Oakes teaches us to use our imaginations, not to invent things but to enter into that 1st Century world to hear the apostle Paul’s letters and to comprehend those churches.
I spoke above of nuance and analytics. Here’s the context: I have, for instance, often said we can think of a 1st Century church meeting in an atrium or, following another line of thinking, in an apartment or tenement. What does the assembly look like or what happens in the assembly or how does what happen occur if it is an atrium or an apartment on the 3d floor in a poor section of Rome? It is also standard to think that a 1st Century assembly was about 30 people.