Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi

Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi PDF Author: Joseph H. Hellerman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113944641X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
This book examines Paul's letter to the Philippians against the social background of the colony at Philippi. After an extensive survey of Roman social values, Professor Hellerman argues that the cursus honorum, the formalized sequence of public offices that marked out the prescribed social pilgrimage for aspiring senatorial aristocrats in Rome (and which was replicated in miniature in municipalities and in voluntary associations), forms the background against which Paul has framed his picture of Jesus in the great Christ hymn in Philippians 2. In marked contrast to the values of the dominant culture, Paul portrays Jesus descending what the author describes as a cursus pudorum ('course of ignominies'). The passage has thus been intentionally framed to subvert Roman cursus ideology and, by extension, to redefine the manner in which honour and power were to be utilized among the Christians at Philippi.

Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi

Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi PDF Author: Joseph H. Hellerman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113944641X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book examines Paul's letter to the Philippians against the social background of the colony at Philippi. After an extensive survey of Roman social values, Professor Hellerman argues that the cursus honorum, the formalized sequence of public offices that marked out the prescribed social pilgrimage for aspiring senatorial aristocrats in Rome (and which was replicated in miniature in municipalities and in voluntary associations), forms the background against which Paul has framed his picture of Jesus in the great Christ hymn in Philippians 2. In marked contrast to the values of the dominant culture, Paul portrays Jesus descending what the author describes as a cursus pudorum ('course of ignominies'). The passage has thus been intentionally framed to subvert Roman cursus ideology and, by extension, to redefine the manner in which honour and power were to be utilized among the Christians at Philippi.

Paul, Apostle to the Nations

Paul, Apostle to the Nations PDF Author: Walter F. Taylor
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1451424469
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Who was Paul; what did he do, what did he write? Walter F. Taylor sets out to bring together a wealth of contemporary perspectives in a clear and accessible synthesis, bringing to bear on his subject the best of recent social-scientific and cultural-anthropological thinking on Paul. An appendix presents a clear summary of issues related to Pauls thought on gender and sexuality.

Servant of All

Servant of All PDF Author: Craig C. Hill
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467446971
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
There exists a deep tension between the biblical view of servant leaders and the status that Christian leaders today often desire and pursue. Many pastors and other church leaders, like it or not, struggle with ambition. In this book Craig Hill shows how the New Testament can help Christian leaders deal with this problem honestly and faithfully. Hill examines such passages as the Christ Hymn in Philippians 2 to show how New Testament authors helped early Christians construct their identity in ways that overturned conventional status structures and hierarchies. Status and ambition, Hill says, are not often addressed forthrightly in the church, as Christians either secretly indulge those impulses or feebly try to quash them. Hill'sServant of All will help Christian leaders reconcile their human aspirations and their spirituality, empowering them to minister with integrity.

An Asian Introduction to the New Testament

An Asian Introduction to the New Testament PDF Author: Johnson Thomaskutty
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506462707
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
Understanding and assessing the New Testament writings from Asian viewpoints provides a unique and original outlook for interpretation of the Christian Scriptures. To that end, An Asian Introduction to the New Testament is the first book of its kind to take full account of the multireligious, multiethnic, multilingual, multicultural, and pluralistic contexts in which Asian Christians find themselves. Into this already complex world, issues of poverty, casteism, class structure, honor and shame aspects, colonial realities, discrimination against women, natural calamities and ecological crises, and others add more layers of complexity. Perceiving the New Testament in light of these realities enables the reader to see them in a fresh way while understanding that the Jesus Movement emerged from similar social situations. Readers will find able guides in an impressive array of more than twenty scholars from across Asia. Working with volume editor Johnson Thomaskutty, the authors make a clear case: the kernels of Christianity sprouted from Asian roots, and we must read the New Testament considering those roots in order to understand it afresh today.

Philippians: An Introduction and Study Guide

Philippians: An Introduction and Study Guide PDF Author: Joseph A. Marchal
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 135000877X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description
Relatively brief and seemingly unassuming, Philippians is frequently underestimated by its readers and users. This guide shows that what lies within this letter is much more complicated and dynamic than many expect. After surveying the major historical problems and the methods scholars use to arrive at competing solutions, Marchal focuses on the letter's famous hymn of Christ-a rare glimpse into a tradition created by the community in Philippi, even earlier than Paul's letter. Given its impact and potential, the hymn deserves sustained attention, including its connections to slavery and other modes of social power. Turning to the letter as a whole, Marchal asks how this letter fits with types of argumentation in Greco-Roman culture, moving then into a detailed sketch of the rhetorical patterns in the letter, from unity and sameness to hierarchy and modeling. Feminist and empire-critical approaches are presented alongside more traditional assumptions and ideas throughout, signaling how choices in approach and starting points have historically affected the scholarly visions and communal uses for Philippians. In the final chapter the letter is put to a series of atypical uses, as the insights of queer theories are brought into surprising interaction with the arguments in the letter. Tarrying over unmentionable ideas and provocative moments that readers typically race past, this chapter takes the reader from the hierarchical heights of a cosmic Christ to the depths of excrement being emptied from the same body, from the arguments of waste to revealing asides about human waste and feminine lack. The performative power and possibilities of Paul's letters has never been stranger nor more subversive of the too often destructive and dehumanizing uses of biblical images, ideas and arguments.

Paul and Imperial Divine Honors

Paul and Imperial Divine Honors PDF Author: D. Clint Burnett
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467463531
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
How did the imperial cult affect Christians in the Roman Empire? “Jesus is lord, not Caesar.” Many scholars and preachers attribute mistreatment of early Christians by Roman authorities to this fundamental confessional conflict. But this mantra relies on a reductive understanding of the imperial cult. D. Clint Burnett examines copious evidence—literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological—to more accurately reconstruct Christian engagement with imperial divine honors. Outdated narratives often treat imperial divine honors as uniform and centralized, focusing on the city of Rome. Instead, Burnett examines divine honors in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. While all three cities incorporated imperial cultic activity in their social, religious, economic, and political life, the purposes and contours of the practice varied based on the city’s unique history. For instance, Thessalonica paid divine honors to living Julio-Claudians as tribute for their status as a free city in the empire—and Christian resistance to the practice was seen as a threat to that independence. Ultimately, Burnett argues that early Christianity was not specifically antigovernment but more broadly countercultural, and that responses to this stance ranged from conflict to apathy. Burnett’s compelling argument challenges common assumptions about the first Christians’ place in the Roman Empire. This fresh account will benefit Christians seeking to understand their faith’s place in public life today.

Philippians

Philippians PDF Author: Gordon Zerbe
Publisher: MennoMedia, Inc.
ISBN: 1513800345
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
What if rather than only reading Philippians, we allowed Philippians to read us? In this 31st volume in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series, New Testament scholar Gordon Zerbe challenges readers to allow Paul’s prison letter to interpret our own lives—not by extracting lessons out of historical and cultural context but by imagining ourselves into the ancient Roman world . . . and back again.

Philippians and Philemon

Philippians and Philemon PDF Author: Daniel L. Migliore
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp
ISBN: 0664232639
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
In this latest volume in the Belief series, Daniel L. Migliore plumbs the depth of Paul's letters to the Philippians and to Philemon. With splendid theological reflection, Migliore explores central themes of these remarkable lettersùthemes that include the practice of prayer, righteousness from God, and the work of reconciliation and transformation through Jesus Christ. Migliore shows how Philippians continues to speak to churches that, like the church at Philippi, struggle to be faithful to Christ, worry about the future, and need guidance. And in Philemon, Migliore finds a letter with importance far beyond its sizeùa letter that can enrich our understanding of the fullness of the gospel that Paul proclaims. In both books, Migliore deftly shows Paul as a remarkable theologian and pastor with a message instructive to the church of every age.

Archaeology and the Letters of Paul

Archaeology and the Letters of Paul PDF Author: Laura Salah Nasrallah
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199699674
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
This study illuminates the social, political, economic, and religious lives of those to whom the apostle Paul wrote. It articulates a method for bringing together biblical texts with archaeological remains.

Paul and the Ancient Celebrity Circuit

Paul and the Ancient Celebrity Circuit PDF Author: James R. Harrison
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 3161546156
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
"In this study, James R. Harrison compares the modern cult of celebrity to the quest for glory in late republican and early imperial society. He shows how Paul's ethic of humility, based upon the crucified Christ, stands out in a world obsessed with mutual comparison, boasting, and self-sufficiency." --