusses the evolving relationship between philosophy and Christianity in Rome up to the emergence of the monarchical episcopate in the third century. The paper covers what might be expected for this topic: contacts between Christians and non-Christian philosophers, the tendency of some Christians to present themselves as philosophers and as members of a philosophical school, and the use of philosophical concepts in debates about Christology.
Winrich Löhr offers a valuable survey of the evidence for a series of Christian teachers who spent time in Rome in the second and third centuries, discussing Marcion, Cerdo, Valentinus and his disciples, and finally Carpocrates and his followers. The paper’s concluding section provides restrained answers to a series of questions about the reliability of our heresiological sources and the (lack of) effort expended by Roman bishops to ensure doctrinal orthodoxy within their community.
Charlotte Kirsch-Klingelhöffer discusses the Roman context for the activities of Justin Martyr and his pupil Tatian, exploring the limited evidence for their activities in Rome. The paper reviews recent debates concerning the location – and even the existence – of Justin’s school in Rome, offering some sensible reasons to be cautious about the evidence in the different recensions of the Acts of his martyrdom.
Emanuela Prinzivalli concludes the volume with a substantial treatment of debates concerning the authority of John and Revelation in Rome, along with coverage of the mysterious figures of Hippolytus, Gaius, and the Alogi. After a review of difficult and obscure sources, Prinzivalli concludes that the debate about John and Revelation happened around 200 CE between figures who remained part of the orthodox fold and that subsequent heresiological accounts of the debate wrongly conceived of it in terms of heresy.
The volume’s papers provide relatively thorough coverage of Christianity in Rome up to the early third century, but with a few key gaps. Besides the slim coverage of archaeology, the volume is silent about epigraphical evidence for early Christians in Rome, including likely members of the imperial household during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus.[2] Evidence from the Acts of Christians martyred in Rome likewise makes scant appearance in the volume, outside of the coverage of Justin Martyr. I also would have liked to see more coverage of Tatian’s harmony of the four gospels, The Diatessaron, both in Kirsch-Klingelhöffer’s paper and especially in Prinzivalli’s discussion of Roman debates concerning the value and status of John.
As in most edited volumes, consistency and unity are often lacking. I noticed no cross-references between the chapters. There were few moments of outright disagreement, but it was disappointing to see that Gemeinhardt’s paper makes no mention of Justin Martyr’s cloak (Dialogue with Trypho 1.1-2) in its discussion of early Christians who dressed as philosophers (282), a point rightly emphasized in Kirsch-Klingelhöffer’s paper (356).
The most significant point of inconsistency across the volume relates to the handling of quotations in non-English languages. Spera’s paper helpfully includes parenthetical English translations to accompany the frequent quotations of scholarship in Italian. In contrast, other papers periodically include lengthy German quotations without translation (e.g. 42 n. 33). Untranslated Latin, including an inscription, appears periodically (158-9; 372-3). This sort of inconsistency will make the volume less useful for teaching purposes in universities, like mine, where very few students know French, German, or Italian, much less Greek and Latin.
On the other hand, the existence of this volume in English will be beneficial to graduate students who are still coming to terms with reading scholarship in non-English languages. Several of the papers, notably those by Costa and Prinzivalli, contain thorough and up-to-date bibliographies, with significant emphasis on scholarship in German and Italian. As such, these papers can serve as helpful guides and entrees to scholarship for the many students whose first opportunity to learn German and Italian will come in graduate school.
The notes and bibliographies, however, are filled with numerous typos and errors. I eventually gave up noting all the mistakes, though it was hard to ignore the misspelling of my last name in the body text of one paper (358: “Secored”). Most of the typos should cause no real issues, but I hasten to mention that an article in Italian has had its title translated into English in the footnotes and bibliography of one paper (384 n. 80 and 389).[3]
All told, the volume provides a useful but partial update of Lampe’s From Paul to Valentinus. For those new to the evidence for early Christianity in Rome, I would still recommend Lampe as a starting point, alongside the more introductory treatment of Bernard Green’s Christianity in Ancient Rome: The First Three Centuries (London: T & T Clark, 2010). Early Christianity in Rome would then provide a valuable next step for students and scholars seeking the latest scholarship on Roman Christianity.
Authors and titles
Jens Schröter, “Introduction,” 1–4.
- Jens Schröter, “Rome in the New Testament: Early Traces of the Significance of the urbs in Christian History”
- Juan Manuel Granados Rojas, “The Weak and the Strong in Rom 14:1–15:13”
- Joseph Verheyden, “A First Step Towards Reading 1 Clement in its Roman Context: Re-assessing the Patristic Evidence on the Date and Authorship of the Letter”
- Emanuele Castelli, “The Shepherd of Hermas in Its Roman Context: A Fresh Look at the First Three Visions”
- Armant Puig i Tàrrech, “The Relationship between the Writings of the New Testament and the Roman Empire”
- Paolo Costa, “The Application of the Lex Iulia de collegiis in the Early Imperial Context: Remarks for New Testament Exegesis”
- Edmondo F. Lupieri, “The Mystery of the Woman or the Mystery of the Beast? Looking for Rome in the Book of Revelation”
- Tobias Nicklas, “Jews and Christians in First Century Rome: Fragmentary Evidence”
- Lucrezia Spera, “The Cult-Sites of Peter and Paul at Rome in the First Centuries of Christianity: From the Written Sources to the Monumental Remains”
- Antonio Pitta, “Four ‘Prophecies from the Event’ (vaticinia ex eventu): On Paul, Peter, and Rome”
- Peter Gemeinhardt, “Encounters of Christian Faith and Philosophy in Second and Third Century Rome”
- Winrich Löhr, “The Impact of Cerdo, Marcion and Gnostic Teachers on Roman Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries”
- Charlotte Kirsch-Klingelhöffer, “Justin Martyr and Tatian the Syrian in their Roman Context”
- Emanuela Prinzivalli, “Hippolytus, Gaius and the Alogi in Second and Third Century Rome”
Notes
[1] Peter Lampe, Die stadtrömischen Christen in den ersen beiden Jahrhunderten. Untersuchungen zur Sozialgeschichte, 2nd ed., WUNT 2/18 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1989).
[2] On this subject, see Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus, 330-9.
[3] The correct citation is Enrico Norelli, “Ireneo di Lione ha soggiornato a Roma prima del 177?” RivSC 19 (2022), 393-431.