Fra huskult til basilika

It is still an astonishing fact that no material remains of early Christian churches have been found antedating the building in Dura-Europos at the Euphrat River in present day Iraq. It was a usual private dwelling house that in 241 was rebuilt and transformed into a Christian cult place. This build...

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Main Author: Per Bilde
Format: Article
Language:Danish
Published: Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift 2004-07-01
Series:Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift
Subjects:
Online Access:https://tidsskrift.dk/rvt/article/view/1747
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author Per Bilde
author_facet Per Bilde
author_sort Per Bilde
collection DOAJ
description It is still an astonishing fact that no material remains of early Christian churches have been found antedating the building in Dura-Europos at the Euphrat River in present day Iraq. It was a usual private dwelling house that in 241 was rebuilt and transformed into a Christian cult place. This building, however, in no way resembled the magnificent Christian basilicas that were built from the time of Constantine the Great (ruling 306/324-337), and only the baptistery in the rebuilt houses proves that it actually was a Christian building. In the present article I briefly scetch the history of the development of the Christian cult building from the private meeting places at the time of the New Testament to the Constantinian basilicas. The main purpose, however, is to discuss the character of the Christian cult house in relation to a number of related earlier and contemporary types of buildings such as the classical Hellenistic-Roman temples, the Jewish synagogue and a number of Graeco-Roman buildings that can be reagrded as historical forerunners of the Christian church building: the Greek counsel hall (bouleutêrion), the hall of initiation (e.g. Eleusis), the lecture hall (such as gymnasium and stoa), the Greek and Near Eastern cult theatres, the roman basilica and the Roman mithraeum. From the beginning, obviously, the Christian cult building  was a meeting house like the Greek counsel hall, the roman basilica and the Jewish synagogue. But it was also a dining room, and, at least from 241, with thebatistery in Dura-Europos, it also became a hall of initiation. Thus, the Christian cult building developed by uniting a number of eatlier types of buildings, secular and sacred, and from the time of Constantine, the Christian basilica united the secular Greek meeting house, which was continued and further developed in the Jewish synagogue, the Greek hall of initiation, and the classical Graeco-Roman Temple.
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spelling doaj.art-c9b17fd73b9f4851a1524c6913fddf802024-01-09T13:39:30ZdanReligionsvidenskabeligt TidsskriftReligionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift1904-81812004-07-014510.7146/rt.v0i45.1747Fra huskult til basilikaPer BildeIt is still an astonishing fact that no material remains of early Christian churches have been found antedating the building in Dura-Europos at the Euphrat River in present day Iraq. It was a usual private dwelling house that in 241 was rebuilt and transformed into a Christian cult place. This building, however, in no way resembled the magnificent Christian basilicas that were built from the time of Constantine the Great (ruling 306/324-337), and only the baptistery in the rebuilt houses proves that it actually was a Christian building. In the present article I briefly scetch the history of the development of the Christian cult building from the private meeting places at the time of the New Testament to the Constantinian basilicas. The main purpose, however, is to discuss the character of the Christian cult house in relation to a number of related earlier and contemporary types of buildings such as the classical Hellenistic-Roman temples, the Jewish synagogue and a number of Graeco-Roman buildings that can be reagrded as historical forerunners of the Christian church building: the Greek counsel hall (bouleutêrion), the hall of initiation (e.g. Eleusis), the lecture hall (such as gymnasium and stoa), the Greek and Near Eastern cult theatres, the roman basilica and the Roman mithraeum. From the beginning, obviously, the Christian cult building  was a meeting house like the Greek counsel hall, the roman basilica and the Jewish synagogue. But it was also a dining room, and, at least from 241, with thebatistery in Dura-Europos, it also became a hall of initiation. Thus, the Christian cult building developed by uniting a number of eatlier types of buildings, secular and sacred, and from the time of Constantine, the Christian basilica united the secular Greek meeting house, which was continued and further developed in the Jewish synagogue, the Greek hall of initiation, and the classical Graeco-Roman Temple.https://tidsskrift.dk/rvt/article/view/1747Dura-EuroposGræsk-romerskConstantin den Store
spellingShingle Per Bilde
Fra huskult til basilika
Religionsvidenskabeligt Tidsskrift
Dura-Europos
Græsk-romersk
Constantin den Store
title Fra huskult til basilika
title_full Fra huskult til basilika
title_fullStr Fra huskult til basilika
title_full_unstemmed Fra huskult til basilika
title_short Fra huskult til basilika
title_sort fra huskult til basilika
topic Dura-Europos
Græsk-romersk
Constantin den Store
url https://tidsskrift.dk/rvt/article/view/1747
work_keys_str_mv AT perbilde frahuskulttilbasilika