Paul and the Tentmakers.

The Occupation and „House Congregation“ of Prisca and Aquila in Rome

Abstract

This detail, however, leaves scholars with more questions than answers. What do we know about that occupation in antiquity, and how did tentmaking function along with Paul’s missionary work? Acts tells us that the couple Prisca (Priscilla) and Aquila (who was a Jew) also worked as tentmakers. Paul himself relates in his Letter to the Romans that they worked in Rome around the middle of the first century, housing a congregation of Jesus followers in the city. But what do we know of this “house congregation,” including its social and religious circumstances? Does Prisca and Aquila’s trade as tentmakers give us any clues in that respect? This article attempts to answer these questions, as well as to provide us with information about the circumstances of the Jesus movement in general at the time. It is concluded that Prisca and Aquila lived and worked in so-called taberna, and that their “house congregation” in Rome assembled in that housing. This taberna was probably located in one of the city’s poorest districts, where most Jews lived—and later Christians. In all likelihood, the number of people in this “house congregation” were twenty at most.