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First Corinthians provides a unique glimpse info the life of a young Christian community in a Greco-Roman environment during the early decades of emerging Christianity. It supplies a range and richness of information about the early church that is unparalleled by any other New Testament document. Much effort has gone into reconstructing Christianity at Corinth; more recently, attention has focused on the Corinthian community itself. The scholarly picture of the Corinthian Christians throughout the period of modern interpretation has been far from constant, and their profile has altered as interpretive fashions have shifted. This collection of classic and new essays charts the history of the scholarly quest for the Corinthian church from F. C. Baur to the present day, and offers the reflections of leading scholars on where the quest has taken us and its future direction.
This social history of earliest Christianity radically re-evaluates both the methods and models of other studies. Justin Meggitt draws on the most recent research in classical studies on the economy and society of the Roman Empire. He examines the economic experiences of the Pauline churches, and locates Paul and the members of his communities within the context of the first century Roman economy. He explores their experiences of employment, nutrition and housing. He uncovers and describes the unique responses that they made to such a harsh environment. And he questions whether, from the outset, Christianity included a number of affluent individuals.A thoroughly researched and ground-breaking study.
Why was Jesus killed by the Romans? Was he a dangerous subversive, executed because he declared himself to be the son of God? Or was he silenced for another, far more disturbing, reason that has so far been overlooked? In this book, Justin J. Meggit answers these questions.
The first three hundred years of the common era witnessed critical developments that would become foundational for Christianity itself, as well as for the societies and later history that emerged thereafter. The concept of 'ancient Christianity,' however, along with the content that the category represents, has raised much debate. This is, in part, because within this category lie multiple forms of devotion to Jesus Christ, multiple phenomena, and multiple permutations in the formative period of Christian history. Within those multiples lie numerous contests, as varieties of Christian identity laid claim to authority and authenticity in different ways. The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity addresses these contested areas with both nuance and clarity by reviewing, synthesizing, and critically engaging recent scholarly developments. The 27 thematic chapters, specially commissioned for this volume from an international team of scholars, also offer constructive ways forward for future research.
Becoming Christian examines various facets of the first letter of Peter, in its social and historical setting, in some cases using new social-scientific and postcolonial methods to shed light on the ways in which the letter contributes to the making of Christian identity. At the heart of the book chapters 5-7, examine the contribution of 1 Peter to the construction of Christian identity, the persecution and suffering of Christians in Asia Minor, the significance of the name 'Christian', and the response of the letter to the hostility encountered by Christians in society. There are no recent books which bring together such a wealth of information and analysis of this crucial early Christian text. Becoming Christian has developed out of Horrell's ongoing research for the International Critical Commentary on 1 Peter. Together these chapters offer a series of significant and original engagements with this letter, and a resource for studies of 1 Peter for some time to come.
How do religious texts impact the way communities of faith understand themselves? In The World of Jesus and the Early Church: Identity and Interpretation in Early Communities of Faith Craig Evans leads an interdisciplinary team of scholars to discover and explain how the dynamic relationship between text and community enabled ancient Christian and Jewish communities to define themselves. To this end, scholars composed two sets of essays. The first examines how communities understood and defined themselves, and the second looks at how sacred texts informed communities about their own self-understanding and identity in earliest stages of Christianity and late Second Temple Judaism. Whether revealing new understandings of Jesus before Pilate, the rituals governing the execution and burial of criminals, or the problems of dating ancient manuscripts, The World of Jesus and the Early Church draws the reader into the world of the early Christian and Jewish communities in fresh and insightful ways.
The first three centuries of Christianity are increasingly seen in modern scholarship as sites of complexity. Sacred Ritual, Profane Space examines the Christian meeting places of the time and overturns long-held notions about the earliest Christians as utopian rather than place-bound people. By mapping what is known from early Christian texts onto the archaeological data for Roman domestic spaces, Jenn Cianca provides a new lens for examining the relationship between early Christianity and sites of worship. She proposes that not only were Roman homes sacred sites in their own right but they were also considered sacred by the Christian communities that used them. In many cases, meeting space...
Research into the social and rhetorical background of the Corinthian church, shows that the Corinthians were evaluating their leaders based on their rhetorical prowess, seeking to associate with those who would enhance their status and honour. The coherence of Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 1-4 is evaluated, particularly by showing how Paul's discourse of the cross and Sophia relate to the issue of the dissensions in the Corinthian ekklesia. Once demonstrated that there is a misunderstanding of wisdom amongst church leaders at the basis of the dissensions, a redefinition of the wisdom offered in Corinthians is required. In what could be considered the locus of Paul's theology of proclamati...
Bradley Arnold examines Paul's argument in his letter to the Philippians. He looks particularly at how this argument is structured similarly to the pattern of thinking in ancient moral philosophy, utilizes athletic imagery within this argumentative framework, and employs a rhetorical practice known as vivid description.
"How does Paul's bodily mortality both collapse his apostolic authority in Corinth and yet confirm his gospel? Richard I. Deibert explores the vital relationship between Paul's experience of death and his theology of death."--Back cover.