Early-church praxis: Selling land and possessions – A socio-historical study of Acts 2:45, 4:32–37

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Early-church praxis: Selling land and possessions – A socio-historical study of Acts 2:45, 4:32–37
 
Creator Hombana, Mphumezi
 
Subject Theology New Testament land; possessions; early church; rich; poor; poverty; inequality; Luke-Acts; socio-historical; socio-economic; Graeco-Roman world; South African Church.
Description This article attempts to rethink the early church praxis of selling the land and possessions in response to some of the problems the 1st century church were confronted with. Hence, this article attempts to answer the questions: what were the social, economic, and religious factors that led to the selling of land and possessions in the early church, and what were the implications of this practice for the community, including issues related to exploitation, inequality, and long-term sustainability of resources? This article argues that the church in South Africa must lead the conversation and learn from the early church good example to respond to social ills of our time. This is without undermining the complexities that are part of this programme of action. This article is committed to socio-historical reading of the texts under inquiry as the means to respond to the questions raised in this study.Contribution: This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing debate on issues of land, possessions, and poverty in a South African context. It attempts to explore possible implications on issues that concern this article for churches in South Africa.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor New Testament and related studies
Date 2023-08-28
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Historical Inquiry
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v79i2.8727
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 79, No 2 (2023); 7 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8727/25614 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8727/25615 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8727/25616 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/8727/25617
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Mphumezi Hombana https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT