New Testament Christianity in the Roman world
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Bibliographic Information
New Testament Christianity in the Roman world
(Essentials of biblical studies)
Oxford University Press, c2019
- : cloth
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Summary: "In one of the inaugural titles of Oxford's new Essentials in Biblical Studies series, Harry O. Maier considers the multilayered social contexts that shaped the authors and audiences of New Testament writings and related literature in the Roman Empire"-- Provided by publisher
Includes indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
What did it mean to be a Christian in the Roman Empire? In one of the inaugural titles of Oxford's new Essentials in Biblical Studies series, Harry O. Maier considers the multilayered social contexts that shaped the authors and audiences of the New Testament. Beginning with the cosmos and the gods, Maier presents concentric realms of influence on the new religious movement of Christ-followers. The next is that of the empire itself and the sway the cult of
the emperor held over believers of a single deity. Within the empire, early Christianity developed mostly in cities, the shape of which often influenced the form of belief. The family stood as the social unit in which daily expression of belief was most clearly on view and, finally, Maier examines the role of
personal and individual adherence to the religion in the shaping of the Christian experience in the Roman world.
In all of these various realms, concepts of sacrifice, belief, patronage, poverty, Jewishness, integration into city life, and the social constitution of identity are explored as important facets of early Christianity as a lived religion. Maier encourages readers to think of early Christianity not simply as an abstract and disconnected set of beliefs and practices, but as made up of a host of social interactions and pluralisms. Religion thus ceases to exist as a single identity, and acts
instead as a sphere in which myriad identities co-exist.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Series Introduction
1. Introduction
2. The Gods and the Cosmos
3. The Emperor and the Empire
4. The City and Its Residents
5. The Household and Its Members
6. The Self and Others
Notes
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"