Bloomsbury Group Survival in the Ancient Mediterranean: Rethinking Material Conditions in the Landscape of Jews and Christians (Criminal Practice)

How did early Christian groups and other associations in the Greco-Roman world survive financially? The informal associations, immigrant groups, and guilds that dotted the world of the early Christians provide a fresh vantage point on the question of how Christian assemblies and Judean (Jewish) gatherings gained necessary resources to pursue their social, religious, and other aims. Philip A. Harland and Richard Last consider the economics of Christian group life within its social, cultural and economic contexts by drawing on epigraphic and archeological evidence. By considering both neglected archeological evidence and literary evidence the authors explain the various financial and material aspects of group life, both sources of income and areas of expenditure for social, religious, and other activities. Harland and Last then turns to the use of material resources for mutual support of members in various groups, including the importance of burial and the practice of interest-free loans. Christian and Judean evidence is explored throughout the book with the final chapter devoted to discussion of the literary evidence for the internal financial life of Christian assemblies as seen in first and second centuries sources, including Paul, the Didache, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian.