The Crosses of Pompeii: Jesus-Devotion in a Vesuvian Town

by Bruce W. Longenecker

Overview

Through a twist of fate, the eruption that destroyed Pompeii in 79 CE also preserved a wealth of evidence about the town, buried for centuries in volcanic ash. Since the town's excavations in the eighteenth century, archaeologists have disputed the evidence that might attest the presence of Christians in Pompeii before the eruption.

Now, Bruce W. Longenecker reviews that evidence, in comparison with other possible evidence of first-century Christian presence elsewhere, and reaches the conclusion that there were indeed Christians living in the doomed town. Illustrated with maps, charts, photographs, and line drawings depicting artifacts from the town, The Crosses of Pompeii presents an elegant case for their presence. Longenecker's arguments require dramatic changes to our understanding of the early history of Christianity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451490121
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	05/01/2016
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	724,182
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Bruce W. Longenecker is professor of early Christianity and W. W. Melton Chair of Religion at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, having formerly taught in Britain at St. Andrews, Cambridge, and Durham Universities. Some of his recent books include The Lost Letters of Pergamum (2002); Rhetoric at the Boundaries (2005); and Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and the Greco-Roman World (2010).

Table of Contents

Part I Introduction

1 Questions and Answers 3

2 In Advance 19

Part II Setting Up

3 The Starting Point 37

4 The Debate 49

5 The Cross in Early Christianity and Beyond 63

6 The Perpendicular Equilateral 79

Part III The primary Evidence

7 Jesus-Devotion in Relief 101

8 Jesus-Devotion in the Insula 117

9 Jesus-Devotion in the Letters 145

10 Jesus-Devotion and the Inn 153

11 Jesus-Devotion in Transactions 167

Part IV The Supplemental Evidence

12 Crossing the Streets 191

13 Jesus-Devotion in the Streets 217

Part V And So

14 Belief and Skepticism 253

15 Here and Beyond 261

Appendix: Positioning Pompeii's Street Crosses 285

Credits and Abbreviations 307

Bibliography 311

Index of Ancient Sources 341

Index of Modern Authors 349

Index of Vesuvian Locations 355