The Jerusalem Cenaculum as an Early Christian Church

Abstract

Although relatively little archaeological work has been done on the site of the alleged cenaculum in Jerusalem, the data is interesting and requires interpretation. This article would contend that the cenaculum was originally the site where the James group of Palestinian Christians met after the death of Jesus. Subsequently, after the second Jewish revolt and the rebuilding of Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina, the site came into the possession of Roman Christians who transformed the original tradition adhering to it. This process of transformation on the site preempted the broader change that Roman Christianity wrought within Palestinian Christianity from the second century onwards.