Christianity’s early growth occurred through the interconnected cities of the Greco-Roman empire, cities that were often at the crossroads of important trade routes. The institutional setting of this expansion, however, was the network of Jewish Diaspora synagogues. Its early reputation as a Jewish sect also served to protect it from persecution.3 All cultural developments at that time depended on the overlapping social networks associated with familial ties, ethnic or geographic origins, occupations, and cultic interests, and Christianity was no different; in this case, its dependence was on
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