Greco-Roman Associations, Deities, and Early Christianity

Bruce W. Longenecker

• Publisher: Baylor University Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781481315166
• eBook ISBN: 9781481315173
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Roman Ancient History

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 contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title Page, Title Page, Copyright, Dedication
• Contents
• Abbreviations for Epigraphic and Papyrological Collections
• Abbreviations of Ancient Sources
• 1. Greco-Roman Associations and the Origins of Christianity: Taking Stock of Where We Are
• I: Angles of Vision
• 2. House Church or Association?: Some Reflections on Models and Usefulness
• 3. Suspicion, Integration, and Roman Attitudes toward Associations
• 4. Working with the Gods: Occupational Associations and Early Christ Groups
• 5. Stinking Leatherworkers and Noisy Street Criers: Paul, Occupational Stigma, and the Sensory Politics of Associations
• 6. Dressing for Deities: Functions and Meanings of Dress within Ancient Associations
• 7. The Prestige of the Gods, the Urban Elites, and the Local Associations: Assessing Honorific Rituals among the Early Christians
• 8. The Meals of Christ Groups in Comparative Perspective
• 9. F(r)ee Membership of Christ Groups
• 10. Women Benefactors and Early Christ Groups
• 11. Aid among Greco-Roman Associations and Christ Groups
• 12. Burial Communities: Associations and Christ Groups
• 13. Retiring Religious Associations
• 14. συναγωγή and Semi-public Associations: Greco-Roman, Judean, and Christos Followers
• 15. Christianization and the Decline of Elective Cults Revisited: Competitors or Cohabitants?
• II: Focal Points
• 16. From Analogy to Identity: Did an Association of Leatherworkers “Turn” into the Thessalonian Church?
• 17. Configuring Time in Roman Macedonia: Identity and Differentiation in Paul’s Thessalonian Christ Group
• 18. Conflict and Honor in the Ancient Epistle: Or, How an Egyptian Funerary Association Illuminates Rivalry at Corinth
• 19. The Significance of Λογεία for the Meaning of Paul’s Collection in 1 and 2 Corinthians
• 20. The Benefaction-Reward Convention in Greco-Roman Private Associations and Paul’s Jerusalem Collection
• 21. Reading Hebrews in a Roman Vicus with Voluntary Associations
• 22. Julian Christ Worshippers and Their Connection to a Collegium in First-Century Lyon: Reintroducing the Epitaph of Julia Adepta
• 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
• 24. Mystery Cults and Christian Associations in Early Alexandrian Theology: The Case of Clement of Alexandria
• Contributors
• Index of Modern Authors
• Index of Ancient Sources