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The Authority of Women Hosts of Early Christian Gatherings in the First and Second Centuries C.E

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The Authority of Women Hosts of Early Christian Gatherings in the First and Second Centuries C.E Kaisa-Maria Pihlava THE AUTHORITY OF WOMEN HOSTS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN GATHERINGS IN THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES C.E. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Helsinki in lecture hall 6 on the 19th of November 2016 at 10 a.m. ISBN 978-951-51-2651-1 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-2652-8 (PDF) Unigrafia Helsinki 2016 ABSTRACT This study examines women hosts of early Christian gatherings and the authority they had in their early Christian communities. Although early Christian home gatherings and early Christian women have been studied extensively, women who hosted early Christian gatherings have thus far been given only occasional attention. The aim of this study is to write women hosts into the narratives of early Christian beginnings more fully than has been done before. According to numerous early Christian texts, Christ-believers often gathered at homes. Some of these homes had women heads of households (e.g. Acts 12:12, 16:14-15, 40; Col. 4:15). In addition, some early Christian texts may allude to women hosts of early Christian gatherings (e.g. Ign. Pol. 8:2; Ign. Smyrn. 13:2). Even these few sources imply that gathering at women’s homes might have been a more common phenomenon than early Christian writings indicate. This study utilizes social-historical and post-structural approaches. Accordingly, both the social-historical setting and the literary representations of women hosts will be researched. The research discusses various literary and non- literary ancient sources that pertain to early Christian domestic gatherings, non- Christian women heads of households in antiquity, and women benefactors. While even the most extensive usage of diverse sources does not enable a complete portrayal of women hosts, there are more and less credible reconstructions of their activities and of the settings in which they functioned. In addition to analyzing the texts that mention women hosts or possible women hosts of early Christian gatherings, this study includes discussions about early Christian communities and non-Christian women heads of households and patrons. Based on the research, it is argued that because of the domestic setting in which women were heads of their households, they also had authority in early Christian gatherings taking place at their homes. The same applies to the position of non-Christian women benefactors according to whose model Christ-believers understood the position and authority of women hosts of early Christian gatherings. It is argued that women hosts had authority in their early Christian communities because of the domestic setting and the authority that hosts irrespective of their gender had in general. Furthermore, their authority was affected by non-Christian women’s comparable roles and their literary and non-literary representations. The authority that women hosts thus gained was not countercultural and was not motivated by a supposed early Christian egalitarianism. There was no striving towards gender-equality in early Christianity. Instead, socioeconomic hierarchy resulted in the authority positions of women hosts of early Christian gatherings. Christian communities started to gain distinct gathering places in the late second and third centuries C.E. and at the same time hierarchical structures continued developing. These trajectories resulted in the exclusion of women hosts from authority roles in mainstream Christianity. TIIVISTELMÄ Tämä väitöstutkimus käsittelee naisia, joiden kodeissa varhaiset kristityt kokoontuivat ajanlaskun alun kahdella ensimmäisellä vuosisadalla. Erityistä huomiota kiinnitetään siihen, millaisia auktoriteetteja naiset seurakunnissaan olivat. Lisäksi tutkitaan näiden naisten todennäköistä sosioekonomista taustaa ja sitä, millaisia rooleja naisilla saattoi olla kodeissaan kokoontuvissa seurakunnissa. Naisia, joiden kodeissa varhaiset kristityt kokoontuivat, on tähän mennessä tutkittu vain vähän. Väitöskirjan tavoitteena on kirjoittaa nämä naiset varhaisen kristinuskon historiaan. Naisten kodeissa kokoontuminen mainitaan muutamissa varhaiskristillisissä kirjoituksissa (esim. Ap.t. 12:12, 16:14-15, 40; Kol. 4:15). Lisäksi joidenkin varhaiskristillisissä teksteissä mainittujen naisten kodeissa saattoi kokoontua seurakunta (esim. Ign. Pol. 8:2; Ign. Smyrn. 13:2). Vaikka naisten kodeissa kokoontumiseen viittaavia tekstejä on lukumäärällisesti vähän, heidän esiintymisensä toisistaan riippumattomissa varhaiskristillisissä lähteissä viittaa siihen, että naisten kodeissa kokoontuminen saattoi olla tavallisempi ilmiö kuin lähteiden vähäisestä määrästä voisi olettaa. Tässä tutkimuksessa käytetään sosiaalihistoriallisia ja poststrukturaalisia lähestymistapoja. Käytännössä tämä tarkoittaa sitä, että tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan sekä seurakunnille kokoontumispaikan tarjonneiden naisten sosiaalihistoriallista taustaa että näiden naisten kirjallisia representaatioita. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan varhaiskristilliset tekstit, joissa mainitaan naisia, joiden kodeissa kristityt kokoontuivat, sekä tekstit, joissa mainittavat naiset ovat mahdollisesti kristittyjen kokoontumistilojen tarjoajia. Lisäksi tarkastelun kohteina ovat varhaisten kristittyjen kodeissa kokoontuminen, antiikin ei-kristityt naisperheenpäät sekä ei- kristityt naiset, jotka antoivat taloudellista tukea muun muassa erilaisille yhdistyksille. Varhaisille kristityille kokoontumistiloja tarjoavien naisten auktoriteettiasemaan vaikutti se, että he olivat perhekuntiensa päitä, joilla sukupuolesta riippumatta oli ylin auktoriteetti omissa perhekunnissaan. Lisäksi ei- kristityt naisperheenpäät ja naiset taloudellisina tukijoina tarjosivat mallin, jonka perusteella naiset, joiden kodeissa varhaiset kristityt kokoontuivat, olivat auktoriteetteja. Heidän auktoriteettiasemansa eivät olleet heitä ympäröivän kulttuurin vastaisia eivätkä kerro varhaisen kristinuskon pyrkimyksistä sukupuolten väliseen tasa-arvoon. Toisin kuin joissain aiemmissa tutkimuksissa on esitetty, varhaiskristilliset seurakunnat olivat hierarkisesti järjestäytyneitä. Tämän takia kokoontumistilojen tarjoaja, myös silloin kun hän oli nainen, oli auktoriteetti kodissaan kokoontuvassa seurakunnassa. Kun kristittyjen erilliset kokoontumistilat alkoivat kehittyä 100-luvun lopulla ja 200-luvulla, naisia ei enää tarvittu kokoontumistilojen tarjoajiksi. Samaan aikaan kristittyjen yhteisöjen hierarkia jatkoi kehittymistään yhä keskusjohtoisemmaksi. Näiden kehityskulkujen seurauksena myös kokoontumistiloja seurakunnille tarjonneet naiset menettivät auktoriteettiroolinsa kristinuskon valtavirrassa. THE AUTHORITY OF WOMEN HOSTS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN GATHERINGS IN THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES C.E. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. III 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. THE AIM OF THIS STUDY .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2. PREVIOUS STUDIES ABOUT EARLY CHRISTIAN WOMEN AND WOMEN HOSTS AMONG THEM ..................... 2 1.3. THE CONCEPT OF AUTHORITY ..................................................................................................... 12 1.4. THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND THE OUTLINE OF THIS STUDY .......................... 14 1.5. THE STUDY DESIGN ................................................................................................................... 17 2. EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES ..........................................................................................19 2.1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 19 2.2. CHRIST-BELIEVERS GATHERING AT HOMES .................................................................................... 20 2.3. THE SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS OF CHRIST-BELIEVERS ....................................................................... 21 2.4. DOMESTIC SPACES .................................................................................................................... 23 2.5. MODELS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES: HOUSEHOLDS, ASSOCIATIONS AND SYNAGOGUES ............. 27 2.6. EARLY CHRISTIAN MEALS ........................................................................................................... 30 2.7. HOSTS AS AUTHORITIES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER LOCAL AND ITINERANT AUTHORITIES ....... 34 2.8. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................... 39 3. WOMEN AS HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS ....................................................................................42 3.1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 42 3.2. HOUSEHOLDS .......................................................................................................................... 43 3.3. MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND WIDOWHOOD ..................................................................................... 46 3.4. THE GUARDIANSHIP OF WOMEN ................................................................................................. 50 3.5. WOMEN AS HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS IN THE ROMAN WEST .............................................................. 54 3.5.1. The Property of Roman Women .................................................................................
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