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Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology: Practical Models for Biblical Interpretation
... In particular, New Testament scholars have been attracted to Douglas's work to help them talk about the social origins of early Christian texts (e.g., Malina, 1981Malina, , 1986Neyrey, 1985aNeyrey, , 1985bWhite, 1985;Isenberg and Owen, 1977;Moxnes, 1983;Gager, 1982;Segal, 1981). Unfortunately, some of these scholars have misunderstood her efforts. ...
... In particular, New Testament scholars have been attracted to Douglas's work to help them talk about the social origins of early Christian texts (e.g., Malina, 1981Malina, , 1986Neyrey, 1985aNeyrey, , 1985bWhite, 1985;Isenberg and Owen, 1977;Moxnes, 1983;Gager, 1982;Segal, 1981). Unfortunately, some of these scholars have misunderstood her efforts. ...
... Unfortunately, some of these scholars have misunderstood her efforts. Malina (1986), for example, misreads her grid dimension,1 and White (1985) 1Malina defines grid as "the degree to which socially held values and individual experience match" (1986:207). The closest Douglas comes to this is to call it "the overall articulation of the categories which constitute a world view" (1973:82) --i.e., the coherence of the worldview itself. ...
In several publications over the last 18 years, Mary Douglas has advanced a theory for correlating cosmological beliefs with
concrete social life. Though she acknowledges that her thinking has changed with time, nowhere does she systematically address
the underlying differences between her recent and previous formulations.
This article identifies three main versions of Douglas's theory, which are highly unlike. Each version differently typifies
her comparative dimensions “grid” and “group.” Sometimes the variables are understood socially, sometimes cosmologically.
Each version has a different intent: the first speaks of the structural resemblances between cosmologies and individuals'
social experiences; the latest concentrates on the ways cosmologies are used to keep individuals in line.
... The social-scientific works of Malina (1986Malina ( , 2001 have influenced multiple aspects of biblical interpretation. For the New Testament, these include, among others, interpretations of the gospels, including historical Jesus research (Malina 1999(Malina , 2011eds. ...
... Biblical texts are meaningful configurations of 'language intended to communicate' (Malina 1986:1). However, for meaningful communication to occur, these texts cannot just be translated into the interpreter's language. ...
This article aims to present a culturally plausible reading of Revelation 2–3. This will be done through the use of a social-scientific model focussing on the core values of honour and shame in the ancient Mediterranean world. Before describing this model, the article will present a cursory discussion on the currently received view of Revelation’s genre and Revelation 2–3. It is argued that while the received view provides valuable historical descriptions of the ancient Mediterranean world, this approach is inadequate to bring to the fore the underlying norms and values found in Revelation 2–3. Using the model of honour and shame as a lens through which to read Revelation 2–3, it becomes apparent that these seven letters are filled with honour claims that are either confirmed, challenged or denied. In addition, honour is also ascribed to specific communities, and in some cases, honour is redefined.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Reading Revelation 2–3 through social-scientific models engages critically with the traditional approach to these texts, and provides a culturally sensitive and responsible reading thereof. This reading further promotes a constructive engagement with cross-cultural anthropology.
... Die feit dat hierdie benadering so vinnig veld onder eksegete begin wen het, is toe te skryf aan die produktiewe skryfwerk van 'n hele aantal pioniers op die 46 Byvoorbeeld Horrell ([1997] 1999:309-338); Dreyer (2000Dreyer ( , 2001Dreyer ( , 2002. 47 Byvoorbeeld Duling (1993Duling ( , 1995Duling ( , 2002 53 Vir 'n verduideliking van die onderskeid tussen "sosiale beskrywing" en "sosiaalwetenskaplike kritiek", kyk onder andere Osiek 1984:24-66;Rohrbaugh 1987aRohrbaugh , 1987bDomeris 1988;Jan Botha 1989;Craffert 1991 Malina (1978aMalina ( , 1978bMalina ( , [1981Malina ( , 1982Malina ( , 1986a, John Elliott ([1981] 1990), Richard Rohrbaugh (1978Rohrbaugh ( , 1984Rohrbaugh ( , 1987aRohrbaugh ( , 1987b, John J Pilch (1985,1986,1988,1991), Douglas Oakman (1986Oakman ( , 1991, Jerome H Neyrey (1986, 1988a, 1988b, 1991a, 1991b, 1991c), Halvor Moxnes (1988) studie van die Nuwe Testament gemaak is. 63 Hierdie dissiplines sluit byvoorbeeld psigologie, 64 sosiologie 65 en antropologie 66 in. ...
... 65 Kyk onder andere Holmberg (1990); ; . 66 Kyk onder andere die oorsigartikel deur Jerome H Neyrey (1986:160-170), "Social Science modeling and the New Testament", gebaseer op die boek deur Bruce J Malina (1986a), Christian origins and Cultural Anthropology: Practical models for Biblical interpretation. Craffert (1997Craffert ( , 1999a. ...
The article is the first of a series of three that aim to introduce social-scientific exegesis of New Testament texts. Aspects of the social background of these writings are analyzed in light of the perspectives which underlie the dynamics of first-century Mediterranean social world. The article shows that social-scientific criticism of the New Testament represents an exegetical approach by means of which the rhetoric of texts is Interpreted In light of their cultural environment and the social Interaction that determines this context and semeiotic codes. The first article focuses on the initiators in the field of historical-critical exegesis who paved the way to social scientific criticism and explain key facets of the "new" exegetical approach. The second article explains some models and methods of social-scientific criticism. The third article discusses some advantages of social scientific criticism and poses a critique of the approach by reflecting on the positivism that could underlie the epistemology behind some Interpretation models used In social scientific criticism. it concludes with an emphasis on cultural criticism as a hermeneutical challenge.
... It was written in 1988 under the heading 'Jesus and the social outcasts' ['Jesus en die sosiaal-veragtes']. The sociological model that served as the frame of reference within which I substan tiated the hypothesis of my study was at that time largely based on the work of Bruce Malina (1986aMalina ( , 1986b and Paul Hollenbach (1987). According to this model social interactions should be understood against the background of the hierarchical structures of a 'total society'. ...
... Wright's use of the notion 'critical realism' shows similarities with that of Ben F Meyer (1979Meyer ( , 1991. My own use of 'critical realism' was stimula ted by Wentzel van Huyssteen (1987,1989. He introduced me to this concept and I am still heavily dependent on his work. ...
In the previous article (see HTS 49/3) the work of Andrie du Toit and Willem Vorster on historical Jesus research were discussed. In this article Andries van Aarde’s work is discussed under the following topics: Jesus as a social outcast, Herodian Palestine in macrosociological perspective, the historical Jesus and engaged hermeneutics, and the ‘fatherless’ Jesus. In conclusion, the kind of influence that South African Jesus research is subjected to or stimulated by is shown.
... Malina's publications are large in number, but his main work concerning the honor-shame model is The New Testament World. He also lays out his broader theories of model-making in Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology: Practical Models for Biblical Interpretation (Malina 1986). My evaluation of Malina's scholarship will reference material in these two works. ...
Using Philippians 1:27–2:4 as an example, this article will explore the role of positionality in biblical studies. Although the process of reflecting on one’s positionality is more prevalent in empirical-based research, one’s positionality is also relevant in text-based research, such as in biblical studies. This article will demonstrate this by observing the following: first, how some analyses of the collectivistic cultural context of Philippians have been inappropriately influenced by certain implicit individualistic perspectives; and second, how an interpretive lens derived from my positionality as a scholar from an explicitly collectivistic culture is able to highlight a mostly ignored intrinsic correlation between social relations and virtue.
... But if this argument is anything to go by, then it could be based on the external and internal evidence on the notion of kinship. The external evidence according to Malina (1986) and Hutchison (2009) confirms that kinship and politics were the most fundamental structures of the ancient Mediterranean world; while other social institutions such as economics, education and religion were embedded in them. Kinship refers to familiar or social relationship. ...
... Cita, a continuación, obras clave: Wayne Meeks, The first urban Christians: The social world of the Apostle Paul (Meeks, 1983); J. G. Gager, Kingdom and Community. The Social World of Early Christianity (Gager, 1975); Robin Scroggs, "The Earliest Christian Communities as Sectarian Movement" (R. Scroggs, 1975); Dennis C. Duling, "The Jesus movement and network analysis" (Duling, 2002) (Malina 1986). Los trabajos de G. Theissen son ejemplo pionero del uso de modelos sociológicos para el estudio de los textos bíblicos. ...
... groep (die 'ontvanger) in gegewe omstandighede (die situasie) met 'n gesproke of geskrewe uiting (die kanaal) iets weergee oor 'n wereldobjek (die boodskap) met die oog op 'n sekere uitkoms (die effek). Op dieselfde manier kan die boodskap in simboliese taal enk:odeer word om so iets oor die alledaagse werklikheid te se (Malina 1986 ...
Bultmann 's approach to analogical language, or as he put it, mythological language,
was to demythologise it Reaction to his demythologising program was
largely negative, as it seemed radical to many. This study shows that Bultmann's
approach to analogical language does not differ much from the way the concept
"analogical language" is used within the sociology of knowledge. It seems that
disciplines which had previously been practised in isolation from each other,
developed their own terminology. The result is that essentially the same issues
were referred to by different names, and that the same terms could be used to
denote different issues. In this article the question whether analogicaVmytho-
10gicaVsymbolicaVmetaphoricallanguage is treated in much the same way by the
two different approaches is answered positively.
... Verhoudinge tussen beskermheer en onderdaan was die senuwee wat die samelewing aan die gang gehou het, en al wyse waarop die nie-elite toegang tot sekere middele en dienste kon verkry. Etes is as seremonies beskou (die herbevestiging van gedeelde waardes), en 'n duidelike onderskeid is getref tussen wat as rein en onrein (kulties en sosiaal) beskou is (kyk Malina 1981Malina , 1986Malina & Rohrbaugh 2003). ...
This article reflects on a possible methodology that can be used to interpret the parables of Jesus preserved in the Synoptics (and the Gospel of Thomas). It is argued that the available versions of the parables of Jesus have already been allegorised, and that this should be taken into consideration when the extant versions of parables are interpreted as parables of the historical Jesus. The parables should also, as far as possible, be interpreted against the social realia evoked by the parables. In this endeavour, Roman-Egypt inscriptions and papyri are in most cases the only sources available. The article concludes with a few examples, illustrating the possibilities of
interpretation when the proposed methodology is applied.
... But the belatedness of the general term for the phenomenon of individuals should make us wary of assuming the stable existence of individualism as a category of human life…" (Greenblatt 1986:32, cited by Halperin 1990. For the recent individualistic cultural script in comparison with majority collective societies in the world today, see Malina 1986;1994;Triandis 1990. 3 For example, the seer of the Sibyllines notes: "More than any men they (Israelites) are mindful of the purity of marriage. ...
In this, the first of two parts of a continuous argument, the focus falls on what Paul meant by his statement in Romans 1 about same-gender sexual relations. The social system within which and from which his statements had meaning is considered. The second part of this argument, to appear in Verbum et Ecclesia 23 (2) 2002, looks more closely at the various traditions that could have influenced Paul�s thinking, and draws conclusions to the developed argument on the prevalence of homosexuality in the New Testament era.
More delicate classification of attributive adjectives in Greek
Emmanuel Lévinas se filosofie van die "ander" word ondersoek en in gesprek gebring met hoe die Lukaanse Jesus sy "ander" hanteer het. Die fokus van Lévinas se filosofiese werke is die voorrang van 'n etiese verhouding van die "self' met die "ander". Deur gebruik te maak van die sosiaalwetenskaplike metode, word Jesus se gesindheid en optrede teenoor sy "ander" in die evangelie van Lukas oorweeg. Jesus skep nuwe koninkrykswaardes en sluit mense wat "anders" was in die familie van God in. In hierdie nuwe koninkryk word grense en vooroordele wat deur etnisiteit, geslag, status en ouderdom geskep word, tot niet gemaak. Die raakpunte tussen Jesus se hantering van die "ander" vanuit 'n seleksie van Lukaanse tekste en Lévinas se filosofie, word bespreek. 'n Voorstel oor wat Suid-Afrikaners oor andersheid, gelykheid en diversiteit kan leer en 'n benadering om buitestanders te omhels, word gemaak.
In the church tradition three letters, now known as the Pastoral Epistles, are attributed to the apostle Paul. They are unlike any other letters by Paul. They are written to two of his closest companions, Timothy and Titus, and they instruct those two leaders how to lead gathered Christians in Ephesus and in Crete. The letters contain plenty of instruction for how church leaders at that time, and in those places, were to function. In this commentary, Scot McKnight seeks to explain the major themes of the Pastoral Epistles - church order, false teaching, and failing Christians - and their foundational vision for how Christians could make a good impression in public life. These three brief letters express a view of how Christians were to live in the Roman empire in a way that does not offend public sensibilities. They prescribe a way of public behavior best translated as 'civilized religion.'
This chapter demonstrates the necessity for a racial reading of John’s prologue. It introduces aspects of the prologue where it portrays otherness, difference, and the disruption of racial identity and race relations. This chapter also situates the study in light of Johannine scholarship on the prologue, including a brief review of the literature, a definition of race and ethnicity, racial ideologies of the Greco-Roman world, and the trajectory of the monograph. Issues on the background and context of John’s gospel are also discussed.
This article uses a typology of action framework to analyze a selection of the gospels’ parables. It does so by connecting these parables to A. G. Haudricourt and C. Ferret’s research on the “anthropology of action”. After summarizing Haudricourt’s and Ferret’s results, I relate modes of action to types of emplotment. I select four parables as the basis of my analysis, using J. P. Meier’s findings as a guide for selection. I discern in these four parables four modes of emplotment, which enables me to insert them into larger narrative networks found within the gospels. I locate the corpus of narratives determined this way in the context of Jesus’ time so as to better appreciate how the four modes of emplotment combine into a typology of action shaped by a specific social and cultural context. Within this typology of action, I put a spotlight on the way our corpus’ modes of emplotment make use of “discontinuous actions” (coined by Ferret). “Discontinuous actions” decisively initiate or correct a specified course of events. The stress on this dimension of action applies to the relationships occurring between humans and the natural world, within the social world, and between humans and the supranatural world, thus connecting one order of reality with another.
This article explores the counter-hegemonic legitimation strategies that are employed by the author of 2 Peter to challenge a group of false teachers who had encroached and gained sway over some number of members of the group of Jesus followers whom the author addresses. This article will also point out how, by means of the very same strategies, the writer attempts to legitimate his own teachings and position of authority over the putative readers.
Revelation 1:3 deals with a μακαρισμός. This is God's blessing for his active and obedient faithful community, his communio sanctorum. The scopus of this μακαρισμός is this community which, in the final phase of his kingdom in this world, upholds the theoethical principles of his word. With this they transcend the world and give meaning to human existence. The implications of this are everlasting blessedness. The emphasis of the acts of God's faithful community is in the here and now.
The Epistle of James provides a window into the early Christian economic thought. James' work pays special attention to the piety of the poor as they are tested by economic exploitation and experience marginalization as they are subject to harsh oppression. It attacks in the strongest possible terms the capital accumulation of the rich, underscores the precarious nature of riches, and denounces the unjust means frequently used to acquire this excessive wealth. James' epistle also condemns merchants for entirely trusting to their vision of the future in undertaking long-term planning, especially given the (presumed) imminence of the Lord’s Parousia. James' writings, however virulently antiworldly, nonetheless stand in a strong tradition of both Judaic and other ancient writings, as well as with many parts of the New Testament, most especially the two Lucan books. The epistle cannot, therefore, be dismissed as an aberrative example of proto-Christian economic ideas.
The central themes of Jesus’ preaching, the kingdom and household of God, are root metaphors
expressing the symbolic universe of God’s patronage subverting patronage and patriarchy
structuring contemporary Mediterranean society, thus legitimising an anti-hierarchical
community of faith. This dominant focus of Jesus’ message was discarded, as society’s
prevalent patronage and patriarchy became the societal structure of the later faith communities.
Today, patronage and patriarchy still forms the social structure for a large sector of Christian
communities and many cultures, resulting in inequality, injustice, exploitation and suffering.
This article proposes that the only remedy for the faithful is a return to Jesus’ essential message,
by investigating the social dynamics suggested by these root metaphors using metaphor
theory and social scientific methods. Patronage is studied within contemporary Roman and
Mediterranean aristocratic patriarchal society, forming an a-typical broad-based needle-like
power pyramid with multiple similarly structured power pyramids within, based on a
morality of indebtedness, honour and power. Jesus accepted God as his father and declared
the advent of God’s patronage as king (kingdom of God) and father of the faithful (children of
God). Within the kingdom and household of God, there was no hierarchy, except for the
primate of the first born son, whom Jesus symbolises as broker for God’s patronage to all his
followers. Within the faith communities there should be no hierarchy or any form of clientage
other than God’s patronage. Rather, the faithful are equal and should serve each other and
their communities with compassion, responsibility and justice.
Contribution: The contribution of this research is its focus on similarity and dissimilarity of
these patronage metaphors and their application to subvert the power dynamics of patronage
and patriarchy within the community of the faithful, in order to proffer God’s patronage of a
society of caring, selfless equals today. This research falls within the scope of HTS Theological
studies, as it is a multi-disciplinary study of key biblical metaphors investigated with accepted
methodology resulting in valid conclusions which are ethically sound.
Keywords: patronage; patriarchy; kingdom of God; household of God; metaphor; symbolic
universe.
Because spiritual life and religious participation are widespread human and cultural phenomena, these experiences unsurprisingly find their way into English language arts curriculum, learning, teaching, and teacher education work. Yet many public school literacy teachers and secondary teacher educators feel unsure how to engage religious and spiritual topics and responses in their classrooms. This volume responds to this challenge with an in-depth exploration of diverse experiences and perspectives on Christianity within American education.
Authors not only examine how Christianity – the historically dominant religion in American society – shapes languaging and literacies in schooling and other educational spaces, but they also imagine how these relations might be reconfigured. From curricula to classroom practice, from narratives of teacher education to youth coming-to-faith, chapters vivify how spiritual lives, beliefs, practices, communities, and religious traditions interact with linguistic and literate practices and pedagogies. In relating legacies of Christian languaging and literacies to urgent issues including White supremacy, sexism and homophobia, and the politics of exclusion, the volume enacts and invites inclusive relational configurations within and across the myriad American Christian sub-cultures coming to bear on English language arts curriculum, teaching, and learning.
This courageous collection contributes to an emerging scholarly literature at the intersection of language and literacy teaching and learning, religious literacy, curriculum studies, teacher education, and youth studies. It will speak to teacher educators, scholars, secondary school teachers, and graduate and postgraduate students, among others.
Jesus' viewpoints did not always conform to the prevailing ideas of the day. Instead, he had his own ideas regarding the Kingdom of God, which were far from the prevailing idea of 'king' and 'subjects.' In this essay, it is argued that Jesus introduced a specific relationship between God and the believers, namely that of 'father' and 'children,' derived from the analogy of his own relationship with God. Should the abovementioned statement be true, then it is possible that Jesus constituted the βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, not in terms of a king and his subjects, but in terms of a patron, the father - and clients, the children. Although the phrase βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ does not occur in the Johannine farewell discourse(s), implicit references to it indicate that it can be interpreted as 'dwelling-place of the Father,' and thus as 'household of God.'
This article considers anew the important role of leadership in a meliorating violent conflict and achieving reconciliation in African societies, using the Lukan Jesus' model of subversive leadership. The article critically engages Luke's narrative of Jesus' leadership style in achieving reconciliation in the context of violent conflict by using theological-sociocultural hermeneutical lenses. The Lukan Jesus, his leadership style and the manner in which he sought reconciliation in contexts of violent conflict offer African socio-political and religious leaders a model of effective leadership that could assist them in dealing with the social challenges Africa faces, such as poor leadership, violent conflicts and underdevelopment.
The article argues – within the sacramental framework – for a specifically penitential interpretation of the Johannine footwashing narrative, adding a new argument in favor of a penitential reading of the pericope. Prefaced by a list of eleven arguments in favor of this approach, a new rationale is then presented, this time based on advances in cultural anthropology as reflected in the works of J.H. Neyrey and R. DeMaris. Neyrey’s reading of Jn 13:1-20 sees both a rite of status transformation (in vv. 6-11) and a ceremony confirming roles and statuses (in vv. 12-20); this is further enriched by DeMaris’s reading arguing for the presence of one particularly Johannine rite, which confirmed and renewed the disciples’ status gained through baptism. Both of the above readings are now reinterpreted by means of a sacramental key. As a result, the meaning of the foot-washing points toward a sacramental practice, namely a penitential rite of
confession and remission of post-baptismal sins, as reflected in other Johannine texts (Jn 20,22-23; 1 Jn 5,14-16).
The author applies the patron-client model to consider the relationship between God and man in Rom. 5-8. First, the model and its basic features are presented in the context of the Greco-Roman society, including its applicability to divinity. Next, the various elements of the model are traced in Rom. 5-8 (asymmetry, exchange of goods, personal relationship, favoritism, reciprocity, kinship language, honor and voluntary entrance). The article finishes with the advantages of reading Rom. 5-8 through the lens of the patron-client relationship.
Forty years ago, Bruce Malina led the way in applying social-scientific models and concepts to the study of the New Testament. He especially argued that respectful reading scenarios could be drawn from the cultural anthropology of the Mediterranean world, which offered the nearest contemporary analogy to biblical societies. His early work on limited good beliefs in biblical cultures is here extended to investigate links between cultural beliefs and conditions of agrarian economic production and to test several corollaries in the cases of the Jesus group in Palestine and Christ-followers in the Roman cities. It is argued that limited good beliefs in the New Testament are related to the actual conditions of the low-productive societies and social-stratification realities in which the Bible was inscribed.
This article provides a survey of several types of small groups established within Protestantism in the centuries subsequent to the Reformation. The article examines how Reformation and post-Reformation church leaders, such as Luther and Bucer, the Puritans, Reformed and Lutheran Pietists, Moravians, and Methodists employed small groups. Observations are provided on those factors that contributed to their success and lessons are suggested for the use of small groups and cell groups today.
The soteriology of James should not be evaluated or described in terms of any other soteriology in the New Testament. In the past this has led to a very negative indictment of James, like Luther's statement that James is a “book of straw”. Many modern day scholars still judge James negatively in terms of other New Testament writings as being not sophisticated, not Christological and so on. In this article I argue that this is indeed correct to judge James like this: The letter does not present a sophisticated theology or soteriology or Christology and is closely aligned to Jewish Wisdom writings. But this is not a negative, as so many seems tot believe. James is theologically not on the same par as Paul or the majority of the other New Testament writings. It represents a much earlier stage of theological development. It is a window on a faith under construction, and if James is viewed in this light, the book's unique contribution to the Christian faith can be fully appreciated.
This article examines how the author of the First Epistle of John uses family metaphorics rhetorically to convince his adherents of their identity as Christians, and to persuade them towards certain conduct in relation to their identity. He employs a network of metaphors to describe the character of this community life, which was familiar to the people of the first century Mediterranean world. These metaphors have been used in conjunction with various rhetorical devices. This article commences with a discussion of what family metaphorics is, followed by a discussion of the use of familial images in rhetoric. The gist of the article concerns an application of “family dynamics” in the discourse of “metaphor” and “rhetoric”.
The aim of this research is to investigate the domestic architecture of the First Epistle of John. It seems that the author has used family metaphorics to make the invisible (Father) visible in the community and also to characterise this early Christian community. Group orientation, also spelled out in terms of kinship, which appears to be the main social construction in the first-century Mediterranean world, was the driving force behind this research. This orientation together with the social identity theory, pioneered by Henri Tajtel. has been applied to the situation depicted in this epistle to characterise the identity of this Johannine group.
A socio-rhetorical approach to analyzing portions of the text of First John brings out new answers to questions about the text, related to genre, structure and interpretation that have puzzled biblical commentators over the years. This article looks at the text from two perspectives. From a socio-rhetorical perspective it looks at the text through lens of a social- scientific model termed by Bruce Malina and Jerome Neyrey a “Status Degradation Ritual“² (adapted from sociologist Harold Garfinkel³), which enriches the understanding of the purposes, genre and structure of First John. From a literary perspective this article looks at the way language is used to facilitate the Status Degradation Ritual and finds the intentional use of chiasm, a common oral-literary device in ancient Hebrew⁴ and Greco-Roman literature. Insights from the chiastic parallelisms of the structure of the proposed Status Degradation Ritual offer new explanations for exegetical issues such as the seeming contradiction between 1 John 1:8, 10 and 3:6, 9 regarding the sin and sinlessness of the believer.
This article is a social scientific reading of James and John's request for seats of honour in Mark 10:35-42. It argues that when James and John made such a request they misunderstood the meaning of discipleship. The argument is established by looking at the literature review on Mark 10:35-42. Discipleship as presented in Mark is described to understand the type of discipleship demanded by Jesus. The discipleship misconceptions are also outlined in detail. The purpose here is to demonstrate that the disciples of Jesus, James and John, in Mark 10:35-42 misunderstood the meaning of discipleship as presented in Mark. The article makes a contribution to the ongoing research on New Testament scholarship by studying Mark 10:35-42 through a social scientific criticism.
The gospel narratives of Jesus’ table fellowship have attracted widespread attention, both as parables of divine generosity extended to the marginalized and as examples of radical inclusion, subverting social expectations and hierarchies. Offering a close reading of Lk. 7.36-50, this article uncovers an equally strong emphasis on mutuality and reciprocity, which is too often overlooked by exegetes. Drawing on anthropological insights about hospitality, this article argues that the pericope can be read as the forming, disturbing and re-creating of cycles of hospitality. The woman’s gestures are shown to be highly ambiguous; they were likely not deciphered as gestures of hospitality. It is only through Jesus’ intervention that the woman’s actions are reframed as expressions of generous hospitality. Jesus, who never leaves his role as guest, thus brings the woman into direct competition with Simon, the original host. The woman alone has properly hosted Jesus by approaching him lovingly as the divine saviour.
This article proposes a methodology for interpreting the parables of Jesus. The methodology put forward has as starting point two convictions. Firstly, the difference between the context of Jesus' parables as told by Jesus the Galilean in 30 CE and the literary context of the parables in the gospels has to be taken seriously. Secondly, an effort has to be made to at least try to avoid the fallacies of ethnocentrism and anachronism when interpreting the parables. In an effort to achieve this goal it is argued that social-scientific criticism presents itself as the obvious line of approach. Operating from these two convictions, the method being proposed is explained by using 12 statements (or theses) which are discussed as concisely and comprehensively as possible. It is inter alia argued that the central theme of Jesus' parables was the non-apocalyptic kingdom of God, that the parables are atypical stories (comparisons), and that the parables depict Jesus as a social prophet.
p>Pelos Métodos bíblicos tradicionais (Histórico-Crítico e Crítico-Literário) já se estudou o Bilhete a Filêmon, aprofundando o protagonista Paulo dentro dos modos de produção escravagista romano. Com este artigo atual que usufrui o Método Sociológico pelo Modelo Conflitual/Contradição, a proposta é olhar o mesmo Bilhete a Filêmon, a partir de alguém que foi silenciado no texto original. Como este tipo de Leitura procura detectar as assimetrias, olhar o texto com «suspeição» e dar voz e espaço aos que estão na «margem», o protagonista passa a ser aquele que estava abaixo da pirâmide romana: Onésimo, o escravo. A hipótese deste artigo é que, na prisão, o escravo Onésimo passou do estado da passividade para se tornar um questionador da prática de Paulo. O Apóstolo, então, na crueza da cadeia, sentiu-se tocado. Sua práxis , agora, concretizou-se na luta pela liberdade do escravo. Onésimo teria transformado a conversão de Paulo. Com essa leitura, descobre-se Jesus Cristo na carne do escravo.</p
Modern society (the social system) conceived structural-functionally is constituted of four basic institutions (or subsystems) designated as follows: ideology (the meaning system), polity (the organization system), economy (the adaptation or provisioning system), and family (the belonging system). Each of these, in turn, may be analyzed and further described in terms of its (1) general symbolic medium (GSM), (2) sanction, (3) symbolled value, (4) structural components, and so on.1Thus, for example, focusing on polity versus economy, we have here, respectively, (1) power versus wealth, (2) coercion versus inducement, (3) effectiveness versus utility, (4) collectivities versus roles, (5) force versus dominion, and (6) sovereignty/ submission versus prestige/respect. In the case of the ideology or meaning system, of which institutional religion is a subset, we have (1) influence, (2) persuasion, (3) solidarity, (4) norms, and (5) consent (concensus)/ (normative) intractability (see Fig. 1)2.
This article compares the inclusive tendencies of Matthew and Paul by evaluating the inclusive structure of their respective communities. The article mainly investigates two issues: Matthew's and Paul's practice of the Law and their perspectives on the Gentiles. The community that strictly keeps the Law is a more exclusive community. The Law is used to reject unclean and lower class people from the Israelite community. Secondly, Matthew's perspective on the Gentiles and that of Paul are investigated to determine tendencies of inclusivity in their respective thinking. It is observed that the Law-free Gentile community is more inclusive than the Law-observant Gentile community. The approach adopted by this article is one of cross-cultural interpretation.
This article presents a social-scientific and realistic reading of the parable of the Unmerciful Servant. The parables of Jesus are realistic stories about everyday events in 1st-century Palestine that evoke specific social realia and practices known to its first hearers. As recent studies on the parables have shown, papyri from early Roman Egypt provide detailed information on the implied social realities and practices assumed in the parables. In reading the parable through the lens of patronage and clientism and against the background of the relationship between royal ideology and debt release attested in documented papyri, it is argued that the parable suggests that in the basileia of God debt should be released in terms of general reciprocity, emulating the way in which patrons release debt for the sake of honour.
This article is the first of a three-part series that aims to stimulate the hermeneutical debate In the church about marriage. Attention Is given to four aspects of the cultural world of the Bible that are relevant for an understanding of the institution of marriage as presented in Biblical texts: marriage as embedded in the social Institution of the family (kinship), the role of honor and shame, dyadic personality and the different marriage strategies that can be discerned throughout Biblical times. The article concludes with a few remarks on the effects the above "cultural scripts" had on the understanding of marriage as an institution and the position of women in marriage.
This article attempted to read the parable of the minas in a 30 CE context, employing a social scientific reading. The integrity of the parable was delimited to Luke 19:12b–24 and 27. It was argued that this version of the parable (that stems from Q) goes back to the earliest layer of the historical Jesus tradition and is a realistic version of the historical background, political background and socio-economic background of 30 CE Palestine. In this reading of the parable, attention was given to an aspect much neglected in previous scholarship regarding the interpretation of the parable, namely that the third slave in the parable is not condemned. It was argued that this neglected aspect is important for the strategy of the parable. The reading concluded that the parable has two foci; it shows how, in the time of Jesus, the elite exploited the non-elite and how to protest in a situation where the peasantry (the exploited) had no legitimate way of protesting against the exploitative practices of the elite.
In modern Western culture, gossip is seen as a malicious activity that should be avoided. In ancient oral-cultures, gossip as a cultural form did not have this negative connotation. Gossip was a necessary social game that enabled the flow of information. This information was used in the gossip network of communities to clarify, maintain and enforce group values, facilitate group formation and boundary maintenance and assess the morality of individuals. Gossip was a natural and spontaneous recurring form of social organization. This understanding of
gossip is used to interpret the two invitations and three excuses in the parable of the Feast (Lk 14:16a–23). The conclusion reached is that gossip, when understood as a social game, can be a useful tool to curb anachronistic and ethnocentristic readings of texts produced by cultures different from that of modern interpreters analyzing these texts.
This article presents a social-scientific interpretation of the parable of the friend at midnight. As starting point, attention is given to the history of the interpretation of the parable, as well as to its integrity and authenticity. A social-scientific reading of the parable is then presented. The parable is read against the socio-economic and political backdrop of first-century Palestine village life in which friendship, hospitality, limited good and reciprocity
played an important role. The interpretation of the parable hinges on the understanding of anaideian [shamelessness] Luke 11:8. Therefore, special attention is given to honour as a pivotal value in first-century Palestine. The parable tells the story of an alternative world, a world wherein neighbours are kin and practice general reciprocity. The gist of the parable is that when neighbours do not act as neighbours, then nothing of God’s kingdom becomes visible.
Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist (Mk 1 :9-13) can be understood, from a social-scientific perspective, as a ritual of status transformation. By using insights from social-scientific theories of patronage and clientism, as well as from those of rituals and ceremonies, it is argued that at Jesus' baptism his status is transformed to that of the new broker of the heavenly Patron. Jesus' brokerage in Mark should be seen as the mediating of the Patron's presence and availability to his clients, that is, the proclamation of the kingdom of God, the Patron's new broadened inclusive household. After the results of the study are summarized, a few remarks in regard to the possible implications of this study for current historical Jesus research are made.
'Sinners' in the time of Jesus The hypothesis which is investigated in this article is that the expression 'sinners' is to be seen as a label for those people who were not socially accommodated within Israelite society in the time of Jesus. His ostracism was religiously legitimated by means of purity regulations with regard to people, places and calendar. The confirmation of the hypothesis provides the historical context of the inscription in Louw & Nida's semantic dictionary of New Testament Greek with regard to one of the meanings of the word 'sinner' (ἁμαρτωλόϛ) as 'social outcast'.
The ritual of baptism as status-transformation. Rituals are social mechanisms that have the very important function of effecting transitions in social and/or religious roles and status. Such transitions can be both internal and external in nature. Rituals should be differentiated from ceremonies. The latter function to confirm the roles and issues of status in the institutions of family, politics, education, religion, and economics. Ritual is the mechanism by which role and status are changed in a valid way in order to ensure spiritual growth and strengthen the bond with the church. The purpose of the article is to comment on the apparent loss of experiential meaning associated with the ritual of baptism in the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, but probably also in most protestant churches that practice the ritual of infant baptism. The thesis is that infant baptism functions like a ceremony rather than a ritual the infant, not present at its own baptism in any real sense except physically, is never able to experience the affective and cognitive transition originally wrought by the ritual. Therefore, if the church does not introduce some measure to effect the bonding, the individual will always have trouble in identifying with the church.
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