In AD 66-67 Josephus was commissioned to encourage the Galilean revolutionary "hot heads" to lay ... more In AD 66-67 Josephus was commissioned to encourage the Galilean revolutionary "hot heads" to lay down their weapons against Rome (Life 29). In his autobiography (Life 113), Josephus says that he stopped some Galilean Jews from forcibly circumcising two non-Jewish nobles who had fled to him for refuge from Trachonitis. This episode is reminiscent of Paul's refusal of certain "false brethren" who, in AD 48/51, wanted Titus forcibly circumcised at Jerusalem (Gal 2:1-5). This article explores the influence that pro-Jewish sentiment and an incipient Jewish nationalism might have exercised on the early Christians regarding the place of the "works of the law". It marks Josephus as a singular figure in first-century Judaism who, like Paul, resisted the tide of Jewish culture in refusing the imposition of circumcision either upon Gentile asylum seekers or proselytes. It enables us to reconsider what might have been animating the "false brothers" at Jerusalem, as well as the rhetorical strategy Paul employs in combating the Jerusalem and Antioch agitators in Galatians 1- 2. However, ultimately the situations faced by Paul and Josephus were different.
This article proposes that Paul worked on two cultural fronts in describing the reign of grace (R... more This article proposes that Paul worked on two cultural fronts in describing the reign of grace (Rom. 5:12-21) and the new creation (Rom. 8:18-39). Paul's references to the 'two ages', the fall of Adam and the new creation, were fundamental to Jewish apocalyptic eschatology. However, Paul's language of grace in Romans 5, with its emphasis on excess and abundance, would have evoked imperial associations. In the first century, the eschatological age of Augustus marked a watershed in beneficence. Paul's point to the Roman Christians was plain: Christ's grace surpassed the very best the Caesars had to offer.
The article investigates the deliberate erasure of inscriptional honours of two individuals in th... more The article investigates the deliberate erasure of inscriptional honours of two individuals in the first century: Augustus’s ‘friend’, the infamous Gaius Cornelius Gallus, and the famous orator of Isthmia, Nikias. The public dishonouring of rivals by their enemies was common in antiquity. The author explores how this phenomenon illuminates Paul’s conception of glory in Romans and his attack on boasting in oratorical performance in the Corinthian epistles. Paul sets forth a different understanding of honour based on the shame of the cross, God’s election of the socially despised, and the elevation of the dishonoured in the Body of Christ.
T he historical authenticity of Jesus' prayer to God to forgive his enemies (Luke 23:34a: Πάτερ, ... more T he historical authenticity of Jesus' prayer to God to forgive his enemies (Luke 23:34a: Πάτερ, ἄφες αὐτοῖς) is still debated by New Testament scholars. The disputed textual tradition underlying the verse and the ambiguous status of the internal arguments in favour of the logion have meant that a definitive answer to its authenticity remains elusive. 1 Where Luke 23:34 is accepted as an authentic Jesus logion, 2 scholarly discussion largely revolves around the identity of those whom Jesus forgives (Jews, Romans, or both?) and the 'ignorance' motif (Luke 23:34; cf. Acts 2:36; 3:17; 13:17; 17:30). Significant investigations of ἀφίημι and ἄφεσις have been undertaken, 3 but this discussion has not been brought into dialogue with the variegated understanding of forgiveness in antiquity and its dominant terminology (συγγνώμη; συγγιγνώσκω). The time is long overdue for a reappraisal of the authenticity and the import, socially and theologically, of the logion.
This paper investigates the social and theological import of Romans against the iconography of th... more This paper investigates the social and theological import of Romans against the iconography of the Augustan arches, focusing on Paul's indebtedness to Greeks and barbarians, the reconciliation of enemies, the victory of Christ on behalf of believers, and his rule over the nations. D.C. Lopez and B. Kahl investigated the iconographic evidence of Aphrodisias and Pergamon when discussing the political implications of Paul's gospel in the Roman province of Asia. Paul visited neither city, so arguments about the apostle's interaction with the imperial ideology of 'victory' depends more on the ubiquity of the Julio-Claudian propaganda than on any contact Paul might have had with those specifi c monuments. The Augustan arches throughout the Empire stereotypically depict the humiliation of barbarians at the sites of Pisidian Antioch, a city visited by Paul (Acts 13:14-50), as well as at La Turbie, Glanum, Carpentras and the triple arch at the Roman Forum. However, there were other iconographic motifs on the arches that confl icted with the relentless triumphal ideology of Augustus. They articulated an alternate vision of social relations between conqueror and conquered.
In AD 66-67 Josephus was commissioned to encourage the Galilean revolutionary "hot heads" to lay ... more In AD 66-67 Josephus was commissioned to encourage the Galilean revolutionary "hot heads" to lay down their weapons against Rome (Life 29). In his autobiography (Life 113), Josephus says that he stopped some Galilean Jews from forcibly circumcising two non-Jewish nobles who had fled to him for refuge from Trachonitis. This episode is reminiscent of Paul's refusal of certain "false brethren" who, in AD 48/51, wanted Titus forcibly circumcised at Jerusalem (Gal 2:1-5). This article explores the influence that pro-Jewish sentiment and an incipient Jewish nationalism might have exercised on the early Christians regarding the place of the "works of the law". It marks Josephus as a singular figure in first-century Judaism who, like Paul, resisted the tide of Jewish culture in refusing the imposition of circumcision either upon Gentile asylum seekers or proselytes. It enables us to reconsider what might have been animating the "false brothers" at Jerusalem, as well as the rhetorical strategy Paul employs in combating the Jerusalem and Antioch agitators in Galatians 1- 2. However, ultimately the situations faced by Paul and Josephus were different.
This article proposes that Paul worked on two cultural fronts in describing the reign of grace (R... more This article proposes that Paul worked on two cultural fronts in describing the reign of grace (Rom. 5:12-21) and the new creation (Rom. 8:18-39). Paul's references to the 'two ages', the fall of Adam and the new creation, were fundamental to Jewish apocalyptic eschatology. However, Paul's language of grace in Romans 5, with its emphasis on excess and abundance, would have evoked imperial associations. In the first century, the eschatological age of Augustus marked a watershed in beneficence. Paul's point to the Roman Christians was plain: Christ's grace surpassed the very best the Caesars had to offer.
The article investigates the deliberate erasure of inscriptional honours of two individuals in th... more The article investigates the deliberate erasure of inscriptional honours of two individuals in the first century: Augustus’s ‘friend’, the infamous Gaius Cornelius Gallus, and the famous orator of Isthmia, Nikias. The public dishonouring of rivals by their enemies was common in antiquity. The author explores how this phenomenon illuminates Paul’s conception of glory in Romans and his attack on boasting in oratorical performance in the Corinthian epistles. Paul sets forth a different understanding of honour based on the shame of the cross, God’s election of the socially despised, and the elevation of the dishonoured in the Body of Christ.
T he historical authenticity of Jesus' prayer to God to forgive his enemies (Luke 23:34a: Πάτερ, ... more T he historical authenticity of Jesus' prayer to God to forgive his enemies (Luke 23:34a: Πάτερ, ἄφες αὐτοῖς) is still debated by New Testament scholars. The disputed textual tradition underlying the verse and the ambiguous status of the internal arguments in favour of the logion have meant that a definitive answer to its authenticity remains elusive. 1 Where Luke 23:34 is accepted as an authentic Jesus logion, 2 scholarly discussion largely revolves around the identity of those whom Jesus forgives (Jews, Romans, or both?) and the 'ignorance' motif (Luke 23:34; cf. Acts 2:36; 3:17; 13:17; 17:30). Significant investigations of ἀφίημι and ἄφεσις have been undertaken, 3 but this discussion has not been brought into dialogue with the variegated understanding of forgiveness in antiquity and its dominant terminology (συγγνώμη; συγγιγνώσκω). The time is long overdue for a reappraisal of the authenticity and the import, socially and theologically, of the logion.
This paper investigates the social and theological import of Romans against the iconography of th... more This paper investigates the social and theological import of Romans against the iconography of the Augustan arches, focusing on Paul's indebtedness to Greeks and barbarians, the reconciliation of enemies, the victory of Christ on behalf of believers, and his rule over the nations. D.C. Lopez and B. Kahl investigated the iconographic evidence of Aphrodisias and Pergamon when discussing the political implications of Paul's gospel in the Roman province of Asia. Paul visited neither city, so arguments about the apostle's interaction with the imperial ideology of 'victory' depends more on the ubiquity of the Julio-Claudian propaganda than on any contact Paul might have had with those specifi c monuments. The Augustan arches throughout the Empire stereotypically depict the humiliation of barbarians at the sites of Pisidian Antioch, a city visited by Paul (Acts 13:14-50), as well as at La Turbie, Glanum, Carpentras and the triple arch at the Roman Forum. However, there were other iconographic motifs on the arches that confl icted with the relentless triumphal ideology of Augustus. They articulated an alternate vision of social relations between conqueror and conquered.
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