The Beginnings of Domestic Religion in Ancient Christianity

Christianity started not as a public cult, but in the context of families and houses. Whereas most scholarly attention focused on early communities and the development of the official cult, the domestic and familial realm as the place of everyday religiosity has been mostly neglected. This project illuminates this essential part of ancient Christian life by studying the specific characteristics of domestic and familial Christianity in the context of domestic religion from Greco-Roman time to late antiquity, and by analyzing, with supplementing methods, literary and archaeological sources. This research adds a whole new dimension to our understanding of ancient Christianity. The outcomes will be highly relevant not only for specific fields of New Testament studies and Christian archaeology, but also for Church history, history of liturgy, and social history of the Early to the Late Roman Empire. After a basic consideration of pagan domestic religion, its diversity, pragmatics and social dimensions, the main concerns of this project are: First, the religious and social conditions of two groups are investigated: (1) Christ believers as members of pagan houses, and (2) predominately Christian households. How did Christ believers deal with their former domestic religiosity and develop their own forms of day-to-day worship in their households? What were the consequences of their new belief within the diverse social constellations in a domestic environment? This part of the study focuses on the first two centuries of the Common Era and on the Greek part of the Roman Empire (relevant sources from later centuries and other locations may also be considered). It will cover the New Testament, the Apostolic Fathers, early apocryphal, and apologetic texts. Second, all relicts and architectural remains which testify Christian practice in households are analyzed. Beginning with the 3rd century, this material demonstrates the development of particular Christian kinds of domestic religion. Leading questions are: What forms did household shrines take on when the inhabitants became Christians? What modifications were undertaken to adapt these installations to the new belief? What substituted the former votive, lararia, altars or personal articles of religious practice in houses? The archaeological evidence (3rd to 5th century) is investigated, focussing mainly (but not exclusively) on developments in the Eastern Roman Empire. Due to their methodological and chronological diversity, the two fields are, on the one hand, explored independently by two researchers, who are, on the other hand, in continuous exchange of insights in order to understand better how Christianity began to enter and shape the realm of households and how social and material structures became affected and subsequently transformed by Christianity. The investigation of these transformation processes at the beginnings of Christian belief and of its material manifestations are the main concern of this project and bind the two parts close together. The research on different types of materials of Christian remains in both parts of the project will profit due to cooperation of complementary methodological approaches.

Within this project, which worked from May 1st 2014 to November 30th 2017, the development of Early Christian Domestic Religion was thoroughly explored for the first time. Christianity started not as a public cult, but in the context of families and houses. This project illuminated this essential part of ancient Christian life by studying the specific characteristics of domestic and familial Christianity in the context of domestic religion from Greco-Roman time to late antiquity, and by analyzing, with supplementing methods, literary and archaeological sources. This research added a whole new dimension to our understanding of ancient Christianity. The outcomes will be highly relevant not only for specific fields of New Testament studies and Christian archaeology, but also for Church history, history of liturgy, and social history of the Early to the Late Roman Empire.The main interests of this project were: On the one hand, the religious and social conditions of two groups were investigated: (1) Christ believers as members of pagan houses, and (2) predominately Christian households. It became clear that many forms of Pagan religiosity were still used and adapted for Christian use. At the same time specific social constellations lead to conflicts and new needs for arrangements with a domestic community, e.g. between spouses or in education. This part of the study focused mainly on the first two centuries of the Common Era and on the Greek part of the Roman Empire, although relevant sources from later centuries and other locations were also considered. It covered passages from the New Testament, the Apostolic Fathers, from early apocryphal, and apologetic texts.On the other hand, the archeological oriented part analyzed all relicts and architectural remains which testify Christian practice in households. Beginning with the 3rd century, this material although rather seldom demonstrated the development of particular Christian kinds of domestic religion. Thereby modifications to adapt pagan installations to the new belief including religious artifacts. The archaeological evidence (3rd to 6th century) was investigated, focusing mainly (but not exclusively) on developments in the Eastern Roman Empire. In several publications, a collection of essays and in multiple presentations the topic and the outcomes of the project were introduced to the wider scientific public, which is increasingly picking up this line of research both in principle as well as in its specific results.