The Oldest Church In The World

Plenty on the blogs this week about the discovery of possibly the oldest church building in the world. I like the report on Novum Testamentum about the mosaic inscription that has caused so much discussion. The translation here shows at least two important things for me:

 

1. If we’re dealing with a mid-second century date, then regardless of anything else (such as clear New Testament teaching, say) here is clear evidence that early Christians acknowledged the divinity of Jesus Christ. So Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code assertion that Constantine imposed the doctrine of Christ’s divinity is once again shown to be so much hogwash. Yet a conspiracy-fixated culture chooses to dote on Brown. Madness.

 

2. Something that has attracted less attention on the blogs I’ve read (maybe it’s mentioned elsewhere) is the argument in the Novum Testamentum article that the Akeptus (or Acceptus) who is quoted in the inscription as having ‘dedicated the table to God, Jesus Christ, as a memorial’ is almost certainly female. Is this another possible sign of female leadership in the early centuries of the church? At the very least Akeptus has to be a prominent member of the congregation.