Christianity

Caution. This article/definition is in draft form and at this time may constitute no more than rough notes, reminders for required content, or absolutely nothing at all. Content is subject to revision.

Terms

Baptism, Beatific Vision, Eschaton, Garden of Eden, Heaven, Rapture, Spiritual Marriage, The Body, The Garden, The Veil, The Way

Notes

Working-class roots: "This is because it appears that Christians, especially early on in the movement, came for the most part from the lower, uneducated classes. "

"In the Gospel accounts, we find that most of Jesus's disciples are simple peasants from Galilee—unedu­cated fishermen, for example. "

"As we move into the second Christian century, things do not seem to change much. As I have indicated, some intellectuals converted to the faith, but most Christians were from the lower classes and uneducated."

Social Class: Early Christian scribes " were the wealthier, more highly educated members of the Christian communities in which they lived. "

Early Church, a shift to the "middle classes?" "We have reason to think that the earliest Christian leaders were among the wealthier members of the church,  in that the churches typically met in the homes of their members  (there were no church buildings, that we know of, during the first two centuries of the church) and only the homes of the wealthier members would have been sufficiently large to accommodate very many people, since most people in ancient urban settings lived in tiny apartments. "

Footnotes

References