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THE CONTEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: RECENT BOOKS

Scholars and students of the NT have begun to appreciate how knowledge of the culture and society of the first-century world can help us to understand better the NT and early Christianity. The NT has been understood by the church as divine revelation, but that does not mean its authors were not shaped in important ways by their culture, nor that its readers did not face specific challenges from larger society.

This review looks at some of the most useful and important books that have emerged in the past five years. The reader should also consult the books that helped set the foundation for the current emphasis on Greco-Roman backgrounds, such as W. Meeks, The First Urban Christians (Yale, 1984), J. Stambaugh and D. Balch, The New Testament in Its Social Environment  (Westminster/John Knox, 1988), and G. Theissen, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity (Fortress, 1982).

K.P. Donfried and P. Richardson, eds, Judaism and Christianity in First-Century Rome (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1998).

This important collection of essays comes out of the Society of New Testament Studies’ recent “Seminar on NT Texts in Their Cultural Environment.” The primary focus of the collection is on the formation, development, and social facets of Christian communities in Rome from the midpoint to the later half of the first century.

These essays use our growing knowledge of Jews within the larger Roman environment to reconstruct the origins of Christian communities as they reason from the Jewish social contexts to the lesser-known Christian ones. The essays are divided into three sections: archaeological and epigraphic evidence that analyzes Jewish material remains in Rome and Ostia, social-historical issues, and community development and interaction. Frequent themes include Jewish and Christian interaction, developmental stages in the Christian community, the lower social status of early Christians, and the nature and social context of the house church.

C. Osiek and D.L. Balch, Families in the New Testament World: Households and House Churches  (Westminster/John Knox, 1997).

Osiek and Balch, highly regarded scholars in the field of the origins and early development of Christianity, team up to do a long-needed study of family and congregation in the NT within the context of the Roman world. They begin by pointing out the differences between the ancient concept of family and modern assumptions, thus helping us to see family in the NT through first-century eyes. They use cultural anthropology to examine such social patterns as gender roles and honor, and show the roles of teachers in private and public settings. Chapter 4 is a fascinating look at Christian religion within the household in the context of Greco-Roman family religious practices. In the following chapters they present how husbands and wives related to each other, how education was done, the lives of slaves within the household, and the nature of religious celebrations within the Christian household. Though they focus on the NT, they also talk about concepts of family in later Christian authors. The writing is on a scholarly level, but clear and accessible to the non-expert.

R.A. Horsley, ed, Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (Trinity, 1997).

Horsley brings together in this volume contributions by a number of authors who have been arguing in recent years that Christianity, and particularly the work of the apostle Paul, was shaped by the perceived need to respond to the challenges presented by the Roman Empire. In Part I, the contributors argue that Paul is presenting “the gospel of imperial salvation” to his readers, in that he sees Christianity as a direct challenge to the cult of the emperor, with its portrayal of the divine emperor as savior of Rome. Part II looks at how the Roman patron-client was a central means by which Rome controlled its empire, and suggests that the early churches organized themselves as a network of patron-client relationships. Part III, “Paul’s Counter-Imperial Gospel,” contends that Paul was intentionally preaching an anti-imperial gospel. Part IV argues that the early Christians, led by Paul, were in the process of building an “alternative society” to that of the Roman Empire.

R. Garrison, The Graeco-Roman Context of Early Christian Literature (Sheffield, 1997).

Garrison focuses on the relationship of early Christian literature to philosophy, poetry, and culture in the Greco-Roman world. Garrison suggests that Greco-Roman culture, philosophy, and religion influenced early Christians, despite traditional denials of this. He believes that modern scholarship’s emphasis on Jewish influences of Christianity results from a tacit acceptance of this traditional view. Without denying the influence of Jews on early Christianity, Garrison presents reasons for how certain themes and concepts from Hellenism influenced the teachings of the early Christians (23).

Garrison presents parallels between early Christianity and Hellenism as suggestive of influence. For example, he compares Paul’s concept of love in 1 Corinthians 13 to the Aphrodite cult, early Christian meals to the Greek “symposium,” and the Gospels of Mark and Luke to Hellenistic literary forms. He also looks at the kingdom of God in 1 Corinthians and Ignatius and Hellenistic concepts underlying the controversies about this concept, and Paul’s use of the athlete metaphor and Hellenistic moral philosophy. Garrison’s parallels are suggestive, but he does not ultimately prove that Christianity was influenced by Hellenism. However, the work does suggest avenues for further research and presents information on the background of the NT that can be helpful if one does not take his parallels at face value.

P. Richardson, Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans  (University of South Carolina, 1996).

Although not a NT background book per se, Richardson presents the NT student with a tremendous amount of material and a new perspective on Jewish Palestine in the period around the time of Jesus’ birth. Richardson assesses Herod and his reign in a creative blend of scholarly analysis and narrative. In the odd-numbered chapters, he gives a running narrative of the main events in Herod’s life. The even-numbered chapters address the Herodian family in Idumea, Herod’s rise to power, his role in the civil wars, and his reign as king of the Jews.

Richardson’s portrait of Herod will challenge those who follow the standard belief that he was interested only in gaining and retaining power. He argues that Herod should not be viewed as a “half-Jew” uninterested in religion, but as a third-generation Jew with an interest in Jewish religion as well as a Roman citizen and Hellenist who looked at religion as did most Roman citizens (xiii). Overall, Richardson is careful in his treatment of evidence, and offers a new portrait of Herod that must be seriously considered.

J.S. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era (InterVarsity, 1999).

This work is designed for pastors and serious students of the NT. It intends to help them locate the NT in the context of the Greco-Roman societies of the first century CE to which it was written. It does this by presenting those elements of life in the Greco-Roman world that can best help us understand the life experiences of the early Christians and the concerns facing the leaders of the new movement.

The book begins with a look at various aspects of everyday life in the first century. Two chapters are devoted to the city, since it was so important to Greco-Roman life and the ministry of Paul. Later chapters look at how the Roman voluntary association provided a model for the early congregations and at Greek and Roman religion as a context to which the writers of the New Testament had to respond. Chapters 6-8 address the ways in which Rome controlled its empire and structured social relations within it as a basis for understanding how authority relations within the early congregations developed. Chapters 9-11 address how the existence and nature of Roman citizens, Jews, and slaves impacted the self-conception of and relations within the churches. Chapter 12 examines the family, women, and education.

These recent works and others like them are helping us gain a better sense of the interests, tensions, and values of the early Christians and their leaders. In some places these books may overstate the influence of the social or cultural element they are examining at the expense of other influences. But if read with a critical eye they can help us understand how the writers and readers of the NT were shaped by their social environments as well as how they consciously sought to respond to them.

By James S. Jeffers, Associate Professor in the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University and teacher of ancient history at California State University, Dominguez Hills.