ASCOUGH/TRANSLOCAL RELATIONSHIPS 223 Journal of Early Christian Studies 5:2, 223–241 © 1997 The Johns Hopkins University Press Translocal Relationships among Voluntary Associations and Early Christianity RICHARD S. ASCOUGH An analysis of inscriptional data from voluntary associations in antiquity suggests that some associations had translocal links. At the same time, early Christian groups are shown to be more locally based than is often assumed. Thus, despite the common assumption within New Testament scholarship to the contrary, Christian congregations and voluntary associations can both be seen as locally based groups with limited translocal connections. This conclusion will open the way for the more profitable use of voluntary associations as an analogy for understanding the formation and organization of early Christian groups. In the past a number of scholars have used the voluntary associations of Greco-Roman antiquity as an analogy for understanding early Christian groups in urban centers, particularly Paul’s churches. 1 However, some of these same scholars have highlighted the differences between the volun- tary associations and the Christian communities in order to lessen the significance of the analogy. Often emphasized is the localized nature of voluntary associations verses the translocal nature of Christianity. 1. A standard definition of voluntary associations is provided by Marcus N. Tod (“Clubs, Greek,” OCD [1949]: 204): “voluntary associations of persons more or less permanently organized for the pursuit of a common end, and so distinguishable both from the State and its component elements . . . and . . . from temporary unions for transitory purposes” (see also C. H. Roberts, T. C. Skeat, A. D. Nock, “The Guild of Zeus Hypsistos,” HTR 29 [1936]: 75). Almost all of the Roman voluntary associations were concerned with the worship of a deity and claimed its protection, most were concerned with the burial of members, and many with the importance of a particular trade (P. W. Duff, Personality in Roman Private Law [London: Cambridge University Press, 1938], 102, citing J. P. Waltzing, Étude historique sur les corporations professionnelles chez les Romains depuis les origines jusqu’a la chute de