John Dickson wrote:
But some religious gatherings in the ancient
world were held outdoors - off the top of my head I can think of two instances
of Jewish worship held outdoors. Why could we not, then, imagine several
house churches in a city meeting regularly and independently - say, in groups
of 40 or so - and then every so often coming together (1 Cor 14:23) in large
outdoor gatherings - rented courtyards, public gardens, or
whatever?
Possible. I have a problem with the idea of Christians having access to
public space or being in the position to rent courtyards etc. Was it socially
and/or legally possible for them to do so? For what it's worth, I have met
with Christians in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and it took me awhile to realise that
it was not possible for them to rent public space like halls. All the things
that in my world are so accessible to me as a Christian [such as the
media, public space] simply are not accessible to Christians in Sri Lanka.
True also in Corinth etc for Christians?
If Christians did meet 'outdoors', my guess is that it was outside of the
cities along a river or by the beach [Justin meets the Christian philosopher
along a deserted beach].
My basic questions stands: what makes anyone think there were a number of
groups consisting of about 40 Christians in Corinth in Paul's own
time?
Rick Strelan
