The Separateness of The Early Christians In The Roman Empire AD 50-313, In Matters of Leisure and Entertainment by Valerie Clark

This paper was included in the Asian Pentecostal Conference folder and is reprinted here with Mrs. Clarks permission. The Conference was held at the Bible College of Malaysia on September 13 and 14 . Valerie Clark is an ordained pastor of the Apostolic Faith Mission of SA. This article is derived from her unpublished MA (Theology) dissertation completed at University of Johannesburg with Dr Marius Nel as promoter, entitled The separateness of Christians in their interaction with the public life of the Imperial Romans 50-313AD.

1. INTRODUCTION
“Away with the third race” was a favourite shout of the crowds in the circus. The phrase neatly pinpointed the recognizable identity that Christians were acquiring, distinct from both Jews and pagans. No such designation could have taken root unless Christians had in fact developed a distinct corporate identity, even a separateness, in the society around them. (Markus 1974:24)

The early Christians made a stand to “come out from among them” (2 Cor 6:17) and be separate, in obedience to their Lord and his commands .In the pagan society of the Roman Empire in which they lived and worked, Christians could not participate in the festivals and celebrations that permeated all areas of life and that the inhabitants of the Roman world so loved. The reason was simple: the spheres of politics, commerce and industry, and leisure and entertainment all centred around the worship of the pagan deities. Occasions of civic importance as well as mundane business was marked by religious ceremony (Clarke 2000:21). “Everywhere, the gods were involved in life’s basic patterns, in birth, copulation and death” (Shelton 1988:365). Many of the Greek gods were worshipped by the Romans who simply changed their names to give them a Roman identity (Klauck 2002:28). Jupiter was the most important of the gods and it was to Jupiter’s Temple that a victorious general or emperor made his way in the ceremonial procession (Yamauchi 1981:123).

De Vos (2000:870) points out that “everyone” usually took part in the major religious festivals and public feasts; they were the high points in the city’s calendar. Not only did one join the procession, but it was customary for small altars to be set up outside houses, and households offered sacrifices as the procession passed by. Emperor-worship became a formality in the empire and the image of the emperor was the central point of reference for the imperial cult (Lane Fox 1986:136). The world by this time had been influenced by various philosophies and cults, as well as systems of magic and astrology. The Romans relied heavily on “the signs”. No official act was conducted without discovering the will of the gods by some act of divination (Yamauchi 1981:125).

The might and magnificence of the Roman Empire forms the social background to the rise of Christianity. By the first century AD, the empire was at its zenith. People of today stand in awe and admiration at the architectural achievements of the Romans: the Forum of Augustus, the theatre of Marcellus, Trajan’s Column, the Pantheon, the Baths of Diocletian, the Porta Nigra, the Arch of Constantine, and of course, the mighty Amphitheatrum Flavium, or Colosseum. Roman culture and power came to dominate Europe and the Near East, and trade and industry stretched far and wide across the empire. The strategy and organization of the Roman army is incredible evidence of their professional tactics, and their military achievements even more so. The Roman domain stretched from the Atlantic to the Black and Red Seas (Cary & Scullard [1935] 1975:512-513). The Romans were indeed the rulers of the world.

In this historical context of the Latin-Hellenistic world, in a remote corner of the empire, the religion of Christianity began. Just as amazing as the Roman Empire was, so too was it amazing that a small band of Jewish “fanatics” transformed themselves into a world religion. “Starting out as a Jewish sect, a handful of followers of Jesus of Nazareth located in the Jewish homeland of Judea; it somehow managed to convert masses of people so that in less than three centuries it numbered some three million adherents” (Ehrman 1999:3).

The question may be asked: how did these Christians convince potential converts to leave the festive worship of their gods and to join a group of people who were labelled as criminals (Ehrman 1999:26), anti-social deviants (Carter 2002:484), magicians (Lietzmann [1961]1967:194), cannibals (De Vos 2000:880), perpetrators of incest and sexual orgies (Dods, Reith & Pratten 1867:415), and the cause of natural disasters (Frend 1965:490)? Ehrman (1999:383) gives the answer when he states that the Christians followed Jesus’ teachings with a consistency that was evident in their moral behaviour, and “the upright lives of Christians proved more important for their relationship with those outside the faith”. The Christian’s policy was based on Jesus’ exhortation to be in the world, but not be part of the world (John 17:14-15), and they were determined to follow Pauls entreaty (Rom 12:2) to not be conformed to this world. It seems as though the early Christians took all these exhortations seriously.

As a Pentecostal minister who was raised in a Pentecostal denomination which has often been described as a “sect” because of its persuasion, based on the example of the early church, to separate itself from the world and the moral and ethical norms of the world, it has been of interest to me to study the separateness of the early Christians from their world in the spheres of politics, commerce and industry, and entertainment. My focus for this article is the sphere of Roman leisure and entertainment, and the Christians’ response to it.

2. THE ROMAN WORLD OF PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT
In today’s modern world, leisure is defined as a time when we are not working in some fixed employment. In Roman days there was no division of time and labour. In Toner’s words (1995:7):

“Leisure would be the institution that revealed most of the traits of Roman life. Leisure would be the study to cover most important areas of Roman culture. For the central themes of Roman life were most clearly connected in their leisure on account of the fact that Rome was felt to be characterized by its abundant leisure and the immorality it seemed to foster.”

As was the way of life in the Mediterranean areas, the people rose at sunrise and retired at sunset (Malina 2000:392). For most of the elite, life was made up of long periods of free time. For the merchants, work started early and often only ended late into the night. The lower classes formed the majority of the freeborn inhabitants of the Roman Empire and despising a life of honest industry, “they asked only for bread and the games of the circus” (Farrar [1882]1909:2-3). Public entertainment kept the masses occupied and happy, thus avoiding the danger of rebellion and discontent amongst them.

On days set aside to celebrate religious festivals, the majority of the population threw themselves wholeheartedly into the enjoyment of it. There was music and dancing, prostitution, drama, athletics, shopping and fairs, and religious processions (Lane Fox 1986:85). On the Ides of March, the lower classes of the population & streamed out to the festum geniale of Anna, and spent the whole day in the Campus Marticus, lying about in pairs of men and women, indulging in drinking and in all kinds of revelry. “As they drank they prayed for as many years of life as they could swallow cups of wine” (Fowler 1963:289). By the time of Marcus Aurelius (AD 161- 180), the number of festival days had been extended to 130, double that of the latter days of the republic (Cary & Scullard [1935]1975:303).

2.1 THE GAMES
The games, with their pageantry, processional ceremonies, spectacular show and a love of brutality and bloodshed, were central to Roman life. The question may well be asked: “&what are we to make of such a mentality and culture, and how was it that the games played such a crucial role in the imperial ideology?” (Toner 1995:48). It would seem that just as the Roman social order destined some to win and others to lose, so the games portrayed this normal and inescapable fact of life: there was the opportunity of equality through chance or merit. Farrar [1882]1909:7 says of the spectacles that both shocked and delighted the crowds: “Two phrases sum up the characteristics of Roman civilization in the days of the Empire - heartless cruelty, and unfathomable corruption”.

2.2 THE RACES
Races were held in the circuses, built as long rectangles with semi-circular ends. Halliday (1925:108) maintains that racing was more popular than our football today. The Romans relied on the supernatural to favour their bets. Thus, magic “was employed to accelerate or retard the pace” (Friedlander [1908]1965:34-35). Everyone talked about the races and teachers complained that their pupils could not concentrate on the lesson when it was the day of the races. The roar of the crowd in the Circus Maximus could be heard all over the city. Gambling on the races bordered on the fanatical and riot often
took place between the various supporters (Yamauchi 1981:119).

While the main feature of entertainment in the circus was the chariot races, there were also horseback races, athletic contests and wrestling matches (Friedlander [1908]1965:23). Shops lay along the length of the stadiums where “winemerchants, caterers and pastry-cooks, astrologers and prostitutes had their place of business” (Carcopino 1967:236).

2.3 THE THEATRE AND THE PLAYS
“What with the powerful excitement of the circus-arena, the stage could only draw its audience by ignoble means, rough jokes and sensual by-play. Thus, far from counteracting the corrupting influences of the circus and arena, it heightened them” (Friedlander [1908]1965:90). Yamauchi (1981:118) describes the theatre as a place where actresses took their clothes off, sexual intercourse was performed and criminals were tortured on stage.

2.4 THE AMPHITHEATRE (COLOSSEUM)
Here, the most cruel and gruesome games that the world would ever know, took place. The Amphitheatrum Flavium, or “Cathedral of Death”, was built by Emperor Vespasian to win the favour of the people. To celebrate the opening, one hundred days were dedicated to special games and free entertainment (Yamauchi 1981:120). Thousands of animals were killed, and many gladiators fought to the death (Shelton 1988:344). First on the programme were the wild beasts, followed by public executions where criminals (including Christians) were crucified, set alight, or given to the wild animals. Last of all were the gladiators. In all, forty-two emperors enjoyed the Colosseum and 700 thousand souls died (Wrobel 2004:tel broadcast).

3. ROMAN PRIVATE AND DOMESTIC PLEASURE AND ENTERTAINMENT
A brief look at how the Romans passed leisure time outside of the big festivals and games may now be looked at.

3.1 GAMBLING
All Romans were fascinated by the concept of gambling. “Games tables were scratched into pavements in porticoes, basilicas, and any flat public surface” (Toner 1995:90). People consulted soothsayers before games and bets were laid (Friedlander [1908]1965:34).

3.2 MEALS AND THEIR CONNOTATIONS IN SOCIETY
Food and meals were of distinct importance, signifying the social stratum. “Meals provided an important contest for displaying social-economic status and political power through the range of invited guests through seating order, differing qualities of the food served to the guests, different sizes of portion, differing qualities of service, and tableware” (Carter 2002:477).

The Elite
The elite fared well and had three meals a day (Halliday 1925:107), and the evening banquet was eaten with generous portions of wine (Carcopino 1967:285). For many of the elite, the banquets held in their homes included “excessive eating, drunkenness, the telling of jokes, dancing and singing (including poetry recitation), and various forms of sexual intercourse” (Corbeill 1997:104).

The Poor
The poor, in contrast to the rich, mostly ate grain and vegetables, and the very poor had a diet of black bread and vinegar-wine (Friedlander [1907]1965:115). The vast population of the lower classes depended on the corn dole given out by the aristocrats, and “had almost no other opportunity to consume meat outside pagan religious celebrations” (Kyrtatas 2002:531- 532). The tavern was a frequent meeting-place of the poor, a place for everyday leisure and where gambling, dancing, prostitution and all other vices took place (Toner 1995:71).

3.3 THE BATHS
Baths were ubiquitous in the empire, and while some were private, the majority were for the use of the public. The primary feature of these thermae was every type of bath that ingenuity could devise: hot, cold, and hot-air baths, the swimming bath, the tub bath. Externally the enormous quadrilateral was flanked by porticos, full of shops and crowded with shopkeepers and their customers; inside it enclosed gardens and promenades, stadia and rest rooms, gymnasiums and rooms for massage, even libraries and museums. (Carcopino 1967:279).
Some Romans disapproved of the baths saying that morals were weakened as well as character (Toner 1995:54-55).

4. ROMAN SEXUALITY
Sexual immorality was rife in the empire and it included gross diversions from the natural usage of sex, especially in the second and third centuries (Lane Fox 1986:341). The right to protect one’s body from sexual assaults of the others was only allowed to certain categories of people, i.e. respectable citizens of good birth and standing (Walters 1997:36). Slaves had no more rights than animals and their “bodies were vulnerable to abuse and penetration” (Glancy 2002:15).

5. ROMAN LEISURE AND ENTERTAINMENT AND THE CHRISTIAN
Having looked briefly at the leisure and entertainment that was part of the Roman Empire, an examination of the Christians attitude to and separateness from such entertainments and values may now be carried out. Says Denzey (2002:506), “and Romans often noted Christians as a distinct people for their positive traits: their aversion to infant exposure and abortion; their care for the ill, indigent, and widowed; and their refusal to attend munera or gladiatorial displays”. Yet for the most part, Christians were persecuted, tortured and martyred throughout the years leading to up to their religious freedom (AD 313). The apostle Peter (1 Pt 4:3-4), writing to the believers, reminded them of what they were, and what they had become in their Christ: “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles- when we walked in lewdness, lusts and drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you”. Therefore, public amusements, “dances, and theatres were avoided by Christians as Pompa diaboli” (Nicoll 1891:218).

They were now separate from the world and would win it on their own terms. Athenagoras (Suppl 5. 1-2), an early Christian writer, explained that the Christians, although separate from the world, were still very much a part of it: “For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of the humanity by country, language, or custom. For nowhere do they live in cities of their own, nor do they speak some unusual dialect, nor do they practice an eccentric life style” (as quoted by Ehrman 1999:73). Mostly early Christians in Rome would therefore have been raised in pagan homes and been familiar with all the pagan rituals of social life (Clarke 2000:159). The Christians were an integral part of the story of the Roman Empire, and as Halliday (1925:2) maintains, they may have been at war with society, but they were inevitably still a part of it.

5.1 THE GAMES AND THE CHRISTIAN
The Christians distanced themselves from the social entertainments and were perceived as anti-social: “The social gatherings, with the customary nation’s religious rites, they carefully avoided. The amphitheatre they detested. The combats of men or beasts did not amuse them” (Charles 1888:16). The Christian writers challenged the believers to keep away from the sites and sounds of the games. Wright (2000:1028) states that Tertullian advocated the sharpest demarcations between paganism and Christianity and much of his literary work was devoted to stressing this. The Didascalia, produced in the early third century, gave specific teaching regarding riches: “And let him not love riches. And let him not love the festivals of the heathen .And let his mind be fair, and remote from all the evil crafts of this world, and from all the evil lusts of the heathen.” (Did 3 as quoted in Ehrman 1999:334).

Christians were thus discouraged from having anything to do with the leisure and entertainment offered in the society in which they lived. “Just to sit at a public spectacle would contaminate a Christian” (Ayerst & Fisher 1971:98). Instead, the Christians were exhorted to meet together in love and an undivided heart, choosing to flee “the wicked arts and snares of the prince of this world, lest you be affected by his device, and grow weak in love” (Phld VI. 2 as quoted of Ignatius in Lake 1970:245).

5.2 CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION AND THE AMPHITHEATRE
Much of the Christian persecution came about because they would not conform to the ways of the pagan world and were therefore dubbed as anti-social, traitors to the empire, and insubordinate criminals. Cult festivals, with procession, feasts, sacrifices, fairs and games were a major source of revenue. If Christians abstained, and encouraged others to do so, it would be a loss of income and would have a significant impact on the local economy. So, they were denounced to the authorities, sometimes on trumped up charges (De Vos 2000:872-873). Misfortunes that befell the empire, whether natural, economic or military, were blamed on the Christians: they refused to worship the gods who had made Rome great (Simmons 2000:841).

It was customary, when the emperors were in attendance at the games, to present something new and different for his entertainment. Very often, the Christians were the new exhibits. From the time of Nero (AD 54-68) to the conversion of Constantine (AD 313), the Christians faced persecutions. Martyrdoms in the arenas and amphitheatres offered Christians the promise of life hereafter and earthly fame after death (Remus 2002:446). Pagans in the Roman Empire were used to watching brutal scenes in the amphitheatres and were therefore not particularly impressed by Christian martyrdom. However, by the end of the second century, the Christian attributes of courage and virtue were beginning to influence the public. Martyrdom began to impact public opinion and the influence of Christianity increased enormously.

Thus, persecution was always just around the corner for most of the Christians of the first three centuries. “The very possibility darkened many a door, reinforcing the tendency of Christian communities to keep very much to themselves and draw clear and well-protected boundaries between themselves and the world” (Finn 2000:301).

5.3 THE CHRISTIAN AND THE SHOW
Christians who still earned a living in “show business” were not to be tolerated in the church. “If a man is an actor or a pantomimist, he must desist or be rejected. A charioteer, likewise, who races or frequents races, must desist or be rejected. A gladiator or a trainer of gladiators, or a huntsmen [in the wild-beast shows], or anyone connected with these shows, or a public official in charge of gladiatorial exhibitions must desist or be rejected” (Trad ap 16. 12-15 as quoted by Ehrman 1999:353).

5.4 THE CHRISTIAN AND GLADIATORIAL COMBATS
Concerning the gladiatorial combats, there were probably two reasons for the strong denunciation toward them: firstly, the contests involved the taking of a human life and feeding the crowd’s hunger for watching people dying; secondly, the amphitheatre was used to reinforce loyalty to the emperor-cult and other deities (Fiensy 2002:562).

5.5 THE CHRISTIAN AND THE THEATRES AND PLAYS
Christians denounced the theatre (Friedlander [1908]1965:90), because it taught wrong things - idleness, inactivity, corruption and indecency (Toner 1995:68).

5.6 THE CHRISTIAN AND GAMBLING
Christians also rejected the “insane frenzy” of gambling (Toner 1995:97), and even Juvenal (Sat XI), one of the Roman writers of the day, spoke against it and the double standards with which society judged each other: “Gambling is disgraceful, and so is adultery, in men of modest means. Yet when rich men commit all these abominations, they are called jovial, splendid fellows” (in Evans 1910:133).

5.7 THE CHRISTIAN AND THE BATHS
Everyone benefited from the baths. “The baths were a splendid counter to anxiety, among Christians and Pagans alike” (Lane Fox 1986:57). Christian men and women were exhorted not to bathe together in the same bathhouse. If there was only one mixed bathhouse in the town, they were to use it at different times (Lane Fox 1986:559). Clement of Alexandria (Paed.2) said: “But by no manner of means are women to be allowed to uncover and exhibit any part of their person, lest both fall - the men by being excited to look, they by drawing on themselves the eyes of the men” (quoted by Hinson 1980:306). Thus, the Christians were to use the baths circumspectly.

5.8 THE CHRISTIAN AND FOOD
In contrast to the often gluttonous meals of the pagans, the Christians were exhorted to give thanks for their food and not to overindulge. The community meal expressed the common interests of the group (Stegemann & Stegemann 1999:282), and guild-members met once a month and shared a meal. Amongst the Christians, these common meals initially took place daily for the “breaking of bread”. Later they were held every week, perhaps because of lessened eschatological expectations. The Love Feasts, or Agapae, were held in the evenings and all ranks of society would have been present at this Christian gathering. The apostle Paul (1 Cor 11) had exhorted believers to have nothing to do with social ranking at their meals, especially at the celebration of the Lords Supper. Rather, they were to transform social relationships and practices (Carter 2002:477).

However, such gatherings that ignored the rules of social standing caused the government alarm and the Christians were regarded as facto illicita (Hardy [1894]1971:184).

5.9 THE CHRISTIAN AND ROMAN SEXUALITY
In their sexual code, “Christians were conscious of standing apart from the pagan world” (Lane Fox 1986:341). The apostle Paul to the Thessalonian church wrote: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Th 4: 3-5). Gibbon ([1776]1980:284) is of the opinion that many new believers were anxious to adopt the pure and extreme morality of the Christians in repentance and remorse for their past sinful lives.

The Christians were, however, accused of a lurid range of immorality: eucharist cannibalism and secret meetings where the practice of incest, child murder and group sex took place (Lane Fox 1986:427).

5.10 THE CHRISTIAN AND CHILD EXPOSURE AND
ABORTION
Child exposure was a common practice in the Roman Empire and infants were left to die from starvation or from natural causes (Shelton 1988:27). Both the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas forbid abortion and infanticide, “with injunctions against killing what was in the womb or what had been born” (Glancy 2002:76).

5.11 THE CHRISTIAN AND HOMOSEXUALITY
The Epistle of Barnabas (19) makes mention of fornication, adultery and states, “thou shalt not corrupt boys” (in Lightfoot 1976:154). Regarding homosexuality, Paul and the early disciples agreed with the accepted Jewish view that “it was a deadly sin which provoked God’s wrath” (Lane Fox 1986:352)

5.12 THE CHRISTIAN AND FORNICATION AND ADULTERY
Christianity, alone amongst the religions of the day, regarded sexual relations outside of marriage as a grave fault (Lebreton & Zeiller 1949:424). Before baptism, men were required to marry or else give up their concubines, and after baptism, “sex with a slave was a promiscuous sin and strictly forbidden to Christians” (Lane Fox 1986:299). Hippolytus, in his Apostolic Tradition, instructs the converts as follows concerning marriage: “But if a man is unmarried, let him be instructed to abstain from impurity, either by lawfully marrying a wife or else remaining as he is” (16.5-7 as quoted by Erhman 1999:353).

5.13 THE CHRISTIAN AND CELIBACY
When eschatological expectations were high, many Christians reasoned that freedom from marriage and sexual relationships made one ready for the kingdom, and some groups thought they would speed up the coming of the kingdom of God by their sexual abstinence (Shaw 2000:411). It was also supposed that some Christians were expected to bear the mark of exceptional closeness to God and sexual abstinence was one such mark (Brown 1988:66). So, some preached the ideal of virginity and some castrated themselves to disarm temptation, e.g. Origen (Brown 1988:168).

Halliday (1925:114) is quick in the defence of such people: “But here it must be admitted that the crusade of Christianity on behalf of sexual purity was in opposition to a lower contemporary standard, a fact which at once explains and excuses the exaggerated form which it sometimes took”.

However, a woman who remained unmarried and childless could face restrictions on her inheritance and the denial of her privilege of legal independence. Remaining unmarried was interpreted by the authorities as a challenge to the order of the household and thus the new religion was viewed as one that corrupted the women (MacDonald 1996:179).

5.14 THE CHRISTIAN AND MARRIAGE
Jesus did not speak against marriage, but was an advocate for it (Mt 19:5-6). The apostle Paul spoke positively of marriage (Eph 5:23), and the apostle Peter treated marriage as the norm (1 Pt 3:1).

Some believers in the Roman Empire had the conviction that marriage was simply in order to bear children. Justin Martyr (Apol XXIX) thought so: “But either we marry, in the first place, in order to raise children, or, refusing to marry, we live in continence for the rest of our lives” (in Falls [1948]1965:65). By AD 300, the “chaste married woman faithful to her husband, rather than the brittle virgin girl, was the figure who was held up for admiration” (Brown 1988:206).

5.15 THE CHRISTIAN AND DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE
Divorce was common in Roman society (Carcopino 1967:114). Jesus (Mt 10:35-37) did not advocate the abolition of marriage “but limits the grounds for legitimate divorce to porneia (fornication or sexual immorality)” (Shaw 2000:411). Some Christian wives were denounced by their pagan husbands and some were disinherited for turning Christian (Dodds 1965:116). The Christians severely discountered remarriage, although the Roman law penalized those who remained unmarried.

5.16 THE CHRISTIAN AND SLAVES
Slavery was an accepted part of Roman life. Both slaveholders and slaves populated the early Christian congregations and brought with them characters and habits molded by lifetimes of command and obedience (Glancy 2002:153). Both female and male slaves were available for their owner’s pleasure and thus the church needed to give instruction concerning the Christians’ conduct. Slaveholders were told: “If a man has a concubine, he must desist and marry legally; if he be unwilling, he must be rejected” (Trad ap 16.23-24 as quoted by Ehrman 1999:354).

6. CONCLUSION
The Christians drew attention to themselves by embracing a different life-style that did not allow them to be a part of the wider ethos and practices in Roman leisure and entertainment. Their differences can be summed up as follows:

_ They could give allegiance and worship to only one God;
_ They made no class distinctions and welcomed people of all social rankings at their gatherings and treated all with dignity and respect;
_ They did not approve of the games and spectacles provided by the leading officials and would not take part in the sacrifices and festivals associated with them. They spoke against the activities of the arena and theatre, and discouraged Christians from associating with them;
_ They would not place bets on the races and discouraged gambling as a worthless pastime;
_ They could not approve of the gladiatorial combats because of their conviction that human life is sacred;
_ Instead of taking part in meals that entailed over-eating, drinking and immorality, they met together regularly for a simple Love Feast;
_ They visited the baths but were modest in their behaviour;
_ They followed a new style of sexual conduct which taught modesty, purity, and the sanctity of marriage, quite different to that of the Roman society, which was in comparison “lax and immora”;
_ They were willing to die for their God in the arenas of entertainment.

According to Toner (1995:117), leisure was “nothing less than the synthetic agent which bound together Roman society as it developed from republic to empire”. The Christians upset this by their abstinence from the entertainment of the day. However, they “changed the ways in which people regarded life’s great encounters, between man and woman and also between people and their gods. They changed attitudes to life’s one certainty: death. They also changed the degree of freedom with which people could acceptably choose what to think and believe” (Lane Fox 1986:23).

The question asked in the introduction regarding the Christian’s ability to win converts to a new and suspicious religion may be answered here by Kreider’s observation (2005:61) that the early church emphasized transformed lives and how they should look. They practiced what they preached, worshipped only one God, that is Jesus Christ, and upheld their separateness in all areas of life where sacrifices to the gods were expected of them and where Christian morality and ethics were challenged.

The early Christian church offers a challenge and a motivation to modern-day contemporary Christians and Pentecostals. It provides us with a cloud of witnesses who are looking to see how we are running the race once run by them. Does the Pentecostal church still have its eyes firmly fixed on the Author and Finisher of our faith, or is there a discernible subversion of that dedication in an acceptance of the sins and burdens of secular entertainment and leisure practices by a large spectrum of the Pentecostal community?