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  • From: Craig de Vos <csdevos AT trinity.unimelb.edu.au>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: synagogues) in Thessalonika
  • Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 14:25:27 +1000

At 8:51 PM -0400 on 20/9/99, Jim wrote:
The earliest archaeological evidence is an inscription in samaritan and
greek - 2 lines in samaritan read:
"blessed be our lord forever"
"blessed be his name forever"
and in greek a rendering of Num 6:22-27.
This dedicatory inscription "seems" to have been placed at a synagogue-
though the date of the inscription is generally assumed to have been the
Byzantine era (4th-6th c. CE). This synagogue (if that is indeed where the
inscription originates) must have been used by members of the Samaritan
community, since the inscription makes use of the Samaritan script.
There is nothing earlier however. So there is apparently no archaeological
support for the claim of Acts 17 (however, absence of evidence does not
prove absence of a synagogue).

Cf. C. Edson's 1972 collection of inscriptions.

In addition to the Samaritan "synagogue" dating from 4th century ce (?) that Jim referred to, the full text of which can be found in IG 10.2.1.789 (i.e., the Edson collection, but also printed with a translation in New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity vol 1 #108), there are a couple of other inscriptions that seem to have individuals with Hebrew sounding names, e.g., Abramios in IG 10.2.1.633 (dated 4th century ce) and Aurhlios Zumwn in IG 10.2.1.772 (dated to the end of the 3rd century ce). But there is nothing before this time. In fact, there is virtually no archaeological evidence for Jewish communities in Macedonia at all in the first century -- apart from the town of Stobi, which is known to have had a Jewish community in the late first or early second century ce.

So, in answer to Jeffrey's original question, there is no archaeological support for the claim of Acts 17, and nothing in 1 Thess itself tends to suggest that there was a Jewish presence in the church there -- in fact, quite the opposite.

See my recently published: Church and Community Conflicts (Scholars, 1999), 130-2 and 144-7.

Craig



******************************************
Dr. Craig S. de Vos
Bromby Lecturer in New Testament
Trinity College Theological School
Royal Parade
Parkville VIC 3052
Australia
(O) +61 3 9349-0129 (F) +61 3 9349-0460
csdevos AT trinity.unimelb.edu.au
http://www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/~csdevos/CdVhome.html

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