Daily Life in the Early Church By John Gordon Davies A series of six representative scenes in which the author, applying the methods of the social historian to the early Church, describes the daily life of the first believers. ISBN-13: 9780718890193 Specifications: 216x140mm, 180pp, Paperback Price: £17.50 • US$37.50 Publication: April 2003 Order this Title Now

About this Book

What did the early Christians wear? What did they eat? What did they talk about over the dinner table? What recreations did they enjoy? These are among the questions answered in this study, which reveals the social background to the first five hundred years of the Church's development, through six vividly recounted, biographical portraits.

Applying the methods of the social historian to the early Church, the author describes the daily life of the first believers, personifying the general facts and depicting them in these composite portraits of specific individuals, who are taken as representatives of different strands of early Christian life:

Clement, a philosopher and teacher in Alexandria at the end of the 2nd century
Paul of Samosata, A.D. 268, who taught heretically in Antioch
Virginia, A.D. 304, whose last day on earth is set against the background of Diocletian's persecutions
Diogenes, a sexton of Rome
John Chrysotom, A.D. 400, a great Bishop of the Church
John Cassian, a friend of Chrysotom and resident of Marseilles.

The author uses contemporary documents and authorities to construct the biographies, which animate and illuminate the early development of the Church. By conducting the reader through the daily routines of these individuals, the past is recreated as a living reality.

"A little rest is now obviously called for, and Paul goes up to the roof where a couch is placed beneath an awning. The air is pleasantly warm and filled with the mingled scent of lilies, jacinths and pinks which rises from the many gardens of Antioch."
Extract from Paul

About the Author

Reverend John Gordon Davies was educated at King's School (Chester), Christ Church (Oxford) and Westcott House (Cambridge). He worked in the dockland parish of Rotherhithe and as Professor in Theology at the University of Birmingham. He was also Director of the Institute for the Study of Worship and Religious Architecture in the University.