Understanding associations in the Greco-Roman world enhances the study of the rise of early Christianity—whether at the micro-level of interpreting particular texts or at the macro-level of assessing the spread of Christ-devotion in the pre-Constantinian era. The twenty-four contributions contained within Greco-Roman Associations, Deities, and Early Christianity enlarge our perspectives on the extent to which Greco-Roman associations bring features of Christian origins into relief.
Thematic studies include associational social reputation; women in associations; deities and devotion; financial strategies of group maintenance; care for the poor; varieties of group identity; refinements of terminological and conceptual apparatus; funerary practices; occupational groups; and the alleged role of Christianity in the demise of associations. Studies of particular phenomena include 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, Paul’s Collection, Hebrews, a late first-century Christian family, 1 Clement, and Clement of Alexandria.
While the essays cover a wide spectrum of topics, they retain a clear focus on aspects of corporate life within ancient associations as comparanda for the study of early Christ-groups within their social milieu. These essays, all kept to a disciplined length, represent the work of impressive scholars from a range of interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and international contexts. The volume’s symposium of voices and lively scholarly exchange productively expand current conversations about Greco-Roman associations, deities, and early Christianity.
Table of Content
1 Greco-Roman Associations and the Origins of Christianity: Taking Stock of Where We Are, by Bruce W. Longenecker
Part One: Angles of Vision
2 House Church or Association? Soem Reflections on Models and Usefulness, by Peter Oakes
3 Suspicion, Integration, and Roman Attitudes toward Associations, by Eric J. Brewer
4 Working with the Gods: Occupational Associations and Early Christ Groups, by Richard S. Ascough
5 Stinking Leatherworkers and Noisy Street Criers: Paul, Occupational Stigma, and the Sensory Politics of Associations, by Louise J. Lawrence
6 Dressing for Deities: Functions and Meanings of Dress within Ancient Associations, by Alicia J. Batten
7 The Prestige of the Gods, the Urban Elites, and the Local Associations: Assessing Honorific Rituals among the Early Christians, by James R. Harrison
8 The Meals of Christ Groups in Comparative Perspective, by John S. Kloppenborg
9 F(r)ee Membership of Christ Groups, by Timothy J. Murray
10 Women Benefactors and Early Christ Groups, by Susan E. Benton
11 Aid among Greco-Roman Associations and Christ Groups, by Robert E. Moses
12 Burial Communities: Associations and Christ Groups, by Markus Öhler
13 Retiring Religious Associations, by Éric Rebillard
14 συναγωγή and Semi-public Associations: Greco-Roman, Judean, and Christos Followers, by Ralph J. Korner
15 Christianization and the Decline of Elective Cults Revisited: Competitors or Cohabitants? by Christina Gousopoulos
Part Two: Focal Points
16 From Analogy to Identity: Did an Association of Leatherworkers ‘Turn’ into the Thessalonian Church? by Timothy A. Brookins
17 Configuring Time in Roman Macedonia: Identity and Differentiation in Paul’s Thessalonian Christ Group, by Bruce W. Longenecker
18 Conflict and Honor in the Ancient Epistle: Or, How an Egyptian Funerary Association Illuminates Rivalry at Corinth, by Sarah E. Rollens
19 The Significance of Λογεία for the Meaning of Paul’s Collection in 1 and 2 Corinthians, by Philip F. Esler
20 The Benefaction-Reward Convention in Greco-Roman Private Associations and Paul’s Jerusalem Collection, by Jin Hwan Lee
21 Reading Hebrews in a Roman Vicus with Voluntary Associations, by Jason A. Whitlark
22 Julian Christ Worshippers and Their Connection to a Collegium in First-Century Lyon: Reintroducing the Epitaph of Julia Adepta, by Richard Last
23 ‘Many Have Sold Themselves into Slavery’: Voluntary Imprisonment and Slavery, Survival Strategies among Associations, and the Reception of 1 Corinthians in 1 Clement 55, by David J. Downs
24 Mystery Cults and Christian Associations in Early Alexandrian Theology: The Case of Clement of Alexandria, by T. J. Lang
About the author
Bruce W. Longenecker (Ph.D. University of Durham) is Graduate Professor of Religion and W. W. Melton Chair in the Baylor University Department of Religion. He is the author or editor of numerous books including In Stone and Story: Early Christianity in the Roman World (2020), The Cross before Constantine: The Early Life of a Christian Symbol (2015), Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and The Greco-Roman World (2010), Rhetoric at the Boundaries: The Art and Theology of New Testament Chain-Link Transitions (2005), and Luke, Paul and the Graeco-Roman World (2002).More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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