The Materiality of Early Christ Devotion: Artistic Innovation at Four Archaeological Sites

by Bruce W. Longenecker

Overview

In the fourth and fifth centuries CE, Christian artistry began to flourish, as elite patrons sponsored decorative initiatives for basilica churches throughout the Mediterranean basin. But what about the first three centuries? Living prior to the Constantinian age of tolerance, did Christ followers of that period engage in artistic expressions that externalized their theological hopes and convictions?

The question can best be answered by consulting the ancient material record itself. The study of the Greco-Roman world has increasingly taken a "material turn" with the recognition that the archaeological record is integral in shaping our understanding of ancient cultures and civilizations. Foregrounding the material data reanimates the lived experience of people on the ground. To what extent did early Christ followers leave their mark on the material record of the Roman world?

This is the question Bruce Longenecker explores in The Materiality of Early Christ Devotion. An array of evidence from around the Mediterranean basin testifies to some fascinating ways that Christ followers expressed themselves in artistic media—gravestones, rings and gemstones, amulets, wall plaster, and mosaics. In particular, four archaeological sites allow us to see Christ followers giving life to their theological convictions in ways shaped by their localized situations.

In Ostia and the aftermath of persecution, we glimpse a cautious but hopeful Christ devotion, with Christ followers creating cryptic artistic symbols within a public space.

In Dura-Europos and the context of international embattlement, we encounter an ambitious and impassioned Christ devotion, as Christ followers used art to enhance their experiences of empowerment, illumination, and union with the divine.

In Smyrna where numerical mysticism was fashionable, we discover a savvy and sapiential Christ devotion, with Christ followers embedding their devotion in artistic puzzles that exhibited the mystical and mathematical dimensions of their beliefs.

In Pompeii, we catch sight of an embryonic Christ devotion that, like countless artistic artifacts from the town, displayed a simple hope for protection from evil forces and the insecurities of life.

Building on the findings of archaeologists and historians, Longenecker’s innovative interpretations offer fresh opportunities to see the diversity of localized forms of Christ devotion through the artistic ingenuity of pre-Constantinian Christ followers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481321631
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2025
Pages:	349
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bruce W. Longenecker is W. W. Melton Professor of Christian Origins at the Department of Religion, Baylor University.

Table of Contents

1 Introducing the Project
2 Depicting the Pre-Constantinian Cross
Part 1 Christ Followers in Ostia
3 Embedding Symbols
4 Securing Premises and Patronage
Part 2 Christ Followers in Dura-Europos
5 Surveying the Christian Building
6 Interpreting the Frescos
7 Populating the Christ Assembly
8 Experiencing a Baptismal Service
Part 3 Christ Followers in Smyrna
9 Puzzling the Word Square
Part 4 Christ Followers in Pompeii
10 Devising Protection
11 Wanting More Life
12 Positioning Christ Devotion
13 Outlining the Results
Appendix 1 Crossing the Curbstone
Appendix 2 Setting the Record Straight
Appendix 3 Pre-Dating Pompeii?

What People are Saying About This

James B. Rives

This accessible and highly readable volume takes the reader on a series of four fascinating detective adventures. Through a rich and careful contextualization of often scrappy visual and verbal archaeological remains, Bruce Longenecker makes a compelling case for the significance that can be found even in apparently insignificant material. The result is a vivid reimagining of the lived worlds of specific groups of Christ followers in four different times and places, one that sheds new light on the variety of early Christian experience.

Jaś Elsner

The Materiality of Early Christ Devotion is an exciting, up-to-date, and learned account of the earliest Christian material culture and its implications, both religious and theological. It discusses Christian imagery and symbolism in both funerary and liturgical contexts across the eastern and western parts of the Roman empire.  Its outstanding discussion of a very rich range of materials from gems and seals to inscriptions, tombstones, mosaics and wall paintings offers a vivid and excellently illustrated portrait of the beginnings of Christian visual devotion in the era before the religion’s rise to hegemony.

Ted Kaizer

Through an in-depth investigation of the material culture of four sites that are key to the study of early Christianity, Bruce Longenecker strongly argues the case for creative strategies that are followed, to varying extents and with diverse methods, by different local groupings to articulate their adherence to the new religion. Applying spatial theory analysis and highlighting the lived experiences of early Christians in the four localities, Longenecker shows the resourcefulness in the way in which religious persuasions could be given expression. This is a book that every student of early Christianity would benefit of engaging with.

Éric Rebillard

This book reveals the ingenuity that early Christ followers put into expressing their devotion and how wide the spectrum of intensity and exclusivity of their commitment can be. Longenecker’s well-informed use of archaeology and material culture, as well as a great sensibility to artistic imagination, make this new book a captivating read and a great contribution to the field.

Barbara E. Borg

The Materiality of Early Christ Devotion is a fascinating book that challenges the reader to take a fresh and unbiased look at objects and images expressing early Christ devotion. Rightly insisting on the creativity and diversity of Christ followers grounded in local traditions within the first three centuries, it offers intriguing and inspiring new ‘readings’ of the case-study materials.

Paula Fredriksen

A gemstone here, a fresco there, a graffito, a mosaic, an inscription – from all these elements, Bruce Longenecker conjures four Christian social worlds in all their vigorous variety. In his pages, "lived religion" truly comes alive. The Materiality of Early Christ Devotion is a bravura performance of disciplined imagination and innovative scholarship.

Greg Woolf

Longenecker ranges across the Roman Mediterranean and beyond, uncovering a world of Christian imagery much richer and more diverse than has previously been suspected, in media ranging from elaborate frescoes and intricate gems to subtle graffiti. Christ worshippers are revealed as participants in the same visual cultures as those employed by adherents of many other gods. This book shows how far they remained part of wider Mediterranean cultures of representation in the centuries before emperors and church fathers began to interest themselves in distinctive Christian monumentalities. An enthralling read.

M. David Litwa

It is a mistake to let later canonized writings determine everything we know about Christianity in its formative phases. This book expertly and cautiously presents many important and surprising finds from the realm of material culture. These finds have the power to point to what early Christians were actually thinking about on the ground, and they show how Christians were part and parcel of their (Greco-Roman) world.

Jan Bremmer

Whereas students of early/pre-Constantinian Christ followers habitually focus on texts, Longenecker's innovative and challenging book shows that their material and spatial world has been wrongly neglected, which greatly enriches our image of the early Christians.