Socialscapes and Abstractions: An Appraisal of Richard A. Horsley’s Theorizing of Antiquity

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-123
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Rollens
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Social World ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Analytical Utility

Richard A. Horsley’s work on Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity has been widely influential. In particular, his theorizing of the social world in which early Jews and Christians were embedded has significantly advanced biblical studies. This article engages with several of the most prominent analytical categories in his work (peasant, retainer, resistance, and renewal) with a view toward investigating their conceptual origins and probing their analytical utility.

The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Temple ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Phase ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
Key Topics ◽  
Rich History

Penned by internationally recognized scholars and leaders in the study of the Pentateuch, this volume offers to students and academics a comprehensive survey of key topics and issues in contemporary pentateuchal scholarship. The volume gives due attention to recent debates about the formation of the Pentateuch and their implications for biblical scholarship. At the same time, it addresses a number of issues that relate more broadly to the social and intellectual worlds of the Pentateuch. This includes engagements with questions of archaeology and history, the Pentateuch and the Samaritans, the relation between the Pentateuch and other Moses traditions in the Second Temple period, the Pentateuch and social memory, and more. Crucially, the volume situates its discussions of current developments in pentateuchal studies in relation to the field’s long history, one that in its modern, critical phase is now more than two centuries old. By showcasing both this rich history and the leading edges of the field, this volume provides a clear account of pentateuchal studies and a fresh sense of its vitality and relevance within biblical studies, religious studies, and the broader humanities.

A Critique of the ‘Curse/Death’ Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 5.1–8

1993 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
James T. South
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Social World ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Communal Life ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociological Studies

There has been in recent years an upsurge of interest in the social description of early Christianity, particularly in the reconstruction of its ‘social world’. Any valid sociological analysis of early Christianity of necessity depends upon the exacting interpretation of the NT texts, since these constitute the necessary data for such studies. In many cases such exegetical ground-work has been done thoroughly and well, so that fruitful social studies can be conducted on the basis of the resulting data. Unfortunately, in the case of early Christian disciplinary practices, relatively little careful research has been done, and much of what has been done is, in the opinion of the present writer, seriously flawed. Social descriptions based upon this data are inevitably likewise flawed, and a distorted picture of early Christian communal life is the unfortunate result. The nature of early Christian discipline is obviously a problem of a social nature, but before serious sociological studies can be done, there must be a correction of the distortions which are currently prevalent in the scholarly consensus regarding this subject.

scholarly journals Problem of Ideology in Biblical Studies

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Randall Reed
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Social World ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Ideological Criticism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ideological Space ◽  
Marxist Tradition ◽  
Explicit Discussion ◽  
The Way

The issue of ideology is one which is still in need of discussion in biblical studies. In this article I will map the way that the various strains of social approaches to New Testament have started to address this issue, though often indirectly. I will then move to an explicit discussion of the issue making reference to the Marxist tradition focusing on Marx, Althusser and Žižek. I will argue that rather than the more traditional view which focuses on a non-ideological space like science, a better approach is one championed by Žižek which looks for gaps and cracks in the social world which then lend themselves to ideological criticism.

Literacy, New Testament

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Keith
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Early Christian

Although various New Testament texts reflect the importance of literacy and illiteracy in early Christianity (for example, Mark 13:14; John 7:15; Acts 4:13; 8:30; 1 Corinthians 16:21), these issues have taken on greater significance in New Testament studies since the 1980s. This period witnessed an explosion of interdisciplinary research on ancient literacy and illiteracy in cognate disciplines such as classics, cultural anthropology, literary criticism, and media criticism. Cumulatively, these interdisciplinary studies have established a new and sustained scholarly majority opinion that most ancient persons were illiterate. As a result, New Testament scholars now see literacy and illiteracy as important factors for interpreting New Testament and early Christian texts in their socio-historical contexts, especially for understanding the diffusion of social power in the text-centered cultures of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. Such a perspective has breathed fresh life into old debates, such as the education of Jesus and his followers or the identity of Jewish scribes, and has introduced, or participated in, new perspectives, such as “performance criticism” and the “material turn” in studies of early Christian book culture. Most of these studies accept that the majority of the population in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity was illiterate and proceed to understand the social consequences of the use of books and literate skills in a predominantly oral environment. Along these lines, further studies have increasingly come to indicate the overall inadequacy of the terms “literate” and “illiterate” for understanding the complex manifestations of literate skills in practice. Complicating factors include the facts that reading and writing skills were acquired and used separately, reading and writing skills existed in varying levels and varying languages even for an individual, and that literacy (the ability to access written tradition for oneself) should not be confused with textuality (the awareness and appreciation of written tradition). These factors and others have impacted New Testament scholars’ understanding of the authorship, reception, and circulation of texts in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity.

Kingdom and Community: The Social World of Early Christianity

1976 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 506
Author(s):  
Howard Clark Kee ◽  
John G. Gager
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Social World ◽  
The Social
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