Christian Origins and Greco-Roman Culture (Prof. Pitts)

Article

Many factors have contributed to the renewed interest in Greco-Roman culture’s relevance for New Testament scholarship. At the turn of the last century, with the discovery of the documentary papyri in Egypt and their application to the New Testament in the work of scholars like Adolf Deiss mann (A. Deissmann, Bible Studies: Contributions, Chiely from Papyri and Inscriptions, to the History of the Language, the Literature, and the Religion of Hellenistic Judaism and Primitive Christianity (trans. A.J. Grieve; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1901); A. Deissmann, Light from the AncientEast(trans.L.R.M.Strachan;London:Hodder&Stoughton,1910);A.Deissmann,Paul: AStudyinSocialandReligiousHistory(trans.L.R.M.Strachan;London:Hodder&Stoughton, 1912). Deissmann’s use of the papyri for assessing New Testament letters has continued to be a factor in scholarship up to the present, e.g. J.L. White, The Form and Structure of the O cial Petition: A Study in Greek Epistolography (SBLDS 5; Missoula: Scholars Press, 1972); W.G.Doty,LettersinPrimitiveChristianity(GBNTS;Philadelphia:Fortress,1973);S.K.Stowers, Letter WritinginGreco-RomanAntiquity(LEC5;Philadelphia:Westminster,1986);S.E.Porter and S.A. Adams, eds., Paul and the Ancient Letter Form) and James Hope Moulton (J.H. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, vol. 1: Prolegomena), we see the rst sparks of the kind of social-descriptive analysis that has become so prominent in scholarship today.

Scholars who introduced Greco-Roman studies to the New Testament:

• H.D. Betz, Lukian von Samosata und das neue Testament: religionsgechichtliche und paränetische Parallellen (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1961). H.D. Betz, Galatians: ACommentaryonPaulsLettertotheChurchesinGalatia (Herme neia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979).
  • M.M. Mitchell, Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation: An Exegetical Investigation of theLanguageandCompositionof1Corinthians(Louisville,KY:Westminster/JohnKnoxPress, 1993).
• G.A. Kennedy,ClassicalRhetoricandItsChristianandSecularTraditionfromAncientto ModernTimes(ChapelHill,NC:UniversityofNorthCarolinaPress,1980);G.A.Kennedy,New Testament Interpretation through Rhetorical Criticism (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1984). See also C.C. Black and D.F. Watson, eds., Words Well Spoken: George Kennedys Rhetoric of the New Testament (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2008).

1. • In addition to Galatians and 1Corinthians mentioned above, nearly all of Paul’s letters have now been subjected to rhetorical analysis, many by numerous authors. For example, see F.J. Long, Ancient Rhetoric and Pauls Apology: The Compositional Unity of 2Corinthians (SNTSMS131;Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2004);B.Witherington,1and2Thessa lonians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006); B. Witherington, The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007); R. Jewett, Romans: A Commen tary (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007); B. Witherington, Pauls Letter to the Philip pians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011). But see the critique of R.D.Anderson,AncientRhetoricalTheoryandPaul (ContributionstoBiblicalExegesisand Theology 18; Leuven: Peeters, 2000). The ability to continue holding conferences (and pub lishing the anthologies that result) on rhetorical criticism re ects its continued interest to New Testament scholars. E.g. S.E. Porter and T.H. Olbricht, eds., Rhetoric and the New Tes tament: Essays fromthe1992Heidelberg Conference (JSNTSup 90; She eld: JSOT Press, 1993); S.E. Porter and T.H. Olbricht, eds., The Rhetorical Analysis of Scripture: Essays from the 1995 London Conference (JSNTSup 146; She eld: She eld Academic Press, 1997); T.H. Olbricht and A. Eriksson, eds., Rhetoric, Ethic, and Moral Persuasion in Biblical Discourse: Essays from the 2002 Heidelberg Conference (Emory Studies in Early Christianity; New York: T&T Clark, 2005).
   • H.-J. Klauck, Magic and Paganism in early Christianity: The World of the Acts of the Apostles (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000); H.-J. Klauck, Ancient Letters and the New Testament AGuidetoContextandExegesis (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006).
   • For acollection of his writings, see E.A. Judge, Social Distinctives of the Christians in the First Century: Pivotal Essays (ed. David M. Scholer; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2008).
   • J.G. Gager, KingdomandCommunity:TheSocialWorldofEarlyChristianity(Englewood Cli fs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975).
   • G. Theissen, Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity (trans. J. Bowden; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978).
   • A.J. Malherbe, The Cynic Epistles: A Study Edition (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977); A.J. Malherbe, Moral Exhortation: A Greco-Roman Sourcebook (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986); A.J. Malherbe, Ancient Epistolary Theorists (SBS 19; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988). A.J. Malherbe,TheWorldoftheNewTestament(Austin:R.B.Sweet,1967);A.J.Malherbe, Social Aspects of Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983). A.J. Malherbe, Paul and the Thessalonians: The Philosophic Tradition of Pastoral Care (Philadelphia:Fortress,1987);A.J.Malherbe,PaulandthePopularPhilosophers(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989).
   • W.A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983). W.A. Meeks, TheMoralWorldoftheFirstChristians (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986); W.A. Meeks, The Origins of Christian Morality: The First Two Centuries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993).
2. Dennis MacDonaldmakesacontributiontotheongoingresearchonthe inuence of Greek literature on the book of Acts. While believing that Luke drew from many classical Greek texts as his inuences, MacDonald pro ceedsbydedicatinghisarticletotracingthesimilaritiesfoundbetweenActs and Euripides’ Bacchae in particular. Chalking up much of the confusion and misunderstanding of Lukan interpretation to the failure of New Testa mentscholarstorecognizeLuke’smimesisoftheGreekclassics,MacDonald suggests that further exploration along these lines will bring new levels of clarity to our understanding of Luke. Continuing the emphasis onPaulineepistolography, Randolph Richards gives attention to the role of Paul’s prescripts and epistolary conventions in helping to assess which particular tradition of ancient letter-writing Paul’s letters seem to conformto.It appearstoRichardsthatPauldoesnotadhere to theGreco-Romanletter-writingconventionsofhisdaybutinsteaddraws from a variety of traditions that account for di ferent elements within his letters, making it di cult to trace their literary origins. While grant ing that Paul wrote within the context of Greco-Roman epistolography, Richards asserts that even within that context Paul did not produce letters that correspond in any explicit way to standard Hellenistic letter conven tions. Thoughnotmakingconclusivestatementsconcerningthepossibleinu enceofPlato onPaul’s writings, James Starr draws attention to the parallels found in the openings of the epistles both of Plato and of Paul. He identi es Paul’s deviation from commonancientepistolaryconventions,andsees himconforming,albeitnotcompletely,morecloselytoPlato’sepistles.
3. Starr suggests that Paul takes liberties similar to Plato in expanding his openings to accommodatethe shared worldview of his recipients. In Chapter 20, Dean Anderson assesses the use of progymnasmata in 1Corinthians 13. These rhetorical exercises drawn from Hellenistic school settings illuminate Paul’s eloquent description of love, especially its liter ary and linguistic structure. Anderson examines several literary units in 1Corinthians 13 to determine whether Paul used these techniques to guide his writing, appealing to two early treatises on progymnasmatic rhetorical. A great deal of academic industry has gone into the study of Greco Romanhousehold codes and their fruitfulness for understanding Christian origins. Cynthia Westfall mines the householdcodesfurtherforinsight into the Pauline portrayal of marriage in Ephesians 5.
4. This text from Ephesians has animportantfunctionwithinGreco-Romanculture,clarifyingtheroles of the husband and wife in terms of patron-client relationships, the social building blocks of ancient society. Westfall gives a detailed description of reciprocity withinthemarriagerelationshipasprescribedinEphesians.She explains the responsibility of submission and service held primarily by the one in power and the responsibility of providing a model of submission by the other. She concludes that this Christian household code of mutual submission between the husband and wife, motivated by their identity in Christ in the kingdom of God, undermined traditional Greco-Roman familial relations. In Chapter 22, Michelle Lee-Barnewall continues the discussion on mar riage and Ephesians 5, taking the complex web of issues surrounding Paul’s use of κεφαλή. Lee-Barnewall investigates the rhetorical use of the head body metaphor within ancient Greek literature and compares it to Paul’s use inEphesians. Shehighlights the signi cance of Paul’s radical intentions of reversingthecustomaryunderstandingofstatusandheadshipwithinthe marriagerelationship.Shealsonoticestherede nitionoftheGreco-Roman honorsystemwithinadistinctlyChristiantheologyoffamily.Sheconcludes that Paul uses κεφαλή asawayofreferencing thetraditional understanding of leadership and authority and as a way of illustrating his recon guration of it. Benjamin Fiore takes his starting point from John Chrysostom’s com mentary on Hebrews, which suggested that the author of Hebrews em ployedrhetoricaltechniquesinthecompositionofhishomily.Fioresetsout to test that claim through an analysis of frank speech in Hebrews.
5. The rst part of his chapter surveys the general and widespread use of direct speech in Hebrews.Thesecondhalfnarrowsinontwoparaeneticpassagesinorder to give more detailed analysis: Heb 5:11 6:12 and 10:19 39. These passages share in commontheuseoffear bythe author to motivate the audience. The Book of Hebrews continues to fascinate scholars, because of both its debated status regarding authorship and the particular features of the book itself. David deSilva examines the book of Hebrews in an attempt to establish the social location of the author, especially his relationship.
6. Scholars on Greco-Roman influence on the NT.