Roman Corinth provides an exceptionally rich setting for understanding early Christianity in an urban context. This handbook reconstructs the city of Corinth and the surrounding area from its Roman refoundation in 44 BCE to the fourth century CE as a dynamic environment shaped by diverse religious practices, social structures, material culture, and transregional exchange.
Drawing on approaches such as identity formation, conflict theory, network analysis, and the study of religion in urban contexts, the volume develops an integrative framework that methodologically brings together New Testament exegesis, ancient history, archaeology, documentary evidence, and the history of religion within a systematic and accessible structure.
First, it maps the literary, material, spatial, and historical contours of Roman Corinth. Then, it examines the local history of Christianity in relation to domestic and public spaces, education, spectacles, burials, trade, ethnicity, social stratification, and religious pluralism. Consequently, Corinthian Christ groups emerge not as isolated enclaves, but as deeply entangled participants in the life of the city.
Corinth proves to be a highly revealing urban laboratory for studying early Christianity, where theological reflection, religious experience, social practice, and interaction with Jewish, pagan, and imperial contexts develop in constant exchange. By combining reliable orientation with new research, including previously unpublished archaeological and historical material, the handbook offers a comprehensive introduction and makes a significant contribution to scholarship.
