David A. deSilva - A Week in the Life of Ephesus

This book offers an imaginative re-creation of a few slices of the life of the city of Ephesus, particularly as experienced by a small number of families and connected individuals, in the last week of September in the year AD 89. Why I have chosen that week of all weeks will become clear as the story progresses. Like several of its predecessors in this series, this book seeks to open windows into the everyday, lived world of the kinds of people to whom books of the New Testament were written, or about whom the books of the New Testament might talk. It seeks to invite the modern reader into the concerns, interests, opportunities, and struggles that such people entertained or encountered.

This particular installment in the series is also a book about reading the Revelation of John. I have long suspected that many of my fellow Christians are quick to look to the Middle East, or China, or Russia, or the White House, or rumored technological advances, or wildfires in California, for the real-life counterparts to what they read in Revelation because they have had so little opportunity to immerse themselves in the world in whichand in the lives of the people to whomRevelation was written. This story particularly seeks to highlight those facets of the life and landscape of Ephesus that loomed large in the lives of the late-first-century Christians there, whose perspectives on those facets of their lives Revelation affected profoundly (whether to confirm or confront).

I want to thank Dr. Dan G. Reid, formerly of InterVarsity Press, for so graciously receiving my proposal for this novella some years ago. As Dan transitioned into retirement, the responsibility for editing this book fell to his colleague Ethan McCarthy, whom I thank for his many valuable suggestions and his editorial acumen.

A work like the present one would hold far less value had it not been informed by spending significant time onsite. I am grateful to the trustees, administration, and faculty of Ashland Theological Seminary for a quarters study leave in Spring 2011 and for a study-leave grant that supported my first travels in Turkey. Abdullah Gur, president of Meander Travel, very kindly made the arrangements for that visit, within which I had allotted three full days to explore Ephesus and Seluk. As it was my first trip, he supplied me with a delightful guide, Mehmet Tanrverdi, for my first days onsite at Ephesus, Izmir (Smyrna), and Pergamum and saw to my transportation between cities at his companys expense. James Ridgway, president of Educational Opportunities Tours, gave me the opportunity to return to Ephesus for a days visit on three separate occasions in the context of larger Lands of the Bible and Journeys of Paul itineraries. I remain deeply grateful to both gentlemen and their highly competent staffs.

I have taught at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio since 1995. Drs. David Baker, Dale Stoffer, and Jody Watson had already been teaching there for several years when I arrived; Dr. Daniel Hawk joined the faculty with me; Dr. Brenda Colijn preceded me as a part-time instructor and came on full time after I arrived; and Drs. Michael Reuschling, Wyndy Corbin Reuschling, and John Byron followed not long afterward. In the event that I have not taken sufficient time along the way to tell these dear sisters and brothers how much I appreciate each of them and the many ways in which each has affected my life and sustained me in my work, I wish to do so now. So it is with deep gratitude for the collegiality we have discovered together over the decades that I dedicate this little book to them.

Caius Flavius Amyntas, a Christian and wealthy landowner, grandson of a freedman

Tiberius Claudius Aristion, high priest and temple warden of the Temple of the Sebastoi

Burrhus, a Christian in Amyntass house church

Chreste, the eleven-year-old daughter of Demetrius and Olympias

Flavia Chrysanthe, Amyntass wife

T. Julius Damas Claudianus, a member of koinon (the provincial council) of Asia and president of the civic council of Ephesus

Demetrius, son of Apollonius, a Christian merchant and host to a house church

Diodotos, an outspoken Christian artisan and member of Amyntass house church

Euplus, a Christian slave in Serapions house

Fronto, a Christian in Amyntass house church

Publius Aurelius Hippicus, son of Serapion and Isidora

Aurelia Isidora, Serapions wife

Menes, a slave in the household of Amyntas

Titus Flavius Montanus, eventually to be associated with the titles high priest of Asias shared temple in Ephesos, sebastophant, and agonothete for life in Ephesus

Nicolaus, son of Strato, of Pergamum, a Christian and junior priest of the Provincial Temple of Augustus and Roma in Pergamum

Olympias, Demetriuss wife

Parmenon, the steward in Serapions household

Prochorus of Smyrna, a Christian and a disciple of John the Seer, assisting him in his exile on Patmos

Aulus Julius Quadratus of Pergamum, who would become proconsul of Asia in 108/109now chief of staff of the proconsul of Asia, Marcus Gillo

Gaius Vibius Salutaris, a local benefactor

Caius Flavius Secundus, son of Amyntas and Chrysanthe

Publius Aurelius Serapion, a wealthy landowner and a priest of Artemis

Theon, the eight-year-old son of Demetrius and Olympias

Trophimus, a onetime associate of Paul, an elder among the Ephesian churches

Flavia Tryphaina, daughter of Amyntas and Chrysanthe

Titus Flavius Zeuxis, a successful sea captain and merchant, an imperial freedman, and a Jew