It is to this view of the ancient Mediterranean that I tend,
and it is important to stress this at the outset since I see it as the
canvas upon which early Christianity was painted. This canvas
comprises not just unifying elements, such as those characteris-
tics that we may identify as ‘Greek’ or ‘Roman’, but also the
diverse patchwork of myriad local cultures. For example, the New
Testament Acts of the Apostles, when describing the visit of the
apostle Paul and his assistant Barnabas to the city of Lystra in
Lycaonia in the middle of Asia Minor, notes that locals, when
reacting to Paul’s activities, spoke in their local Lycaonian
language (Acts14.11; cf. Mitchell 1993: I, 172–3). From such
accounts we get a taste of the diverse cultural landscape that
confronted the early Christians.
Amid all this cultural diversity it is important to stress the
religious diversity of the ancient Mediterranean. The world inhab-
ited by early Christianity was, to quote the title of a recent and
important book on this subject, ‘a world full of gods’ (K. Hopkins
1999). Christianity competed with other gods – the Jewish God
and the multifarious deities of Mediterranean paganism – and the
way in which the Christian message was received was heavily
conditioned by the religious expectations of the inhabitants of
this cultural milieu (chapter 4). In some cases, this could lead to
confusion and mistakes. A famous example comes from the afore-
mentioned visit of Paul and Barnabas to Lystra in Lycaonia. Paul,
in one of his efforts to display the power of Jesus Christ, effected
a miraculous cure on a man crippled from birth. Needless to say,
the locals were impressed, but they did not at first attribute the
miracle to what Paul himself would have deemed to be the correct
source. ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’
they exclaimed, before identifying Barnabas with Zeus and Paul,
because he talked so much, with Hermes, the messenger of the
gods (Acts14.8–12).
Such misapprehensions could afflict Christians too. I always
feel rather sorry for Hermas, the second-century author of a work
on penance and forgiveness called The Shepherd, whose own sins
and errors were typified by his misunderstanding of the ChristianWHAT IS EARLY CHRISTIANITY?
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