Pauline Churches and Diaspora Jews


Book Description

Seminal essays from a leading New Testament scholar For the past twenty years, John Barclay has researched and written on the social history of early Christianity and the life of Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora. In this collection of nineteen noteworthy essays, he examines points of comparison between the early churches and the Diaspora synagogues in the urban Roman world of the first century. With an eye to such matters as food, family, money, circumcision, Spirit, age, and death, Barclay examines key Pauline texts, the writings of Josephus, and other sources, investigating the construction of early Christian identity and comparing the experience of Paul's churches with that of Diaspora Jewish communities scattered throughout the Roman Empire.




What are They Saying about the Formation of Pauline Churches?


Book Description

The early church was made up of a myriad of local churches, each with different settings, problems and ideas regarding how its community should be structured. What Are They Saying About the Formation of Pauline Churches? surveys the different models available in the Greco-Roman period for understanding how Paul's Christian groups ordered their communities. There are four models: the synagogue, the philosophical school, the ancient mystery cult and the voluntary association. Dr. Ascough devotes a chapter to each model and to the authors who use it to understand Pauline churches. The archaeological and literary data are coordinated with data from the Pauline letters to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the models for understanding these churches. In the end, all four models are helpful and no one model is adequate to explain all the aspects of each Pauline church. This is a superb book for those seeking an overall view of the debate on the culture and organization of the first Christian communities. +




Paul and the Politics of Diaspora


Book Description

Applies the insights of contemporary diaspora studies to address much-debated questions about Paul's identity as a diaspora Jew, his complicated relationship with a highly symbolized homeland, the motives of his daily work, and the ambivalence of his rhetoric.




Jewish and Pauline Studies


Book Description




Paul and the Politics of Diaspora


Book Description

It is a commonplace today that Paul was a Jew of the Hellenistic Diaspora, but how does that observation help us to understand his thinking, his self-identification, and his practice? Ronald Charles applies the insights of contemporary diaspora studies to address much-debated questions about Paul’s identity as a diaspora Jew, his complicated relationship with a highly symbolized “homeland,” the motives of his daily work, and the ambivalence of his rhetoric. Charles argues for understanding a number of important aspects of Paul’s identity and work, including the ways his interactions with others were conditioned, by his diaspora space, his self-understanding, and his experience “among the nations.” Diaspora space is a key concept that allows Charles to show how Paul’s travels and the collection project in particular can be read as a transcultural narrative. Understanding the dynamics of diaspora also allows Charles to bring new light to the conflict at Antioch (Galatians 1–2), Paul’s relationships with the Gentiles in Galatia, and the fraught relationship with leaders in Jerusalem.




Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora


Book Description

The mass migration of East European Jews and their resettlement in cities throughout Europe, the United States, Argentina, the Middle East and Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries not only transformed the demographic and cultural centers of world Jewry, it also reshaped Jews' understanding and performance of their diasporic identities. Rebecca Kobrin's study of the dispersal of Jews from one city in Poland -- Bialystok -- demonstrates how the act of migration set in motion a wide range of transformations that led the migrants to imagine themselves as exiles not only from the mythic Land of Israel but most immediately from their east European homeland. Kobrin explores the organizations, institutions, newspapers, and philanthropies that the Bialystokers created around the world and that reshaped their perceptions of exile and diaspora.







Called from the Jews and from the Gentiles


Book Description

Slight revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Pontifical Gregorian University, 2008.




Reconsidering Johannine Christianity


Book Description

Reconsidering Johannine Christianity presents a full-scale application of social identity approach to the Johannine writings. This book reconsiders a widely held scholarly assumption that the writings commonly taken to represent Johannine Christianity – the Gospel of John and the First, Second and Third Epistles of John – reflect the situation of an introverted early Christian group. It claims that dualistic polarities appearing in these texts should be taken as attempts to construct a secure social identity, not as evidence of social isolation. While some scholars (most notably, Richard Bauckham) have argued that the New Testament gospels were not addressed to specific early Christian communities but to all Christians, this book proposes that we should take different branches of early Christianity, not as localized and closed groups, but as imagined communities that envision distinct early Christian identities. It also reassesses the scholarly consensus according to which the Johannine Epistles presuppose and build upon the finished version of the Fourth Gospel and argues that the Johannine tradition, already in its initial stages, was diverse.




Galatians Reconsidered


Book Description

What would the world look like if the Old Perspective on Paul was right about justification, the New Perspective was right about Judaism, and the Radical New Perspective was right to note ongoing differences between Jewish and Gentile converts? Galatians Reconsidered is a compelling, practical study of Paul the Apostle’s writing that explores just that. Emphasising the central role played by regression in Paul’s argument on justification, Neil Martin examines the dichotomy between faith and works and how the apostle envisaged the differences in how Jews and Gentiles should interact with the Law. By re-establishing Galatians in its original Jewish and pagan context, Martin exposes the problems faced by Galatian churches and shows how they still speak to modern churches today. His insight not only helps us better appreciate Paul’s message but challenges us to put his wisdom into practice in our own church settings. Provocative and stimulating Galatians Reconsidered is a robust new look at the question of justification. It will leave you with a thorough knowledge of the merits and failings of both the old and new perspectives on Paul, as well as a broader understanding of the letter to the Galatians both in the context in which it was written and its continued relevance today.