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                      This article  with a brief survey of sociological studies of the New Testament scholarship.  Though interest in the sociological studies of the New Testament appeared in the early part of the last century, it revived by the introduction of the sociological models and theories in the New Testament studies in the later part of the last centuries. This revival brings a new understanding of the early Christianity.                 Problems Confronting Sociological Analysis The Problem of Methodology: Plentiful of sociological models and theories are currently available for the New Testament studies. However, the there is a dilemma about which is appropriate and valid. Such context, Theissen implies by his work that an eclecticism and pluralism is appropriate. Scroggs gives following suggestions: firstly one need to understand fully how the method works and to be clear that it can be applied to the data at hand. Secondly, one needs to know both the theoretical p

        Introduction This article is an attempt to understand sociological contribution of the Gerd Theissen regarding the early Christina community particularly based on his books Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity and The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity. The first book deals with sociology of the Jesus movement and the later one explores sociology of the Pauline communities based on Corinthian correspondence. The paper also makes a critique of Theissen’s work by bringing together criticism from different scholars. 1.Theissen’s Methodology Gerd Theissen’s Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity is one of the pioneering sociological studies of the earliest Christianity and Jesus’ movement. The aim of sociology of the Jesus movement is to analyze the typical features of the Jesus movement and its interaction to the Palestinian society. He analyzes the roles, factors and function. “An analysis of roles investigates typical patterns of behavior; an analy