Streitfall Religion. Zum spannungsvollen Nebeneinander von griechisch-römischer und christlicher Religiosität in antiken Haushalten

Abstract

The expansion of Early Christianity primarily took place in non-public space, i.e. houses. The paper focuses on Early Christian families and how they managed their everyday lives apart from the polytheistic dominated majority. Since ancient society was a face-to-face society cultic practice of individuals could not remain hidden and boundaries were fluid. Thus not only the relation to people outside the family could contain one kind of potential for conflict, but also the relation between individuals within the family was not far from tensionless. Parents-children, man-woman, master-slaves; these pairs are intended to illustrate the role of early Christian family religion between “ideal” and “reality”. Whereas earlier sources strengthen the ideal of an unanimous household the texts favor a more radical perspective in following the Christian ethos as superior to the traditional family model.