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corpus-paul - Re: populations of Paul's cities

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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: populations of Paul's cities
  • Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 15:00:01 +1000

At 11:29 PM -0500 on 5/10/99, Jeffrey wrote:
This evening in my Paul class I had occasion to note Murphy O'Connor's
estimate that at the time of Paul's writing of 1 Cor there were no more
than 50-100 Christians within Corinth. In response one of my students
wanted to know what percentage of the Corinthian population that figure
represented. And I had to say I didn't know, not knowing how large
Corinth was or how populated it was in the mid 50's ce. So I bring this
question to the List: what was the population of Corinth at this time.

Additionally, what was the population of Thessalaonika, Ephesus,
Philippi, and the remainder or the cities Paul evangelized? And what are
the current estimates of the size of the Christian congregations within
each of them?


Jeffrey,
Put half a dozen scholars in a room, ask that question, and you'd probably get a dozen different answers! I'm not sure about Ephesus, but I have calculated the population size for Corinth of 100,000-130,000, for Thessalonica of 40,000-50,000 and for Philippi of 9,000-11,500. But these don't take into account that portion of the population living within the territorium of each city that still technically belonged to the city. Without going into all the details, or the reasoning, these figures are based on the area of urban settlement and an estimated population density of 200-250 per hectare. However, most scholars have suggested widely varying density rates ranging between 160-740 persons per hectare.

As to the size of the Christian communities in each the same cautionary note needs to be stated as at the beginning of the previous paragraph. I suggest about 100 at Corinth, 20 at Thessalonica, and 30 at Philippi.

If you are interested in how I have calculated (estimated) these, see my Church and Community Conflicts (Scholars Press, 1999), pp33-4, 129, 154, 183-5, 203-4, 237-9, 260-1.
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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