Paul and the Roman Imperial Order

PAUL ROMAN IMPERIAL O R D E R PAUL Tu'i ROMAN IMPERIAL O R D E R EDITED BY RICHARD A. HORSLEY TRINITY PRESS INTERN...

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PAUL ROMAN IMPERIAL O R D E R

PAUL Tu'i ROMAN IMPERIAL O R D E R

EDITED BY

RICHARD A. HORSLEY

TRINITY PRESS INTERNATIONAL A Continuum imprint HARRISBURG • LONDON • NEW YORK

Copyright © 2004 Trinity Press International M rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. Trinity Press International. Trinity Press International, P.O. Box 1321, Harrisburg, PA 17105 Trinity Press International is a member of the Continuum International Publishing Group. Except as otherwise indicated, the Bible text is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and is used by permission. Cover art: Lesueur, Eustache. The Sermon of Saint Paul at Ephesus, 1649. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY. Louvre, Paris, France. Cover design: Wesley Hoke Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Paul and the Roman imperial order / edited by Richard A. Horsley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-56338-421-3 (pbk.) 1. Paul, the Apostle, Saint—Political and social views. 2. Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Christianity and politics— History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30-600. 1. Horsley, Richard A. BS2655.P64 P38 2004 227'.067—dc22 2003016692 Printed in the United States of America 03 04 05 06 07 08

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Abbreviations INTRODUCTION Richard A. Horsley 1

THE CORRUPTION AND REDEMPTION OF CREATION:

vii 1 25

Reading Rom 8 : 1 8 - 2 3 within the Imperial Context Robert Jewett 2.

"UNMASKING T H E POWERS":

47

Toward a Postcolonial Analysis of 1 Thessalonians Abraham Smith 3.

THE APOSTLE PAUUS SELF-PRESENTATION AS ANTI-IMPERIAL PERFORMANCE

67

Neil Elliott 4.

RESISTING IMPERIAL DOMINATION AND INFLUENCE:

89

Paul's Apocalyptic Rhetoric in 1 Corinthians Rollin A. Ramsaran 5.

PATRONAGE AND COMMENDATION, IMPERIAL AND ANTI-IMPERIAL

103

Efrain Agosto 6.

PHIL 2:6-11 AND RESISTANCE TO LOCAL TIMOCRATIC RULE:

125

Isa thed and the Cult of the Emperor in the East Erik M. Heen 7.

PAUL AND THE POLITICS OF VIRTUE AND VICE

155

Jennifer Wright Knust 8.

RESPONSE

175

Simon R. F. Price Contributors

185

Index

187

Abbreviations --

AB

Anchor Bible

ABD

Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6 vols. New York, 1992

AGJU

Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums

AJP

American Journal of Philology

AnBib

Analecta biblica

ANRW

Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt. Edited by H. Temporini and W. Haase. Berlin/New York, 1 9 7 2 -

ANTC

Abingdon New Testament Commentaries

BAGD

Bauer, W., W. R Arndt, R W. Gingrich, and F. W. Danker. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 2d ed. Chicago, 1979

BASOR

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

BBR

Bulletin for Biblical Research

Bijdr

Bijdragen: Tijdschrift voor ftlosofte en theologie

BR

Biblical Research

CAH

Cambridge Ancient History

CBQ

Catholic Biblical Quarterly

ConBNT

Coniectanea biblica: New Testament Series

EDNT

Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by H. Balz, G. Schneider. 3 vols. ET. Grand Rapids, 1990-1993.

EKKNT

Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament

Abbreviations

ExpT

Expository Times

FRLANT

Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments

GLQ

GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies

HBT

Horizons in Biblical Theology

HNT

Handbuch zum Neuen Testament

HNTC

Harper's New Testament Commentaries

HTKNT

Herders theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament

HTR

Harvard Theological Review

ICC

International Critical Commentary

Int

Interpretation

JB

The Jerusalem Bible

JBL

Journal of Biblical Literature

JJS

Journal of Jewish Studies

JRS

Journal of Roman Studies

JSNT

Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSNTSup

Journal for the Study of the New Testament: Supplement Series

JSOT Press

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Press

JSOTSup

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series

JTS

Journal of Theological Studies

KEK

Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar uber das Neue Testament (Meyer-Kommentar)

LCL

Loeb Classical Library

LXX

Septuagint

NASB

New American Standard Bible

NewDocs

New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity. Edited by G. H. R. Horsley and S. Llewelyn. North Ryde, N.S.W., 1 9 8 1 -

NICNT

New International Commentary on the New Testament

NovT

Novem

Testamentum

Abbreviations

NovTSup

Novum Testamentum Supplements

NRSV

New Revised Standard Version

NT

New Testament

NTS

New Testament Studies

OBT

Overtures to Biblical Theology

RAC

Reallexikon fUr Antike und Christentum. Edited by T. Kluser et al. Stuttgart, 1 9 5 0 -

RB

Revue biblique

RGG

Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Edited by H. D. Betz et al. 4th ed. Tubingen, 1 9 9 8 -

RSPT

Revue des sciences philosophiques et theologiques

RSV

Revised Standard Version

SBL

Society of Biblical Literature

SBLDS

Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series

SBLSP

Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers

SMTSMS

Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series

TDNT

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by G. Kittel and G. Friedrich. Trans. G. W. Bromiley 10 vols. Grand Rapids, 1 9 6 4 - 7 6

ThWAT

Theologisches Worterbuch zum Alten Testament. Edited by G. J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren. Stuttgart, 1 9 7 0 -

TPINTC

TPI [Trinity Press International] New Testament Commentaries

UBS

United Bible Societies

WBC

Word Biblical Commentary

WMANT

Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament

WUNT

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

YCS

Yale Classical Studies

ZNW

Zeitschrift fiir die neutestamentliche und die Kunde der dlteren Kirche

ZPE

Zeitschrift fUr Papyrologie und Epigraphik

Wissenschaft

INTRODUCTION Richard A. Horsley

P

rotestant interpreters have traditionally u n d e r s t o o d Paul in opposition t o Judaism. Luther's discovery o f "justification by faith" in Paul's Letter

to the R o m a n s , the solution t o his frustrating quest for a sense o f righteousness, b e c a m e the formative religious experience t h r o u g h v^hich Paul's letters have been read. Paul b e c a m e the paradigmatic homo

religiosus

w h o s e quest for salvation by a compulsive keeping o f the Law in his native Judaism drove h i m t o his d r a m a t i c conversion to God's grace manifested in Christ. As the great apostle o f Christ, Paul then created a new, universal, a n d spiritual religion, Christianity, which transcended the parochial a n d particularistic b o u n d s o f Judaism. Protestant theology has thus determ i n e d b o t h the overall f r a m e w o r k in which Paul has been understood, that o f Christian theology, a n d the o t h e r against which Paul was always j u x t a posed, Judaism. • This a p p r o a c h t o Paul that has d o m i n a t e d N T studies for generations is based o n the unquestioned a n d distinctively m o d e r n Western a s s u m p tions that Paul is concerned with religion a n d that religion is n o t only separate f r o m political-economic life, but also primarily a m a t t e r o f individual faith. T h e t e m p o r a l k i n g d o m a n d spiritual k i n g d o m have little to d o with each other, except insofar as the f o r m e r maintains a civil o r d e r in which the latter can be cultivated. A n d , o f course, Paul himself supposedly insisted o n

L Wayne A. Meeks, "Judaism, Hellenism, and the Birth of Christianity," and Dale Martin, "Paul and the Judaism/Hellenism Dichotomy: Toward a Social History of the Question," both in Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Paul beyond the Judaism/Hellenism Divide (Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox, 2001), provide an excellent recent overview of the issue since the dominant influence of Ferdinand Christian Baur.

2

Richard A.

Horsley

unquestioning obedience t o the civil magistrates, even imperial o r m o n a r chic rulers, as God's instruments o f civil order. W h e n N T scholars struggled t o rethink their theology and exegesis in the aftermath o f the Holocaust, they m a d e two d r a m a t i c shifts. In one, the great hero o f faith w h o articulated foundational Christian theology was discovered to share the s a m e fundamental "covenantal n o m i s m " o f Judaism, fi-om which he originated. Paul's n e w religion o f personal faith was n o longer seen as sharply opposed to Judaism. " I n short, this is what Paul finds w r o n g with Judaism: it is n o t Christianity."^ T h e issue, however, remained strictly o n e o f religion, a n d in effect, Paul was still understood as involved in, a n d indeed the creator of, a n e w religion different f r o m his old o n e . In the o t h e r and m o r e significant shift, Krister Stendahl changed the focus f r o m Paul's theology to the people with w h o m Paul was dealing in his mission, as indicated in the title o f his influential b o o k Paul among

Jews

and Gentiles,^ This was a far m o r e serious challenge to standard N T scholarship a n d its theological basis. Paul was n o t intending to found a n e w religion,

argued

Stendahl.

Paul

as homo

religiosus

obsessed

introspective conscience is a Western Christian projection. His

with

an

apokalypsis

o f Christ was n o t a conversion to a new religion but a c o m m i s s i o n i n g for mission. Paul himself never left Judaism, o r m o r e accurately, Israel. H e merely b r o u g h t the gospel o f Christ to the Gentiles. A n d their positive response t o that g o o d news created a crisis in which he struggled t o u n d e r stand the relations between the Jews a n d the Gentiles in God's overall plan o f salvation ( R o m 1 - 1 1 ) . Neither o f these p o s t - H o l o c a u s t shifts in Pauline scholarship sufficed to change the fundamental

framework

within which Paul is u n d e r s t o o d .

T h e fundamental p r o b l e m for Paul-interpreters was still Paul a n d Judaism. Stendahl's shift o f focus from theology t o people, however, a n d his insistence that Paul did n o t leave Israel, prepared the way for an eventual change in framework. It was still necessary to question the assumption o f the separation o f religion and political-economic life. O n c e that peculiar m o d e r n Western assumption was questioned, it was then possible t o contextualize

historically

Paul's w o r k a m o n g Jews a n d Gentiles. T h e c o n t e x t

was the R o m a n E m p i r e . B o t h the Jews a m o n g w h o m Paul originated a n d

2. E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977), 5 5 2 - 5 3 . Critical discussion of these shifts in understanding of Paul is in Neil Elliott, Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994), esp. ch. 3; and John G. Gager, Reinventing Paul (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), ch. 2. 3. Krister Stendahl, Paul among Jews and Gentiles (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977), reprints his highly influential essay "The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West."

Introduction

3

the Gentiles a m o n g w h o m he carried o u t his mission were subjects o f the R o m a n E m p i r e . T h e R o m a n imperial order, in all its facets, constituted the c o n t e x t in which the m o v e m e n t that Paul joined a n d helped t o lead t o o k its origins in the province o f Judea. A n d it was the context into which h e t o o k his gospel o f Jesus Christ, w h o had been crucified by the R o m a n s b u t h a d been vindicated by G o d in resurrection as L o r d a n d S a v i o r — i m p e r i a l titles ordinarily used only for Caesar. F o c u s o n the R o m a n imperial order as the c o n t e x t o f Paul's mission, however, is leading t o a n o t h e r recognition. Instead o f being o p p o s e d t o Judaism, Paul's gospel o f Christ was o p p o s e d t o the R o m a n E m p i r e . Paul, o f course, was hardly a rabble-rousing revolutionary, fomenting provincial rebellion against R o m a n rule; R o m 1 3 : 1 - 7 is the virtual opposite o f active revolution. H e did n o t preach a b o u t h o w R o m e oppressed subject peoples. So far as we know, he did n o t p r o n o u n c e prophetic oracles o f divine judgm e n t against the e m p e r o r in R o m e . N o r did he actively o p p o s e o r agitate against local representatives o f R o m a n rule in the cities where he organized n e w c o m m u n i t i e s . Indeed, he insisted that the Thessalonians "live quietly" a n d " m i n d [their] o w n affairs" (1 Thess 4 : 1 1 ) . N o r did he even p r o c l a i m his gospel in public space, so far as we know, b u t in the less conspicuous space o f households. Instead, Paul set his gospel o f Christ a n d the n e w c o m m u nities he catalyzed in opposition to the R o m a n imperial order: the whole system o f hierarchical values, power relations, a n d ideology o f "peace a n d security" generated by the "wealthy, powerful, and nobly b o r n " and d o m i nated by " t h e rulers o f this age," at the a p e x o f which stood the imperial savior. Imperial power relations operated in c o m p l e x ways through culturalreligious f o r m s integrally related t o s o c i a l - e c o n o m i c f o r m s o f d o m i n a t i o n , a n d n o t simply by the sword; likewise, Paul pursued his mission in c o m plex cultural m o d e s integrally related to the social f o r m a t i o n that he a n d others were catalyzing. T h a t Paul's gospel o p p o s e d the R o m a n imperial order, n o t Judaism, b e c o m e s increasingly evident the m o r e we r e e x a m i n e principal facets a n d key t e r m s o f his gospel, as evident in virtually all his letters."* In 1 Thessalonians, from beginning t o end, God's k i n g d o m and the true L o r d , Jesus Christ, are o p p o s e d to the R o m a n E m p i r e a n d its ideology o f " p e a c e a n d security," which stand u n d e r the i m m i n e n t destruction o f God's judgm e n t ( 1 : 1 0 ; 2 : 1 2 , 1 9 ; 3 : 1 3 ; 4 : 1 4 - 1 8 ; 5 : 1 - 1 1 , 2 3 ) . In 1 Corinthians,

from

Paul's first long a r g u m e n t to his ecstatic " e x p l a n a t i o n " o f the resurrection.

4. Neil Elliott, Liberating Paul; Dieter Georgi, Theocracy in PauVs Praxis and Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991); Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997).

4

Richard A.

Horsley

Paul opposes his gospel t o the R o m a n rulers a n d the imperial order. " T h e rulers o f this a g e " have been o u t s m a r t e d in God's mysterion,

the a p o c a l y p -

tic plan for the fulfillment o f history; having "crucified the L o r d o f glory," they are " d o o m e d to perish" ( 2 : 6 - 8 ) . G o d has chosen the foolish a n d weak o f the world, the very opposite o f the powerful, nobly b o r n , wealthy, a n d wise elite, w h o d o m i n a t e the imperial order ( 1 : 2 6 - 2 7 ; 4 : 8 - 1 0 ) . T h o s e c h o sen ones, the saints, will soon participate in God's j u d g m e n t o f the (Roman)

world order, whose f o r m

is passing away ( 6 : 1 - 4 ;

7:31).

Meanwhile, the resurrected Christ is e n t h r o n e d in heaven, preparing t o destroy "every

ruler

and

every authority

and

power"

(15:24).

In

Philippians, Christ Jesus appears to have displaced Caesar as emperor, having been "highly exalted" and given a n a m e "above every n a m e " ( 2 : 9 ) . Indeed, Christ has b e c o m e the t r u e ( c o u n t e r - i m p e r i a l ) Savior w h o will i m m i n e n t l y bring into effect God's "political o r d e r " o r " c o m m o n w e a l t h " for his assemblies ( 3 : 1 9 - 2 1 , RSv). In the Letters to the R o m a n s a n d Galatians as well, where this message is less explicitly stated a n d m o r e implied in the key a r g u m e n t s , Paul opposes Christ a n d the gospel t o Caesar a n d the R o m a n imperial order, n o t t o the Law a n d Judaism. At the outset o f his long m a i n a r g u m e n t in R o m 1 - 1 1 , Paul states that Christ has displaced Caesar, has been "declared to be Son o f G o d with p o w e r " ( 1 : 4 ) . His m a i n point, w h e n he reaches the c l i m a x o f the a r g u m e n t in R o m 9 - 1 1 , is that according to God's m y s tery/plan, Israel is t o be included in the fulfillment o f history along with the o t h e r peoples (see esp. 1 1 : 2 5 - 3 6 ) . In that a r g u m e n t "Christ is the goal [not the terminus] o f the L a w " ( 1 0 : 4 , a u t h o r ) . T h r o u g h o u t the whole a r g u m e n t , implied if n o t expressed is the belief that history, as G o d is bringing it t o fulfillment, is n o t r u n n i n g t h r o u g h R o m e — c o n t r a r y to all a s s u m p tions a n d p r o p a g a n d a in the imperial metropolis. Similarly in Galatians 3, where Paul argues that Christ instead o f the M o s a i c covenant has b e c o m e the m e a n s t h r o u g h which other peoples c a n b e c o m e adopted as children a n d heirs o f the p r o m i s e t o A b r a h a m , Paul's a r g u m e n t takes the b r o a d p e r spective o f universal international history. Christ has b e c o m e the m e a n s by which fulfillment has c o m e in history, which has been running t h r o u g h Israel, n o t t h r o u g h R o m e , c o n t r a r y to all appearances under the R o m a n imperial order. In contrast to the standard Protestant theological a s s u m p tions o f previous Pauline studies, therefore, Paul does n o t o p p o s e Christ a n d the Gospel events o f fulfillment to the Law a n d Judaism. In Paul's Letters, Christ a n d Gospel events stand o p p o s e d to Caesar a n d the R o m a n imperial order. Moreover, just as Paul's gospel o f Christ as L o r d evidently stood opposed to the R o m a n imperial order, so the local representatives o f that imperial order evidently opposed Paul and his assemblies. T h e opposition

Introduction

5

was reciprocal. Paul says he was "shamefully mistreated at Philippi" (1 Thess 2 : 2 ) , apparently for "advocating c u s t o m s that are n o t lawful for . . . R o m a n s t o adopt o r o b s e r v e " (Acts 1 6 : 2 1 ) . T h e n in Thessalonica his recruits a n d apparently Paul himself suffered " p e r s e c u t i o n " (1 Thess 1:6; 2 : 1 4 - 1 6 ; see Smith's article below), apparently for "acting c o n t r a r y to the decrees o f the emperor, saying that there is a n o t h e r king [or e m p e r o r ] n a m e d Jesus" (Acts 1 7 : 7 ) . After working in C o r i n t h for a year and a half, Paul was evidently compelled t o leave the city by the R o m a n proconsul o f Achaia, Gallio (cf. Acts 1 8 : 1 2 ) . A n d while working in Ephesus he was imprisoned, perhaps so seriously that he was anticipating his m a r t y r d o m (Phil 1 : 7 , 1 4 ; 2 : 1 7 ; cf. 1 C o r 1 5 : 3 2 ; 2 C o r 1 : 8 ) . These m a n y indications in Paul's Letters show that his gospel and m i s sion stood sharply opposed t o Caesar a n d the R o m a n imperial order, a n d n o t to the Jewish Law. Hence, Pauline scholarship needs to take a keen interest in understanding why and in what ways R o m a n power a n d the R o m a n imperial order impinged u p o n , and were objectionable to, Paul and the people a m o n g w h o m he worked. Because o f the separation o f religion a n d politics in m o d e r n Western N T scholarship, however, it has generally been assumed that such questions were irrelevant to o u r understanding o f Paul a n d his Letters. Thus, the field is only beginning to investigate the conflictual relationship o f Paul and the R o m a n imperial order. This has been o n e o f several interrelated areas o f focus for the " P a u l a n d Politics G r o u p " o f the Society o f Biblical Literature, as exemplified in a n u m b e r o f contributions to a previous collection o f articles.^ Accordingly, that g r o u p sponsored a session at the 2 0 0 0 Annual Meeting o n "Paul a n d the R o m a n Imperial Order," for which the papers by Efrain Agosto, Erik H e e n , Jennifer Knust, a n d A b r a h a m Smith were originally written. S i m o n Price was invited to respond t o those papers because o f the i m p o r t a n c e o f his b o o k Rituals and Power in helping N T interpreters toward a m o r e a d e quate understanding o f the integral relationship o f the imperial cult a n d b o t h imperial and local power relations.^ T h o s e four articles are n o w s u p plemented by the explorations o f o t h e r key aspects o f Paul a n d the R o m a n imperial order, by Neil Elliott, Robert Jewett, a n d Rollin R a m s a r a n . M o s t o f these articles deal with the ideological, rhetorical, a n d o t h e r cultural aspects o f Paul's a n d his assemblies' conflict with the R o m a n imperial order, while several focus o n political-economic aspects. It m a y be helpful

5. The essays by Briggs, Callahan, Elliott, Horsley, Wan, and Wright in Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Politics: Ekklesiay Israel, Imperium, Interpretation (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 2000). 6. Simon R. P. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).

6

Richard A.

Horsley

at the outset, as a general b a c k g r o u n d to all o f these articles, t o envisage h o w the R o m a n imperial o r d e r determined the conditions o f a n d for Paul's mission a n d letters.

The New World (Dis)Order as the General Conditions of Paul's Mission Recent constructions o f " t h e social world o f the apostle P a u l " have perpetuated the standard view that the pax Romana

provided a benign context

for the Pauline mission a n d rise o f "Christianity." T h e R o m a n imperial order established after the great victory o f Octavian at A c t i u m created a "general climate o f stability a n d security . . .

for u r b a n people in the

provinces."^ T h a t was surely true for the tiny m i n o r i t y o f power a n d privilege w h o headed the R o m a n imperial order in the cities o f Greece a n d Asia Minor. A n d such a picture is precisely what is portrayed in m o s t literary a n d epigraphic sources, which were the p r o d u c t s o f privilege.^ Paul's letters and the later b o o k o f Acts, as well as the writings o f the Judean historian Josephus and the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher Philo, however, all indicate just the opposite. Judging f r o m these sources, it appears that the "new world o r d e r " established by the R o m a n s under Augustus and his successors was experienced as disorder by m a n y urban as well as rural subject peoples in the provinces. T h e R o m a n s a n d the wealthy aristocracies o f the peoples a n d cities they conquered, whose d o m i n a n c e they confirmed and strengthened, strove to establish and perpetuate a political-economic order that underwrote their power a n d privilege. Yet subject peoples did n o t simply acquiesce in the new imperial order, a n d s o m e o f the arrangements imposed did m o r e to exacerbate local conflicts than to pacify the subject populace. This is often n o t discerned and discussed, perhaps largely because the literary a n d epigraphic sources express the viewpoint o f the elite, w h o had a considerable stake in the R o m a n imperial order.^

7. Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983), 11-12. 8. Extensive survey and illuminating discussion of such material is in Clifford Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000). C f the unevenness of acquiescence in the Roman imperial order evident in D. J. Mattingly, ed., Dialogues in Roman Imperialism: Pow/er, Discourse, and Discrepant Experience in the Roman Empire {Journal of Roman Archaeology, Suppl. 23; Portsmouth, R.I.: JRA, 1997). 9. See now the "Introduction" and articles in Mattingly, Dialogues in Roman Imperialism, Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty, asserts repeatedly (e.g., xii, 5, 6) that "the populations" of the provinces around the Empire found Roman power attractive, appreciated the political and economic stability, and even accepted Roman coercion as legitimate. It is questionable, however, whether the extensive source material he cites gives evidence for any but the elites.

Introduction

7

W e are best i n f o r m e d a b o u t the area a n d people o f Palestine by " C h r i s t i a n " sources such as Paul a n d the Gospels as well as the histories o f Josephus. T h e r e the m o v e m e n t ( s ) o f Jesus-believers t o o k its origins a m o n g Galileans a n d Judeans after the R o m a n execution o f Jesus o f Nazareth by crucifixion,

a p p a r e n t l y for s e r i o u s d i s r u p t i o n

o f t h e pax

Romana,

Josephus, like o t h e r provincial aristocrats, m a y himself have believed that R o m a n conquest a n d R o m a n rule worked by the grace o f (his o w n ) G o d . B u t his histories provide extensive a c c o u n t s o f h o w in Judea a n d Galilee resistance persisted against R o m a n rule for centuries after the initial c o n quest by P o m p e y in 6 3 B . C . E . A t the death o f the R o m e - i m p o s e d king H e r o d , a r o u n d the t i m e Jesus was b o r n , widespread revolts erupted in every m a j o r district, led by p o p u l a r messiahs, evoking a brutally punitive R o m a n reconquest. Ten years later, at the imposition o f direct R o m a n rule in Judea, activist Pharisees a n d o t h e r scribal intellectuals led a n organized resistance t o the R o m a n tribute. In the Jerusalem temple that H e r o d h a d rebuilt in g r a n d R o m a n - H e l l e n i s t i c style as o n e o f the w o n d e r s o f the R o m a n imperial world, R o m a n t r o o p s h a d t o stand guard against popular agitation at the annual celebration o f the festival o f Passover that c o m m e m o r a t e d the people's original liberation f r o m foreign rule. In mid-first century, peasant prophets led n u m b e r s o f followers in anticipating new divine acts o f liberation, such as a n exodus-like crossing into t h e p r o m i s e d land, a Jericho-like collapse o f the walls o f Jerusalem, a n d disappearance o f the o c c u p y i n g R o m a n s a n d their client rulers, the priestly aristocracy. Diaspora Jews, descendants o f earUer generations o f Judeans resettled in various cities o f the eastern E m p i r e , such as Saul o f Tarsus, c a m e o n pilgrimage t o the temple a n d Jerusalem. S o m e o f t h e m b e c a m e zealous defenders o f the Judean way o f Ufe against the encroachments o f the d o m i n a n t Hellenistic-Roman culture (what Paul calls ioudaismos,

Gal 1 : 1 1 - 1 7 ) .

Such fanatical attempts to preserve the traditional ways and official attempts to clamp dovm o n resistance both led to internecine conflict. Resistance movements were repressed by the rulers for threatening the imperial order a n d / o r persecuted by self-appointed leaders o f long-range resistance because their agitation might bring d o w n the massive destructive violence o f the Empire.

10. In the following paragraphs I am drawing on my examination of the many facets of Roman rule and Judean and Galilean resistance in several books and articles, including Richard A. Horsley, Jesus and the Spiral of Violence: Popular Jewish Resistance in Roman Palestine (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987), chs. 1-5. For resistance in other areas, see Stephen L Dyson, "Native Revolts in the Roman Empire," Historia 20 (1971): 2 3 9 - 7 4 ; and "Native Revolt Patterns in the Roman Empire," ANRW 2.3 (1975): 138-75. For more general resistance to the Roman imperial order, see Ramsay MacMullen, Enemies of the Roman Order (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966), the perspective of which is indicated by the title.

8

Richard A.

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Such are precisely the circumstances o f t u r m o i l a n d agitation, repression a n d persecution, that b o t h Paul (Gal 1:13; Phil 3 : 4 - 6 ) a n d the b o o k o f Acts ( 4 - 5 ; 7 : 5 4 - 8 : 3 ) describe in p o r t r a y i n g the m o v e m e n t o f Jesus' follovêrs in Jerusalem a n d beyond, at the t i m e Paul received his call to join rather than c o n t i n u e his attacks against that m o v e m e n t . Such conditions continued in Jerusalem a n d Judea during the formative period o f his m i s sion activity, as the m o v e m e n t spread rapidly outvârd f r o m Jerusalem a n d then f r o m o t h e r centers such as A n t i o c h in Syria. F o r example, the e m p e r o r Gaius's brazen order t o install his statue in the Jerusalem temple, by milit a r y force if necessary, evoked massive resistance t h r o u g h o u t Galilee a n d Judea and vvrould have led to revolt if Gaius h a d n o t suddenly died. T h e R o m a n s then installed the H e r o d i a n king Agrippa I in Jerusalem ( 4 1 - 4 4 C.E.) as well as Galilee, w h o actively attacked the leaders o f the Jesus m o v e m e n t (Acts 1 2 : 1 - 5 ) . T h e t u r m o i l only escalated further in the next two decades, as Paul extended his mission t o Asia M i n o r and Greece. A g r o u p o f scribal intellectuals k n o w n as the Sicarioi

(dagger m e n ) , utterly frustrated at the col-

laboration between the predatory high priestly families and the repressive R o m a n governors, even launched terrorist attacks o n key priestly aristocrats at festival times. T h e continuing Judean resistance a n d R o m a n repression that escalated until full-scale insurrection erupted in 6 6 is significant for Paul's mission a n d o t h e r branches o f the new m o v e m e n t because that m o v e m e n t a n d its leaders would have been identified with/as Judeans elsewhere in the R o m a n E m p i r e . A n d , o f course, Paul himself u n d e r s t o o d his mission a n d m o v e m e n t as an extension o f the promises to Israel. T h e general climate o f instability and insecurity, while less e x t r e m e t h a n in Jerusalem, also prevailed

for u r b a n

people

in o t h e r

provinces.

C o m m u n i t i e s o f Jews resident in several cities o f the eastern R o m a n E m p i r e sought to maintain their identity a n d way o f life, resisting assimilation into the d o m i n a n t political a n d cultural o r d e r . A p p a r e n t l y through influence o n R o m a n s in high places, they m a n a g e d t o obtain special permission from the R o m a n s t o c o n d u c t their o w n c o m m u n i t y affairs according to their o w n cultural traditions. In Alexandria a n d in o t h e r cities as well, this evoked the hostility o f other subject peoples, either at the exemptions the Jews enjoyed o r in jealousy o f their rights to pursue indigenous traditions. In Alexandria, for example, anti-Jewish riots broke o u t under the e m p e r o r Gaius, which led to an imperial c r a c k d o w n o n Jewish rights in o t h e r cities a n d his brazen m o v e against the Jerusalem temple. F r o m Philo's "defense" written to the e m p e r o r Gaius, we c a n recognize just h o w

11. See, e.g., Paul Trebilco, Jewish Communities Cambridge University Press, 1991).

in Asia Minor

(Cambridge:

Introduction

9

serious an issue it was, even for Jewish elites w h o were culturally heavily assimilated into H e l l e n i s t i c - R o m a n culture, t o c o n t i n u e t o be subjected t o imperial rule; we see h o w i m p o r t a n t it was t o t h e m t o resist further assimilation a n d subjection t o the R o m a n imperial order. B u t w h a t could b e d o n e a b o u t t h e R o m a n rulers, w h o c o u l d b e c o m e ferocious a n d brutal, o t h e r t h a n t o t r y t o t a m e a n d s o o t h e t h e m {Legatio

ad Gaium;

De

somniis

2 . 8 9 ) ? As Philo, w h o was realistically aware o f " h o w mightily t h e winds o f n e c e s s i t y , . . . force, v i o l e n c e , a n d p r i n c e d o m " c o u l d blow, advised his fellow Jews, " W h e n the t i m e s are right, it is g o o d t o set ourselves against t h e violence o f o u r enemies a n d s u b d u e it; b u t w h e n the c i r c u m s t a n c e s d o n o t present themselves, t h e safe c o u r s e is t o stay quiet." H e did n o t w a n t t o p u t t h e w h o l e c o m m u n i t y in d a n g e r o f riot o r repression {Somn,

2 . 8 9 , 9 2 ; cf.

2.83-84).^^ A similar climate o f instability a n d insecurity characterized u r b a n life in A n t i o c h , the large city o n the Empire's eastern frontier, w h e r e Paul was based during a n intermediate phase o f his mission. A n t i o c h already hosted a large c o m m u n i t y o f Jews, which helps explain Herod's lavish beneficence t o t h e city (paving the m a i n street with m a r b l e ; Josephus, Jewish

Antiquities

1 6 . 1 4 8 ; Jewish War 1 . 4 2 5 ) . C o n t e m p o r a r y with Paul's mission based there, it was from A n t i o c h that Gaius launched his invasion o f Judea, w h i c h a l m o s t resulted in massive insurrection. This conflict was s o m e h o w t h e trigger for a circus riot between " t h e Blues" a n d " t h e Greens," which in t u r n led t o attacks against Jews a n d Jewish synagogues in the city (Malalas Chronographia

2 4 4 . 1 5 - 2 4 5 . 1 ) . S i m m e r i n g hostilities against the

Jews

e r u p t e d again in the 6 0 s (Josephus, Jewish War 7 . 4 6 - 6 2 ) . Political stability m a y have prevailed in the cities where Paul carried o u t his o w n distinctive mission, b u t that stability i m p o s e d by the R o m a n imperial o r d e r surely m e a n t insecurity for m a n y if n o t m o s t u r b a n people. M o s t o f the cities a n d peoples a m o n g which Paul carried o u t his mission were sites a n d subjects o f R o m a n imperial conquest a n d / o r colonization. T h e m o s t d r a m a t i c case w o u l d have been Corinth.'^ In o n e o f the key steps by which the R o m a n warlords established themselves as the sole superp o w e r in the M e d i t e r r a n e a n basin, they utterly destroyed the ancient city o f C o r i n t h in 1 4 6 B.C.E. a n d left the area desolate. A c e n t u r y later, in 4 4 B.C.E., Julius Caesar established a c o l o n y there, p e o p l e d by the surplus

12. See further Neil ElHott, "Romans 1 3 : 1 - 7 in the Context of Royal Propaganda," in Horsley, ed., Paul and Empire, 197-202; and E. R. Goodenough, Introduction to Philo Judaeus (2d ed.; Oxford: Blackwell, 1962), 5 5 - 6 2 . 13. Short sketch of the historical background to Pauls mission in Corinth, in Richard A. Horsley, 1 Corinthians (ANTC; Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 2 2 - 3 0 ; lengthy historical survey with extensive documentation, in James Wiseman, "Corinth and Rome I: 228 B.C.-A.D. 267," in ANRW2.7A (1979): 4 3 8 - 5 8 4 .

10

Richard A.

Horsley

p o p u l a c e o f freed slaves a n d o t h e r undesirables from R o m e itself as well as veterans o f Caesar's Gallic wars. C o r i n t h b e c a m e the center o f

Romanitas

in Greece, as well as t h e eastern h u b o f t h e Empire's c o m m e r c e . In t h e p e r i o d before Paul's mission, therefore, C o r i n t h w o u l d have b e e n filled with people displaced from their places a n d cultures o f origin, including slaves a n d descendants o f slaves, a n d v a r i o u s people following the routes of commerce. T h e R o m a n s h a d taken c o n t r o l o f M a c e d o n i a early in the s e c o n d c e n t u r y B.C.E. T h e building o f the great military r o a d , the Egnatian Way, greatly strengthened their c o n t r o l a n d enabled t h e m t o use M a c e d o n i a as a base for extension o f their power into Asia Minor.^^ T h e t o w n o f Philippi was colonized twice by the great R o m a n warlords. A n t o n y refounded t h e t o w n with a c o l o n y o f his veterans in 4 2 / 4 1 B.C.E., followed by a s e c o n d imposition o f R o m a n a r m y veterans after t h e battle o f A c t i u m ( 3 1 B.C.E.). At t h e t i m e o f Paul's mission, the descendants o f the R o m a n veterans d o m inated the city in a typically R o m a n administration, with the descendants o f the earlier Hellenistic towns in the area, o t h e r m i g r a n t Greeks, a n d native T h r a c i a n s f o r m i n g the bulk o f the populace, m a n y in s u r r o u n d i n g villages. T h e R o m a n i t a s a n d R o m a n orientation o f the d o m i n a n t elite is clear. T h e r e was considerable potential for inherent tensions between the elite a n d the p o p u l a c e a n d a m o n g factions o f the populace. T h e key battle in which A n t o n y a n d Octavian defeated B r u t u s a n d Cassius, thus "saving" the R o m a n people, was celebrated by t w o f a m o u s altars c o n s t r u c t e d o n the battlefield near the t o w n . Philippi thus played a special symbolic role in R o m a n imperial history. Thessalonica, although n o t colonized by R o m a n veterans, displayed a relatively intense cultivation o f R o m a n a n d p a r t i c u larly imperial favor in its coins a n d temple t o Caesar. T h e city's emphasis o n the imperial cult was an expression o f its sense o f political insecurity since it h a d backed the losing side at two critical points during the R o m a n civil wars. This strong orientation toward R o m e was reinforced by the R o m a n garrison in its citadel a n d a significant b u t semi-separate g r o u p o f R o m a n businessmen in the city. R o m e itself, finally, was hardly an imperial metropolis that provided security for its residents. Bread a n d circuses did n o t extend far into the vast majority o f the teeming population w h o were economically marginal. Foreign i m m i g r a n t s a n d newly f o r m e d groups could easily b e c o m e suspect. T h e Jewish couple Prisca and Aquila, w h o worked shoulder t o shoulder

14. Recent surveys of the historical context of the Pauline mission in Philippi and Thessalonica, in Craig de Vos, Church and Community Conflicts (SBLDS 168; Atlanta: Scholars, 1999), chs. 4 and 6; Peter Oakes, Philippians: From People to Letter (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).

Introduction

11

with Paul a n d others in C o r i n t h a n d Ephesus, h a d been a m o n g the Jews w h o m Claudius expelled from R o m e in 4 9 (Acts 1 8 : 2 ) , because o f c o n t r o versy over a certain Chrestus (Suetonius, Claudius

2 5 . 4 ) . A n d fifteen years

later, in 6 4 , N e r o b l a m e d the great fire in R o m e o n "Christians," w h o were crucified a n d b u r n e d as living torches to illuminate the e m p e r o r ' s races in the Vatican Circus (Tacitus, Annafes 1 5 . 4 4 ; Suetonius, Afero 1 6 . 2 ) .

Impact of Roman Imperial Order on the Peoples of Paul's Mission A m i d the general c o n t e x t o f instability a n d insecurity for m a n y o f the city inhabitants o f the eastern R o m a n E m p i r e , there were particular ways in w h i c h the R o m a n imperial o r d e r affected their l i v e s . A m o n g these were s o m e o f the fundamental political-religious a n d e c o n o m i c f o r m s that virtually constituted power relations in the imperial order.

Disruption and Displacement of Subject Peoples A m a j o r factor in the insecurity a n d instability o f local life under the R o m a n imperial o r d e r was the violent disruption a n d displacement o f indigenous peoples by R o m a n conquest, enslavement, a n d colonization. T h e effects would have been considerable, d e e p - r u n n i n g , a n d long-lasting, as the parallel experiences o f imperial conquests and disruptions o f peoples in the nineteenth a n d twentieth centuries m i g h t suggest. N o t only Judeans a n d Galileans in Palestine b u t also even relatively assimilated elite Jews such as Philo o f Alexandria realized that they were subject people. O t h e r peoples shared the experience o f subjugation t o R o m e . Galatia, the first stop in Paul's o w n separate mission, h a d only recently been taken over b y the R o m a n s , a n d acquiescence a n d a d j u s t m e n t t o R o m a n rule was only in the beginning stages there, as in Palestine. In the small city o f Philippi, t w o successive sets o f R o m a n military veterans had been imposed as the d o m i n a n t political-economic class, a n d indigenous farmers had been dispossessed by the R o m a n colonists. It is difficult to imagine that the M a c e d o n i a n a n d T h r a c i a n people a n d m o r e recent Greek i m m i g r a n t s would have lacked a sense o f being a subject people.'^ A m o n g the Thessalonians the m e m o r y o f rebellion put d o w n by a R o m a n c o m m a n d e r was kept fresh by officially h o n o r i n g the R o m a n c o m m a n d e r s as the "savior" o f the city.

15. The impact of the Roman imperial order is not the same as what is called "Romanization." Ramsay MacMullen, Romanization in the Time of Augustus (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000), provides a recent discussion of the limited degree of Romanization in various areas of the Empire. Cultural influences, moreover, were multilateral and multidirectional. 16. De Vos, Church and Community Conflicts, 238-47; Oakes, Philippians, 19-35.

12

Richard A. Horsley

A l t h o u g h each o f t h e cities in w h i c h Paul helped catalyze a n " a s s e m b l y " was different f r o m the others, C o r i n t h surely constituted the m o s t diverse a n d

fragmented

social a t m o s p h e r e . T h e r e was n o c o n t i n u i t y o f

stabilizing tradition from ancient times, since the R o m a n s h a d destroyed the city in 1 4 6 B.C.E. B y Paul's t i m e a n e w clique o f wealthy a n d powerftil m a g n a t e s , lacking even the m i n i m a l prestige o f " n o b l e b i r t h " a n d l o n g standing leadership, w o u l d have e m e r g e d from the R o m a n c o l o n y o f a r m y veterans, free slaves, a n d undesirables sent there in 4 4 B.C.E. A n d as C o r i n t h e m e r g e d as the central city o f R o m a n Greece a n d the principal center o f trade between R o m e a n d the East, a great diversity o f o t h e r r o o t less people gradually gathered there. It is n o t clear w h a t if any principles o f social cohesion would have existed below the level o f the newly c o n s t r u c t e d civic culture in this multicultural, multilingual, a n d multiethnic m e t r o p o lis. W h i l e m o s t o f the people Paul interacted with in Galatia, Philippi, a n d Thessalonica w o u l d likely have experienced local disruption, those he worked with in C o r i n t h m a y well have been the p r o d u c t s o f m o r e e x t e n sive a n d pervasive disruption a n d displacement.

Slavery T h e m o s t e x t r e m e f o r m o f displacement, o f course, was slavery. It h a d been basic to the political e c o n o m y o f ancient Greece, a n d it b e c a m e increasingly fundamental t o the R o m a n political e c o n o m y as well during the period o f expansive imperial conquests in the late Republic.^^ In a r e m a r k able coincidence o f forces, d u r i n g their conquests o f new territories the R o m a n warlords seized tens o f t h o u s a n d s o f new slaves. These slaves were t h e n b o u g h t by R o m a n patricians, including the warlords, t o w o r k lands that they seized from the peasants because o f debts acquired while the m e n were serving in the legions that the warlords used in their conquests. R o m a n soldiers were replaced o n the land by the slaves they helped to c a p ture while serving in t h e legions. T h e resulting dependence o n slave labor

17. Recent studies of Roman slavery include Keith Hopkins, Conquerors and Slaves (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978); Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982; and Keith R. Bradley, Slaves and Masters in the Roman Empire (Brussels: Latomus 1984); Slavery and Society in Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). Survey of recent scholarship appears in Richard A. Horsley, "The Slave Systems of Classical Antiquity and Their Reluctant Recognition by Modern Scholars," Semeia 83/84 (1998): 19-66. Further discussion and documentation of the points and issues in the following paragraphs can be found in the above studies. The implications of these more critical analyses of ancient slavery for PauFs mission and letters are explored in Horsley, "Paul and Slavery: A Critical Alternative to Recent Readings," Semdfl 83/84 (1998): 153-200.

Introduction

13

in the R o m a n e c o n o m y thus powerfully reinforced slavery as a standard feature o f life in the Greek cities a n d o t h e r areas o f the E m p i r e . Even t h o u g h m o s t families, being extremely poor, could n o t afford slaves, the slaveholding patriarchal family was u n d e r s t o o d as t h e f u n d a m e n t a l building block o f society a n d civilization in Greek a n d R o m a n

antiquity.

Slaveholding was thus n o t only the e c o n o m i c basis o f the elite w h o d o m i n a t e d the R o m a n imperial o r d e r but also b o t h the poHtical-economic basis o f t h e social o r d e r a n d the n o r m a t i v e ideal o f imperial culture. N e w Testament scholarship, heavily d e p e n d e n t o n a traditional western E u r o p e a n classics scholarship that idealized Greek a n d R o m a n civilization, has generally underestimated the severity o f slavery a n d its basic i m p o r t a n c e in the ancient Greek a n d R o m a n political e c o n o m y .

Only a

generation ago, slavery was being p o r t r a y e d as relatively benign, o n the false a n d misleading a s s u m p t i o n s that in the early E m p i r e slaves could reasonably expect e m a n c i p a t i o n after age thirty (life e x p e c t a n c y for m o s t slaves was probably less) a n d that slaves m u s t have been relatively h a p p y since the incidence o f slave revolts is low. T h o s e assumptions, however, were based o n a misreading o f Augustan directives a n d o n a lack o f attent i o n t o a whole system o f social a n d political constraints, repressive m e a s ures, and physical a n d psychological intimidation a n d degradation that left little o r n o r o o m for slaves t o c o m m u n i c a t e a n d organize across h o u s e holds. Recent discussions o f slavery as a m e a n s o f " u p w a r d mobility" have been based o n a limited a n d unrepresentative sample o f epigraphs and a n overestimate o f the "influence" that "managerial slaves" such as those high in the familia

Caesaris would have wielded. Precisely because the N T field has

downplayed slavery and its effects in the R o m a n E m p i r e , it is necessary t o consider the various and wide-ranging ways that it affected subject peoples. W e c a n focus o n a few o f the obvious c o n n e c t i o n s in which R o m a n practices o f slavery m a y have affected the people Paul worked with, since a m o r e extensive survey is impossible in this c o n t e x t . S o m e o f the t h o u s a n d s o f Galileans enslaved in the areas o f Magdala and Nazareth in 5 2 and 4 B.C.E., respectively, o r their descendants, likely e n d e d u p in cities such as R o m e o r C o r i n t h . W h e t h e r o f Galilean o r Syrian o r Galatian e x t r a c t i o n , a certain n u m b e r o f slaves in cities such as C o r i n t h a n d Ephesus b e c a m e participants in the assemblies Paul helped catalyze. O t h e r s w h o joined Paul's

18. Reviewed in Horsley, "The Slave Systems of Classical Antiquity." On the other hand, some previous discussions of Paul and slavery have proceeded on the assumption that it would have been an option in the Roman Empire to advocate the abolition of slavery (and that Paul must have been conservative for not advocating its abolition). But slavery was integral to the Roman imperial order in much the same way as capitalism is to "the American way of life."

14

Richard A.

Horsley

assembly in a city such as C o r i n t h were probably descendants o f freed slaves. T h o s e slaves a n d

freedmen/women,

along with others in Paul's

assemblies, k n e w well the circumstances in which people b e c a m e slaves a n d what those m e a n t in t e r m s o f "natal alienation" as well as in t e r m s o f h u m a n degradation. M o r e generally, the very presence o f slaves in t h e society u n d e r m i n e d any e c o n o m i c leverage that free laborers, the vast m a j o r i t y o f w h o m were p o o r o r m a r g i n a l anyhow, m i g h t have h a d with the wealthy a n d powerful w h o controlled each city. A n d o f c o u r s e , in t h e c o n t e x t o f the obvious "pecking o r d e r " a n d s h a m e a n d degradation that slavery entailed, the p o o r a n d marginal were always faced with the threat o f sinking into slavery.

Patronage O n e o f the principal reasons that little attention has been given to power relations in that part o f the R o m a n E m p i r e where Paul pursued his mission is the ostensibly "kinder-gentler" face that the R o m a n imperial order p r e sented t o its subjects in such already "civilized" areas. Following its military conquest o f the cities o f Greece a n d Asia Minor, R o m e did n o t maintain large armies o f o c c u p a t i o n there, as it did in "uncivilized" frontier areas. N o r did Augustus a n d his successors develop an elaborate imperial b u r e a u c r a c y t o " a d m i n i s t e r " the E m p i r e . Rather, w h a t held the E m p i r e together as m u c h as anything was the elaborate network o f personal relations between the imperial family a n d the provincial elite a n d the elaborate " h o n o r s " sponsored by the latter for the former. City a n d provincial elites cultivated the personal patronage o f the emperor, a n d in t u r n patronized public life in the c i t i e s . T h e R o m a n imperial o r d e r thus presented a public face o f

19. See esp. the works by Price, Zanker, and Gordon, reprinted in Horsley, Paul and Empire. Basic treatments of the patronage system include Richard Sailer, Personal Patronage under the Early Empire (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982); Sailer, "Status and Patronage," ch. 28 in The High Empire, A.D. 70-192 (ed. Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, et al.; CAH 11; 2d ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), esp. 8 3 8 - 5 1 ; Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, ed., Patronage in Ancient Society (London: Routledge, 1989), esp. the reflective theoretical article by Wallace-Hadrill; and Wallace-Hadrill, "The Imperial Court," ch. 7 in The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C-A,D. 69 (ed. Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, et al.; CAH 10; 2d ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 2 9 6 - 3 0 6 . Summary of the implications of these studies and analyses appears in Horsley, Paul and Empire, 8 8 - 9 5 , "Introduction" to part 2. The closely related development of an imperial patronage network and the sponsorship of the imperial cult by local elites belong to the general maneuvering of provincial aristocracies to situate themselves favorably in the new imperial order; see, e.g., Price, Rituals and Power; Susan Alcock, ed.. The Early Roman Empire in the East (Oxbow Monograph 95; Oxford: Oxbow, 1995); and Greg Woolf, Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Introduction

15

beneficence to its subject peoples, at least in the cities. N e w Testament scholars have previously explored h o w patron-client relations provided a pattern that m a y have influenced relationships in Pauline c o m m u n i t i e s a n d c o n c e p t i o n s o f the people's relationship with G o d . Patronage relations a m o n g the imperial elite, however, are also o n e o f the principal ways by which the local elite m a i n t a i n e d public o r d e r a n d exerted control over the people. It is difficult, moreover, t o imagine that subject peoples were totally unaware o f this. T h e cohesion o f the imperial o r d e r at the top a n d its c o n trol o f the people was structured in a variety o f interconnected personal a n d public relationships. T h e R o m a n e m p e r o r a n d / o r Senate did, o f course, send o u t governors to the various provinces. But besides cultivating such R o m a n officials, wealthy a n d powerful city a n d provincial figures also cultivated personal relations with the e m p e r o r a n d / o r imperial family m e m b e r s . T h e y m a d e lavish gifts t o the imperial family and e n d o w e d public h o n o r s in various f o r m s , in gratitude for the award o f imperial favors they sought a n d received. T h e y also developed reciprocal relations with other figures in R o m e close t o the center o f power (see Plutarch, Moralia

8 1 4 C ) . Because

the city a n d provincial m a g n a t e s involved in these relationships were also the highest-ranking officials o f their local city governments, such personal patronage relations overlapped with the official patronal relations

of

e m p e r o r a n d city o r province. Yet the personal patronage relations between the e m p e r o r a n d the local elite constituted the m o r e i m p o r t a n t a n d effective lines by which power flowed between imperial center a n d local a n d regional wielders o f power. Pliny portrays the g o o d e m p e r o r as m o r e o f a paternal

protector

(Panegyricus

and benefactor

than

a n efficient

administrator

2.21).^° T h e E m p i r e was held together at the top by a vast net-

w o r k o f patronage. A n d patronage was the m e a n s by which p r o m i n e n t figures e n h a n c e d a n d m a i n t a i n e d their wealth a n d p r o m i n e n c e in cities such as C o r i n t h o r Ephesus. W i t h their positions o f wealth, power, a n d privilege thus secured b y their personal relations with the imperial c o u r t , local elites c o n t i n u e d t o generate the wealth a n d power t o d o m i n a t e affairs in given cities. There, in r e t u r n for their beneficence to the city, by the fiinding o f a public building o r festival, they were elected t o high office a n d h o n o r e d with public inscriptions a n d m o n u m e n t s . O n a m o r e limited scale, as well, wealthy m e n b e c a m e patrons o f local thiasoi o r collegia o f artisans or burial clubs, funding their banquets a n d in return having their n a m e s h o n o r e d a n d birthdays celebrated. T h e flow o f power at the top for the m u t u a l benefit o f the imperial and provincial elite was thus m a d e to appear t o w o r k for 20. Peter Garnsey and Richard Sailer, The Roman Empire: Economy, Society, and Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 149.

16

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the benefit o f the subject peoples. A n d there was n o separation o f religion a n d politics, " c h u r c h a n d state," since the public beneficence o f the local magnates often consisted o f building a temple to the gods o r the emperor, in reward for which they attained public religious as well as civic office. Hence, their patronage o f their cities manifested the necessity o f the politicale c o n o m i c gulf between the elite a n d the people. It was g r o u n d e d in, a n d expressed in, the divine world o n which the public order was founded. A n d u n d e r the R o m a n E m p i r e , that divine world b e c a m e imperial as well.

Imperial Cult T h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t a n d effective way that u r b a n and provincial oligarchies c o n s t r u c t e d a n d maintained the R o m a n imperial o r d e r was their sponsorship o f the imperial cult.^^ To cultivate imperial favor a n d o p e n access to imperial p o w e r a n d favors, local elites h o n o r e d the e m p e r o r o r imperial family m e m b e r s by setting u p shrines a n d building temples in redesigned city centers (agorai)

a n d by funding festivals a n d imperial

games. T h e imperial cult was n o t i m p o s e d f r o m the imperial center, where R o m a n reserve required that living e m p e r o r s decline to be worshiped as a g o d . T h e celebration a n d h o n o r i n g o f Augustus a n d his successors as divine figures. Lords a n d Saviors o f the world, was developed by the elite in the Greek cities themselves, o n the basis o f the already-existing civil religion, in cities such as Ephesus, C o r i n t h , a n d Thessalonica. N e w Testament interpreters h a d tended to underestimate the i m p o r t a n c e o f the imperial cult, dismissing it as m o r e o f a set o f e m p t y political gestures t h a n a serious religious expression. Classical historians, o n the o t h e r hand, h a d tended to dismiss the e m p e r o r cult as having little serious political role in the imperial order. O n e o f the significant contributions o f S i m o n Price to the n e w appreciation o f the i m p o r t a n c e o f the R o m a n imperial order for understanding Paul's gospel a n d mission is his theoretical critique o f m o d e r n Western Christian assumptions about religion. N o t only is religion n o t separate f r o m politics, b u t religious expressions include far m o r e t h a n personal faith, a n d can even include the architectural c o n struction o f the u r b a n e n v i r o n m e n t . Indeed, religious expressions can p a r ticipate in the c o n s t r u c t i o n o f political power relations. T h e inscriptional, n u m i s m a t i c , a n d o t h e r archaeological evidence that Price and others have investigated a n d interpreted indicate that in the early R o m a n E m p i r e , the imperial cult went far toward constituting R o m a n imperial power relations in the Greek cities. In the p r o m i n e n t placement o f temples, statues, a n d shrines dedicated t o the emperor, the presence o f

21. See esp. the important work of Simon R. E Price, Rituals and Power; excerpted in Horsley, ed., Paul and EmpirCy 4 7 - 7 1 .

Introduction

17

the e m p e r o r c a m e to " p e r v a d e public space." Insofar as the emperor's birth vâs celebrated n o t only as the beginning o f the year b u t the beginning o f a n e w era, the imperial cult c a m e t o structure u r b a n t i m e . Insofar as m a j o r regional festivals such as intercity games were n o w dedicated t o the e m p e r o r o r founded in his h o n o r , the imperial cult b e c a m e the m o s t i m p o r t a n t expression a n d g u a r a n t o r o f social cohesion. A n d insofar as the e m p e r o r was n o w the principal divine force in each city's p a n t h e o n , the e m p e r o r stood at the center o f the divine powers in which societal life was grounded. T h e locally developed a n d sponsored imperial cult thus c a m e n o t only to e m b o d y a public cognitive system o f imperial power relations, but also to c o n s t r u c t the o r d e r o f the imperial world. T h e i m p a c t o f the imperial cult o n people in the Greek cities would have been persistent a n d unavoidable. E m p e r o r a n d E m p i r e were s t r u c t u r e d a n d literally inscribed into their very u r b a n environment. In order t o i m a g i n e h o w the p r e s e n c e o f the e m p e r o r

p e r v a d e d public

space,

A m e r i c a n s could think o f h o w the visual displays, music, a r o m a s , a n d advertising o f the five-week festival o f C h r i s t m a s pervade public and private life f r o m Thanksgiving to N e w Year's Day. Although the imperial cult a n d its festivals did n o t invade private life, they did last n o t simply for five weeks, but all year r o u n d .

Rhetoric Yet another f o r m by which imperial power relations were constituted was public rhetoric.^^ N e w Testament scholars have investigated Greek a n d R o m a n rhetoric in o r d e r t o appreciate better the f o r m taken by Paul's a r g u m e n t s . Again, the m o d e r n Western a s s u m p t i o n o f the separation o f cultural a n d religious f o r m s f r o m political life a n d power relations blocked recognition o f rhetoric as a m a j o r m e a n s by which the R o m a n imperial o r d e r was maintained. R o m a n officials a n d writers such as Cicero h a d long since theorized explicitly that the t w o basic motives leading to c o n f o r m i t y to the established o r d e r were fear o f the sword a n d consent, which was generated by persuasion. U n d e r the R o m a n E m p i r e , however, rhetoric

fiinc-

tioned quite differently f r o m the way it h a d u n d e r the earlier Greek city-state. R h e t o r i c developed as an i n s t r u m e n t o f participatory politics in w h i c h rival politicians w o u l d a t t e m p t t o persuade the city assembly t o take a particular c o u r s e o f a c t i o n o r reach a particular verdict in a judicial case. In a society c o m p o s e d o f slaveholding patriarchal families, o f course, r h e t o r i c also a s s u m e d a n d articulated particular relations o f d o m i n a t i o n .

22. The following paragraphs draw upon Richard Horsley, "Rhetoric and Empire—and 1 Corinthians," in Paul and Politics, 7 2 - 8 2 , and sources listed there.

18

Richard A.

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legitimating slavery a n d the erosion o f women's rights. It seems a bit o f an overstatement t o i m a g i n e that " r h e t o r i c provided the rules for m a k i n g critical j u d g m e n t s in the course o f all f o r m s o f social intercourse,"^^ even in a d e m o c r a t i c classical Athens. U n d e r the R o m a n E m p i r e , however, the decisions a b o u t all i m p o r t a n t matters o f city affairs had already been m a d e , either in R o m e o r by the oligarchies whose power R o m e strengthened. Indeed, the R o m a n patricians w h o created the E m p i r e h a d always o p p o s e d d e m o c r a c y . To guarantee elite c o n t r o l o f the Greek cities, the R o m a n s simply abolished city assemblies, gradually destroyed the lawc o u r t s , a n d established a p r o p e r t y requirement for holding public ofifice.^^ Correspondingly, the R o m a n a n d Greek aristocracies further developed rhetoric as a key i n s t r u m e n t o f imperial order. As lawcourts b e c a m e m o r e a n d m o r e the instruments o f the aristocracies, judicial rhetoric served to legitimate their decisions. Stripped o f their power, ekklesiai

deliberated

a b o u t inconsequential issues, mainly in the service o f established power relations, such as additional h o n o r s to the e m p e r o r o r the election o f oligarchs t o office in r e t u r n for their m a g n a n i m o u s public beneficence, such as building a temple. Civic festivals, o f course, required public eloquence. A n d the a g o r a o r theater was a g o o d place to hear a g o o d speech. Indeed, public d e c l a m a t i o n b e c a m e a principal f o r m o f public e n t e r t a i n m e n t in lecture halls as well as temples and theaters. B u t those public speeches were delivered by figures o f power, influence, a n d / o r wealth w h o belonged t o the oligarchic circle.^^ A n d the m o s t p r o m i n e n t t h e m e in o r a t o r y o f the early E m p i r e "is that o f peace, established a n d maintained by the e m p e r o r t h r o u g h o u t the whole w o r l d , . . . an end t o s t a s i s , " . . . a n d a "recognition that the E m p i r e provides its inhabitants with asphaleia,

security against external attack."^^ Greek

intellectuals such as Plutarch e x p o u n d e d for all to hear h o w beneficial R o m a n rule was for subject peoples. F o r in contrast to o t h e r empires, u n d e r R o m a n power they were "free," n o t "enslaved." Indeed, R o m a n

23. Burton L. Mack, Rhetoric and the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 2 9 , 3 1 . 24. G. E. M. de Ste. Crobc, Class Struggle in the Ancient World (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1981), 3 0 0 - 2 6 ; confirmed for Achaia and Corinth, by Susan Alcock, Graecia Capta: The Landscapes of Roman Greece (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). 25. See, more broadly, Simon Swain, Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, A.D. 50-250 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996); and Ewen Bowie, "Literature and Sophistic," ch. 7 in The High Empire, esp. 9 0 0 - 3 . 26. V. Nutton, "The Beneficial Ideology," in Peter Garnsey and C. R. Whittaker, eds.. Imperialism in the Ancient World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 2 1 0 - 1 1 , with references.

Introduction

19

d o m i n i o n was truly the w o r k o f the gods (Mor. 8 1 4 F ; The Fortune Romans

of the

3 1 6 , 323).^^ T h a t t h e m e o f an end t o strife in the imperial "peace,"

however, also betrays an uneasiness a m o n g the oligarchs a b o u t

the

"exploitation and inequality" in the R o m a n imperial o r d e r o f which they were the beneficiaries.^^ As Aristotle had observed centuries before, " P a r t y strife is everywhere due to inequality" {Pol. 5 . 1 . 6 1 3 0 1 b 2 7 ) . Oratory, however, provided m o r e than entertainment. It constituted a principal source o f culture. Along with the imperial temples, shrines, a n d festivals a n d the other c o n s t r u c t i o n s o f the very e n v i r o n m e n t o f civic life, rhetoric p r o d u c e d the d o m i n a n t cultural c o n t e n t o f civic life. T h e i m p a c t o n the life a n d consciousness o f the residents o f cities such as C o r i n t h o r Thessalonica would have been ubiquitous, steady, a n d pervasive. T h e c o m bined i m p a c t o f the imperial cult a n d public o r a t o r y o n o r d i n a r y people subject to the R o m a n imperial o r d e r would have been analogous to that o f television p r o g r a m m i n g a n d advertising in late-twentieth-century u r b a n life. W i t h all i m p o r t a n t political-economic-religious matters already dictated by imperial power a n d nothing significant to be decided any longer by ostensibly d e m o c r a t i c civic institutions, the d o m i n a n t f o r m s o f culture e n c o u r a g e tacit acceptance of, a n d consensus about, the order o f things.

Paul and the Roman Imperial Order T h e essays in this v o l u m e provide explorations o f particular aspects o f Paul's opposition to the R o m a n imperial order. Because o f the standard orientation o f N T studies, little has been d o n e previously in this connection. Only recently has it been suggested that Paul c o u c h e d his gospel in pointedly anti-imperial t e r m s a n d that he understood his assemblies as c o m m u nities o f an alternative society.^^ So the essays below are all somewhat exploratory ventures into uncharted territory. These investigations lead to the conclusion that Paul was "in but n o t o f " the R o m a n imperial order. H e shared the language o f the E m p i r e and even s o m e o f the particular forms o f persuasion, he borrowed the themes and t e r m s o f the E m p i r e , a n d he established communities that remained resident in the d o m i n a n t culture. Yet he

27. As Edward Said comments about modern Western imperial culture, "The rhetoric of power all too easily produces an illusion of benevolence when deployed in an imperial setting." Culture and Imperialism (New York: Random House, 1993), xvii. 28. Fuller discussion is in Lawrence L. Wellborn, "On the Discord in Corinth: 1 Corinthians 1-4 and Ancient Politics/'/BL 106 (1987): 9 4 - 9 6 . 29. For example. Dieter Georgi, Theocracy in PauVs Praxis and Theology; Elliott, Liberating Paul; the essays or chapters reprinted in Horsley, Paul and Empire, parts 3 - 4 ; and the essays by Neil Elliott, N. T. Wright, and Allen Callahan, in Horsley, Paul and Politics.

20

Richard A.

Horsley

used those themes a n d terms to articulate the gospel of, and build assemblies loyal to, a L o r d a n d a G o d w h o not only offered an alternative to, b u t stood in j u d g m e n t over, the imperial Savior and the ostensible "peace a n d security" he offered. T h e investigation by Robert Jewett d e m o n s t r a t e s that the opposition between Paul a n d the R o m a n imperial o r d e r extends even t o their respective understandings o f the natural order. Jewett closely examines h o w differently R o m 8 : 1 8 - 2 3 reads w h e n set against the b a c k g r o u n d o f the R o m a n imperial ideology o f the renewal o f nature. Central to the p r o p a g a n d a o f Augustus, a n d his successors, were massive m o n u m e n t s , such as the A r a Pacis, and celebrative festivals in R o m e a n d t h r o u g h o u t the E m p i r e that claimed that his imperial peace h a d restored M o t h e r E a r t h t o a veritable supernatural fertility a n d productivity, bringing a b o u t a golden age o f prosperity. In the diverse m e m b e r s h i p o f the R o m a n assembly, Paul was addressing an audience that knew quite well that R o m a n imperial c o n quests a n d e c o n o m i c exploitation had in fact devastated villages a n d fields, deforested m o u n t a i n s , and eroded the natural e n v i r o n m e n t in general. A n d to t h e m he portrayed the world as " g r o a n i n g a n d travailing" as it awaited its liberation, along with that o f " t h e sons o f God," f r o m the futility t o which it had been subjected—^by implication, by arrogant and sinful imperial practices. A b r a h a m Smith finds that Paul's mission a n d c o m m u n i t y f o r m a t i o n was enmeshed in the continuing political conflict between p r o - R o m a n elites and m o r e p o p u l a r resistance a m o n g various subject peoples. T h e personal t u r m o i l o u t o f which Paul c a m e t o join the m o v e m e n t o f Jesusfollowers, o f course, was fully e m b e d d e d in, a n d inseparable from, just such a struggle a m o n g Diaspora and Judean Jews over R o m a n imperial rule. A n d Smith observes that m u c h o f the conflict in Judea itself during late-Second Temple times was between the p r o - R o m a n aristocracy a n d their retainers, o n o n e hand, a n d o n the o t h e r h a n d Judean groups that c a m e together in resistance to R o m a n rule. C o n v i n c e d by those w h o view 1 Thess 2 : 1 4 - 1 6 as original to Paul's letter. Smith argues that a parallel c o n flict in Thessalonica accounts for Paul's reference t o events in Judea a n d is the context in which to understand Paul's exhortation to the Thessalonians. H e urges t h e m to stand fast in their c o m m u n i t y solidarity against their attackers, w h o defend a n d boast in the "peace a n d security" supposedly guaranteed by the R o m a n imperial order. Neil Elliott explains h o w Paul b o r r o w e d key symbolism from R o m a n imperial ideology to oppose the Empire, focusing primarily o n imagery o f the imperial t r i u m p h in 2 Corinthians. In pointed contrast to the imperial triumphal procession that acclaims the irresistible power o f the conquering military hero, Paul portrays himself as the defeated and despised victim o f

Introduction

21

imperial violence. In his reversal o f the public p e r f o r m a n c e o f the imperial t r i u m p h , God's power is manifest in Paul's humiliation a n d Christ's c r u c i fixion, because Christ's crucifixion by " t h e rulers o f this a g e " is the inaugural event by vsrhich G o d is n o w subjecting the imperial rulers. Elliott also provides a vivid recent e x a m p l e o f h o w c o n t e m p o r a r y Christians draw u p o n Paul's anti-imperial p e r f o r m a n c e o f e m b o d i e d divine power t o c o u n t e r the t o r t u r e o f personal bodies and the b o d y politic by the P i n o c h e t national-security state sponsored by the United States. Rollin R a m s a r a n provides a timely a n d provocative reminder that rhetoric is political a n d that Paul's rhetoric m u s t be heard in the R o m a n imperial context. W h e t h e r o r n o t he had been formally educated in the f o r m s o f G r e c o - R o m a n rhetoric, he clearly used standard types o f a r g u m e n t in his Letters. T h e overall agenda a n d perspective o f his a r g u m e n t s , however, can only be u n d e r s t o o d in the c o n t e x t o f resistance to the R o m a n imperial o r d e r in the Judean apocalyptic tradition. In 1 Corinthians in particular, Paul appears t o deploy G r e c o - R o m a n f o r m s in the b r o a d e r pattern a n d perspective o f a Judean apocalyptic rhetorical register. R a m s a r a n thus provides an i m p o r t a n t corrective a n d antidote to recent presentations o f Paul's a r g u m e n t s as if they simply replicated the f o r m s in G r e c o - R o m a n rhetorical h a n d b o o k s . Efrain Agosto examines G r e c o - R o m a n letters o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n t o the e m p e r o r o r high-ranking persons by p a t r o n s such as Cicero a n d Pliny for their proteges, c o m m u n i c a t i o n s instrumental to the patronage system that held the E m p i r e together at the top, a n d h o w the c o m m e n d a t i o n passages in Paul's Letters c o m p a r e . H e finds that Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n s differ significantly from letters o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n seeking positions o f power a n d status for the a d v a n c e m e n t o f personal careers o f m e m b e r s o f the R o m a n o r provincial elite. Despite s o m e similarities in motif, such as close personal relations, Paul rather emphasizes sacrificial service to the m o v e m e n t he and others are building. Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n s d o apparently a i m at strengthening his o w n network o f friends a n d trusted associates in the leadership o f the m o v e m e n t he is building. T h a t m o v e m e n t itself, however, stands in opposition to the imperial system that the elite are administering. Drawing o n the research o f classical historians such as Price, Erik H e e n shows h o w Paul used a key image from the imperial ideology t o oppose it. H e e n highlights the aristocratic passion for h o n o r s as perhaps a key factor driving their sponsorship o f h o n o r s to the e m p e r o r a n d their beneficent funding o f c o n s t r u c t i o n o f public spaces a n d buildings (euergetism),

which

effectively secured their positions o f power, privilege, a n d local d o m i n a n c e in the imperial order. H e is thus able to provide an illuminating new c o n text for, and a compelling new perspective on, the " C h r i s t - h y m n " in Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 . Instead o f being a "christological" expression o f Christ's preexistence.

22

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this h y m n uses a key phrase from the imperial cult to p o r t r a y Jesus Christ as the very opposite o f the e m p e r o r : far from valuing and seeking h o n o r s equal to g o d , he was m a r t y r e d by the R o m a n rulers ( o n a c r o s s ) — a f t e r which he was elevated into the highest position as the c o u n t e r - e m p e r o r . Drawing o n James C. Scott's w o r k o n disguised m o d e s o f resistance, H e e n enables us t o see h o w Paul's c o m m u n i t i e s carved o u t a breathing space for an alternative c o m m u n i t y living o u t an alternative set o f values by imaging Christ, n o t Caesar, as the t r u e ruler o f their lives, precisely because he h a d b e c o m e a p a r a d i g m o f m u t u a l service. Jennifer W r i g h t Knust finds that Paul's critique o f the d o m i n a n t society as hopelessly c a u g h t u p in sexual lust a n d p r o m i s c u i t y is largely an adaptation o f standard criticism in Greek a n d R o m a n cultural discourse. Early R o m a n imperial ideology, however, claimed that Augustus a n d his successors h a d restored public morality. Indeed, the e m p e r o r himself, fiilly in control o f his o w n passions, h a d t a m e d vice a n d i m m o r a l i t y in the p u b lic order by the preservation o f law a n d c u s t o m . In this imperial context, Paul's claim that society at large is fiill o f fornication would have b e e n u n d e r s t o o d as a critique o f b o t h e m p e r o r a n d E m p i r e . To argue that the e m p e r o r in fact has failed a n d that Christ is the t r u e answer t o sin suggests a n anti-imperial stance. In thus adapting a standard critique o f sexual i m m o r a l i t y t o o p p o s e the imperial order, however, Paul in effect reinscribed into his o w n anti-imperial discourse the hierarchical assumptions o f sex, gender, a n d slavery implicit in that critique. While these essays are all focused primarily o n Paul a n d the politics o f the E m p i r e , m a n y o f t h e m inevitably deal with o t h e r aspects o f the overall agenda o f the Paul a n d Politics G r o u p . Nearly all o f t h e m discuss "Paul a n d the politics o f interpretation" in s o m e way. T h o s e by Agosto, Elliott, M a r t i n , R a m s a r a n , a n d Smith deal with " P a u l a n d the politics o f his a s s e m blies" to a lesser o r greater extent. A n d those by R a m s a r a n a n d Smith also t o u c h o n " P a u l a n d the politics o f Israel." In that s a m e c o n n e c t i o n , the essays by Elliott a n d Jewett, like those o f R a m s a r a n a n d Smith, m a k e clear that Paul's opposition to the R o m a n imperial o r d e r draws heavily o n the Israelite/Judean cultural tradition in which he was deeply g r o u n d e d a n d t o which he r e m a i n e d t h o r o u g h l y c o m m i t t e d . Keying from w h a t was c o n s t r u e d as his acceptance o f slavery, a n d working o n conservative o r reformist assumptions that the established o r d e r is acceptable o r inevitable, standard N T scholarship has consistently read Paul as a social conservative.^^ T h e only question is whether he was trying to challenge o r change certain aspects o f the social order, such as

30. Elliott, Liberating Paul 3 1 - 5 2 .

Introduction

23

gender o r ethnic relations. T h e explorations o f various issues, themes, a n d passages in Paul's letters in this v o l u m e indicate that in m a n y interrelated respects, the R o m a n imperial o r d e r is the context in v^hich Paul's gospel a n d mission m u s t be u n d e r s t o o d . T h e y also indicate that Paul presented his gospel a n d organized his assemblies in opposition to that order, a n d even in effective resistance to it. Nevertheless, although Paul was primarily "in b u t n o t o f " the R o m a n imperial order, insofar as he b o r r o w e d key t e r m s a n d standard discourse from

the d o m i n a n t culture, he perpetuates certain imperial images a n d

patterns o f social relations. I n a s m u c h as we are also c o n c e r n e d with the subsequent "politics o f interpretation," we m u s t take into a c c o u n t the influence a n d i m p a c t o f Pauline imagery, language, a n d Letters o n the Christian c h u r c h and culture that read t h e m as sacred Scripture. However m u c h Paul m a y have been using imperial t e r m s for Jesus Christ in opposition to the imperial R o m a n lord a n d savior, he bequeathed imperial images o f Christ t o the c h u r c h that b e c a m e the established imperial religion u n d e r Constantine a n d remained so in western E u r o p e . B u t Christ thus b e c a m e the imperial L o r d , and n o longer the anti-imperial imperial L o r d . It seems a great irony, then, that such imperial images o f Christ were used b y Western Christianity in its collaboration with the powerful

Western

nation-states in their imperial conquests a n d d o m i n a t i o n o f o t h e r peoples. A related aspect o f that irony, moreover, is that "critical" N T studies develo p e d n o t only during the heyday o f western E u r o p e a n imperialism but as o n e o f m a n y a c a d e m i c disciplines in complicity with it.

- 1

-

T H E C O R R U P T I O N A N D REDEMPTION OF CREATION Reading Rom 8:18-23 within the Imperial Context Robert Jewett

I

Introduction n the i m m e n s e literature a b o u t Paul's letter to the R o m a n s , including the extensive debate over the interpretation o f chapter 8 , 1 have n o t e n c o u n -

tered an effort to relate the details o f Paul's a r g u m e n t to G r e c o - R o m a n ideas about the c o r r u p t i o n a n d r e d e m p t i o n o f nature. F o r example, in his influential studies o f R o m a n s in the c o n t e x t o f imperial propaganda, Neil Elliott points t o t h e m a t i c parallels betvêen chapters 8 a n d 13 a n d observes that the references to suffering " w o u l d have evoked sharp e c h o e s " o f i m p e rial violence; b u t rather than dealing with the issue o f creation itself, Elliott follows the traditional track in concluding that Paul "requires subordination rather than defiant opposition to the a u t h o r i t i e s " ' Although Jacob Taubes interpreted Paul's "pohtical theology" as " a pohtical polemic against the Caesars," he m a d e n o effort to address the issue o f creation.^ B r u n o Blumenfeld's recent discussion o f this passage makes n o reference to R o m a n attitudes toward nature.^ Dieter Georgi states in passing that R o m a n s 8 differs

1. Neil Elliott, "Romans 13:1-7 in the Context of Imperial Propaganda," in Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (ed. R. A. Horsley; Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997), 194, 196. While Neil Elliott, in Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1994), 173, does refer to Paul's yearning for the "redemption of the whole creation (Rom. 8:22-23)," that evokes his "personal agony for his people, the Jews," he does not suggest that Paul has Roman imperial views of creation in view. 2. Jacob Taubes, Die Politische Theologie des Paulus: Vortrdge gehalten an der Forschungsstdtte der evangelischen Studiengemeinschaft in Heidelberg 23-27 Februar 1987, ed. A. Assmann et al. (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1995), 27. 3. Bruno Blumenfeld, The Political Paul: Justice, Democracy and Kingship in a Hellenistic Framework (JSNTSup 210; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 3 6 0 - 6 4 . 25

26

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from R o m a n views o f the "idyllic" quality o f n a t u r e / H e cites the Saeculare

Jewett

Carmen

that H o r a c e w r o t e in connection with the imperial games o r g a n -

ized by Augustus, although he concentrates o n the glorification o f the e m p e r o r rather than o n the restoration o f nature.^ Following Georgi's lead 1 would like t o bring imperial views into m o r e direct correlation with Paul's argument. Since understanding Paul's a r g u m e n t depends o n knowledge o f G r e c o - R o m a n views, I begin with the imperial ideology o f nature.

The Corruption and Redemption of Nature in Greco-Roman Culture Hesiod's influential view o f nature envisioned an original, golden age as a t i m e o f happiness w h e n " t h e earth p r o d u c e d spontaneously," w h e n there was n o violence, while the entire h u m a n race lived with luxurious happiness.^ In Works and Days ( 1 0 9 - 2 0 1 ) Hesiod articulates a t h e o r y o f decline from this idyllic beginning, in which h u m a n failure is linked with nature's c o r r u p t i o n . T h e later ages o f silver, bronze, a n d iron are m a r k e d by increasing levels o f violence a n d impiety, w h e n h u m a n s lose their superior m e n tal a n d m o r a l qualities. " T h e Golden Race disappears for n o assigned cause; the Silver because o f hyhris and impiety; the Bronze by internecine war; the H e r o e s by external war; the Iron by exhaustion, o r perhaps because o f their evil-doing."^ In Aratus's Phaenomena Ovid's Metamorphoses

(100-135)

and

( 1 . 8 9 - 1 1 2 ) are similar descriptions o f the ages o f

Gold, Silver, a n d Bronze. In 4 4 B.C.E. the y o u n g Augustus used the a p p e a r a n c e o f a c o m e t a n d the p r o p h e c y o f Vulcanius c o n c e r n i n g the end o f o n e age a n d the beginning o f a n o t h e r t o justify the apotheosis o f the assassinated Julius Caesar.^

4. Dieter Georgi, "God Turned Upside Down," in Paul and Empire (ed. R. A. Horsley), 155. 5. Dieter Georgi, "Who Is the True Prophet?" in Paul and Empire (ed. R. A. Horsley), 3 6 - ^ 6 . 6. Arthur O. Lovejoy et al., Primitivism and Related Ideas in Antiquity (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1935; repr. New York: Octagon, 1965), 28. See also Lutz Kappel, "Hesiod," i?GG 3 (2000): 1703-04; A. Kurress,"Aetas,Aurea,"iMC 1 (1950): 144-50; K. Kubusch, Aurea saecula, Mythos und Geschichte: Untersuchung eines Motives in der antiken Literature bis Ovid (Frankfurt am Main/New York: P. Lang, 1986). 7. Lovejoy et al., Primitivism, 31. 8. See John T. Ramsey and A. Lewis Licht, The Comet of 44 B.C. and Caesars Funeral Games (American Philological Association American Classical Studies 39; Atlanta: Scholars, 1997) 140-45. They note (145) that when Augustus later wrote his Memoires, Vulcanius's prophecy about the end of the ninth age and the beginning of the tenth was "made to concern the return of a Golden Age."

The Corruption

and Redemption

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27

Virgil provided a "messianic"^ d e v e l o p m e n t in this line o f t h o u g h t d u r i n g the period o f upheaval after the assassination. In his Fourth

Eclogue

a

regent is prophesied w h o would restore the golden age o f paradise, w h e n the earth w o u l d again p r o d u c e its b o u n t y w i t h o u t any h u m a n work, a n d w h e n the blight o f h u m a n impiety would n o longer pollute the earth.'° In the light o f Virgil's later s u p p o r t o f A u g u s t u s , t h i s p r o p h e c y was t h o u g h t t o have been fulfilled w h e n he estabHshed the pax

Romana:

A n d in y o u r c o u n s e l s h i p . . . shall this glorious age b e g i n — U n d e r y o u r sway, any lingering traces o f o u r guilt shall b e c o m e void, a n d release the earth f r o m its continual d r e a d . . . . But for y o u , child, shall the earth untilled p o u r forth. . . . Uncalled, the goats shall bring h o m e their udders swollen with milk, a n d the herds shall fear n o t huge lions

T h e serpent, t o o , shall perish, a n d the false

p o i s o n - p l a n t shall perish; Assyrian spice shall spring u p o n every soil

T h e earth shall not feel the harrow, n o r the vine the pruning-

h o o k ; the sturdy p l o u g h m a n , t o o , shall n o w loose his oxen fi-om the yoke. (Virgil, Eel In Virgil's Aeneid

4.11-41)

( 6 . 7 8 9 - 7 9 4 ) , the link with t h e reigning Augustus

b e c o m e s explicit: " H e r e is Caesar a n d all o f lulius's progeny, c o m i n g beneath the revolving heaven. This m a n , this is he, w h o m y o u often hear p r o m i s e d t o y o u , Augustus Caesar, son o f a god, w h o will establish o n c e m o r e . . . the Golden Age in the fields o n c e ruled by Saturn." This tradition provides the b a c k g r o u n d for proclaiming Augustus a n d his successors as inaugurators o f a new, golden age, the "Age o f Saturn," in which paradisial conditions o n the earth w o u l d b e restored. T h e Saecular G a m e s were organized by Augustus in 17 B.C.E. t o m a r k " t h e birth o f a new a g e " in which the "fertility o f M o t h e r E a r t h " was seen

9. Hildebrecht Hommel, "Vergils 'messianisches' Gedicht," in vol. 1 of H. Hommel, Sebasmata: Studien zur antiken relilgionsgeschicte und zum friihen Christentum (Tubingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1983), 2 6 7 - 7 2 , shows that the poem was written in 41 B.C.E., during the period of uncertainty and revolution. 10. Andreas Alfoldi, "Der neue Weltherrscher der vierten Ekloge Vergils," Hermes 65 (1930): 3 6 9 - 8 5 , esp. 369, analyzed the propaganda of the divine ruler who would emerge to redeem Rome from its decline and restore paradisial conditions of plenty on the earth. 11. Hommel, "Vergils *messianisches' Gedicht," 303, notes that the predicted redemptive king in the poem was the son of the consul Asenius Pollio, Virgil's patron. Apparendy it was only later that this prediction was applied to Augustus.

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t o be restored and "guarded by the Fates a n d the Goddesses o f ChUdbirth."'' While there h a d been earlier plans to inaugurate this celebration, which had been postponed for political reasons,'^ Augustus used the appearance o f another c o m e t to justify this celebration that a n n o u n c e d the beginning o f the new age.'^ H o r a c e was c o m m i s s i o n e d to write the official p o e m for the celebration, the Carmen

Saeculare,

which featured the renewal o f nature:

M a y the earth be fertile for harvests a n d herds a n d give to Ceres her garland o f wheat ears; m a y the crops be nourished by Jupiter's g o o d breezes and showers. A later stanza o f Horace's p o e m celebrates the fusion o f morality, peace, a n d prosperity: N o w Faith a n d Peace and H o n o r a n d ancestral D e c e n c y a n d slighted Virtue venture to return, a n d blessed Plenty appears o n c e m o r e with her b r i m m i n g horn.'^ In the ensuing years o n e m o n u m e n t after a n o t h e r was erected t o celebrate this restoration o f the "fruitfulness o f nature,"'^ a sequence that reached its high point in the A r a Pacis Augustae. T h e i m a g e r y o n the Altar o f the Augustan Peace symbolizes " t h e r e t u r n o f this lost age o f b o u n t y a n d goodness."'^ Allusions t o the p r o m i s e d regeneration o f the e a r t h are visible in every aspect o f this magnificent altar. T h e motifs o f the ivy a n d grapevine t h a t appeared in Virgil's Fourth

Eclogue

as signs o f the n e w age

12. Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Rice, Religions of Rome, vol. 1: A History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 203. 13. Beard et a l , Religions of Rome, 1:205 n.l26; see also Georgi, "True Prophet?" 37. 14. Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988,1990), ch. 5; trans, of Die Bildnisse des Augustus: Herrscherbild und Politik im kaiserlichen Rom (Sonderausstellung der Glyptothek und des Museums fiir Abgiisse klassischer Bildwerke; hrsg. von Klaus Vierneisel und Paul Zanker; Miinchen, 1979), 171. See also Ramsey and Licht, The Comet of 44 B.C., 140-45. 15. Joseph Clancy, trans.. The Odes and Epodes of Horace (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960), 189-90. 16. Zanker, Die Bildnisse des Augustus, 177. 17. David Castriota, The Ara Pacis Augustus and the Imagery of Abundance in Later Greek and Early Roman Imperial Art (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995), 125.

The Corruption

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29

are p r o m i n e n t l y displayed.'^ N e w plants are invented to depict the p a r a disial conditions o f a world m a d e truly new, while the organization o f plants a n d animals in rows a n d ranks conveys the new, hierarchical order. T h e floral displays a n d allusions to Apollo a n d Bacchus convey the message " I f the Golden Age was t o return, this would surely depend in g o o d m e a s ure u p o n the renewal o f the pristine R o m a n values a n d religious tradition" b r o u g h t by Augustus.^^ These scenes are coordinated with scenes o f v i c t o r y over the Parthians, which serve t o c o n f i r m the divine blessing o n the n e w regime.^' T h e twin pillars o n the altar symbolize piety a n d conquest, b o t h o f which were allegedly blessed by the gods. T h e altar gives expression t o Virgil's idea that " t h o s e w h o adhere to divinely appointed law a n d justice m a y in a way sustain o r capture the blessing formerly enjoyed by the Golden Race."^^ T h e political implication was reinforced by the placement o f the Altar o n the C a m p u s M a r t i u s in relation to the gigantic Solarium Augusti in such a way that the pointer o f the sundial would shine directly o n t o the altar o n September 2 3 , Augustus' birthday.^^ T h e central figure o n the peace altar is M o t h e r E a r t h restored, a female figure representing R o m e sitting at ease with " t w o children a n d p o m e granates, grapes a n d nuts o n her lap; in front o f her a c o w a n d a sheep [She] clearly represents notions o f fertility ( h u m a n a n d agricultural), set between images o f sky a n d s e a , . . . 'earth' o r 'fertility' in the sense o f Italy."^'* T h e feminine figure o f Tellus ( M a t e r ) c o m b i n e s features o f Venus, Ceres, a n d Cybele, whose depiction a n d surroundings imply a supernatural world in which plants are larger than life and animals live in peace with o n e another.^^ T h e fused goddesses serve as guarantors o f the new golden age that Augustus was seen t o have restored. " F o r the R o m a n s o f the Augustan period, the c o n c e p t i o n o f the Golden Age e m b o d i e d o n the A r a Pacis [altar] was essentially o n e o f r e n e w a l — t h e renewal o f t i m e a n d the renewal o f b o u n t e o u s life." This was p r o d u c e d by " t h e renewal o f traditional religious practices and m o r a l values."^^ T h e A r a Pacis was widely emulated as depictions o f a fruitful M o t h e r E a r t h c a m e t o center stage o n coins and altars in the period o f Augustus

18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

Ibid., 135. Zanker, Power of Images, 184-86. Castriotsiy Ara Pacis Augustus, 139. ZankeTyPower of Images, 189. Castriota, Ara Pads AwgMsrws, 138. Ibid., 131. Beard et al.. Religions of Rome, 204; discussing fig. 4.6. Zankery Power of ImageSy 178,182. Castriota, Ara Pads Awgwstws, 141,144.

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a n d his successors.^^ F o r instance, the g r a n d pubHc altar erected in the Augustan period near the R o m a n colony in C a r t h a g e features a similar "seated female figure, with children in her a r m s , her lap full o f fruit, animals at her feet. This figure is closely based o n the scene o f ' E a r t h ' o n Augustus' A r a Pacis in Rome."^^ A n o t h e r altar in C a r t h a g e has the figure o f E a r t h with a "globe a n d c o r n u c o p i a in front o f her," probably adapted f r o m a R o m a n design.^^ W h i l e these motifs were present o n R o m a n coins in the decades prior t o Augustus, he c o m b i n e d t h e m with the t h e m e o f pieta,

the

p r o p e r h o n o r i n g o f the gods that would ensure the Golden Age with his victory.^° O n e o f his coins has the ruler with divine light streaming f r o m his head while he stands with his foot o n the globe a n d holds the symbols o f the " r e t u r n o f the Golden Age," including the cornucopia.^' Augustus a n d later e m p e r o r s used this symbol o n coins a n d sculpture to indicate that their regimes were the sources o f plentitude. C a p r i c o r n , the nativity star o f Augustus, was associated with the c o r n u c o p i a , indicating that his birth inaugurated the n e w age o f prosperity, a t h e m e a d o p t e d from Hellenistic kingship ideology.^^ Following this tradition, " n u m e r o u s R o m a n Caesars, queens, princes, a n d princesses depict themselves as bringers o f salvation by m e a n s o f the single o r double cornucopia."^^ While n o n e o f the subsequent e m p e r o r s u p until Paul's t i m e was as successful in the p r o p a g a n d a that associated their reigns with the r e d e m p tion o f nature, the t h e m e s r e m a i n e d alive in poetry, art, and the civic cult. Calpurnius Siculus relates these t h e m e s t o the ruling e m p e r o r ( N e r o ) : Rejoice, first o f all, dwellers in the forests, rejoice, O m y people. T h o u g h all y o u r flocks w a n d e r without a guardian, a n d the shepherd neglect to close t h e m in at n i g h t , . . . yet n o thief shall lay his traps near the sheep-fold n o r loosen the tethers o f the beasts o f burden t o drive t h e m off. T h e golden age o f untroubled peace is b o r n again, a n d kindly T h e m i s returns to earth freed from stain a n d rust. T h e h a p p y times are ruled by a y o u t h [Nero] w h o w o n the v i c t o r y while still in his m o t h e r ' s a r m s . W h e n he shall himself reign as a g o d , . . . peace will a p p e a r , . . . a n d c l e m e n c y has broken

27. See Ilona Opelt,"Erde,"iMC5 (1962): 1136-38. 28. Beard et al., Religions of Rome 331, with the altar depicted on 332. 29. Ibid., 333. 30. Alfoldi, "Der neue Weltherrscher," 376. 31. Ibid., 385, provides a number of other Roman coins containing the cornucopia motif 32. Johannes B. Bauer, "Horn I," RAC 16 (1994): 5 4 4 - 4 6 . 33. Ibid., 546.

The Corruption

and Redemption

of Creation

in pieces the weapons o f m a d n e s s

31

Full peace will c o m e u p o n

us, a peace which . . . shall bring back a second reign o f Saturn. {Eel

1.33-99)

Since the " m a d n e s s " o f n o n - R o m a n warfare a n d the c o r r u p t i o n o f barbaric impiety had ruined the world, Nero's reign brings peace that is blessed b y the gods. His magical " v i c t o r y " allegedly restores nature to its original state in the primeval Age o f Saturn, w h e n beasts o f the field were so t a m e that they herded themselves, a n d w h e n the earth b r o u g h t forth its harvest witho u t the use o f the plow. This imperial vision o f the f o r m e r c o r r u p t i o n a n d c u r r e n t r e d e m p t i o n o f M o t h e r E a r t h differs f r o m Paul's letter to the R o m a n s at virtually every point a n d provides a suitable foil for reassessing the relevance o f its a r g u m e n t .

A Reading of Rom 8:18-23 within the Imperial Context R o m a n s is an epideictic letter that does n o t indulge in polemics. W e should therefore anticipate that the relation o f this passage t o the prevailing R o m a n view o f nature is implicit rather t h a n explicit. In thinking t h r o u g h the implications o f Paul's formulation against the foil o f the imperial c o n text, we also need to take a c c o u n t o f the i m p a c t o f the previous a r g u m e n t in the letter. W h e r e a s the R o m a n cult touted piety a n d conquest as the m e a n s whereby the golden age was restored, Paul's letter rejects salvation by works in all its f o r m s . W h e r e a s the R o m a n premise was that disorderly barbarians a n d rebels caused the c o r r u p t i o n o f nature, Paul argues that all h u m a n s reenact Adam's fall. In place o f imperial celebrations a n d a d m i n istration as the hinge o f the golden age, Paul touts the power o f the gospel t o convert the world. Moreover, as the wording o f R o m 8 : 1 8 - 2 3 indicates, the natural world is far f r o m idyllic, a n d it has certainly n o t been restored by the R o m a n i m p e r i u m . D r a w n f r o m a f o r t h c o m i n g c o m m e n t a r y , I t r a n s late R o m 8 : 1 8 - 2 3 as follows: ' T o r I reckon that the sufferings o f the present t i m e are n o t equivalent with the c o m i n g glory to be revealed t o us. ' T o r the eager expectation o f the creation awaits the revelation o f the sons o f G o d . ^Tor the creation was subjected t o futility, n o t voluntarily but o n a c c o u n t o f the o n e w h o subjected it in h o p e ^'because the creation itself will also be freed f r o m the slavery to c o r r u p t i o n a n d obtain the liberation consisting o f the glory for the children o f G o d . ^Tor we k n o w that the whole creation groans together a n d travails together until now.

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" a n d n o t only [the creation] but even ourselves w h o have the first fi-uits o f the spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves as we await the r e d e m p tion o f o u r body. While noting the sufferings t o be experienced by the saints in the eschaton (last/new age) as a traditional motif,^^ c o m m e n t a t o r s tend to overlook the contextual implications that this formulation would have carried for the R o m a n believers. T h e y h a d already experienced h a r a s s m e n t a n d deportation, a n d their everyday life as m e m b e r s o f the R o m a n underclass was anything but idyllic. Paul's formulation simply assumes, w i t h o u t a r g u ing the point, that the Caesarean view a b o u t the presence o f a peaceftil, magically prosperous golden age is illusory. T h e t e r m pathemata

(passions,

sufferings) a p p e a r s in R o m 8 : 1 8 with the article, indicating t h a t t h e t o p i c is k n o w n to the audience. T h e plural f o r m is typical o f Pauhne usage (2 C o r 1:5, 6, 7; Gal 5 : 2 4 ; Phil 3 : 1 0 ; C o l 1 : 2 4 ) , referring to the sufferings that believers should expect in following a suffering Christ.^^ This wording follows the idea o f suffering together with Christ in R o m 8:17. W h i l e in 7:5 the entire fallen world remains subject t o " t a pathemata

ton hamartion

(the

sinful passions)," these particular sufferings in R o m 8 : 1 8 - 2 3 are a sign o f eschatological solidarity with Christ, whose new age is n o w dawning. T h e expression ''ten mellousan

doxan'

should be translated in the

adjectival sense o f " t h e future g l o r y " rather t h a n linking the participle with the verb to depict the close p r o x i m i t y o f " a b o u t t o be revealed" (1:18).^^ Paul used a similar e x p r e s s i o n apokaluphthenai

in Gal 3 : 2 3 ,

(the future faith to be revealed),'

'Hen

mellousan

pistin

indicating that such faith

b e c a m e available only in the future. I find it particularly significant that Paul uses the expression " t o be revealed" in a m a n n e r parallel t o the thesis o f Romans,^'' conveying an apocalyptic disclosure o f the t r i u m p h o f G o d

34. See, for instance, Heinrich Schlier's discussion based on 4 Ezra 13:16-19; 2 Bar. (Syriac Apocalypse) 2 5 : 1 - 3 ; 2 Thess 1:4; in Romerbrief (HTKNT 6; Freiburg: Herder, 1977), 257. James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1-8 (WBC 38a; DaUas: Word, 1988), 4 6 8 - 6 9 , cites Dan 7 : 2 1 - 2 2 , 2 5 - 2 7 ; 12:1-3; Jubilees 23:22-31; Testament of Moses 5 - 1 0 ; IQH 3:28-36; Sibylline Oracles 3:632-56; and Matt 3:7-12 and parallels, in support of the contention that "Paul is taking over an earlier eschatological schema" in this verse. Walther Bindemann, in Die Hojfnung der Schopfung: Romer 8,18-27 und die Frage einer Theologie der Befreiung von Mensch und Natur (Neukirchener Studienbiicher 14; Neukirchen: Neukirchener, 1983), 8 2 - 9 5 , claims that Paul is polemicizing here against an apocalyptic scheme stressing the distance of God; but this argument seems overly abstract and unrelated to the cultural context. 35. See Wilhelm Michaelis, "pathemar TDNT 5 (1967): 9 3 0 - 3 4 . 36. BAGD 501. 37. See Dunn, Romans 1-8, 470.

The Corruption

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33

over adversity a n d the c o r r u p t i o n o f the c o s m i c order. Despite the illusions o f the R o m a n civic cult, the originally intended glory o f the creation shall yet b e restored, including specifically the glory h u m a n s vêre intended t o bear. T h e phrase ''eis hemas'

that ends R o m 1 : 1 8 could be translated " f o r

us," implying, in J o h n Murray's view, that the glory is " t o be bestowed u p o n us, so that we b e c o m e the actual partakers; it is n o t a glory o f which we are t o b e m e r e spectators."^^ In c o n t r a s t to imperial claims, this is n o t a glory that shines f r o m the head o f Caesar alone. T h e c o n c e p t o f " g l o r y " implied in this passage is in fact quite distant f r o m the classical G r e c o - R o m a n sense o f opinion, reputation, o r r e n o w n ascribed by public o p i n i o n ; it is closely related t o the H e b r e w sense o f kahod (doxa) as innate weightiness, h o n o r , beauty, fiery presence, splendor, o r power.^^ This t e r m is c o m p a r a b l e t o w h a t m o d e r n s refer t o as " s t a r d o m , " the innate capacity s o m e people have t o p e r f o r m with inspiration, to b e intensely attractive, a n d t o shine b e y o n d others. T h e "glory o f G o d " has t h e c o n c r e t e m e a n i n g o f " a fiery p h e n o m e n o n issuing f r o m radiance a n d brilh a n c e , a n d a n abstract m e a n i n g o f h o n o r , worthiness, a n d majesty."'*^ H u m a n beings were created t o reflect such glory (Ps 8 : 1 , 5 ) , which is p a r ticularly visible in the wise ( P r o v 1 1 : 1 6 ; 2 0 : 3 ) a n d symbolized t h r o u g h o u t the ancient N e a r East by the royal c r o w n o r diadem.^' W h e n persons o r nations b e c o m e c o r r u p t , they lose their glory ( H o s 4 : 7 ; 9 : 1 1 ; Jer 2 : 1 1 ; Ezek 2 4 : 2 5 ) , b u t w h e n Yahweh redeems t h e m , their glory is restored

(Isa

3 5 : 1 - 2 ) . T h e c o n n e c t i o n in R o m 8 : 1 8 between "revelation" a n d the restoration o f " g l o r y " is derived f r o m a m a j o r s t r e a m o f prophetic a n d postexilic expectations. Isaiah 2 4 : 2 3 foresees the t i m e " w h e n the LORD o f hosts will reign o n M o u n t Z i o n a n d in Jerusalem, a n d before his elders he will m a n i fest his glory." This expectation reflects E x o d 2 4 : 9 - 1 0 , where Yahweh revealed himself t o the elders at M o u n t Sinai.^^ Deutero-Isaiah foresaw a universal extension o f this idea in 4 0 : 5 : " T h e n the glory o f Yahweh shall b e revealed, a n d all flesh shall see it t o g e t h e r " ( a u t h o r ) . T h e revelation o f divine radiance a n d glory, t o be seen by all the nations, is also expressed in Isa 6 0 : 1 - 3 , which reiterates the t h e o p h a n i c vision o f Deut 3 3 : 2 a n d H a b 3 : 3 - 4 , a vision that will o n e day "fill the whole w o r l d " (Isa 6 : 3 ; N u m 1 4 : 2 1 ; Ps 7 2 : 1 9 ) , thus d e m o n s t r a t i n g God's t r i u m p h over evil.^^

38. John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans: The English Text with Introduction, Exposition, and Notes (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 301. 39. See Gerhard Kittel, ''doxa;' TDNT 2 (1964): 2 3 3 - 5 1 , esp. 247. 40. Weinfeld, "kdbod," ThWAT 4 (1982): 38. 41. Ibid., 3 0 - 3 1 . 42. Ibid., 36. 43. See ibid., 37.

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In the light o f this b a c k g r o u n d and o f Paul's a r g u m e n t c o n c e r n i n g the present experience o f faith in the midst o f suffering, it seems inappropriate t o restrict " g l o r y " in this passage to a future state o f " i m m o r t a l i t y " to be enjoyed by the saints.^ As evident in 8 : 3 0 , v^here the past-tense verb, " h e glorified" is employed, Paul intends the beleagered Christ-believers in R o m e to discern in the growing t r i u m p h o f the gospel the initial evidence o f this glory that will o n e day fill the creation ( c f 2 C o r 3 : 1 8 ) . In R o m 8 : 1 9 Paul explains the c o s m i c scope o f divine glory by introducing the concept o f ktisis (creation), probably referring primarily to the various n o n h u m a n c o m p o n e n t s o f the universe.^^ In contrast to G r e c o R o m a n views o f the eternal M o t h e r Earth, ktisis implies purposeful creation o f the natural order by G o d at a particular m o m e n t in time. T h e biblical creation stories are in view, but in contrast to Genesis, there is a striking measure o f personification in Paul's view o f the n o n h u m a n world; it is capable o f apokaradokia

(eager expectation), just as h u m a n s are (Phil 1 : 2 0 ) .

This word, attested only in these two passages written by Paul, conveys a positive c o n n o t a t i o n o f "confident expectation,"^ very m u c h in contrast to the relaxed depictions o f M o t h e r E a r t h in the A r a Pacis. T h e attitude is c o n trasting, but t h e personification is similar. This personification o f creation is also paralleled in an apocalyptic t r e a t m e n t o f the flood tradition (1 E n o c h 7:6) where the earth takes o n h u m a n qualities as it lays accusation against

44. See Brendan Byrne, "Sows of God"'—'Seed of Abraham'": A Study of the Idea of the Sonship of God of All Christians in Paul against the Jewish Background (AnBib 83; Rome: Biblical Institute, 1979), 107. Similarly, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Romans: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 33; New York: Doubleday, 1993), 506, restricts glory to that which will occur "in the eschaton." 45. In Rom 1:20-25 ktisis referred to all created things, including birds, reptiles, and humans. But Ulrich Wilckens, Der Brief an die Romer (EKKNT 6; Zurich: Benziger; Neukirchen—Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1978-82), 2:152-53; and C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (ICC; Edinburgh: Clark, 1975), 4 1 1 - 1 2 , advance compelling arguments that neither nonChristian believers nor the angelic forces are implied in the formulation of 8:19. See also B. R. Brinkman, "'Creation' and 'Creature' II. Texts and Tendencies in the Epistle to the Romans," Bijdr 18 (1957), 3 5 9 - 7 4 ; and John G. Gibbs, Creation and Redemption: A Study in Pauline Theology (NovTSup 26; Leiden: Brill, 1971). 46. D. R. Denton, "'apokaradokia;' ZNW 73 (1982): 139, in contrast to Georg Bertram's problematic argument from etymology that the term carries a sense of anxious waiting, in ''apokaradokia^' Z N W 49 (1958): 2 6 4 - 7 0 . Bertram's case was accepted by Schlier, Romerbrief 259; and Ulrich Wilckens, Romer, 152. As noted by Gustav Adolf Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (trans. L. R. M. Strachan; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1965), 374 n. 5, a verbal form of the word that lacks any sense of anxiety appears in Polybius, Hist. 18.31, "to expect earnestiy (apokaradokein) the arrival of Antiochus."

The Corruption

and Redemption

of Creation

35

its a b u s e r s / ' (See also Gen 4 : 1 0 ; Deut 4 : 2 6 ; 3 0 : 1 9 ; 3 1 : 2 8 ; Josh 2 4 : 2 7 . ) Paul's idea o f the natural world eagerly awaiting its o w n r e d e m p t i o n m o v e s in the direction o f m o d e r n ecological theory, which is beginning to recapture a n ancient view o f the world as a living o r g a n i s m ; thus, TeiUiard de C h a r d i n perceived an inchoate longing in the created o r d e r toward higher a n d higher levels o f evolution. In a vision with e x t r a o r d i n a r y relevance for the m o d e r n world, Paul implies that the entire creation waits with bated breath for the emergence a n d e m p o w e r m e n t o f those w h o will take responsibility for its restoration, small groups o f the huioi

tou theou

(sons o f God),^^

which the mission envisioned in R o m a n s hopes to e x p a n d t o the end o f the k n o w n world, to Spain. These converts take the place o f Caesar in the imperial p r o p a g a n d a a b o u t the golden age, b u t they e m p l o y n o weapons t o vanquish foes. W h e n Paul speaks o f their "revelation/unveiling," there is a clear reference t o God's glory advancing in the world t h r o u g h the t r i u m p h o f the gospel. Persuasion rather than conquest is the m e a n s o f their t r a n s f o r m a t i o n . As the children o f G o d are r e d e e m e d by the gospel, they begin to regain a rightful d o m i n i o n over the created world (Gen 1 : 2 8 - 3 0 ; Ps 8 : 5 - 8 ) ; in m o r e m o d e r n t e r m s , their altered lifestyle a n d revised ethics begin to restore the ecological system that h a d been t h r o w n o u t o f balance by w r o n g d o i n g ( R o m 1 : 1 8 - 3 2 ) a n d sin ( R o m 5 - 7 ) . In contrast t o the civic cult, Paul does n o t have a magical t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f nature in view. T h e b a c k g r o u n d o f Paul's idea o f the fall a n d r e d e m p t i o n o f nature is surveyed by D o n a l d G o w a n , w h o shows that the apocalyptic writers r e m a i n largely within the biblical parameters.*^ B u t like o t h e r biblical scholars, G o w a n does n o t take a c c o u n t o f the peculiar kind o f R o m a n n e w age ideology that provides the foil for R o m a n s . In Paul's case the avenue o f divine action is the conversion o f h u m a n s rather t h a n their enslavement u n d e r a ruler pretending to be a g o d . So w h a t the creation awaits with eager longing is the e m e r g e n c e o f this t r i u m p h o f divine righteousness (cf. R o m 1 : 1 7 ) , which will begin t o restore a rightful balance to the creation,

47. Olle Christoffersson, The Earnest Expectation of the Creature: The FloodTradition as Matrix of Romans 8:18-2 (Stockholm: Ahnqvist & Wiksell, 1990), 120. 48. Fitzmyer, Romans, 507, states the widely shared consensus: " T h e revelation o f the sons of God' refers to glorified Christians." Christoffersson s suggestion in Earnest Expectation, 120-24, that the "sons of God" are the angelic powers widely discussed in apocalyptic literature, does not comport well with the references to the "sonship" of believers in Rom 8:15 and 23. However, his study helps to highlight the fact that Paul places believers in the role of the redemptive angels of 1 Enoch and elsewhere, or in the immediate context of the Roman civic cult, in the role of Caesar. 49. Donald E. Gowan, "The Fall and Redemption of the Material World in Apocalyptic Literature," HBT 7 (1985): 8 3 - 1 0 3 .

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o v e r c o m i n g the A d a m i c legacy o f c o r r u p t i o n a n d disorder that fell as a calamitous curse u p o n the g r o u n d (Gen 3 : 1 7 - 1 9 ) . Paul concentrates o n the t r a n s f o r m e d children o f G o d rather than o n specific actions a n d policies they m a y be led to follow in carrying o u t the ethic o f t r a n s f o r m a t i o n ( R o m 1 2 : 1 - 2 ) ; he assumes that the renewed m i n d o f such groups will be able to discern what G o d wills for the ecological system. So the eager longing o f the creation awaits the appearance o f such t r a n s f o r m e d persons,^" knowing that the sources o f disorder will be addressed by t h e m in due season. Here, as in m a n y o t h e r p o r t i o n s o f this letter, scholars have refrained from thinking t h r o u g h the implications o f Paul's a r g u m e n t because they failed to take the mission c o n t e x t into a c c o u n t . T h e very barbarians that R o m e believed it m u s t subdue in o r d e r to bring about the golden age are the persons t o w h o m Paul feels "obligated" ( R o m 1:14) to share the gospel that constitutes a n e w m e t h o d o f global reconciliation ( 1 5 : 7 - 1 3 ) . In R o m 8 : 2 0 , the explanation o f creation's yearning for r e d e m p t i o n is provided by allusion t o the Genesis story, where the perversion o f t h e originally g o o d a n d glorious garden c o m m e n c e d . In this m y t h , it is the progenitor o f the entire h u m a n race w h o was responsible for the c o r r u p tion o f the creation, n o t the enemies o f R o m a n imperialism. T h e use o f the divine passive, ''hypetage

(was subjected)," points to God's action

in

response to Adam's fall.^' In the Genesis a c c o u n t , the divine curse u p o n the g r o u n d resulted in its p r o d u c i n g " t h o r n s a n d thistles," causing c h r o n i c frustration

symbolized by the "sweat" o n the face o f Adam's descendants

(Gen 3 : 1 7 - 1 9 ) . In this powerful symbolization, h u m a n s trying t o play G o d ended u p ruining n o t only their relations with each other b u t also their relation to t h e natural world ( c f H o s . 4 : 1 - 3 ) . T h e R o m a n m y t h system claimed the exact opposite: that a ruler w h o plays g o d c a n restore the world to a paradisial condition by his piety and military d o m i n a n c e . Paul's choice o f the t e r m mataiotes (emptiness, vanity, fruitlessness) t o depict this situation would have led hearers t o think o f the s o m b e r d i c t u m o f Ecclesiastes, which portrays this same d i l e m m a :

50. See Bindemann, Hoffnung der Schopfung; and Anton Vogde, Das Neue Testament und die Zukunft des Kosmos (Diisseldorf: Patmos, 1970), 193-96; Rom 8:19-22: Eine Schbpfungstheologische oder anthropologisch-soteriologische Aussage? (Gemblaux: Duculet, 1970), 3 5 1 - 6 6 . For a skeptical appraisal of the significance of the cosmological dimension of Paul s argument, see Jorg Baumgarten, Paulus und die Apokalyptik (WMANT 44; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1975), 171-74. 51. See the discussion in Wilckens, Romer, 154; Murray, Romans, 303, refers to this verse as "Pauls commentary on Gen. 3:17, 18." Dunn, Romans 1-8, 470, observes that there is "now general agreement" on this point.

The Corruption

and Redemption

of Creation

37

"Vanity o f vanities," says the Teacher/Preacher, "vanity o f vanities! All is vanity.'" (Eccl 1:2) This d i l e m m a is m o r e basic t h a n the resultant " c o r r u p t i o n " t o be m e n tioned in R o m 8 : 2 1 . " Given the use o f mataiod ( m a k e vain, e m p t y ) in R o m 1:21 to describe the frustration a n d destructiveness o f persons o r groups v^ho suppress the t r u t h a n d refuse to recognize G o d , it seems likely that Paul has in m i n d the abuse o f the natural world by A d a m a n d all o f his descendants. T h e basic idea is that the h u m a n refusal t o accept limitations ruins the world. By acting o u t idolatrous desires to have unlimited d o m i n ion over the garden, the original p u r p o s e o f the c r e a t i o n — t o express divine goodness (Gen 1:31) a n d reflect divine glory (Ps

19:1-4)—^was

e m p t i e d . " As in Eccl 2 : 1 - 1 7 , it is the drive for fame, prestige, a n d i m m o r tal achievement that evacuates the goodness and glory o f the creation a n d piles up endless frustrations in the h u m a n interaction with the natural e n v i r o n m e n t , symbolized in Genesis by the " t h o r n s a n d thistles" ( 3 : 1 8 ) . W i t h such clear allusions to this biblical tradition, Paul's audience could well have t h o u g h t a b o u t h o w imperial ambitions, military conflicts, a n d e c o n o m i c exploitation h a d led to the erosion o f the natural e n v i r o n m e n t t h r o u g h o u t the Mediterranean world, leaving ruined cities, depleted fields, deforested m o u n t a i n s , a n d polluted streams as evidence o f this universal h u m a n vanity. T h a t such vanity in the f o r m o f the pax Romana

had p r o m -

ised the restoration o f the age o f Saturn appears utterly preposterous in the light o f this critical, biblical tradition. T h e s o m e w h a t awkward qualification that the futility o f the n o n h u m a n creation was ''ouch

hekousa

( n o t willingly, n o t voluntarily)" makes

clear that Paul does n o t subscribe to a gnostic view o f the world as innately frustrating a n d evil. T h e fall o f nature was " n o t t h r o u g h its o w n fault"^* because it is the h u m a n race that remains responsible for the defacing o f the ecological system. Paul h a d used this classic t e r m for free will in P h l m

52. See Schlier's critique in Romerbrief 2 6 0 - 6 1 , of the exegetical consensus of most ancient and modern commentators, who argue for the essential identity of "vanity" and "corruption." He mentions Ambrosiaster, Theodoret, Augustinus, Thomas Aquinas, Estius, Bisping, H. W. Schmidt, Althaus, Lietzmann, and Michel; to this list one could add Chrysostom, Julicher, Lipsius, Zahn, Kiihl, and others; see Otto Kuss, Der Romerbrief ubersetzt und erkldrt (Regensburg: Pustet, 1957-78), 626. 53. Cranfield, Romans, 413, refers to the creation "not being able properly to fulfill the purpose of its existence." Schlier s explanation in Romerbrief 260, is so subtiy existential, with the creation absolutizing itself just as humans do, that the causative link between human sin and ecological futility is rendered obscure. 54. Cranfield, Romans, 414.

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Robert

14, describing his preference for the slave owner

Jewett

t o act voluntarily rather

t h a n under c o m p u l s i o n , "in o r d e r that y o u r g o o d deed might n o t be d o n e o u t o f necessity but o u t o f free wiR (kata hekousion)!'

Here Paul continues

the personified m a n n e r o f speaking a b o u t nature, as if it vsrould have p r e ferred n o t t o participate in the sinful ftitility caused by A d a m a n d Eve a n d their descendants. T h e phrase contrasting "voluntarily" is ''dia ton

hypotax-

anta, eph' helpidi ([variant: ep' elpidi] o n a c c o u n t o f the o n e vs^ho subjected it, in h o p e ) , " clearly referring to God's curse against the land in response t o h u m a n s i n . " W e find the same idea derived f r o m Genesis in 4 E z r a 7 : 1 1 : "And v^hen A d a m transgressed m y statutes, w h a t h a d been m a d e was judged." A later rabbi expressed the s a m e idea: "Although things were c r e ated in their fiilness, w h e n the first m a n sinned they were c o r r u p t e d , a n d they will n o t c o m e b a c k to their order before B e n Perez [the Messiah] comes."^^ T h e curse thus remains provisional, awaiting the d a w n o f a genuinely new age w h e n nature will be restored to its original beauty a n d glory. Paul used the s a m e expression ep' elpidi (in hope/anticipation) in R o m 5:2 with specific reference to o v e r c o m i n g suffering. T h e " h o p e " in this passage, to be elaborated in 8 : 2 1 , is that the h u m a n race, which has defaced the world, would be r e d e e m e d a n d begin t o participate in r e m o v i n g the curse f r o m the land.^' Paul's wording makes it absolutely clear that such r e d e m p t i o n is a m a t t e r o f future h o p e , a n d n o t a present political achievem e n t as the R o m a n civic cult was maintaining. In R o m 8:21 Paul formulates this h o p e , that the creation "itself will be set f r e e " " f r o m the A d a m i c distortion. This takes u p a significant t h e m e in Jewish p r o p h e t i s m a n d apocalypticism,^^ which articulate in a contrasting m a n n e r s o m e o f the t h e m e s in the R o m a n expectation. Isaiah's vision o f a messianic fixture includes b o t h a king w h o will restore righteousness a m o n g h u m a n s (Isa 1 1 : 4 - 5 ) and a restoration o f Edenic conditions between animals a n d h u m a n s (Isa 1 1 : 6 - 9 ; 6 5 : 1 7 , 2 5 ; 6 6 : 2 2 ) . Jubilees envisions the

55. It is implausible to suggest that either Adam or Satan may be identified as the "one subjecting it in hope," because neither can be understood as acting "in hope." See Kuss, Romerbrief, 6 2 7 - 2 8 . 56. Cited by Ernst Kasemann, Commentary on Romans (trans. E. W. Bromiley; London: SCM; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 233, from Gen. Rab. 12:6. 57. See Franz-J. Leenhardt, The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans: A Commentary (trans. H. Knight; London: Lutterworth, 1961), 125-26. 58. The emphatic ''kai aute (also itself)" explicitly includes nature in the redemptive process, rendering implausible C. K. Barrett's comment in A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (HNTC; 2d ed.; New York: Harper, 1991), 165, that Paul "is not concerned with creation for its own sake." 59. Gowan's survey in "Fall and Redemption," 100-2, concludes that apocalyptic literature echoes but does not extensively develop the biblical theme.

The Corruption

and Redemption

of Creation

39

t i m e w h e n " t h e heavens a n d the earth shall be r e n e w e d " ( 1 : 2 9 ) . First E n o c h speaks o f regaining access to the "fragrant t r e e " o n the seventh m o u n t a i n which restores the joy a n d long life o f E d e n (chaps. 2 4 - 2 5 ; see also 9 1 : 1 6 - 1 7 ) , while the Testament o f Levi anticipates a messianic priest w h o "shall o p e n the gates o f paradise, a n d shall remove the threatening sword against A d a m . A n d he shall give t o the saints to eat f r o m the tree o f life, a n d the spirit o f holiness shall be o n t h e m " ( 1 8 : 1 0 - 1 1 ) . F o u r t h E z r a e x p e c t s the messianic " M a n f r o m the Sea" t o "deliver his c r e a t i o n " f r o m the perils o f violence ( 1 3 : 2 6 ) . T h e Sibylline Oracles predicts a t i m e after the day o f j u d g m e n t a n d the arrival o f a just empire, w h e n the earth will o n c e again b e c o m e " t h e universal m o t h e r w h o will give to m o r t a l s her best fruit in countless store o f c o r n , wine a n d oil

A n d the cities shall be frill o f g o o d

things a n d the fields r i c h " ( 3 . 7 4 4 - 7 4 5 , 7 5 0 - 7 5 1 ) . These oracles reiterate Isaiah's vision o f wolves a n d lambs eating grass together, with n o creature h a r m i n g others ( 3 . 7 8 8 - 7 9 5 ) . As we have seen, Paul's version o f this E d e n i c h o p e features the c o n verted "children o f G o d " ( R o m 8 : 1 9 ) in place o f the righteous king, priest, or

empire whose ministration

Although

the

''eleutherdthesetai

future

tense

would overturn

o f the verb

Paul

the Adamic selects

curse.

in verse

21,

(it will be freed)," clearly correlates with the "revelation

o f the sons o f G o d " in verse 19,^^ the inference is rarely d r a w n c o n c e r n i n g the m e a n s by which G o d intends to restore the natural world. Heinrich Schlier is exceptional in referring t o the "responsibility that Christians have n o t only for themselves b u t also for the realm o f pure creatureliness."^' O v e r c o m i n g ecological disorder is depicted here as a divine gift e n a c t e d as a result o f God's restoration o f h u m a n i t y to its position o f rightful d o m i n i o n , reflecting God's intended glory. Instead o f a Caesar with a sunburst a b o u t his head, the glory p r o c l a i m e d by Paul will be shared by every converted person, whether slave o r free, m a l e o r female, R o m a n o r barbarian. In this passage, as O t t o Michel points out, " B o n d a g e stands in opposition t o freedom, c o r r u p t i o n t o glory."" In verse 2 1 , the t e r m phthora

( c o r r u p t i o n , decay, destruction) refers t o the consequence o f

the perverse " v a n i t y " o f the h u m a n race, namely, the disruption a n d death o f natural ecological systems. This o c c u r s in a process that takes a course

60. Cranfield, Romans, 415. 61. Schlier, Romerbrief 2 6 2 - 6 3 , restricts this responsibility to the arena of a proper existential attitude toward nature, refraining from any discussion of ethical responsibility. 62. Otto Michel, Der Brief an die Romer (KEK 4; 14th ed.; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978), 268.

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o f its o w n , thwarting h u m a n efforts at d o m i n i o n a n d p r o d u c i n g a veritable " b o n d a g e t o c o r r u p t i o n A correlative inference is d r a w n in 8 : 2 1 b , t h a t t h e restored creation will serve the p u r p o s e o f the liberation o f the children o f G o d . This is a p u z zling reversal, because o n the basis o f 8 : 1 9 , it h a d appeared that the revelation o f such liberation o n the p a r t o f the r e d e e m e d would b e c o m e the divinely appointed agency for the restoration o f n a t u r e . But if the achievem e n t o f ''ten eleutherian

tes doxes

(liberation consisting o f g l o r y ) " ^ is

u n d e r s t o o d in t e r m s o f h u m a n s regaining a p r o p e r d o m i n i o n over t h e creation, participating responsibly in the "righteousness o f G o d , " w h o s e scope is c o s m i c (see R o m 1 : 1 7 ) , this corollary is understandable. F o r Paul, it is inconceivable that h u m a n s c o u l d exercise a n y absolute f o r m o f liberation, related only to themselves.^^ F r e e d o m m u s t b e responsibly e m b o d i e d in the real world as the " n e w c r e a t i o n " manifests itself in the lives a n d actions o f believers.^^ Again, there are ecological insights that fit this p e r spective, that n o o n e c a n be free if the e n v i r o n m e n t is poisoned, that h u m a n fiilfiUment is contextual a n d c o s m i c . M u r r a y states the theological corollary, that " t h e glory o f the people o f G o d will be in the c o n t e x t o f the restitution o f all things" ( c f Acts 3 : 2 1 ) . ' ' Despite the interpretive difficulties in understanding R o m 8 : 2 1 b , it provides a barrier against the c h r o n i c individualizing o f salvation that has m a r k e d the tradition o f Pauline theolo g y just as it stood against the glorification o f Caesar. In R o m 8 : 2 2 - 2 3 Paul m o v e s o n to place h u m a n suffering within the context o f the creation's groaning for r e d e m p t i o n . " W h e r e a s elsewhere Paul always emphasizes the contradiction between nature a n d the n e w

6 3 . 1 take the second genitive in the phrase "apo tes douleias tes phthoras" as an objective genitive, "from the bondage to corruption," following Lipsius, who refers to corruption as "a ruling power." For an argument in favor of a genitive of quaUty, see Gunther Harder, yhtheiro W TDNT 9 (1974): 104; and Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 322. 64. See Cranfield's argument in Romans, 4 1 5 - 1 6 , against the adjectival construal of "tes doxes (of glory)"; he wishes to preserve the correspondence with the phrase "bondage to corruption" in 8:21a and to retain the dependence of the genitive "tow teknon (of the children)" on the adjacent word "glory" rather than on the more distant word "freedom." The genitive "of glory" thus becomes epexegetical, "libertyresulting-from-glory." 65. See Samuel Vollenweider, Freiheit als neue Schopfung: Eine Untersuchung zur Eleutheria bei Paulus und in seiner Umwelt (FRLANT 147; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989), 3 3 1 - 3 6 , 4 0 2 - 6 . 66. See Vollenweider's argument in Freiheit, 386-88, that freedom in this passage is both a present and a future reality. 67. Murray, Romans, 305.

The Corruption

and Redemption

of Creation

41

m a n , here he uncovers a p r o f o u n d c o r r e s p o n d e n c e — a c o m m o n longing that joins n a t u r e ' a n d the spirit."'^ T h e wording, ''oidamen

gar hoti (for we

k n o w t h a t ) " (see 2 : 2 ; 3 : 1 9 ) makes clear that Paul assumes the R o m a n Christ-believers are acquainted with the idea o f nature's c o r r u p t i o n . It h a d played a decisive role in the R o m a n civic cult, as we have seen, a n d was explained in a n o t h e r way by the Genesis story. T h e expression " p a s a he ktisis (the whole c r e a t i o n ) " includes the entire range o f animate a n d inanimate objects o n earth and in the heavens. T h e personification o f creation n o t e d earlier is c o n t i n u e d in this verse by the birth m e t a p h o r s o f groaning a n d travailing. T h e s e m e t a p h o r s

resonate with G r e c o - R o m a n

images

of

M o t h e r E a r t h . O n c e again, the personification stands parallel t o R o m a n usage, but in place o f nature's joy at its deliverance t h r o u g h Augustus a n d his successors, Paul hears only agonized groans. T h e verb stenazd g r o a n ) , used here in the c o m p o u n d f o r m o f sustenazd

( c r y out,

( c r y out, g r o a n

t o g e t h e r ) , appears with a similar m e a n i n g in Job 3 1 : 3 8 - 4 0 , where the link established in Gen 3 : 1 7 - 1 8 between h u m a n sin and the groaning o f nature provides the basis for Job's protestation o f innocence: If at any t i m e the land has g r o a n e d (estenazen) its furrows also have m o u r n e d together madon),

against m e , and if (eklausan

homothy-

a n d if I alone have eaten its yield without p a y m e n t , and if

I have grieved the soul o f the o w n e r by expropriation, let nettle g r o w u p instead o f wheat, brambles instead o f barley! (LXX) T h e idea that the earth "languishes," " m o u r n s , " a n d suffers "pollution" u n d e r the b u r d e n o f h u m a n exploitation also appears in Isa 2 4 : 4 - 7 a n d H o s 4 : 1 - 3 . W i t h i n the R o m a n context, it is i m p o r t a n t t o observe that this m o u r n i n g is a present reality. N o t h i n g whatsoever remains o f the illusion that the golden age has already arrived a n d that nature "rejoices" in Caesar's victories. T h e t h e m e o f birth pangs is frequently employed as a m e t a p h o r for the painful prospect o f divine j u d g m e n t (Isa 1 3 : 8 ; 2 1 : 3 ; 2 6 : 1 7 - 1 8 ; Jer 4 : 3 1 ; 2 2 : 2 3 ; H o s 1 3 : 1 3 ; M i c 4 : 9 - 1 0 ; 1 E n o c h 6 2 : 4 ; 4 Ezra 1 0 : 6 - 1 6 ; 1 Thess 5 : 3 ) . B o t h the inevitability o f p u n i s h m e n t and the happy o u t c o m e o f the establishment o f divine justice, s o m e t i m e s in the f o r m o f the messianic era ( M a r k 13:8; John 1 6 : 2 1 ) , m a y be conveyed by this m e t a p h o r . A G r e c o R o m a n writer c a n also refer to the regeneration o f nature after the g r o a n ing o f winter's d o r m a n c y : " T h e groaning earth gives birth in travail to what

68. Gerd Theissen, Psychological Aspects of Pauline Theology (trans. J. P. Galvin; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 333.

42

Robert

Jewett

has been f o r m e d within h e r ? " ' ' Paul's usage at this point is s o m e w h a t r e m iniscent o f the later rabbinic c o n c e p t o f the "messianic woes,"'° except that such woes were expected to be intensified in the period just before the c o m i n g o f the Messiah, and they were anticipated t o fall u p o n h u m a n s rather than o n the creation as a whole. T h e exclusive c o n c e n t r a t i o n o n h u m a n s is also visible w h e n birth pangs are used to depict the suffering o f the innocent at the h a n d s o f the wicked ( I Q H 3 . 7 - 1 8 ) o r the painful birth o f Israel (Isa 6 6 : 7 - 8 ) . Paul m o v e s b e y o n d this familiar range o f usage in two ways, by i m a g ining nature as a whole undergoing such birth pangs, a n d by the a n a p h o r i c reduplication o f syn (with), that brings the expression ''systenazei synddinei

kai

(groans together a n d travails t o g e t h e r ) " into a rhetorically u n i -

fied expression ( R o m 8 : 2 2 ) . T h e first o f these verbs recalls the m o r e c o m m o n p l a c e reference in Euripides, Ion 9 3 5 : ''hos systenazein

g oida

gennaids

philois (indeed, I genuinely k n o w h o w t o g r o a n with friends)." In Paul's formulation the " t o g e t h e r " refers to the shared experience o f believers a n d the creation as a whole, b o t h yearning for the future restoration. T h e r e is an unparalleled c o h e r e n c e in this expression that c o m b i n e s the suffering o f creation from the t i m e o f A d a m with a m e t a p h o r o f h o p e — t r a v a i l , the agony that leads t o a n e w birth. In Schlier's words, "All o f the pain o f the creature in the entire world . . . is n o t a p r o c l a m a t i o n a n d beginning o f death, but o f salvation, and all the sighs o f the entire w o r l d . . . signify its glorification, the glorification o f the children o f G o d ' in the glory o f Christ."'' Paul views the creation as a hohstic, interdependent system with a life a n d development o f its o w n , yet anticipating appropriate h u m a n intervention t o c o u n t e r Adam's fall. T h e emphatic reference t o the " w h o l e " creation and the unique use o f the c o m p o u n d verbs with sus-/syn-

points to the o p t i o n p r e -

ferred by Origin, Athanasius, Schlatter, Asmussen, and Lipsius,'^ that h u m a n beings along with the rest o f creation appear t o be included in this groaning. Perhaps it w o u l d be better t o say that these clues provide r h e t o r ical hints at h u m a n participation, which b e c o m e s explicit in 8:23.'^ T h e

69. BAGD 793, from Heraclitus Stoicus, Questiones Homericae (ed. societatis philologae Bonnensis sodales; Leipzig, 1910), c. 39, p. 58; cited by Fitzmyer, Romans, 509, with reference to A.-M. Dubarle, "Le gemissement des creatures dans I'ordre divin du cosmos (Rom 8:19-22)," i^5PT 38 (1954): 4 4 5 - 6 5 . 70. See Schlier, Romerbrief, 2 6 3 - 6 4 ; Cranfield, Romans, 416. 71. Schlier, Romerbrief 264, referring to Paul Claudels discussion in Conversations dans le Loir-et-Cher (Paris: Gallimand, 1935), 255. 72. See the refutation in Kuss, Romerbrief 629. 73. See E R. Montgomery Hitchcock, "'Every Creature,' Not 'All Creation' in Romans viii. 22," ExpT 8 (1916): 3 7 2 - 8 3 .

The Corruption

and Redemption

of Creation

43

m a i n s t r e a m interpretation rejecting this option'* a i m s t o i m p r o v e t h e logic o f Paul's a r g u m e n t by m a k i n g the vôrding o f 8 : 2 2 consistent with 8 : 1 9 , at the expense o f denying its rhetorical suggestiveness for the audience. T h a t the groaning o f 8 : 2 2 lasts ''achri tou nyn (until n o w ) " echoes t h e eschatological emphasis o f 8:18'^ while including t h e suffering presently experienced a n d witnessed in the natural world within the painfiil legacy o f t h e Fall.'' If the g r o a n i n g really lasts "until now," this would exclude the Augustan premise that the golden age h a d been inaugurated by the Saecular G a m e s o f 17 B.C.E., o r that N e r o h a d ushered in a "golden age o f u n t r o u b l e d peace." T h a t believers are included in the suffering o f creation, the t h e m e o f R o m 8 : 1 8 , is developed in verse 2 3 with the contrasting f o r m u l a " o «

monon

de, alia kai ( n o t only, b u t also)," w h i c h serves t o eliminate any exceptionalism for those w h o have the s u p r e m e gift o f the Spirit. I take the participle ''echontes''

in the simple attributive sense o f believers " h a v i n g " the

first-

fruits o f the Spirit, rather t h a n in a strictly c a u s a l " o r concessive'^ sense. T h e elimination o f any exception is emphatically driven h o m e by the repeated ''autoi.

. . kai autoi ( o u r s e l v e s , . . . even ourselves)," closing the

d o o r t o the kinds o f charismatic enthusiasm Paul h a d earlier e n c o u n t e r e d in Thessalonica a n d C o r i n t h that u n d e r s t o o d the gift o f the Spirit as a f o r m o f apotheosis, rendering believers invulnerable t o suffering. This c o n c e r n probably also explains the expression ''ten aparchen

tou pneumatos

(first-

fruits o f the Spirit),"'' a unique Pauline c o m b i n a t i o n o f the Hebrew c o n c e p t

74. See Kuss, Romerbrief 6 2 9 - 3 6 ; Dunn, Romans 1-8, 472. 75. Barrett, Romans, 166, and Dunn, Romans 1-8,473, move beyond a verbal echo to contend that this expression conveys a unique eschatological emphasis. 76. See Cranfield, Romans, 417; Wilckens, Romer, 2:156. 77. Kuss, Romerbrief 638, argues for the causal sense, "because we have the firstfi'uits," following Gutjahr and Bernard Weiss. Dunn, Romans 1-8, 473, accepts this view. 78. Kasemann, Romans, 237, follows JiiUcher's line in arguing that "Christians do not sigh because they do not yet have the Spirit totally but in spite of the fact that they have him." 7 9 . 1 feel that the context favors the possessive genitive here, in which the Spirit remains the active force of God within believers, a theme elaborated in 8:26-27. Kasemann's advocacy of an epexegetical genitive {Romans, 237) has a similar implication. The active role of the Spirit is downplayed by the theory of the partitive genitive, advocated by Bardenhewer, Bisping, and Lietzmann, implying that the firstfruits is only partially represented by the work of the Spirit; and also downplayed by the theory of a genitive of apposition, advocated by Gutjahr, Kiihl, Michel, Bernard Weiss, Zahn, and Kuss, which identifies the present experience of the Spirit as constituting the firstfruits.

44

Robert

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o f the firstfruits o f the harvest t o be dedicated to God^° a n d the early church's c o n c e p t o f the Spirit as the identifying m a r k o f believers.^' T h e o d d feature o f this expression is that " t h e relationship o f giver a n d recipient is reversed,"^^ since it is n o t h u m a n s v^ho give the firstfruits to G o d , b u t G o d w h o bestows t h e m o n believers. Although the expression "firstfruits o f the Spirit" is highly evocative, with n u m e r o u s implications,^^ Paul's point is that n o m a t t e r h o w charismatically they m a y be endowed, believers c o n tinue to participate in the suffering to which the entire world has been s u b jected as a result o f sin. Christ-believers also " g r o a n , " with the expression "ew heautois'' specifying the arena as being "within ourselves," in the inner life o f individual believers, where the tension between the "already" and the " n o t yet," between the h o p e o f righteousness a n d the weight o f c o r r u p t i o n , is m o s t intensely felt. Paul referred in R o m 5:5 to the heart as the locale o f the Spirit's action a n d in 7 : 2 1 - 2 4 t o the inner conflict that will n o t be c o m pletely set aside until the eschaton; he goes o n in 8 : 2 6 - 2 7 to describe h o w the Spirit sustains believers in the meanwhile within the secret places o f their hearts. By associating the charismatic Spirit with h u m a n vulnerability, Paul effectively eliminates any project o f apotheosis such as he had c o n fronted in C o r i n t h . This is highly relevant for the R o m a n context, where the city's civic cult centered o n the apotheosis o f Caesar. At first glance it is rather puzzling that Paul would refer t o "awaiting sonship" as a future fulfillment w h e n he h a d spoken so clearly in 8 : 1 5 o f the Spirit confirming the sonship o f behevers as a present experience. T h e clue is in his repetition o f apekdechomai

(await), which h a d been used in 8 : 1 9

to refer t o awaiting the "revelation o f the sons o f God."^* T h e c o n t e n t o f the

80. See the extensive discussion in Dunn, Romans 1-8,473, citing Deut 12:6; 26:2; Exod 22:29; 23:19; Lev 2:12; 23:10; Num 15:20; 18:12-13, 30; 2 Chron 31:5; Neh 10:37, 39; Mai 3:8; Jdt 11:13. Whether the association of firstft-uits with Pentecost, and of Pentecost with the gift of the Spirit, influenced this expression is possible but not demonstrable. 81. For the somewhat more distant Greco-Roman parallels to the use of ten aparchen (firstfruits), see Arrian, Cynegeticus 33.1; Theopompos 115 (frg. 334); Porphyry, De abstinentia 2.61. Fitzmyer, Romans, 510, identifies these sources on the basis of Rafal Taubenschlag, Opera minora 2 (Warsaw: Panstwowe Wydawn Naukowe, 1959): 2 2 0 - 2 1 ; C. C. Oke,"A Suggestion with Regard to Romans 8:23," Int 11 (1957): 4 5 5 - 6 0 ; and H. Stuart Jones, "SPILAS—APARCHE PNEUMATlKOS'7T5 23 (1922) 2 8 2 - 8 3 . The latter infers from the legal use of aparche in Egyptian papyri that it is "the birth-certificate of a free person." 82. Gerhard Delling, ''aparche," TDNT 1 (1964): 486. 83. See Dunn, Romans 1-8, 4 7 3 - 7 4 . 84. This is an instance where the literal language of "sonship" needs to be preserved despite its chauvinistic implications, because if the less offensive term "adoption" is used in 8:15 and 23 as in the N R S V and Dunn, Romans 1-8, 4 5 2 , 4 7 4 , the link

The Corruption

and Redemption

of Creation

45

future h o p e is that the full a n d undistorted d o m i n i o n o f God's children will o n e day manifest itself in the c o n t e x t o f a restored creation. In the R o m a n context, this futurity has decisive significance. T h u s the phrase Paul selects to explain this restoration is ''ten apolutrosin

tou somatos hemon

(the

r e d e m p t i o n o f o u r b o d y ) , " since b o d y is the basis o f c o m m u n i c a t i n g a n d interacting with the world.^^ Paul does n o t h o p e for " r e d e m p t i o n f r o m the body,"^' o r as the peculiar singular reference to " b o d y " seems to suggest, for a resurrection o f the b o d y in s o m e individualistic sense o f being detached f r o m the creation a n d its corruptibility,^' b u t for a socially t r a n s f o r m e d corporeality within the c o n t e x t o f a t r a n s f o r m e d creation that is n o longer subject t o "corruption."^^ T h e verb apolutrdsis

ordinarily has a military

c o n n o t a t i o n , referring t o the r e d e m p t i o n o f captives o r prisoners o f w a r either by v i c t o r y o r by paying a ransom.^' In the R o m a n c o n t e x t only persons with status and m e a n s could h o p e for that kind o f r e d e m p t i o n ; here Paul speaks o f all m e m b e r s o f the c o m m u n i t y , w h o share in the groaning as well as in the future release.'^

with "the revelation of the sons of God" m 8:19 is obscured. The translation "adoption" is in any case a secondary choice, since adoption places a person in the category of sonship. For a discussion of the use of huiothesia in the sense of legal adoption, see G. H. R. Horsley "kath huiothesian"NewDocs 4 (1987): 173; the reflections of Greek legal practice render implausible Francis Lyall s contention in "Roman Law in the Writings of Paul—Adoption," JBL 88 (1969): 4 5 8 - 6 6 , that Paul's usage reflects only Roman practice. In "Petition to a Prefect," NewDocs 3 (1982): 16-17, G. H. R. Horsley discusses an alternate term for adoption not used by Paul, technothesis, indicating the adoption of a girl. 85. See Robert Jewett, PauVs Anthropological Terms: A Study of Their Use in Conflict Settings (AGJU 10; Leiden: BriU, 1971), 2 1 8 - 1 9 , 2 5 4 - 7 9 . 86. See Hans Lietzmann, An die Romer (HNT 8; 3d ed.; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1971), 85. 87. See the discussion of individual resurrection without the cosmic context in Morris, Romans, 324. Some of the older commentaries by Beck, Zahn, Nygren, and Schmidt stress the redemption of individual behevers from temptation, corruption, and mortaUty. See the critique in Schlier, Romerbrief 266. 88. See John A. Ziesler, PauVs Letter to the Romans (TPINTC; London: SCM; Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1989), 222. 89. See Friedrich Buchsel, ''apolutrdsis," TDNT 4 (1967): 351: "to set free for a ransom"; Karl Kertelge, "apolutrdsis," EDNT 1 (1990): 138: redemption "of prisoners and slaves." The military context is clear in Posidonius, fr. 213.20; Diodorus Siculus 37.5. 90. Kertelge, "apolutrdsis," 139, offers an abstraction in place of a contextual explanation that might have arisen out of the consideration of the Roman context: "The completed form of redemption is given when this mortal body is 'further clothed' with that new corporeality which God has prepared for his own (2 Cor 5:1-5; c f 1 Cor 15:37f)."

46

Robert Jewett

T h e " n e w c r e a t i o n " o f 2 C o r 5 : 1 7 a n d Gal 6 : 1 5 is clearly in view here, but n o t merely in the traditional f o r m o f an inaccessible theological ideal; the guiding m e t a p h o r is provided in R o m 8 : 1 9 , where the disclosure o f rightful, future d o m i n i o n is a n n o u n c e d . Sons o f G o d d e m o n s t r a t e their sonship by exercising the kind o f d o m i n i o n that heals rather t h a n destroys. Although the tension between the "already" a n d the " n o t y e t " will n o t be o v e r c o m e until the Parousia, Paul's p u r p o s e is to e n c o u r a g e the R o m a n c h u r c h m e m b e r s to begin enacting their sonship right now, in refusing t o c o n f o r m to the fallen age, a n d resolutely acting rightly toward the g r o a n ing creation, o f which their bodies are a part. T h e arena for such action was narrower for the m e m b e r s o f R o m a n h o u s e a n d t e n e m e n t churches t h a n for later Christian c o m m u n i t i e s ; it probably consisted mainly o f the spheres o f bodily responsibility in work, family, congregational life, a n d , given the p u r p o s e o f R o m a n s , the sphere o f mission. B y participating in the projected Spanish mission, Paul is offering the R o m a n s a c o n c r e t e o p p o r tunity to e n a c t their rightful sonship a n d contribute to the ultimate restoration o f the creation. Given the p r e s u m p t i o n o f powerlessness o n the p a r t o f the underclass represented by m o s t o f the R o m a n h o u s e a n d t e n e m e n t churches in a dictatorial society, such prospects would have appeared grandiose a n d unrealistic if undertaken w i t h o u t the foundation o f eschatological h o p e . However, c o m p a r e d with believing that the R o m a n gods h a d already ushered in the golden age t h r o u g h a victorious Caesar, Paul's h o p e could lead to a far m o r e realistic f o r m o f collective responsibility for the creation.

- 2 "UNMASKING T H E P O W E R S ' Toward a Postcolonial Analysis of 1 Thessalonians Abraham Smith

P

opularly read for m o r e than a c e n t u r y as the basis for fanciful speculation a b o u t a "rapture," 1 Thessalonians has m o r e recently been touted

as a w a r m , friendly letter that expresses "longing for absent friends" ( 2 : 1 7 ; 3 : 6 ) . ' T h e standard conceptual apparatus o f Pauline studies, however, m a y

have blocked o u r view o f b o t h the b r o a d e r c o n t e x t o f the letter a n d o f o n e o f its principal concerns. O n c e o u r view is less obstructed, we can see that in 1 Thessalonians Paul was taking an a d a m a n t stand against the R o m a n i m p e rial order. Paul was "unmasking the powers" operative in Thessalonica.^

Reading Paul against the Empire: A Postcolonial Move? R e c e n t scholarship has suggested t h a t Paul be r e a d as o p p o s i n g t h e R o m a n E m p i r e . Religion a n d politics were n o t separate. Paul's diction is political as well as religious. H e u n d e r s t a n d s the m o v e m e n t h e is s p r e a d ing as an alternative t o the R o m a n imperial order, w h i c h stands u n d e r

I.Abraham Malherbe, "Did the Thessalonians Write to Paul?" in The Conversation Continues: Studies in Paul and John: In Honor of J. Louis Martyn, ed. Robert Fortna and Beverly Gaventa (Nashville: Abmgdon, 1990), 249, 250. C f Johannes Schoon-JanPen, "On the Use of Elements of Ancient Epistolography in 1 Thessalonians," in The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis? ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Beutler (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 179-93. 2. On the expression, see Walter Wink, Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces That Determine Human Existence (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986).

47

48

Abraham

Smith

God's judgment.^ First Thessalonians figures p r o m i n e n t l y in this n e w scholarship. Key t e r m s such asparousia 4 : 1 5 ; 5 : 2 3 ) ; apantesis

( " c o m i n g " o r "presence," 2 : 1 9 ; 3 : 1 3 ;

("meeting," 4 : 1 7 ) a n d asphaleia

("security," 5 : 3 ) were

n o t politically i n n o c u o u s . Such t e r m s p o r t r a y e d Jesus' " c o m i n g "

or

" r e t u r n " as that o f an e m p e r o r greeted by a ceremonial delegation that p o u r s o u t o f the city t o m e e t h i m ( 4 : 1 4 - 1 8 ) . ' * In Paul's view the g r a n d ceremonial Parousia o f the L o r d is " a n event that will shatter the false peace and

security

of the

Roman

establishment."^

The

city officials

of

Thessalonica cultivated R o m a n beneficence.^ But in an allusion t o the official p r o p a g a n d a o f the pax Romana,

its " p e a c e a n d security," Paul focuses

o n the eschatological battle in which G o d will bring the imperial o r d e r u n d e r j u d g m e n t (1 Thess 5:3, 8 ) . ' W i t h an allusion to the p r o p h e c y o f Isa 5 9 : 1 7 , Paul suggests that the role o n c e reserved for G o d as a w a r r i o r seeking the restoration o f creation is n o w transferred to his Thessalonian assembly in their resistance t o the R o m a n imperial order.^ This recent scholarship o n Paul, including the essays o n 1 Thessalonians, opens toward a postcolonial analysis o f Paul.' W i t h roots in the earlier w o r k o f W. E. B. DuBois, m a n y artists o f the H a r l e m Renaissance, C. L. R. James, a n d Frantz F a n o n , the postcolonial criticism o f Chinua Achebe, W o l e Soyinka, W i l s o n Harris, and m a n y others has received m o r e theoretical formulation recently by Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and H o m i Bhabha. Generally speaking, postcolonial analysis examines the historical a n d discursive ways in which the colonial o r imperial powers seek t o subdue o t h e r peoples, a n d the historical

a n d discursive

m e a n s available t o subjected

3. Richard A. Horsley, "General Introduction," in Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (ed. R. A. Horsley; Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997), 1-8. On the inseparabiUty of politics and religion in the ancient world, as in Philo, see Dieter Georgi, Theocracy in PauVs Praxis and Theology, trans. David Green (MinneapoUs: Fortress, 1991), 14. On the communal nature of salvation, see Georgi, 2 0 , 2 9 . 4. Helmut Koester, "Imperial Ideology and Paul's Eschatology in 1 Thessalonians," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 158-66; cf. Hehnut Koester, "From Paul's Eschatology to the Apocalyptic Schemata of 2 Thessalonians," in The Thessalonian Correspondence, ed. Raymond F. CoUins (Leuven: University Press, 1990), 446. 5. H. Koester, "From Paul's Eschatology," 447. 6. Karl P. Donfried, "The Imperial Cults of Thessalonica and Political Conflict in 1 Thessalonians," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 2 1 5 - 2 3 . 7. Georgi, Theocracy, 28. 8. Ibid., 27. 9. Postcolonial studies is a broad umbrella term for many types of studies across a wide range of periods, places, persons, and practices, as discussed by Bart Moore-Gilbert, Post-Colonial Theory: Contexts, Practices, Politics (London: Verso, 1997).

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peoples to resist such d o m i n a t i o n . T h e recent w o r k o n 1 Thessalonians a n d this essay represent s o m e first steps toward a postcolonial analysis insofar as we e x a m i n e historical a n d discursive

ways in which the R o m a n E m p i r e

s o u g h t to subdue the Jewish people, including those small " s p i n - o f f " c o m munities that Paul helped f o r m in cities o f the eastern Mediterranean. F r o m postcolonial criticism biblical scholars c a n learn to trace the shadow o f the E m p i r e within a n d b e y o n d biblical texts. Postcolonial critics insist that besides tracing the historical f o r m s o f colonialism, it is crucial t o appreciate also the discursive f o r m s o f colonialism that " i m p l y a relation o f structural d o m i n a t i o n . " Moreover, a closer look at Paul's writings m a y reveal the historical a n d discursive

m e a n s available t o Paul as he resisted the E m p i r e . T h u s , a post-

colonial analysis m a y help us b o t h t o recover " s u b m e r g e d h i s t o r y " a n d t o reread 1 Thessalonians against s o m e o f the conventions o f power in the R o m a n imperial world. T h e analysis below unfolds in three steps. First, t o explore the historical a n d discursive m e a n s t h r o u g h which Paul could resist the R o m a n imperial order, it is necessary to situate Paul in a larger c o n t e x t o f resistance to the E m p i r e . Next, we m u s t appreciate the p r o R o m a n forces in the G r e c o - R o m a n world, mainly the local u r b a n aristocracies a n d provincial elites, with which resistance h a d t o c o n t e n d , with a focus o n Judea a n d Thessalonica. Finally, we e x a m i n e t w o key passages t o see h o w Paul sharply criticized p r o - R o m a n stances o f those forces that m o s t likely b o r e o n the Thessalonians. In 1 Thess 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 a n d 5 : 1 - 1 1 , in particular, Paul was criticizing the controlling aristocracy o f Thessalonica for their a c c o m m o d a t i o n t o the R o m a n imperial o r d e r a n d their persecution o f his assembly in Thessalonica. First Thessalonians 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 is n o t an interpolation, b u t Paul's critique o f the d o m i n a t i n g p r o - R o m a n elite in Thessalonica t h r o u g h an analogy with the p r o - R o m a n priestly aristocracy

10. Postcolonial criticism has been criticized on a variety of ft-onts, especially for its perpetuation of the anti-foundationahst perspectives of poststructuralism (a la Derrida and Foucault), for the apparent lack of appreciation for political agency in some brands of postcolonialism, and the aversion to any "totalizing theory" or "grand narrative." See Rosalind O'Hanlon and David Washbrook, "After Orientalism: Culture, Criticism, and Politics in the Third World," in Comparative Studies in Society and History 34 (1992): 141-67. For self-criticism by a postcolonial critic, see Tejumola Olaniyan, "On 'Post-Colonial Discourse': An Introduction," Callaloo 16 (1993): 7 4 3 - 4 9 . Critics of postcolonial discourse are not opposed to "the emancipation of previously submerged colonial histories and identities" (O'Hanlon and Washbrook, 141). On the use of the work of Michel Foucault, see Abraham Smith, "'1 Saw the Book Talk': A Cultural Studies Approach to the Ethics of an African American Biblical Hermeneutics," Semeia 77 (1997): 115-38. 11. Laura E. Donaldson, "Postcolonialism and Biblical Reading: An Introduction," Semew 75 (1996): 3.

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in Judea. First Thessalonians 5 : 1 - 1 1 u n m a s k s the supposed " p e a c e a n d security" offered by R o m a n p o w e r in the light o f the eschatological events that are a b o u t t o bring p e r m a n e n t " p e a c e a n d security" for Paul's assembly, which he calls to maintain its corporate sohdarity in resistance to the d o m i n a n t imperial order. Postcolonial analysis also exposes n o t only established Western scholarship's s e p a r a t i o n

o f politics f r o m

religion, b u t also t h e

peculiar

Christian-centric conceptual apparatus with which it operates.'^ Like m o s t o t h e r a c a d e m i c fields, N T studies originated in western E u r o p e during the heyday o f its imperial d o m i n a t i o n o f o t h e r peoples; hence, its orientation a n d conceptual apparatus often betray its Western imperial origins.'^ It has thus been difficult for Western biblical scholarship t o b e c o m e critically aware o f the shadow that E u r o p e a n e m p i r e casts across biblical criticism itself, particularly t h e distinctively Christian, o r m o r e narrowly, Protestant character o f its questions, concepts, a n d solutions.'^ T h e postcolonial e x p o sure o f Western biblical studies will be m o r e implicit than explicit here, given the limitations o f space.

Historical and Discursive Resistance to Roman Power: Judeans and Philosophers In b o t h historical a n d discursive ways, Paul's c o n t e m p o r a r i e s

resisted

R o m e , a n d Paul w o u l d likely have drawn o n similar social a n d literary c o n ventions t o indicate his opposition t o the R o m a n g o v e r n m e n t . Having spent t i m e in Jerusalem and Judea prior t o his c o m m i s s i o n i n g as an a p o s tle o f Jesus Christ, Paul would surely have been familiar with various historical and discursive f o r m s o f resistance in Judea. A n d as a Jew w h o was widely traveled in the cities o f the eastern R o m a n E m p i r e , he seems likely t o have been familiar also with various f o r m s o f discursive resistance a m o n g Hellenistic philosophers. If s o m e scholars a n d popular interpreters o f Paul have seen h i m as an a c c o m m o d a t i o n i s t o r as o n e w h o simply c h o s e

12. S. R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 9 , 1 5 , points to the pitfalls of interpreting ancient rituals of power with narrow Christianizing assumptions—as if the imperial ruler cult were not only not religious but also had nothing to do with unperial power. 13. On these larger imperialistic influences and socioreHgious movements, see Fernando Segovia, "Biblical Criticism and Postcolonial Studies: Toward a Postcolonial Optic," in The Postcolonial Bible, ed. R. S. Sugirtharajah (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1998), 5 8 - 6 0 . 14. For an excellent critique of modern scholarship on Paul, see Shawn Kelley, Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship (London: Roudedge, 2002).

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n o t t o resist the ruling powers o f his day, perhaps such readings are r o o t e d in a failure t o situate Paul's writings within the resistance conventions o f the time.'^ W h i l e the r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f the resistance a n d conventions given here c a n n o t be exhaustive, they are intended to intimate some o f the resistance m e a n s k n o w n b o t h t o Paul a n d his assemblies.

The Judean-Israelite Tradition of Resistance T h e tradition o f Israelite resistance t o foreign rule was as old as origins o f the people itself Israel's foundational m o v e m e n t arose o u t o f " G o d ' s liberation o f Israel from b o n d a g e t o the p h a r a o h in

Egypt."Subsequent

retellings o f the story (as, e.g., in Deutero-Isaiah) a n d the celebration o f Passover kept the tradition alive.'' It is little w o n d e r that the popular p r o p h e t i c m o v e m e n t s that e m e r g e d shortly after Jesus' crucifixion m o d eled themselves o n the exodus, Jordan, o r Jericho traditions. In 4 4 C.E., Theudas's p r o m i s e that the waters o f the Jordan w o u l d p a r t was likely an a t t e m p t t o reenact deliverance o n analogy with the exodus. Later, an u n n a m e d p r o p h e t from Egypt led a popular m o v e m e n t that reenacted " t h e battle o f J e r i c h o " led by Joshua.'^ A m o r e serious challenge to R o m a n rule in Judea t h a n these nonviolent popular prophetic m o v e m e n t s were the revolts that t o o k the f o r m o f p o p u l a r messianic m o v e m e n t s in 4 B.C.E., following the death o f H e r o d , a n d again as p a r t o f the "Jewish W a r " in 6 6 - 7 0 C.E. These resemble the "native revolts" a m o n g the o t h e r peoples subjected by the R o m a n s , in n o r t h e r n Italy, Sardinia, Spain, Gaul, Africa, Britain, a n d even Macedonia-Thrace.'^ Even scribal circles generated protests a n d m o v e m e n t s against R o m a n rule in Judea. W h i l e these (e.g., the covenanters at Q u m r a n ,

some

Jerusalem sages a n d their students, a n d " t h e F o u r t h P h i l o s o p h y " ) were all nonviolent p r i o r to the 5 0 s c.E.,^° in the 5 0 s a n d 6 0 s t h e scribal-led Sicarii a d o p t e d terrorist tactics (Josephus, Jewish War, 7 . 2 5 3 - 2 5 5 ) , apparently in

15. For critiques of these readings of Paul, see Neil Elliott, Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1994), 3 - 9 0 . 16. Richard A. Horsley, Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002), 38. 17. See, e.g., Bernhard W. Anderson, "Exodus Typology in Second Isaiah," in B. W. Anderson and W. Harrelson, eds.. Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg (New York: Harper, 1962), 177-95. 18. Horsley, Jesus and Empire, 52. 19. See Stephen L. Dyson, "Native Revolt Patterns in the Roman Empire," ANRW 2.3 (1975): 138-75. 20. On the anti-Roman sentiment in the Qumran literature, see Geza Vermes, Discovery in the Judean Desert (New York: Desclee, 1956), 7 9 - 8 5 . C f the Qumran War Rule (IQM 11.8; 13.2; 15.1; 18.3; 19.29).

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response to the increasingly repressive measures taken by the R o m a n governors.^' T h e Sicarii carried o u t assassinations a n d t o o k hostages a m o n g the Judean aristocracy, who were collaborating in R o m a n rule. Paul's m i n i s t r y in Thessalonica t o o k place just as political conflict intensified in Judea. W h i l e Paul in n o way shared the violent tactics o f the Sicarii, he c a n hardly be interpreted as acquiescent in the R o m a n imperial o r d e r o r socially conservative. Like others before h i m , Paul d r e w

discur-

sively o n the Israelite tradition o f resistance in his a p p r o p r i a t i o n

of

Scripture. W h i l e Paul's use o f Scripture was varied, it is clear that he at least read " S c r i p t u r e as a vast n e t w o r k o f typological pre-figurations o f himself a n d his communities."^^ Paul u n d e r s t o o d his call a n d c o m m i s s i o n t o the Gentiles within the p r o p h e t i c tradition, for his description o f his call a n d c o m m i s s i o n in Gal 1:15 is reminiscent o f Isa 4 9 : 1 - 6 a n d Jer 1 : 4 - 5 . ' ^ A n d as Jeremiah ( 1 1 : 2 0 ; 1 2 : 3 ) spoke o f G o d as o n e w h o "tests the heart," Paul speaks o f G o d as o n e " w h o tests o u r h e a r t s " (1 Thess 2 : 4 ) . It is also likely that Paul drew his understanding o f the " g o s p e l " (cf. R o m 1 0 : 1 5 - 1 6 ) f r o m Deutero-Isaiah, a text t h a t repeatedly speaks a b o u t the " g o o d n e w s " o f God's salvation in its L X X (Septuagint) f o r m (cf. Isa 5 2 : 7 ; 61:1).^'* Perhaps Paul saw his collection for the saints in Jerusalem as a fulfillment

o f the Isaianic "prediction that Gentiles would bring their gifts

( 6 0 : 1 1 ) in t h a t final eschatological g r a n d p r o c e s s i o n " o f the last days.^^ Likewise, perhaps Paul's repeated diction o f consolation (1 Thess 4 : 1 8 ; 5 : 1 1 ; 2 C o r 1 : 3 - 7 ) is an e c h o o f that t h e m e in Isa 4 0 : 1 - 1 1 ; 57:18.^^ F u r t h e r m o r e , Paul's c o n s t r u a l o f God's a c t i o n o f reconciliation,

as

a n n o u n c e d in " n e w c r e a t i o n " diction o f 2 C o r 5 : 1 7 - 6 : 2 , clearly echoes the " s e c o n d e x o d u s / r e s t o r a t i o n / n e w creation perspective" o f Isa 4 3 : 1 8 - 1 9 , which was designed t o e n c o u r a g e the exiles.^^

21. Horsley,/esws and Empire, 43. 22. Richard Hays, "The Role of Scripture in Paul's Ethics," in Theology and Ethics in Paul and His Interpreters: Essays in Honor of Victor Paul Furnish, ed. Eugene H. Lovering Jr. and Jerry Sumney (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996), 41. 23. See J. Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (PhUadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 115. C f Hays, "Role of Scripture," 33. 24. C f Beker, Paul the Apostle, 116. 25. Calvin Roetzel, Paul, The Man and the Myth (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999), 63. 26. Ibid., 79. C f Karl L. Donfried, "The Epistolary and Rhetorical Context of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12," in The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis? ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Beuder (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 49. 27. S. Hafemann, "Pauls Argument from the Old Testament on 2 Cor 1-9: The Salvation-History/Restoration Structure of Paul s Apologetic," in The Corinthian Correspondence, ed. R. Bieringer (Leuven: University Press, 1996), 301 n. 46. On "new creation," also c f Isa 65:17-25; 66:22-23, as noted in Hays, "Role of Scripture," 34.

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If Paul is drawing o n the prophetic tradition a n d especially D e u t e r o Isaiah in 1 Thessalonians and t h r o u g h o u t his corpus, he assuredly is writing resistance literature. T h a t is, Paul reads events in light o f an eschatological vision o f G o d bringing a n e w era o f justice for t h o s e w h o have faced alienation and oppression. Paul s language o f consolation in 1 Thessalonians then is n o t simply another reminder o f Paul's friendliness toward the Thessalonians. Rather, it is an affirmation o f the consolation a n d salvation o f G o d in the tradition o f words o n c e spoken t o oppressed exiles.

Resistance and Alternative Communities among the Philosophies Ever since the ascent o f Hellenistic kings, power had been a keen concern in the Mediterranean world. T h e Greek cities in which Paul conducted his mission sought power both in gods and m godlike heroes, whether local benefactors or foreign saviors w h o provided resources for urban buildings and public welfare. S o m e people, however, formed alternative communities. As alternative communities with wider connections than the usual local voluntary associations, Jewish synagogai and Paul's ekklesiai were similar to certain philosophies "whose p r o m o t i o n o f g o o d living as well as right thinking, philanthropy as well as piety, could involve sharp criticism o f the ruling classes."^^ T h e Jewish way o f Ufe was classified as philosophy, and for apologetic reasons, s o m e Jews adopted the classification themselves. Paul also shared m u c h with certain philosophers o f his age. There is evidence that the Cynics, Stoics, Pythagoreans, Epicureans, and others o f the period embraced the psychagogic tradition o f exhortation designed to transform a person. Recent comparisons o f the Pauline communities with Epicurean c o m m u n i ties o f late republican times suggest not a genetic relationship but a c o m m o n " c o m m u n a l pattern o f mutual participation by c o m m u n i t y m e m b e r s in exhortation, edification, and correction."^^ In both Pauline and Epicurean communities, a wide variety o f persons were admitted, including slaves and w o m e n , and in both, the goal was character formation in accordance with c o m m u n a l unity ideals.^° Neophytes could acquire a teacher status and thus use the same reformatory ethic to help others,^' and leaders recognized the different conditions o f those in their respective communities a n d tailored their hortatory means to fit the varying dispositions o f their charges.^^

28. S. G.Wilson, "Voluntary Associations: An Overview," in Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World, ed. John S. Kloppenborg and Stephen G. Wilson (London: Roudedge, 1996), 3. 29. Clarence Glad, Paul and Philodemus: Adaptability in Epicurus and Early Christian Psychagogy (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 7. 30. Ibid., 8. 31. Ibid., 105. 32. Ibid., 137-52. See Seneca, Epistles 5 2 . 3 - i .

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W i t h respect to the d o m i n a n t cultural ethos o f the time, the net effect o f the alternative c o m m u n i t i e s wras to create a viable, oppositional netvôrk o f shared values across time a n d space. These alternative c o m m u n i t i e s often shifted the loyalty o f their constituents f r o m their traditional families to the new group o r philosophy.^^ M e m b e r s o f the groups frequentiy d e n o u n c e d the f o r m e r h o n o r they received when they achieved wealth a n d reputation. Thus, Paul's creation o f a network o f assemblies was an

historical

m e a n s o f resisting the R o m a n E m p i r e . T h a t is, the network ftinctioned like an alternative m o v e m e n t designed to create solidarity in a distinctive set o f values. O f course, this distinctive set o f values should easily be recognized in light o f Paul's apocalyptic gospel, for that gospel was n o t politically i n n o c u o u s b u t was a fundamental "critique o f this age and its values."^^ To the extent that the R o m a n g o v e r n m e n t was a part o f "this age," it also was subject to the critique o f Paul's gospel. Given the repressive character o f the imperial order, it is n o t difficult t o imagine that Paul would find subtle o r indirect ways t o direct his c r i tique in his writings. A n d given the afflictions Paul notes that he experienced in Philippi (1 Thess 2 : 2 ) , moreover, o n e could expect h i m t o use indirect critique in order n o t t o offend the R o m a n authorities in a blunt fashion.^^ Yet, Paul's p r o d u c t i o n o f a " b r o t h e r h o o d that extend [ed] b e y o n d the city, t h r o u g h o u t M a c e d o n i a , Achaia, a n d b e y o n d ( 1 : 8 - 9 ) " constituted a strategy o f resistance t o the d o m i n a n t order. T h a t is, he urged all the m e m bers o f the " b r o t h e r h o o d , " his assemblies such as the o n e in Thessalonica, t o refuse t o "participate in the intricate web o f local cults that gave sacred legitimation to the Empire."^^

The Philoromanoi (Pro-Roman Elites) R o m e systematically established control o f the ancient Mediterranean by b o t h military conquest and self-justifying ideology.^^ After R o m e successfully

33. Carolyn Osiek, "The Family m Early Christianity: 'Family Values' Revisited," CBQ 58 (1996): 7. 34. J. Paul Sampley, Walking between the Times: PauVs Moral Reasoning (Minneapohs: Fortress, 1991), 108. 35. See discussion of Paul's use of indirect speech by J. Paul Sampley, "*The Weak and Strong,' Paul's Careful and Crafty Rhetorical Strategy in Romans 14:1-15:13," in The Social World of the First Christians: Studies in Honor of Wayne A. Meeks, ed. L. M. White and O. L. Yarbrough (MinneapoUs: Fortress, 1994), 4 3 - 4 6 . C f Frederick Ahl, "The Art of Safe Criticism in Greece and Rome" American Journal of Philology 105 (1984): 174-208. What deserves attention now is Paul's use of indirect speech as a form of resistance. 36. EHiotty Liberating Paul, 195. 37. On Rome's establishment of its Empire, see Erich S. Gruen, Studies in Greek Culture and Roman Policy (Leiden: Brill, 1990), esp. 1 2 9 , 1 3 8 ; and Peter K. Nelson,

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c a m p a i g n e d against the Greek cities o f southern Italy a n d Sicily, it defeated C a r t h a g e in a series o f wars. R o m e then e x p a n d e d t o the n o r t h a n d west, a n d advanced an eastern c a m p a i g n that subdued Asia Minor, A r m e n i a , a n d Syria. R o m a n warlords a c c r u e d untold s u m s o f wealth. By the t i m e o f the Principate, R o m e exercised political a n d e c o n o m i c imperium

over the

Mediterranean world a n d beyond. Crucial for the justification o f its imperial rule fi-om Augustus o n w a r d were its divine expansionist claims. Virgil's Aeneid justified Rome's right t o rule the world ( 2 7 9 ) . Virgil does n o t simply p o r t r a y Aeneas, o n e o f the heroes o f the Trojan War, as a wanderer like Odysseus; he also places the protagonist in a war t o win L a t i u m , from which R o m e was established. F u r t h e r m o r e , Aeneas is " t h e e x e c u t o r o f a divine universal plan which did n o t b e c o m e visible until Virgil's time," in the reign o f Augustus.^^ Moreover, Virgil portrays Augustus' reign as the n e w reign o f Saturn, the R o m a n equivalent o f K r o n o s , the ruler o f the golden age (first m e n t i o n e d in Hesiod's Works and Days)J^

T h u s , in the Aeneid,

R o m e is depicted as

divinely ordained to be ruler o f the world,^° a n d Augustus is depicted as the long-awaited restorer o f peace (VirgH, Aeneid

3 ; Livy 1 . 1 - 2 . 6 ) .

In a rapidly escalating process that began with Augustus' accession t o power, the cities a n d provincial assemblies o f Greek and Asia lavished n u m e r o u s h o n o r s in multiple f o r m s o n the R o m a n e m p e r o r s . In the f o r m o f decrees, coin issues, temples, statues, a n d public festivals, the e m p e r o r s were h o n o r e d by the subjects cities, all at their o w n initiative.^' T h o u g h

Leadership and Discipleship: A Study of Luke 22:24-30 (Adanta: Scholars, 1994), esp. 28-29. 38. Albrecht Dihle, Greek and Latin Literature of the Roman Empire: From Augustus to Justinian, trans. Manfred Malzahn (London: Roudedge, 1994), 32. 39. On Virgil's adoption of Hesiod's "Ages of Metal" myth and the "Life under Kronos" myth from another Greek tradition, see Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, "The Golden Age and Sin in Augustan Ideology," Past and Present 97 (1982): 20. Virgil first used the golden-age theme in his fourth Eclogue, in a period of civil unrest. Later, when Octavian became the undisputed ruler of Rome, Virgil composed Georgics, which chanted a similar theme and posited Augustus as a "potential savior" (Wallace-Hadrill, 20). Then, when Augustus actually gained a tight grip on Rome, Virgil composed the Aeneid, which returned yet again to the Eclogue theme and signaled "a confident recognition of Augustus as savior" (Wallace-Hadrill, 22). Also, Wallace-Hadrill (25) notes how the golden-age theme is repeated in Nero's imperial reign through the writings of Seneca and Calpurnius Siculus. 40. Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives a similar portrait of Rome as divinely ordained to rule the world. See John T. Squires, The Plan of God in Luke-Acts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 41. 41. See esp. S. R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984); excerpts in Richard A Horsley, "Introduction to the Gospel of Imperial Salvation," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 20.

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anti-imperial sentiment was n o t u n c o m m o n , R o m e ' s subjects, led by the local elite, a c c o m m o d a t e d themselves t o R o m a n rule because o f R o m e ' s unavoidable presence a n d power. In Judea in particular, where the m o v e m e n t Paul h a d joined originated, the ruling priestly elite acceded t o R o m e ' s d o m i n a t i o n as long as " t h e r e was n o specific interference in Jewish practices o f worship a n d laws."^^ T h e ruling elite sought t o a c c o m m o d a t e themselves t o the R o m a n s , moreover,

even as t h e y a i m e d t o m a i n t a i n

Jewish t r a d i t i o n s .

The

I d u m a e a n s Antipater a n d his son H e r o d , principal a d m i n i s t r a t o r a n d king, respectively, o f greater Judea in the

first-century

B.C.E., "ingratiated t h e m -

selves with p r o m i n e n t R o m a n s such as Julius Caesar, M a r k A n t o n y a n d Octavian."^^ T h e historian Josephus, a wealthy priest a n d client o f the Flavian e m p e r o r s , c o m m e n d s the R o m a n s in lavish t e r m s : " W i t h o u t God's aid so vast an E m p i r e could never have been built u p " {Jewish

War

2 . 3 9 0 - 3 9 1 ) . Indeed, in its rebellion the Jerusalem populace " w a s w a r r i n g n o t against the R o m a n s only, b u t also against G o d " {Jewish War 5 . 3 7 8 ; cf. 5 . 9 . 3 ; 5 . 9 . 4 ; 6 . 2 . 1 ) . ^ Correspondingly, he blames n o t the R o m a n s but the Sicarii ( a m o n g others) for the w a r against R o m e a n d the destruction o f the Jerusalem temple {Jewish War 1.27; 5 . 4 4 4 ; 6 . 2 5 1 ) . " T h e y o u t d o each o t h e r in acts o f impiety t o w a r d G o d a n d injustice t o their n e i g h b o r s , . . . oppressing the m a s s e s , . . . b e n t o n t y r a n n y . . . . V i o l e n c e , . . . p l u n d e r i n g , . . . lawlessness a n d c r u e l t y , . . . n o w o r d unspoken t o insult, n o deed untried t o r u i n " {Jewish War 7 . 8 . 1 ) . A c c o m m o d a t i o n i s t practices also included violent repression o f persons o r groups deemed subversive.^^ New Testament literature itself provides evidence o f such repressive acts by the rulers o f Judea a n d Galilee, such as the arrest a n d beheading o f J o h n the Baptist a n d the arrest o f Peter a n d the stoning o f Stephen a n d James in Jerusalem. H e r o d Antipas likely killed J o h n the Baptist, at least according t o Josephus, because he feared " t h a t John's followers m i g h t t u r n t o insurrection stasis'' {Jewish Antiquities

18.5.2 [116-119]).^^

42. David M. Rhoads, Israel in Revolution, 6-74 C.E.: A Political History Based on the Writings of Josephus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976), 11. 43. Richard A. Horsley, "Introduction to Patronage, Priesthoods, and Power," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 93. 44. On Josephus as Roman client and historian, see Per Bilde, Flavius Josephus between Jerusalem and Rome: His Life, His Works, and Their Importance (Sheffield: JSOT, 1998). Josephus'/^^5/i War, written to persuade Jews in the East not to resist Rome in the aftermath of the Roman reconquest of Judea, was commissioned by the emperor Titus. 45. See Richard A. Horsley, "Popular Prophetic Movements at the Time of Jesus: Their Principal Features and Social Origins,"/SNT 26 (1986): 3-27. 46. David Fiensy, "Leaders of Mass Movements and the Leader of the Jesus Movement,"/SNT 74 (1999): 15.

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W i t h regard to Macedonia Livy gives the account o f Onesimus, a Macedonian and a pro-Roman,^^ v^hose speech to the R o m a n Senate castigates Perseus for not abiding by his father's treaty with R o m e ( 4 4 . 1 6 . 5 ) . This is the same Perseus (the son o f Phihp V ) who lost the decisive battle o f the Third Macedonian W a r with R o m e , the battie at Pydna, which led to the Macedonian settlement o r the division o f M a c e d o n i a into four republics in 167 B.C.E. B y mid-first c e n t u r y B.C.E. the aristocratic rulers in Thessalonica, the provincial capital o f M a c e d o n i a , cultivated R o m a n favor a n d beneficence. Despite occasional a n t i - R o m a n revolts by o t h e r Macedonians,^^ there is a m p l e literary, n u m i s m a t i c , epigraphic, a n d statuary evidence for a rich history o f h o n o r s given t o the R o m a n s by the city o f Thessalonica a n d p a r ticular figures o f wealth a n d power.^^ A Thessalonian inscription praises Metellus, w h o h a d quashed the revolt o f the M a c e d o n i a n s , as a " s a v i o r " (soter).

A n o t h e r inscription h o n o r s the quaestor C. Servilius Caepio as

"savior." A series o f coins praises A n t o n y a n d Octavian a n d c o m m e m o r a t e s the city's "liberation" t h r o u g h Antony's defeat o f B r u t u s in 4 2

B.C.E.

Thessalonica c o m m e m o r a t e d Antony's v i c t o r y as the inauguration o f a n e w era, c o m p l e t e with celebratory g a m e s . After the battle o f A c t i u m (31 B.C.E.), the city issued coinage h o n o r i n g the deification o f Julius. W h i l e Augustus is n o t deified o n the coins, the coins j u x t a p o s e h i m with his father, a n d thus the issue suggests the "Thessalonians' awareness o f the Imperator's status as divifilius

[son o f a G o d ] . " S o m e o f Augustus' succes-

sors ( f r o m Gaius t o C o m m o d u s ) also appear o n the city's coins. A partial statue o f Augustus survives f r o m the Claudian period. O n e inscription indicates the presence o f a temple o f Caesar, while others praise " R o m a n b e n e f a c t o r s " o r R o m a in association with R o m a n benefactors. T h e inscription praising the first-century T h r a c i a n prince Rhoimetalus 11, as priest a n d agonothete

(judge o f public g a m e s ) o f the I m p e r a t o r Caesar Augustus,

suggests that the Thessalonians were actively cultivating the p a t r o n a g e o f the e m p e r o r a n d imperial figures in seeking political leverage.

47. On the term philoromanoi, see Douglas R. Edwards, Religion and Power: Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greek East (New York: Oxford University, 1996), 18. 48. Dyson, "Native Revolt Patterns," 169-70, mentions several revolts in late Republican or early imperial times. 49. Documentation for the following evidence is mainly in Holland Lee Hendrix, "Thessalonicans Honor Romans," (diss., Harvard University, 1984; on microfilm, Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMl, 1997), respectively on 2 6 6 , 1 5 6 , 1 7 2 , 1 9 8 , 1 3 5 , 1 9 2 , 3 1 5 , 3 7 ; Hendrix, "Benefactor/Patron Networks in the Urban Environment: Evidence from Thessalonica," Semeia 56 (1992): 50; Holland Lee Hendrix, "Archaeology and Eschatology," in The Future of Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester (ed. Birger A. Pearson et al; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 117; Raymond F. Collins, The Birth of the New Testament: The Origin and Development of the First Christian Generation (New York: Crossroad, 1993), 6.

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This a b u n d a n t evidence o f their active cultivation o f R o m a n power makes clear that the d o m i n a n t Thessalonian aristocracy, like its c o u n t e r p a r t in Judea, were the local instruments o f the R o m a n order. It is critical for us t o realize h o w visible the R o m a n imperial ideology w o u l d have b e e n as a p a r t o f the everyday w o r l d o f the Thessalonians w h e n we read 1 Thessalonians.

Paul's Criticism of the Thessalonian Aristocracy W h e n read against the clear evidence that the aristocratic rulers o f b o t h Judea and Thessalonica were strongly p r o - R o m a n and, indeed, the local instruments o f the R o m a n miperial order, 1 Thess 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 and 1 Thess 5 : 1 - 1 1 appear to be Paul s encouragement o f resistance to that imperial order.

First Thessalonians 2:13-16 Traditional readings o f 1 Thess 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 hardly m e n t i o n the R o m a n s at all despite the fact that, as we have seen, the R o m a n imperial presence was visible everywhere in Thessalonica.^^ Indeed, t h e interpretation o f this passage is m i r e d in debate over whether it is an interpolation o r an original p a r t o f the letter.^' While the debate c a n n o t be fully reviewed o r settled in this essay, m a n u s c r i p t evidence supports the originality o f the passage, a n d reasonable arguments can be given o n other g r o u n d s — f o r m a l o r t h e o l o g i c a l — for its authenticity. Formally, the repetition o f a thanksgiving notice ( c f 1:2; 2 : 1 3 ) is not problematic because the passage in question appears to repeat

50. The exception is the case when some scholars interpret an act of the Romans against the Jews (cf Suetonius, Claudius 25.4) as the wrath of God (1 Thess 2:16). E. Bammel, "Judenverfolgung und Naherwartung," ZTK 56 (1959): 2 4 9 - 3 1 5 ; Robert Jewett, The Thessalonian Correspondence: Pauline Rhetoric and Millenarian Piety (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 3 7 - 3 8 . C f ]osephus Jewish Antiquities, 20.112; Jewish War, 2.224-27. 51. The earhest supporters of an interpolation hypothesis are catalogued in Werner Kummel's "Das literarische und geschichtiiche Problem des ersten Thessalonicherbriefes," in Neotestamentica et patristica: Eine Freundesgabe, Herrn Professor Dr. Oscar Cullmann zu seinem 60. Geburtstag Uberreicht (Novum Testamentum Suppl. 6; Leiden: Brill, 1962), 2 2 0 - 2 1 . The most notable recent advocate is Birger Pearson, "1 Thessalonians 2:13-16: A Deutero-Pauline Interpolation," HTR 64 (1971): 79-94. Pearsons argument diat 1 Thess 2:13-16 is an interpolation has three pivotal bases: (1) an historical one, the presumption of the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. as the event of the wrath in 1 Thess 2:16 (94); (2) a theological one, the presumption that Paul could not have written an anti-Jewish polemic (85); and (3) a formal one, the apparent disruption that 1 Thess 2:13-16 causes between 2:12 and 2:17 ( 8 8 - 9 1 ) . For a critique of Pearsons position, see Karl P. Donfried, "Paul and Judaism: 1 Thessalonians as a Test Case," Int 38 (1984): 2 4 2 - 5 3 .

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and amplify the earUer emphasis o n imitation o f suffering ( 1 : 6 ; 2 : 1 4 ) , with b o t h passages endmg o n a note about the wrath o f G o d ( 1 : 1 0 ; 2 : 1 6 ) . " TheologicaUy, s o m e d o u b t that Paul could have written a passage with an anti-Jewish valence. T h e r e are at least four c o u n t e r a r g u m e n t s t o this n o t i o n . First, 2 : 1 4 - 1 6 is n o t directed toward aU Jews, just some.^^ Second, debate a n d conflict between various Judean groups a n d m o v e m e n t s o f Jews (or between Judean groups a n d their rulers) was often intense in R o m a n times (e.g., Josephus, Jewish Antiquities

1 . 1 5 . 9 1 ; Philo

Cherubim

1 7 ) , even at points leading to violence (Josephus, Jewish War 1.4.3; 1.7.5; 1 . 2 9 . 1 ; 2 . 1 . 3 ; 2 . 3 . 1 ) ; this passage m u s t be u n d e r s t o o d precisely in this c o n text.^'' Third, the passage does n o t conflict with R o m a n s 11, " w h e r e far f r o m suggesting the final j u d g m e n t o f the Jews, [Paul] speaks c o n c e r n i n g the continuing validity o f God's covenant with t h e m and indeed o f their eventual salvation."^^ N o t only m u s t R o m a n s be read for its o w n situation, b u t in any respect, Paul's reference t o " s o m e Jews" is an analogy designed t o speak about the character o f the Gentiles in Thessalonica w h o cause suffering for Paul's assembly.^^ F o u r t h , any specific referencing o f " t h e w r a t h "

52. On 1 Thess 2:13-16 as an amplification of 1:2-10, see F. F. Bruce, 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Word BibUcal Commentary 35; ed. Ralph P. Martin; Waco, Tx.: Word, 1982), 44. On ampUfication, the author of Ad Herennium (4.54-56) says: Refining consists in dweUing on the same topic and yet seeming to say something ever new. It is accomplished in two ways: by merely repeating the same idea, or descanting upon it. We shall not repeat the same thing precisely—for that, to be sure, would weary the hearer and not refine the idea—^but with changes. Our changes wiU be of three kinds: in the words, in the delivery, and in the treatment. Our changes wUl be verbal when, having expressed the idea once, we repeat it once again or oftener in other, equivalent terms. See also Cicero, Orator 63.212; Dionysius of HaUcarnassus, Demosthenes 48. 53. See Frank GilUard, "The Problem of die Anti-Semitic Comma between 1 Thessalonians 2:14 and 15," NTS 35 (1989): 4 8 1 - 5 0 2 . C f W. D. Davies, "Paul and die People of Israel," NTS 24 (1977): 6 - 9 ; WiUi Marxsen, Der erste Brief an die Thessalonicher (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 1979), 149. 54. Luke Timothy Johnson, "The New Testament's Anti-Jewish Slander and the Conventions of Ancient Polemic" Journal of Biblical Literature 108 (1989): 4 1 9 - ^ 1 ; Donald Hagner, "Paul's Quarrel with Judaism," in Anti-Semitism and Christianity: Issues of Polemic and Faith, ed. Craig A. Evans and Donald A. Hagner (MinneapoUs: Fortress, 1993), 130-36. It is necessary to consider critically Josephus' defensive estabUshment viewpoint and sharp castigation of dissenting or disruptive groups. 55. Hagner, "Paul's Quarrel widi Judaism," 131. 56. Abraham Smith, Comfort One Another: Reconstructing the Rhetoric and Audience of 1 Thessalonians (LouisviUe, Ky: Westminster John Knox, 1995), 35-37.

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t o the (later) destruction o f the temple o r a massacre o r something else is highly speculative.^^ Yet, the debate likely lingers because the a p p r o a c h to Paul o n either side o f the debate examines Paul's statement in this passage so

narrowly,

that is, only W\\h reference to ( o t h e r ) Jews a n d without considering the larger c o n t e x t in the R o m a n E m p i r e . W h i l e the tragic history o f antiSemitism requires that we never bring closure to any scriptural passage that has been used by later Christians t o s u p p o r t racial hatred, it is possible that the recent t u r n in Pauline scholarship offers us a way forward in understanding the wider polemical and political dynamics o f the passage, if we assign it to Paul's hands.^^ Given the strong p r o - R o m a n a t m o s p h e r e in Thessalonica

(where

Paul's assembly h a d suffered at the hands o f o t h e r Thessalonians) a n d the frequent repressive action by the p r o - R o m a n Judean rulers against Jewish groups there (including the assemblies o f Christ-believers), it seems likely that in 1 Thess 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 Paul is criticizing the p r o - R o m a n aristocracy in Thessalonica by way o f an analogy with the p r o - R o m a n rulers o f Judea.^^ T h r e e principal a r g u m e n t s s u p p o r t this suggestion. First, the diction o f 1 Thess 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 is political. F o r Paul, Jesus Christ, n o t the emperor, is " L o r d " and " S o n o f God," in pomted contrast to the visible signs o f the " l o r d s h i p " a n d "divine sonship" o f the e m p e r o r

in

Thessalonica.^^ F u r t h e r m o r e , the expression " t h a t they m i g h t be saved"

57. In agreement, see George Lyons, Pauline Autobiography: Toward a New Understanding (SBL Dissertation Series 73; Adanta: Scholars, 1985), 203; Abraham Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians (Anchor Bible; New York: Doubleday, 2000); 168-69. For a sterling critique of the basic arguments against the authenticity of 1 Thess 2:13-16, see Jon A. Weatherly "The Authenticity of 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16: Additional Evidence/'/SNT42 (1991): 7 9 - 9 8 . 58. In passing, it should be noted that Thessalonica (modern-day Salonika) bears several tragic connections for the Jews. Some went there when they were forced out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. During World War II, moreover, "60,000 of them were deported [from Salonika] by the Nazis and nearly all of them slain." Sherman E. Johnson, "The Aposde Paul in Macedonia," Lexington Theological Quarterly 19 (1987): 77. 59. On the analogy, c f Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 168. loudaioi should be read as "Judeans" rather than all "Jews," as explained by Beverly Gaventa, First and Second Thessalonians (Interpretation; Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox, 1998), 36. 60. To Paul's insistence on Jesus Christ as Lord, and not the emperor, compare the exclusive commitment of the Fourth Philosophy to God as their sole Lord and Master versus Caesar (hence, the impossibility of paying the Roman tribute) and the insistence of the Sicarii holding out on Masada: no degree of torture could get them "to confess that Caesar was their lord" (Josephus, Jewish War, 2.118; 7.418.

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presupposes that the Gentiles needed to be saved; they were n o t already saved by Caesar, despite the power o f the E m p i r e a n d the long-standing claim in imperial ideology that the e m p e r o r as savior had already established salvation.^' Moreover, Paul's use o f the standard political t e r m "assemblies" (ekklesiai)

for his c o m m u n i t i e s clearly suggests that they were

an alternative to the assemblies o f Greek cities such as Thessalonica. As mentioned, Christ-believers, like Diaspora Jews, saw themselves as m e m bers o f alternative c o m m u n i t i e s that were wider than the usual local voluntary associations. Paul's references not only to the "assembly" o f the Thessalonians but to assemblies in Judea and in Macedonia a n d Achaia indicate that he imagines the further development o f alternative c o m m u n i ties in the E m p i r e . Paul's assemblies m a y have been small, but for h i m they represented the power o f his God's presence beyond, as well as within, the beleaguered assembly at Thessalonica. Second, the way in which the afflictions (persecutions) are discussed in 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 indicates an apocalyptic (political) worldview in which " t h e Day o f the L o r d " is near. In the Judean apocalyptic worldview, serious afflictions w o u l d o c c u r just before the t i m e o f God's j u d g m e n t a n d deliverance (cf. D a n 1 2 : 1 ; M a r k 1 3 : 1 9 , 2 4 ; M a t t 2 4 : 9 - 1 4 ) . ' ' In other words, Paul's reading o f the times is that the persecution that believers are n o w facing is a sure indicator o f the i m m i n e n c e o f the Parousia o f Christ a n d God's j u d g m e n t o f the old order. F o r this interpretation, o f course, 1 Thess 2 : 1 6 b m u s t be translated n o t as "God's w r a t h 'has overtaken' [ephthasen]

at last," as the

NRSV reads, b u t as " G o d ' s w r a t h 'has d r a w n near' [ephthasen]

at last" (cf.

Luke 1 1 : 2 0 ) . " This view o f the world, however, m e a n s that Paul anticipates the i m m i n e n t beginning o f a n e w era for his assemblies, in pointed c o n trast to the official Thessalonian declarations that n e w eras had begun with the victories o f the R o m a n warlords A n t o n y a n d Octavian. Third, the characterization o f the Thessalonian persecutors (partly by analogy) as relentless in 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 appears to be a polemical indication o f their lack o f self-control. Various suggestions have been m a d e regarding the c h a r a c t e r o f the afflictions caused by the " c o m p a t r i o t s " o f Paul's assembly at Thessalonica.'^ S o m e think that "Paul was the target o f (at

61. See, e.g., Craig R. Koester, '"The Savior of the World' (John 4:42)," JBL 109 (1990): 6 6 5 - 8 0 . 62. On the suffering of the prophets as a sign of the end, see the Ascension of Isaiah 5:14; c f W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of a Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1965), 58. 6 3 . 1 . H. Marshall, 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 8 0 - 8 1 . 64. Donfried, in "Paul and Judaism," 243, thinks that the compatriots in 2:14 include Jews and Gentiles. On the one hand, Donfried's argument seems to be influenced by a desire to attenuate the disparities between 1 Thessalonians (which never

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least) slanderous a b u s e " ("shamefully mistreated," 1 Thess 2 : 2 ) / ' Perhaps the Christ-believers vêre being harassed because they refused t o take p a r t in their f o r m e r cultic activities (the "sufferings" in 1 Thess 1:6b; 2 : 2 , 1 4 - 1 5 ; 3 : 1 - 5 ) , ' ' o r wêre even being martyred.'^ In any case, Paul's charge that the Thessalonian " c o m p a t r i o t s " are severely repressing his assembly m e m b e r s is a polemical accusation o f a lack o f self-mastery, a wrell-known p h i l o sophical topos. Remarkably, moreover, this topos h a d been adopted by Augustus a n d his culture shapers.'^ So, if Paul is indeed developing this t o p o s here, the passage ironically suggests that the o p p o n e n t s are o u t o f c o n t r o l even t h o u g h they h o n o r a n d collaborate in an E m p i r e that has claimed self-control as the basis for its governance o f the entire world.'^

expUcidy mentions Jewish opposition in Thessalonica) and Acts (which does; 17:5). Lidce's tendentious portrait is known, however, not simply because Luke yields a set idealized pattern, as I have shown elsewhere {Comfort One Another: Reconstructing the Rhetoric and Audience of 1 Thessalonians [Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox, 1995], 117 n. 53), but as well, because Luke's insistence that Thessalonica had a synagogue of the Jews simply cannot be supported. For a balanced treatment of the issue, see Collins, Birth of the New Testament, 111-12. 65. John Barclay "Conflict in Thessalonica," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 55 (1993): 513. 66. Jeffrey Weuna, "How You Must Walk to Please God," in Patterns of Discipleship in the New Testament, ed. Richard N. Longenecker (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 106. 67. Kari R Donfried, "Imperial Cults of Thessalonica," 221. According to de Vos, however, Paul does not "specifically link these deaths [in 4:13-18] with the confUct [of 1 Thess 2:14-16]," as Donfried contends. Craig Steven de Vos, Church and Community Conflicts: The Relationships of the Thessalonian, Corinthian, and Philippian Churches with Their Wider Civic Communities (Adanta: Scholars, 1997), 159. 68. Catharine Edwards, The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 25; Abraham Smith, "Tull of Spirit and Wisdom': Luke's Portrait of Stephen (Acts 6:1-8:la) as a Man of Self-Mastery," in Asceticism and the New Testament, ed. Leif E. Vaage and Vincent L. Wimbush (New York: Roudedge, 1999), 100. 69. Some scholars (e.g., Hagner, 135) think Paul's description of the opponents here is similar to some of the polemical descriptions of the Jews as espoused by Gentile writers. While Gentile writers (Hecataeus of Abdera, Manetho, Apollonius Molon, Diodorous Siculus, Strabo, Pompeius Trogus, Lysimachus, Apion, and Tacitus) charged the Jews with either misanthropy or xenophobia, both polemical motifs were a part of a Greek and Roman tradition that was used by Jews, Greeks, and Romans against other ethnic groups, select persons within a group, or even single individuals. Thus, the presence of the motif does not indicate a sweeping indictment of the entire Jewish nation, whether by Paul or by a later redactor of Paul's earliest extant letter. On the tradition of misanthropy and xenophobia and its varied uses, see Peter Schaefer, Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997), 173-75. See Tacitus, Histories 5.5.2. Josephus notes Apion's use of the polemic, in Against Apion 2 All.

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63

5:1-11

Paul does n o t direct 1 Thess 5 : 1 - 1 1 at failures within the Thessalonian assembly. This is n o t a passage a b o u t the delay o f the Parousia.^^ Paul's " u s / t h e m " rhetoric here suggests, rather, an attack o n outsiders.^^ " P e a c e a n d security" in 1 Thess 5 : 1 - 1 1 is " a direct allusion t o R o m a n p r o p a g a n d a o r t o Greek propagandistic responses t o R o m a n beneficence."^' T h u s , we n e e d here only t o indicate the very real c o n c e r n that people in Thessalonica h a d for the issue o f " p e a c e a n d security," a n d then t o read 1 Thess 5 : 1 - 1 1 as Paul's critique o f those w h o trusted in the R o m a n s t o provide. T h e history o f M a c e d o n i a a n d its capital Thessalonica reveals that " p e a c e a n d security" was a c o n t i n u o u s c o n c e r n . O n the o n e h a n d , b o t h k n e w that " p e a c e a n d security" entailed military action. T h e

Roman

" p e a c e " that c a m e t o M a c e d o n i a in 167 B.C.E. arrived by virtue o f Paulus's defeat o f Perseus. Moreover, while that peace gave tacit overtures to freed o m (e.g., use o f "their o w n laws, a n d election o f their o w n magistrates"),^^ it also c a m e with the d e p o r t a t i o n o f Macedonia's military officers, the division o f the land into four republics, a n d restrictive laws o n inter-republic trade.^^ This type o f " p e a c e a n d security," a p r o p a g a n d a slogan that simply "affirmed the existing order,"^' did n o t change with the Principate. O n the o t h e r h a n d , imperial M a c e d o n i a a n d Thessalonica knew f r o m earlier centuries o f invasions that the established o r d e r m i g h t b e difficult t o m a i n t a i n . M a c e d o n i a h a d been invaded several times, by the Skordiskoi to the north

in

119 and

1 1 0 B.C.E., by several g r o u p s inspired

by

Mithridates in 8 7 B.C.E., a n d again by the Skordiskoi, with the M a d o i a n d the Dardanians, in 8 4 B.C.E.^' Thessalonica itself c a m e u n d e r direct threat

70. As demonstrated convincingly by H. Koester, "From Paul's Eschatology," 16-17. C f Hendrbc, "Archaeology and Eschatology," 109-10. Widi Hendrix, I diink Paul's "peace and security" does not stem from the Septuagint because the reference in 1 Thessalonians has a temporal and causal force that is not found in LXX prophetic denunciations and because the two terms never appear together in the Hebrew Scriptures. 71. For a different opinion, see Abraham Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 303. 72. Hendrbc, "Archaeology and Eschatology," 114. 73. N. G. L. Hammond and E W. Walbank, A History of Macedonia, vol. 3 : 3 3 6 - 1 6 7 B,c. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1988), 5 5 9 - 6 7 . 74. Hammond and Walbank, 564. 75. Klaus Wengst, Pax Romana and the Peace of Jesus Christ, trans. John Bowden (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 78. 76. David W. J. Gill, "Macedonia," in The Book of Acts in Its First-Century Setting, vol. 2 of The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting (ed. David W. J. Gill and Conrad Gempf; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 403. By the time Paul wrote his letter, Macedonia and Achaia were two separate senatorial provinces, a change put into place by Claudius in 44 C.E.

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d u r i n g the governorship o f L. Calpurnius Piso, leading t o the fortification o f the citadel (Cicero, De provinciis Pisonem

consularibus

2 . 4 ; L.

Calpurnium

oratio 1 7 . 4 0 ) . T h e effect o f such incursions left Thessalonica vîth

a bit o f a siege mentality up t o the beginning o f the civil vârs.^^ T h e n d u r ing the civil vâr period, by shifting their loyalty f r o m o n e vârlord t o a n o t h e r in their search for security, the Thessalonian aristocracy developed a habit o f backing the losers. Feeling vulnerable, therefore, after Octavian's ascendancy following his v i c t o r y at A c t i u m , they quickly heaped lavish h o n o r s o n "Augustus," a n d received benefits f r o m him.^^ In 1 Thess 5 : 1 - 1 1 , therefore, Paul is likely referring t o the Thessalonian aristocracy's continuing obsession with " p e a c e a n d security," with w h i c h his assembly at Thessalonica was all t o o familiar.^^ F u r t h e r m o r e , Paul sets " p e a c e a n d security" within the f r a m e w o r k o f apocalyptic b a t d e i m a g e r y (children o f light vs. children o f darkness, 5 : 4 - 5 ) similar t o that in the Community

Rule a n d the War Rule o f the Q u m r a n covenanters

(IQS

3 . 1 3 - 4 . 2 6 ; I Q M 1.1, 3 ) . Assuming that the Q u m r a n covenanters were referring to t h e R o m a n s as the " K i t t i m " ( I Q M 2 . 1 ; 1 5 . 4 ; 1 6 . 1 3 ; 1 8 . 5 ; 1 9 . 1 ) , they show that Paul's Jewish c o n t e m p o r a r i e s were expecting the e s c h a t o logical battle t o be against the R o m a n s . C o n t i n u i n g the battle i m a g e r y ( 5 : 8 ) , Paul insists o n sober d e p o r t m e n t that reflects belonging t o the day as o p p o s e d to t h e night ( c f 5 : 6 - 7 ) . Moreover, with the earlier triad o f faith, love, a n d h o p e

(cf

1:3), he portrays

his T h e s s a l o n i a n

assembly's

" w e a p o n r y for the eschatological battle."^^ Critical for us t o n o t e , however, is that the aorist o r past-tense p a r t i c i p l e — u s u a l l y translated (as in t h e NRSV) as "let us . . . p u t o n " {endysamenoi,

5 : 8 ) , as if it were p r e s e n t —

should be translated as "already having p u t on." H e n c e , the sobriety is a consequence

o f the believers' having been clothed in battle gear.

T h e m e n t i o n o f the eschatological w e a p o n r y is likely a n e c h o o f Isa 5 9 : 1 7 , where Yahweh is depicted as a " m a n o f war."^' Now, however, the assembly has the eschatological weaponry. T h e " D a y o f the L o r d " imagery, with which 5 : 1 - 1 1 begins ( 5 : 2 ) , is also an e c h o f r o m Isa 2 : 1 2 , where it "describes God's decisive intervention."^' Paul's allusion t o the " D a y o f the

77. De Vos, Church and Community ConflictSy 125. 78. Ibid., 126. 79. C f Jouette Bassler, "Peace in All Ways: Theology in the Thessalonian Letters: A Response to R. Jewett, E. Krentz, and E. Richard," in Thessalonians, Philippians, Galatians, Philemon, vol. 1 of Pauline Theology (ed. Jouette Bassler; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 84. 80. H. Koester, "From Paul's Eschatology," 451. 81. Malherbe, Letters to the Thessalonians, 297. 82. Ibid., 290.

"Unmasking

the Powers"

L o r d " i m a g e r y a n d his general d e p e n d e n c e u p o n

65

Isaiah

(especially

Deutero-Isaiah) again suggests that he is n o t simply c o m m u n i c a t i n g w a r m feelings o f encouragement to his friends. Rather, he is speaking the diction o f resistance as he reflects o n eschatological events that have already occurred (e.g., the preparation o f his assembly with eschatological weaponry) and those which will shortly c o m e to pass when the Day o f the Lord arrives. T h e realization o f the Day o f the L o r d will c o n s u m m a t e God's intervention in the world. R o m e will n o longer hold power. G o d alone will rule. This profusion o f battle imagery, moreover, suggests that the ignorance o f the p r o - R o m a n aristocracy is that they have placed their trust in forces that c a n n o t provide the stable " p e a c e and security" which they h a d sought for so long. Instead o f "peace and security," they would face "sudden destruction." For Paul, o f course, the ignorance o f the p r o - R o m a n aristocracy extends further. T h e y belong t o the sphere o f the night ( c f 5 : 4 ) because they d o n o t k n o w that the new age has already begun. Already the battle is engaged; already Paul's b a n d o f believers are clothed in battle a r m o r . Salvation does n o t c o m e f r o m the emperor, as if the e m p e r o r were a t r u e savior. Rather, for Paul, salvation c o m e s f r o m G o d , w h o has n o t destined the foundational t e a m a n d Paul's assembly for wrath, but t o obtain salvation t h r o u g h Jesus Christ ( 5 : 9 ; c f Phil 3 : 1 9 - 2 1 ) . F u r t h e r m o r e , by c o n n e c t ing 5 : 1 - 1 1 a n d 4 : 1 3 - 1 8 with the repetition o f the expression " w i t h "

(syn)

the L o r d ( 4 : 1 7 ; 5 : 1 0 ) , Paul indicates that the p e r m a n e n c e o f the salvation has already begun; for the earlier verse indicates that, with the Parousia,^^ the assemblies o f Christ will "always" o r " f o r e v e r " be with the L o r d (4:17).^^ W h a t Paul guarantees for his assembly is an alternative society o f m u t u a l love a n d support, dramatically different from the security in their d o m i n a n t positions sought by the Thessalonian elite w h o placed their faith in the imperial order.

83. The word "parousia" has two essential meanings: "presence" (2 Mace 15:21; 3 Mace 3:17; 2 Cor 10:10; Phil 2:12); and "arrival" (Jdt 10:18; 2 Mace 8:12; 1 Cor 16:17; 2 Cor 7:6-7). Tracy Howard, "The Literary Unity of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11," Grace Theological Journal 9 (1988): 176, notes that the word "came to have particular associations with the arrival of a central figure" and indicated both "the physical act of arrival" and "the attendant circumstances in which the ruler was honored." It is generally believed that the early followers of Jesus adopted these "particular associations" to speak about Christ's coming as his Parousia. It is likely, moreover, that the term "would have evoked the image of the return of a triumphant conqueror in the Hellenistic world and the idea of a coronation on that occasion" (Collins, Birth of the New Testament, 112). 84. First Thess 4:13-18 also exploits military imagery. Note the "cry of command" and "the sound of God's trumpet" (4:16).

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Abraham

Smith

Conclusion A m o r e t h o r o u g h postcolonial analysis would require m o r e self-reflective analysis a b o u t t h e p r e - i n t e r p r e t i v e r e a d i n g c o n s t r a i n t s o f s t u d e n t s o f 1 Thessalonians (in line with Price's caveats a b o u t Christianizing a s s u m p t i o n s ) . Nevertheless, this essay is a m o d e s t first step in revealing the m i x ture o f politics and religion that Paul a n d the auditors o f 1 Thessalonians likely shared a b o u t their m o v e m e n t and the ruler cult at Thessalonica as well. Paul's earliest extant letter, while friendly in its efforts to console a beleaguered assembly, offers a harsh critique o f those w h o have stood in the way o f his f o r m a t i o n o f assemblies a m o n g the Gentiles across the provinces o f the Mediterranean world. In 1 Thess 2 : 1 3 - 1 6 , Paul criticizes p r o - R o m a n Thessalonian aristocrats w h o have persecuted his assembly t h r o u g h an implicit c o m p a r i s o n with the p r o - R o m a n aristocracy in Judea. F o r Paul, b o t h evince a lack o f self-control even while they align themselves with the R o m a n s , w h o justify their right t o rule the world o n the putative claim that they have self-control. In the case o f 1 Thess 5 : 1 - 1 1 , Paul criticizes the p r o - R o m a n aristocracy yet again because o f their ignorance a b o u t " p e a c e a n d security" a n d a b o u t the real eschatological battle that has already begun with the death a n d resurrection o f Jesus. F o r Paul, the " p e a c e a n d security" that has eluded the Thessalonian elite for centuries c a n n o t be f o u n d in the R o m a n s . Genuine peace c a n only c o m e f r o m Paul's deity, the " G o d o f p e a c e " (1 Thess 5 : 2 3 ) , a n d that deity's representative, the L o r d Jesus Christ, t h r o u g h whose death G o d brings salvation and a p e r m a n e n t u n i o n o f believing assemblies at Jesus' Parousia (1 Thess 4 : 1 5 , 1 7 ) .

-

3

-

T H E APOSTLE PAUL'S SELF-PRESENTATION AS A N T M M P E R L M PERFORMANCE Neil Elliott

R

o m a n imperial ritual and propaganda filled the environment in which

the aposde Paul worked.^ In convergent ways, recent studies o f the i m p e -

rial cult, o n the one hand, and o f Paul's "theology," o n the other, are moving away f r o m the individualistic, cognitivist c o n c e r n s o f classical Christian

theology, and toward an understanding o f the meaning o f symbols and the function o f rituals in representing relationships o f power. I argue here that both imperial imagery and cult, and the performance o f Paul's apostolic parousia

(presence), constituted ritual representations o f power.

Further, the evidence o f Paul's Letters tells us that, despite the vaunted "religious t o l e r a n c e " o f the E m p i r e , ' these two ritual strategies did n o t

1. Dieter Georgi and Stanley K. Stowers regard Roman imperial ideology as a more relevant context for understanding the letter to the Romans than a presumed debate with Judaism: See Georgi, Theocracy in PauVs Praxis and Theology (trans. David E. Green; MinneapoUs: Fortress, 1991); and Stowers, A Rereading of Romans: Justice, Jews, Gentiles (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994). HoUand Lee Hendrix, "Archaeology and Eschatology at Thessalonica," in The Future of Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester (ed. Birger A. Pearson; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997), 107-18, has used archaeological and numismatic evidence in a systematic reconstruction of the imperial context for 1 Thessalonians. See also the important collection of essays in Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1997). 2. Richard Gordon, "The Veil of Power: Emperors, Sacrificers and Benefactors," in Pagan Priests: Religion and Power in the Ancient World (ed. Mary Beard and John North; Ithaca, N.Y.: CorneU University Press, 1990], 207, notes that one ideological function of religion in the early Principate "was to insulate Rome from the cultural consequence of her own imperialism: the religion of Rome became a guarantee not merely of her supremacy but also of her freedom from contamination by her

67

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coexist peacefully. T h a t is, they did n o t keep to neatly segregated "political" a n d "religious," o r pubHc and private, spheres (as citizens o f m o d e r n Western d e m o c r a c i e s are t o o p r o n e to imagine, o n the analogy o f o u r division between " c h u r c h a n d s t a t e " ) . Instead, Paul's apostolic p e r f o r m a n c e constituted a rival representation o f power, even if that representation was realized o n the public landscape o f the R o m a n city only rarely (and in p a r a doxical ways, as we shall see below)

Informed by the covenantal and apoca-

lyptic traditions o f Israel, and by the apokalypsis 1 : 1 5 - 1 6 ) , Paul understands his parousia

o f Jesus Christ (Gal

t o actualize an invasive power that

is at o d d s — i n d e e d , at war!—^with the imperial power o f " t h e rulers o f this a g e " (1 C o r 2 : 8 ) .

Ritual Representations of Power in the Roman Civic Landscape Recent studies bring valuable light to bear o n the symbolic representations o f power in Hellenistic-Roman society. Especially i m p o r t a n t in this regard is S. R. F. Price's w o r k o n power a n d ritual. Price d e m o n s t r a t e s that in Paul's day, imperial rituals h a d saturated public life t h r o u g h o u t the provinces, including long-standing local festivals which t o o k o n new imperial aspects, as well as n e w celebrations a n d games, festivals, a n d sacrifices offered to, o r o n behalf of, the imperial family. These rituals were n o t irregular a n d passing events, b u t cults institutionalized o n a regular basis. Further, they were n o t simply occasional a c c o m m o d a t i o n s i m p o s e d o n an indifferent p o p u lation by imperial fiat. Usually, rituals celebrating R o m a n power were "created a n d organized by the subjects o f a great e m p i r e " themselves—in the absence o f the e m p e r o r o r even his representative—"in o r d e r t o represent t o themselves the ruling power."^ Price argues that "Christianizing" assumptions still hinder an adequate understanding o f the imperial cult. These misapprehensions include, first, privileging the individual's feeling at the expense o f ritual action. " W i t h the imperial cult, the processions a n d the sacrifices, the temples a n d the images fill o u r sources. T h e y are the crucially i m p o r t a n t collective constructs t o w h i c h the individual

r e a c t e d . Ritual is w h a t t h e r e w a s . " ' A n o t h e r

s u b j e c t s — Rome was different from her Empire and her reUgion was an emblem of that difference. The so-called tolerance of the indigenous religions of the provinces is rather to be understood as a consequence of this colonial attitude." 3. Compare Georgi, Theocracy, 83-88, and Stowers, Rereading, 14-15. Raymond Pickett's program in The Cross in Corinth: The Social Significance of the Death of Jesus (JSNTSup 143; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1997), 9 - 3 6 , is very similar to what I wish to accomplish here on a smaller scale. 4. S. R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 1. 5. Ibid., 11.

The Apostle PauVs Self-Presentation

as Anti-imperial

Performance

69

Christianizing bias is the "theological" focus o n the question o f how widespread a n d h o w sincere was belief in the e m p e r o r ' s divinity, a question abstracted f r o m the social m a t r i x o f the R o m a n city in which the imperial cult t o o k place. Price criticizes a scholarship t o o often p r e o c c u p i e d with a p r e s u m e d skepticism o n the p a r t o f the R o m a n e l i t e — a p r e s u m p t i o n that reduces imperial rituals t o a cynical political m a n i p u l a t i o n o f religious symbolism. Instead, Price argues, imperial rituals constituted " a public cognitive system," a social " e m b o d i m e n t o f thinking," an a t t e m p t o n the part o f the Greek cities " t o represent to themselves their new masters in a traditional guise," a n d thus " t o c o m e to t e r m s with a n e w type o f power." H e finds the origins o f the imperial cult in public Hellenistic cults for rulers a n d p r o m i n e n t citizens. T h e transitions t o cults o f R o m a — o f the " R o m a n benefact o r s " in general, o r o f R o m a n

individuals in

particular—represent

"clear-sighted perception o f the new situation" o f R o m a n

hegemony,

expressed in Greek i d i o m . ' Taking seriously Price's attention t o the

cultural

m e c h a n i s m s o f imperialism does n o t m e a n we should minimize the role o f b r u t e force in establishing R o m a n hegemony, o f course. Paul's insistence that in o n e particular act o f R o m a n b r u t a l i t y — t h e humiliation and c r u c i fixion o f Jesus o f N a z a r e t h — t h e "rulers o f this a g e " h a d exposed their o w n fraudulence a n d folly (1 C o r 2 : 4 - 6 ) , requires that we w h o seek to u n d e r stand the aposde n o t divert o u r gaze f r o m imperial violence, in the ancient world o r in o u r o w n . Rather, Price points us to the thickly textured cultural process by which provincial elites sought to a c c o m m o d a t e themselves to a force that would have been "otherwise unmanageable."^ Price's study o f imperial cult in Asia M i n o r has found i m p o r t a n t echoes in o t h e r recent works^ that d e m o n s t r a t e the aggressive, pervasive, a n d systematic representation o f imperial power in public space. T h e redesign o f city squares, the c o n s t r u c t i o n o f new temples, the a p p r o p r i a tion o r transfer o f existing shrines, m o n u m e n t a l architecture, dedicatory inscriptions, a n d the proliferation o f standardized images o f the e m p e r o r all served the interests o f the R o m a n g o v e r n m e n t , clearly e n o u g h . Yet the imperial cult was enthusiastically p r o d u c e d a n d maintained by the provincial elites, w h o were eager to participate in the n e w networks o f power.

6. Ibid., 8 - 9 ; 2 5 - 4 3 . 7. Ibid., 52. 8. For example, Susan E. Alcock, Graecia Capta: The Landscapes of Roman Greece (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993); also worthy of note is Ramsay MacMullen, Romanization in the Time of Augustus (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002). On the Romanization of the Mediterranean economy, see Greg Woolf, "Imperialism, Empire, and the Integration of the Roman Economy," World Archaeology 23 (1992): 2 8 3 - 9 3 .

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privilege, a n d prestige. T h e cult served as " a system o f exchange," linking Greek a n d provincial elites t o R o m e ; it " e n h a n c e d the d o m i n a n c e o f local elites over t h e populace, o f cities over o t h e r cities, a n d o f Greek over indigenous cultures."^ Public rituals served as the m e d i u m t h r o u g h which the i m a g e o f t h e e m p e r o r c a m e to represent the network o f military, e c o n o m i c , a n d social relationships o f R o m a n hegemony. M o s t persons in the e m p i r e o f R o m e knew the e m p e r o r only t h r o u g h the proliferation o f images t h r o u g h o u t t h e provinces, a n d these d o m i n a t e d the celebration o f the cult. C e r e m o n i a l processions

frequendy

involved the c a r r y i n g - a b o u t o f images o f t h e

e m p e r o r ; p r o d u c i n g the image for the reverential gaze o f the citizens was a sacred action. T h e o m n i p r e s e n c e o f imperial images, a n d their strategic m a n i p u l a t i o n t h r o u g h ritual, p r o d u c e d a considerable effect, providing a c o n s t a n t r e m i n d e r o f w h o ruled t h e world.

T h e ritualized m a i n t e n a n c e o f

public o r d e r was in the imperial era focused increasingly o n the person o f the e m p e r o r himself, in R o m e ; a n d o n the successful m a n i p u l a t i o n o f his image, in the provinces.'^ Several aspects o f the imperial cult m e r i t particular note. First, while the p r o d u c t i o n o f imperial images was a p r o p a g a n d a project f r o m the c e n ter, R o m e , their manipulation

and representation

in civic ritual, public cere-

m o n i a l , a n d everyday conversation was enthusiastically carried o n at t h e "periphery," by the Greek elites in the p r o v i n c e s . S e c o n d , the rise o f Augustus m a r k e d a n a b r u p t e n d t o the proliferation o f cults t o h u m a n benefactors and a consolidation o f cults t o the gods with the imperial cult, transparently a reflection o f the colonial r e l a t i o n s h i p . T h i r d , following his d r a m a t i c triple t r i u m p h in 2 9 B.C.E., O c t a v i a n , later called Augustus, consistently refused t h e Senate's offers o f t r i u m p h s in his h o n o r , a n d in a

9. Price, Rituals and Power, 6 5 - 7 7 , 248; Alcock, Graecia Capta, 2 1 5 - 3 0 . See also G. W. Bowersock, "The Imperial Cult: Perceptions and Persistence," in Self-Definition in the Greco-Roman World, vol. 3 of Jewish and Christian Self-Definition (ed. Ben F. Meyer and E. P. Sanders; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982); and CUfford Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (Berkeley: University of Cahfornia Press, 2000), a work that came to my attention too late to be considered in this paper. 10. Bowersock, "Imperial Cult," 173-74; Price, Rituals and Power, 170-206. Price reUes explicidy ( 7 - 9 , 2 3 9 - 4 0 ) on Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books, 1973), for his understanding of ritual. 11. See Wilfried Nippel, Public Order in Ancient Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 4 - 1 7 (on Republican Rome), and 8 5 - 1 1 9 (for the early Principate); and Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1990). 12. Price, Rituals and Power, 172-76. 13. Ibid., 4 9 - 5 1 ; 5 4 - 5 6 ; Gordon, "Veil of Power," 2 0 6 - 7 .


as Anti-imperial

Performance

71

deliberate a n d unified political p r o g r a m , restricted the official t r i u m p h s , celebrated by others, to his o w n potential successors. At the s a m e time, he actively p r o m o t e d the use o f the image a n d tide o f triumphator

in other rit-

uals (acclamations, supplications) and o t h e r m e d i a (architecture, coins, statues). T h e result was an effective imperial umph,^^

monopoly

on the imagery

oftri-

T h e effect in R o m a n cities was t h a t sacrifices b y individual

e m p e r o r s in specific rituals increasingly b e c a m e manifestations o f a generalized and distinctly Roman piety, practiced a n d p r o m o t e d by the e m p e r o r s in the n a m e o f the E m p i r e . T h u s the e m p e r o r was able t o a c c u m u l a t e "symbolic capital" for himself, a n d piety in the provinces b e c a m e saturated with the symbolized presence o f the e m p e r o r . ' '

Power and Rhetoric in Paul To the extent that R o m a n imperial power a n d ideology f o u n d ritualized representation o n the R o m a n civic landscape, we should expect that Paul's apostolic w o r k o n that same landscape would engage imperial ritual, at least obliquely. Until recendy, however, imperial ritual a n d symbolization have been curiously underappreciated in Pauline studies.^' This is curious, since

14. Frances V. Hickson, "Augustus Triumphator: Manipulation of the Triumphal Theme in die Political Program of Augustus," Latomus 50 (1991): 124-38. 15. Gordon, "Veil of Power," 2 0 5 , 2 0 8 , 2 1 9 . 16. Important recent efforts include Georgi, Theocracy: and the essays collected in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley). Recent interpretation of the Corinthian correspondence has also focused on apparent competition within the ekklesia over power, especially as represented in eloquence ("wise speech"), and upon social stratification and friction between classes. The relationship between imperial ideology and codes of "vertical reciprocity" in Roman patronage has been ably investigated by Peter Marshall, Enmity in Corinth: Social Conventions in PauVs Relations w/ith the Corinthians (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1987), and John K. Chow, Patronage and Power: A Study of Social Networks in Corinth, JSNTSup 75 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992); also David G. Horrell, The Social Ethos of the Corinthian Correspondence: Interests and Ideology from 1 Corinthians to 1 Clement (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1996). The notion of a "new consensus" regarding the social setting of the Pauline ekklesiai, depending on the work of Gerd Theissen {The Social SeUing of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth [trans. John Schutz; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977]) and Wayne A. Meeks {The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul [New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983]), has been challenged regarding its implicit fiinctionalism and overgeneralizing from the particular situation in Corinth. See Mary Ann Tolbert, "Social, Sociological, and Anthropological Methods," in Searching the Scriptures, vol. 1 (ed. Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza; New York: Crossroad, 1993), 2 5 5 - 7 1 ; Richard A. Horsley "Pauls Counter-Imperial Gospel: Introduction," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 140-^7; idem, 1 Corinthians (ANTC; Nashville: Abingdon, 1998); Justin J. Meggitt, Paul, Poverty, and Survival (Studies of die New Testament and Its World; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1998); and Stephen Friesen, "Poor Paul," at the Paul and Politics Section of the SBL, 2002.

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Paul does n o t merely speak about power: he intended his letters to function within a larger public, apostolic strategy that represented

and

expressed

power and power relations in a way different from, a n d often subversive of, imperial symbol a n d ritual. A n adequate rhetorical criticism will not be content to interpret Paul's Letters as vehicles for conveying theological c o n cepts; they are instruments o f persuasion within a larger apostolic strategy. Paul describes his o w n apostolic activity as the manifestation o f divine power. I focus below o n several key m e t a p h o r s : the t r i u m p h a l procession, the spectacle o f the arena, a n d c o m b a t imagery, m e t a p h o r s t h r o u g h which Paul seeks to represent the death a n d resurrection o f Jesus as the decisive manifestation o f divine power. First, however, we m u s t attend t o s o m e aspects o f the rhetorical performance

o f Paul's Letters.

T h o u g h the Hellenistic world was far from a purely oral culture, it is nevertheless t r u e that reading was oral performance,^''

In dictating letters t o

be read aloud t o his c o m m u n i t i e s , Paul sought to extend the presence o f his apostolic a u t h o r i t y a n d power, his "apostolic parousia,''

in circumstances

where his personal presence, the p r i m a r y m e d i u m t h r o u g h which he p r e ferred to m a k e his a u t h o r i t y effective, was impossible. Paul's Letters did m o r e than m a i n t a i n personal c o n t a c t over distance. In contrast to o u r visual way o f taking in the text o f a letter, holding it quite literally "at arm's length," oral p e r f o r m a n c e situates people in the midst o f " a world o f voices." T h e effect o f Paul's message performed

orally would have been to create an

atmosphere o f effectual energy, an orbit o f power. W e expect the creation o f this "acoustic s p a c e " t o have been the responsibility o f the associate t o w h o m Paul entrusted his letter; thus, Paul would presumably have taken care to prepare this messenger to perform

the letter as a part o f his apostolic

strategy, for the letter h a d only d o n e its w o r k o n c e it was performed.'^

17. As Paul Achtemeier declares, late antiquity knew nothing of the "silent, solitary reader"; "Omne verbum sonat: The New Testament and the Oral Environment of Late Western Antiquity,"/5L 109 (1990): 16-19. 18. See Robert W. Funk, "The Apostolic Parousia: Form and Significance," in Christian History and Interpretation: Studies Presented to John Knox (ed. W. R. Farmer, C. F. D. Moule, and R. R. Niebuhr; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964), 249, 258; William G. Doty, Letters in Primitive Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1973), 45—47; Bengt Holmberg, Paul and Powder: The Structure of Authority in the Primitive Church as Reflected in the Pauline Epistles (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978), 5 7 - 9 3 ; Werner Kelber, The Oral and Written Gospel: The Hermeneutics of Speaking and Writing in the Synoptic Tradition, Mark, Paul, and Q (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983), 140-83; Stanley K. Stowers, Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986): 23; David E. Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987), 192; Pieter Botha, "The Verbal Art of the Pauline Letters: Rhetoric, Performance and Presence," in Rhetoric and the New Testament: Essays from the 1992 Heidelberg Conference (ed. Stanley E.


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Ancient rhetorical h a n d b o o k s gave specific instructions regarding the b o d y and h a n d gestures m o s t effective in oral p e r f o r m a n c e . Even if Paul h a d n o direct c o n t a c t with those h a n d b o o k s , we m a y expect that Paul's colleagues would have arrived in a city like C o r i n t h prepared t o present a vivid p e r f o r m a n c e o f his letters. T h e troubled interactions recorded in the C o r i n t h i a n c o r r e s p o n d e n c e show the high esteem in which s o m e in the C o r i n t h i a n ekklesia held polished rhetorical p e r f o r m a n c e , such as that attributed to Apollos o f Alexandria (Acts 1 8 : 2 4 - 2 8 ; c f 1 Cor. 1 : 1 7 - 1 8 , 2 : 1 - 5 ) . Also evident is the reaction o f these s a m e Corinthians t o what they c a m e to regard as Paul's inadequate rhetorical p e r f o r m a n c e , a n d the c o n sequent crisis for an apostie compelled to restore his authoritative

parousia

(his strategic presence) t h r o u g h an effective c o u n t e r p e r f o r m a n c e by an apostolic colleague ( o r colleagues).'^ If (as 2 C o r 10:10 indicates) s o m e o f the Corinthians found Paul's perf o r m a n c e disappointing, the challenge facing h i m was to establish the authenticity o f his o w n apostolic presence without participating self-commendation

that he condemns

in the same

in his rivals. His strategy in both l e t t e r s —

heightened in the second—is to represent himself, not merely as a particularly able speaker a m o n g others, but as an agent o f the "power o f God," distinct f r o m m e r e practitioners o f rhetoric (so 1 C o r 4 : 1 9 - 2 0 ) . ^ ° Using terminology

Porter and Thomas H. Olbricht; JSNTSup 90; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993), 4 1 5 - 2 3 ; Joanna Dewey, "Textuality in an Oral Culture: A Survey of the Pauline Traditions," Semeia 65 (1994): 3 7 - 6 5 ; Arthur J. Dewey "A Re-Hearing of Romans 10:1-15," Semeia 65 (1994): 109-28; Vernon K. Robbins, "Oral, Rhetorical and Literary Cultures: A Response," Semeia 65 (1994): 7 5 - 9 1 ; Richard Ward, "Pauline Voice and Presence as Strategic Communication," Semeia 65 (1994): 102-3. 19. Quintilian, Inst. 1.11; Ward, "PauHne Voice," 9 9 - 1 0 1 ; Hans Dieter Betz, Galatians: A Commentary on PauVs Letter to the Churches in Galatia (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979), 131; Antoinette Clark Wire, "Performance, Politics, and Power: A Response," Semeia 65 (1994): 129. The argument that a Corinthian disparagement of Paul's rhetoric was a key issue in the correspondence was first made by Johannes Munck, Paul and the Salvation ofMankind (trans. Frank Clarke; Atlanta: John Knox, 1959), 135-67; compare Nils Dahl, Studies in Paul: Theology for the Parly Christian Mission (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1977), 4 0 - 6 1 ; Hans Dieter Betz, "The Problem of Rhetoric and Theology according to the Aposde Paul," in VApotre Paul: PersonnalitCy style et conception du ministere (ed. A. Vanhoye; Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium 73; Louvain: Louvain University Press/Peeters, 1986), 2 4 - 3 9 ; Meeks, First Urban Christians, 117-18. 20. On the challenge and Paul's response, see Steven J. Kraftchick, "Death in Us, Life in You: The Apostolic Medium," in i and 2 Corinthians, vol. 2 of Pauline Theology (ed. David M. Hay; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 166; Elizabeth CasteUi, "Interpretations of Power in 1 Corinthians," Semeia 54 ( 1 9 9 1 ) : 2 0 5 - 6 ; Antoinette Clark Wire, Corinthian Women Prophets: A Reconstruction through PauVs Rhetoric (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 1 7 6 - 8 0 ; Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, "Rhetorical

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familiar from the rhetorical h a n d b o o k s , Paul calls his o w n p e r f o r m a n c e a m o n g the C o r i n t h i a n s a " d e m o n s t r a t i o n [apodeixis]

o f the Spirit a n d o f

p o w e r " (1 C o r 2 : 4 ) , n o t m e r e "persuasive w o r d s o f w i s d o m " (NASB). O n e m i g h t say his rhetoric is apodeictic—"demonstrative t h a n epideictic

of power"—rather

(rhetorical display). God's p o w e r is at w o r k in Paul: thus

Paul is n o t a s h a m e d o f the gospel because it is " t h e saving p o w e r o f G o d " ( R o m 1:16; cf. 1 Thess 1 : 5 ) . Paul's "signs a n d w o n d e r s " are the w o r k o f Christ ( R o m 1 5 : 1 8 - 1 9 ) , o r o f the Spirit (Gal 3 : 3 - 5 ) ; they are " t h e signs o f a t r u e a p o s d e " ( 2 C o r 12:12).^' Recognizing w h a t I a m calling the " a p o d e i c t i c " c h a r a c t e r o f Paul's r h e t o r i c m e a n s shifting attention from the aposde's "consciousness, that is, w h a t Paul thought''

a b o u t a subject, t o the effects h e wished t o a c h i e v e —

including the w o r k he intended his letters t o p e r f o r m , t h r o u g h divine power. T h r o u g h t h e m h e m e a n s t o fulfill his o w n calling as aposde and t o realize the calling o f his hearers as " h o l y ones," by securing their faithftd obedience ( R o m 1:5) a n d thus the sanctity o f " t h e offering o f the n a t i o n s " ( R o m 1 5 : 1 4 - 1 6 , author).^^ But this m e a n s that the conventional rhetoricalcritical approaches t o Paul's letters m u s t be e x p a n d e d . T h e "rhetorical situa t i o n " addressed in a n y letter is m o r e t h a n t h e n e t w o r k o f relationships a n d expectations that c o n n e c t the a p o s d e with his audience. T h e "deep e x i g e n c e " o f Paul's Letters is nothing less than the apocalyptic horizon o f God's c o m i n g t r i u m p h in power. This "deep e x i g e n c e " necessarily impinges

Situation and Historical Reconstruction in 1 Corinthians," NTS 33 (1987): 1 7 5 - 8 6 . In 1 Corinthians, Castelli, Wire, and Schussler Fiorenza detect Paul's effort to curtail the autonomy, authority, and power of charismatic women in the Corinthian congregation, an assessment depending heavily on the authenticity of 1 Cor 14:34-35 and its alignment with 11:2-16.1 suspect the first passage is an interpolation, and regard Paul's rhetorical power-play as aimed at a different segment of the Corinthian church; see Neil Elliott, Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle (MaryknoU, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994), 5 2 - 5 4 ; 2 0 4 - 1 4 . 21. Betz, "Rhetoric and Theology," 3 5 - 3 7 ; Schussler Fiorenza, "Rhetorical Situation," 392; Hohnberg, Paul and Power, 7 4 - 7 5 . 22. Compare Pickett, The Cross in Corinth, 9 - 3 6 ; similarly Jouette M. Bassler speaks of Paul's mission as activity: "Paul's Theology: Whence and Whither?" in 1 and 2 Corinthians, vol. 2 of Pauline Theology (ed. Hay; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 3-17. See also Nils Dahl, "Paul's Letter to the Galatians: Epistolary Genre, Content, Structure," in The Galatians Debate (ed. Mark Nanos; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2002); idem, Studies in Paul, 73; Kelber, Oral and Written Gospel, 145, 1 4 8 - 5 1 ; Neil Elliott, The Rhetoric of Romans: Argumentative Constraint and Strategy and PauVs Dialogue with Judaism, (JSNTSup 45; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990), 9 4 - 1 0 4 ; Holmberg, Paul and Power, 7 0 - 7 4 ; John L. White, "New Testament Epistolary Literature in the Framework of Ancient Epistolography," ANRW 2.25.2 (1984): 1745.


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directly o n the " n e a r exigence" o f the letter's audience, for Paul clearly w r o t e in anticipation o f G o d acting in the congregation.^^ W e m u s t n o t let o u r orientation to the Pauline text restrict the h o r i z o n o f Paul's parousia.

While we have n o direct access t o Paul's o w n oral p e r -

f o r m a n c e , we d o have the aposde's characterization o f his p e r f o r m a n c e . T h e fact that Paul repeatedly uses powerful m e t a p h o r s d r a w n f r o m the sphere o f public ceremonial a n d the display o f imperial power merits close e x a m i n a t i o n , t o which I n o w t u r n .

The Apostle "Led in Triumph" In 2 C o r 2 : 1 4 - 1 6 Paul takes u p the language o f the imperial t r i u m p h t o describe his o w n apostolic presence: B u t thanks be to G o d , w h o in Christ always leads us in t r i u m p h a l procession, and t h r o u g h us spreads in every place the fragrance that c o m e s from knowing h i m . F o r we are the a r o m a o f Christ t o G o d a m o n g those w h o are being saved a n d a m o n g those w h o are perishing; t o the o n e a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. While earlier generations o f translators a n d c o m m e n t a t o r s regarded as " m o s t unsuitable" the implication that Paul had been " c o n q u e r e d " by God,^^ m o r e recendy interpreters have emphasized precisely this t h e m e as a key to Paul's rhetorical strategy in 2 Corinthians 8 - 9 . Lexical evidence from the period indicates that thriambeuein

plus accusative has the sense " t o

celebrate a victory already w o n " over s o m e o n e , specifically, in a triumphal procession. To be led in such a procession m e a n s b e m g subjected to humiliation and, routmely, to be led to one's death. T h e t e r m could thus be used as

23. Compare J. Louis Martyn's comments regarding Galatians: "Events in Galatia," in Thessalonians, Philippians, Galatians, Philemon, vol. 2 of Pauline Theology (ed. Jouette M. Bassler; MinneapoUs: Fortress Press, 1991), 161. Martyn speaks of a "theological event" (163; 178-79) where Paul speaks of God's action. See also Ernst Kasemann, "The ^Righteousness of God' in Paul," in New Testament Questions of Today (trans. W. J. Montague; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 168-82. On "rhetorical situation," see Lloyd A. Bitzer, "The Rhetorical Situation," Philosophy and Rhetoric 1 (1968): 1-14; Scott Consigny "Rhetoric and Its Situations," Philosophy and Rhetoric 7 (1974): 175-86. On die "deep exigence" of Paul's letter to die Romans, Elliott, Rhetoric of Romans, 1 7 - 2 1 , 7 0 - 9 3 . 24. G. Findlay "St. Paul's Use of thriambeuo," Expositor 10 (1879): 4 0 4 - 5 ; C. K. Barrett, A Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (London: Black; New York: Harper 8c Row, 1973), 9 7 - 9 8 .

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a m e t a p h o r o f shame a n d humiliation, a n d Paul rehes o n just that meaning as he confi-onts the e n m i t y o f a social elite a m o n g the Cormthians.^^ Paul's o p p o n e n t s have accused h i m o f breaching a relationship o f reciprocal friendship based o n faith. T h e y m a y suspect h i m o f initiating the collection for his o w n profit; ftirther, they m a y even regard his subsequent i m p r i s o n m e n t a n d m o r t a l trial in Ephesus ( 2 Cor. 1 : 8 - 1 0 ) as evidence o f God's p u n i s h m e n t for his a t t e m p t t o "fleece" the church.^^ Paul responds that his c o n d u c t toward the Corinthians has been o p e n and transparent, a n d that his o w n humiliation a n d m i s t r e a t m e n t is in fact evidence that he is a genuine aposde! T h e t r i u m p h a l m e t a p h o r allows Paul to reconfigure his apparent disgrace: even if G o d has displayed h i m as a figure o f s h a m e a n d ridicule, it r e d o u n d s t o God's t r i u m p h ; the apostie remains the locus o f God's power! Paul relies u p o n the imagery o f t r i u m p h a l o r epiphany processions elsewhere in 2 Corinthians: " T h e love o f Christ has taken us captive" ( 5 : 1 4 , a u t h o r ) . Paul's presence is a fragrant substance such as the a r o m a spread in epiphany processions, t o indicate the god's presence ( 2 : 1 4 - 1 6 ) . Paul a n d his co-workers " c a r r y a b o u t in the b o d y the dying o f Jesus, so that the life o f Jesus m a y also be manifested in o u r b o d i e s " ( 4 : 1 0 , a u t h o r ) . Paul bids the Corinthians " m a k e w a y " as for a ceremonial procession ( 7 : 2 ) . Paul D u f f detects in this proliferation o f ritual images a single strategic purpose: P a u l . . . " p l a y s " w i t h the definition o f thriambeueiriy it

expanding

Although Paul might look like he is being "led in t r i u m p h , "

a victim o f defeat, the object o f the vengeance o f God, he is in fact a captive o f the "love o f Christ." H e is a participant n o t in a military victory parade but in an epiphany procession. H e has been c a p tured, n o t as a prisoner o f war, but as a devotee o f the d e i t y . . . . H e describes himself with an image which would be eagerly e m b r a c e d by his opponents; b u t t h r o u g h o u t the course o f the letter fragment.

25. Lamar WiUiamson, "Led in Triumph: Paul's Use of ThriambeuOy" Int 22 (1968): 321; Cilliers Breytenbach, "Paul's Proclamation and God's 'thriambos' (Notes on 2 Corinthians 2:14-16b)," Neotestamentica 24 (1990): 2 5 9 - 6 2 ; Jan Lambrecht, "The Defeated Paul, Aroma of Christ: An Exegetical Study of 2 Corinthians 2:14-16b," Louvain Studies 20 (1995): 170-86 (with survey of interpretation); Peter Marshall, "A Metaphor of Social Shame: thriambeuein in 2 Cor. 2:14," NovT 25 (1983): 302-17; Scott Hafemann, Suffering and the Spirit: An Exegetical Study of II Cor. 2:14-3:3 within the Context of the Corinthian Correspondence ( W U N T 2/19; Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1986), 33. 26. Victor R Furnish, II Corinthians (AB 32A; Garden City, N.J.: Doubleday 1984), 369; Paul Brooks Duff, "Metaphor, Motif, and Meaning: The Rhetorical Strategy behind the Image *Led in Triumph' in 2 Corinthians 2:14," CBQ 53 (1991): 8 6 - 8 9 .


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he subtly redefines it, using m e t a p h o r s a n d allusions d r a w n firom the processions o f the G r e c o - R o m a n world.^^ This is n o t m e r e rhetorical " p ' ^ Y "

course. W h i l e p a r t o f PauFs p u r -

pose is to address C o r i n t h i a n charges that he has proved false by delaying his return to t h e m (2 C o r 1 : 1 5 - 1 7 ; 1 : 2 3 - 2 : 4 ; 2 : 1 2 ) , he m u s t also revise their understanding o f the "affliction" he suffered ( 1 : 8 - 1 0 ; see below). By taking u p key images f r o m the imperial ritualization o f power (the t r i u m p h p r o cession), Paul acknowledges that he has b e e n m a d e the object o f public ridicule a n d s h a m e in civic representations o f R o m a n power (he refers obliquely t o receiving " t h e sentence o f death," 1 : 9 ) . Indeed, the later Pauline tradition uses the language o f t r i u m p h s a n d processions precisely in the c o n t e x t o f public spectacles o f t o r t u r e , expulsion, o r execution.^^ B u t Paul insists that the C o r i n t h i a n s m u s t perceive in his humiliation the decisive display o f God's power; wherever he goes, the " f r a g r a n c e o f the knowledge o f G o d " is spread ( 2 : 1 4 , author, c f 2 : 1 2 ) . T h e peculiar double effect o f this f r a g r a n c e — t o those perishing, " a fragrance f r o m death t o d e a t h " ; to those being saved, " a fragrance f r o m life t o life"—is clearly an invitation a n d a challenge to the C o r i n t h i a n s t o discern Paul's c o n d u c t f r o m God's perspective.

Paul's "Afflictions" All o f 2 Corinthians 1 - 9 stands u n d e r the t h e m e s o f "affliction" a n d " c o n solation" ( 1 : 3 - 7 ) . Paul was "afflicted" in Asia ( 1 : 8 ) , m o s t probably at m o r tal risk d u r i n g

an E p h e s i a n

imprisonment;^^

h e was

subsequently

"afflicted" in M a c e d o n i a , enduring " c o m b a t s without a n d fears within" ( 7 : 5 , a u t h o r ) . Even his solicitude toward the Corinthians has been an "affliction" ( 2 : 4 , 1 3 ) ! Paul repeatedly lists his afflictions: in 4 : 8 - 1 2 , where being " a f f l i c t e d , . . . p e r p l e x e d , . . . p e r s e c u t e d , . . . struck d o w n , . . . always being given u p t o death for Jesus' sake" is characterized, in t e r m s o f the epiphany procession, as "carrying about in the b o d y the death o f Jesus so that the life o f Jesus m a y be manifested in o u r bodies" ( 4 : 1 0 , a u t h o r ) . T h e triumph/epiphany m e t a p h o r in 2 C o r 2 : 1 4 a n d the allusion to the epiphany procession in 4 : 1 0 reveal a parallel structure: In b o t h cases the afflictions o f

27. Duff, "Metaphor," 8 7 , 9 1 . 28. Heidelberg and Hamburg Papyri: see Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneemelcher, Writings Relating to Apostles, Apocalypses, and Related Subjects, vol. 2 of New Testament Apocrypha (rev. ed.; trans. R. McL. Wilson; Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox, 1992), 2 4 4 - 4 5 , 253. 29. Furnish, II Corinthians, 122-25.

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the apostohc workers are characterized as the public, ceremonial manifestation o f the knowledge o r power o f God.^° Again in 6 : 4 - 1 0 , Paul protests that his p a r t y o f God's servants have c o n d u c t e d themselves with openness a n d purity in the face o f "afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, i m p r i s o n m e n t s , riots, labors, sleepless nights, h u n g e r " ; he t h e n appeals to the Corinthians to " m a k e w a y " (choresate)

for these afflicted ministers, as for a sacred procession (7:2),^'

a n d thus to fulfill their sacred service (diakonia)

t o G o d ( 6 : 3 - 4 ) . In 1 C o r

4 : 9 - 1 3 , Paul presents a n o t h e r "affliction list" u n d e r a different t h o u g h related metaphor, that o f the ritualized spectacle o f the arena: I think that G o d has exhibited us aposdes as last o f all, as t h o u g h sentenced t o death, because we have b e c o m e a spectacle t o the world, to angels a n d t o m o r t a l s

[theatron]

To the present h o u r we

are h u n g r y a n d thirsty, we are p o o r l y clothed and beaten a n d homeless, a n d we g r o w weary f r o m the w o r k o f o u r o w n hands. W h e n reviled, we bless; w h e n persecuted, we endure; w h e n slandered, we speak kindly. W e have b e c o m e like the rubbish o f the world, the dregs o f all things, t o this very day. As in the passages fi*om 2 Corinthians, the afflictions suffered by the aposdes are here represented in ritual t e r m s : first, the ghasdy rehearsals o f imperial power in the arena; then also the (often violent) public expulsions o f ritual victims (perikatharmata,

peripsema)

in a p o t r o p a i c rituals.^^ W h i l e Paul's

reference to fighting "wild animals at Ephesus" (1 C o r 15:32) should perhaps n o t be taken literally (as it was, however, by the author o f the Acts o f Paul!), neither is the phrase merely an extravagant m e t a p h o r for facing opposition.^^ In Jewish a n d Christian tradition, the m e t a p h o r o f facing wild beasts was clearly associated with confronting ruling authorities, and with the possible

30. Duff, "Metaphor," 89-90; Hafemann, Suffering, 73; on die affliction lists in general, J. T. Fitzgerald, Cracks in an Earthen Vessel: An Examination of the Catalogues of Hardships in the Corinthian Correspondence (Adanta: Scholars, 1988). 31. Duff, "Metaphor," 8 7 - 8 8 . 32. The N R S V translates with "rubbish" and "dregs," but the Greek words are technical terms from apotropaic rituals; see B. Hudson McLean, The Cursed Christ: Mediterranean Expulsion Rituals and Pauline Soteriology (JSNTSup 126; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1996), 9 8 - 9 9 , 107. On the arena, see Roland Auguet, Cruelty and Civilization: The Roman Games (New York: Roudedge, 1972). 33. Anthony Tyrrell Hanson, The Paradox of the Cross in the Thought of Paul (JSNTSup 17; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987), 1 1 5 - 1 6 , wrongly retreats from the "theatrical" connotations of Paul's language here. On the Acts of Paul, see Hamburg Papyrus 1-5; Hennecke and Schneemelcher, Writings, 2 5 1 - 5 4 .


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prospect o f martyrdom.^^ T h e overall effect o f Paul's language is to cast himself and his apostolic colleagues as those w h o consistendy are

humiliated,

ritually mistreated, and expelled in public events that represented the prevailing order o f power, a n d distinguished citizens f r o m subjects/^

Paul "at War" W e d o n o t exhaust the significance o f Paul's affliction lists by determining their tradition—historical b a c k g r o u n d , either a m o n g Stoic a n d Cynic t r a ditions o r the prophetic and apocalyptic traditions. Nevertheless, o n e aspect o f Paul's apocalyptic perspective is his occasional identification o f the power behind his o p p o n e n t s as " t h e d o m i n i o n o f the god o f this age." H e is engaged, n o t merely in a controversy with rival opinions, b u t in a w a r o f darkness against light.^^ Paul's use o f t r i u m p h imagery (2 C o r 2 ) and his use o f affliction hsts cohere in the fiindamental understanding o f his apostohc parousia as participation in warfare.^^ T h e language o f c o m b a t recurs in Paul's Letters: he calls u p o n the R o m a n s to "demobilize" themselves fi*om service to sin a n d to "surrender their m e m b e r s to G o d as weapons for right" ( R o m 6:13, author).^^ Paul describes himself as "at w a r " in 2 C o r 1 0 : 3 - 6 : W e d o n o t wage w a r according to h u m a n standards; for the weapons o f o u r warfare are n o t merely h u m a n , but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. W e destroy a r g u m e n t s and every p r o u d obstacle raised u p against the knowledge o f G o d , and we take every t h o u g h t captive to obey Christ. W e are ready t o p u n ish every disobedience w h e n y o u r obedience is c o m p l e t e . This language derives fi-om Cynic a n d Stoic discussions o f the wise person's " w a r f a r e " with the passions. Contesting a C o r i n t h i a n deprecation

34. Dan 6; Ignatius, Rom. 5.1. Hanson, Paradox, 119, gratuitously introduces "the strict party among Christian Jews" or even "the Pharisaic party among Jews" as the referent for the "wild anunals." 35. Nippel, Public Order, 6: "Exemption from the humihation of corporal punishment underiined the distinction between citizens and Roman subjects... as well as between citizens and slaves." 36. A point ably made by Susan R. Garrett, "The God of This World and the Affliction of Paul: 2 Cor 4:1-12," in Greeks, Romans, and Christians: Essays in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe (ed. David L. Balch, Everett Ferguson, and Wayne A. Meeks; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 117. 37. Similarly Lambrecht, "Defeated Paul," 185; Hanson, Paradox, 99. 38. Ernst Kasemann, Commentary on Romans (trans. G. W. Bromiley; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 177, considers a military sense "the most likely."

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o f his h u m b l e self-presentation, Paul declares that his warfare "consists in his m a n n e r o f life. Far from being abject, the Paul w h o is tapeinos

[hum-

ble] is combative. In this respect he is like the Cynic w h o appears in humiliating circumstances a n d garb b u t is actually at war." This " h u m b l e w a r r i o r " image stands in contrast to the image o f " t h e self-sufficient, self-confident Stoic, secure in the fortification o f his reason," an image with which Paul implicitly characterizes his opponents.^^ All these metaphorical d o m a i n s — t h e imagery o f t r i u m p h , the afflictions o f the arena o r the expulsion ritual, the m e t a p h o r o f c o m b a t — c o h e r e in a c o m m o n rhetorical strategy o n Paul's part. H e wishes, first, to call attention to his apostolic parousia as the public manifestation (phanerdthenai)

of

divine power ( R o m 1 : 1 6 - 1 7 ; 1 5 : 1 8 - 1 9 ) . Second, he acknowledges that his parousia is normally characterized by both humility a n d public humiliation. In the context o f the Corinthian correspondence, this is in part an acknowle d g m e n t o f his unimpressive rhetorical skill, but also o f his "afflictions," which m a y have been interpreted (by others) as divine punishment. Third, Paul insists, t h r o u g h use o f a range o f m e t a p h o r s , that it is precisely t h r o u g h his apostolic parousia

as humbled

that G o d is glorified and God's

power in Christ displayed. This paradoxical claim is the point o f the triu m p h a l image: " G o d will continue o n his t r i u m p h a l way t h o u g h Paul appears only as a figure o f s h a m e in his procession."^ But h o w can weakness a n d humiliation manifest power?

Representing the Body of the Crucified I emphasize again that Paul's metaphorical strategy is n o t " m e r e " metaphor. T h e affliction list in 2 C o r 1 1 : 2 3 - 2 7 is the m o s t specific o f these passages: Are they ministers o f Christ? I a m talking like a m a d m a n — I a m a better o n e : with far greater labors, far m o r e i m p r i s o n m e n t s , with countless

floggings,

a n d often near death. Five times I have

received from the Jews the forty lashes m i n u s o n e . T h r e e times I was beaten with rods. O n c e I received a stoning. T h r e e times I was shipwrecked; for a night a n d a day I was adrift at sea; o n

frequent

journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from m y o w n people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers a n d sisters;

39. Abraham J. Malherbe, "Antisthenes and Odysseus, and Paul at War," HTR 76 (1983): 170-71. Hanson's derivation of Paul's language from Isa 40:2 and Zech 9:12 (LXX) is doubtftil (Paradox, 9 9 - 1 0 1 ) , and importing "unbelieving Jews" into 2 Cor 10 is unwarranted. 40. Marshall, Enmity, 316.


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in toil a n d hardship, t h r o u g h m a n y a sleepless night, h u n g r y a n d thirsty, often w i t h o u t ft)od, cold a n d naked. N o t e that first n a m e d a m o n g these very real "afflictions" are ritual punishm e n t s : the c o r p o r e a l discipline o f the synagogue, a n d the civic floggings o f the R o m a n polis

(city).^' Indeed, Paul declares that his b o d y has been

inscribed with the m a r k s o f t o r t u r e : " I c a r r y the m a r k s o f Jesus b r a n d e d o n m y b o d y " (Gal 6 : 1 7 ) . T h e apostles' afflictions are o n e m e d i u m t h r o u g h which the crucified Jesus is publicly e m b o d i e d . T h e y are simultaneously manifestations o f God's power. If Paul a n d his apostolic colleagues are p u t forward as a humiliated spectacle (1 C o r 4 : 9 - 1 3 ) , they also thus reveal that " t h e kingd o m o f G o d depends n o t o n talk b u t o n p o w e r " ( 4 : 2 0 ) . If the aposdes " c a r r y a b o u t the dying o f Jesus" in their very bodies, it is " s o that the life o f Jesus m a y also be m a d e visible in o u r b o d i e s " (2 C o r 4 : 1 0 , NRSV). Similarly, Paul considers his p r o c l a m a t i o n o f the gospel to be a m e d i u m t h r o u g h which the crucified Jesus is manifested publicly. Again a n d again in his letters, Paul speaks o f representing t h e b o d y o f the c r u c i fied Jesus, a n d f r o m w h a t we have seen, Paul considers just these events t o be manifestations o f p o w e r a n d life. W h e n h e first c a m e t o the Corinthians, he resolved t o " k n o w n o t h i n g a m o n g [ t h e m ] except Jesus Christ, a n d h i m crucified"; this was " a d e m o n s t r a t i o n o f the Spirit a n d o f p o w e r " (1 C o r 2 : 2 , 4 ) . Paul heatedly r e m i n d s t h e Galatians that "it was before y o u r eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!" (Gal 3 : 1 ) ; d o they n o w really m i s u n d e r s t a n d how G o d supplied t h e m with the Spirit a n d w o r k e d miracles a m o n g t h e m ( 3 : 5 ) ? B y speaking o f the public exhibition o f Christ crucified (Gal 3 : 1 ) , Paul calls u p o n his Galatian audience as "eyewitnesses."^^ But, o f course, they saw n o t the actual crucifixion o f Jesus, b u t its representation

in

perform-

ance. W e c a n n o t k n o w w h a t this representation looked like. As indicated in the ancient

rhetorical handbooks, c o n t e m p o r a r y

rhetorical

practice

involved vivid a n d impressive deliveries, so that (as Quintilian r e c o m m e n d e d ) listeners " i m a g i n e d the m a t t e r t o have h a p p e n e d right before their eyes. All kinds o f techniques were r e c o m m e n d e d t o achieve the effect.

41. In 2 Cor 11:25, the "rods" (rhabdoi) with which Paul was beaten (erabdisthen) were carried publicly before Roman magistrates; they were at once instruments of coercion and symbolic of Roman power (Nippel, Public Order, 1 3 - 1 6 ) . 42. On die rhetorical echoes here see Betz, Galatians, 131-32. In Gal 3:1, as Betz points out, prographein can mean either "proclaim publicly" (so the Jerusalem Bible: "in spite of the plain explanation you have had of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ"), or "portray publicly" (RSV; NEB translates, "Jesus Christ was openly displayed upon his cross"). Betz argues effectively for the second interpretation.

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including impersonations a n d even holding u p painted pictures" ( t h o u g h Quintilian frowned u p o n this latter p r a c t i c e ) . Giving an a r g u m e n t " p r e s e n c e " could m e a n bringing forward realia such as the marks o f injury o r torture. M i n i m a l l y the evidence o f Paul's Letters suggests that Paul's a p o s tolic p e r f o r m a n c e included s o m e visual representation o f Christ as c r u c i fied. Further, Paul w a n t e d others t o see his apostolic presence, particularly in its weakness, affliction, and humiliation, as a representation o f C h r i s t — literally, a m a k i n g - C h r i s t - p r e s e n t - a g a i n — a s crucified.^^ This does n o t m e a n that, for Paul, the crucifixion m a y be regarded in isolation as the "demonstration o f God's power." Statements to the effect that the proclamation o f the cross is " t h e power o f G o d " (e.g., 1 C o r 1 : 1 7 - 1 8 ) are elliptical. Therefore, it is potentially misleading to say that "it is precisely in the death o f Jesus, represented to the world in the mortality and suffering o f Christian aposdes, that 'the hfe o f Jesus' is manifested"; n o r can recognizing the power o f G o d be reduced to "perceiving the meaning of Chrisfs

death

and identifying oneself with that."^ To the contrary, Paul never perceives weakness and suffering as meaningfid in and o f themselves.^^ Rather, for Paul, the cross manifests God's power because o f its inseparable with the resurrection

of Christ. No contemplation

connection

of the cross alone would

have

turned its horror into blessing. As J. Christiaan Beker observes, [In Paul's thought,] the cross o f Christ does n o t p e r m i t a passion mysticism, a c o n t e m p l a t i o n o f the w o u n d s o f Christ, o r a spiritual absorption into the sufferings o f Christ (conformitas

crucis).

Paul

never sanctifies o r hallows death, pain, a n d suffering. T h e r e is n o hint o f a masochistic delight in suffering. The death of Christ is efficacious only because it stands within the radius of the victory of the resurrection.

. . . Although the death o f Christ qualifies the resur-

rection o f Christ as that o f the Crucified O n e , the death o f Christ does n o t in a n d b y itself i n a u g u r a t e the n e w age o r in a n d by itself legitimize a n d sanctify suffering and death as the way in which G o d executes his lordship in an evil world, that is, as suffer-

43. Supposed distinctions between a "Semitic" oraUty and a "Greek" knowing through vision (e.g., Marianne Sawicki, Seeing the Lord: Resurrection and Early Christian Practices [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994], 80-81) are overdrawn. Neither am I prepared to subsume visual terminology in 2 Corinthians as "susceptible of explanation in terms of the oral gospel" (Kelber, Oral and Written Gospel 141). The goal of Paul's visual imagery is «ot"interiorizing the essentially invisible" (ibid., 142), but the manifestation of God's powder in public space. 44. Against Furnish, / / Corinthians, 189 (emphasis added to quotation). 45. Pickett, The Cross in Corinth, 141. 46. J. Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), 1 9 6 , 1 9 9 - 2 0 0 (emphasis added).


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ing love/^ Paul proclaims, a n d t h r o u g h his parousia

represents, the crucified

Christ as the manifestation o f God's power because

this is the One

whom

God has raised. Paul's wretched apostolic presence, wafting an o d o r suggesting death t o those w h o d o n o t believe, is for believers " n o t the stench o f death at all b u t the 'sweet a r o m a o f [the resurrected!] Christ.'" Paul c a n k n o w his "carrying a b o u t in the b o d y the dying o f Jesus" also manifests the life o f Jesus (2 C o r 4 : 1 0 - 1 1 , a u t h o r ) because he knows " t h a t the o n e w h o raised the L o r d Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with y o u into his presence" (4:14).^^ T h u s carrying a b o u t the dying o f Jesus is n o t itself the full manifestation o f God's power: rather, it points to Paul and his colleagues as those w h o still c o n t e n d in "Christ's batde."^^ Put a n o t h e r way, the e m b o d i e d showing-forth o f the crucified Jesus is an apostolic strategy for representing the risen Christ/^ Knowing the risen Christ is, for Paul, neither r e m e m b e r i n g a past e v e n t — t h e r e s u r r e c t i o n — a s past, as " d e a d " history; n o r is it the present experience o f ecstatic c o m m u n i o n with the L o r d . In Jtirgen M o l t m a n n ' s words, " ' T h e resurrection o f Christ' is a meaningful postulate only if its f r a m e w o r k is the history which the resurrection itself throws o p e n : the hist o r y o f the liberation o f h u m a n beings a n d nature firom the power o f death." T h e structure o f this history is evident in R o m 8 : 1 1 : " I f the Spirit o f the O n e w h o has raised Jesus f r o m the dead dwells in y o u , the O n e w h o has raised Christ Jesus f r o m the dead will give life t o y o u r m o r t a l bodies also t h r o u g h the power o f the Spirit which dwells in y o u " ( a u t h o r ) . Here Paul "links the perfect tense o f Christ's resurrection with the present tense o f the indwelling o f the Spirit, a n d the present tense o f the Spirit with the future tense o f the resurrection o f the dead."^° T h e point o f examining imperial rituals o f power in the R o m a n polis is that these were the prevalent "strategies o f knowing" elsewhere in Paul's day. T h e ekklesia's "proclaiming the Lord's death until he c o m e s , " and the apos-

47. Calvin J. Roetzel," *As Dying, and Behold, We Live,' Death and Resurrection in Paul's Theology"/«t 46 (1992): 5 - 1 8 ; Pickett, The Cross in Corinth, 140-41. 48. Hanson's phrase, Paradox, 114-15; see Kraftchick, "Death in Us, Life in You," 174-75. 49. Compare Marianne Sawicki's discussion of early Christian "strategies for recognizing the risen Lord," the "protocols of approach," which defined within the early ekklesiai "what ^resurrection' itself means." As Sawicki puts it, "risen Hfe is that mode of availability of Jesus to the church that results from the enactment or realization" of a particular protocol of praxis (Sawicki, Seeing the Lord, 1,10, 79). I find it curious that Sawicki's discussion ignores Paul. 50. Jurgen Moltmann, "The Resurrection of Christ: Hope for the World," in Resurrection Reconsidered (ed. Gavin D'Costa; Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 196), 80-81.

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ties' "carrying about the dying o f Jesus in the body," are alike representations o f the power o f G o d because the crucified o n e so shown forth is the resurrected Jesus. T h a t is, precisely the b o d y exhibited by the E m p i r e as t o r t u r e d a n d crucified has been decisively counter-exhibited

by God's act in raising

Jesus from the dead; a n d that counter-display continues to be re-presented by apostolic a n d ecclesial p e r f o r m a n c e as the locus o f God's life-giving power. "Showing forth the Lord's d e a t h " thus constitutes a ritual gesture o f defiance, a reftisal to allow the Empire's exhibition o f a crucified corpse t o be determinative o f the ftiture o f Jesus, o r o f the creation.

Habeas corpus Christi: An Ecclesiological Postscript W h a t 1 have just described as the strategic intent o f Paul's self-presentation has, 1 think, profound implications for the way we read Paul's Letters t o d a y O u r o w n world, after all, is n o stranger t o imperial representations o f p o w e r — r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s often m a d e in a n d u p o n the very bodies o f subject peoples. M o r e o v e r , c o n t e m p o r a r y discussions o f intentional

counter-

representations o f power o n the part o f c h u r c h groups present a p r o v o c a tive analogue to what I have described as Paul's apostohc performance. Terrorism has been the focus o f intense discussion, and the target o f t r e m e n d o u s military action, since the spectacular terrorist attacks against the United States o n September 11, 2 0 0 1 . W e m u s t nevertheless recognize that terrorism is neither new, n o r does the strategy exclusively belong t o avowed enemies o f the United States. In the "national security states" develo p e d and reinforced as an integral part o f avowed U.S. policy since the 1 9 8 0 s , t o r t u r e has routinely been used t o d i s m e m b e r and disappear b o t h h u m a n bodies a n d the b o d y politic. T h e development o f torture as an instrument o f terror, a n d thus o f social control, at the level o f military policy is o n e o f the m o s t salient aspects o f o u r age. Latin A m e r i c a n analysts speak o f the creation o f a "culture o f fear" that isolates individuals a n d fragments the b o d y politic so as to render a population passive a n d incapable o f resistance.^' T h e systematic effort o f military strategists a n d architects o f security policy to fimd, train, equip, a n d coordinate military and paramilitary regimes over the decades since

51. On "fear as a cultural and poUtical construct," see Juan E. Corradi, Patricia Weiss Fagen, and Manuel Antonio Garreton, eds.. Fear at the Edge: State Terrorism and Resistance in Latin America (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992); on the psychological effects of institutionalized terrorism, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Writings for a Liberation Psychology (ed. Adrianne Aron and Shawne Corne; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994). 52. On state terrorism as an integral component of U.S. policy, see William Blum, Killing Hope: U.S, Military and CIA Interventions since World War II (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995); Edward S. Herman, The Real Terror Network


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Performance

85

W o r l d W a r II is well d o c u m e n t e d , but is especially evident since the 1980s.^^ State-sponsored

t e r r o r i s m is n o t a peculiarly Western p h e n o m e n o n .

Nevertheless, the increasingly steep upward gradient o f Western power in the wake o f the Soviet Union's collapse, a n d the apparendy greater availability o f d e m o c r a t i c avenues o f redress in Western d e m o c r a c i e s and the United States in particular, have led s o m e Western activists to c o n c e n t r a t e their efforts o n ending Western support for terror regimes. Jack NelsonPallmeyer, for example, has argued eloquently that the stated Pentagon policy o f low-intensity conflict constitutes nothing less than a "confessional situation" for Christians in the United States today; a n d his p u b lished indictment o f the U.S. School o f the A m e r i c a s condenses a m u c h larger protest m o v e m e n t in the United States." M y p u r p o s e here is n o t to assess questions o f relative blame, but to lift u p the relevance o f Paul's subversive theology a n d praxis to a m o d e r n world in which terror regimes thrive. In a theological analysis o f explicitly eucharistic strategies o f resistance in Agosto Pinochet's Chile, William C a v a n a u g h has argued that w h e n Christian d o c t r i n e a n d liturgy have envisioned the c h u r c h as the ''mystical B o d y o f Christ," s o m e h o w transcending the physical plane o f public space, Christ has remained politically disembodied. In such circumstances the b o d y o f Christ m a y be successfully "disa p p e a r e d " by the t o r t u r e regime.^^ However, his investigation o f " t h e actual a n d potential i m p a c t o f the Eucharist o n the dictatorship" o f Pinochet leads C a v a n a u g h to regard the Eucharist as " t h e Church's counterpolitics t o the politics o f torture." Cavanaugh discusses the Sebastian Acevedo M o v e m e n t against Torture in Chile to show " w h a t it m e a n s for the c h u r c h t o p e r f o r m liturgically the b o d y o f Christ in opposition to the state's liturgy o f t o r t u r e " : W h a t was so different a n d disruptive a b o u t the Sebastian Acevedo M o v e m e n t was its sense o f liturgy, the public ritual acts o f solidar-

(Boston: South End Press, 1982); Edward S. Herman and Gerry O'Sullivan, The "Terrorism'' Industry (New York: Pantheon, 1989); Noam Chomsky Pirates and Emperors: International Terrorism in the Real World (London: Spokesman, 1987); Alexander George, ed.. Western State Terrorism (New York: Polity, 1991); Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, War against the Poor: Low-Intensity Conflict and Christian Faith (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1989) and School ofAssassins (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1997); Eqbal Ahmad, David Barsamian, and Greg Ruggiero, Terrorism, Theirs and Ours (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001). 53. Nelson-Pallmeyer, War against the Poor; idem. School ofAssassins. 54. William Cavanaugh, Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ (Challenges in Contemporary Theology; London and New York: Routledge, 1998), especially chs. 3 , 4 .

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ity a n d denunciation that m e m b e r s would p e r f o r m with their bodies. Locations were chosen for their symbolic i m p o r t a n c e : places o f torture, the courts, g o v e r n m e n t buildings, m e d i a headquarters.

Exactly

at

a prearranged

time,

members

of

the

M o v e m e n t — s o m e t i m e s as m a n y as 150—^would appear o u t o f the crowds, unfurl banners a n d pass o u t leaflets, often blocking traffic [and p e r f o r m i n g brief liturgies] This type o f street liturgy precisely reverses the anti-liturgy o f torture in that it irrupts into a n d disrupts the public places o f the city which the regime has so careftilly policed. N e w spaces are o p e n e d which resist the strategy o f place which the regime has i m p o s e d . . . . In a n astonishing ritual t r a n s f o r m a t i o n , clandestine torture centers are revealed to the passersby for what they are, as if a veil covering the building were abruptly taken away." Organized rituals o f r e m e m b r a n c e for the disappeared, taking place in public, a n d especially outside the c h a m b e r s where bodies were t o r t u r e d , defied the regime's disposition o f h u m a n bodies. Recitals o f the n a m e s o f the disappeared ritually re-presented the t o r t u r e d a n d d e m a n d e d that the regime a c c o u n t for their bodies in a c o m m u n a l act o f habeas c o r p u s . T h e regime's covert application o f terror to h u m a n bodies is b r o u g h t to light, " n o t . . . by m e r e denunciation in words a n d song. T h e repressive a p p a r a tus is m a d e visible o n the very bodies o f the protesters as they are beaten, tear gassed, hosed d o w n , and dragged away to prison." T h a t is, the d e m o n strators "use their bodies as ritual o r theatrical instruments."^^ As 1 have argued was the case for Paul, C a v a n a u g h writes that " t h e b o d y b e c o m e s the battieground between evangelical and anti-evangelical forces." Such public eucharistic liturgies thus w o r k t o reconstruct the dism e m b e r e d b o d y politic: T h e logic o f Eucharist [is] an alternative e c o n o m y o f pain a n d the b o d y . . . . W h e r e t o r t u r e is an anti-liturgy for the realization o f the state's power o n the bodies o f others, Eucharist is the liturgical realization o f Christ's suffering a n d redemptive B o d y in the b o d ies o f his followers. Torture creates fearfiil a n d isolated bodies, bodies docile t o the purposes o f the regime; the Eucharist effects

55. Ibid., 2 7 4 - 7 5 . Cavanaugh also discusses the Vicaria de Solidaridad, on which see also Hugo Fruhling, "Resistance to Fear in Chile: The Experience of the Vicaria de la Solidaridad in Chile," in Fear at the Edge (ed. Corradi et al.), 1 2 1 ^ 1 . 56. Ibid., 276.


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t h e B o d y o f Christ, a b o d y m a r k e d by resistance to worldly power. T o r t u r e creates v i c t i m s ; Eucharist creates witnesses,

martyrs.

Isolation is o v e r c o m e in the Eucharist by the building o f a social B o d y which resists the state's attempts t o disappear it.^^ C a v a n a u g h stresses that this understanding o f the Eucharist is based o n Paul's theology in 1 Corinthians. In the light o f m y preceding discussion, I would go further t o suggest that the public liturgies Cavanaugh has analyzed d o n o t merely appropriate Pauline concepts o r language for discrete political purposes. T h e y e m b o d y an anti-imperial understanding o f the future o f h u m a n bodies a n d bodiliness that is structurally analogous t o the "liturgical" aspects o f Paul's apostolic praxis. T h e " w o r k " o f the Pauline ekklesia was t o " s h o w forth the Lord's death until h e c o m e s " (1 C o r 1 1 : 2 6 , a u t h o r ) , to hold before public gaze the r e p resentation o f the Empire's v i c t i m as the One whom

God had

bodily t h r o u g h resurrection. This strategy, a habeas corpus Christi,

vindicated refuses

t o surrender the b o d y o f Jesus t o the disposition o f the E m p i r e . N o r does it render that particular b o d y irrelevant, however, by a spiritualization o f Jesus' m e m o r y . T h e b o d y as tortured, as crucified,

m u s t be carried about, r e -

presented, e m b o d i e d in the persons o f his aposdes, until the deadly representations o f the Empire's power are b r o u g h t t o an end by the O n e to w h o m all powers will ultimately be subjected (1 C o r 15:24).^^ C a v a n a u g h s u m s u p this understanding o f apostolic a n d ecclesial liturgy as I have discussed it above—^but he is describing the strategy o f the Sebastian Acevedo M o v e m e n t ' s public actions: Christ's B o d y reappears precisely as a suffering B o d y offered in sacrifice; Christ's B o d y is m a d e visible in its w o u n d s . But this B o d y is also m a r k e d with future glory, for Christ has suffered in o r d e r to t r i u m p h over suffering a n d defeat the powers o f death. T h e space it creates is therefore a space crossed by the JCingdom o f G o d . W e witness a liturgical anticipation o f the e n d o f history and the resu r r e c t i o n o f the body.^^ Today, n o less than in the ancient R o m a n environment, the crucifor-

57. Ibid., 2 7 8 - 8 1 . 58. As Pickett observes in The Cross in Corinth, 141, for Paul, the cruciform life "is the appropriate mode of existence only until the apocalyptic resurrection of the dead." 59. Ibid., 277.

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m i t y o f an apostolic p e r f o r m a n c e like P a u l ' s — a praxis that makes present the b o d y o f Christ o n the public landscape—^will inevitably subvert the ideology a n d ritualization o f actual o r aspiring empires. T h o s e w h o wish n o t only to study Paul's apostolic praxis, b u t to take o n a c o n t e m p o r a r y c o m m u n i t y discipline i n f o r m e d a n d shaped by it, m a y find themselves in the c o m p a n y o f those already struggling t o expose a n d c o n t e n d against the imperial instrumentalities o f t e r r o r in o u r o w n world.

-

4

-

RESISTING IMPERIAL D O M I N A T I O N A N D INFLUENCE Paul's Apocalyptic Rhetoric in 1 Corinthians Rollin A. Ramsaran

S

tudies o f G r e c o - R o m a n rhetoric have d o n e m u c h t o illuminate hov^ Paul draws o n the standard rhetorical f o r m s in formulating the argu-

m e n t s in his letters. Yet hov^ Judean apocalyptic traditions i n f o r m o r p o s sibly provide the b a c k b o n e t o Paul's a r g u m e n t s have n o t been adequately e x a m i n e d . Paul moves betvêen tvô rhetorical registers/ that o f the Jevîsh apocalyptist a n d that o f the G r e c o - R o m a n rhetor. Indeed, this investigation o f 1 Corinthians m a y suggest that Paul " m i x e s " registers, as p r e s u m ably has already h a p p e n e d in his personal history as a Diaspora Jew and, m o r e recendy, as o n e called by Christ as an a p o s d e to the Gentiles. In 1 Corinthians, Paul claims that he does n o t preach the gospel "with eloquent w i s d o m " o r in "lofty words o r w i s d o m " (1 C o r 1:17; 2 : 1 ) . M e a s u r e d against the c a n o n s o f G r e c o - R o m a n rhetoric, however, Paul's ensuing words are persuasively shaped a n d argued.^ H e n c e , it is probably n o t c o r r e c t t o relate "eloquent w i s d o m " a n d "lofty words o r w i s d o m " in a 1. More likely, Paul mixes three primary registers: the Jewish apocalyptist, the Greco-Roman rhetor, and the Hellenistic moralist. Here I confine myself to the first two. On Paul as moralist, see my "In the Steps of the Moralists: Paul's Rhetorical Argumentation in Phihppians 4," in Rhetoric, Ethics, and Moral Persuasion in Biblical Discourse: Essays from the Heidelberg 2002 Conference (ed. Tom H. Olbricht and Anders Eriksson; Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, forthcoming). For a discussion of "registers" in the context of orally performed speech, see Richard A. Horsley, "Recent Studies of Oral-derived Literature and Q," in Whoever Hears You Hears Me: Prophets, Performance, and Tradition in Q (by R. A. Horsley with Jonathan A. Draper; Harrisburg, Pa.: Trmity Press International, 1999), 164-66. 2. Important studies treating the context of 1 Corinthians 1-4: Duane Lifton, St. PauVs Theology of Proclamation: 1 Corinthians 1-4 and Greco-Roman Rhetoric (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); Stephen M. Pogoloff, Logos and Sophia: The Rhetorical Situation of 1 Corinthians (SBLDS 134; Atlanta: Scholars, 89

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o n e - t o - o n e c o r r e s p o n d e n c e to " r h e t o r i c " as a m o n o h t h i c entity.^ Rather, Paul contrasts ( 1 ) persuasive w o r d s based in the educationally, religiously, a n d politically developed power structures o f the G r e c o - R o m a n world with ( 2 ) persuasive words based in the apocalyptic intervention o f G o d a n d God's revealed destiny for "set a p a r t " humanity. Paul engages the Corinthians in a " w a r o f m y t h s " o r a collision in "worldviews."^ Analysis o f "apocalyptic rhetoric," which is n o w in its initial sounding, remains largely undefined.^ F o r purposes o f analysis here, " a p o c a l y p t i c " refers to a worldview, a symbolic universe that articulates an interpretation o f reality.^ The apocalyptic worldview is p u r p o r t e d l y established by revelation: visionaries learn that G o d will m o v e t o "rectify a world g o n e a w r y " by delivering it f r o m the present evil age into a c o m i n g age o f peace a n d h a r m o n y ^ "Rhetoric," then, is persuasive a r g u m e n t a t i o n to p r o m o t e that worldview. Paul is an apocalyptic thinker^ w h o operates in a world where rhetorical conventions are a g i v e n — p a r t o f the Zeitgeist.^ Paul uses the conventions o f rhetoric in what he believes is an a p p r o priate framework: the inbreaking o f God's power in n e w h u m a n c o m m u nities through the Christ-event a n d its subsequent release o f Spirit. In so doing, Paul refuses t o b e identified with any type o f rhetoric lodged in a

1992); Rollin A. Ramsaran, Liberating Words: PauVs Use of Rhetorical Maxims in 1 Corinthians 1-10 (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press Intemational, 1996); Bruce W. Winter, Philo and Paul among the Sophists (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). 3. One need only note the disagreements within the first-century world concernmg style, technique, and presentation of the orator. On sophist and antisophist differentiation, see Winter, Philo and Paul 1 9 - 1 1 5 , 1 4 5 - 2 0 2 . 4. Amos N. Wilder, "Apocalyptic Rhetorics," in Jesus' Parables and the War of Myths (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 157-64. 5. See Gregory L. Bloomquist and W. Gregory Carey, eds.. Apocalyptic Rhetoric (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1999), esp. the concluding essay by Bloomquist: "Methodological Criteria for Apocalyptic Rhetoric: A Suggestion for the Expanded Use of Sociorhetorical Analysis," 181-203. 6. See a full discussion of the distinctions between apocalypse as genre, apocalyptic eschatology, and apocalypticism in John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to the Jewish Matrix of Christianity (2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 1-42. 7. Martinus C. de Boer, "Paul and Apocalyptic Eschatology," in The Encyclopedia ofApocalypticism vol. 1 (ed. John J. Collins; New York: Continuum, 1998), 349-53. De Boer carefully defines and then labels this perspective as "apocalyptic eschatology." 8. J. Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 135-81. 9. George AKennedy, New Testament Interpretation through Rhetorical Criticism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984), 3 - 1 2 ; Ramsaran, Liberating Words, 147 n. 14; James L. Kinneavy, Greek Rhetorical Origins of Christian Faith (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), 56-90.

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o f h u m a n boastftilness a n d power manipulation.'^ Here, then,

I ask: h o w would an apocalyptisty

in this case Paul, argue using G r e c o -

R o m a n rhetoric? W i t h that question in m i n d , an analysis o f Paul's dispositioy o r a r r a n g e m e n t o f the material, in 1 Corinthians is in order.

Paul's Two Modes of Arrangement in 1 Corinthians M u c h attention has been given to the rhetorical aspect o f a r r a n g e m e n t (dispositio) in t e r m s o f the various parts o f a speech, that is, "disposition mternal to the discourse," o r "text-internal d i s p o s i t i o . " A

deliberative

speech, for example, consists o f an e x o r d i u m , (optional) narration, p r o p o sition, partition, proof, a n d peroration.'^ A variety o f text-internal arrangem e n t patterns developed in antiquity from different social, cultural, a n d political institutional settings.'^ T h e a r r a n g e m e n t pattern for deliberative discourse, for example, arises from the social setting o f the assembly (i.e., the "parts o f speech m o d e l " we recognize from the rhetorical h a n d b o o k s as slightly different from the judicial pattern).''* In 1 Corinthians Paul follows a straightforward'^ deliberative pattern for an assembly.'^ W h a t needs m o r e attention with regard to 1 Corinthians is " t h e disposition e x t e r n a l t o t h e d i s c o u r s e , " t h e " t e x t - e x t e r n a l

dispositio,"'^

a

10. Winter, Philo and Paul 179-202. 11. Wilhelm Wuellner, "Arrangement," in Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period: 330 B.C.-A.D. 400 (ed. Stanley E. Porter; Leiden: Brill, 1997), 52, 7 8 - 7 9 , closely following H. Lausberg, Elemente der literarischen Rhetorik ([1st ed., 1963] 8di ed.; Munich: Hueber, 1984). 12. Kennedy, Rhetorical Criticisniy 2 3 - 2 4 . C f Burton L. Mack, Rhetoric and the New Testament (MinneapoUs: Fortress, 1990), 4 1 ^ 2 . 13. WueUner, "Arrangement," 5 2 - 5 3 . 14. The parts of the deliberative speech are: exordium, (optional) narration, proposition, partition, proof, and peroration (see note 12, above). For a discussion of the history of "arrangement" in Greek and Latin traditions, including the rhetorical handbooks (Aristotle, Rhetorica AnaximeneSy Rhetorica ad Herennium; Quintilian, Institutio oratoria), see Wuellner, "Arrangement," 5 2 - 7 3 . 15. With respect to text-internal discourse, "arrangement of parts as a whole can be found in two types: (1) arrangement in two parts for tension and polarity, contrast or balance (as in thesis/antithesis); or (2) three parts for beginning, middle, and end of the w h o l e , . . . which is utilitas—appropriate. By amplifying the middle part of the tripartite arrangement, one achieves a five-part whole, as in the parts of discourse (proem, narratiOy proofs, refutation, epilogue). This quinquepartite system gready influenced the order of the classical handbooks of the rhetorical technaf (Wuellner, "Arrangement," 7 8 - 7 9 ) . 16. Margaret M. Mitchell, Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation: An Exegetical Investigation of the Language and Composition of 1 Corinthians (Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox, 1992), 182-94 and passim. 17. Wuellner, "Arrangement," 52; 7 9 - 8 0 , with note 12, above.

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speaker/writer's particular perspective, worldview, partiality, o r bias. This external disposition c o m e s from social circumstances and a shared ideology: pertinent examples are educational schools and their practice o f declamation; philosophical schools with their protreptic outreach and paraenetical maintenance; o r philosophic and rehgious teachers with their concern for psychagogic personal a n d spiritual development, as well as the maintenance o f a coherent worldview o r "sacred canopy."'^ "This orientation . . . constitutes the ordering principle o f the discourse and guarantees its structural unit as a whole." F i r s t C o r i n t h i a n s 1 : 1 0 s t a t e s t h e m a i n p o i n t in t h e a r g u m e n t o f 1 C o r i n t h i a n s : lay aside divisions and b e c o m e unified.^° But what is Paul's larger "external order," framework, worldview, "sacred c a n o p y " (Paul's bias, if y o u willÔ that provides a w a r r a n t o r motivation for reconciliation a n d unity? W h a t informs Paul's "text-external dispositio"? Paul's bias is set o u t succinctly in the first paragraph o f 1 Corinthians. W h a t gives shape to reality is the thelema

theou, the "will o f G o d " ( 1 : 1 ) ,

which calls hagioi (set-apart ones) in the n a m e o f the L o r d Jesus Christ ( n o t Caesar; 1:2), gives this assembly in C o r i n t h and presumably " s e t - a p a r t "

18. Ibid., 5 3 - 5 5 . On the concept of "sacred canopy" as "world-construction" and "world maintenance," see Peter L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion (New York: Doubleday, 1967), 3 - 5 1 . 19. WueUner, "Arrangement," 7 9 - 8 0 (again foUowing Lausberg, 1984). This textexternal dispositio based on partiaUty also finds variety in its final patterns: "Lausberg defined partiality as the main principle of arrangement. He distinguishes three types of oratorical tactics: (1) the straightforward tactic (ductus simplex) working with perspicuity as means of expression; (2) the tactic with deceptive approaches of three subtypes (ductus subtilis, figuratus, and obliquus); and (3) the tactic using a mixture of these previous four types (ductus mixtusf' (WueUner, 79). In what foUows below, it becomes apparent that Paul employs the ductus mixtus. With regard to his apocalyptic bias/partiaUty he can be quite straightforward (ductus simplex) at 1 Cor 2:7-8; 7:31b; and 15:24-28. In his critique of Corinthian "leaders" who connected themselves to "worldly power/wisdom," Paul advances the critique with an oblique argument {meteschematisa, "covert aUusion"; ductus obliquus) in 1 Cor 1-4. In his employment of an apocalyptic topos (critique of rulers, restoration of the people of God, and vindication of the martyrs; see direcdy below) as a story frame for 1 Cor 1-15, Paul subdy (ductus subtilis) encases the letter in a form that reinforces the Corinthian believers' common worldview. Paul's use of ductus figuratus is evident throughout the letter, but especiaUy see 1 Cor 3 (field, buUding, temple) and 1 Cor 12 (the body image). 20. Mitchell, Rhetoric of Reconciliation, 198-200. 21. "AU arrangement arises either from the nature of the case [minimize divisions in the Corinthian community], or from the instinct of the speaker [Paul's apocalyptic worldview], which foUows the two genera dispositionum of Rhetorica ad Herennium'' (WueUner, "Arrangement," 70; emphases added). I am suggesting that Paul works from both perspectives at once in 1 Corinthians.


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assemblies in every place gifts that sustain c o m m u n i t y ( l : 5 - 7 a ) , and finds its c o m p l e t i o n in the revealing o f the L o r d Jesus Christ o n the day o f judgm e n t ( l : 7 b - 8 ) . T h u s God's will is faithftd ( 1 : 9 ) , a n d it calls forth unity a m o n g those w h o really are "set apart." As is apparent, this thelema

theou,

this will o f G o d , is expressed within an apocalyptic worldview.

Paul's Rhetoric: Finding an Apocalyptic Topos If, indeed, "disposition external t o the discourse" blends invention a n d a r r a n g e m e n t into a m u t u a l process,^^ then it is fitting t o ask at w h a t " p l a c e " Paul m i g h t find material t o advance his "text-external d i s p o s i t i o " — n o w defined as the working o u t o f God's will in an apocalyptic s c h e m a . W h a t f r o m Paul's Jewish heritage m i g h t be called ( t o use G r e c o - R o m a n rhetorical t e r m s ) a t o p o s (place, traditional t o p i c / t h e m e ) a r o u n d which a p o c a lyptic expression t o o k place? F r o m what apocalyptic t o p o s does Paul draw? Stated in this m a n n e r , o u r c o n c e r n , then, is with an element o f Paul's "native o r indigenous rhetoric."^^ In an insightftU reading o f Galatians, Robert Hall suggests that Second Temple apocalyptists recognized a "revelatory t o p o s " that was

ftindamental

in undergirding the validity o f their argumentation, that is, an a r g u m e n t a tion for " t h e worldview disclosed w h e n G o d reveals his judgments."^^ T h e revelatory topos consists o f four elements: " ( 1 ) a claim to inspiration, ( 2 ) a revelation o f divine j u d g m e n t ordering the world into righteous a n d wicked c a m p s , ( 3 ) a call to join the righteous realm G o d rules a n d to repudiate the

22. "At this point [disposition external to the text] arrangement is seen as closely related to mventio"; Wuellner, "Arrangement," 79. 23. The terms "native" and "indigenous" are taken from Robert G. Hall, "Arguing Like an Apocalypse: Galatians and an Ancient Topos outside the Greco-Roman Rhetorical Tradition," NTS 42 (1996): 4 3 4 - 5 3 . Hall's work provides a balance in perspective often overlooked in the rhetorical study of Paul's letters: "Orators trained in the handbook tradition, recollecting frequent admonitions to use whatever persuades, had freedom to utilize local styles of argumentation when required. Perhaps the logical argument in Galatians puzzles rhetorical critics because they have relied too heavily on the styles of argumentation chosen as examples in the Greco-Roman rhetorical handbooks and have largely neglected forms of argumentation developed by apocalypdsts and other ancient Jewish and Christian writers" (435). Of course, the question of other native apocalyptic topoi within the Hellenistic world is quite appropriate apart from the Jewish heritage. On apocalypticism as a prominent movement in the cultures of the larger Hellenistic world, see John J. CoUins, "Jewish Apocalyptic against Its HeUenistic Near Eastern Background," BASOR 220 (1975): 27-36. C f CoUins, Apocalyptic Imagination, 33-37. 24. HaU, "Arguing Like an Apocalypse," 4 3 6 , 4 3 7 - 3 9 . HaU's primary sources are 1 Enoch 7 2 - 8 2 (Astronomical Book); 1 Enoch 8 5 - 9 0 (Animal Apocalypse); and Jubilees 15 (a revealed argument for the necessity of circumcision).

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wicked realm ruled by o t h e r forces, a n d ( 4 ) a n implication that this c h o i c e includes a c o u r s e o f action the a u t h o r advocates."^^ Here, with regard t o 1 Corinthians, I m o v e in a slighdy different direction. W h a t t o p o s s u m s u p the apocalyptic w o r l d v i e w — a worldview beginning with the m o v e m e n t o f G o d (the will o f G o d ) that intersects h u m a n history t h r o u g h time? Rather t h a n focusing o n the elements o f a r g u m e n tation per se o r the argumentation's validity, I seek a topos that details (provides a pattern for) a shared apocalyptic worldview: the text-external dispositio, the a r r a n g e m e n t o f a shared story.^^ Richard Horsley provides a descriptive scheme c o m m o n t o Judean apocalyptic literature that is n o t based o n " a synthetic construct o f typical elements or features abstracted from a variety o f Jewish 'revelatory' hterature ranging over several centuries from the third century B.C.E. to late antiquity."^^ Rather, Horsley's scheme is derived from sources prior to the N e w Testament (namely, Dan 7 - 1 2 ; the early sections o f 1 Enoch; and the conclusion o f the Testament of Moses). These sources derive from a c o m m o n social setting o f imperial domination.^^ Hence, these writings advocate a "critical demystifying o f the pretenses a n d practices o f the d o m i n a n t order."^^ Scholars are quickly learning that this is a perspective n o t lost o n the aposde Paul.^° Horsley's proposal is attractive: G o d is the initiator in a m o v e m e n t from problem t o e n c o u n t e r a n d o n t o full r e s o l u t i o n — a story^' In o t h e r

25. Hall, "Arguing Like an Apocalypse," 436. 26. On worldviews as represented in "story" both in documents from the Second Temple and early Christian periods, see N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God (Christian Origins and the People of God 1; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 4 7 - 8 0 . 27. Richard A. Horsley, "The Kingdom of God and the Renewal of Israel: Synoptic Gospels, Jesus Movements, and Apocalypticism," in Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism vol. 1 (ed. John J. Collins; New York: Continuum, 1998), 303. 28. Ibid., 3 0 4 - 9 . 29. Ibid., 309. 30. See the important work by Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997); along with Dieter Georgi, Theocracy in PauVs Praxis and Theology (trans. David E. Green; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991); Neil Elliott, Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994); and James R. Hollingshead, The Household of Caesar and the Body of Christ: A Political Interpretation of the Letters from Paul (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1998). Now with more detail, Peter Oakes, Philippians: From People to Letter (SNTSMS 110; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 129-74; and Mikael Tellbe, Paul between Synagogue and State: Christians, Jews, and Civic Authorities in 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians (ConBNT 34; Stockholm: Almqvist 8c WikseU, 2001), 2 3 8 - 5 9 . 31. Compare de Boer, "Paul and Apocalyptic Eschatology," 3 5 2 - 5 4 .


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words, Judean apocalyptic literature arranged a worldview for its hearers, advocated a "text-external dispositio" (in rhetorical t e r m s ) , told a " s t o r y " with the subsequent c o m p o n e n t s (following H o r s l e y ) : " [ 1 ] G o d would s o o n judge oppressive rulers, foreign a n d / o r d o m e s t i c ; [2] restore the ' k i n g d o m ' t o the people themselves; a n d [3] vindicate those w h o had died in defense o f the traditional way o f life "^^ This, then, is an apocalyptic t o p o s fit for "text-external disposition" at the t i m e o f Paul: critique o f rulers, restoration o f the people, vindication o f m a r t y r s . Might this " s t o r y " have i n f o r m e d the thinking a n d a r g u m e n t s o f Paul? T h e question c a n be asked: W h y m i g h t Paul select a t o p o s f r o m his "native Judean r h e t o r i c " over options f r o m the G r e c o - R o m a n rhetorical tradition? A quick survey o f the rhetorical h a n d b o o k s indicates the steps in developing the dispositio, o r a r r a n g e m e n t o f one's speech, are entrenched in a literate, elite, G r e c o - R o m a n value structure: advantage as security; h o n o r ; might; crafty use o f money, promises, a n d deception, if necessary; a n d w i s d o m , t e m p e r a n c e , a n d self-control as values, always based o n one's high social standing, never apart firom partiality." Rhetorical h a n d b o o k advice o n a r r a n g e m e n t would n o t s u p p o r t ( 1 ) Paul's view o f G o d as the o n e w h o destroys the wise, the crafty, a n d the powerftd (1 C o r 1 : 1 9 - 2 0 , 2 8 ; 3 : 1 9 - 2 0 ) ; ( 2 ) Paul's view o f the people G o d calls: " n o t m a n y o f y o u were wise according to worldly standards, n o t m a n y were powerftd, n o t m a n y were o f noble b i r t h " (1 C o r 1:26, RSv); ( 3 ) Paul's view o f the exemplary n a t u r e o f his o w n life before G o d : " w h e n reviled, we bless; w h e n persecuted, we endure; w h e n slandered, we t r y t o conciliate; we have b e c o m e , a n d are now, as the refuse o f the world, the offscouring o f all things" ( 4 : 1 2 b - 1 3 , RSv). First Corinthians is clearly a b a t d e between worldviews; at o n e level then, even technical rhetoric is subject to that clash.^^

Text-External Arrangement in 1 Corinthians T h e apocalyptic topos identified above, essential in all o f Paul's thinking a n d writing, fits 1 Corinthians as a whole when slight adjustments are m a d e for the revised " n o w / n o t y e t " perspective o f Pauline believers in Jesus. Judean apocalyptic literature spoke o f an "old t i m e " m o v i n g t h r o u g h j u d g m e n t into a " n e w time," with critique a n d j u d g m e n t o f rulers, restoration o f the people, a n d vindication o f the faithftil as the pivotal turning

32. Horsley "The Kingdom of God," 341. 33. Here following headings and subheadings in Rhetorica ad Herennium 3.2.3-3.3.6. For consideration of other rhetorical handbook traditions, see note 14, above. 34. The text-internal dispositio may remain as expected (the "parts of speech" structure; see notes 14 and 15, above), but one should expect a clash at the value structure level within the discourse. This is what we find in 1 Corinthians.

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point o f the ages. Paul a n d the followers he sought t o influence, o n the o t h e r hand, t h o u g h t in t e r m s o f the old a n d n e w times overlapping (1 C o r 1 0 : 1 1 ) . " Critique, restoration, a n d vindication have already gotten u n d e r way between the times a n d would c o n t i n u e until the " c o m i n g " o f Jesus (1 Cor 15:23-28).

First Corinthians 1-4: Critique of Rulers and Their Domination System In 1 Corinthians 1 - 4 , Paul explicidy censures " t h e rulers o f this age," retainers such as " t h e wise person, the scribe, the debater," a n d any w h o depend o n craftiness, worldly w i s d o m , trained speech, o r boasting. In doing so, he criticizes C o r i n t h i a n leaders a n d their followers implicitly (ever m o r e explicidy as the section develops, as in 3 : 1 ^ ; 4 : 6 - 8 , 1 8 - 2 1 ) . These people pattern their lives, leadership, a n d rhetoric o n a G r e c o R o m a n d o m i n a t i o n system rather than the pattern o r m i n d o f Christ d e m o n s t r a t e d in a n d t h r o u g h the cross (1 C o r 2 : 7 - 8 , 1 4 - 1 6 ; 3 : 4 ) . Paul finds the value system inherent in G r e c o - R o m a n rhetoric t o be aligned with

(and

complicitous

in

promoting)

this

domination

system.^^

Therefore, in c o n s t r u c t i n g his c o u n t e r - r h e t o r i c , Paul leans heavily u p o n a text-external dispositio that appropriates a Jewish apocalyptic

topos

instead o f G r e c o - R o m a n aristocratic values. Paul's ensuing rhetoric is countercultural.^^ H e takes a i m at those he views as inappropriate leaders a n d also m e m b e r s o f the c o m m u n i t y w h o follow t h e m , trying t o obtain high status. First, in 1 C o r 1 : 1 7 - 2 : 5 , Paul employs a "cross r h e t o r i c " that overturns G r e c o - R o m a n aristocratic ideals a n d power relations. H e asserts that the cross has d e m o n s t r a t e d definitively that G o d has again delivered the weak a n d b r o u g h t d o w n the m i g h t y ( 1 : 2 6 - 2 9 ) . Second, in 1 C o r 2 : 6 - 1 6 , Paul utilizes a "Spirit r h e t o r i c " in the f o r m o f apocalyptic wisdom.^^ Such an apocalyptic w i s d o m implies inspiration and revelation as a c o m m u n i t y experience rather than the d o m a i n o f the highly educated, rhetorically trained, a n d status-seeking elite.^^

35. "Upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived" (author; eis hous ta tele ton aidnon katenteken). See J. Paul Sampley, Walking between the Times: PauVs Moral Reasoning (MinneapoUs: Fortress, 1991), 7-24. 36. David A. deSilva, "Investigating Honor Discourse: Guidelines from Classical Rhetoricians," in SBLSP 1997 (Adanta: Scholars, 1997), 4 9 1 - 5 2 5 . 37. Ibid., 5 1 1 - 1 4 . 38. For "Spirit-inspired rhetoric," see John R. Levinson, "Did the Spirit Inspire Rhetoric? An Exploration of George Kennedy s Definition of Early Christian Rhetoric," in Persuasive Artistry: Studies in New Testament Rhetoric in Honor of George A. Kennedy (ed. Duane E Watson; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1991), 2 5 - 4 0 . 39. Argued as a persuasive thesis in AUen R. Hunt, The Inspired Body: Paul, the Corinthians, and Divine Inspiration (Macon, Ga.: Mercer, 1996).


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T h i r d , in 3 : 5 - 4 : 5 , Paul begins a " f r e e d o m r h e t o r i c " that counsels m u t u a l c o o p e r a t i o n over against status-seeking a t t a c h m e n t s to h u m a n leaders. R a t h e r than claiming status t h r o u g h "enslavement" (cf. 7 : 2 3 ) t o an individual o r faction, believers are r e m i n d e d that "all things are y o u r s " (including leaders) a n d accountability is to Christ a n d G o d alone.^^ Finally, in 4 : 8 - 1 3 , Paul returns t o "cross r h e t o r i c " by advancing his personal example within a hardship catalog: apostles are sentenced to death, led in parade, held in disrepute (1 C o r 4 : 9 - 1 3 ) . ^ ' In s u m , in 1 Corinthians 1 - 4 , Paul insists that his assembly in C o r i n t h , b o t h leaders a n d m e m b e r s , are n o t to take their cues f r o m the R o m a n imperial o r d e r d o m i n a t e d by the city and provincial aristocracy, but f r o m the crucified Christ, in w h o m G o d has b r o u g h t the d o m i n a n t o r d e r under i m m i n e n t j u d g m e n t . "Paul's ekklesiai are thus [to be] local c o m m u n i t i e s o f an alternative society t o the R o m a n imperial order."^^ I n o w briefly consider the shape o f these alternative c o m m u n i t i e s .

First Corinthians 5-14: Renewal of Community Life among Gentiles T h e second key t h e m e in Judean apocalyptic literature is God's restoration o f sovereignty to " t h e people o f the holy ones o f the M o s t H i g h " ( D a n 7 : 2 7 ) , that is, a renewal o f the oppressed people o f G o d . In his o w n apokalypsis, Paul b e c a m e convinced that the restoration o f Israel h a d already started. Since the promises to A b r a h a m h a d n o w been fulfilled in Christ, moreover, he himself h a d been c o m m i s s i o n e d to bring the g o o d news t o o t h e r peoples subject t o the R o m a n imperial order a n d to catalyze n e w c o m m u n i t i e s " i n Christ." Structurally, 1 C o r 5 - 1 4 is c o m m o n l y marked off f r o m 1—4 by a turn f r o m addressing divisions a m o n g the Corinthians focused o n rival leaders, to answering Corinthian inquiries o r responding to reported problems. Paul responds to reports o f improper sexual and litigious behavior in chapters 5 a n d 6, and then in chapters 7 - 1 4 and 16 he takes up a series o f Corinthian questions c o m m o n l y marked by the peri de ( n o w concerning) formula.^^

40. For "freedom rhetoric" based on Paul's maxim usage in 1 Cor 1-4 and, then, reinforced throughout 1 Cor 1-10, see Ramsaran, Liberating Words. 41. On hardship catalogs in general and this text in particular, see John T. Fitzgerald, Cracks in an Earthen Vessel: An Examination of the Catalogues of Hardships in the Corinthian Correspondence (SBLDS 99; Adanta: Scholars, 1988). 42. Richard A. Horsley, "Building an Alternative Society: Introduction," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 209. 43. The peri de formula occurs at 7:1,25; 8:1; 16:1; and 16:12. On the peri de formula as a marker, see the discussion in Margaret M. Mitchell, "Concerning PERI DE in 1 Corinthians," NovT 31 (1989): 2 2 9 - 5 6 . Of course, Paul responds to other reported items throughout 1 Cor 7 - 1 6 as well (e.g., chs. 11 and 15).

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T h e r e is ostensibly a certain a m o u n t o f discussion a n d debate in C o r i n t h c o n c e r n i n g h o w the fulfillment o f God's promises a n d access t o God's presence would b e achieved. In Paul's opinion, anyhow, the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f " t h e people o f G o d " in its C o r i n t h i a n locale h a d g o n e askew at points a n d a sense o f restoration/renewal was needed. In 1 C o r 5 - 1 4 , Paul, like o t h e r apocalyptic writers, reasserts the group's b o u n d a r i e s a n d insists that the people m a i n t a i n holiness as a distinctive c o m m u n i t y separate f r o m the d o m i n a n t oppressive order. H e argues that the c o m m u n i t y ' s exclusive loyalty t o G o d c a n n o t be c o m p r o m i s e d by affiliation with o t h e r " l o r d s " a n d their sacrificial c o m m u n i t i e s . Properly o r d e r e d a n d acceptable worship before G o d is m a r k e d by c o m m o n confession, active participation a n d inclusion a m o n g m e m b e r s , a n d expressions o f spiritual gifts that lead t o a t r u e love within the c o m m o n g r o u p . F o r P a u l — a f t e r Christ's death a n d resurrection, in which the ftilfillm e n t has b e g u n — t h e Spirit o f G o d is the force that brings the presence o f the new t i m e within t h e f r a m e w o r k o f an old t i m e n o w passing away ( R o m 8 : 2 3 ; 2 C o r 1 : 2 1 - 2 2 ; 5:5)."" T h e building a n d discipline o f c o m m u n i t y is e m p o w e r e d b y the presence a n d activity o f the Spirit (e.g.. Gal 3 : 1 - 5 ) . ( 1 ) First Corinthians 5 - 1 4

describes the inspiration a n d guidance o f t h e

Spirit's power as fundamental t o individual discipleship a n d t o the c o m m u n i t y discipline a n d solidarity o f the people of God. In chapter 5 , the c o m munity's disciplining o f an errant m e m b e r is accomplished " w h e n . . . m y spirit is present with the power o f the L o r d Jesus"; here, " p o w e r " is a reference to die Spirit.^^ ( 2 ) In chapter 6, it is again the Spirit that empowers individual and c o m m u n i t y discipline: "You were washed, . . . sanctified, . . . justified . . . in the Spirit o f o u r G o d " ( 6 : 1 1 ) ; " Y o u r b o d y is a temple o f the H o l y Spirit" ( 6 : 1 9 ) . ( 3 ) In chapter 7, Paul claims that his o w n advice o n m a r r i a g e a n d sexual relations is authorized by the Spirit: " I think that I also have the Spirit o f G o d " ( 7 : 4 0 , NASB). ( 4 ) In chapters 1 2 - 1 4 , Paul m a r k s the functioning o f the restored people o f G o d by an active life in the power o f the Spirit: " N o o n e c a n say, 'Jesus is L o r d ' except by the H o l y Spirit" ( 1 2 : 3 ) ; the Spirit is the s o u r c e o f all giftedness such that the goal is fiiU participat i o n o f all, n o t c o m p e t i t i o n ( 1 2 : 1 2 ) ; t r u e manifestations o f the Spirit build u p the c o m m u n i t y ( 1 2 : 1 4 ) . This "life in the Spirit" m a r k s the visitation o f G o d t o the people o f G o d a n d the resulting renewal o f God's presence.^^

44. Gordon D. Fee, Paul the Spirit, and the People of God (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1996), 4 9 - 5 6 . 45. Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians (Interpretation; Louisville, Ky: John Knox, 1997), 84. 46. Fee, Paul the Spirit, and the People of God, 9 - 2 3 .


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In s u m , then, Paul in 1 Corinthians spends the m a j o r i t y o f his t i m e explicating the middle item o f the apocalyptic topos: the restoration o f the people o f G o d . This is a restoration/renewal that is already underway. Paul does n o t simply gauge the present place o f the C o r i n t h i a n c o m m u n i t y before G o d , based o n a backward glance at the H e b r e w Scriptures ( t h o u g h he certainly does use the Scriptures, e.g., 1 C o r 1 0 : 1 - 1 3 ; also c f 5:7b, " o u r paschal l a m b " ) . H e also looks b a c k t o the death a n d resurrection o f Jesus (with its re-presentation in the Lord's Supper traditions o f

10:14-22;

1 1 : 1 7 - 3 4 ) . A n d he looks forward t o the o n g o i n g c o m m u n i t y experience o f the Spirit as sanction for the restoration a n d m a r k i n g o f God's people in the present. Precisely because the "already" c a n n o t e n c o m p a s s the fullness o f the " n o t yet," m u c h e x h o r t a t i o n a n d c o r r e c t i o n is in order.

First Corinthians 15: Vindication of the Faithful T h e third t h e m e in the apocalyptic topos is the vindication o f the faithful in the resurrection o f the dead, precisely w h a t Paul insists u p o n in 1 C o r 15. T h r e e issues are i m p o r t a n t t o recognize in Paul's a r g u m e n t about the vindication o f the faithful. First, his a r g u m e n t is cast as apocalyptic

wis-

d o m , covering the key "events" o f the resurrection o f the body, the defeat o f death, the " c o m i n g " o f Christ, a n d the c o n s u m m a t i o n o f God's plan.^^ As he h a d stated toward the beginning o f the letter, apocalyptic w i s d o m is n o t a " w i s d o m o f this age," which is passing a w a y C o r r e s p o n d i n g t o the " w i s d o m in a m y s t e r y " o f 2 : 6 - 8 , in which G o d has o u t s m a r t e d " t h e rulers o f this age, w h o are d o o m e d to perish," so n o w the " m y s t e r y " he discloses in 15:51 pertains t o the apocalyptic resurrection o f the dead, the focus o f his whole a r g u m e n t in chapter 15. Second, this " m y s t e r y " is n o t simply for intellectual reflection. It entails a strong m o r a l perspective. It enables the faithful t o e n d u r e . T h e believers c a n walk faithfully a m i d the threat o f death o r into death itself, because G o d vindicates the faithful after the pattern o f Jesus at the t i m e o f final j u d g m e n t a n d c o m p l e t i o n o f the events o f fulfillment begun in Christ's crucifixion a n d resurrection ( 1 5 : 3 - 5 , 2 0 - 2 8 ) . O n e c a n be p a r t o f the (renewed) people o f G o d , an alternative society^^ in a hostile world, because G o d will i m m i n e n d y vindicate the faithful. If this were n o t so, Paul suggests, then we m i g h t as well follow the c o m m o n w i s d o m , " L e t us eat a n d drink, for t o m o r r o w we d i e " ( 1 5 : 3 2 b ) . B u t since bodies c o u n t later, they therefore c o u n t n o w : believers are morally responsible for just a n d

47. Martmus C. de Boer, The Defeat of Death: Apocalyptic Eschatology in 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 5 (JSNTSup 22; Sheffield: JSOT, 1988), 9 3 - 1 4 0 . 48. Note 42, above, and its reference in the text.

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constructive social relationships. Simply put, believers are responsible for d e m o n s t r a t i n g "love." So Paul's conclusion for the section is a m o r a l o n e : " B e steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the w o r k o f the L o r d " ( 1 5 : 5 8 ) . A n d the final s u m m a r y in the letter echoes the same: " B e w a t c h fid, stand firm in y o u r faith, be c o u r a g e o u s , be strong. Let all that you d o be d o n e in love" ( 1 6 : 1 3 - 1 4 , RSv). Finally, Paul brings the apocalyptic t o p o s to c o m p l e t i o n in 1 C o r 15 by oudining the c o n s u m m a t i o n o f God's plan. First, he does this by detailing it in breadth: " T h e n c o m e s the end, w h e n he [Christ] delivers the k i n g d o m to G o d the Father after destroying every rule a n d every authority a n d power. F o r he m u s t reign until he has p u t all his enemies u n d e r his feet. T h e last e n e m y to be destroyed is death

[Then] G o d m a y be everything

t o e v e r y o n e " ( 1 5 : 2 4 - 2 8 , RSv). Second, Paul brings the apocalyptic topos t o c o m p l e t i o n b y detailing every believer's o n g o i n g place within the fiillness o f the " n e w t i m e " : " W e shall all be c h a n g e d , . . . put o n i m m o r t a l i t y , . . . [and be given] the v i c t o r y " ( 1 5 : 5 1 - 5 7 , RSV). T h e apocalyptic t o p o s — c r i t i q u e o f rulers, renewal o f the people, a n d vindication o f the faithfiil—is w h a t provides the very structure o f Paul's overall a r r a n g e m e n t a n d a r g u m e n t in 1 C o r 1 - 1 5 : ( 1 ) a criticism o f the R o m a n imperial o r d e r a n d C o r i n t h i a n leaders w h o aspire to its aristocratic ideals (1 C o r 1 - 4 ) ; ( 2 ) the deliverance a n d discipline o f the people o f G o d (1 C o r 5 - 1 4 ) ; a n d ( 3 ) vindication o f the faithftd t h r o u g h resurrection f r o m the dead (1 C o r 1 5 ) . T h e changes firom previous Jewish apocalyptic literature, when noticeable, are slight a n d in every case appear t o be related t o an eschatological shift in perspective: God's reign is n o w already present in a partial a n d defining way t h r o u g h the Spirit. Paul in 1 C o r 15 is providing assurance a n d e x h o r t a t i o n to p r o p e r living for those Corinthians w h o have already been called into God's renewed people a n d away firom c o m p r o m i s e with the world.

Conclusions T h e story o f the crucified Christ reveals the divine c o n d e m n a t i o n a n d i m m i n e n t destruction o f the imperial rulers, power relations, aristocratic codes, and unrighteous influences e m b e d d e d in the ruling structures; it provides renewal a n d power for the faithftd people o f G o d ; a n d it sets a pattern for the vindication and transformation o f the faithftd, including m a r tyrs. Paul clearly combines two registers, that o f the Jewish apocalyptist a n d that o f the G r e c o - R o m a n rhetoric. Attention to both registers is necessary for gaining a clearer picture o f Paul's persuasive techniques. Paul's apocalyptic rhetoric in 1 Corinthians strives to maintain the integrity o f the Spiritguided c o m m u n i t y in C o r i n t h by casting his deliberative a r g u m e n t into the larger framework o f God's intervention through j u d g m e n t and renewal.

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Paul's use o f the register o f Jewish apocalypticist should be fully recognized and n o t underplayed. This register is a key organizing principle o f his w o r l d v i e w — a n d hence, a p r o m i n e n t c o m p o n e n t in his " n a t i v e " rhetoric that leads t o a choice in the a r r a n g e m e n t o f his materials in 1 Corinthians. Worldviews are powerful structuring vehicles—a perspective, as we have seen, recognized by rhetorical h a n d b o o k s that articulate worldviews o f their o w n . Because Judean apocalyptic c a n be analyzed as a worldview, it provides an excellent test case for e x a m i n i n g the rhetorical aspect o f textexternal dispositio, o r a r r a n g e m e n t , in 1 Corinthians. Future studies along similar lines as this o n e m a y u n c o v e r additional " n a t i v e " rhetoric codes in Paul. F o r example, what kind o f power relationships o r aristocratic value codes are e m b e d d e d in the h a n d b o o k discussions o n elocutio,

o r style?

W h a t statements in Paul's letters hint at this subject? A n d what does previous Jewish literature before Paul have to say about appropriate expression? Finally, Paul's a r r a n g e m e n t o f 1 Corinthians according t o the a p o c a lyptic topos o u d i n e d above m i g h t suggest a m o r e precise explanation for the positioning o f 1 C o r 15 (the resurrection) at the e n d o f the letter. This chapter is the " c l i m a x " o f the letter because it is the c l i m a x o f the "story," pointing b o t h t o the "final t r i u m p h [and renewal] b r o u g h t by G o d " a n d t o a c o u r a g e o u s m o r a l stance in the face o f death-dealing powers ( 1 5 : 3 0 - 3 1 ) , which brings assurance o f participating

in God's final t r i u m p h over, a n d

renewal of, the present order.^^

49. As insightful as I find J. Christiaan Beker's discussion of 1 Cor 15, my argument here would cast some doubt on reading 1 Corinthians as a set of addressed contingencies that find their climax only in chapter 15. Nor is a strong disjunction between chapters 1 and 2 (Christ's death with no resurrection emphasis) and chapter 15 (Christ's resurrection with no death emphasis) so theologically telling. See the discussion in Beker, Paul the Apostle, 163-81.

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PATRONAGE A N D C O M M E N D A T I O N , IMPERIAL A N D A N T M M P E R I A L Efrain Agosto

Patronage and Commendation in the Roman Imperial Order

P

atronage was a fundamental f o r m o f social relations in R o m a n society

b y the t i m e o f the early E m p i r e , especially a m o n g the elite. B o t h at the

seat o f imperial power in R o m e a n d in the provinces a m o n g local magnates

vying for Rome's favor, the exchange o f social a n d political

power

depended u p o n patron-client relations. " T h e place o f a R o m a n in society was a function o f his position in the social hierarchy," a position positively o r negatively affected by his o r her "involvement in a web o f personal relationships," including patronal relations.' In fact, " p a t r o n - c l i e n t relations supply part o f the answer to h o w such a large empire was governed by so small an administration."^ T h e need to rely o n patronal ties to fill leadership positions, especially in the m o r e distant provinces, increased as Augustus a n d his successors coalesced m o r e power in R o m e . As G. E. M . de Ste. C r o i x p u t it, "As political authority b e c a m e c o n c e n t r a t e d in the hands o f the E m p e r o r , the n e w role o f patronage assumed great i m p o r t a n c e , above all t h r o u g h the dignity a n d influence it b r o u g h t to the p a t r o n , t h r o u g h his ability t o r e c o m m e n d — a n d often m a k e sure o f p r o c u r i n g a p p o i n t m e n t to all sorts o f posts that could be honorific a n d lucrative."^

1. Peter Garnsey and Richard Sailer, "Patronal Power Relations," in Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (ed. Richard A. Horsley; Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press Internadonal, 1997), 96. 2. Richard A. Horsley, "Patronage, Priesthood and Powers: Introduction," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 8 8 - 8 9 . 3. G. E. M. de Ste. Crok, The Class Struggle in the Ancient World (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1981), 342.

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O n e o f the key reasons that the patronage system b e c a m e central t o imperial power relations was that provincial and u r b a n elites used their wealth to s p o n s o r the imperial cult, as o n e o f the principal m e a n s o f securing Rome's favor. S i m o n Price has shown that the imperial cult b e c a m e an i m p o r t a n t vehicle for political-religious expression o f support a n d solidarity with R o m a n imperialism in the provinces.^ Patronage relations rather t h a n b u r e a u c r a c y fueled the creation a n d functioning o f local imperial cults. T h e imperial cult was often associated with diplomatic approaches t o the emperor. Offers o f cult were s o m e t i m e s m a d e in association with requests c o n c e r n i n g privileges a n d o t h e r matters. A m b a s s a d o r s t o the e m p e r o r were frequently imperial priests.^ T h u s , p a t r o n a g e a n d the imperial cult f u n c t i o n e d h a n d - i n - h a n d in the social relations t h a t secured t h e e x c h a n g e o f p o w e r in imperial s o c i ety between R o m e a n d the provinces. T h e provincial elites m a d e certain t h a t the imperial cult was visible for all t o see t h r o u g h frequent festivals a n d the strategic l o c a t i o n o f t h e cultic space in civic space.^ " T h e visual expression o f the e m p e r o r was i n c o r p o r a t e d i n t o t h e regular life o f t h e c o m m u n i t i e s t h r o u g h public celebrations," including the imperial cult.^ As provincial leaders s o u g h t t o " c o n s t r u c t " the reality o f the e m p e r o r in their lives, t h e y did so by intertwining t h e imperial cult into the fabric o f their cities.

Patronage in the Roman Imperial Order Patronage entailed an exchange o f benefits a n d obligations that served t o e n h a n c e the status o f its participants a n d thereby t o perpetuate the power o f the elite—those with wealth, power, a n d privilege w h o benefited

from,

a n d controUed, the R o m a n imperial order. Seneca described the type o f benefits patrons should confer o n their clients: D o n o t falter, finish your task, and c o m p l e t e the role o f the g o o d m a n . Help one with money, a n o t h e r with credit, a n o t h e r with influence, another with advice, a n o t h e r with s o u n d precepts. (De beneficiis

1.2.4-5).«

4. See Simon R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), excerpted in "Rituals and Power," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 4 7 - 7 1 . 5. Ibid., 69. 6. Ibid., 5 7 - 6 5 . 7. Ibid., 49. 8. All citations from classical Roman and Greek texts are from the LCL.

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Patrons provided money, loans, a n d influence to those under their charge. In addition, clients attached to well-connected patrons added luster to the client's o w n status. However, Seneca also emphasized the i m p o r t a n c e o f reciprocity in patronage: N o m a t t e r what the issue o f f o r m e r benefits has been, still persist in conferring t h e m u p o n others; this will be better even if they fall unheeded into the h a n d o f the ungrateftil, for it m a y be [that] either s h a m e o r o p p o r t u n i t y o r example will s o m e day m a k e these grateful. {Ben.

1.2.4)

S o o n e r o r later in imperial society, patrons could expect a payback for a benefit conferred. Clients owed their patrons an "obligation." Their response to the patron's benefits entailed loyalty. Clients understood that acceptance o f benefits f r o m a p a t r o n a n n o u n c e d to all the client's d e p e n d e n c y and, therefore, inferior status in c o m p a r i s o n to the p a t r o n a n d the latter's peers. T h e greater n u m b e r o f clients attached to a particular p a t r o n , the greater the status o f the p a t r o n in the eyes o f others. Again, this worked b o t h ways. Clients dependent o n w o r t h y a n d wealthy patrons benefited f r o m such c o n n e c t i o n s . However, it was the preservation o f p a t r o n status a n d power that was the ultimate benefit in patronage relationships and exchanges. Patronal relations served to build the reputations o f b o t h patrons a n d clients, and this was t r u e t h r o u g h o u t the E m p i r e a m o n g the elite classes. Plutarch e n c o u r a g e d provincial leaders to take advantage o f the benefits o f R o m a n principles o f p a t r o n : A n d n o t only should the statesmen show himself a n d his native State blameless towards o u r rulers, but he should also have always a friend a m o n g the m e n o f high station w h o have the greatest p o w ers as a firm bulwark, so to speak, o f his administration; for the R o m a n s themselves are m o s t eager to p r o m o t e the political interests o f their fi-iends; and it is a fine thing also, when we gain advantage fi-om the friendship o f great m e n , to turn it to the welfare o f o u r community. (Plutarch, "Precepts o f Statecraft," M o m / i a 8 1 4 C - D ) In fact, the farther o n e got from R o m e and its i m m e d i a t e bureaucracy, the m o r e R o m a n provincial governors a n d local leaders depended o n patronal exchange o f benefits a n d obligations in order t o c a r r y o u t the fijnctions o f g o v e r n m e n t a n d enhance their status. Friendly relations were critical in the exchange o f gifts, power, a n d benefits.

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Pliny ( t h e Y o u n g e r ) , writing to the e m p e r o r Trajan in the early decades o f the s e c o n d c e n t u r y C.E., w h e n he was provincial g o v e r n o r o f distant Bithynia in Asia Minor, exemplified well the benefits o f g o o d p a t r o n - c l i e n t relations: As a result o f y o u r generosity t o m e . Sir, Rosianus

Geminus

b e c a m e o n e o f m y closest friends; for w h e n 1 was consul he was m y quaestor. 1 always found h i m devoted to m y interests, a n d ever since t h e n he has treated m e with the greatest deference

I there-

fore pray to y o u t o give y o u r personal attention t o m y request for his a d v a n c e m e n t ; if you place any confidence in m y advice, y o u will bestow o n h i m y o u r favor. H e will n o t fail t o earn further p r o m o t i o n in whatever post y o u place h i m . . . . I pray you. Sir, m o s t urgendy t o p e r m i t m e t o rejoice as s o o n as possible in the due p r o m o t i o n o f m y q u a e s t o r — t h a t is to say, in m y o w n a d v a n c e m e n t in his person. (Pliny, Epistolae

10:26)

Several elements in this letter illustrate the dynamics o f patron-client relations at the provincial level. T h e loyalty and "deference" o f Geminus to Pliny m a d e possible this endorsement to the R o m a n emperor. Pliny a n d Geminus h a d a patron-client relationship. Pliny's relationship to

the

e m p e r o r also helped. Pliny had n o t failed to make g o o d recommendations in the past; so this one should be n o different. Pliny had the emperor's "confidence." Finally, a p r o m o t i o n for Pliny's client was an " a d v a n c e m e n t " for Pliny himself T h e status o f patrons benefited f r o m the enhanced status o f their clients. Although Pliny referred t o Geminus as a "close friend," the latter's deference a n d dependence o n Plmy's largesse for his leadership advancement definitely m a d e Geminus the client in this relationship o f patronage.^ Such patronal relations spread rapidly a m o n g the Greek elite in the late Republican a n d early imperial periods, c o m i n g virtually to constitute the web o f power by which the R o m a n imperial o r d e r held together. Yet we lack sufficient evidence for the m o r e widespread practices o f patronage a m o n g the non-elites and the p o o r in the provinces. Perhaps the collegiUy trade o r cultic associations that had c o m m o n meals and often burial for

9. See Hannah Cotton, Documentary LeUers of Recommendation in Latin from the Roman Empire (Konigstein/Ts: Verlag Anton Hain, 1981), especially 19-23, where she discusses the "decorum" necessary in a letter of recommendation, such that "friendship" language was used for the relationship with the commended rather than explicit language of "patronage." See also Peter Marshall, Enmity in Corinth: Social Conventions in PauVs Relations with the Corinthians (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebbeck], 1987), 9 1 - 1 2 9 , for an extensive discussion of friendship in commendation.

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m e m b e r s , provide examples o f h o w patronal ideology a n d practice m i g h t have spread t o at least s o m e o f the non-elite orders in m a n y o f the provinces. Since m e m b e r s h i p required fees, only " m o d e s d y prosperous m e n " could afford to belong, while the " i m p o v e r i s h e d " could only expect " u n c e r e m o n i o u s " burials in mass graves.'° To s u p p o r t their c o m m o n meals a n d other expenses, voluntary associations often depended at least in p a r t o n the financial support o f well-to-do patrons. In exchange, they h o n o r e d their patrons, for example, by celebrating their birthdays, thus enhancing their status a n d h o n o r in the local c o m m u n i t y .

Commendation Letters: Form and Function O n e o f the principal m e a n s by which the imperial patronage system was facilitated was letters o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n . Richard Sailer, a m a j o r historian o f R o m a n patronage, has argued that "scholars have n o t always taken sufficient notice o f the Republican tradition o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s . " P o w e r f u l a n d wealthy patrons w r o t e c o m m e n d a t i o n s o n behalf o f peers a n d proteges in order to advance the status o f b o t h patron a n d client in the eyes o f other p r o m i n e n t persons. These c o m m e n d a t i o n s were thus instruments o f power in the R o m a n E m p i r e . T h e y were what fueled patron-client relations. Such R o m a n luminaries as Cicero and Pliny employed c o m m e n d a t i o n letters to advance the fortunes o f their friends a n d clients, sending letters to powerful individuals, including the emperor. T h e y w r o t e so m a n y such letters that we have extensive collections o f t h e m . In addition, their letters, especially those o f Cicero, b e c a m e the models o f c o m m e n d a t i o n letterwriting for generations t o c o m e . In the middle o f the second century. P r o n t o , the teacher o f M a r c u s Aurelius, considered himself a loyal critic o f the Ciceronian traditions in letter-writing a n d sought to improve the t r a dition. However, " C i c e r o ['s] a n d Fronto's commendationes

to provincial

governors look very m u c h alike." Such similarity suggests that "exchange relationships remained essentially u n c h a n g e d from the Republic" t o the Empire.'^ T h u s , patronage a n d its principal vehicle o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n , the c o m m e n d a t i o n letter, were significant instruments for a long period o f t i m e in the cohesion a n d durability o f the r u h n g class o f the R o m a n i m p e rial order. W h e n Pliny wrote to the e m p e r o r Trajan o n behalf o f his quaestor Geminus, he not only illustrated the importance and spread o f the R o m a n patronage system; he also illustrated the nature o f a c o m m e n d a t i o n letter as a

10. Garnsey and Sailer, "Patronal Power Relations," 101. 11. Richard Sailer, Personal Patronage under the Early Empire Cambridge University Press, 1982), 108. 12. SdXhXy Personal Patronage, 193.

(Cambridge:

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vehicle for exercising patronage. In praising Geminus for his leadership skills a n d loyalty, Pliny c o m m e n d e d h i m to the patron o f patrons, the emperor. B o t h Greek a n d R o m a n c o m m e n d a t i o n letters shared similar c o m p o nents. T h e writer identified the subject o f the c o m m e n d a t i o n , usually with s o m e reference to family o r household relationships. H e o r she also indicated the qualities that c o m m e n d e d this individual, including personal, social, and financial criteria: what character traits he o r she had; what f a m ily, business, a n d political connections they b o r e with t h e m ; a n d the state o f their, or their family's, e c o n o m i c well-being. At the end o f a letter, the writer m a d e a formal c o m m e n d a t i o n request, usually s o m e kind o f general hospitality, e m p l o y m e n t opportunity, a n d / o r advancement in rank o r status.'^ Perhaps the m o s t critical c o m p o n e n t o f any c o m m e n d a t i o n letter was its catalogue o f virtues. In particular, letters written by elite patrons o n behalf o f their proteges included, for example, modestia restraint, obedience to a u t h o r i t y ) , humanitas

(moderation,

(humanity, kindness, refine-

m e n t , education, culture), and probitas (honesty, uprightness). Such qualities, however, rather t h a n being objective criteria o f a candidate's merit, as in m o d e r n assessments o f a job-seeker's qualities, reflected a c o m m o n set o f patronal values, those expected o f anyone "irrespective o f the office, h o n o r o r privilege requested."^^ In R o m a n commendationes,...

the personal relationship between

p a t r o n a n d client is stressed, and there is n o a t t e m p t t o appear impartial. This is because the aristocratic qualities sought were manifested largely in the c o n t e x t o f friendship a n d patron-client relationships. In other words, the r e c o m m e n d e r illustrates his client's loyalty, integrity, a n d industry by reference to this display o f those qualities in their m u t u a l friendship.'^ F o r example, Cicero endorsed a candidate for a consulship as a " m o s t admirable a n d gallant o f citizens (optimus great influence (summa

auctoritate)

et fortissimum

civis); a m a n o f

a n d soundest sentiments (optime

sen-

tiens).'' Cicero c o n c l u d e d that people like this were "leaders o f public p o l i c y " (auctores consilipublici).

H e decried the paucity o f such character traits

in m o s t o t h e r R o m a n consular candidates {Epistulae

adfamiliares

12.2.3).

13. For a discussion of these and other elements in ancient commendations, especially those from the Greek papyri, see Chan Hie-Kim, Form and Structure of the Familiar Greek Letter of Recommendation (SBLDS 4; Missoula, Mont.: Scholars, 1972). 14. Sailer, Personal Patronage, 108. 15. Ibid., 108-9.

Patronage and Commendationy Imperial and Anti-imperial

109

However, Cicero considered the personal relations behind this c o m m e n d a t i o n even m o r e i m p o r t a n t : F o r myself, 1 never fail, a n d I never shall fail, to protect those dear t o you: a n d whether they appeal to m e for advice o r whether they d o not, I c a n in either case guarantee m y love a n d loyalty lentur fidesque) to y o u r s e l f ( £ p . adfam.

(benevo-

12:2:3)

Cicero's personal relationship t o the letter recipient, as well as to the s u b ject o f the letter, stood behind the dynamics o f this c o m m e n d a t i o n letter. Patron-client relations were motivated by persons o f similar status a n d aristocratic tastes supporting each other a n d their clients a n d proteges. T h u s , " t h e message" o f each c o m m e n d a t i o n letter tended to be the s a m e : " T h i s m a n is a friend o r client o f m i n e a n d hence o f w o r t h y character."'^

Commendation in Paul's Letters Recent studies o f the a p o s d e Paul a n d his churches have argued that Paul m a y have been m o r e subversive in his stance against the E m p i r e than has been heretofore assumed.'^ F o r example, by using the t e r m ekklesia for his c o m m u n i t i e s , Paul reestablishes, for the p o o r residents o f Greek cities, a replacement for the old Greek d e m o c r a t i c assemblies, which the R o m a n s h a d a t t e m p t e d to eliminate. Similarly, he takes t e r m s f r o m R o m a n imperial i d e o l o g y — s u c h as euangelion dikaiosyne

( g o o d news, gospel), pistis (faith, loyalty),

(justice, solidarity), soter and soteria

(savior, salvation), a n d

eirene ( p e a c e ) — a n d makes t h e m central in his o w n gospel, thus presenting it as an alternative t o the imperial gospel.'^ Indeed, the very heart o f Paul's preaching, his focus o n the cross o f Christ ( c f 1 C o r 1 : 1 8 - 2 5 ; 2 : 1 - 5 ) , suggests a challenge to the R o m a n imperial order. F o r it was the R o m a n rulers w h o had crucified the " L o r d " {kyrios,

a t e r m often reserved for the

e m p e r o r ) . G o d , however, h a d vindicated Jesus in resurrection. N o t only that, ultimately all believers w o u l d be vindicated with t h e

coming

(Parousia) o f the L o r d in glory ( c f Phil 2 : 9 - 1 1 ) , a n d " t h e rulers o f this a g e " will perish ( c f 1 C o r 2 : 6 - 8 ) . ' ^ Such preaching m o s t certainly challenged the

16. Ibid., 108. 17. See the various essays in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley); and also in Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Politics: Ekklesia, Israel Imperiumy Interpretation (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 2000). 18. For an extensive discussion of these and other terms, see Dieter Georgi, "God Turned Upside Down; Romans: Missionary Theology and Roman Political Ideology," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 148-57. 19. See Neil Elliott, "The Anti-imperial Message of the Cross" in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 167-83.

110

Efrain

Agosto

power o f the E m p i r e a n d m a y have been direcdy responsible for Paul's vario u s i m p r i s o n m e n t s a n d ultimate execution.^^ T h u s , it seems that Paul u n d e r s t o o d his gospel, a n d perhaps his entire mission, as anti-imperial. Yet Paul also appears t o have b o r r o w e d o n e o f the principal instruments o f imperial d o m i n a n c e a n d patronage, the practice o f c o m m e n d a t i o n . H e w r o t e c o m m e n d a t i o n s within the b o d y o f his seven extant uncontested letters. In fact, his letter t o Philemon, in which he c o m m e n d s Onesimus, includes various c o m p o n e n t s o f a c o m p l e t e c o m m e n d a t i o n letter. Also, the subject o f letters o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n is a recurring issue in 2 Corinthians ( c f 3 : 1 - 3 ; 1 0 : 1 8 ) . Moreover, Paul's passages o f c o m m e n d a t i o n share similar c o m p o n e n t s with G r e c o - R o m a n c o m m e n d a t i o n s even t h o u g h Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n s were only parts o f letters intended for o t h e r purposes. In his c o m m e n d a t i o n s , Paul generally identified by n a m e those w h o m he c o m m e n d e d , explained the basis for c o m m e n d a t i o n , a n d requested s o m e recognition o r assistance from the letter recipients o n their b e h a l f Paul's use o f c o m m e n d a t i o n raises a whole series o f questions. D i d Paul b o r r o w t h e standard cultural f o r m o f c o m m e n d a t i o n , w h i c h served p a t r o n a g e so effectively? H o w closely did he follow it? H o w did his o w n and

his assemblies' social l o c a t i o n

influence his use o f t h e

form?

C o m m e n d a t i o n s depended heavily o n the relationship between the writer a n d the c o m m e n d e d . W h a t was the pattern o f relationship between writer a n d c o m m e n d e d in the respective cases o f the R o m a n elite a n d Paul? A n d , finally, h o w did Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n s function within his c o m m u n i t i e s as c o m p a r e d with their ftmction a m o n g the imperial elite? In the analysis that follows, I c o n c e n t r a t e o n c o m m e n d a t i o n in four o f Paul's Letters in o r d e r to address these questions.

First Thessalonians 5:12-13 In his earliest extant letter, Paul's c o n c e r n a b o u t the survival o f the y o u n g congregation in Thessalonica includes an e n d o r s e m e n t o f local leaders w h o have carried o n the w o r k o f Paul a n d his associates during his absence. In large m e a s u r e , the persecution suffered by this congregation ( c f 1 Thess 1:6; 2 : 1 4 , 3 : 1 - 5 ) was probably due to the anxious religio-political climate o f this R o m e - o r i e n t e d t o w n . Paul and his associates offered a n alternative ekklesia (assembly) t o t h a t o f the citizens' assembly o f Thessalonica a n d a n

20. On the reasons for Paul's various imprisonments, including his final one, see Richard Cassidy, Paul in Chains: Roman Imprisonment and the Letters of Paul (New York: Crossroad, 2001), especially 5 5 - 6 7 for a discussion of the "probable" charge against Paul: maiestas (treason). According to Cassidy, Pauls preaching was interpreted as detrimental to the stability of the Empire and, therefore, treasonous, a crime punishable by death.


111

alternative kyrios ( L o r d o r e m p e r o r ) to the R o m a n imperial cult there. T h e y thus incurred for themselves, and those w h o joined the n e w c o m m u nity, persecution by the "city authorities" (Acts 1 7 : 6 ) , w h o were eager t o d e m o n s t r a t e their s u p p o r t o f R o m e by establishing a strong imperial cult as the official religious expression o f the city.^' Paul a n d his colleagues escaped with their lives ( 1 7 : 1 0 ) , b u t they left behind a persecuted c h u r c h (1 Thess 1:6). Only T i m o t h y could return, console, a n d bring back g o o d news t o Paul (1 Thess 3 : 1 - 1 0 ) . A m o n g Paul's a d m o n i t i o n s t o the Thessalonians was this w o r d o f c o m m e n d a t i o n for the c o m m u n i t y ' s emerging local leadership: B u t we appeal t o y o u , brothers and sisters, to respect those w h o labor (kopidntas)

a m o n g y o u , a n d have charge (proistamenous)

y o u in the L o r d a n d a d m o n i s h (nouthetountas)

of

y o u ; esteem t h e m

very highly in love because o f their work. (1 Thess 5 : 1 2 - 1 3 a ) In contrast to letters in which a Cicero, a Pliny, o r a P r o n t o r e c o m m e n d e d o n e o f their proteges t o the e m p e r o r o r other high-ranking i m p e rial figure for a position o f power and status a m o n g the imperial o r provincial elite, Paul here c o m m e n d s the assembly's o w n leaders to the g r o u p he h a d helped start a few m o n t h s earlier. In his c o m m e n d a t i o n , as t h r o u g h o u t the letter, he addresses the c o m m u n i t y as " b r o t h e r s (and sisters)," a practice c o m m o n a m o n g popular resistance m o v e m e n t s , such as the civil rights m o v e m e n t in the United States. T h e assembly consists o f people w h o w o r k with their hands (1 Thess 4 : 1 1 ) , that is, at the very o p p o site e n d o f the imperial social structure from the aristocrats a n d magnates involved in the imperial a n d provincial patronage network. In this sense, the audience for Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n reflects a similar audience for m a n y o f the Greek papyri letters studied by C h a n - H i e K i m : writers a n d recipients w h o operated at o r d i n a r y people's level o f life, non-elites dispatching messengers, envoys, freedmen and slaves; letters written for the purposes o f small-scale business transactions, introductions, safe travel, and hospitality.^^ Stanley Stowers suggests that the "stereotyped a n d f o r m u l a i c " nature o f the

21. Kari P. Donfried, "The Imperial Cults of Thessalonica and Political Conflict in 1 Thessalonians," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 2 1 5 - 2 3 ; Robert Jewett, The Thessalonian Correspondence: Pauline Rhetoric and Millenarian Piety (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 9 1 - 1 3 2 ; and Craig de Vos, Church and Community Conflicts: The Relationships of the Thessaloniany Corinthian and Philippians Churches with Their Wider Civic Communities (Adanta: Scholars, 1999), 123-77. 22. See Kim, Familiar Greek Lettery 150-238, for copies of the letters, and 9 - 9 7 for discussion of their structure and contents, including the apparent social status of writers and recipients.

112

Efrain Agosto

papyri letters "probably reflects the standard practice o f professional letterwriters w h o tended t o set the local standards for writers with littie e d u c a tion."^^ W h i l e he himself was certainly n o t an u n e d u c a t e d letter-writer, Paul's constituents s e e m t o be m o r e identified as non-elites t h a n as the elite o f t h e imperial order. T h e c o n t e n t s o f Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n t o the Thessalonians also differ dramatically f r o m the typical letter o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n a m o n g the i m p e rial elite. First, Paul does n o t identify the leaders by n a m e o r m e n t i o n any distinguished family ties, as the R o m a n c o m m e n d a t i o n s d o . Second, instead o f focusing o n social prestige, financial status, a n d political c o n nections, Paul focuses o n the leaders' role a n d functions in the c o m m u n i t y . T h e m o s t striking c o n t r a s t with the qualities o r functions for w h i c h elite proteges w o u l d be r e c o m m e n d e d is Paul's designation o f the leaders c o m m e n d e d as " t h o s e w h o labor a m o n g y o u , " kopiad being a t e r m for tiring m a n u a l labor a n d physical struggle, in which n o respectable m e m b e r o f the elite would ever engage. Third, instead o f r e c o m m e n d i n g t h e m for p e r sonal a d v a n c e m e n t in t h e ruling elite, Paul c o m m e n d s t h e m t o their c o m m u n i t y in their already-established function as leaders. Paul's p u r p o s e in this c o m m e n d a t i o n o f c o m m u n i t y leaders is o n e c o m p o n e n t a m o n g m a n y in his urging the solidarity o f the assembly in its struggle against its hostile political e n v i r o n m e n t in Thessalonica. In this c o m m e n d a t i o n , the closest Paul seems t o c o m e t o standard letters o f c o m m e n d a t i o n a m o n g the elite is the t e r m proistamenous,

which

c a n m e a n either " b e set over," " l e a d " (the sense in NRSV) o r "help," " c a r e for," and, therefore, "protect."^^ T h e m o r e developed, institutionalized structure o f the later churches, where bishops a n d elders " m a n a g e d , " "presided," o r " g o v e r n e d " (1 T i m 3 : 4 - 5 , 12; a n d 5:17, w h e r e the a u t h o r uses

proistame-

nous a n d related f o r m s ) , o f c o u r s e , s h o u l d n o t b e p r o j e c t e d b a c k i n t o t h e first years o f Paul's m i s s i o n in M a c e d o n i a . T h e i m m e d i a t e c o n t e x t in 1 Thessalonians requires " h e l p i n g " rather than "leading" o r "presiding" because Paul praises the persons " o n a c c o u n t o f their work," w h i c h includes h a r d labor (kopidntas),

help, a n d admonishment.^^ In R o m 1 2 : 8 ,

the participle appears again, with the adverb "earnestly," this t i m e in o n e o f Paul's lists o f gifts, standing between " t h e o n e w h o c o n t r i b u t e s " a n d " t h e o n e w h o does acts o f mercy." Again, c o n t r a r y t o NRSV'S " t h e leader," the c o n text requires the m o r e general m e a n i n g , "helping."

23. Stanley Stowers, Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 153. 24. See the various definitions and ancient examples in Bo Reicke, ''proistemi' TDNT, 6:700-703. 25. Ibid., 7 0 1 - 2 . Similarly Ernest Best, The First and Second Epistle to the Thessalonians (HNTC; repr., Peabody Mass.: Hendrickson, 1988), 225.


113

W a y n e Meeks opts for the translation " a c t as p a t r o n o r p r o t e c t o r " in 1 Thess 5 : 1 2 - 1 3 , by analogy with the Corinthian c o m m u n i t y in which, h e believes, " a position o f authority grows o u t o f benefits that persons o f relatively higher wealth a n d status could confer o n the community"^^ Meeks a n d others w h o generously estimate the relative wealth o f s o m e figures in the Corinthian assembly, however, have been challenged in recent studies. " T h e Pauline Christians en masse shared fully the bleak material existence which was the lot o f m o r e than 9 9 percent o f the inhabitants o f the Empire." N o t enough evidence exists in the Pauline c o r p u s to believe otherwise.^^ " H e l p i n g " m e m b e r s o f the c o m m u n i t y was a function o f the leadership Paul expected o f those w h o m he c o m m e n d e d , n o t an act o f patronage in t e r m s o f the exchange o f benefits between p a t r o n a n d clients. As o n e w h o helps, the leaders would n o t be c o n c e r n e d with personal power, a d v a n c e m e n t , o r riches, as in R o m a n letters o f c o m m e n d a t i o n . Patronage entailed the exchange o f benefits between those o f unequal status, where the lower-status individual stands in debt to a higher-status individual because o f a benefit bestowed.^^ Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n in 1 Thess 5 : 1 2 - 1 3 calls for a very different pattern o f relationship. H e calls for the Thessalonians t o "esteem [the leaders] very highly in love because o f their work," n o t because o f their status and the ability to dispense favors o f power and status. T h e next p a r t o f the e x h o r t a t i o n following the c o m m e n d a t i o n continues in the s a m e vein. " B e at peace a m o n g yourselves. A n d we urge y o u , beloved, to a d m o n i s h the idlers, e n c o u r a g e the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all o f t h e m " (1 Thess 5 : 1 3 b - 1 4 ) . Such e n c o u r a g e m e n t and help consisted o f caring c o n c e r n for those in need, in opposition t o the typical patronage practiced by the elite.

First Corinthians 16:15-18 Toward the e n d o f 1 Corinthians, Paul again c o m m e n d s leaders w h o served t h e c o m m u n i t y . First, h e c o m m e n d s " t h e h o u s e h o l d o f

Stephanas"

( 1 6 : 1 5 - 1 6 ) ; second, "Stephanas a n d F o r t u n a t a s a n d A c h a i c u s " ( 1 6 : 1 7 - 1 8 ) , the latter t w o m o s t likely m e m b e r s o f the household in s o m e capacity.

26. Wayne Meeks, First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983), 134. 27. Justin J. Meggitt, Paul Poverty and Survival (Edinburgh: T 8c T Clark, 1998), 7 5 - 1 5 4 (quote from 99). See also Steve Friesen, "Poor Paul," paper presented at SBL Annual Meeting, Toronto, 2002, which argues that not enough attention has been paid to issues of imperial economics and poverty in determining the social level of Paul and his communities. 28. See Sailer, Personal PatronagCy 1, for this emphasis on the "asymmetrical" relationship of "unequal status" in patronal relations. See also Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, ed., Patronage in Ancient Society (London and New York: Routledge, 1989), 3, for a similar description.

114

Efrain Agosto Now, brothers a n d sisters, y o u k n o w that m e m b e r s o f the h o u s e hold o f Stephanas were the first converts (aparche) they have devoted (etaxan)

in Achaia, a n d

themselves to the service

(diakonian)

o f t h e saints; 1 u r g e y o u t o p u t yourselves at the (hypotassesthe)

service

o f such people, and o f everyone w h o works and

toils with t h e m . I rejoice at the c o m i n g o f Stephanas

and

F o r t u n a t u s and Achaicus, because they have m a d e up for y o u r absence; for they refreshed m y spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such persons. ( 1 6 : 1 5 - 1 8 ) This c o m m e n d a t i o n incorporates elements o f identification, c r e d e n tials, a n d request. However, differing f r o m a p a t r o n w h o r e c o m m e n d s a protege to a higher-status p a t r o n in order t o secure a position o f power, Paul c o m m e n d s leaders t o their o w n c o m m u n i t y , apparendy to reinforce their authority. Paul here c o m m e n d s a whole "household," including t w o w h o m a y well have been slaves o r freedmen, judging f r o m their n a m e s ( " L u c k y " a n d " t h e G r e e k " ) . T h a t hardly fits the pattern o f patronage a m o n g the imperial elite. Also, in contrast to elite circles, Paul again c o m m e n d s the m e m b e r s o f the household because they have "devoted t h e m selves to the service Diakonia,

(diakonian)''

o f the c o m m u n i t y o r

movement.

which often has c o n n o t a t i o n s o f menial service, is a key t e r m

Paul uses for service o r ministry in the c o m m u n i t i e s o f the m o v e m e n t he is building, as in the reference to "everyone w h o labors together a n d toils with t h e m . " Paul requests n o t a d v a n c e m e n t o r positions o f power for Stephanas a n d company, but asks the c o m m u n i t y to subordinate t h e m selves to and recognize such "workers." Paul's p u r p o s e in this c o m m e n d a t i o n at the e n d o f 1 Corinthians is clearly to reinforce the standing a n d authority o f Stephanas a n d h o u s e hold, w h o h a d been the "firstfruits" (aparche)

o f the m o v e m e n t in the

whole area o f Achaia. H e seems t o be siding with, a n d depending o n , his special friends and allies in the Corinthian c o m m u n i t y in his a t t e m p t t o suppress conflict and restore unity in the assembly. While minimizing the i m p o r t a n c e o f w h o baptized w h o m , which was apparently causing c o n t r o versy over aposdeship in the Corinthian c o m m u n i t y ( 1 : 1 2 - 1 7 ) , Paul admits that he had indeed baptized the household o f Stephanas, along with Gaius and Crispus ( 1 : 1 4 - 1 6 ) . It c a n n o t be coincidental that he later m e n tions Gaius, as " h o s t t o m e a n d to the whole assembly" ( R o m

16:23,

a u t h o r ) . O n e suspects a similar relationship with Crispus, (supposedly) a "synagogue leader" w h o b e c a m e " a believer in the L o r d together with all his h o u s e h o l d " t h r o u g h the ministry o f Paul in C o r i n t h (according to Acts 1 8 : 8 ) . Stephanas, his household, a n d the others constitute Paul's " n e t w o r k


115

o f friends" that help h i m " m e d i a t e " conflict with o t h e r leaders in Corinth.^' Paul urges the Corinthians t o respond t o t h e diakonia

(service, ministry) o f

Stephanas a n d c o m p a n y with a c o r r e s p o n d i n g devotion a n d service: hypotassesthe

should probably b e translated " b e subject t o such people," as

in t h e RSV, b u t is seemingly softened t o " p u t yourselves at the service o f such p e o p l e " in the NRSV. W i t h this play o n words with the verb tassd, Paul urges the c o m m u n i t y t o reciprocate in service by being subject

to

Stephanas a n d his household.^" Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n s o f the household o f Stephanas served his p u r pose o f lending s u p p o r t t o those w h o could help h i m best t o resolve disc o r d in C o r i n t h . Paul benefited, like patrons in R o m a n c o m m e n d a t i o n s . Is Paul, therefore, practicing p a t r o n a g e in his c o m m e n d a t i o n o f Stephanas o r in accepting hospitality firom Gaius? If anything, Paul's C o r i n t h i a n c o r r e s p o n d e n c e in general seems t o have an a n t i - p a t r o n a g e t o n e t o it. H e seems t o b e at pains t o avoid being d r a w n into a relationship resembling that o f patron-client in his relations with the Corinthians. In 1 C o r 9, for example, he seems t o reject the p a t r o n a g e o f certain figures in C o r i n t h w h o m a y have wanted Paul t o b e c o m e , in effect, their " h o u s e apostle."^' Paul insists that h e would rather d o m a n u a l labor for s o m e p a r t o f his financial s u p p o r t (2 C o r 11:7) t h a n depend o n those w h o interpreted Paul's apostleship o f t h e C o r i n t h i a n congregation as an o p p o r t u n i t y t o e n h a n c e their status by patronizing his m i n i s t r y To have Paul w o r k for his keep was n o t only d e m e a n i n g for Paul, in their estimation, b u t especially for t h e m as " p r o u d , potential p a t r o n s " o f a m o v e m e n t founder like Paul.^^ Further, by refiising their financial support a n d working in m a n u a l labor t o support his ministry.

29. As suggested by Richard Horsley, "1 Corinthians: A Case Study of Pauls Assembly as an Alternative Society," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 250. 30. The verb tasso carries the idea of placing or appointing someone to a fixed spot or an assigned position. The reflexive form, as here, has a sense of self-appointment, usually by means of active demonstration, through work or service. "To assign oneself," is to "devote oneself to service." See BAGD, "fasso" 805. Similarly, hypotasso, usually meaning "submit" or "subject oneself to," as in several Pauline texts (1 Cor 14:32; 15:27-28; Rom 8:7; 10:3; 13:1), here coupled with its root word tasso and the diakonia of Stephanas and others, probably also requests diakonia toward them from the rest of the community, as suggested by the N R S V : "Put yourselves at the service of such people." However, such service by both parties implies a mutual submission. 31. Horsley, "1 Corinthians," 250; and for more detail, Richard A. Horsley, 1 Corinthians (ANTC; Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 1 2 4 - 3 3 , 1 4 7 - 4 8 . 32. See Horsley," 1 Corinthians," 250. See also John Kingman Chow, Patronage and Power: A Study in Social Networks (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1992), for an extensive argument of how the search for patronage by certain leaders may lie behind some of the conflicts Paul encounters in Corinth.

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Paul created a situation o f " e n m i t y " with at least s o m e o f the leaders in the Corinthian c o m m u n i t y / ^ Instead, Paul c o m m e n d s those leaders w h o m he feels are genuinely serving the c o m m u n i t y , a n d n o t their o w n status e n h a n c e m e n t . In doing so, o f course, they also serve Paul and his c o n c e r n for the unity o f the C o r i n t h i a n c o m m u n i t y . This emphasis o n the solidarity o f the c o m m u n i t y as a separate c o m m u n i t y (1 C o r 6 : 1 - 1 1 ; 1 0 : 1 4 - 2 2 ) , however, was diametrically o p p o s e d to "replicating the controlling a n d exploitative power relations o f the d o m i n a n t society."^^ Such a system did n o t c o r r e s p o n d to the e m p o w e r i n g and liberating message o f the gospel, which has as its motivating force a Messiah/Lord crucified o n an imperial cross, " a foolish p r o c l a m a t i o n " for m o s t people ( c f 1 C o r 1 : 1 8 - 2 5 ) . Philippians

2:25-30

and

4:2-3

In Philippians, Paul c o m m e n d s his close associate T i m o t h y (Phil 2 . 1 9 - 2 4 ) ; an envoy f r o m the Philippians, Epaphroditus (PhU 2 : 2 5 - 3 0 ) ; a n d his " c o w o r k e r s " E u o d i a a n d Syntyche (Phil 4 : 2 - 3 ) . ' ' Paul's c o m m e n t s c o m e in passages that resemble n o t patronage r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s but G r e c o - R o m a n diplomatic c o r r e s p o n d e n c e regarding envoys, including the four steps o f " n a m e , relationship (to sender a n d addressees), qualifications, a n d assignment."'^ T h e c o m m e n d a t i o n

of

T i m o t h y a n d Epaphroditus in that context, nonetheless, presents a n o t h e r striking contrast with patronage r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s . Paul characterizes the singular relationship he has with Timothy, a p p a r e n d y his closest c o worker, as "like a son with a father" (Phil 2 : 2 2 ) . F o r a c o m p a r i s o n , in a letter t o the e m p e r o r Trajan, Pliny praised the son o f a longtime associate as " a n honest, hard-working, y o u n g m a n (iuvenem

probum

industrium),''

whose " i n d u s t r y " d e m o n s t r a t e s that he is "well-worthy o f his excellent father (egregio patre dignissimumy

(Ep. 1 0 . 8 7 ) . T h a t is, Phny emphasizes

h o w the youth's hard w o r k in imperial positions h a d served to enhance his father's reputation. Paul highlighted his a n d Timothy's w o r k together o n behalf o f the gospel's a d v a n c e m e n t , n o t personal reputation, achievement, o r status. Their relationship was perhaps paternal, but n o t patronal. Similarly

in

contrast

to

elite

recommendations,

Paul

praises

Epaphroditus because he was willing to c o n f r o n t even death for the cause

33. As argued by Marshall, Enmity in Corinthy especially 165-257. 34. Horsley "1 Corindiians," 250. 3 5 . 1 assume the integrity of Philippians, following, among others, the argument of Duane Watson, "A Rhetorical Analysis of Philippians and Its Implications for the Unity Question," NovT 30 (1987): 5 7 - 8 8 . 36. Margaret Mitchell, "New Testament Envoys in the Context of Greco-Roman Diplomatic and Epistolary Conventions: The Example of Timothy and Titus," JBL 111 (1992): 6 4 1 - 6 2 , quote from 651.

Patronage and Commendation, Imperial and Anti-imperial

117

o f the gospel (PhU 2 : 2 9 - 3 0 ) . Paul often c o m m e n d e d himself for e n d u r a n c e o f hardship: But as servants o f G o d we have c o m m e n d e d ourselves in every way: t h r o u g h great e n d u r a n c e , in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, i m p r i s o n m e n t s , riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger. (2 Cor 6:4-5; c f 1 Cor 4:9-13; 2 Cor 4 : 7 - 1 2 , 6 : 3 - 1 0 , 1 1 : 2 3 - 3 0 ) ' ^ E x c e p t for extolling the valor o f military officials, R o m a n c o m m e n d a t i o n s rarely cited risk-taking a n d selfless sacrifice as i m p o r t a n t credentials for the support. In fact, writers often t o o k into consideration the risk o f offering a commendation. M y friend Sextus Erucius is standing for office, a n d this is w o r r y ing m e very m u c h ; in fact, 1 feel far m o r e anxious a n d apprehensive for m y " s e c o n d self" t h a n I ever did o n m y o w n a c c o u n t . Besides m y o w n h o n o r , m y reputation, a n d m y position are all at stake. (Pliny, £ p . 2 . 9 . 1 ) Pliny risks " i m p o s i n g u p o n the E m p e r o r " his preference in an election by c o m m e n d i n g s o m e o n e w h o m i g h t lose a n d therefore sully Pliny's reputation. Such risk-taking in c o m m e n d a t i o n differs from the risks taken by Paul a n d his associates in the gospel mission. Closely related is Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n o f Epaphroditus as a

leitourgos

(servant) o f the Philippians o n behalf o f Paul (Phil 2 : 2 5 ) ; he renders a leitourgia (service) to Paul ( 2 : 3 0 ) . In G r e c o - R o m a n contexts, leitourgia

often

referred to public works projects that R o m a n a n d provincial elites c u s t o m arily u n d e r t o o k at their o w n expense, as a m e a n s o f enhancing their status in the eyes o f the people a n d the imperial hierarchy. Indeed, as I discussed above, the singular focus o n the imperial cult in the Greek settings o f the R o m a n E m p i r e , including temple-building projects, served as a m e a n s o f exercising power a n d c o n t r o l over those newly c o n q u e r e d territories in the East.'^ Paul, however, h a d a different n o t i o n o f leitourgia

in m i n d :

But even if I a m being p o u r e d o u t as a libation over the sacrifice a n d the offering (leitourgia)

o f your faith, I a m glad and rejoice

with all o f you. (Phil 2 : 1 7 ) 37. For an extensive discussion of "hardship lists" in Paul, see John T. Fitzgerald, Cracks in an Earthen Vessel: An Examination of the Catalogues of Hardships in the Corinthian Correspondence (SBLDS 99; Atlanta: Scholars, 1988). 38. See Price, Rituals and Power, 133-69, on "the transformation of civic space" and architecture during the Roman imperial period in Greece and Asia Minor.

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Paul faced possible execution in an imperial prison for his service to the gospel. Epaphroditus's service h a d been offered in a similar vein. His leitourgia included delivering a m o n e t a r y offering firom the Philippians t o Paul, which Paul describes as " a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable a n d pleasing to G o d " ( 4 : 1 8 ) . Paul praises Epaphroditus for his visit t o Paul's prison cell o n behalf o f the Philippians, even t h o u g h he b e c a m e ill in doing so. T h u s , in stark contrast to the elites' euergetism Paul c o m m e n d e d leitourgia

(doing g o o d services),

in the sense o f (self-) "sacrificial service" t o

G o d o n behalf o f the gospel c o m m u n i t y . Just before Paul's final exhortations toward joy a n d unity ( 4 : 4 - 9 ) , in the course o f urging the unity o f m i n d o n two female leaders o f the Philippian assembly, E u o d i a a n d Syntyche, Paul c o m m e n d s t h e m ( 4 : 2 - 3 ) . This passage incorporates the patterns o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n letters, including identification ("1 urge Euodia a n d 1 urge Syntyche"), credentials ("for they have struggled beside m e in the w o r k o f the gospel, together with C l e m e n t a n d the rest o f m y c o - w o r k e r s " ) , a n d request ("1 ask y o u also, m y loyal c o m p a n i o n , to help these w o m e n " ) . ' ' Paul m a y have geared his whole a r g u m e n t in Philippians toward addressing these two local " c o - w o r k e r s " in Philippi whose disagreement m a y have been with Paul h i m s e l f Rhetorical analysis a n d attention to the use o f obedience language in Philippians supports the a r g u m e n t that these verses are very significant in the letter a n d suggests that E u o d i a a n d Syntyche should be considered central to the rhetorical problem.'*^ In c o m m e n d i n g these two co-workers, Paul again emphasizes t h e m e s diametrically o p p o s e d t o typical G r e c o - R o m a n c o m m e n d a t i o n s . First, this is o n e o f two o f his five letters in which he c o m m e n d s w o m e n . In the extensive collection o f R o m a n c o m m e n d a t i o n letters by Cicero a n d Pronto, none c o m m e n d s w o m e n . Pliny r e c o m m e n d s w o m e n in a few o f his letters (e.g., Ep. 10.5, the freedwomen o f a p r o m i n e n t d o c t o r ) , as d o a few o f the Greek papyri letters collected by C h a n

Hie-Kim

(e.g., Dionysius' sister in

O x y r h y n c h u s Papyrus 2 9 3 , f r o m 2 7 c.E.Ô- Second, Paul c o m m e n d s Euodia

39. Kim, Familiar Greek Letter, 128-29. 40. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Community and Authority: The Rhetoric of Obedience in the Pauline Tradition (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1998), 93. 41. Reproduced in Kim, Familiar Greek Letter, 203. For a discussion of women in Greco-Roman commendations, including examples, see Efrain Agosto, "Paul's Use of Greco-Roman Conventions of Commendation" (Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1996), 106-8.


119

a n d Syntyche o n the s a m e basis that he c o m m e n d s m a l e leaders: " T h e y have struggled beside m e in the w o r k o f the gospel," invoking an athletic imagery o f "joint struggle" (synathled).

Like Paul a n d Epaphroditus, Euodia a n d

Syntyche h a d taken o n the risks o f life a n d ministry for the gospel/^ In his c o m m e n d a t i o n s in Philippians, as in those in 1 Thessalonians a n d 1 Corinthians, Paul r e m i n d s his readers o f the reality o f conflict, o p p o sition, a n d suffering as p a r t a n d parcel o f the gospel mission, over against the R o m a n order's t r i u m p h a l i s m . W i t h his gospel a n d gospel c o m m u n i t i e s {ekklesiae,

assemblies), Paul "stands over against R o m a n imperial ideol-

ogy," a n d n o t against " J u d a i s m . " B o t h Paul a n d the Philippians struggle against persecution by official a n d / o r local o p p o n e n t s , b u t will attain martyrlike vindication, a n d w h o s e real citizenship is in heaven, f r o m which they expect the t r u e " S a v i o r " (Phil 1 : 1 5 - 3 0 ; 2 : 1 4 - 1 8 ; 3 : 2 0 - 2 1 ) . ^ ' Paul a n d his colleagues, Timothy, Epaphroditus, Euodia, a n d Syntyche, have d e m o n s t r a t e d their willingness t o suffer persecution a n d t o struggle o n behalf o f the euangelion

a b o u t Jesus Christ, the crucified Soter, This

c o m m e n d s t h e m in ways that n o typical R o m a n p a t r o n would find acceptable, a n d n o R o m a n letter o f c o m m e n d a t i o n would seek t o highlight.

Romans 16:1-2 Finally, we c o m e to the Pauline c o m m e n d a t i o n where he makes explicit reference t o a "patroness." It c o m e s , moreover, in R o m a n s , the letter with the closest relationship t o the center o f the E m p i r e . Paul

commends

P h o e b e because, a m o n g o t h e r things, she has been a prostatis. Earlier t r a n s lations, such as the RSV, translated this t e r m "helper." However, the c o n t e x t a n d the lexical evidence points t o the m o r e specific t e r m " p a t r o n e s s " o r "benefactor," as in the NRSV. T h e following t r a n s l a t i o n lays o u t t h e v a r i o u s e l e m e n t s o f c o m mendation:

42. But see Kittredge, Community and Authority, 105-10, who argues the case differendy. The language of "struggUng together with Paul" indicates that Euodia and Syntyche were missionary partners, who remained of "one mind" with each other, but not with Paul. Thus Paul, in the Letter to the Philippians, has to construct "a rhetoric of obedience," with imitation of himself and others like him (Timothy, Epaphroditus) as the "authoritative model" of behavior for co-workers. A strong argument—^but how does one explain Paul's praise of their prior "struggle" with him for the gospel and the friendly tone of the letter as a whole? 43. Horsley, "General Introduction," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 6.

120

Efrain Agosto a. Identification: I c o m m e n d t o you P h o e b e , b. Credentials:

o u r sister, w h o has been a minister (diakonos)

of

the c h u r c h at Cenchreae, c. Request:

so that (hina) you m a y receive her in the Lord, in a m a n n e r worthy o f the saints, and assist her in whatever matter (pragmati)

b'. Credentials:

she has need from you.

for she has been a benefactor (prostatis) o f m a n y a n d o f m e also.^

By m e n t i o n i n g that she had been a prostatis last, Paul clearly wants t o emphasize t o his R o m a n readers that P h o e b e is w o r t h y o f their hospitality a n d o f whatever s u p p o r t she needs from t h e m because she has been h o s pitable to o t h e r believers, including Paul himself. While the c o m p o n e n t s o f Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n o f P h o e b e (identification, credentials, a n d request) seem similar t o that o f R o m a n letters o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n , the substance a n d use o f the t e r m prostatis does n o t fit the patronage system at the t o p o f the R o m a n imperial order at all.*' First, it is unusual to find a w o m a n recommended."*^ Second, in R o m a n letters o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n , a social superior o r p a t r o n (as r e c o m m e n d e r ) would r e c o m m e n d a protege ( r e c o m m e n d e e ) to his p a t r o n (for a position o f power, thus advancing a personal c a r e e r ) . In R o m 1 6 : 1 - 2 , however, Paul, as a leading apostle in the developing m o v e m e n t o f Jesus-believers, refers to Phoebe, w h o is a local diakonos from Cenchreae, as his o w n "patroness." H e n c e , the "client" is r e c o m m e n d i n g the " p a t r o n . " Third, as n o t e d earlier, it would be unusual in a R o m a n letter o f r e c o m m e n d a t i o n for a m e m b e r o f the imperial elite t o refer to a n o t h e r m e m b e r o f the aristocracy explicidy as a " p a t r o n " o r a "client." O u t o f consideration for the o t h e r person a n d appropriate " d e c o r u m , " he would be referred to as a "friend."*^ F o u r t h , that Paul asks the Jesus-believers at R o m e t o provide material s u p p o r t t o P h o e b e the patroness is the opposite o f the typical R o m a n patronage relation, in which the p a t r o n provides material s u p p o r t to the clients, w h o reciprocate with social-political loyalty to the p a t r o n . F o r the p a t r o n t o

44. Format adapted and translated from Kim, Familiar Greek Letter, 132. 45. On the following see Meggitt, Paul, Poverty and Survival, 146-49. 46. Although some cite the parallel case of Junia Theodora, a benefactor of Corinth at about the same time Phoebe was a benefactor of the Pauline movement from her base in nearby Cenchreae. However, Junia Theodora was clearly an eUte patroness, while Phoebe's service was to an anti-imperial movement. For discussion of the Junia Theodora evidence, see James Walters, "*Phoebe' and 7unia(s)'-Rom. 16:1-2,7," in Carroll D. Osburn, ed.. Essays on Women in Earliest Christianity, vol. 1 (Joplin, Mo.: CoUege Press, 1993), 167-90. 47. Sailer, Personal Patronage, 1,10, and note 9, above.


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accept any kind o f financial s u p p o r t f r o m potential clients would lower his o r her status in the eyes o f peers. Finally, the p u r p o s e o f Paul's c o m m e n dation is n o t to advance Phoebe's personal career into a position o f power. As a diakonos, her role is that o f a minister serving a c o m m u n i t y . In short, Paul's description o f P h o e b e as a prostatis

does n o t reflect

typical elite patronage. Because Paul r e c o m m e n d s her, and she appears t o be dependent o n h i m for access t o the R o m a n c o m m u n i t y , there is a sense in which Paul acts as Phoebe's benefactor. But she also is a benefact o r in her o w n right, a n d Paul acknowledges that she has also been his benefactor. T h e relationship between P h o e b e a n d Paul has been described as o n e o f m u t u a l patronage.*^ Such " m u t u a l p a t r o n a g e " is n o t elite patronage, which depended o n the asymmetrical exchange o f benefits between unequal parties, to

echo

Sailer's definition o n c e again. W h y did Paul send P h o e b e t o R o m e a n d c o m m e n d her as a "sister," a diakonos,

a n d a prostatis?

M o s t likely, P h o e b e c a r r i e d this i m p o r t a n t let-

ter t o the v a r i o u s R o m a n h o u s e assemblies, a letter in w h i c h Paul i n t r o d u c e d himself a n d his gospel t o an a u d i e n c e o f believers t h a t did n o t k n o w h i m personally (except for the litany o f p e r s o n s Paul greeted in the a s t o u n d i n g catalogue o f n a m e s in R o m 1 6 : 3 - 1 6 , including several h o u s e c h u r c h leaders). Perhaps he caUs her a prostatis

t o indicate h e r p r o m i -

n e n c e in the m o v e m e n t o f Jesus-believers in Greece, using language t h a t residents o f R o m e itself w o u l d readily u n d e r s t a n d . M o r e o v e r , that Paul asked t h e m t o provide P h o e b e personal s u p p o r t indicates t h a t he was using the t e r m

figuratively.

Paul's "letter o f i n t r o d u c t i o n " ftirther proposes t o seek missionary s u p p o r t f r o m the R o m a n h o u s e assemblies for his o w n mission to Spain ( R o m 1 5 : 2 2 - 2 4 ) . * ' As with the Jerusalem collection, which he describes in the next passage ( R o m 1 5 : 2 5 - 2 7 ) , Paul expected a network o f s u p p o r t for his gospel mission: So, when I have c o m p l e t e d this [the collection for Jerusalem], and have delivered to t h e m what has been collected, I will set o u t by

48. Margaret MacDonald, "Reading Real Women through the Undisputed Letters of Paul," in Women in Christian Origins (ed. Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D'Angelo; New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 2 0 8 - 9 . 49. See the series of articles on the "purpose of Romans" in Karl Donfried, ed.. The Romans Debate (2d ed.; Peabody Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), 3-242.

122

Efrain Agosto way o f y o u to Spain; and I k n o w that w h e n I c o m e to y o u , I will c o m e in the fullness o f the blessing o f Christ. ( R o m 1 5 : 2 8 - 2 9 )

S h o r d y after this passage and a prayer request for a safe trip to Jerusalem ( 1 5 : 3 0 - 3 2 ) , Paul c o m m e n d s P h o e b e to his R o m a n readers. It is b e c o m i n g increasingly clear that Paul's collection " f o r the p o o r a m o n g the saints at Jerusalem" constituted a kind o f u n d e r g r o u n d e c o n o m y in the international anti-imperial m o v e m e n t that Paul was building: T h e network o f assemblies h a d an " i n t e r n a t i o n a l " political e c o n o m i c dimension diametrically o p p o s e d to the tributary political e c o n o m y o f the empire

T h e m o v e m e n t h a d developed its dis-

tinctive way o f practicing international e c o n o m i c solidarity a n d (horizontal) reciprocity, the (relative) " h a v e s " sharing with the " h a v e - n o t s . " . . . By contrast with the vertical a n d centripetal m o v e m e n t o f resources in the . . . e c o n o m y o f the E m p i r e , Paul o r g a n ized a horizontal m o v e m e n t o f resources f r o m o n e subject people to another.'^ Paul's Letter to the R o m a n s invites the house assemblies there to join this "horizontal m o v e m e n t o f resources," in this case f r o m R o m e to Spain, by supporting the missionary efforts o f Paul a n d his associates. Paul has asked Phoebe, an experienced diakonos o f the Pauline mission a n d leader o f the m o v e m e n t in Cenchreae, n o t only t o deliver the letter that makes this request, b u t perhaps even t o explain it further a n d begin t o organize the support in anticipation o f Paul's arrival.'' In P h o e b e , Paul has a loyal c o - w o r k e r w h o has presumably aided h i m in certain ways (hence a " p a t r o n " ) , loyal to and trusted by h i m , b u t m o r e i m p o r t a n t , c o m m i t t e d t o spreading the gospel a n d the m o v e m e n t . She is c o m m e n d e d n o t t o a p a t r o n but as a " p a t r o n " whose patronage has served the cause o f a gospel in a m o v e m e n t that stands over against the R o m a n E m p i r e .

Conclusions C o m m e n d a t i o n letters were an integral vehicle for p r o m o t i n g patron-client relations, which held together the R o m a n imperial order. In key passages

50. Horsley, "1 Corinthians," 251. See also Dieter Georgi, Remembering the Poor (Nashville: Abingdon, 1992); and Sze-kar Wan, "Collection for the Saints as an Anticolonial Act," in Paul and Politics (ed. Horsley), 191-215. 51. Suggested previously by Robert Jewett, "Paul, Phoebe and the Spanish Mission," in Jacob Neusner et al., eds.. The Social World of Formative Christianity and Judaism: Essays in Tribute to Howard Clark Kee (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988), 142-61.


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o f his letters, Paul employs the convention o f c o m m e n d a t i o n , raising the question o f the degree to which he reinscribes the kind o f patronage relations that held the E m p i r e together. Close analysis o f Paul s c o m m e n d a t i o n s , however, indicates that the use o f the f o r m does n o t imply ready c o m p l i ance with the R o m a n imperial order. W h e n he identifies co-workers o r leaders o f his assemblies for c o m m e n d a t i o n , he does n o t dwell o n their distinguished families, since they did n o t have any, b u t o n their role in the m o v e m e n t . W h e r e a s R o m a n p a t r o n s emphasized their proteges' high social status a n d great w e a l t h — i n the elite world far r e m o v e d f r o m Paul's p e o p l e — P a u l praised the labor a n d sacrifice o f his co-workers o n behalf o f the c o m m u n i t i e s o f the m o v e m e n t . Pliny the Younger requested positions o f power in the imperial system, in letters to the great p a t r o n at the top o f the imperial patronage p y r a m i d ; b u t Paul urged his assemblies t o value a n d imitate the h a r d w o r k o f his co-workers a n d / o r their local leaders for the welfare a n d survival o f their c o m m u n i t i e s . W h e r e a s Paul reconfigured the t e r m s o f R o m a n political ideology (e.g., euangelion,

kyrios, soter, pistis, a n d so o n ) into the center o f his anti-

imperial gospel, he does n o t appear to have infused the language, m u c h less the relationships o f patronage, into either his letters o r his relations with his c o m m u n i t i e s . Paul's driving c o n c e r n is for the spread o f his gospel m e s sage a n d the well-being a n d solidarity o f his c o m m u n i t i e s . Paul c o m m e n d e d co-workers a n d local leaders w h o h a d worked hard in service o f the c o m m u n i t y in sacrificial ways, even to the point o f hardship, risk, injury, persecution, a n d death. Exalted social status a n d the e n h a n c e m e n t o f personal political careers, typical in R o m a n

commendations

and

patronage relations, did n o t figure in Paul's c o m m e n d a t i o n s . C o m m e n d a t i o n s in Paul's Letters d o indeed serve a fiinction s o m e w h a t parallel to that o f c o m m e n d a t i o n letters in the imperial system. However, that function is a l m o s t diametrically opposite t o its function in t h e p a t r o n a g e system. In the latter, p a t r o n s r e c o m m e n d e d their proteges t o higher-level p a t r o n s w h o h a d p o w e r to dispense benefits that w o u l d b o t h advance their proteges' social status a n d their political career in the p a t r o n a g e system by which the E m p i r e was controlled. Paul c o m m e n d s c o - w o r k e r s a n d local leaders t o his c o m m u n i t i e s in o r d e r to e n h a n c e their a u t h o r i t y in the c o m m u n i t y . However, the relations are n o t parallel t o t h o s e in the p a t r o n a g e system a n d are located at the opposite end o f the p o l i t i c a l - e c o n o m i c s p e c t r u m ; also, Paul's b r o a d e r p u r p o s e is t o strengthen the cohesion o f his c o m m u n i t i e s so that they are better able t o survive repression a n d persecution by local a n d imperial rulers. In this way, Paul was actually u n d e r m i n i n g the traditions o f R o m a n p a t r o n a g e , power, a n d the imperial order.

-

6

-

PHIL 2:6-11 A N D RESISTANCE T O LOCAL TIMOCRATIC RULE Isa thed and the Cult of the Emperor in the East Erik M. Heen

F

o r t y years ago Per Beskow observed that it is only with the b o o k o f Revelation that an explicit critique o f R o m e emerges in the N e w

Testament. Resistance against R o m a n rule m a y exist elsewhere in the NT, Beskow noted, but its recovery always would be tentative a n d rely o n m e t h ods n o t acceptable to all researchers.^ Such a view articulates the traditional suspicion o f N T exegetical projects that recover resistance against the hegem o n y o f imperial R o m e . This reserve a b o u t a n t i - R o m a n views in N T texts is especially p r o n o u n c e d in Pauline studies.^ T h e liturgical fragment in Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 m a y serve as an example. T h e t e r m i n o l o g y isa thed (godlike/equal), used in this panegyric o f Christ in 2:6b, has a long history in the Greek ruler cult a n d in the first c e n t u r y C.E. was applied t o the R o m a n emperor. B u t studies o f Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 have n o t explored the possibility that isa thed should be read against this background, m u c h less that it articulates a critic i s m o f the emperor. Two factors have contributed t o this. First, the i m p e rial cult was u n d e r s t o o d by m a n y scholars t o be an institution o f e m p t y ceremonial that was o f little i m p o r t a n c e t o the m a j o r i t y o f the residents o f Greek cities. Second, specific m e t h o d s designed to recover an implicit c r i tique o f imperial politics in the N T were slow to develop.'

1. Per Beskow, Rex Gloriae: The Kingship of Christ in the Early Church (Stockholm: Almquist 8c WikseU, 1962), 72. 2. Rom 13:1-7 has often been interpreted as revealing Paul's normative stance to Rome to be one that accepted the power dynamics as well as the legitimacy of Rome's governing authority. See discussion in Neil Elliott, Liberating Paul The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994), 2 1 4 - 2 6 . 3. For a selection of essays that reassess the imperial context of Paul's mission and his relations to it, see Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in

125

126

Erik M. Heen Developments in scholarship, both o n the imperial cult a n d in m e t h -

ods, provide the tools necessary t o restate the issue. Recent investigations o f the imperial cult have reassessed its i m p o r t a n c e in the c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d m a i n t e n a n c e o f political h e g e m o n y in the cities o f the Greek East.* Today the imperial cult is u n d e r s t o o d t o be a m e d i u m t h r o u g h which the web o f power and influence was constructed a n d m a i n t a i n e d o n the city, p r o v i n cial, a n d imperial level. Also, a way o f discerning the resistance to R o m a n imperial rule in N T texts is n o w available in the w o r k o f anthropologists a n d postcolonial scholars w h o analyze the social dynamics o f subaltern groups a n d their interaction with d o m i n a n t cultural f o r m a t i o n s . ' T h e w o r k o f James C. Scott o n the hidden a n d disguised m o d e s o f resistance a m o n g subjugated groups m a y be particularly helpful in discerning previously u n n o t i c e d aspects o f N T texts. In this investigation o f isa thed in Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 , 1 explore h o w Scott's discussion o f the interaction between public discourse controlled by the elite a n d the hidden a n d disguised discourses o f the subordinate illuminates the social function o f the R o m a n imperial cult in the Greek cities o f the easte r n E m p i r e . Against this b a c k g r o u n d o f the Eastern civic tradition o f assigning "divine h o n o r s " (isotheoi

timai)

t o R o m a n imperial rulers, the

attribution o f the t e r m isa thed t o Jesus Christ in a " h y m n " sung by Pauline c o m m u n i t i e s can be seen as a particular m o d e o f resistance t o the local u r b a n elite's articulation o f imperial rule. To identify the subtler m o d e s o f popular resistance t o d o m i n a t i o n , James C. Scott argues that the public interaction between the elite a n d

Roman Imperial Society (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997). For a more in-depth presentation of the ideas and evidence of this article, see Erik M. Heen, "Saturnalicius Princeps: The Enthronement of Jesus in Early Christian Discourse" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1997). 4. S. R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) holds a central place in the revision of the academic attitude concerning the imperial cult. For a succinct description of the new understanding of the role of the imperial cult in the East, see Allen Brent, The Imperial Cult and the Development of Church Order: Concepts and Images of Authority in Paganism and Early Christianity before the Age of Cyprian (Leiden: Brill, 1999), xix-xx. 5. On recent anthropological literature see Sherry B. Ortner, "Resistance and the Problem of Ethnographic Refusal," Comparative Studies in Society and History 37 (1995): 173-93. The term "subaltern," which means "subordinate or inferior," was used by Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) in Prison Notebooks to refer to the proletariat. The term is now used more broadly in many disciplines to cover investigations into the relationships between dominant groups and those subject to them, see, e.g., John Beverley, Subalternity and Representation: Arguments in Cultural Theory (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1999).

Phil 2:6-11

and Resistance to Local Timocratic

Rule

127

those subject t o t h e m tells only p a r t o f the story. Scott uses the t e r m public transcript

to get at the nature o f the interaction between subordinates a n d

those w h o d o m i n a t e . Public here refers to action that is openly displayed t o the o t h e r p a r t y in the power relationship. Transcript

is used to indicate

Scott's interest in a c o m p l e t e " r e c o r d " o f what was said a n d done.^ T h e o n g o i n g public transcript, controlled by the elite for their o w n benefit, p r o vides a detailed m a p o f the behavior required o f subordinates w h e n they e n c o u n t e r their superiors, and vice versa. T h e public discourse, however, is n o t the only transcript p r o d u c e d where there is a strong bifijrcation between those w h o have power a n d those w h o d o not. T h e r e are also hidden discourses that are spoken " o f f stage" in response to the social dynamics e n c o d e d in the public transcript. T h e private discourse o f the subordinate "spoken behind the backs o f the d o m i n a n t " is, predictably, highly critical o f the public transcript. In this private discourse subordinates experience a " r e a l m o f relative discursive freedom, in a privileged site for n o n h e g e m o n i c , c o n t r a p u n t a l , dissident, subversive discourse."^ Although m o s t " h i d d e n transcripts" have perished with the groups w h o p r o d u c e d t h e m , n o t all traces o f these discourses have been lost to historical inquiry. This is because, as Scott explains, certain aspects o f the c o n cealed private transcripts o f subordinates e m e r g e o n t o the public stage in a veiled f o r m . Scott explores r u m o r , gossip, folktales, jokes, a n d trickster tales as m e d i u m s t h r o u g h which the private discourse o f subject peoples appear in the public realm. Others observe that subaltern religion provides a n o t h e r platform for the private discourse, however veiled and "sanitized," t o e m e r g e into public view.^ Given that the nature o f the historical sources generally preclude access to the private discourse o f subordinate groups, we m u s t give attention to a third realm, s o m e h o w between public a n d private, t o tease o u t a ftiller picture o f h o w subordinate groups viewed their relationship to those w h o d o m i n a t e d t h e m . T h e Greek h y m n s preserved in the N e w Testament m a y provide such a middle t e r m between the hegem o n i c and public transcript o f the cities o f the East a n d the potentially subversive d e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f it that t o o k place a m o n g s o m e o f the early followers o f Christ o u t o f earshot o f the local authorities.

6. James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1990), 2. 7. Scott, Domination, 25. 8. See Bruce Lincoln, "Notes toward a Theory of Religion and Revolution," in Religion, Rebellion, Revolution: An Interdisciplianry and Cross-cultural Collection of Essays (ed. Bruce Lincoln; Hampshire, U.K.: MacMUlan, 1985), 2 6 6 - 9 2 .

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Erik M. Heen

The Greek Urban EUte's Honoring the Emperor as Iso theds It has long been recognized that ancient society was t i m o c r a t i c a n d that t h e high elite, in particular, were obsessed by the love o f h o n o r

(philotimia),^

Patronage was, therefore, a central t h e m e o f the public transcript o f the ancient city. A wide range o f h o n o r s (timai)

awarded for a multitude o f

benefactions that the wealthy received f r o m the city were inscribed a n d p r o m i n e n d y displayed in public places. At the lower e n d o f the range was a simple a c c l a m a t i o n granted by the a s s e m b l y At the t o p o f t h e scale were those that identified the p a t r o n with the gods (isotheoi Even t h o u g h it was philotimia

timai).

a n d n o t a c o n c e r n for the welfare o f the

city that m o t i v a t e d the largess o f the elite, the picture o f elite rule that the rhetoric o f euergetism

(doing g o o d services) projected was that o f a h a p p y

e x c h a n g e — t h e enthusiastic awarding o f h o n o r s by loyal a n d grateftil clients for the benevolence o f the high elite. T h e " m u t u a l benefit" language o f euergetism pertained t o the s h a r p division between t w o classes in the ancient Greek city.*' T h e s e classes exhibited a n inverse ratio o f power t o size. Although the high elite controlled m o s t o f the p r o p e r t y ( a n d h e n c e the p o w e r ) in antiquity, they represented only a half percent t o 5 percent o f the total population.*^ Scott's analysis o f public transcripts suggests that this flattering picture o f h e g e m o n i c rule ( a ) was a self-portrait c o n s t r u c t e d by the high elite themselves, a n d ( b ) helped legitimate the exalted position the elite m a i n t a i n e d over all o t h e r residents o f the city. O n e o f the m o r e i m p o r t a n t functions o f the culture o f euergetism in antiquity, therefore.

9. Bibliography on philotimia may be found in Price, Rituab and Power, 123 n. 131. See also discussion in Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987), 53. Stephen Mitchell, "Festivals, Games, and Civic Life in Roman Asia M i n o r ; 7 ^ 5 80 (1990): 183, translates philotimia as "patriotic zeal." On philodoxia, a term related to philotimia, see Klaus Bringmann, "The King as Benefactor: Some Remarks on Ideal Kingship in the Age of Hellenism," in Images and Ideologies: Self-Definition in the Hellenistic World (ed. Anthony Bulloch et al.; Berkeley: University of Cahfornia Press, 1993), 16. 10. Some of the inscriptional evidence has been collected in Frederick W. Danker, Benefactor: Epigraphic Study of a Graeco-Roman and New Testament Semantic Field (St. Louis: Clayton Pubhshing House, 1982). See also C. R Jones, The Roman World of Dio Chrysostom (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978), 104-14. Examples found in Holland Hendrix, "Benefactor/Patronage Networks in the Urban Environment: Evidence from Thessalonica," Semeia 56 (1990): 3 9 - 5 0 . 11. The understanding of ancient society in terms of a two-class system is discussed in Bengt Holmberg, Sociology and the New Testament: An Appraisal (Mmneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 2 3 - 2 4 . 12. This figure of half a percent is discussed in Holmberg, Sociology, 22. Ramsay MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981), 7, gives a figure of 1 percent. R. L. Fox, Pagans and Christians, 57, puts the upper limit at 5 percent.

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129

was t o provide a rationale that justified the d o m i n a t i o n o f the elite: it o p e r ated t o m u t u a l benefit. T h e public h o n o r s awarded t o the elite preserved in the epigraphic evidence represent only the m o s t c o n c r e t e a c k n o w l e d g m e n t o f the hierarchical relationship that existed between the city's elite benefactors and its o t h e r residents. T h e gulf between the elite a n d their subordinates was also articulated in m a n y subde a n d n o t so subde ways in the daily life o f the city. T h e elite were distincdy m a r k e d by differences in dress, education, a n d speech; the m e a n s o f their travel; a n d even their diet. T h e h o m e s a n d p u b lic buildings they built in the city, their villas in the countryside, set t h e m apart. So also did their aristocratic m o r e s , which required a display o f c o n t e m p t for those below their o w n station. It was, however, n o t simply that the elites o f antiquity exhibited markers o f high status a n d were confident o f their o w n superiority. Their d o m i n a n c e also required the ritualized perf o r m a n c e o f others' submission o n a d a y - t o - d a y basis. T h e c o m p l e m e n t a r y differentiation that existed between the elite a n d the non-elite was displayed in " c e r e m o n i e s " b o t h large a n d small, in quite different social c o n texts ranging f r o m the m u n d a n e t o the festive.*^ W h i l e they were in p u b l i c — i n whatever c o n t e x t — t h e elite expected ritualized deference f r o m their inferiors. This script was basic to the p u b lic discourse o f antiquity, a n d it did n o t allow m u c h r o o m for critical revision. "Submission a n d dignity were, at every stage, the m o s t i m p o r t a n t lessons to be learned."** F o r the s u b o r d i n a t e — a n d again in antiquity this class could include almost e v e r y o n e — i t was wiser and safer to defer to the high elite according to the well-worn script rather t h a n t o risk the consequences o f insubordination. Often such submission masked the t r u e feelings o f the subordinate. In the Latin c o n t e x t the w o r d that best captures this kind o f deference is dissimulatio,

" t h e c o n c e a l m e n t o f one's t r u e feel-

ings by a display o f feigned sentiments."*^

13. Ramsay MacMullen has collected many different examples of these public displays of dominance/submission in antiquity. See MacMullen, Roman Social Relations: 50 B.C. to A.D. 284 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1974), 8-12; R. MacMullen, "Personal Power m die Roman Empire," A / P 1 0 7 (1986): 5 1 2 - 2 4 ; and "Power Effective," in MacMullen, Corruption and the Decline of Rome (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1988), 5 8 - 1 2 1 . 14. Wayne A. Meeks, The Origins of Christian Morality (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1993), 39. On the demand for public submission of the non-elite, see also MacMullen, "Personal Power," 513-14. Real or imagined public slights to the dignity of a notable could bring violent retaliations. See MacMullen, Corruption and the Decline of Rome, 6 9 - 7 1 , for more violent examples; on the Ughter side, Apuleius, Metamorphoses (trans. J. Lindsay; Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1960), 47-48. 15. V. Rudich, Political Dissidence under Nero: The Price of Dissimulation (London: Roudedge, 1993), xxii.

130

Erik M. Heen T h e rhetoric o f patronage claimed that elite rule was n o t only b e n e v o -

lent, but also divinely ordained. Even in ancient times shrewd observers n o t e d the role o f religion in maintaining the distance between the few (hoi oligoi) and the m a n y (hoi polloi).

T h e y observed, for instance, that since

b o t h the elite a n d the gods were patrons o f a city, a similar loyalty (pistis) was appropriate. Religion p e r m e a t e d the public discourse o f antiquity.*^ It provided the context for the larger-scale public gatherings a n d festivals

(panegyreis).

Theaters were often structurally integrated to temple complexes in order t o allow large n u m b e r s o f people access to the d r a m a o f sacral rites. Conversely, freestanding theaters h a d altars i n c o r p o r a t e d into their design, a n d the p e r f o r m a n c e s that o c c u r r e d in t h e m were o p e n e d by religious rituals. Theaters were, therefore, to s o m e extent temples, as the temples were theaters. T h e great agonistic festivals (financed by the elite) that t r a n s f o r m e d the city were also tied to religious c o n c e r n s . T h e y were n o t so different in ethos f r o m their offspring, the medieval religious fairs. T h e y blended f o r m a l religious ceremonies with pilgrimage, trade, recreation, e n t e r t a i n m e n t a n d spectacles, special foods, a n d the exchange o f different f o r m s o f information. Even the gladiatorial contests, the m o s t expensive o f gifts offered t o the city, were tied t o celebrations o f the imperial cult. While religion was integral t o the way the city publicly organized its internal social r e l a t i o n s — o n all levels—it also provided an i m p o r t a n t

16. Religion played an integral part in the drama that constructed and legitimated the power of the ehte in antiquity. The classic statement of this position is found in Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980). See also L. Zaidman and P Pantel, Religion in the Ancient Greek City (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992). References for the following topics: On festivals, see L. de Ligt and P. W. de Neeve, "Ancient Periodic Markets, Festivals and Fairs;'Athenaeum 56 (1988): 3 9 1 - 4 1 6 ; Steven MitcheU, "Festivals," 183-93; S. Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor, vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 2 1 7 - 2 5 ; Steven Friesen, Twice Neokoros: Ephesus, Asia and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial Family (Leiden: Brill, 1993), 114-41; MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire, 26; and Dio Chrysostom, De Virtute/Or. 8.9.; De compotatione/Or. 27.5. On theaters, see John Arthur Hanson, Roman Theater-Temples (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1959); MacMullen, Paganism and the Roman Empire, 2 0 - 2 1 ; and Ramsay MacMullen, Enemies of the Roman Order: Treason, Unrest, and Alienation in the Empire (London: Roudedge, 1992), 171-72. On gladiatorial contests, see Keith Hopkins, "Murderous Games," in Death and Renewal: Sociological Studies in Roman History, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 13; and L. Robert, Les Gladiators dans Vorient grec (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1971), 2 6 4 - 6 5 .

Phil 2:6-11


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131

m e d i u m t h r o u g h which a city related to the m o s t i m p o r t a n t outside power that d e t e r m i n e d its civic life, that o f imperial R o m e . T h e imperial cult, w h i c h e m e r g e d in the cities o f the East during the late Republic a n d early Principate, was taken u p in o n g o i n g c o m p e t i t i o n between cities for h o n o r a m o n g themselves. It b e c a m e , therefore, an i m p o r t a n t element in the c o m p l e x "etiquette" that o r d e r e d this wider world o f privilege a n d power. T h e notables o f the city were the p r i m a r y actors in this a p p r o p r i a t i o n o f cult t o articulate their city's relationship t o rival cities ( a n d R o m e itself), a process that served t o elevate their status while it helped c o n s t r u c t an ideology o f empire.*^ T h e imperial cult in the East is an o u t g r o w t h o f the ruler cult that p r e ceded it during the period o f the Hellenistic kingdoms.*^ A king o r ruler w h o h a d d e m o n s t r a t e d characteristics that were traditionally attributed t o civic gods (such as founder [ktistes], [soter]),^'^

benefactor [euergetes],

o r savior

could be awarded the highest distinction possible,

timai—honors

isotheoi

equal t o those paid the gods.^° Since civic deities were c o n -

strued as the archetypal benefactors o f the city, the assignment o f a cult t o a ruler w h o h a d used his power t o benefit the city was a logical developm e n t o f the culture o f euergetism.^*

17. The imperial cult served not only to formalize and maintain good relations between the cities and Rome. It also provided the high elites of the poleis with an institution through which they could assert their own rule over the city. See, in particular. Price, Rituals and Power, 2 4 7 - 4 8 . 18. Divine honors were assigned to Greek rulers in the East beginning with Alexander the Great. The literature on Hellenistic ruler cults is vast. Two classic works are Arthur Darby Nock, ''Synnaos Theos,'' in Essays on Religion and the Ancient World, ed. Zeph Stewart (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972), 2 0 2 - 5 1 ; and E. R. Goodenough, "The Political Philosophy of Hellenistic Kingship," y C S l (1928): 5 5 - 1 0 2 . 19. An annotated bibliography on the terms euergetes and soter may be found in H. S. Versnel, Ter Unus: Isis, Dionysos, Hermes (Leiden: Brill, 1990), 70 n. 108. See also A. D. Nock, "Soter and Euergetes," in Essays on Religion and the Ancient World (ed. Stewart), 7 2 0 - 3 5 . 20. See discussion in Duncan Fishwick, "Isotheoi Timai," in The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire, vol. 1 (Leiden: BriU, 1987), 2 1 - 3 1 ; A. D. Nock, "Notes on Ruler-Cult I-IV," Essays on Religion and the Ancient World (ed. Stewart), 135; Saul Lieberman, "Metatron, the Meaning of His Name and His Functions," in Ithamar Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism (Leiden: BrUl, 1980), 2 3 5 - 4 4 ; H. Mason, Greek Terms for Roman Institutions: A Lexicon and Analysis (Toronto: A. M. Hakkert, 1974), 124; S. R. F. Price, "Between Man and God,"/i?S 70 (1980): 2 8 , 3 0 . 21. See Fishwick, The Imperial Cult, 6.

132

Erik M. Heen O n e o f the m o r e p r o m i n e n t schools o f interpretation o f the Greek

ruler cult has t h o u g h t o f it as essentially a "political" rather than a "relig i o u s " institution.^^ In this view, founding a cult was a shrewd political calculation in that the city could anticipate benefactions f r o m the o n e h o n o r e d . Scholars w h o have seen in the R o m a n imperial cult a calculated maneuvering for political advantage by individual cities in the East have recognized a critical d y n a m i c o f the Greek honorific tradition. T h a t is, the imperial cult represents an evolution o f t i m o c r a t i c traditions native t o the East that contain n o little measure o f civic self-interest. T h e proliferation o f the R o m a n imperial cult during the reign o f Augustus is evidence o f its i m p o r t a n c e for the high elite in the East.^^ Its centrality to the public discourse o f the city is indicated by the fact that the temples a n d altars o f the cult m o v e d into the very center o f u r b a n public space.^* As the cult c a m e to enjoy a high profile in the religious life o f the city, its priesthoods also b e c a m e a principal source o f prestige for the elite. In the large-scale religious gatherings in the East, the public roles o f the elites were conspicuous. Thus, n o t only did the elite provide the ftinds for the celebrations, they also as priests presided over the sacrifices that a c c o m panied t h e m . In the course o f their lifetime, the s a m e individuals, the archontes

(rulers) o f the city, were b o t h its magistrates and its high priests.^^

T h e highest status o n e could attain in Asia M i n o r c a m e t o rest in the

22. See, for example, the discussions in Fishwick, The Imperial Cult, 11; and K. Bringmann, "The King as Benefactor." A trajectory of scholarship has opposed the "politics" or "pseudorehgion" of the imperial cult to the true "religion" of Christianity. See discussions in Price, Rituals and Power, 15-16, 2 3 4 - 3 5 ; and Price, "Between Man and God," 28; Holland Hendrbc, "Beyond 'Imperial Cult' and 'Cults of die Magistrates,' SBLSP 25 (1986): 301. 23. The expansion of the imperial cult under Augustus was rapid. See Price, Rituals and Powers, 57. Price includes maps of the distribution of the cult in Asia Minor (xvii-xxvi) and discusses the data ( 7 8 - 1 0 0 ) . See also, Steven Mitchell, "The Imperial Cult," in Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor, vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 100-17. 24. Price, Rituals and Power, 109,136-46; Mitchell, A«flto/ia, 107,117; Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age ofAugustus (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988), 298; Donald Engels, Roman Corinth: An Alternative Model for the Classical City (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990), 1 3 , 1 0 1 , 2 2 7 n. 33. 25. Although religious offices were to some extent distinguished from other civic offices, the borders between the two were fluid. In the performance of their regular magisterial duties the high elite could also function as priests. See Friesen, Twice Neokoros, 95; Price, "Between Man and God," 31; Zaidman and Pantel, Religion in the Ancient Greek City, 9; MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire, 2 4 - 4 3 , 105-6.

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133

position o f provincial high priest o f the imperial cult.^^ As this position evolved into the ultimate prize for those w h o displayed philotimia,

the

imperial cult also increasingly b e c a m e the institution t h r o u g h which the m o s t extravagant displays o f euergetism were funneled.^^ In order to b e c o m e a high p a t r o n o f the city o r province, o n e needed to finance the foundations a n d festivals o f the imperial cult. T h e imperial cult, then, c a m e to epitomize the public discourse o f the cities o f the East in a unique way. W h i l e it was controlled by the local elite and advanced their o w n prestige, it also helped c o n s t r u c t an ideology o f empire, an ideology that was a n c h o r e d in the depiction o f the e m p e r o r as a god, that is, the high patron o f the E m p i r e a n d the source o f grace (charis)

for the city.^^

B y the end o f Augustus' reign, the divine h o n o r s (isotheoi timai) given by the cities o f the East h a d b e c o m e restricted to the e m p e r o r a n d his f a m ily.^^ T h u s , whatever official reserve the early e m p e r o r s m a y have publicly expressed in R o m e c o n c e r n i n g divine honors,^° in the East such h o n o r s were n o t only enthusiastically given, but h a d b e c o m e exclusively reserved for the emperor. It had been perceived in the East that further f o r m a t i o n o f divine h o n o r s to individuals other t h a n the emperor, " w o u l d certainly have

26. A. D. Nock, "A Feature of Roman ReUgion," 485; Price, Rituals and Power, 6 2 - 6 4 , 1 2 2 - 2 3 ; MitcheU, AnatoKa, 107,116-17; Friesen, Twice Neokoros, 7 6 - 1 1 3 ; and H. Hendrbc, "Benefactor/Patron Networks in the Urban Environment," Semeia 56 (1992): 5 0 - 5 1 . 27. MitcheU, Anatolia, 108,112. See also MitcheU, "Festivals," 189-90; Price, Rituals and Power, 6 2 - 6 4 . 28. On "grace" and the imperial cult, see Friesen, Twice Neokoros, 1 5 8 - 6 0 , 1 6 6 . 29. See discussion in Price, Rituals and Power, 4 9 - 5 0 ; Jones, The Roman World of Dio Chrysostom, 104-5. 30. There was a discrepancy between the Greek and Roman understanding of the divinity of the emperor. In Rome itself, the official position was clear: the apotheosis of the emperor took place only after his death. In the Greek world, on the other hand, the reigning emperor could be caUed theos, god, in his Ufetime. Friesen discusses the Greek appUcation of honorific traditions to the Roman emperor under the rubric "Divine or Human?" in Twice Neokoros, 146-52. See also, Adela Yarbro CoUins, "The Worship of Jesus and the Imperial Cult," in The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism (ed. Carey C. Newman et al.; Leiden: BrUl, 1999), 249. Even though the imperial cult was not originaUy a part of Roman ideology, it soon became a tool both of provincial administration and one of the more prominent features of Roman imperial propaganda. Regarding its propagandistic value, see H. S. Versnel, Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual (Leiden: BrUl, 1993), 196-205; Price, Rituals and Power, 64, 122-23; R Zanker, The Power of Images, 3 0 4 - 5 ; A. N. Sherwin-White, The Letters of Pliny: A Historical and Social Commentary (Oxford: Clarendon, 1985), 526-27; and Friesen, Twice Neokoros, 156.

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been politically undesirable."^* In the n e w political reality that c a m e with Augustus, it was c l e a r — a t least t o the elite in the E a s t — t h a t only the e m p e r o r was deserving o f isotheoi

timai?^

F r o m this perspective, it is

i m p o r t a n t to n o t e that if indeed the h y m n in Phil 2 assigns such h o n o r s t o the crucified Jesus, this constitutes a clear breach o f the etiquette that i n f o r m e d the public displays o f the imperial cult. It seems likely that Paul f o u n d a developed pattern o f h o n o r s to the R o m a n e m p e r o r in m o s t o f the Greek cities in which he worked. Yet since the imperial cult was apparently particularly well developed in Philippi, it m a y n o t be b y accident that he cites the "Christ h y m n " in his letter to the assembly he h a d f o u n d e d at Philippi. A brief review will suggest the ways in which Philippi in M a c e d o n i a resembles the general picture o f the i m p e rial cult in the East a n d h o w it m i g h t differ f r o m it. During the period that stretched firom the m i d - s e c o n d c e n t u r y t o the mid-first c e n t u r y B.C.E., the city o f Philippi served as a provincial o u t p o s t for R o m e o n the Via Egnatia, the m a i n overland link between R o m e a n d the E a s t . " In 4 2 B.C.E., following i n t r a - R o m a n power struggles, Philippi b e c a m e a R o m a n colony, and discharged veterans received land allotments to setde there. Following the battle o f A c t i u m in 31 B.C.E., m o r e R o m a n settlers were a c c o m m o d a t e d , a n d the city's relationship with

Octavian

(Augustus) was reestablished a n d deepened.^^ T h e colony was r e n a m e d Colonia lulia Augusta Philippensis

(after the Julian family) a n d granted the

highest privilege possible for provincial municipality, the ius italicum.

The

colonists w h o qualified enjoyed R o m a n citizenship a n d extensive p r o p e r t y a n d legal rights. A n e w R o m a n aristocracy was established, n e w buildings constructed, a n d the colony

flourished."

T h e archaeological evidence for the m i d - f i r s t - c e n t u r y Philippi is thin. Still, s o m e consensus exists a m o n g researchers as t o the d e m o g r a p h i c .

31. Price, Rituals and Power, 49. 32. As Friesen, Twice Neokoros, 156, notes, such identifications occurred more at the local than on the provincial level. 33. On the various forms of the Roman rule in Macedonia, see J. A. O. Larsen, "Roman Greece," in An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome: Africa, Syria, Greece, Asia Minor (ed. Tenney Frank et al.; Baltunore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1938), 4 3 7 - 4 1 , and R E Bruce, "Macedonia," ABD 4:455. On the strategic importance of Philippi, see Holland Hendrbc, "Philippi," ABD 5:314. 34. On the city's relationship with Augustus, see Lukas Bormann, Philippi: Stadt und Christengemeinde zur Zeit des Paulus (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 46; Valerie A. Abrahamsen, Women and Worship at Philippi: Diana/Artemis and Other Cults in the Early Christian Era (Pordand, Maine: Astarte Shell Press, 1995), 11. 35. C. Koukouli-Chrysantaki, "Colonia lulia Augusta Philippensis," in Philippi at the Time of Paul and after His Death (ed. C. Bakritzis and H. Koester; Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1998), 8 , 1 4 .

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physical, a n d religious m a k e u p o f the city/^ While the t o w n displayed an elitist and oligarchic social structure typical o f Eastern municipalities, its colonial status necessarily m e a n t its ties with R o m e were m o r e substantial t h a n the n o r m elsewhere. T h e f o r m o f the local g o v e r n m e n t , for example, was patterned after that o f R o m e , with two chief magistrates. At the t i m e o f Paul's visit, the population o f the colony would have included a privileged core o f descendants f r o m the original R o m a n

settlers, Greeks

descended f r o m the inhabitants o f earlier Hellenistic cities and f r o m other Greek setdements in the area, Greeks involved in c o m m e r c e w h o had m i g r a t e d f r o m Asia Minor, a n d native Thracians. Latin was the official language o f the colony, in use a m o n g the ruling class o f the colony while always coexisting with Greek. T h u s , although Latin was the d o m i n a n t pwblic f r a m e o f reference in the mid-first c e n t u r y C.E. ( a n d h a d been for over a c e n t u r y ) , the extent to which the presence o f Latin ever represented m o r e t h a n a cultural veneer in the colony is difficult to determine. M o s t researchers are confident, o n the basis o f epigraphic and archaeological evidence and cautious inference, in claiming that the imperial cult was an i m p o r t a n t part o f public cultic life during the t i m e o f Paul's mission.^^ T h e available evidence suggests that by the t i m e o f Paul's stay in Philippi, cultic honors were paid to Augustus and Livia, to Augustus' adopted sons Gaius and Lucius Caesar, and probably to Claudius. T h e temple at the

36. See C. Koukouli-Chrysantaki, "Colonia," 14, 23; Craig de Vos, Church and Community Conflicts (Adanta: Scholars, 1999), 234, 2 4 6 - 4 7 . On the history of archaeology in Philippi, see L. Michael White, "Visualizing the 'Real World' of Acts 16: Toward Construcdon of a Social Index," in The Social World of the First Christians (ed. L. Michael White and O. L. Yarbrough; Minneapohs: Augsburg Fortress, 1995), 235, 2 4 1 ^ 2 . On ruling structure, see Markus N. A. Bockmuehl, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians (London: A & C Black, 1997), 4 - 5 . On language and demographics, see H. Hendrix, "Philippi," ABD 5:315; and Abrahamsen, Women and Worship, 11. 37. The recent exception is Peter Pilhofer, Philippi: Die erste christliche Gemeinde Europasy vol. 1 (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1995); on 93 Pilhofer points out that it is difficult to estabUsh the dadng of many of the inscriptions that deal with the cultic institutions in Philippi. In particular, he is concerned about the lack of attested imperial priests in the first half of the first century C.E. Because of his reluctance to use uncertain evidence, Pilhofer declines to pursue an analysis of the imperial cult in his study. C. KoukouH-Chrysantaki, "Colonia," 15-16, 25, suggests the temple at the northeastern corner of the forum was dedicated to the emperor. De Vos, Church and Community Conflicts, 249, citing inscriptional evidence, claims both temples for the emperor. See discussion in Bormann, Philippi, 41. On Silvanus, see L. M. White, "Visualizing," 251 n. 51. On Apollo, Cybele, Isis, and the priesdy administration, see Mikael Tellbe, "The Sociological Factors behind Philippians 3:1-11 and the Conflict at Philippi,"/SNT 55 (1994): 109 n. 49. On the assimilation of cults to the imperial cult, see Bormann, Philippi, 33, 5 5 - 6 0 .

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east end o f the f o r u m was probably devoted t o the emperor's cult, a n d p e r haps the temple o n the western edge as well. Statues o f the e m p e r o r and his family also s t o o d in the f o r u m . Other cults also were b r o u g h t into the sphere o f e m p e r o r worship (e.g., Isis, Mercury, Silvanus, Jupiter, Apollo, Cybele, and Isis). Inscriptions m e n t i o n i n g "official priests" o f the imperial cult, an augur, two " h i g h priests" and a n u m b e r o f o t h e r priests o f Divus Julius, Divus Augustus, a n d Divus Claudius, indicate that the imperial cult was p r o m i n e n t in the city. In addition, the city was m a n a g e d in the n a m e o f Imperator

Divus, a n d the head o f the administration was a high priest o f

the cult o f the Augusti. T h e special status o f Philippi as a colony o f R o m e m e a n s that it was n o t e m b e d d e d in the provincial network o f M a c e d o n i a in the s a m e way as were other cities. It w o u l d n o t have participated, for example, in the i m p e rial cult at the provincial level in the s a m e m a n n e r . Its c o m p e t i t i o n with o t h e r cities in the province, therefore, w o u l d have been played o u t s o m e what differently t h a n in other municipalities. Given its status as a colony, o n e also assumes that the rituals o f the cult would have followed R o m a n a n d Italian etiquette, expressing a reserve t o assign divine h o n o r s to a living e m p e r o r in ways noncolonial Greek cities did not. O n e c a n also assume, however, that a certain a m o u n t o f assimilation f r o m the Greek e n v i r o n m e n t h a d taken place with regard t o the details o f the cult practice in Philippi.^^ Given the thinness o f the evidence, however, it is difficult t o judge just w h a t were ( a ) the actual parameters o f the cult, a n d (b) the bala n c e between R o m a n a n d Greek styles o f its liturgical observance. T h e details o f the imperial cult in Philippi are difficult to reconstruct, as well as the precise m a n n e r in which it differed f r o m expressions originating in noncolonial cities a n d those o c c u r r i n g at the provincial level. Nevertheless, it seems reasonable t o assume that in Philippi at the mid-first c e n t u r y C.E., there was a flourishing imperial cult a n d that it h a d m o v e d t o the center o f public discourse o f the city.

Resistance to the Imperial Cult in the Christ Hymn of Phil 2:6-11 Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 (RSv) ^who, t h o u g h he was in the f o r m o f G o d (en morphe did n o t c o u n t equality with G o d (isa a thing to be grasped

theou),

thed)

(harpagmon)

^but emptied himself, taking the form o f a servant (morphen

doulou,

being b o r n in the likeness o f m e n .

38. On differences, see Larsen, "Roman Greece," 452; and Bormann, PhiUppi, 3 6 - 3 7 . On competition among cities in Macedonia played out in terms of the imperial cult, see L. M. Vîte, "Visualizing," 242.

Phil 2:6-11


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^ A n d being found in h u m a n f o r m he h u m b l e d himself a n d b e c a m e obedient u n t o death, even death o n a cross. ^Therefore G o d highly exalted h i m (hyperypsdsen)

and

bestowed o n h i m the n a m e which is above every (pan)

name,

*°that at the n a m e o f Jesus every (pan) knee should bow, in heaven a n d o n earth (epigeion)

a n d u n d e r the earth,

** a n d every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is L o r d , to the glory o f G o d the Father. T h e " C h r i s t h y m n " in Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 is usually u n d e r s t o o d as the earliest articulation o f the preexistence o f Christ. W h e n set against the b a c k g r o u n d o f the use o f isa thed in the c o n t e m p o r a r y civic a n d imperial cult in the Greek cities where Paul c o n d u c t e d his mission, however, it m a y be m o r e appropriately u n d e r s t o o d as an expression o f a hidden transcript that sets Christ over against the R o m a n emperor. A r e e x a m i n a t i o n o f the t e r m isa thed, which o c c u r s in the N T in this inflected f o r m only at Phil 2:6,^^ suggests precisely such a reading. T h e m a j o r i t y position o f scholarship considers Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 to be an early pre-Pauline hymn'^^ c o m p o s e d in Greek b u t influenced by the Semitic p o e t i c device of parallelismus

membrorumJ^^

Recendy, scholars have t u r n e d

to rhetorical studies in search o f n e w insights into this pericope. This rhetorical t u r n is partially in response to a certain unease in calling Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 a " h y m n , " which has surfaced in N T scholarship,*^ a n d partially

39. A related formulation, ison thedn, is found at John 5:18. The exact fomi isa thed is, actuaUy, exceedingly rare in Greek literature. Previous to the secondary references to the term found in patristic exegesis of the term, I am aware of only one other example in all of Greek literature. See note 71, below. 40. For opposing views see Gordon Fee, "Philippians 2:5-11: Hymn or Exalted PauUne Prose?" BBR 2 (1992): 2 9 - 4 6 ; and Samuel VoUenweider, "Der 'Raub' der Gottgleichheit: Em religionsgeschichdicher Vorschlag zu PhU 2 . 6 ( - l l ) , " NTS 45 (1999): 4 1 4 - 1 5 . 41. See discussion in Stephen E. Fowl, The Story of Christ in the Ethics of Paul: An Analysis of the Function of the Hymnic Material in the Pauline Corpus (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990), 2 3 - 2 4 . Fowl accepts J. Kugels view of paraUeUsm defined in terms of "seconding": "The sentence A is so, and what's more, B is so' provides a model for this seconding process. That is, clause B is a continuation of clause A, or a going beyond clause A in force or specificity. The virtue of Kugel's description of parallelism is that it accounts for numerous, different ways that B can second A." Critique of "the aUeged Semitic paraUeUsm" in this hymn can be found in Fee, "PhUippians 2:5-11," 3 1 - 3 2 . 42. See, e.g., discussion in R. R Martin, "Preface to the 1997 Edition," in A Hynm of Christ: Philippians 2:5-11 in Recent Interpretation in the Setting of Early Christian Worship (Downers Grove, lU.: InterVarsity Press, 1997), xliv.

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because o f the recognition that "Greek rhetoricians define the h y m n as a subcategory o f the enkomion,

itself a f o r m o f epideiktik rhetoric."*^ 1 retain

the traditional description o f Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 as a "Christ h y m n " but appreciate the extent to which the recovery o f the rhetorical aspects o f the peric o p e push the discussion forward. T h e traditional interpretation o f Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 understands the passage in t e r m s o f the incarnation o f the preexistent Christ, since the h y m n begins in the heavenly realm where Jesus has the " f o r m o f G o d . " According to this m a j o r i t y position, the h y m n m o v e s in a three-step process firom Jesus' state o f preexistence (v. 6 ) t h r o u g h his incarnation ( w . 6 - 7 ) to his e n t h r o n e m e n t ( w . 9 - 1 1 ) . A m i n o r i t y believe v. 6 refers n o t t o Jesus' preexistence b u t to his " h u m a n i t y , " u n d e r s t o o d in contrast t o that o f A d a m . T h e m i n o r i t y position has the h y m n advancing only a t w o - a c t d r a m a , which m o v e s firom Jesus' life as a h u m a n servant/slave (doulos)

t o his exaltation.^

Placing the h y m n against the b a c k g r o u n d o f the imperial cult, h o w ever, opens u p a n o t h e r avenue o f interpretation, o n e that sees in isa thed a reference to the Greek civic tradition o f awarding divine h o n o r s

(isotheoi

timai). In addition t o challenging the interpretations that recover either the preexistence o f Jesus o r a c o m p a r i s o n with A d a m , reading isa thed as an honorific t e r m m a y also illuminate the m e a n i n g o f the difficult t e r m harpagmos

at Phil 2:6b.*^ If o n e reads the t e r m isa thed against its use in the

imperial cult, it m a y be m o s t natural to take harpagmos

in the res rapienda"^^

sense o f " s o m e t h i n g t o be grasped de novoy that is, n o t already possessed."*^ If this reading is justified, the m e a n i n g o f the first lines o f the Philippians h y m n m i g h t be paraphrased by saying that in contradistinction to the emperor, Jesus did n o t think divine honors a thing t o be " g r a s p e d " after.*^

43. Edgar Krentz, "Epideiktik and Hymnody: The New Testament and Its World," JBi?40(1995): 55. 44. See Collins, "The Worship of Jesus and die Imperial Cult," 243. 45. On the history of interpretation of this hapax legomenon in the NT, see Martin, A Hymn of Christ; Roy W. Hoover, "The Harpagmos Enigma: A Philological Solution," HTR 64 (1971): 9 5 - 1 1 9 ; and N. X Wright, ''Harpagmos and die Meaning of PhiUppians 2:5-11,"/TS 37:2 (1986): 3 2 1 - 5 2 . 46. The debate over the meaning of harpagmos has been carried out with reference to two Ladn terms: (a) res rapta, which is usuaUy taken to mean "something already in the possession of the owner and held on to," and (b) res rapienda, which is taken to mean "something which is not in one's possession and is grasped after." 47. N. T. Wright, ''Harpagmos,'' 324. This interpretation is favored among those who have discerned an Adamic typology behind v. 6 and do not, therefore, presuppose that the phrase refers to Jesus' "preexistence." 48. Alexander the Great set the precedent for a ruler to aggressively seek divine honors. See the discussion in The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2d ed. (1971), 40.

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139

T h e text does suggest that such a divine status (to einai isa thed) was granted to Jesus in response to his hfe o f service and obedience ( w . 7 - 8 ) / ^ This pattern o f a divine reward given for h u m b l e service is a c o m m o n t o p o s o f the panegyrics o f rulers a n d emperors.^^ O n e possible reason for the t h e m a t i c similarities evidenced in pagan panegyrics a n d

hymns

addressed to Christ is suggested by the w o r k o f Scott. Seen from within the c o m m u n i t y that h o n o r e d Christ, the appropriation o f this t o p o s by the e m p e r o r ( o r for the e m p e r o r by the local high elite) m a y have been dismissed as typical o f the self-aggrandizement o f the d o m i n a n t class. Its application t o Jesus in the private discourse o f the h o u s e churches, o n the o t h e r hand, m a y have been c o n s t r u e d as providing a p r o p e r reflection over Jesus' life o f hidden service. T h a t is to say, in their assemblies, the followers o f Christ m a y have sung that it was Jesus rather than the e m p e r o r w h o was deserving o f the honorific isa thed. Such a reading strengthens the c o m p a r i son with the e m p e r o r s o m e exegetes see surfacing first at verses 10 a n d 11. In the traditional m i n o r i t y reading o f Phil 2:6, morphe

is taken as a

s y n o n y m for eikdn in an allusion to Gen 1 : 2 6 - 2 7 ( L X X ) , where A d a m was created kaf eikona theou. This ( i m a g e ) reading o f morphe

does n o t require

a reference t o Christ's preexistence,^* since Jesus in this interpretation is c o n s t r u e d as a second A d a m . O t h e r interpreters have noted, however, that an antithetical parallelism exists between morphe theou o f v. 6 a and doulou

o f V. 7 b . W h a t e v e r m e a n i n g o n e assigns to morphe

morphen

in v. 6a, there-

fore, m u s t also function in v. 7b, an observation that is problematic for the Adamic reading." T h o s e w h o perceive an A d a m i c typology in these verses, however, d o recognize something that other c o m m e n t a t o r s often gloss over: w .

6-7

seem to draw a c o m p a r i s o n between two figures, an observation strengthened by the recent w o r k that classifies Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 as an e n c o m i u m . " If the distinction being m a d e is not between the first A d a m (the o n e w h o sought t o be isa thed) and the second A d a m (ouch harpagmon

hegesato to einai isa

49. See Krentz, "Epideiktik and Hymnody," 91. 50. Wilfred L. Knox, "The 'Divine Hero' Christology in die New Testament," HTR 41 (1948): 233. See also the discussion on the desired characteristics of Hellenistic rulership in Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, "Civihs Princeps: Between Citizen and King," JRS 72 (1982): 3 3 - 3 4 . 51. C. A. Wanamaker, "Philippians 2:6-11: Son of God or Adamic Christology?" NTS 33 (1987): 180, with 191 n. 4 Usting adherents of this position. 52. Jean-Francois Collange, The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians (London: Epwordi, 1979), 8 2 - 8 3 . 53. One category of the encomium was synkrisis, through which two people were compared. See Bruce J. Malina and Jerome H. Neyrey, Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology ofAncient Personality (Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox, 1996), 33.

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Erik M. Heen

thed), to w h o m is Jesus being c o m p a r e d in w . 6 - 7 ? O n e possibility that has been generally overlooked in N T scholarship is that o f the R o m a n emperor/* T h e m a j o r challenge t o the n o t i o n that Phil 2 : 6 a refers to the "preexist e n c e " o f Jesus has c o m e f r o m those w h o see the A d a m i c typology behind morphe.^^ Although this particular reading o f the text m a y be problematic in its o w n right, it has m a n a g e d t o highlight the difficulties with the traditional interpretation that posits the "preexistence" o f Jesus. In addition t o noting the c o m p a r i s o n being d r a w n in w . 6 - 7 , a n o t h e r p r o b l e m observed in the traditional interpretation is that Jesus' exalted status as sovereign lord, with which the h y m n ends, seems to be o f a higher order t h a n his status at the beginning o f the h y m n . This reading is strengthened by the use o f hyperypsod

(superexalts) in v. 9.^^ If o n e does posit a "preexistent" status

to Jesus in v. 6 a , then it seems natural t o rank his initial status (in the h y m n ) a m o n g the lower divinities in the hierarchy o f heaven.^^ It is, o f course, possible that en morphe

theou in v. 6 a refers neither t o

a second A d a m n o r to a preexistent Christ.^^ T h e antithetical use o f

morphe

in w . 6 a and 7 b m a y be a way o f saying that although the " n a t u r e " o f Jesus was o f G o d (i.e., o f divine origin), he assumed the " c h a r a c t e r " o f a servant.^^

54. There are exceptions to this rule. See K. Bornhauser, Jesus Imperator Mundi (Phil 3:17-21 u. 2:5-12) (Gutersloh: Verlag C. Bertelsmann, 1938), 15-19; A. A. T. Ehrhardt, "Jesus Christ and Alexander die Great/'/TS 46 (1945): 4 5 - 5 1 ; Knox, "The 'Divine Hero' Christology," 2 3 3 , 2 3 6 , 2 4 0 ; N. T. Wright, "The New Testament and the 'State,'" Themelios 16 (1990): 14; D. Georgi, Theocracy in PauVs Praxis and Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 73; Norman A. Beck, Anti-Roman Cryptograms in the New Testament: Symbolic Messages of Hope and Liberation (New York: Peter Lang, 1997), 6 1 - 6 8 ; David Seeley, "The Background of die PhiUppians Hymn (2:6-11)," Journal of Higher Criticism 1 (1994): 4 9 - 7 2 ; VoUenweider, "Der 'Raub' der Gottgleichheit," NTS 45 (1999): 4 1 3 - 3 3 ; CoUins, "The Worship of Jesus and die Imperial Cult," 2 4 0 - 5 1 ; MUcael TeUbe, Paul Between Synagogue and State: Christians, Jews, and Civic Authorities in 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians (Stockholm: Almqvist 8c WU<seU, 2001), 2 5 3 - 5 9 . 55. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, "Christological Anthropology in PhU 2:6-11," RB (1976): 2 5 - 5 0 , also disputes the "preexistent" reading. He sees, however, "the Righteous Man of Wisdom" rather than Adam in the text. 56. Reading hyperypsoo as "superexalts" is disputed by some exegetes. See the discussion in Murphy-O'Connor, "Christological Anthropology," 4 6 - 4 7 . 57. See A. Segal, Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism (Leiden: BrUl, 1977), 210. 58. One alternative that I do not discuss in this paper involves the discussion of God's kabod (doxa). See, e.g., TDNT, 4:751; and CoUins, "The Worship of Jesus," 243. 59. This possibUity plays off the definition of morphe found in Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, eds., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (2 vols.; New York: UBS, 1988-89): "The nature or character of something, with emphasis upon both the internal and external form—'nature, character.'"

Phil 2:6-11


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T h e story h n e o f the h y m n seen f r o m this perspective would be: ( 1 ) Jesus, sharing (in s o m e hidden m a n n e r ) the g l o r y / h o n o r o f G o d ( 2 ) in return for his paradigmatic service t o h u m a n k i n d , ( 3 ) was rewarded with an " a p o t h eosis." This is a c o m m o n Greek n o t i o n — a n i m m o r t a l (i.e., o n e w h o is destined to enjoy everlasting f a m e ) , because o f his/her service to humanity, receives veneration u p o n death. O n e finds this pattern, for example, in b o t h the cult legends o f heroes (e.g., Heracles)^^ and in the panegyrics o f deified rulers and emperors.^* This t o p o s — i m m o r t a l i t y w o n by v a l o r — i s also recognized as o n e o f the basic concerns o f the e n c o m i u m . " T h e r e m a y n o t be m u c h difference, however, between positing the p r e existence o f Jesus as a "lesser deity" and claiming that he is a "divine m a n " o r o n e destined to b e c o m e "immortal,"^^ o r a godlike individual^ whose service o n earth is rewarded by receiving divine h o n o r s . T h e boundaries between divinity and h u m a n i t y blurred in antiquity in a way that causes m o r e problems for m o d e r n exegetes than it did for people in the first c e n tury. T h u s V. 6 can be taken as referring neither to the ontological status o f a "preexistent" Christ n o r to a second A d a m . En morphe theou c a n be understood to m e a n that Jesus was destined to acquire "godlike authority," according to Greek conceptions o f divinity, that is, u p o n ascension. Given the parallel construction o f v. 6, the formulation isa thed in v. 6 b has also been assumed, by m o s t scholars, t o refer to Jesus' preexistent state as a d o u bling o f en morphe

theou in v. 6 a . If, however, preexistence is not necessarily

referenced by morphe theou, the phrase to einai isa thed in Phil 2:6 m a y point m o r e in the direction o f the Greek tradition o f divine h o n o r s (i.e., isotheoi timai) than the traditional scholarly interpretation has acknowledged.

60. See, e.g., Diodorus of Sicily, 1.2.4. 61. See Knox, "The 'Divine Hero' Christology," 2 3 1 - 3 2 . Knox's New Testament text base is Rom 1 : 3 ^ ; Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 ; Col 1:15-20; and Heb 2:10,18. For a reading of Jesus' exaltation against the background of the apotheosis of the emperor, see Dominique Cuss, Imperial Cult and Honorary Terms in the New Testament (Fribourg: The University Press, 1974), 113-34. 62. See Krentz, "Epideiktik and Hymnody," 8 9 - 9 0 . 63. Charles Talbert, "The Concept of the Immortals m Mediterranean Antiquity," JBL 94 (1975): 421, makes a distinction (based on an ancient typology) between "eternals" and "mimortals." An "eternal" is without beginning. By contrast, an "immortal" had originally been mortal, and at the end of his career experienced a transformation to obtain the same honors as the eternals. 64. See Dieter Georgi, "Social Aspects of the Phenomenon of the Divine Man," epilogue in The Opponents of Paul in Second Corinthians (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986), 390-422; Helmut Koester, "The Divine Human Being," HTR 78 (1985): 2 4 3 - 5 2 ; David L. Tiede, "Aretalogy," ABD 1:372-73; C. Talbert, "Concept of die Immortals," 4 1 9 - 3 6 .

142

Erik M. Heen T h e t e r m isotheoi timai was virtually a terminus

technicus for the high-

est h o n o r s a city might bestow o n an individual. As n o t e d above, beginning with the reign o f Augustus such h o n o r s were restricted t o the e m p e r o r a n d his family. Previous to the first c e n t u r y C.E., however, these honorific t e r m s were applied t o a wide range o f figures such as heroes (as evidenced as early as Homer),^^ Apollonius o f Tyana, a n d the divine anthropos

o f the

H e r m e t i c literature.^^ T h e figure could also be applied to gods,^^ Hellenistic rulers,^^ provincial governors, a n d (in E g y p t ) even animals.^^ It was also o p e n to a variety o f metaphorical applications.^^ T h e actual t e r m s used t o describe these h o n o r s o c c u r in a variety o f syntactic c o m b i n a t i o n s . In addition t o the adjectival c o m p o u n d isotheos, for example, b o t h the dative c o n struction with the adjectival f o r m (isos thed/theois) (isa thed/theois)

a n d the adverbial f o r m

appear in such honorific formulas. As the technical t e r m

for divine h o n o r s suggests (i.e., isotheoi

timai),

s o m e f o r m o f the verb

timad o r the n o u n time is c o m m o n in these texts, although timad/time

is

n o t always present.^' Texts that use these expressions tend to fall naturally into t w o groups. O n e stems directly f r o m the civic tradition o f

isotheoi

timai. T h e o t h e r g r o u p consists o f responses, including Jewish texts, that are variously critical o f the civic usage. In discussing those w h o h a d received isotheoi timai, the

first-century

B.C.E. historian D i o d o r u s Siculus ( o f Sicily) notes, in particular, the i m p o r t a n c e o f heroes, demigods, a n d " g o o d m e n " :

65. See especially section 5, "Equality by Nature and Equality with God outside the New Testament," of Gustav Stahlin s article on "/sos" TDNT 3:351-52, citing examples. 66. G. Stahlin, "isos, isotes, isotimos," TDNT 3:352. This article gives numerous citations of the ancient hterature. 67. Wayne A. Meeks, "Equal to God," in The Conversation Continues: Studies in Paul and John in Honor of J Louis Martyn (ed. Robert T. Fortna and Beverly R. Gaventa; Nashville: Abingdon, 1990), 312. 68. C. Spicq, "isos, isotes, isotimos" in Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994), 229. In the article, Spicq provides numerous citations from ancient sources. 69. In this category would be, for example, the Egyptian Osiris and its Greek equivalent (i.e., according to Diodorus Sic. 4.1.6) and Daedalus. Diodorus speaks of Osiris/Dionysus in 1.22. In 1.22.6-7 he recounts why the phallus is accorded particular respect in the Dionysian rites. On the divine honors offered to Dionysus, see also 3.64.2. For those offered to Daedalus, see 1.97.6. 70. Meeks, "Equal to God," 312. 71. In the heroic tradition, the only example of isa plus the dative singular is found in Homer, Odyssey 15.520. The verb or substantive of timad does not occur in this example. More common in the material relating to heroes is the combination of isa with die dative plural of theos. For example, see the description of Kastor/Castor and Polydeukes/Polydeuces in Odyssey 1 1 . 3 0 1 ^ . Compare also the description of Achilles in Odyssey 11.482-86; Homer, Iliad 1.494; 21.315; 21.518; and Plato, Phaedrus 255a.

Phil 2:6-11


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F o r very great a n d m o s t n u m e r o u s deeds have been p e r f o r m e d b y the heroes a n d d e m i - g o d s a n d by g o o d m e n , w h o , because o f the benefits they c o n f e r r e d which have been shared b y all m e n , have been h o n o r e d (etimesan)

b y succeeding generations with sacri-

fices which in s o m e cases a r e like those offered t o t h e gods (isotheois),

in o t h e r cases like such as a r e paid t o heroes, a n d o f

o n e a n d all the a p p r o p r i a t e praises have been sung by the voice o f history for all t i m e . ( 4 . 1 . 4 ) A m o n g the " g o o d m e n " o f w h o m D i o d o r u s writes was P h i l o p o e m e n , w h o died c. 1 8 2 B . C . E . :

P h i l o p o e m e n , t h e general o f t h e Achaean League, was a m a n o f outstanding attainments, intellectual, mUitary, a n d m o r a l alike, a n d his life-long political career was irreproachable t h r o u g h o u t . T i m e a n d again h e was preferred t o t h e office o f general, a n d for forty years h e guided the affairs o f state. M o r e t h a n anyone else he advanced t h e general welfare o f the Achaean confederacy, for h e n o t only m a d e it his policy t o treat t h e c o m m o n m a n kindly, b u t also by force o f character w o n the esteem o f the R o m a n s . Yet in the final scene o f life h e found F o r t u n e unkind. After his death, h o w ever, as if by s o m e divine Providence h e obtained h o n o r s equal t o those paid the gods (tas isotheous timas), in c o m p e n s a t i o n f o r t h e misfortunes that attended his demise. In addition t o the decrees in his h o n o r voted b y t h e Achaeans jointly, his native city set u p a n altar, (instituted) a n annual sacrifice t o h i m , and appointed h y m n s a n d praises o f his exploits t o b e sung b y t h e y o u n g m e n o f t h e city.'' ( 2 9 . 1 7 . 1 8 ) L a m e n t i n g the decay o f old R o m a n values, D i o d o r u s focuses o n m e n w h o m i g h t serve as countermodels,'^ such as Quintus Scaevola, proconsul in Asia in 9 7 B . C . E . :

M u c i n s Scaevola, b y maintaining t h e administration o f justice incorruptible and exact, n o t only relieved t h e provincials f r o m all legal chicanery, b u t in addition redressed t h e unjust exactions o f

72. Another passage from Diodorus (20.102.3), describing the Hberation of the city of Sicyon by Demetrius (ca. 303/2 B.C.E.), indicates that divine honors could be given to leaders. For a text that criticizes the use of this tradition, see Isocrates, Ad Nicoclem/Or. 2.5. 73. See Diodorus, 37.3.1-37.4.1.

144

Erik M. Heen the pubhcans. H e assigned scrupulously fair tribunals to hear all w h o had been w r o n g e d , a n d in every case f o u n d the publicans guilty; he forced t h e m to reimburse the plaintiffs for

financial

losses they h a d suffered, while he required those w h o were accused o f having p u t m e n t o death to stand trial o n capital charges. . . . T h e governor's w i s d o m a n d virtue, together with the assistance he was enabled to render, served as a corrective to the hatred that h a d previously arisen against the ruling power. H e h i m s e l f was a c c o r d e d . . . divine h o n o r s (timon isotheon etyche) a m o n g those he h a d benefited, and f r o m his fellow citizens he received m a n y t r i b utes in recognition o f his achievements. ( 3 7 . 5 . 1 - 3 7 . 6 . 1 ) Nicolaus o f D a m a s c u s ' Life of Augustus

provides two examples o f the

adverbial usage o f isa in reference to the deification o f Julius Caesar. Just after the death o f Caesar, as spectators viewed his b o d y carried t h r o u g h the f o r u m o n a litter, it was n o t e d that: n o o n e refi*ained f r o m tears, seeing h i m w h o h a d lately been h o n ored like a god (horon ton palai isa kai theon

timdmenon)J'^

T h e n in the conflict between A n t h o n y a n d Octavian, a soldier f r o m a " c r o w d " shouted his s u p p o r t o f Octavian and bade h i m be o f g o o d cheer and be assured that he had inherited all their support, for they t h o u g h t o f his late father as o f a g o d (memnesthai

gar tou kata ges patros isa kai theou),

a n d would d o

a n d suffer anything for his successors.'^ T h e singular f o r m o f the adverbial c o n s t r u c t (ison)

appears in an

a p h o r i s m recorded by M e n a n d e r with n o apparent change in m e a n i n g f r o m the plural f o r m

(isa):

74. C. Hall, "Nicolaus of Damascus' Life of Augustus: A Historical Commentary Embodying a Translation," Smith College Classical Studies 4 (1923): 51. Note that in the participial construction (again the verb is timad), theos is in the accusative case and not the dative. 75. Here the verb timad is lacking and theou is in the genitive. Felk Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Berlin: Weidmann, 1923), on Nikolaos von Damaskos, Fragment 130.117; translation from C. M. Hall, "Nicolaus of Damascus' Life of Augustus,'' 62.

Phil 2:6-11


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145

Be willing to h o n o r y o u r friends like y o u would h o n o r a g o d (Ison theo sou tous philous

timan

thele)J^

A n interesting use o f isotheos (without timad) is f o u n d in an edict o f G e r m a n i c u s o f 19 C.E.; in a c c o r d a n c e with g o o d R o m a n reserve, he shuns the divine h o n o r s awarded to h i m in the East: Proclamation

of Germanicus

Caesar, son o f Augustus

[i.e.,

Tiberius] a n d g r a n d s o n o f the deified Augustus, proconsul. Your goodwill, which y o u display o n all occasions w h e n y o u see m e , I w e l c o m e , b u t y o u r acclamations, which for m e are invidious and such as are addressed to gods (isotheous),

1 altogether deprecate.

F o r they are appropriate only t o h i m w h o is actually the saviour a n d benefactor o f the whole h u m a n race, m y father.'' Isotheoi are t o be reserved for the reigning e m p e r o r (his father). Texts that are critical o f the civic tradition o f divine h o n o r s i n c o r p o rate s o m e f o r m o f isos a n d theos, often w i t h o u t a substantive o r verbal f o r m o f timad. Plato (d. 3 4 7 B.C.E.) gives voice t o a tradition that perceived h o w the isotheoi timai could be used t o legitmate an abuse o f power, a c o m m o n trait o f tyrants.'^ In a discussion o f justice a n d injustice in c o n n e c t i o n with t w o rings that have the power t o m a k e o n e invisible, Plato says: If n o w there should be two such rings, a n d the just m a n should put o n o n e a n d the unjust the other, n o o n e could be found, it would seem, o f such a d a m a n t i n e t e m p e r as to persevere in justice a n d endure t o refrain his hands from the possessions o f others a n d n o t t o u c h t h e m , t h o u g h he m i g h t with i m p u n i t y take what he wished even from the marketplace, a n d enter into houses a n d lie with w h o m he pleased, a n d slay a n d loose from b o n d s w h o m s o e v e r he

76. This aphorism is found in two different collections. Menandri, FNQMAI MONOETIXOI, in Fragmenta Comicorum Graecorum, vol. 4 (ed. Augustus Meineke; Berlin: G. Reimeri, 1841), 347, line 269; and in Siegfried Jaekel, ed., Menandri Sententiae: Comparatio Menandri et Philistionis (Leipzig: Teubner, 1964), 53, line 357. 77. Text and translation may be found at item no. 211 in Select Papyri, vol. 2 (ed. A. S. Hunt and C. C. Edgar; LCL; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1937). 78. An ad loc. editorial comment in the LCL edition notes that isotheos is "a leitmotif anticipating Plato's rebuke of the tragedians for their praises of the tyrant." The rebuke occurs in Book 7 of the Republic (568c).

146

Erik M . Heen would, a n d in all o t h e r things c o n d u c t himself a m o n g m a n k i n d as the equal o f a g o d (kai talla prattein

en tois anthrdpois

isotheon

onta). A n d in so acting he w o u l d d o n o differendy from the o t h e r m a n , but b o t h w o u l d pursue the s a m e course. A n d yet this is a great proof, o n e m i g h t argue, t h a t n o o n e is just o f his o w n will but only from constraint. {Republic

360c)

A m o n g Jewish sources 2 M a c e 9 : 1 2 relates Antiochus IV's confession o f hubris o n his deathbed: A n d w h e n he could n o t e n d u r e his o w n stench, he uttered these words, " I t is right t o b e subject to G o d ; m o r t a l s should n o t think that they are equal t o G o d (onta isothea

phronein)!'

In Philo a representative text uses isotheos to characterize idolatry: Pride also brings divine things into utter c o n t e m p t , even t h o u g h they are supposed t o receive the highest h o n o r s . But what h o n o r can there be if t r u t h be n o t there as well, truth h o n o r a b l e b o t h in n a m e a n d function, just as falsehood is naturally dishonorable? This c o n t e m p t for things divine is manifest t o those o f keener vision. F o r m e n have employed sculpture a n d painting to fashion innumerable f o r m s which they have enclosed in shrines a n d t e m ples and after building altars have assigned celestial a n d divine h o n o r s (timas

isolympious

kai isotheous)

to idols o f stone and

w o o d a n d suchlike images, all o f t h e m lifeless things. Such persons are happily c o m p a r e d in the sacred Scriptures to the children o f a harlot; for as they in their i g n o r a n c e o f their o n e natural father ascribe their paternity to all their m o t h e r ' s lovers, so t o o t h r o u g h out the cities those w h o d o n o t k n o w the true, the really existent G o d have deified hosts o f others w h o are falsely so called. T h e n as s o m e h o n o r one, s o m e a n o t h e r god, diversity o f opinion as to which was best waxed strong and engendered disputes in every other m a t t e r also. {On the Decalogue

8-9)

A second text from Philo w a r n s " t h e m i n d " n o t to desire the status o f God:'^

79. On Philo's notion of a second god (deuteros theos), see A. Segal, Two Powers, 159-81.

Phil 2:6-11


Rule

147

T h e m i n d shows itself to be without G o d and full o f self-love, w h e n it d e e m s itself as o n a par with G o d (oiomenos thed), {Legum

allegoriae

isos

einai

1.149)

O n l y o n e other N T passage, in addition to Phil 2 : 6 , uses the isotheos group: This was why the Jews sought all the m o r e t o kill h i m , because he n o t only broke the sabbath b u t also called G o d his o w n Father, making himself equal to G o d (ison heauton

poion to thed),

(John

5 : 1 8 , RSv) Finally, t w o passages f r o m the Sibylline Oracles that use the c o n s t r u c tion isazd^^ are o f interest in this context. B o t h o c c u r r e n c e s are in reference t o the self-proclaimed status o f N e r o

redivivus:

T h e n he will return declaring himself equal to G o d (isazdn

thed),

{Sib, Or, 5 . 3 4 ) Making himself equal to G o d (isazdn thed auton),

he will convince

a willing people. {Sib, Or, 1 2 . 8 6 ) This brief review indicates that there were m a n y different ways t o express the n o t i o n o f "godlike" o r "godequal."^' T h e syntactic boundaries between the expressions isotheos,

isos thed, ison thed, a n d isa

thed/theois

blurred in actual usage. All the examples reflect the honorific tradition o f the Greek cities, which granted heroes a n d rulers isotheoi timai

("honors

like those awarded the g o d s " ) , although s o m e are critical o f it o r make a m e t a p h o r i c a l application. T h e m a j o r i t y o f these texts include a verbal o r substantive use o f timad. As noted above, the texts which fall within the "critical" tradition d o n o t as often include timad (Plato, Republic allegoriae

3 6 0 c ; 2 M a c e 9 : 1 2 ; Philo, Legum

1.49; John 5 : 1 8 ; Sib, Or, 5 . 3 4 ; 1 2 . 8 6 ) . Also, the second group's use

80. Isazd thed seems to be synonymous with the construction found at John 5:18, ison heauton poion to thed, 81. This review focuses on syntactic constructions most closely related to the expression isa thed found in Phil 2:6. The impropriety of human appropriation of divine status is, of course, a theme explored in depth in the biblical corpus in a variety of grammatical expressions. See, for example, Gen 3:5; Isa 14:14; Ezek 28:1-10; Dan 11:36-39; Acts 12:22; 2 Thess 2:4; Rev 13.

148

Erik M. Heen

o f isos + theos criticizes various f o r m s o f ideology a n d l a m p o o n s the p r e s u m p t i o n o f various individuals for usurping the status o f G o d . Plato identifies tyrants. A m o n g the Jewish texts, t w o o f the h u m a n objects o f this critique are notoriously wicked rulers (Antiochus IV a n d N e r o ) . A third recipient o f this charge is Jesus, b u t the usage is, o n its surface, similarly accusatory.^' T h e two traditions ( o n e positive, o n e negative) o f using isotheos are related to each other. T h e critical tradition responds to abuses it perceives in the civic usage. In the case o f the Jewish texts, the Greek civic tradition o f awarding divine h o n o r s a n d the traditional Jewish c o n c e r n for the exclusive sovereignty o f G o d are antithetical. T h e observation that the Jewish usage o f isa theo represents a critique o f its "positive" use in the public discourse m a y help determine the intended audience o f the t e r m at Phil 2:6b. A question will ftirther clarify the issue: D o e s the isa thed o f v. 6 positively value the civic honorific tradition o f isotheoi timai; o r does it reflect the Judaic usage in which isa thed functions rhetorically t o critique o n e w h o usurps the unique status o f G o d (i.e., Antiochus, " t h e m i n d , " Jesus, N e r o ) ? As n o t e d above, isa thed is used positively in v. 6 o f the h y m n . It is n o t the status o f isotheos t h a t is being critiqued, b u t the " g r a s p i n g " after it.^^ W h i l e Jesus himself d o e s n o t grasp after divine h o n o r s , it is, in the e n d , exactly the status he receives fiôm G o d . T h a t is, Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 is similar t o the narrative f o u n d in D i o d o r u s ( 2 9 . 1 7 . 1 8 ) regarding P h i l o p o e m e n w h o " m a d e it his policy t o treat the c o m m o n m a n k i n d l y , . . . b u t in the final scene o f life h e f o u n d F o r t u n e unkind. After his death, however, as if by s o m e divine Providence, he obtained h o n o r s equal to those paid the gods." This is a different application o f isa thed f r o m w h a t o n e w o u l d expect in "Jewish" usage.^* It suggests that the h y m n was written for o r b y Gentile followers o f Christ.^^ If Jews sang the h y m n , their a c k n o w l e d g m e n t

82. Meeks, "Equal to God," 315. 83. From the perspective of the hymn, Jesus did not make fcfmse//"godequal," since it was God's doing. See Meeks, "Equal to God," 311. 84. E.g., Philo, De confusione linguarum 168-69, deals with statements in Genesis in which the first person plural pronoun is used of God. In doing so, he makes the claim that "no existing thing is of equal honor to God (hoi ouden ton ontdn isotimon hyphesteke thed).'" 85. See the discussion by J. Reumann, "Contribution of the Philippian Community to Paul and to Earliest Christianity," NTS 39 (1993): 4 4 2 - 4 6 . That the hymn was written for/by Gentiles is strengthened by the lack of evidence for a Jewish presence in Philippi in the mid-first century C.E. See Bockmuehl, Epistle to the Philippians, 8 - 1 0 .

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t h a t Jesus was w o r t h y o f divine h o n o r s transgressed w h a t appears t o be a traditional interdiction. T h a t is, the a s s i g n m e n t o f t h e status o f isa thed t o Jesus w o u l d have f u n c t i o n e d in the c h u r c h in Philippi as it did in the later J o h a n n i n e c o m m u n i t y . T h e a w a r d o f " g o d e q u a l " h o n o r s t o Jesus w o u l d have necessarily subverted b o t h " t h e classical Scriptures a n d t r a d i t i o n s " o f Judaism.^^ Does this mean, then, that the use o f isa thed in Phil 2:6 reflects the positive evaluation o f the t e r m evidenced in the public discourse o f the cities? 1 believe it does. In a lecture given in 1 9 3 8 , K. B o r n h a u s e r m a d e the suggestion that Gaius's claims o f divinity as well as his attack o n the temple in Jerusalem in 3 9 - 4 0 C . E . provided the specific b a c k g r o u n d against which o n e should read the h y m n n o w f o u n d at Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 . Phil 2 : 6 is making a c o m p a r i s o n between Caligula a n d Jesus.^' To argue that Gaius's cultic claims were the i m p e t u s for the c o m p o s i t i o n o f the h y m n m a y g o b e y o n d the evidence. Yet Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 does appropriate for Jesus the honorific t r a dition o f the ruler cult. T h e status claimed for the e m p e r o r (to einai

isa

thed) in the civic religions o f the Greek cities o f the East has been reassigned to Jesus in the early Christian h y m n . T h e h o n o r associated with t h e t e r m in the public discourse is retained b u t redirected t o o n e w h o is, fi-om the perspective o f the Pauline subaltern c o m m u n i t y , legitimately w o r t h y o f its claims. O n e historical factor in particular, however, ftirther illuminates h o w just h o w sharp the c o m p a r i s o n (synkrisis)

being m a d e in the Philippian

h y m n is, sharper than perceived by Bornhauser. As n o t e d above, by the early first c e n t u r y o f the c o m m o n era, the award o f isotheo timai had been reserved exclusively for h o n o r s to the imperial family. T h a t the h y m n o f Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 assigns a c o m p a r a b l e status t o Jesus (i.e., a nonenfranchised Jewish provincial o f lower status, w h o h a d been executed by R o m e ) would be a particularly o u t r a g e o u s transgression o f the interdict that divine h o n ors were to be restricted to the emperor.^^ Various N T scholars read the unspecified conflict with the outside c o m m u n i t y evident in Phil 1 : 2 7 - 3 0 (and Acts 1 6 : 2 0 - 2 4 ) as stemming f r o m m e m b e r s o f the Pauline community's withdrawal fi-om cultic associations in Philippi, including those dedicated

86. Meeks, "Equal to God," 319. 87. Bornhmsery Jesus Imperator Mundiy 17-19. 88. From this perspective, one is led to speculate that the hymns description of Jesus as morphe theou may be a way of camouflaging the extremely radical claim that the church was, in effect, awarding divine honors to an enemy of Rome of recent historical memory.

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to the emperor.^^ T h e disunity in the new sect evident from Paul's letter reflects, according to this view, differing opinions a b o u t h o w t o deal with the ongoing conflict with other cultic assemblies in the colony.^ Perhaps the conflict was due, in part, to the claim that the g r o u p had appropriated for Jesus an h o n o r reserved for the emperor. If so, the subaltern criticism o f the e m p e r o r and the local elite was n o t concealed well e n o u g h t o p r o tect the Pauline c o m m u n i t y from the hostility o f those m o r e favorably disposed to the social relations the imperial o r d e r assumed. W . K n o x speculated that the closest G r e c o - R o m a n parallels to the h y m n o f Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 could be found in the panegyrics for rulers given in the context o f the pagan public festivals.^* It is interesting to c o n t e m p l a t e that h y m n s sung about Jesus in the worship life o f the early followers o f Christ m a y have shown m a n y superficial similarities to those sung a b o u t e m p e r o r s w h o were proclaimed t o be isa thed within the c o n t e x t o f euergetistic festivals o f the imperial cult.^' If so, the similarities would be those o f a m i r r o r i m a g e — a reflection o f reality t u r n e d upside d o w n .

Conclusion In Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 , the exaltation o f Jesus c o m e s as a result o f his choosing t o live a life o f submission (for others) and n o t o n e o f d o m i n a n c e (over others). Hidden here, 1 believe, is a pointed critique o f those w h o chose the o p p o site, i.e., those w h o grasped after h o n o r s o n b o t h the civic a n d imperial level. In the first place, this critique points a finger at the emperor. It was, after all, only the e m p e r o r w h o was awarded the status o f being isa thed in the early E m p i r e . In the e n t h r o n e m e n t picture Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 draws, it is Jesus rather than the Princeps w h o is depicted as the t r u e c o s m o c r a t o r . F r o m the perspective o f the h y m n , the claims m a d e o n behalf o f the e m p e r o r in the public d i s c o u r s e — t h a t the e m p e r o r is isa thed—are

false. In o t h e r words,

V. 6 o f the h y m n characterizes the e m p e r o r as a pretender to a t h r o n e that rightfully belongs to Jesus. A n o t h e r social fiinction o f the imperial cult in the cities o f the East, in addition to c o n s t r u c t i n g the power o f the e m p e r o r , was to elevate a n d

89. See, for example, de Vox, Church and Community Conflicts, 2 6 2 - 6 5 ; Bockmeuhl, Epistle to the Philippians, 1 0 0 - 1 , 1 4 8 , 1 9 0 . 90. The interest in Phil 3:2-11 in circumcision, for example, may reflect the belief that adopting Jewish identity markers might provide the appropriate cultic means to negotiate the conflict with wider Philippian society. 91. Knox, "The 'Divine Hero' Christology," 249. 92. Such hymns were sung to the glory of the emperors, but the evidence for the hymns themselves is thin. See Krentz, "Epideiktik and Hymnody," 54; and Price, Rituals and Powers, 3 7 - 3 8 .

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legitimate the status o f the high elite o f those cities. T h e imperial cult benefited the local u r b a n magnates as well as the emperor. T h e prestige o f the local elites was tied structurally to their functions within the civic imperial cults. W h e n the early clients o f Christ criticized the cult o f the emperor, they included the pretensions o f the local elite in their line o f sight. A c r i tique o f the e m p e r o r implied a critique o f his local clients. In addition, therefore, t o the c o m p a r i s o n being m a d e between Jesus a n d the e m p e r o r in V. 6 o f the Philippian h y m n , the h y m n m a y also be seen to resist the claims m a d e by the local high elite u p o n the underclass. F o r s o m e early clients o f Christ, the earthly powers over which Jesus is e n t h r o n e d in Phil 2 d 0 b surely included those high elites w h o were the archai kai exousiai

in the cities o f

the East. Jesus, in replacing the e m p e r o r as c o s m o c r a t o r in the h y m n , also assumes his lordship over the archontes o f the city (Acts 1 6 : 1 9 ) . Again, from the perspective o f the h y m n , the exaltation o f Jesus m e a n s that the

decuri-

ons o f the city find themselves subordinate to Jesus rather than the Princeps. Scott's analysis o f the public discourse suggests that the high elites o f the cities o f the East, including those in Philippi, h a d the m o s t invested in the public rituals o f the imperial cult. O n e suspects that they w o u l d n o t have taken kindly t o the n o t i o n that the e m p e r o r ( w h o m they dressed with an impressive a n d expensive c u h ) was being stripped o f his finery in the liturgy o f a n e w cult in which an executed criminal was being p r o c l a i m e d isa thed. It is also safe to assume that the high elites would n o t have appreciated the fact that, in the h y m n s o f the sectarians, they t o o paid obeisance to kyrios Jesus. T h e elites, however, were n o t the intended audience o f the h y m n f o u n d at Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 . T h e audience o f the h y m n was the h o u s e c h u r c h itself. W i t h the knowledge that it was Jesus ( a n d n o t the e m p e r o r ) w h o was n o w the c o s m o c r a t o r , c a m e the power t o t u r n the world o f the public discourse o n its heels. It was a power that, specifically, reversed the polarities o f the c o m p l e m e n t a r y differentiation (i.e., d o m i n a t i o n / s u b o r d i n a t i o n ) that scripted the culture o f euergetism o n the civic level. T h a t is, the liturgy o f the ekklesia o f Christ provided a vision o f Jesus e n t h r o n e d in heaven t h r o u g h which, as Luke put it in a n o t h e r h y m n , G o d had " p u t d o w n the m i g h t y (dynastes) from their thrones, a n d exalted those o f low degree" (Luke 1:52, RSv). This aspect o f the liturgical tradition o f the early c h u r c h , it seems, represented a m a j o r reevaluation—^by the large underclass o f the c i t i e s — o f the power relations projected by the public discourses o f the poleis. Two points should be emphasized in conclusion. First o f all, it simply needs to be n o t e d that in the e n c o m i u m o f Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 , t e r m i n o l o g y (isa theo) that long legitimated elitist rule has been reappropriated in the h y m n to sanction an alternative ekklesia. The gravitas o f the ruler cult maintained

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at great expense by the local elite is appropriated for a different kyrios. Such a shift in m e t a p h o r i c a l reference, scholars o f the subaltern m i g h t suggest, represents a critical resymbolization o f a t e r m central t o the d o m i n a n t discourse in the religion o f the subordinate. In addition to the hymn's cultural-critical role, Scott's w o r k suggests a n equally i m p o r t a n t social function o f the s y m b o h c reversal (subordinate/ d o m i n a n t ) effected by t h e Christ h y m n : I n v e r s i o n s . . . play a n i m p o r t a n t imaginative function

T h e y do,

at least at the level o f thought, create an imaginative breathing space in which the n o r m a l categories o f order a n d hierarchy are less than completely inevitable

W h e n we manipulate any social

classification imaginatively—turning it inside o u t a n d

upside

down—^we are forcibly r e m i n d e d that it is to s o m e degree an arbit r a r y h u m a n creation. Symbolic inversions c a n provide the impetus t o c o n s t r u c t social classifications that are alternatives to those offered in the public discourse. T h e p r i vate and hidden discourses o f the subordinate n o t only provide a range o f negative responses to the public discourse, but also are places where positive social e x p e r i m e n t a t i o n m a y occur. T h a t is, these subaltern discourses are n o t only p r o d u c t s o f culture, b u t also p r o d u c e culture: T h e dialectical relationship between the public a n d hidden t r a n scripts is obvious. B y definition, the hidden transcript represents discourse—gesture, speech, p r a c t i c e s — t h a t is ordinarily excluded f r o m the public transcript o f subordinates by the exercise o f power. T h e practice o f d o m i n a t i o n , then, creates the hidden t r a n script. If the d o m i n a t i o n is particularly severe, it is likely t o p r o duce a hidden transcript o f c o r r e s p o n d i n g richness. T h e hidden transcript o f subordinate groups, in t u r n , reacts back o n the p u b lic transcript by engendering a subculture a n d by opposing its o w n variant f o r m o f social d o m i n a t i o n against that o f the d o m i n a n t elite. B o t h are realms o f power and interests.^^ In addition t o criticizing the imperial cult a n d appropriating its sophisticated rhetorical tradition to legitimate their claims o f Christ's lordship, the Jesus-believers m a y also have used isa theo in Phil 2:6 t o leverage a

93. Scott, Dominationy 27.

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c o n c e p t u a l "breathing s p a c e " that allowed the early followers o f Paul in Phillipi—and e l s e w h e r e — t o imagine a different social world f r o m the o n e structured in the public discourse. T h e e n c o m i u m at Phil 2 : 6 - 1 1 applied isa thed t o o n e crucified by R o m a n power. If Scott's analysis is correct, a n d Plato's Republic

and the

Jewish reserve regarding the civic cults give voice t o sentiments that were often t h o u g h t but litde expressed a m o n g the non-elite, then the followers o f Paul—^while singing h y m n s that claimed Jesus was isa

thed—^were

protesting their daily experience o f the abuse o f p a t r o n a l power. Jesus' exaltation helped t h e m see t h r o u g h the splendor o f the e m p e r o r ' s n e w clothes given t o h i m by the cult a n d r h e t o r i c o f the local imperial cult. W h a t they saw was n o t the foolishness o f a naked g o d , b u t an oppressive system that c o n s t r u c t e d the prestige a n d p o w e r o f t h e few at the expense o f t h e many.

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7

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PAUL A N D T H E POLITICS OF VIRTUE A N D VICE Jennifer Wright Knust

I

n his letters, Paul argued that the brothers a n d sisters in Christ have m a d e a decisive break with the depravity o f the world. According to Paul,

Gentiles (ta ethne)

are characterized by fornication (porneia)

sion o f lust (pathei epithymias),

a n d the pas-

b u t the brothers a n d sisters in Christ avoid

sexual misbehavior. As he put it in his letter t o the Thessalonians: F o r this is the will o f G o d , y o u r sanctification: that y o u abstain f r o m fornication; that each o f y o u k n o w to possess his o w n wife (lit., "vessel") in holiness a n d honor, n o t with lustftd passion like the Gentiles w h o d o n o t k n o w G o d ; that n o o n e transgress and deft-aud his brother in the matter, because the L o r d is an avenger in all these things, just as we told y o u before, a n d we solemnly w a r n e d y o u . F o r G o d did n o t call us for impurity, but in holiness. (1 Thess 4 : 3 - 7 , trans, a u t h o r ) • Insiders—^brothers a n d sisters in C h r i s t — p r a c t i c e self-control

(enkrateia),

since they have "crucified the flesh with its passions a n d desires" (Gal 5 : 2 4 ) . Outsiders—Gentiles a n d o t h e r s — h a v e been "given u p in the lusts o f their hearts to impurity, to the degrading o f their bodies a m o n g themselves" ( R o m 1 : 2 4 ) . Outsiders are "enslaved to lust," but insiders are "slaves o f

1. O. Larry Yarbrough suggests that here "wife" is the best translation of "vessel" (skeuos). Defrauding one s brother can then be understood to refer to a man committing adultery with the wife of a "brother." See his Not Like the Gentiles: Marriage Rules in the Letters of Paul (SBLDS 80; Adanta: Scholars, 1985), 6 8 - 7 6 .

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G o d " ( R o m 6 : 1 3 - 2 3 ) . Gentiles fornicate (1 Thess 4 : 5 ; Gal 5 : 1 6 - 2 6 , R o m 1 : 1 8 - 3 2 ) ; the faithful glorify G o d in their bodies (1 C o r 6 : 1 5 - 2 0 ) . Outsiders join their bodies to prostitutes (1 C o r 6 : 1 5 ) ; insiders exercise self-control, o r they m a r r y a n d thereby channel their desire appropriately (1 C o r 7 : 1 - 4 0 ) . Paul consistendy contrasts the self-control o f the brothers a n d sisters in Christ with the depravity o f Gentiles a n d o t h e r outsiders, c o n d e m n i n g this " c r o o k e d and perverse generation" for sexual c o r r u p t i o n (Phil 2 : 1 5 ) , while setting the "saints" apart o n the basis o f their strict self-control. Given the repeated insistence a m o n g ancient Greek a n d Latin authors that g o o d e m p e r o r s and kings are characterized by their exceptional virtue, such a n a r g u m e n t can be read as a further indication o f Paul's disdain for e m p i r e a n d e m p e r o r alike. I a m n o t the first t o notice that, w h e n read carefully, Paul is decidedly critical o f his rulers. As Horsley, Georgi, Wengst, Elliott, a n d others have noted, Christianity in general a n d Pauline Christianity in

particular

e m e r g e d in the c o n t e x t o f the reconfiguration o f piety a n d power u n d e r the figure o f the e m p e r o r . ' D u r i n g this period, Augustus a n d later e m p e r ors were represented as universal benefactors, saviors, the sons o f a god, fulfilling divinely ordained providence, a n d guaranteeing b o t h peace a n d piety.^ Reading early Christian texts in light o f imperial rhetorics o f power, these scholars argue that Paul a n d o t h e r early Christian authors c a n n o t b e read as r e c o m m e n d i n g a c c o m m o d a t i o n t o the E m p i r e . Indeed, the gospel o f the crucified Messiah stands in direct contrast t o the "gospel according to Augustus."* Paul's injunctions t o "distinguish what really m a t t e r s " and t o "resist conformity t o this w o r l d " direcdy opposed R o m a n rule.^ Paul explicidy denied the claim that the e m p e r o r h a d instituted "peace a n d security":

2. See the collection of essays in Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997); Richard A. Horsley, 1 Corinthians (ANTC; Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), esp. 2 2 - 3 8 ; Dieter Georgi, "Who Is die True Prophet?" in Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (ed. Richard A. Horsley; Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1997), 3 6 - ^ 6 ; Klaus Wengst, Pax Romana (trans. John Bowden; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987); Neil EUiott, Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994). See also Walter E. Pilgrim, Uneasy Neighbors: Church and State in the New Testament (OBT; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999). For important background, see Simon Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), esp. 2 - 5 , 4 9 - 5 1 , 5 3 - 6 2 , 2 4 3 - 4 6 . 3. Price, Rituals and Power, 51,54; John K. Chow, "Patronage in Roman Corinth," in Paul and Empire (ed. Horsley), 104-25. 4. Georgi, "Who Is die True Prophet?" 36. 5. EUiott, Liberating Paul 189; citing PhU 1:10 and Rom 12:2.

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"just as people are saying 'peace a n d security,' sudden destruction will c o m e upon them

Pauline "faith" o r "loyalty" (fides, pistis) c a n be c o m p a r e d t o

the Augustan claim that the whole R o m a n realm is distinguished hy fides a n d iustitia (dikaiosyne) J Paul offered a critique o f e m p i r e a n d did n o t s u p p o r t c o n f o r m i t y to imperial o r o t h e r governmental authority. Paul's claim that outsiders are inevitably tainted with sexual vice while " t h e saints" preserve sexual purity offers further s u p p o r t for the thesis that Paul was critical o f R o m a n imperial pretensions a n d p r o p a g a n d a . Still, however pointed Paul's critique m a y have been, w h e n he adopted sexual virtue and vice as his anti-imperial c o d e language, he r e c o n f i r m e d a gendered hierarchy that assumes w o m a n is derived f r o m m a n a n d identifies desire with "slavishness." T h o u g h Paul m a y have o p p o s e d the broader R o m a n political, e c o n o m i c , a n d cultural order, he r e p r o d u c e d cultural p r e suppositions m o r e c o m m o n l y employed t o s u p p o r t empire. H e employed the widespread rhetorical strategy o f associating one's enemies with sexual m i s c o n d u c t , he described this m i s c o n d u c t in t e r m s o f the violation o f " n a t u r a l " gender, a n d he associated desire with "slavishness" even as he u n d e r m i n e d traditional status distinctions.

Paul and Rhetorical Invective By claiming t h a t the followers o f C h r i s t are sexually p u r e a n d implying t h a t outsiders are sexually depraved, Paul participated in a c o m m o n a r g u m e n t a t i v e strategy: defining one's o p p o n e n t in sexual t e r m s . T h e vilification o f e n e m i e s o r outsiders o n the basis o f (alleged) sexual vice c a n be f o u n d in n u m e r o u s a n c i e n t c o n t e x t s — f r o m A t h e n i a n a n d R o m a n lawcourts t o a n c i e n t biography, history, a n d works o f m o r a l philosophy. F o r e x a m p l e , in his f a m o u s speech " O n t h e C r o w n " (De corona),

the

A t h e n i a n o r a t o r D e m o s t h e n e s attacked the origin, o c c u p a t i o n , a n d c h a r acter o f his target Aeschines by suggesting that Aeschines' m o t h e r engaged in indiscriminate intercourse in a public latrine; Aeschines (allegedly) i m i tated her e x a m p l e by involving himself in suspect religious rituals, wearing exotic apparel, a n d associating with old w o m e n ( 1 2 9 , 260).^ Cicero followed D e m o s t h e n e s ' example, accusing o p p o n e n t s o f family scandals, indiscriminate lust, a n d o t h e r "shameftil deeds" (e.g.. In

Catalinam

6. Wengst, Pax Romana, 11-19; citing 1 Thess 5:3. 7. Georgi, "Who Is die True Prophet?" 3 6 - 4 6 . 8. Similarly, Aeschines attacked the target of one of his forensic speeches by claiming that he had prostituted himself in his youth and squandered his inheritance; In Timarchum 4 0 - 4 2 . This speech is thoroughly discussed by Kenneth J. Dover, Greek Homosexuality (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978).

158


1 . 1 3 - 1 6 ) . ^ Ad h o m i n e m attacks were n o t reserved for forensic oratory, however. T h e Greek moralist a n d biographer Plutarch evaluated the s u b jects o f his Parallel Lives entirely in t e r m s o f their relative virtues o r vices. R o m a n historiographers excoriated " b a d " e m p e r o r s for extravagant excess, outrageous sexual exploits, a n d even incest.^' T h e Stoic

philosopher

Musonius Rufus observed that sexual vice always brings disgrace; those trained in philosophy w o u l d never visit prostitutes o r engage in relations with their female slaves ( 4 . 2 0 ; e c h o e d by pseudo-Plutarch, Moralia

5b-c).

Given this discursive context, charges o f sexual licentiousness against target outsiders should be expected. W i t h at least s o m e training in Greek oratory, Paul was likely t o have been aware o f the standard topics o f blame.^' Greek and Latin rhetorical training included an introduction t o appropriate categories o f praise a n d blame, categories o u d i n e d in Greek rhetorical h a n d b o o k s (progymnasmata)

a n d in Latin discussions o f r h e t o -

ric. Speeches o f praise closely paralleled speeches o f blame, with the standard topics assigned t o each serving as m i r r o r opposites. Noble birth, association with a noble city, education in philosophy and rhetoric, selfcontrol, beauty, courage, a n d vitality were t o be praised. Slave o r n o n Greek o r i g i n , d e g r a d i n g o c c u p a t i o n , reprehensible sexual

behavior.

9. R. M. Nisbet offers a thorough survey of the sorts of charges commonly employed by Cicero: "The In Pisonem as an Invective," Appendix 6, in Cicero: In L. Campurnium Pisonem (Oxford: Clarendon, 1961), 192-97. Cicero specifically commended the rhetorical methods of his Athenian predecessors in De oratore 22.94; 23.94-95. Plutarch compared Cicero to Demosthenes in his Parallel Lives, noting that they share much in common. See his Demosthenes 2.3-4 and Comparatio Demosthenis et Ciceronis. 10. See Alan Wardman, Plutarch's Lives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974). 11. See, for example, the descriptions of Nero found in Suetonius, Tacitus, and Dio, and discussed in Jas Eisner and Jamie Masters, ed.. Reflections of Nero: Culture, History, and Representation (Chapel Hill: University of North CaroUna Press, 1994). 12. WiUiam V. Harris has demonstrated that only a very small minority of the Greco-Roman world could have achieved anything like functional literacy; Ancient Literacy (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), 3 - 2 5 , 1 3 9 - 4 6 , 2 4 8 - 8 4 . As a member of the educated few, Paul would have received at least some training in the techniques of rhetoric, though he should not be counted among the most highly educated of his day. On rhetorical education, see Robert Kaster, Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987). On the importance of Greek intellectual culture to early Christians, see especially the now classic study by Werner Jaeger, Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1961). On Paul and rhetoric, see, for example, Hans Dieter Betz, Galatians: A Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Churches of Galatia (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979); Stanley Stowers, The Diatribe and Paul's Letter to the Romans (SBLDS 57; Adanta: Scholars, 1981).


159

i m p r o p e r appearance a n d dress, military desertion, misanthropy,

and

gloominess were to be censured.'^ Standard topics o f praise a n d b l a m e were learned by every Greek- o r Latin-speaking schoolboy. O r a t o r s

were

expected to evaluate their subjects in t e r m s o f their (real o r alleged) virtue o r vice. T h u s , Paul's decision to represent Gentiles as ridden with vice was, perhaps, entirely predictable. Moreover, as a Hellenistic Jew well versed in Torah, Paul was n o d o u b t familiar with the biblical association o f Gentiles and fornication ( E x o d 3 4 : 1 5 - 1 6 ; D e u t 3 1 : 1 6 ; Judg 2 : 1 7 ; 8:27; 1 C h r 5 : 2 5 ; 2 Kgs 9 : 2 2 ; Ezek 6 : 9 ; 1 6 : 1 5 ; 2 0 : 3 0 ) . Still, by adopting this particular argumentative strategy, Paul's o w n rhetoric o f virtue a n d vice c a n be read n o t only as stereotypical p o l e m i c b u t also as a pointed attack. Since status was frequently justified in t e r m s o f virtue, the association o f outsiders with sexual vice c a n be interpreted as an a t t e m p t t o u n d e r m i n e the pretensions o f those w h o linked their authority t o their (supposedly) superior morals, including the emperor.

The Virtue (or Vice) of Emperors and Kings As early as Plato, Greek writers h a d asserted that only g o o d m e n could truly be kings {Republic

4 2 7 c - 4 3 4 d , 5 4 3 c - 5 8 0 a ) . D i o C h r y s o s t o m attrib-

uted this view t o H o m e r : H o m e r , in the s a m e m a n n e r as other wise a n d truthfiil m e n , says that n o wicked o r licentious o r avaricious person c a n ever be a ruler o r master either o f himself o r o f anybody else, n o r will such a m a n ever be a king even t h o u g h all the w o r l d , b o t h Greeks a n d b a r barians, m e n and w o m e n , affirm the contrary. {De regno i/Or

1.14)

Following Plato's lead, Greek historians evaluated kings by their relative virtues. For example, Diodorus Siculus describes the exceptional self-control (enkrateia)y

justice (dikaiosyne),

a n d m a g n a n i m i t y (megalopsychos)

o f the

13. In his handbook, Aphthonius recommended that the following topics be addressed: family, nation, ancestors, livelihood, customs, prudence, beauty, manhness, and bodily strength, among other features; Progymnasmata 8. The topics of praise and blame are summarized by Severin Koster, Die Invektive in der griechischen und romishen Literatur (Beitrage zur Klassischen Philologie 99; Meisenheim am Glan: Verlag Anton Hain, 1980), 16-17. A survey of Latin mvective terminology yielded the familiar categories, with lowly origin, degrading occupation, improper appearance, criminality, sexual vice, and gluttony emerging as central topics. Ilona Opelt, Die lateinischen Schimpfworther und verwandte sprachliche Erscheinungen: Eine Typologie (Heidelberg: Cari Winter Universitatsverlag, 1965), 125-89. See also Jacqueline Flint Long, Claudian's ''In Eutropium": Or, How, Wheny and Why to Slander a Eunuch (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 66-67.

160


Egyptian kings o f old ( 1 . 7 0 . 6 - 1 2 ) . Elsewhere, D i o d o r u s records with approval their exceedingly strict laws regarding w o m e n ( 1 . 7 8 . 4 - 5 ) . Arrian relates the superb self-control (sophrosyne)

o f Alexander, w h o chose nei-

ther to violate the beautiful wife o r daughters o f Oxyartes, n o r the wife o f king Darius o f Persia, t h o u g h as the victor he h a d the o p p o r t u n i t y to d o so {Anabasis

4 . 1 9 . 4 - 6 ; 2 0 . 1 - 3 . ) . Dionysius o f Halicarnassus records a speech

attributed to R o m u l u s , the mythical founder o f R o m e , in which R o m u l u s e x h o r t s the citizens o f the new city to e m b r a c e virtue. Romulus/Dionysius asserts that m e n w h o are brave in b a t d e and at the s a m e t i m e masters o f their desires (epithymiai)

"are the greatest o r n a m e n t s t o their country." In

t u r n , a g o v e r n m e n t founded wisely produces m e n o f bravery, justice, a n d the o t h e r virtues {Antiquitates

romanae

2 . 3 . 5 ) . R o m u l u s , in a d e m o n s t r a -

tion o f this wisdom, appointed slaves a n d foreigners to serve in trades that p r o m o t e shameful passions. Freemen, o n the other hand, were allowed only two professions, agriculture a n d warfare, "for he observed that m e n so employed b e c a m e masters o f their appetite [and] are less entangled in illicit love affairs" {Antiquitates

romanae

2 . 2 8 . 1 - 2 ) . Slaves and foreigners were

thereby associated with "shameful passion" a n d freemen with self-control. T h e t h e o r y that a king's virtue legitimates his rule appears in a R o m a n c o n t e x t as well. Following A c t i u m , Octavian Augustus'^ fashioned himself as the restorer o f R o m a n mores, instituting a m o r a l r e f o r m t h r o u g h legislation, building projects, and a revival o f R o m a n religion at the expense o f "foreign" cults.^^ In 2 7 B.C.E., the Senate recognized Augustus' exceptional political achievements b y praising his virtus, clementia, c o m m e m o r a t i n g his restoration o f the res publica gestae divi Augusti

[RG]

iustitia, a n d pietas,

on a golden shield {Res

3 4 . 1 - 3 ) . ' ^ T h e c o u r t poet H o r a c e celebrated the

r e t u r n t o morality heralded by the rise o f Augustus. Prior t o Augustus, H o r a c e claimed, R o m e was o v e r r u n with i m m o r a l i t y : " O m o s t i m m o r a l age! First y o u tainted marriage, the house, a n d the family. N o w f r o m the s a m e source flows pollution over fatherland a n d p e o p l e ! " {Carmina

3.6).

T h e Augustan m o r a l revival restored the city t o its proper virtue; thanks t o Augustus, " t h e pure h o u s e is n o longer sullied by adultery. Law a n d c u s t o m

14. On the significance of the tide "Augustus," see Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price, Religions of Rome, vol. 1: A History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 182-84. 15. Paul Zanker, The Poviêr of Images in the Age of Augustus (trans. Alan Shapiro; Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988), 101-39; Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939), 150. On the religious reforms of Augustus, see Beard, North, and Price, Religions of Rome, 1:186-210; on actions against foreign cults, see 1:228-35. 16. For discussion, see J. Rufiis Fears, "The Cult of the Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology," ANi^W 2.17.2 (1981): 885-86.


161

have t a m e d unclean lust. M o t h e r s are p r o u d o f legitimate P u n i s h m e n t follows o n the heels o f guilt" {Carm.

children.

4.5).*'

Augustus c a m e to set the standard for the " g o o d emperor," a m a n in c o n t r o l o f his passions w h o rules b o t h himself a n d the e m p i r e well.'^ Stories o f his life and c o n d u c t were offered as m o r a l exempla

in all sorts o f

discourse.'^ Even the Alexandrian Jew Philo asserted that Augustus' "every virtue o u t s h o n e h u m a n n a t u r e " since " h e alone was able to quiet the storms o f civil war, set every city at liberty, b r m g order to disorder and civilization to b a r b a r i a n s " {Legatio ad Gaium

143-51).^° Later e m p e r o r s were

also evaluated according t o their (relative) virtues o r vices, with " g o o d " e m p e r o r s praised for magnanimity, clemency, piety, a n d self-control. F o r e x a m p l e , the younger Pliny asserted that Trajan's deeds a n d person e x e m plified pudor,

moderatioy

temperantia,

concordiuy

a n d pietas

{Panegyricus

2 2 - 2 5 ) . T h a n k s to Trajan, all the subjects o f the E m p i r e , even the poorest, are exceptionally fertile; p r o u d parents raise legitimate children w h o will g r o w t o a d u l t h o o d {Pan, 2 6 - 2 8 ) ; slaves o b e y their masters a n d masters care for their slaves {Pan. 42).^' T h e e m p e r o r h a d c o m e to e m b o d y " t h e divine blessings o f justice, peace, c o n c o r d , a b u n d a n c e , a n d prosperity," guaranteeing the well-being o f the entire Empire.^^ B y the s e c o n d century, the association o f the e m p e r o r with the virtues h a d b e c o m e a cliche.^^ Indeed, a

17. For discussion of Horace's presentation of Augustus as savior, see V. G. Kiernan, Horace: Poetics and Politics (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), 7 4 - 7 8 ; but also see R. O. A. M. Lyne, Horace: Behind the Public Poetry (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995), 193-214. 18. Helen North, "Canons and Hierarchies of the Cardinal Virtues in Greek and Latin Literature," in The Classical Tradition: Literary and Historical Studies in Honor of Harry Caplan (ed. Luitpold Wallach; Idiaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1966), 177-78. 19. For example, Seneca recommends that his readers emulate Augustus' moderate response to excessive anger. Seneca tells us that Augustus, when confronted with the intemperate anger of Vedius Pollio toward a slave, interceded on the slave's behalf Thus, the slave escaped a most horrid punishment—^being eaten by huge lampreys kept in a fish pond (Seneca, De ira 3.40.2-5). The exempla were anecdotes telling the exceptional deeds of great men. These exempla were memorized by students during their rhetorical training and regularly appear in forensic oratory, historiography, biography, and even philosophical works. See Richard Sailer, "Anecdotes as Historical Evidence for the Principate," Greece and Rome 27 (1980): 71-83. 20. E. Mary Smallwood, trans., Philonis Alexandrini: Legatio ad Gaium (Leiden: Brill, 1961), 91. 21. See the extensive discussion of Trajan's virtues, according to Pliny, and on coins, inscriptions, and reliefs, in Fears, "The Cult of the Virtues," 9 1 3 - 2 4 . 22. Ibid., 938. 23. Andrew Wiallace-Hadrill, Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars (London:

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third-century treatise o n epideictic o r a t o r y exphcidy r e c o m m e n d e d what was already in practice: e m p e r o r s are be praised for their bravery justice (dikaiosyne),

moderation

(sophrosyne),

and wisdom

(andreia), (phronesis)

( M e n a n d e r [ o f Laodicea] Rhetor 367.5-8),^'* a m o d e r a t i o n further d e m o n strated by the propriety o f their subjects: Because o f the emperor, marriages are chaste, fathers have legitim a t e offspring, spectacles, festivals, a n d competitions are c o n ducted with proper splendor a n d d u e m o d e r a t i o n . ( M e n a n d e r Rhetor 367.8)^^ T h e prevailing cultural logic during Paul's day presupposed that the g o o d ruler was firmly in c o n t r o l o f himself a n d responsible for a m o r a l climate in which the virtues flourish a n d vices are punished.^^ Augustus claimed that he h a d a c c o m p l i s h e d this v e r y goal. In a r e c o r d o f his achievements designed to b e erected at his death, Augustus n o t e d that " t h e senate a n d the people o f R o m e agreed that I should be a p p o i n t e d supervisor o f laws a n d m o r a l s " ( R G 6.1).^' Moreover, " I h a d b r o u g h t b a c k into use m a n y e x e m p l a r y practices o f o u r ancestors w h i c h were disappearing in o u r t i m e , a n d in m a n y ways I myself t r a n s m i t t e d e x e m p l a r y practices t o p o s terity for their i m i t a t i o n " ( R G 8 . 5 ) . T h o u g h intended for a R o m a n a u d i ence, Augustus' Achievements

( R G ) were published across the E m p i r e in

the f o r m o f bilingual Greek/Latin inscriptions. Indeed, the principal surviving source o f the Achievements,

as k n o w n to us today, is a n inscription

f r o m Galatia, n o t Rome.^^ In such a context, Paul's claim that those w h o d o n o t accept Christ are characterized by fornication, " u n n a t u r a l " intercourse, a n d o u t - o f - c o n t r o l passion c a n be read as a critique o f b o t h e m p e r o r a n d the E m p i r e . In a world where legitimacy rested o n claims a b o u t virtue a n d piety, Paul's a r g u m e n t that outsiders are, by definition, sexually licentious, "slaves t o sin" and "slaves to lust," u n d e r m i n e s the proposition that the e m p e r o r a n d

24. See further C. E. V. Nbcon and Barbara Saylor Rodgers, In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini (Berkeley: University of Cahfornia Press, 1994), 2 2 - 2 3 . On the four cardinal virtues, see North, "Canons and Hierarchies," 177-80. 25. D. A. Russell and N. G. Wilson, trans., Menander Rhetor (Oxford: Clarendon, 1981). 26. For further examples, see G. Maslakov, "Valerius Maximus and Roman Historiography A Study of die Exempla Tradidon," AM? W 2.23.1 (1984): 4 5 1 - 5 3 . 27. P. A. Brunt and J. M. Moore, trans.. Res Gestae Divi Augusti: The Achievements of the Divine Augustus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967). 28. See discussion in Brunt and Moore, Res Gestae, 1-6.


163

Other rulers deserve t h e h o n o r a n d authority granted t o t h e m . According to t h e logic o f Paul's a r g u m e n t , without Christ such persons c a n only b e degenerates. Early in his letter t o t h e R o m a n s , Paul describes t h e punishm e n t reserved for those w h o reject G o d : lust. Three times Paul states that they have been "given u p " t o lust o f o n e f o r m o r another: " G o d gave t h e m u p in the lusts o f their hearts t o i m p u r i t y " ( R o m 1 : 2 4 ) , "gave t h e m u p t o dishonorable passions" ( 1 : 2 6 ) , a n d "gave t h e m u p t o a base m i n d a n d t o d o the things that are i m p r o p e r " ( 1 : 2 8 , Rsv/author). T h u s , they "deserve t o d i e " since they violated God's decree by engaging in " u n n a t u r a l " interc o u r s e a n d "shameless a c t s " ( R o m 1 : 2 7 - 2 8 , 32).^^ Later in R o m a n s , Paul argues that Jesus Christ is the best available cure for t h e p r o b l e m o f sin, a p r o b l e m that o u g h t t o trouble t h e faithful n o longer ( R o m 3 : 2 1 - 2 6 ) . A prim a r y attribute o f sin here is lack o f control o f one's body. In baptism, " t h e sinful b o d y " (to soma tes hamartias)

is destroyed so that " w e might n o

longer be enslaved t o sin" ( R o m 6 : 6 ) . Sin causes t h e sinner t o "obey the appetites" a n d t o yield his " m e m b e r s " {ta mele, bodily parts)^° t o impurity ( R o m 6 : 1 9 ) . Sin is hnked t o death, just as those guilty o f idolatry, " u n n a t u r a l " sex, dishonorable passions, a n d other offenses were said b y Paul t o "deserve t o die" earlier in the letter.^* Sin, therefore, is a bodily condition, as is righteousness, with sin resulting in death a n d righteousness in life.^^ Sin "reigns in y o u r m o r t a l bodies so that y o u obey its desires" ( R o m 6 : 1 2 , a u t h o r ) . Righteousness involves yielding y o u r " m e m b e r s " t o G o d . In this way, t h e Christian's b o d y b e c o m e s an obedient i n s t r u m e n t o f G o d as o p p o s e d t o a n obedient i n s t r u m e n t o f desire. Paul suggests that t w o types o f slavery are possible: slavery t o desire a n d impurity, o r slavery t o G o d a n d righteousness. Believers w h o d o n o t c o n t r o l desire join outsiders in a dishonorable, debased sort o f "slavery." Since virtue is a litmus test o f fitness for leadership, Pauline assertions a b o u t the m o r a l superiority o f the brothers a n d sisters in Christ, read

29. For further discussion of the impUcations of Paul's arguments here, see Kathy L. Gaca, "Pauls Uncommon Declaration in Romans 1:18-32 and Its Problematic Legacy for Pagan and Christian Relations," HTR 92 (1999): 165-98. 30. Ernest Kasemann, Commentary on Romans (trans. Geoffrey W. Bromily; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), rejects the view that ta mele refers to bodily parts here, preferring the interpretation "our capabilities" on the basis of 1 Cor 12:12-25. But see Dale B. Martin, The Corinthian Body (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995), 9 2 - 9 6 . 31. Stanley Stowers, A Rereading of Romans: Justice, Jews and Gentiles (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994), 2 5 5 - 5 8 , sees the language and argumentation of Rom 6 as intentionally linked to the language and imagery of Rom 1:18-32. 32. Daniel Boyarin, A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 158-70, suggests that, in Rom 5 - 8 , "sin" is "sex."

164


together with his a r g u m e n t s a b o u t the m o r a l c o r r u p t i o n o f Gentiles in R o m a n s a n d elsewhere (Gal 5 : 1 6 - 2 6 ; 1 Thess 4 : 3 - 7 ; 1 C o r 6 : 1 5 - 2 0 ) , suggest a decided anti-imperialist stance. Outsiders, incapable o f virtue, c a n only be wicked, licentious, and avaricious tyrants, incapable o f ruling themselves, let alone others. Yet, by employing these charges, Paul d e m o n strates that, however critical he m a y have been o f " t h e world," h e r e m a i n e d dependent u p o n m a n y o f the s a m e assumptions a n d rhetorical strategies employed by that world, including the a s s u m p t i o n that w o m e n are " n a t u rally" passive a n d that desire can lead to "slavery."

Paul, Gender, and Status R e c e n t studies have p r o p o s e d t h a t sex a n d g e n d e r in t h e

ancient

Mediterranean world were configured according t o a strict hierarchy, with " m a l e " u n d e r s t o o d t o b e m o r e perfect a n d " f e m a l e " deficient. Sex a n d g e n der c o n f o r m e d to a m a t r i x o f active/passive, superordinate/subordinate, a n d dominant/submissive, with the elite m a l e expected t o assume the active, superordinate, d o m i n a n t role; a n d w o m e n o r persons o f lesser status, especially slaves, expected to be passive, subordinate, and submissive.^^ As Aristode put it, slaves are different f r o m their masters " b y nature." T h e y have n o faculty o f deliberation b u t require masters, those w h o are capable of

moral

goodness

and

reason,

to

rule

over

them

{Politicus

1 2 6 0 a 4 - 1 2 6 0 b 8 ) . F r e e b o r n w o m e n were likewise t h o u g h t t o be incapacitated " b y nature," weaker and colder than m e n , less capable o f virtue a n d therefore in need o f special protection a n d surveillance {Pol also Plato, Timaeus

5 0 d ; Aristotle, Metaphysica

1 2 6 0 a 4 ; see

1.6.998a).''

Though

33. The bibliography on this topic is enormous. Examples include Michel Foucault, The Care of the Self The History of Sexuality, vol. 3 (trans. Robert Hurley; New York: Pantheon, 1986); Ahne Rouselle, Porneia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity (trans. FeUcia Pheasant; Cambridge: Blackwell, 1988); David M. Halperin, John J. Winkler, and Froma I. Zeitlin, eds., Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990); Maude Gleason, Making Men: Sophists and Self-Presentation in Ancient Rome (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1995); Bernadette J. Brooten, Love between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996); Craig Williams, Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999). See also the responses to Foucault found in David H. J. Larmour, Paul Allen Miller, and Charles Platter, eds.. Rethinking Sexuality: Foucault and Classical Antiquity (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998); and responses to Brooten in Elizabeth A. Castelli, ed., "Lesbian Historiography before the Name?" GLQ 4 (1998). 34. On this view in classical Greek sources, see Kenneth J. Dover, Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle (Oxford: Blackwell, 1974), 9 6 - 1 0 2 ; in Hellenistic Greek sources, see Eva Cantarella, Pandora's Daughters (trans. Maureen


165

Aristotle should n o t be viewed as representative o f the entire ancient world, he is far from alone in his msistence that slaves, w o m e n , and, to a lesser extent, freedmen and laborers, are deficient in virtue.'^ T h e freeborn, elite, citizen male, o n the other hand, is the opposite o f the deficient female o r slave. H e is d o m i n a n t . H e controls himself. H e embodies virtus (arete).

In

sexual acts, he penetrates; he pursues. As Halperin put it, sex in Greek society "is conceived to center on, a n d to define itself around, an asymmetrical gesture, that o f the penetration o f o n e person by the b o d y — a n d , specifically, by the p h a l l u s — o f another."'^ Gender was delineated o n the basis o f status: " W h a t counted, then, was n o t the anatomical 'sex' o f the sexual partners but their social genders—^the degree, that is, to which their sexual roles did o r did n o t correspond to their respective positions in a rigid social hierarchy"^' W i t h gender a n d status so defined, Greek a n d R o m a n m e n could lose their reputations o r even their citizenship if their enemies succeeded in d e m o n s t r a t i n g that they h a d violated cultural n o r m s . In b o t h the Greek a n d the R o m a n case, an adult citizen m a l e w h o sought penetration by a n o t h e r could be accused o f violating b o t h his status a n d his gender. H e was "like a w o m a n , " "like a slave," o r even worse, "like a prostitute." T h e r e was a whole c o m p l e x o f charges—effeminate, weak, soft, {malakos,

trypheros,

womanish

thelytes, a n d related terms)'^—available t o accuse a

B. Fant; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), 9 2 - 9 7 ; in Roman sources, see Susan Treggiari, Roman Marriage (Oxford: Clarendon, 1991), 2 0 5 - 2 8 ; in late antiquity, see Joelle Beaucamp, Le Statut de la Femme d, Byzance (4e-7e siecle), vol. 1 (Paris: De Boccard, 1990), 2 6 - 2 7 . 35. On this view as expressed by Aristode's contemporaries, see Dover, Greek Popular Morality, 114-15. Some Stoic philosophers argued that slaves could achieve wisdom and cultivate virtue. See, for example, Seneca, Epistulae morales 47. For discussion, see Keith Bradley, Slave and Society at Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 135-45. The fact tiiat die questions "Are slaves fiilly human?" and "Can slaves cultivate virtue and wisdom?" were raised at all emphasizes that slaves were commonly assumed to be deficient in virtue, v^sdom, and humanity. On the supposed moral deficiencies of freedmen, see Petronius's satirical portrait of the vulgar freedman Trimalchio, who "would wish as a matter of course to ape the lifestyles of the rich and famous A former slave like Trimalchio would show no hesitation at all in submitting a host of underlings to the sorts of indignities of which he had firsthand experience himself" (Bradley, Slave and Society, 64, on Petronius, Satira 26). 36. David Halperin, One Hundred Years of Homosexuality and Other Essays on Greek Love (New York: Roudedge, 1990), 30. 37. Ann Pellegrini, "Lesbian Historiography before the Name?," 580. 38. The second-century Greek lexicographer Pollux mentions the several terms to be used to accuse someone of being loathsome, licentious, or reprehensible, and other terms to refer to softness and effeminacy. Passive homosexuality is referred to by calling a man a "catamite," a "vendor of his youthftil beauty," and a "prostitute's

166


m a n o f being "feminine," preference for the passive role in sexual acts being the m o s t disturbing. Describing the situation in fifth-century Athens, Winkler concludes, " T h e kinaidos [defined here as a m a n w h o seeks anal o r oral penetration o f himself] is a scare-image standing behind the m o r e concrete charges o f s h a m i n g one's integrity as a m a l e citizen by hiring o u t one's b o d y t o a n o t h e r man's use."'^ In the case o f R o m e , accusations o f mollitia (softness, effeminacy) were m a d e in lawcourts, e m p e r o r s were evaluated in t e r m s o f their relative effeminacy, and satirists described the outrageous " f e m i n i n e " exploits o f their ( m a l e ) targets. O t h e r

potent

charges included c o r r u p t i n g freeborn youths o r w o m e n ; squandering one's inheritance o n pleasures, especially o f the sexual o r gastronomical type; engaging in incestuous relations with one's m o t h e r o r sisters; a n d participating in religious rituals where orgies, cannibalism, o r other horrific rites were p r e s u m e d to occur.'° Freeborn w o m e n could also be accused o f sexual crimes: a m o n g the m o s t c o m m o n charges were adultery, behaving like a prostitute, joining in orgiastic foreign cults, and excessive indulgence in luxuries.^' These w o m e n b r o u g h t s h a m e n o t only u p o n themselves b u t u p o n their families. Actually, the state o f an entire city could be m e a s u r e d o n the basis o f the behavior o f its w o m e n . A g o o d R o m e , indeed, any h a r m o n i o u s city, is exemplified by the chastity o f its women.'^ Greeks t u r n e d accusations o f sexual licentiousness against R o m e , R o m a n s t u r n e d t h e m against Greeks, a n d b o t h associated " b a r b a r i a n s "

colleague." See Gleason, Making Men, 65. For a discussion of the Latin vocabulary, see Williams, 142-59 and J. N. Adams, The Latin Sexual Vocabulary (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982). 39. John Wmkler, The Constraints of Desire (New York: Roudedge, 1990), 46. 40. Plutarch, Comparatio Cimonis et Luculli 1.5-6; Lysander 2; Mor. 145B; Cato Major 20.8; Nepos, Dion 4 . 3 ^ ; Polybius 21.25.5; Sallust, Bellum Catalinae 11.5; Suetonius, Gaius Caligula 3 6 - 3 7 , 4 0 , 4 1 ; Cicero, De or. 2.283; Epistulae ad familiares 97; Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia 18.32; Lucian, Nigrinus 15-16; Musonius Rufus 5.10, among other examples. 41. See esp. Cassius Dio 55.12-16; Plutarch, Lucullus 6.2-A; Solon 23; Cicero, Pro Caelio 49; Horace, Carm. 3.6.17-32; Livy 39.15.9; Seneca, De beneficiis 6.32.1; Suetonius, Divus Augustus 65.1-2; Juvenal, Satirae 6; Anthologia Palatina 31. On the stereotype of the "hysterical" woman, see ftirther Margaret MacDonald, Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion: The Powder of the Hysterical Woman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). 42. Juvenal s satiric portrait of Rome offers an excellent example of this logic. There, Juvenal suggests that pudicitia has fled and all the elite women of the city (empresses, the wives of senators and equestrians) commit adultery with impunity, especially with men of lesser status than they {Sat. 6 . 2 8 5 - 2 9 0 ) . For discussion, see Edward Courtney, A Commentary on the Satires of Juvenal (London: Althone Press, 1980).


167

with insatiable lust. F o r e x a m p l e , the Syrian Greek satirist Lucian described R o m e as a cesspool o f sexual vice. In R o m e "every place a n d every agora is full o f the things they love m o s t , a n d they a d m i t pleasure at every g a t e — this o n e by the eyes, that o n e by the ears o r the nostrils, yet a n o t h e r by the t h r o a t and by sexual intercourse" (lit., " b y m e a n s o f A p h r o d i t e " ; M g r . 1 5 - 1 6 , trans, a u t h o r ) . R o m a n authors often represented the Greeks as slaves to pleasure a n d extravagance, with "Greek leisure" serving as a stereotypical accusation (e.g., Sallust, Bellum

Catalinae

11.5),'^ a n d Persia

o r " t h e E a s t " could stand for sexual and s u m p t u a r y excess to b o t h Greeks and Romans

(e.g., Aeschylus, Persae

Barbarians were said t o be soft (malakos)

1 . 2 3 0 - 4 5 ; Cassius D i o a n d slavish (douleia).

were said to be " p r o n e t o lust" by Tacitus {Historiae

48.301).

Even Jews

5 . 5 ) . In this way, invec-

tive categories were extended to indict entire nations a n d peoples. At the s a m e time, these categories reinforced a definition o f gender a n d status that favored freeborn citizen m e n by associating w o m e n , slaves, foreigners, a n d barbarians with weakness in the face o f desire. Jews from the H e b r e w Bible o n w a r d also defined themselves against " t h e peoples" (ta ethne)

in sexual terms. Leviticus prefaces prohibitions

a b o u t incest, intercourse with a m e n s t r u a t i n g w o m a n , child sacrifice, "lying with a m a n as with a w o m a n , " a n d bestiality with the warning that Israel is n o t t o " d o as they d o in the land o f E g y p t " o r "as they d o in the land o f C a n a a n " (Lev 1 8 : 2 - 3 ) . ^ T h r o u g h o u t m u c h o f the H e b r e w Bible, idolat r y (i.e., false religiosity) is described in sexual t e r m s as " f o r n i c a t i o n " o r "prostitution."'^ T h e third Sibylline Omcfe j u x t a p o s e d Jews w h o are " m i n d ful o f pure wedlock" with Phoenicians, Egyptians, R o m a n s , and Greeks w h o c o m m i t adultery a n d pederasty {Sib,

Or.

3.590-600;

cf

3.762-65).'"

Similarly, according to Josephus, "the [Jewish] law recognizes n o sexual intercourse except the natural union o f m a n and wife, and that only for the procreation o f children. A n d it abhors that o f m e n towards m e n " Apionem

{Contra

2 . 1 9 8 ) . By contrast, the Greeks engage in " u n n a t u r a l " pleasures

such as mcest, adultery, and male h o m o e r o t i c sex (C. Ap. 2 . 2 7 5 ) . Such an

43. See Catharine Edwards, The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 93. 44. See Brooten's excellent discussion of the influence of Leviticus on Paul; Love between Women, 2 8 8 - 9 4 . 45. See discussion in Phyllis A. Bird, "'To Play die Harlot': An Inquiry into an Old Testament Metaphor," in Gender Difference in Ancient Israel (ed. P. Day; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), 7 5 - 9 4 . 46. See discussion in Erich S. Gruen, "Jews, Greeks, and Romans in the Third Sibylline Oracle," in Jews in a Graeco-Roman World (ed. Martin Goodman; Oxford: Clarendon, 1998), 15-36.

168

Jennifer

Wright

Knust

argument continued in rabbinic literature, with h o m o e r o t i c sex, adultery, promiscuity, pimping, a n d bestiality described as a Gentile problem, n o t a Jewish

onef

To what extent did Paul accept and d e p e n d u p o n a hierarchical c o n figuration o f sex, gender, a n d status? S o m e recent considerations o f Paul have convincingly argued that he adopted m u c h o f this sex-gender system as his own, despite his claim that "there is neither Jew n o r Greek, neither slave n o r free, n o t male a n d female, for y o u all are o n e in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3 : 2 8 , a u t h o r ) . In 1 Corinthians, Paul affirms the view that w o m a n is second to m a n : " T h e head o f every m a n is Christ, the head o f a w o m a n is her h u s b a n d , a n d the head o f Christ is G o d " a n d " M a n was n o t m a d e f r o m w o m a n , but w o m a n f r o m m a n . Neither was m a n created for w o m a n , b u t w o m a n for m a n " ( 1 1 : 3 , 8 - 9 , RSv).'* In this s a m e passage, Paul asserts that " n a t u r e itself" teaches w o m a n that her hair is her pride; cutting her hair w o u l d be shameful {aischros, equally shameful {aischros,

11:6, 1 4 - 1 5 ) . Likewise, long hair for m e n is

1 1 : 1 4 ) . T h o u g h these statements m a y be inter-

preted in a variety o f ways, w h e n read in c o n j u n c t i o n with o t h e r ancient a r g u m e n t s a b o u t " n a t u r a l " gender, it seems difficult to deny that Paul p r e supposed that w o m a n is naturally subordinate t o man.'^ Hairstyles were

47. Sacha Stem, Jewish Identity in Early Rabbinic Writings (Leiden: BriQ, 1994), 2 3 - 2 6 . See also Michael Sadow, "Rhetoric and Assumptions: Romans and Rabbis on Sex," in Jews in a Graeco-Roman World (ed. Goodman), 137-^4. 48. See discussion in Mary Rose D'Angelo, "Veils, Virgins and the Tongues of Men and Angels: Women's Heads in Early Christianity," in Off with Her Head! The Denial of Women's Identity in Myth, Religion, and Culture (ed. Howard Eilberg-Schwartz and Wendy Doniger; Berkeley: University of Cahfornia Press, 1995), 131-64; Martin, Corinthian Body, esp. 2 2 9 - 4 9 . Paul's discussion of veiling has been called chaotic, irrational, conflicted, and confusing. See, for example, Joette Bassler, "1 Corinthians," in The Women's Bible Commentary (ed. Carol A. Newsome and Sharon H. Ringe; London: SPCK, 1992), 327. Moreover, what, precisely, Paul was so exercised about when he composed this passage continues to be debated. Perhaps Paul was arguing against the practice, familiar in Greco-Roman mystery cults, of women wearing their hair unbound during worship; see EUsabeth Schussler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad, 1986), 226-27. Perhaps Paul sought to quiet and subordinate a group of pneumatic women by reasserting gender hierarchies by means of hairstyles and veiling; see Antionette Clark Wire, Corinthian Women Prophets: A Historical Reconstruction through Paul's Rhetoric (MinneapoUs: Fortress, 1990), 1 1 6 - 3 4 , 1 8 1 - 8 8 . Altematively perhaps Paul's real concern was with men who prayed with their heads covered, an activity reserved for ehte men alone (EUiott, Liberating Paul, 2 1 0 - 1 1 ) . I have been most persuaded by those who argue that Paul seeks here to reassert gender hierarchies. 49. A few commentators have questioned whether or not Paul wrote 1 Cor 11:3-16; see discussion in Horsley 1 Corinthians, 152-57. StUl, the vast majority of commentators have concluded that Paul did write this passage.


169

c o m m o n l y believed t o m a r k gender difference o r gender

deviance.

According to D i o C h r y s o s t o m , m e n w h o violate "nature's laws" have a propensity for " f e m i n i n e " glances, posture, a n d hairstyles {Tarsica

prior/Or.

3 3 . 5 2 ) . Seneca the Elder suggested that effeminate m e n c o m m o n l y braid their hair a n d thin their voices t o c o m p e t e with w o m e n in softness a n d finery {Controversiarum

excerpta

L u c a n , Bellum

1 . 4 4 3 ; Quintilian, Institutio

civile

1 . 8 - 9 ; c f Caesar, Bellum

Hellenistic Jewish text. The Sentences

gallicum

oratoria

ofPseudo-Phokylides,

5.14.3;

2.5.12).^°

A

cautions against

allowing y o u n g boys t o wear their hair long a n d braided, for long hair is reserved for voluptuous women.^* According to these authors, long, c a r e fully coifed hair symbolized an a b a n d o n m e n t o f m a s c u l i n i t y " Similarly, w o m e n ' s short hair also indicated gender deviance (e.g., Lucian, meretricii

Dialogi

5 . 3 ) . Therefore, w h e n Paid stated that m e n o u g h t never to wear

their hair long a n d w o m e n o u g h t never to wear their hair short, the m a i n tenance o f gender difference was clearly a p r i m a r y c o n c e r n . Paul's i n d i c t m e n t o f h u m a n sin at the opening o f his letter to the R o m a n s offers further evidence o f his dependence u p o n

hierarchical

assumptions a b o u t gender. In that letter, Paul presents the violation o f " n a t u r a l " gender as the premier example o f h u m a n sinfulness. W o m e n w h o have "exchanged natural relations for u n n a t u r a l " a n d m e n " c o m m i t ting shameless acts with m e n " expose their depraved, dishonorable lusts a n d deserve t o die ( 1 : 2 6 - 3 2 , RSv). These m e n n o longer sought the " n a t u ral u s e " o f w o m e n , having b e c o m e " c o n s u m e d with passion for o n e a n o t h e r " ( 1 : 2 7 , RSv). According to Paul's logic here, " n a t u r e " requires w o m e n to be penetrated, a n d m e n t o penetrate; m e n w h o seek penetration are "naturally" deviant. As B r o o t e n put it, in R o m 1 : 1 8 - 3 2 , Paul repeated "certain fundamental assumptions o f his highly gendered culture" a n d

50. See discussion of Roman representations of the "womanish" long hair of the barbarians and cinaedi (kinaidi) in Amy Richlin, "Making Up a Woman: The Face of Roman Gender," m Off wîth Her Head! 2 0 1 - 4 . 51. Cited and discussed by Brooten, Love between Women, 63. 52. Plucking the beard was thought to be an even clearer indication of gender deviance, but long hair also cast suspicion on a man's manliness, claimed Arrian, Epicteti dissertationes 1.16.9-14, discussed m Maud Gleason, "The Semiotics of Gender: Physiognomy and Self-Fashioning in the Second Century C.E.," in Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World (ed. David Halperin, John J. Winkler, and Froma L. Zeidin; Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990), 3 9 9 - 4 0 0 . See also Dover, Greek Homosexuality, 7 4 - 7 7 . 53. Brooten, Love between Women, 2 4 1 - 6 6 , 2 9 8 - 9 9 , quotation from 266. See further Elizabeth Castelli, "Paul on Women and Gender," in Women and Christian Origins (ed. Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D'Angelo; New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 2 2 1 - 3 5 .

170


"gave [them] a theological f o u n d a t i o n . " " Paul's c o n d e m n a t i o n o f the sinful world in R o m 1 relied u p o n the gendered assumptions o f his culture even t h o u g h his goal was t o depict his culture as entirely depraved. T h o u g h Paul should n o t be read as a p r o p o n e n t o f ancient slavery/' he did employ slavery metaphorically in a way that presupposes the associat i o n between slaves a n d sexual i m m o r a l i t y . " In b o t h R o m a n s

and

Galatians, he j u x t a p o s e d "slaves t o lust" a n d "slaves t o sin" with those w h o are n o w "slaves o f C h r i s t " ( R o m 6 : 1 5 - 2 3 ; 7:5; 8 : 1 5 ; Gal 3 : 2 5 - 2 9 ) . ' " Paul was n o t the first ancient a u t h o r t o c o n n e c t slavery a n d desire. Slaves in the ancient world were often t h o u g h t t o be morally suspect. Slaves were s u p posedly " u n s c r u p u l o u s , lazy, a n d criminous,"^' different " b y nature," a n d lacking the requisite faculty o f deliberation (Aristotle, Pol Achilles Tatius, Leucippe

et Clitophon

1260a4-1260b8;

7 . 1 0 ; Pliny the Elder, Nat 3 5 ) . Tied t o

this negative evaluation o f slaves was the accusation that a free citizen could b e c o m e a "slave" t o l u x u r y a n d desire.'^ " F r e e " a n d "slave" were set apart from o n e a n o t h e r o n the basis o f self-control. Thus, Seneca (the Y o u n g e r ) , r e c o m m e n d i n g that R o m a n masters occasionally invite deserv-

54. See Richard A. Horsley, "Paul and Slavery: A Critical Alternative to Recent Readmgs," Semeia 83/84 (1998): 153-200. Yet Paul has often been read to support slavery, however inappropriately. See Allen Dwight Callahan, "'Brother Saul': An Ambivalent Witness to Freedom," Semeia 83/84 (1998): 2 3 5 - 5 0 ; and J. Albert Harrill, "The Use of the New Testament in the American Slave Controversy," Religion and American Culture 10.2 (2000): 149-86. 55. Moreover, Paul's emphasis on sexual self-control would have been difficult if not impossible for slaves to achieve. See Jennifer A. Glancy, "Obstacles to Slaves' Participation in die Corindiian Church,"/5L 117.3 (1998): 4 8 1 - 5 0 1 . 56. For discussion of Paul's metaphorical use of slavery, see Dale B. Martin, Slavery as Salvation: The JS/Letaphor of Slavery in Pauline Christianity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990); on Rom 6:20-23, see esp. 6 0 - 6 8 . Martin stresses the "statusimprovement" aspect of these two "spheres of slavery" but his argument is called mto question by Horsley, "Paul and Slavery," 173-76. 57. Bradley, Slave and Society, 66; Peter Garnsey, "Legal Privilege in the Roman Empire," in Studies in Ancient Society (ed. Moses I. Finley; London: Roudedge 8c Kegan Paul, 1974), 141-65. 58. According to Paul, the Roman Christians, in their previous life, seem to have emulated the miseducated sons described here by non-Christian moralist pseudoPlutarch: "[They] disdain the sane and orderly life, and throw themselves headlong into disorderly and slavish pleasures [They] buy the freedom of courtesans and prostitutes, proud and sumptuous in expense;... some finally engage in the wildest forms of vices, committing adultery and being decked with ivy, ready to pay with life itself for a single pleasure (Mor. 5 B - C ) . Pseudo-Plutarch's solution to the problem— careful education and upbringing, training in philosophy—contrasts with Paul's "in Christ" teaching. According to pseudo-Plutarch, good training and a proper education will establish virtue and lead toward happiness, preventing sons from falling into licentious, "slavish" excess (Mor 5D).


171

ing slaves to dine with t h e m , notes that " i f there is any slavish quality in t h e m as a result o f their low associations, it will be shaken off by keeping c o m p a n y with m e n o f gender breeding (£p. 4 7 . 1 6 ) " ' ^ In other words, slavish slaves m a y be i m p r o v e d in the c o m p a n y o f noble n o b l e m e n . This a r g u ment

only becomes

possible if slaves are a s s u m e d t o b e

morally

s e c o n d - r a t e a n d masters are t h o u g h t to be their obvious m o r a l superiors. Seneca continues, however, by asserting that even masters c a n b e c o m e "slaves," o n e t o lust, a n o t h e r to greed, a n o t h e r to ambition, a n d all to fear. Seneca concludes, " N o slavery is m o r e disgraceful t h a n that which is volu n t a r y " {Ep. 47.17).

In this m o r a l episde, Seneca sought to improve slavish

slaves by r e c o m m e n d i n g a closer relationship between slave a n d master. At the s a m e t i m e , he sought t o s h a m e citizen m e n into rejecting "slavishness," indulgence in lust, greed, a n d excessive ambition."^ Paul m a y have h a d this traditional association between "slavishness" a n d desire in m i n d w h e n he c o m p o s e d R o m 6 - 8 . T h e " s i n " in which the "slaves to sin" partake is largely sexualized. Sin a n d the passions pathemata)

(ta

are linked, a n d the body, prior t o baptism, is said t o be inher-

e n d y sinful. Bodily parts, w i t h o u t faith in Christ, are obedient t o impurity, lawlessness, a n d s h a m e ( R o m 6:6, 19, 2 1 ; 7 : 5 ) . Like Seneca, Paul suggests that all are in danger o f b e c o m i n g "slaves" to the appetites"* a n d warns against "yielding one's m e m b e r s " to sin, impurity, a n d lawlessness ( R o m 6 : 1 3 ) . Still, unlike Seneca, Paul suggests that the c u r e for slavery to lust is unity with Christ rather t h a n m o r a l i m p r o v e m e n t t h r o u g h the study o f philosophy ( R o m 7:5; c o m p a r e Seneca, Ep. 16, 17; see also Plutarch, Mor. 7 6 B - D , 7 8 E - 7 9 , 8 3 A - E ; M u s o n i u s Rufus 6 ) . All o f the brothers a n d sisters in Christ m u s t choose "slavery t o sin" o r "slavery to righteousness," whether they are slave o r free."^ All will yield their bodily m e m b e r s . T h e question is,

59. Richard Gummere, trans., Seneca, vol. 4 (LCL). 60. Epictetus (Arrian, Epict. diss. 2.1.28) made a similar point: "Have you no master? Have you not as your master money or a girl, or a boy, or the tyrant or some fi-iend of the tyrant?" To Epictetus, "slave" and "master" is, ultimately, an improper and unimportant distinction, since all are sons of Zeus, yet all can become enslaved by desire: "How can you be my master? Zeus has set me free. Or do you really think that he was likely to let his own son be made a slave? You are, however, master of my dead body; take it" (1.9.9). W. A. Oldfadier, trans., Epictetus, vol. 1 (LCL). 61. Dale B. Martin, "Paul without Passion: On Paul s Rejection of Desire in Sex and Marriage," in Constructing Early Christian Families (ed. Halvor Moxnes; London: Roudedge, 1997), 2 0 7 - 1 0 . 62. See also 1 Cor 7 : 2 2 : " For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise, whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ" (author). Gal 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (author). Gal 4:7: "So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir" ( R S V ) .

172


to what? To sanctification o r to lust? Anyone w h o rejects Christ is essentially incapable o f virtue, whether slave, fi-eed, o r fi-ee. O n e can sell oneself t o impurity, lawlessness, a n d desire; o r o n e c a n sell oneself to G o d . C o m p a r i n g slavery t o sin with slavery to G o d in R o m 6 - 8 , Paul emphasizes the significant break between the brothers a n d sisters in Christ a n d everyone else in bodily, sexual t e r m s ; the negative slavery c o n f o r m s t o the G r e c o - R o m a n t o p o s o f enslavement t o lust, a n d the positive s l a v e r y — slavery to G o d — l e a d s t o a kind o f bodily discipline in which one's b o d y b e c o m e s an i n s t r u m e n t o f dikaiosune.

B y placing these two slaveries in

opposition to o n e another, m a k i n g a very real i n s t i t u t i o n — s l a v e r y — s t a n d either for devotion to G o d o r devotion t o desire, Paul subverted t r a d i tional status c o n c e p t i o n s to s o m e degree, even as h e buUt u p o n the association o f slavery a n d desire. Instead o f simply reinscribing the traditional relationship between enslavement, lust, a n d s h a m e , Paul asserted t h a t slavery to G o d is advantageous, d e m a n d i n g that all the believers b e c o m e the right kind o f "slave" and, ultimately, God's " c h i l d " ( R o m 8 : 1 2 - 1 7 ) . " ' Still, he c o n t i n u e d to play u p o n ancient a s s u m p t i o n s a b o u t "slavishness," even as he asserted that everyone, regardless o f status, m u s t b e c o m e a slave o f righteousness."' T h e link between slavery a n d sexual i m m o r a l i t y is p r e served, t h o u g h c o n t r a s t e d with a positive, righteous slavery exhibited b y sexual self-control. To Paul, therefore, outsiders are idolaters; they have been given u p t o lust, impurity, the dishonoring o f their bodies, their dishonorable passions, a n d h o m o e r o t i c sex; they possess a base m i n d , exhibit i m p r o p e r c o n d u c t , are fornicators a n d slaves o f sin, a n d deserve t o die/will die. Living a c c o r d ing to the flesh, they are lawless, hostile, a n d c a n n o t please G o d ( R o m 1 : 1 8 - 3 2 ; 2 : 8 - 9 , 2 1 - 2 4 ; 6 : 1 2 - 1 3 , 1 9 ; 7 : 1 4 - 1 5 ; 8 : 5 - 8 , 1 2 - 1 3 ; 12:2; 1 3 : 1 2 - 1 4 ) . By contrast, the brothers and sisters in Christ are united with Christ; they have destroyed their sinftd bodies a n d gained bodies that are instruments o f righteousness. T h e y are "slaves o f G o d " a n d sons o f G o d , living a c c o r d ing t o the Spirit, w h e t h e r they are slave o r free. T h e y have been sanctified, set free f r o m sin, a n d b e a r the fruits o f the Spirit, having "crucified the flesh with its passions a n d desires" ( R o m 5 : 1 - 5 , 1 8 - 1 9 ; 6 : 6 - 7 , 1 1 - 1 4 , 18, 2 2 ; 8 : 2 - 4 , 9, 1 1 , 14, 3 0 ; 1 0 : 1 1 - 1 2 ; 1 2 : 1 , 6 - 1 3 , 1 6 - 1 8 ; 1 3 : 9 - 1 0 ; Gal 5 : 2 4 ) . T h e distinction between these t w o g r o u p s is plain. Outsiders c a n be

63. See discussion in Martin, Slavery as Salvation, 30—49; but also see Horsley, "Paul and Slavery," 174-76. 64. See ftirther Elizabeth A. Castelli, "Romans," in Searching the Scriptures, vol. 2: A Feminist Commentary (ed. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza; New York: Crossroad, 1994), 2 9 3 - 9 5 .


173

expected t o engage in reprehensible sexual c o n d u c t o f every kind. Insiders m u s t be virtuous. Paul has staked the claim o f Christian purity a n d righteousness o n sexual self-mastery a n d indicted the world in sexual terms.

Conclusion T h o u g h Paul m a y have rejected R o m e a n d the prevailing imperial order, at the s a m e t i m e he a d o p t e d the hierarchical sex-gender-status cultural p r e suppositions that h a d previously served t o uphold imperial, n o t Christian, claims to legitimacy. His critique o f R o m a n imperial pretensions,

framed,

in part, in t e r m s o f sexual virtue a n d vice, depended u p o n a n d reinscribed hierarchical theories o f sex a n d gender that, historically, h a d been used by R o m a n s a n d Greeks t o claim their o w n privileged status while u n d e r m i n ing the claims o f their rivals. Jews, Greeks, a n d R o m a n s all defined " t h e o t h e r " in sexual t e r m s , with the g o o d Jew, the true Greek, a n d the p r o p e r R o m a n represented as o n e w h o controls the passions a n d avoids sexual licentiousness. By utilizing sexual virtue a n d vice to delineate the brothers a n d sisters in Christ from everyone else, Paul participated in this well-worn strategy. In the process, he adopted sex-gender-status presuppositions that u n d e r p i n n e d his hierarchical society, even if he called into question the validity o f imperial claims a b o u t the virtue o f the e m p e r o r a n d the purity o f the empire he ruled. H e a s s u m e d that w o m e n are "naturally" passive. H e associated "slavishness" with an inability t o control desire. H e c o n t i n u e d t o argue that " g o o d " m e n (in this case " g o o d " believers) control desire. T h u s , Paul's a r g u m e n t in R o m a n s that those w h o have rejected G o d have been rejected by G o d and thereby left t o their " u n n a t u r a l , " degrading passions, c a n b e read as a c o n d e m n a t i o n o f " t h e world," but also as a restatement o f the assumptions o f that world. Similarly, Paul's warnings that " t h e saints" are t o avoid behaving "like the Gentiles" o r "like the idolaters" by eschewing the " w o r k s o f the flesh" in favor o f the "fruits o f the Spirit" (1 Thess 1:9; 4 : 5 ; 1 C o r 5 : 1 0 - 1 2 ; 6 : 9 - 1 1 ; 1 0 : 7 - 2 2 ; 2 C o r 6 : 1 4 - 1 8 ; Gal 5 : 1 6 - 2 6 ) , while highly critical o f the larger society, rearticulates the a r g u m e n t that the p r o o f o f the righteousness a n d piety o f a person, a household, a city, o r even an e m p i r e lies in sexual morality. Indeed, Horace's e n c o m i u m t o Augustus could be recast as Pauline paraenesis, however distant Paul a n d H o r a c e m a y have been from o n e another, b o t h in t e r m s o f language (Paul w r o t e in Greek, H o r a c e in Latin) a n d social location (Paul was a Greekspeaking provincial Jew, H o r a c e a poet w h o c o u n t e d Augustus a m o n g his p a t r o n s ) . T h a n k s to Christ, adulteries have ceased, unclean lust has been o v e r c o m e , a n d the w r a t h o f G o d follows o n the heels o f guilt.

-

8

-

RESPONSE Simon R. F. Price

T

hese remarks draw u p o n those that I gave at the panel o n "Paul a n d the R o m a n Imperial O r d e r " s p o n s o r e d by the Paul a n d Politics G r o u p at

the 2 0 0 0 A n n u a l Meeting o f the Society o f Biblical Literature. I was h o n o r e d t o be asked to c o m m e n t o n that o c c a s i o n , a n d a m pleased to m a k e s o m e further r e m a r k s o n the revised versions o f the papers given at the S B L m e e t i n g a n d o n t w o n e w papers (by Professors Elliott a n d Jewett). I should say that I write n o t as an expert in Paul a n d politics, b u t as an ancient historian interested in t h e eastern R o m a n E m p i r e a n d in the p o s sible c o n n e c t i o n s between Christian a n d Jewish material a n d their c o n t e m p o r a r y contexts. T h e i m p o r t a n t intellectual issue in thinking about Paul and politics is to get two things straight: what "politics" are at issue, a n d h o w we are t o consider the relationship between Paul a n d that context. T h e previous generation o f N e w Testament scholars focused o n the politics o f R o m e itself M o r e recendy, scholars (including those represented in this v o l u m e ) have

b e g u n to focus m o r e o n local situations. This is in a c c o r d a n c e with the realization in Pauline studies m o r e generally that each letter is a piece o f ad h o c c o r r e s p o n d e n c e with a particular c o m m u n i t y in a distinctive local situation. T h e papers in this v o l u m e generally take "politics" t o m e a n the politics o f the R o m a n E m p i r e ( n o t just o f R o m e ) . T h e y also argue that Paul takes a very critical, even subversive, line in relation to R o m e . F o r example. Smith relates his reading o f Paul to other w o r k that reads h i m "against the E m p i r e , " in the context o f c o n t e m p o r a r y resistance struggles. I want t o make s o m e general remarks about these two points: the political context and Paul the subversive. It follows f r o m all this that the

175

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Simon R. F. Price

c o n t e x t in which Paul should be set is n o t that o f R o m e , but (as the papers in the v o l u m e m o s d y argue) o f local c o m m u n i t i e s .

The Roman Context H o w to understand the R o m a n E m p i r e has u n d e r g o n e m a j o r changes in the last generation. F o r a long time, R o m a n historians were very R o m e centered, interested in the politics o f the capital, a n d interested in seeing h o w R o m e r a n her E m p i r e and what (beneficial) differences flowed f r o m that administration. T h e publication o f Fergus MiUar's The Emperor Roman

in the

World in 1 9 7 7 m a r k e d a turning point in the study o f the R o m a n

E m p i r e . F o r the first t i m e , we could see that the E m p i r e was n o t simply a structure i m p o s e d by R o m e , but resulted f r o m a series o f ongoing choices a n d negotiations between subjects a n d ruler. This b o o k o p e n e d u p the p o s sibility o f looking at the E m p i r e f r o m the outside a n d inward.^ Since then, n u m e r o u s studies have taken u p that challenge.^ In studies o f cultural development in this period, it has n o w b e c o m e standard t o talk n o t o f R o m a n i z a t i o n a n d Hellenization as t o p - d o w n processes i m p o s e d by the center, but as processes in which inferiors negotiate new positions for themselves.' T h e fidlest A n g l o p h o n e synthesis o f imperial history, the seco n d edition o f T h e C a m b r i d g e Ancient History, has responded in part t o the new trends, a n d includes as m u c h o n the provinces as o n R o m e i t s e l f

1. Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, 31 B.C-A.D. 337 (London: Duckworth, 1997; Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1977; repr., 1992). A reaction to the current orthodoxy is represented by CUfford Ando, Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (Berkeley: University of Cahfornia Press, 2000), which is a long and thorough study of the creation of consensus on the part of Rome, and its reception by provincials. 2. My Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) was inspired by The Emperor in the Roman World and attempted to add a cognitive dimension to the picture. 3. For the West, see Greg Woolf, Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). For the East, see Susan E. Alcock, ed.. The Early Roman Empire in the East (Oxbow Monograph 95; Oxford: Oxbow, 1997; Guy Rogers, The Sacred Identity ofEphesos: Foundation Myths of a Roman City (London and New York: Roudedge, 1991), presents a case study of the manipulations of local mythology to accommodate Rome; Simon Swain, Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism and Power in the Greek World, A.D. 50-250 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), argues that Greek identity preceded loyalty to Rome (though it was also in part a reaction to Rome). See, in general, Susan E. Alcock et al., eds.. Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). 4. See Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, et al., eds.. The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C-A.D. 69 (CAH 10; 2d ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); and

Response

177

Studies that seek t o place provincial figures in relation t o the E m p i r e need to start f r o m an understanding o f h o w o u r picture o f R o m e and her E m p i r e has changed a n d b e c o m e m o r e c o m p l e x . In particular, the relationship between R o m e and the provinces n o w is different. W e c a n n o t a s s u m e that it is right to m o v e s m o o t h l y f r o m analyses o f Augustan R o m e t o analyses o f provincial culture. Put bluntly, there is n o necessary c o n n e c tion between the i m a g e r y o f the A r a Pacis (a m o n u m e n t a l altar in R o m e in h o n o r o f Augustus) o r the p o e t r y o f H o r a c e a n d the t h o u g h t world o f the Greek East. T h e issue is whether the provinces t o o k any notice o f developm e n t s in R o m e , a n d if so, h o w they did so, a n d w h a t differences (if any) local reception m a d e to the local context. In other words, understanding the Greek c o n t e x t o n its o w n t e r m s is crucial. This c a n n o t be d o n e w i t h o u t a p r o p e r sense o f the chronological developments in that context. T h e relations between a Greek city a n d R o m e in the second c e n t u r y B.C.E. a n d the first c e n t u r y C.E. are completely different. In the early p a r t o f the period, R o m a n rule was, o f course, m u c h m o r e problematic: it did n o t look as t h o u g h it was going t o endure, a n d for locals to side with R o m e was t o m a k e a s o m e t i m e s u n p o p u l a r political choice. By the first c e n t u r y C.E. t h e situation h a d changed. T h e r e were still recognizable groups o f "resident R o m a n s " ( o f Italian origin) in provincial cities, a n d m e m b e r s o f local elites sought to serve the interests o f R o m e . T h e r e was by n o w n o realistic alternative to R o m a n rule in the Greek world. In o r d e r t o u n d e r s t a n d a n allegedly "subversive" provincial figure, it is necessary t o set h i m against the b a c k g r o u n d o f " s u b v e r s i o n " in t h e R o m a n E m p i r e . T h e t h r u s t o f m o s t m o d e r n scholarship o n the p e r i o d m a k e s this quite difficult. Scholars have generally placed m u c h emphasis o n consensual happiness, w i t h o u t giving m u c h a t t e n t i o n t o strains a n d tensions o r t h e perspectives o f c o m p l e t e outsiders.' T h e r e is a gap in scholarship here, partly b e c a u s e the p r i m a r y data tends t o emphasize successes a n d consent."

Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey et al., eds., The High Empirey A.D. 70-192 (CAH 11; 2d ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). These volumes, CAH 10-11, should be the primary points of reference for statements about the Empire. Bibhcal scholars seem hesitant to use them and instead cite less authoritative sources, works by ancient historians that have been excerpted in edited volumes, and derivative works by other bibhcal scholars. 5. Brent Shaw, in CAH 11 (2000): 3 6 1 - 4 0 3 , brilliandy studies "rebels and outsiders," but mainly from the perspective of the center. 6. See, however, D. J. Mattingly, ed., Dialogues in Roman Imperialism: Powery Discoursey and Discrepant Experience in the Roman Empire (Journal of Roman Archaeologyy Suppl. 23; Portsmouth, R.I.: JRAy 1997).

178

Simon R, F. Price T h e R o m a n E m p i r e was extremely c o m p l e x a n d diverse. It was a " m i l -

itarily created h e g e m o n y o f i m m e n s e land m a s s t h a t h a r b o u r e d h u n dreds, if n o t thousands, o f different societies."^ It was a massive unity, with great diversity. Cities f o r m e d the b a c k b o n e o f the E m p i r e . It used to be held that in the Hellenistic a n d R o m a n periods, people were lost in great empires ( a n d as a result needed new f o r m s o f identity, including religious identity). This old view is s o m e t i m e s still found in the writings o f nonspecialists, but the new consensus is quite different. Cities r e m a i n e d basic, b o t h as administrative units that served the interests o f R o m e , a n d as entities to which individuals belonged. Cities were m a j o r bearers o f local meanings: they e m b o d i e d c o m m o n values, expressed in rituals a n d in

iconography.

Because o f the c o n s t r u c t i o n o f local m e a n i n g s a n d local societies, diversity was inevitable. T h e extent o f diversity was, however, affected by the i m p a c t o f specifically R o m a n rules. T h e i m p a c t o f those rules varies in different contexts a n d over time. S o m e were u n i f o r m f r o m the outset o f the E m p i r e ( R o m e reserved the death penalty for herself, a n d b a n n e d local gold a n d silver coinages). In the R o m a n coloniae o f the early E m p i r e , whose citizens were all R o m a n citizens at a time w h e n R o m a n citizenship was rare in the provinces, the whole c o m m u n i t y followed specifically R o m a n rules. This accounts for the otherwise rather o d d claim by locals o f the colonia o f Philippi that Paul and Silas were advocating customs which it is " n o t lawful for us as R o m a n s to adopt o r observe" (Acts 16:21).^ As R o m a n citizenship spread in the second century C.E., and especially after the gift o f citizenship to almost all the free population by Caracalla in 2 1 2 C.E., other R o m a n rules increased m their impact. M a n y prospered u n d e r R o m a n rule a n d were at least c o n t e n t t o acquiesce, but we should n o t forget R o m e ' s regulatory procedures, which were widespread a n d as efficient as those o f any p r e m o d e r n empire. Censuses were held u n d e r the E m p i r e o n a regular basis, so that there were c o m p r e hensive lists o f people a n d property, which o f c o u r s e f o r m e d the basis o f R o m a n taxation.^ Luke ( 2 : 1 - 5 ) was w r o n g to claim that there was a universal census u n d e r Augustus, but the Gospel stories give a vivid impression o f the local i m p a c t o f census-taking, and it is n o accident that, a c c o r d i n g t o Josephus, it was this census that was the decisive event in the f o r m a t i o n

7. Shaw, in CAH 11 (2000): 361. 8. Acts 16:19-24. C f M. Beard, J. Nordi, and S. Price, Religions of Rome, vol. 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 2 4 0 , 3 2 8 - 3 4 . 9. R A. Brunt, Roman Imperial Themes (Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), 3 2 4 - 4 6 .

Response

179

o f the " F o u r t h P h i l o s o p h y . " O n a d a y - t o - d a y basis there were o t h e r regulatory procedures. According t o Tertullian, low-level R o m a n officials kept detailed tabs o n a variety o f "low-life": 1 don't k n o w whether it should be a m a t t e r o f anger o r s h a m e w h e n Christians are listed by the officers (beneftciarii) official spies (curiosii)

a n d their

in their registers, along with the bar h o u n d s ,

b o u n c e r s , bath thieves, gamblers, and pimps, a n d are compelled to pay the s a m e " t a x e s " as these other creatures. {Defuga

in

persecu-

tione 13) These and o t h e r R o m a n officials, o f course, abused their positions o f local power. T h r o u g h o u t the E m p i r e , R o m a n governors repeatedly sought t o prevent the illegal appropriation o f local m e a n s o f t r a n s p o r t . T h i s is the b a c k g r o u n d t o the bizarre advice in the S e r m o n o n the M o u n t that " i f anyo n e orders y o u to go o n e mile, g o two miles with h i m " ( M a t t 5 : 4 1 , JB).^^ Unsurprisingly, n o t all kept within Rome's rules. Bandits were e n d e m i c in the R o m a n E m p i r e , a n d controls over t h e m were local a n d their effectiveness highly spasmodic. These a n d other aspects o f the under-side o f the E m p i r e are seen vividly in Apuleius's Metamorphoses,^^

Piracy

too

r e m a i n e d a p r o b l e m , despite systematic suppression by R o m e in the first c e n t u r y C.E.: F o r example, Syedra in southern Turkey consulted the oracle o f ApoUo at Claros as t o what it should d o a b o u t raids f r o m pirates. T h e o r a c u l a r advice was to set u p a special statue g r o u p in the city, symbolizing the v i c t o r y o f Justice over Violence. T h e original consultation m a y have been m a d e in the first c e n t u r y B.C.E., but it was inscribed u n d e r the E m p i r e , w h e n coins o f the city depict this statuary g r o u p . ' ' T h e attitudes o f those o n the margins to R o m e is difficult to determ i n e , but it is clear that Jews ( a n d Christians) were n o t the only people t o be unhappy. In the Latin West it is remarkable that, despite uprisings in the first c e n t u r y C.E., n o t long after conquest, there seems to be a complete loss

10. Jewish Antiquities 1 8 . 1 - 1 0 , 2 3 - 2 5 . U . S . Mitchell, "Requistioned Transport in the Roman Empire: A New Inscription from Pisidia,"/i^5 66 (1976): 106-31. C f S. R. Llewelyn, "Systems of Transport and Roman Administration," in NewDocs 7 (North Ryde, N.S.W.: Macquarie University, Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, 1994), 5 8 - 1 2 9 . 12. The word "orders (angareuseiy is the technically correct term for pressing someone into service. 13. Fergus Millar,"The World of die GoWe« Ass,"/i^S 71 (1981): 6 3 - 7 5 . 14. Simon Price, ReUgions of the Ancient Greeks (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 7 5 , 1 7 9 - 8 0 .

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Simon R. F. Price

o f cultural

memory

o f the p r e - R o m a n

past. H i s t o r i e s w r i t t e n

Westerners were wholly R o m a n o c e n t r i c : Vercingetorix

by

(leader o f t h e

Gauls, executed by Julius Caesar in 4 6 B . C . E . ) , A r m i n i u s ( H e r m a n , Teutonic leader against the R o m a n s t o save G e r m a n i a , first c e n t u r y C . E . ) , a n d B o u d i c c a ( Q u e e n o f the Celtic tribe Iceni, w h o led a revolt against the R o m a n s , 6 0 - 6 1 C . E . ) b e c a m e heroes to Westerners only with the rise o f nationalism in the nineteenth century. A p p a r e n d y they were n o t e m p l o y e d as symbols o f resistance by subjects o f the R o m a n E m p i r e . In the East, however, n o t only Jews but also Greeks, Phoenicians, a n d

Egyptians

r e c o r d e d their o w n cultural pasts. It is difficult t o find articulate examples o f "enemies o f the R o m a n order," b u t local cultic traditions could b e c o m e the rallying g r o u n d for opposition t o R o m a n rule. T h e stories o f Alexandrian Greeks protesting against the perceived t y r a n n y o f R o m e include appeals t o the Alexandrian g o d Sarapis. T h e a c c o u n t o f a hearing before Trajan says that " t h e y set sail f r o m the city o f Alexandria, each bearing their o w n gods, the Alexandrians [a bust o f Sarapis, a n d the Jews their sacred b o o k s ] . " At R o m e , t h e Alexandrian Greeks accused Trajan o f having his council packed with i m p i o u s Jews. W h i l e they were saying this, " t h e bust o f Sarapis which t h e a m b a s s a d o r s were c a r r y i n g suddenly broke into sweat. Trajan was a m a z e d at t h e sight. A n d s o o n crowds gathered in R o m e , n u m e r o u s shouts r a n g forth, a n d everyone began to flee t o the tops o f the hills."'' T h e so-called Potter's Oracle, an e x t r a o r d i n a r y piece o f writing, was a f o r m o f prophecy, originating in the Hellenistic p e r i o d but still circulating u n d e r the R o m a n E m p i r e , w h i c h foretold the liberation o f E g y p t and her gods fi*om the foreign oppressor.'" In actual revolts, local religious figures are s o m e t i m e s claimed t o have stimulated o r even led the rebels. In a n Egyptian rebellion o f 1 7 2 - 1 7 3 C . E . , the leader was a priest.'^ A n incursion into the E m p i r e f r o m T h r a c e was led by a priest o f Dionysos, w h o gained a following by his p e r f o r m a n c e o f rites; he was probably acting t o recover the s a n c t u a r y o f Dionysos, w h i c h the R o m a n s h a d earlier h a n d e d over t o a n o t h e r tribe.'^ In

15. Beard, North, and Price, Religions of Rome, 2:327-328. 16. L. Koenen, "The Prophecies of a Potter: A Prophecy of World Renewal Becomes an Apocalypse," 2 4 9 - 5 4 ; in Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress ofPapyrology, Ann Arbor, 13-17 August 1968 (ed. D. H. Samuel; American Studies in Papyrology 7; Toronto, 1970); L. Koenen, "A Supplementary Note on the Date of the Oracle of die Potter," ZPE 54 (1984): 9 - 1 3 . Translation: Allen Kerkeslager, "The Apology of the Potter: A Translation of the Potter's Oracle," in Jerusalem Studies in Egyptology (ed. Irene Shirun-Grumach; Aegypten und Altes Testament 4 0 ; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), 6 7 - 7 9 . 17. Cassius Dio 72.4. 18. Cassius Dio 51.25.5 (29 B . C . E . ) ; 54.34.5-7 (11 B . C . E . ) .

Response

181

Gaul, at a t i m e o f political c h a o s in R o m e , the Druids allegedly prophesied that the (accidental) b u r n i n g o f the Capitoline temple in R o m e signified the e n d o f R o m a n rule over the Gauls. At a r o u n d the s a m e t i m e , a revolt o n the Rhine frontier started with a feast in a sacred grove a n d a religious v o w a n d was strongly s u p p o r t e d by a local prophetess.'^ T h e Jewish revolts against R o m e , which were m u c h m o r e significant in military t e r m s t h a n any I have just m e n t i o n e d , were also aided by the fact that the Jewish faith c o u l d be interpreted t o offer a c o h e r e n t religious basis for revolt. At least s o m e o f the rebels in Judea in 6 6 - 7 0 a n d 1 3 2 - 1 3 5 C.E. were inspired by t h e principle that their g o d alone should be m a s t e r o f Israel. In the revolt o f 1 1 6 - 1 1 7 C.E.—^which flared up in Egypt, N o r t h Africa, a n d M e s o p o t a m i a — the rebels in Cyrene s e e m t o have d a m a g e d o r destroyed temples o f t h e p a g a n gods. T h e subsequent m a s s a c r e o f the Jews in Egypt was probably d u e in part t o traditional e n m i t y t o the Jews as religious enemies o f Egypt's gods a n d the " v i c t o r y " was still celebrated in E g y p t eighty years later b y p a g a n civic festivals.^^

Implications for Paul and Politics It follows f r o m all this that it is misguided t o a s s u m e at the outset that t h e c o n t e x t ( o r even a c o n t e x t ) in which Paul should b e set is that o f R o m e . T h e world o f Augustan c o u r t ideology is very r e m o t e firom the world o f the eastern cities o f the R o m a n E m p i r e . T h e r e is a large leap between Augustus' Saecular G a m e s a n d A r a Pacis (as a way o f thinking a b o u t R o m a n ideas o f " n a t u r e , " as in the article by Jewett) a n d the world o f Paul. In fact, the gap c o u l d be m a d e smaller with reference t o ideas articulated by the Assembly (koinon)

o f the province o f Asia a n d o t h e r bodies. F o r e x a m p l e , the koinon

in 9 B.C.E., in creating a n e w calendar that w o u l d start o n Augustus' birthday a n d again a littie later, passed decrees that talked o f the divine provid e n c e , which divinely orders " o u r " lives, p r o d u c i n g Augustus for the benefit o f the h u m a n race; eternal a n d i m m o r t a l n a t u r e h a d devised this as the greatest possible benefaction.^' These ideas were picked u p by Philo in

19. Tacitus, Historiae 4 . 5 4 , 6 1 , 6 5 ; 5.22,24. 20. D. Frankfiirter, "Lest Egypt s City Be Deserted: Religion and Ideology in the Egyptian Response to die Jewish Revolt ( 1 1 6 - 1 1 7 C.EX JJS 43 (1992): 2 0 3 - 2 0 . 21. The two koinon decrees are to be found most conveniendy in V. Ehrenberg and A. H. M. Jones, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (2d ed.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1955), 98 and 98a; with U. Laffi, "Le iscrizioni relative all'introduzione nel 9 a. C. del nuovo calendario della provincia d'Asia," Studi Classici e OrientaU 16 (1967): 5 - 9 8 , esp. 2 1 - 2 2 , 5 5 - 5 9 ; translation of first decree in N. Lewis and M. Reinhold, Roman Civilizationy vol. 1 (3d ed.; New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), 6 2 4 - 2 5 . C f Price, Rituals and Power, 5 4 - 5 5 . Long ago, Adolf Deissmann, Licht vom Osten (4th ed.; Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1923),

182

Simon R. F. Price

his panegyric o f the start o f Gaius's r u l e . " T h e expression o f these ideas in the Greek East would help to s u p p o r t the conclusion o f Jewett's chapter: " C o m p a r e d with believing that the R o m a n gods had already ushered in the golden age t h r o u g h a victorious Caesar, Paul's h o p e could lead to a far m o r e realistic f o r m o f collective responsibility for the creation." T h e i m p o r t a n c e o f provincial o r civic imperial cults is also relevant, as H e e n persuasively argues, t o understanding a passage in Paul's Letter to the Philippians. These local cults were, as Elliott demonstrates, relevant m o r e broadly to an understanding o f h o w Paul sought to situate his christological theology in contradistinction to the ideology o f the ruling power. This analysis o f the i m p o r t a n c e o f " t h e imperial c u l t " m i g h t be extended t o include n o t only cults with an explicit focus o n R o m e , but the whole a p p a ratus o f civic cults that supported the local a n d the R o m a n status quo.^^ A n o t h e r c o n t e x t is that o f patron-client relationships, which were so i m p o r t a n t in the R o m a n Empire.^^ Did Paul engage in subversive interpretations o f R o m a n imperial practices o f power with regard t o patronage a n d c o m m e n d a t i o n , as Agosto suggests? There is obviously an e n o r m o u s difference between letters o f Cicero o r Pliny t h a t c o m m e n d people for p a r ticular positions o r specific favors, and letters o f Paul that

commend

people in m u c h m o r e general t e r m s and t o c o m m u n i t i e s n o t governed b y bureaucratic rules o f p r o c e d u r e a n d definition. T h e r e is a gap between the high level o f society represented by Cicero a n d Pliny a n d the lower a n d m o r e peripheral world o f Paul, b u t again, that gap c a n be bridged by use o f d o c u m e n t a r y evidence (epigraphic a n d papyrological), which would s u p p o r t the general contrast drawn by Agosto (if n o t necessarily the claim a b o u t subversiveness).^' Paul's critique o f Gentile depravity does in strict logic imply criticism o f p a r t o f the ideological basis o f imperial rule ( e m p e r o r s are acceptable

in Enghsh as Light from the Ancient East (trans. Lionel R. M. Strachan; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910; repr., Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1995), exploited texts of this sort. 22. Legatio ad Gaium 8 - 1 3 . 23. This broader context is the focus of Beard, North, and Price, Religions of Rome; and Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks, 24. The important monograph by R. P. Sailer, Personal Patronage under the Early Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), needs to be read with along with H. M. Cotton, "The Role of Cicero's Letters of Recommendation: iustitia versus gratia,'' Hermes 114 (1986): 443-60; A. R Wallace-Hadrill, ed., Patronage in Ancient Society (London and New York Roudedge, 1989); R. R SaUer, in CAH 11 (2000): 838-51. 25. H. M. Cotton, Documentary Letters of Recommendation in Latin from the Roman Empire (Beitrage zur klassischen Philologie 132; Konigstein: Hain, 1981).

Response because they are v i r t u o u s ) , b u t this entailment was n o t

183 necessarily

intended by the a u t h o r o r perceived by the audience. T h e right context in which to set this a r g u m e n t o f Paul's is the o n g o i n g Greek a n d R o m a n polemic against the sexual passions (as is elegandy argued in the second half o f Knust's p a p e r ) . Paul's cultural critique is political, b u t n o t narrowly so. Paul certainly needs t o be set in part in relationship to the c o n t e m p o r a r y Gentile world, a n d certainly has "political" points to m a k e . As this volu m e shows, Paul's "political" points are n o t focused o n R o m e itself, but o n the local structures o f power (at whose a p e x was the reception o f R o m e ) , a n d his critiques were n o t narrowly political, but e n c o m p a s s e d b r o a d e r aspects o f local social a n d religious values.

CONTRIBUTORS

E F R A I N AGOSTO is Professor o f N e w Testament a n d D i r e c t o r o f the P r o g r a m a de Ministerios Hispanos at H a r t f o r d S e m i n a r y in C o n n e c t i c u t . H e is the a u t h o r o f the f o r t h c o m i n g book, Leadership

in the New

Testament

N E I L ELLIOTT is a Chaplain at the University o f M i n n e s o t a Episcopal Center a n d teaches at t h e U n i t e d T h e o l o g i c a l University. H e is a u t h o r o f Liberating

Paul:

Seminary and Metro The Justice

State

of God and

the

Politics of the Apostle, as well as m a n y articles o n Paul. E R I K M . H E E N is Associate Professor o f N e w Testament a n d Greek at T h e Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. H e is c u r r e n d y working o n T h e Letter t o the Hebrews v o l u m e in the Ancient Christian C o m m e n t a r y o n Scripture series. R I C H A R D A. H O R S L E Y is Distinguished Professor o f Liberal A r t s a n d the Study o f Religion at the University o f Massachusetts B o s t o n , a u t h o r o f m a n y books, a n d editor o f Paul and Empire

a n d Paul and Politics ( b o t h

Trinity Press). R O B E R T J E W E T T is H e n r y R. Kendall Professor E m e r i t u s at

Garrett-

Evngelical Theological S e m i n a r y a n d Visiting Professor at the University o f Heidelberg. A m o n g his m a n y b o o k s are Paul the Apostle to America f o r t h c o m i n g c o m m e n t a r y o n R o m a n s in the H e r m e n e i a Series.

185

a n d the

Contributors

186

JENNIFER WRIGHT KNUST is Assistant Professor o f Religious Studies at the CoUege o f the Holy Cross and a u t h o r o f the forthcoming b o o k to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity,

Abandoned

She has recendy received fel-

lowships in support o f a project o n the N e w Testament pericopae

adulterae.

SIMON R . F . PRICE is Fellow a n d Tutor in A n c i e n t H i s t o r y at Lady M a r g a r e t Hall, O x f o r d . His b o o k s include Rituals and Power: Cult in Asia Minor;

Religions

Religions of the Ancient

The Roman

Imperial

of Rome, with M a r y Beard a n d J o h n N o r t h ;

Greeks; a n d The Oxford Dictionary

of Classical

Myth

and Religion, with E m i l y Kearns. ROLLIN A. RAMSARAN is Professor o f N e w Testament at E m m a n u e l School o f Religion ( A G r a d u a t e S e m i n a r y ) in J o h n s o n City, Tennessee, a n d a u t h o r o f Liberating

Words: PauVs Use of Rhetorical

Maxims

in 1 Corinthians

1-10,

ABRAHAM SMITH is Associate Professor o f N e w Testament at Perkins School o f Theology and author o f Comfort One Another

( o n 1 Thessalonians) and the

c o m m e n t a r y o n First and Second Thessalonians m the New Interpreters

Bible,

INDEX

Abraham, 4 , 9 7 Achaicus, 113-14 Achebe, Chinua, 48 Achievements (Augustus), 162 achri tou nyn (until now), 43 Actium, battle of, 6 , 1 0 , 5 7 , 6 4 , 1 3 4 , 1 6 0 Acts, Book of 3:21 40 4:5 8 7:54-8:3 8 12:1-5 8 16:21 5 17:6 110-11 17:7 5 17:10 111 18:2 11 18:8 114 18:12 5 18:2^28 73 Adam/Eve, faU of, 3 1 , 3 6 , 3 8 , 1 3 9 - 4 0 Aeneid (Virgil), 2 7 , 5 5 Aeschines, 157 affliction 1 Cor 4 : 9 - 1 3 97,117 2 Cor 77,78,80,117 as divine punishment, 80 Gal 6:17 81 of Paul, 7 6 - 8 4 , 9 7 , 1 0 9 - 1 0 agora (theater), 18 agorai (redesigned city centers), 16 Agosto, Efrain, 5 , 2 1 , 1 8 2 Agrippa I, 8 Alexandria, riots in, 8 Annales (Tacitus), 11

Andiony 1 0 , 5 6 , 5 7 , 1 4 4 Antioch, 8 , 9 Antiochus IV, 146,148 antiSemitism, 8 , 6 0 apantesis (meeting), 48 apekdechomai (await), 44 Aphthonius, 159n. 13 apocalyptic wisdom, 9 6 , 9 7 , 9 9 apokalypsis, 2 , 6 8 , 9 7 apokaradokia (eager expectation), 34 ApoUo, 2 9 , 1 3 6 Apollonius of Tyana, 142 Apollos of Alexandria, 73 aposdes afifhctions of, 7 6 - 8 4 , 9 7 argimients by, 17 assembhes under, 1 3 - 1 4 , 1 9 creation of Christianity by, 1,2 disgrace of, 76 as homo religiosus, 1 imprisonment of, 5 , 1 0 and Judaism, 2 , 5 9 letters of, 6 , 7 2 - 7 5 messianic woes usage by, 42 mission of, 2 , 8 nature/human liberation per, 40 oral performance by, 7 3 - 7 5 rejection of salvation by, 31 as representation of power, 67, 71-75 as representatives of Christ, 82-83, 87 resistance to Roman imperial order by 4 - 5 , 1 9 - 2 3 , 4 9 , 58

187

Index

188

rhetoric by, 19-20,62n. 6 9 , 6 3 - 6 4 , 66 Scripture use by, 52 social world of, 6 Spanish mission of, 46 understanding of, 2 views of creation by, 42 apotheosis, 4 3 , 4 4 Apuleius, 179 Aquila/Prisca, 10-11 Ara PacisAgustae (Altar of the Augustan Peace), 2 0 , 2 8 - 3 0 , 3 4 , 177,181 Aratus, 26 arena, spectacle of, 7 2 , 7 8 , 8 0 . See also metaphor Aristotie, 1 9 , 1 6 4 - 6 5 Arminius, 180 Arrian, 160 Asmussen, 42 asphaleia (security), 18,48 assemblies, Pauline ICor 100,116 2 Cor 15:32b 99 ekklesia as, 1 8 , 5 3 , 6 1 , 7 3 , 8 3 , 8 7 , 97,103,109-10,119 formation of, 1 8 , 5 4 , 6 1 power of God for, 8 3 - 8 4 , 9 9 resistance by, 54 salvation for, 65 solidarity of, 116 suffering for, 5 9 , 6 2 Athanasius, 42 Athens, 18 Augustus (Caesar) golden age under, 2 6 , 3 0 , 3 1 , 3 2 , 41,43,46, 55,57,161 honors for, 6 4 , 1 4 2 imperial cult expansion under, 132,156,160-61 nature s deliverance through, 41 as Octavian, 6 , 1 0 , 1 4 , 1 6 , 2 0 , 2 7 , 56,57,64,70-71,144 Aurelius, Marcus, 107 autoi... kai autoi (ourselves,... even ourselves), 43 Bacchus, 29 baptism, 114,163 Beker, J. Christiaan, 82 Ben Perez (the Messiah), 38 Beskow, Per, 125 Bhabha, Homi, 48 birth pangs. See metaphor the Blues, 9

Bornhauser, K., 149 Boudicca, 180 bronze, age of, 26 Brooten, 169 Brutus, 10,57 Caesars, Roman apotheosis of, 4 4 , 6 1 golden age of, 2 6 , 3 0 , 3 1 , 3 2 , 4 1 , 4 3 , 4 6 , 55 honors for, 1 4 - 1 6 , 2 9 - 3 0 , 5 5 , 5 7 , 68,70-71,132-33,142 imperial cult under, 1 6 - 1 7 , 1 0 4 , 125-26 titles for, 3 Caligula, 149 The Cambridge Ancient History, 176 Campus Martius, 29 Caracalla, 178 Carmen Saeculare (Horace), 2 5 - 2 6 , 2 8 Carthage, 3 0 , 5 5 Cassius, 10 Cavanaugh, William, 8 5 , 8 7 census, taking of, 178-79 Cherubim (Philo), 59 Chile, 85 Chrestus, 11 Christ hymn, Phil 2:6-11 134,136-53 Christ/Gospel v. Caesar/Roman imperial order, 4 Christianity, creation of, 1,2 1 Chronicles (Chr), 5:25 159 Chronographia (Malalas), 9 church, 1 6 , 8 4 , 1 1 2 Cicero, 1 7 , 2 1 , 6 4 , 1 0 7 , 1 0 8 - 9 , 111, 157-58,182 circus, Roman, 9 , 1 0 citizenship, Roman, 178 city assembly, 18 civil order, 1-2 civil rights movement, U.S., 111 Claudius, 11,135 Claudius (Suetonius), 11 coins, Roman, 2 9 - 3 0 , 5 5 , 5 7 collegia, trade or cultic associations, 15,106-7 Colossians (Col), 1:24 32 combat imagery, 72, 7 9 - 8 0 . See also metaphor comets, appearance of, 2 6 , 2 8 commendation letters, 107-23 commerce, routes of, 10

Index Commodus, 57 community, alternative. See also assemblies, Pauline 1 Cor 1-4 97 formation of, 53,61 Jewish synagogai as, 53 network of, 54 PauFs ekklesiai as, 1 8 , 5 3 , 6 1 , 7 3 , 83,87,97,103,109-10,119 Community Rule, 64 conscience, introspection of, 2 consolation, 77 Corinth colonization of, 9 - 1 0 destruction of, 9 , 1 2 imperial cult in, 1 6 , 4 4 Paul's mission in, 1 0 - 1 1 , 4 3 , 9 8 , 113-16 1 Corinthians (1 Cor) 92 1:1 1:1-4 96,97,100 1:1-15 100 l:5-7a 93 1:5-14 97,98,100 l:7b-8 93 1:9 93,115 92 1:10 1:12-17 114 114 1:14-16 1:15 100 1:17-2:5 96 1:17-18 73,82 1:19-20 95 1:26, RSV 95 1:26-29 96 1:28 95 2:1-5 73 2:2 81 2:4 74,81 2:4-6 69 2:6^8 4 2:6-16 96 96 2:7-8 2:14-16 96 3:1-4 96 3:4 96 3:5-4:5 97 3:19-20 95 4:6-8 96 4 4:8-10 4:8-13 97 4:9-13 78,81,97,117 4:12b-13, RSV 95 4:18-21 96 4:19-20 73

189

20 ;7b :10-12 1-11 i:9-ll 11 d5-20 .:19 :l-40 ':23 7:31 7:^:40, NASB 10;d - 1 3 10;):7-22 10;d l 10;1 : 1 4 - 2 2 1 :3 1 :6 1 .:8-9,RSV 11:14-15 11:17-34 12:3 12:12 12:14 14-22 15:23-28 15:24 15:24-28, RSV 15:32 15:51-57, RSV 16:15-16 16:15-18 16:17-18 2 Corinthians (2 Cor) 1:1-9 1:3-7 1:5 1:6 1:7 1:8 1:8-10 1:9 1:15-17 1:21-22 1:23-2:4 2:2 2:4 2:6-8 2:8-9 2:12 2:13 2:14 2:14-16 3:1-3 3:18

81 99 173 116 173 98 156,164 98 156 97 4 98 99 173 96 116 168 168 168 168 99 98 98 98 99 96 4 100 5,78 100 113 113-16 113-14 77 52,77 32 32 32 5,77 76,77 77 77 98 77 79,81 77,81 99 75 77 77 77-78 75, 76 110 34

190

4 7-12 117 4 8-12 77 4 10 76,77,81 4 10-11 83 4 14 83 5: 5 98 5: 14 76 5: 17 46 5: 17-6:2 52 6 3-4 78 6 3-10 117 6 :4-5 117 6::4-10 78 6 14-18 173 7: 76,78 7: 77 10; 3 - 6 79 10; 10 73 10 18 110 1 7 115 1 23-27 80 1 23-30 117 74 12; 12 99 15 3 - 5 99 15 2 0 - 2 8 99 15 32b 99 15 51 100 15 58 100 16: 13-14, RSV arrangement of material in, 9 1 - 9 3 Paul's opposition to Romans in, 3-4 cornucopia, symbol of, 30 corruption, 44 covenantal nomism, 2 creation balance of, 3 5 - 3 6 , 4 0 issue of, 2 5 , 2 7 , 3 3 , 3 4 ktisis reference to, 34n. 45 liberation of, 3 1 - 3 2 , 4 0 personification of, 3 4 , 4 1 redemption of, 4 0 - 4 1 responsibility for, 46 restoration of, 48 Rom 8:22-23 40-41 Crispus, 114 Crucified One. See Jesus Christ crucifixion 1 Cor 1:18-25 116 of Jesus Christ, 3 , 7 , 2 1 , 2 2 , 6 9 , 8 1 , 116 performance of, 81 cultural memory, 179-80 Cybele, 136 Cynics, 53, 79

Index Daniel (Dan) 7:12 94 7:27 97 12:1 61 Dardanians, 63 Day of the Lx)rd, 6 4 - 6 5 De beneficiis (Seneca), 104 de Chardin, Teilhard, 35 de Ste. Crok, G.E.M., 103 death, hberation from. See resurrection democracy, 18 Demosthenes, 157 Deutero-Isaiah,40:5 33 Deuteronomy (Deut) 4:26 35 30:19 35 31:16 159 31:28 35 33:2 33 dia ton hypotaxanta, eph' helpidi (on account of the one who subjected it, m hope), 38 diakonia (service, ministry), 114,115 Diaspora Jews, 7 , 2 0 Dio Chrysostom, 159,169 Diodorus Siculus, 1 4 2 - 4 4 , 1 4 8 , 159-60 Dionysius of Hahcarnassus, 160 the disappeared, 86 die Druids, 181 DuBois, W.E.B., 48 Duff, Paul, 7 6 - 7 7 Ecclesiastes (Eccl) 1:2 36-37 2:1-17 37 ecological system, 3 5 - 3 8 . See also creation Egnatian Way, 10 eis hemas (for us), 33 ekklesiai (lawcourts). See assembhes, Pauline eleutherothesetai (it will be freed), 39 ehte, domination of, 6,6n. 9 , 4 5 , 4 9 , 128-32,151 EUiott, NeU, 5 , 2 0 - 2 1 , 2 5 n . 1 , 1 5 6 , 1 8 2 emperor, Roman. See Caesars, Roman The Emperor in the Roman World (MUlar), 176 en heautois (within ourselves), 44 the encomium, 1 4 1 , 1 5 1 , 1 5 3 , 1 7 3 Enoch 1 94 1:24-25 39 91:16-17 39

Index

191

1 Enoch 7:6 34 62:4 41 enslavement, 97 environment, 2 0 , 3 7 ep' elpidi (m hope/anticipation), 38 Epaphroditus, 116-117 Ephesus imperial cult in, 16 Paul's mission m, 5 , 1 0 - 1 1 Paul's trial/imprisonment in, 76, 77 Epicureans, 53 epiphany, procession of, 7 6 - 7 8 Epistolae (Phny die Younger), 106 Erucius, Sextus, 117 eschaton (last/new age), 3 2 , 4 4 die Eucharist, 8 5 - 8 7 euergetism (construction of pubhc spaces/buildings), 2 1 , 1 1 8 , 1 2 8 , 131 Euodia, Phil 4:2-3 1 1 6 , 1 1 8 - 1 9 , 1 1 9 n . 42 evil, triumph over, 33 evolution, 35. See also creation exaltation. See resurrection Exodus (Exod) 24:9-10 33 34:15-16 159 expulsion, ritual of, 80. See also metaphor Ezekial (Ezek) 6:9 159 16:15 159 20:30 159 24:25 33 4 Ezra 7:11 38 10:6-16 41 13:26 39 faith, personal, 1,2 Fanon, Frantz, 48 flood tradition, 3 4 - 3 5 Fortunatas, 113-14 The Fortune of the Romans, 19 Fourth Eclogue (Virgil), 2 7 , 2 8 - 2 9 Fourdi Philosophy, 5 1 , 1 7 9 free will, 3 7 - 3 8 Pronto, 107

1:13 8 1:15 52 3 4 3:1 81 3:1-5 98 3:3-5 74 3:5 81 3:23 32 3:28 168 5:16-26 156,164,173 5:24 32,155,172 6:15 46 6:17 81 Galilee, 7 Galhc wars, veterans of, 10 Galho of Achaia, 5 Geminus, Rosianus, 1 0 6 , 1 0 7 - 8 gender/sex, hierarchy of, 164-73 Genesis (Gen) 1:26-27 139 1:28-30 35 1:31 37 3:17-18 41 3:17-19 36 3:18 37 4:10 35 bibhcal creation story in, 3 4 , 3 6 , 4 1 Gentiles moral corruption of, 155,159, 164,182-83 saving of, 6 0 - 6 1 Georgi, Dieter, 2 5 - 2 6 , 1 5 6 Germanicus Caesar, 145 globe, symbol of, 30 glory, divine, 3 3 , 3 4 , 3 7 God accountabihty to, 97 intervention by 6 4 - 6 5 , 9 0 , 1 0 0 power of, 8 2 - 8 3 , 9 0 vindication by, 3 will of, 9 0 , 9 4 golden age, 2 6 , 3 0 , 3 1 , 3 2 , 4 1 , 4 3 , 4 6 , 55,55n. 39 Gospels, the conversion by, 3 1 , 3 5 mission of, 116,119 source of, 7 Gowan, Donald, 35 Greco-Romans, 26 die Greens, 9

Gaius, 8 , 9 , 5 7 , 1 1 4 , 1 1 5 , 1 3 5 , 1 4 9 Galatia, 11 Galatians (Gal) 1:11-17

Habakkuk (Hab), 3:3^ habeas corpus, 8 4 - 8 7 hagioi (set-apart ones), 9 2 - 9 3

4

33

192

Hall, Robert, 93 Harlem Renaissance, 48 Harris, Wilson, 48 healing v. destruction, 46 Hebrew Scriptures, 99 Heen, Erik, 5 , 2 1 , 1 8 2 Hellenistic kingship ideology, 30 Hellenistic-Roman culture, 7 Hermetic hterature, 142 Herod Antipas, 7 , 9 , 5 1 , 5 6 Hesiod, 2 6 , 5 5 Historiae (Tacitus), 167 Holocaust, 2 Homer, 142,159 homo religiosus, 1,2 homosexuahty, 165-66 honors, 1 1 , 1 4 - 1 8 , 2 1 - 2 2 , 5 4 - 5 5 , 5 7 , 63,103,108,126,128-29,131-33, 142 Horace, 2 5 - 2 6 , 1 6 0 , 1 7 3 , 1 7 7 Horsley, Richard, 9 4 - 9 5 , 1 5 6 hos systenazein g' oida gennaios philois (mdeed, I genuinely know how to groan with friends), 4 2 , 4 5 Hosea (Hos) 4:1-3 36,41 4:7 33 9:11 33 13:13 41 huioi tou theou (sons of God), 35 human sin/nature as corruption, 26 Gen 3:17-18 41 God's curse against, 38 Is 24:4-7 41 Job 31:38-40 41 link between, 4 0 - 4 1 Rom 41 humans, intervention by, 42 hymns, Greek, 127 hypetage (was subjected), 36 Idumaeans Antipater, 56 imperial cult celebration of, 1 6 - 1 7 , 1 0 4 , 1 2 5 - 2 6 civic self-interest under, 132 ehte as priests for, 1 0 4 , 1 3 2 - 3 3 enemies of, 180 and patronage, 104 religion and, 130-32 social cohesion under, 1 7 , 1 0 3 - 2 3 sponsorship of, 16-17 imperial priests, 1 0 4 , 1 3 2 - 3 3 interpolation hypothesis, 58n. 51 ioudaismos, 7

Index iron, age of, 26 Isaiah (Is) 2:12 64 6:3 33 11:4-5 38 11:6-9 38 13:8 41 21:3 41 24:4-7 41 24:23 33 26:17-18 41 35:1-2 33 40:1-11 52 43:18-19 52 49:1-6 52 52:7 52 57:18 52 59:17 48,64 60:1-3 33 60:11 52 61:1 52 65:17 38 66:7-8 42 66:22 38 Isis, 136 isotheo timai (highest civic honors). 142^9 Israel apokalypsis of, 97 birtii of, 42 42 Is 6 6 : 7 - 8 Paul and, 2 resistance by, 51 James, C.L.R., 48 James, stoning of, 56 Jeremiah (Jer) 1:4-5 52 2:11 33 4:31 41 11:20 52 12:3 52 22:23 41 Jesus Christ accountabihty to, 97 apokalypsis of, 2 , 6 8 Caesars' displacement by, 4 , 9 2 , 1 5 1 crucifixtion of, 3 , 7 , 2 1 , 2 2 , 6 9 , 8 1 gospel of, 2 , 3 in Jerusalem, 8 as the Messiah, 1,38 parousia of, 4 8 , 5 2 preexistence of, 138-41 rejection of, 171-72 resistance to worldly power by, 86

193

Index resurrection of, 3—4,66,72,82, 83,99 suffering of, 32 usurping power of God by, 147-48 Jesus of Nazareth. See Jesus Christ Jewett, Robert, 5 , 2 0 , 2 5 - 4 6 Jewish Antiquities (Josephus), 9 Jewish War (Josephus), 9 , 5 1 , 5 6 , 5 9 Jews, 1 , 2 , 8 , 4 9 , 5 9 Job, 31:38-40 41 Johannine community, 1 4 8 - 4 9 John, 16:21 41 John die Baptist, 56 Josephus, 6 , 7 , 9 , 5 1 , 5 6 , 5 9 , 1 7 8 - 7 9 Joshua (Josh), 24:27 35 Jubilees, Is 1:29 39 Judea aristocracy of, 52 Gaius' invasion of, 9 Jews in, 2 0 , 5 6 province of, 3 resistance to Romans in, 7 , 4 9 , 5 1 Judges (Judg), 2:17 159 judgment, divine lCor7b-8 93 1 Enoch 62:4 41 1 Thess 5:3 41 4 Ezra 10:6-16 41 Dan 12:1 61 en heautois (within ourselves), 44 Hos 13:13 41 Is 41 Jer 41 John 16:21 41 Mark 13 41 Matt 24:9-14 61 Mic 4 : 9 - 1 0 41 prospect of, 41 suffering of achri tou nyn (until now), 43 Juhus Caesar, 2 6 , 5 6 - 5 7 , 1 4 4 Jupiter, 136 justification by faith, 1 kabdd (doxa) (innate weightmess, honor, beauty, fiery presence, splendor, or power), 33 kata hekousion (free will). See free will

Kim,Chan-Hie, 111, 118 2 Kings (Kgs), 9:22 Kittrni. See Romans Knox, W., 150 Knust, Jennifer Wright, 5 , 2 2 ktisis (creation). See creation Latin, 135 Latium, 55 lawcourts, destruction of, 18 leitourgia (a service), 117 Letter to the Romans, 1 , 2 5 , 3 1 letters, PauUne, 7 2 - 7 5 letterwriters, 111-12 Levi, Testament of 18:10-11 Life of Augustus (Nicolaus of Damascus), 144 limitations, human, 37 Lipsius, 42 hturgy, street, 8 5 - 8 6 Livia, 135 Livy, 5 5 , 5 7 Lord's Supper, 99 love and suffering, 82 Lucian, 167 Lucius Caesar, 135 Luke 1:52, RSV 2:1-5 lust, sin of, 162-63 Luther, Martin, 1

159

39

151 178

Macedonia, 1 0 , 6 3 , 1 1 2 Madoi, the, 63 Magdala, 13 Mark 13:8 41 13:19 61 13:24 61 martyrdom Eucharist and, 87 prospect of, 7 8 - 7 9 mataioo (make vain, empty) Eccl 1:2 36-37 Rom 1:21 37 mataiotes (emptiness, vanity, fruidessness), 36 Matthew (Matt) 5:41, JB 179 24:9-14 61 Meeks, Wayne, 113 Menander of Laodicea, 1 4 4 - 4 5 , 1 6 2 Mercury, 136

194

Messiah, the. See Jesus Christ messianic woes, 42 Metamorphoses (Apuleius), 179 Metamorphoses (Ovid), 26 metaphor birth pangs as, 4 1 - 4 2 combat imagery as, 7 2 , 7 9 - 8 0 Mother Earth as, 41 slavery as, 170-71 spectacle of arena as, 72 triumphal procession as, 7 2 , 7 5 , 76,77 use of, 4 1 - 4 2 , 4 6 , 7 2 , 7 5 , 7 6 , 7 7 , 78-80,170-71 Metaphysica (Aristode), 164 Metellus, 57 Micah (Mic), 4:9-10 41 Michel, Otto, 39 Millar, Fergus, 176 Mithridates, 63 Moltmann, Jurgen, 83 Moralia (Plutarch), 15 Mosaic covenant, 4 Mother Earth, 41. See also metaphor Mount Sinai, 33 Murray, John, 3 3 , 4 0 mysterion of God, 4 natal alienation, 14 nature abuse/corruption of, 2 5 - 2 6 , 3 7 , 4 1 imperial ideology of, 2 6 , 3 1 personification of, 3 8 , 4 1 restoration of, 2 5 - 2 6 , 3 5 , 3 8 , 41-42,45 ten apolutrosin tou somatos hemon (the redemption of our body), 45 Nazaredi, 13 Nelson-Pallmeyer, Jack, 85 Nero, 3 0 , 4 3 , 5 5 n . 3 9 , 1 4 8 New Testament European studies of, 50 slavery and, 13 study of, 1,5 Nicolaus of Damascus, 144 Numbers (Num), 14:21 33 Odysseus, 55 oidamen gar hoti (for we know that), 41 On the Crown (Demosthenes), 157 Onesimus, 5 7 , 1 1 0 oral performance, 7 2 - 7 5

Index oratory. See rhetoric Origin, 42 ou monon de, alia kai (not only, but also), 43 ouch hekousa (not willingly, not voluntarily), 37 Ovid, 26 panegyrics, 1 3 9 , 1 4 1 , 1 5 0 , 1 8 2 Panegyricus (Pliny), 15 pantheon, 17 Parallel Lives (Plutarch), 158 parousia (coming or presence) of die Lord, 4 6 , 4 8 , 6 1 , 6 3 , 6 5 , 6 6 of Paul, 6 7 , 6 8 , 7 2 , 7 3 , 7 5 , 7 9 , 8 0 , 8 3 Parthians, 29 partitive genitive, theory of, 43n. 69 pasa he ktisis (the whole creation), 41 Passover, 7,51 pathemata (passions, sufferings), 32 patronage importance of, 1 4 - 1 6 , 1 0 3 - 4 provisions by, 105 reciprocity in, 105 social relations under, 103 Paul 1 Cor 1:17-18 82 1 Thess 49-50,58 2 Cor 4:10-11 83 afflictions of, 7 6 - 8 4 , 9 7 , 1 0 9 - 1 0 apokalypsis of, 97 attack on Gentiles by, 159 bias/perspective of, 7 9 , 9 2 - 9 3 , 1 5 6 Christ's resurrection and, 8 2 - 8 3 commendations by, 109-23 ekklesiai for, 1 8 , 5 3 , 6 1 , 7 3 , 8 3 , 8 7 , 103,109-10,119 execution of, 110 gender/sex, hierarchy of, 169-73 justification by faith of, 1 letters by 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 2 0 , 2 1 , 2 3 , 2 5 , 31,36,47, 58,66,73-75,79, 81-82,89 Macedonia mission for, 5 4 , 6 1 , 7 7 , 112 message for Jews by, 59 missionary efforts of, 122 opposition to Roman imperial order by, 2 - 3 , 5 , 4 9 - 5 0 , 5 4 , 63-65,67-68,97,109,156-57 parousia of, 8 0 , 8 4 politics and, 1 7 5 - 7 7 , 1 8 2 - 8 3 power of, 84 rhetoric of, 8 0 , 8 9 - 1 0 1 , 1 1 6 , 1 5 7 - 5 9 , 1 6 2 , 1 6 4 , 170

Index sexual sin for, 170n. 5 8 , 1 8 2 - 8 3 Spanish mission of, 46 use of metaphors by, 7 5 , 7 6 , 7 7 , 79-80 Paul among Jews and Gentiles (Stendahl), 2 Paul and Pohdcs Group, 5 , 2 2 , 1 7 5 Paul and the Roman Imperial Order (Agosto, Heen, Knust, Smith), 5 Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Beker), 82 Pauline scholarship. See also Paul anti-Roman views in, 125 assumptions of, 4 shifts in, 2 , 4 0 understandings by, 5 , 6 0 Paulus, 63 pax Romana (peace and security), 6, 2 7 , 3 7 , 4 8 , 5 0 , 6 5 - 6 6 , See also Roman imperial order performance, techniques of, 8 1 - 8 2 peri de (now concerning) formula, 97-98 Perseus, 5 7 , 6 3 Peter, arrest of, 56 Phaenomena (Aratus), 26 Pharisees, 7 Philemon, 110 Philippi colonization of, 1 0 , 1 1 , 1 3 4 - 3 5 imperial cult in, 134-36 Paul's mission to, 135,178 symbohsm of, 10 Philippians 1:7 5 1:14 5 1:15-30 119 1:20 34 2 134 2:6 141 2:6-7 139 2:6-11 21,125-27,136-53 2:6b 125,138,148 2:14-18 118 2:15 156 2:17 5,117 2:19-24 116 2:22 116 2:25 117 2:25-30 116 3:10 32 3:20-21 119 4:2-3 116,118 4:4-9 118 4:18 118

195

Philo, 6 , 8 - 9 , 1 1 , 5 9 , 1 4 6 - 4 7 , 1 8 1 Philopoemen, 143 philosophy, study of, 171 philotimia (love of honor), 128,133 Phoebe, commendation of, 119-20 phthora (corruption, decay, destruction), 3 9 - 4 0 pieta (honoring of gods), 30 Pinochet, Agosto, 85 Plato, 1 4 5 - 4 6 , 1 4 8 , 1 5 3 , 1 5 9 , 1 6 4 Phny 1 5 , 2 1 , 1 0 7 , 1 1 6 , 1 1 7 , 1 8 2 Pliny (die Younger), 106 Plutarch, 1 5 , 1 8 , 1 5 8 pollution of nature Hos 4:1-3 41 human exploitation as, 41 Is 24:4-7 41 Pompey, 7 postcolonial criticism, 49n. 10 Potter's Oracle, 180 power. See also patronage 1 Cor 81 manifestation of, 80,81,84,105,117 Price, Simon, 5 , 1 6 , 2 1 , 6 8 , 1 0 4 priests, imperial, 1 0 4 , 1 3 2 - 3 3 Prmceps, 150-51 Prmcipate, die, 5 5 , 6 3 , 6 7 n . 2 Prisca and Aquila, 10-11 property requirement, 18 prostatis (benefactor or patroness), 119-20 Protestant theology, 1 Protestantism v. Judaism, 1 Proverbs (Prov) 11:16 33 20:3 33 Psahns (Ps) 8:5-8 35 19:1^ 37 72:19 33 punishment. See judgment, divine Pydna, batde at, 57 Pythagoreans, 53 Qumtihan,81,82 racial hatred Biblical support of, 60 Ramsaran, Rollin, 5,21 reconciliation, global. See ecological system reconquest, Roman, 7 religion, rituals of, 130-31 religion v. political-economics, 1,5, 47,67-68

196 Republic (Plato), 153,159 Republican period, 5 3 , 1 0 6 - 7 resistance movement, 111 resurrection 1 Cor 15 83,100 2 Cor 83,99 from death, 3 - 4 , 4 5 , 8 3 , 1 0 0 of Jesus Christ, 3-A, 6 6 , 7 2 , 8 2 , 8 3 , 99,109 Phil 2:6-11 150 Revelation, Book of (Rev) critique of Rome in, 125 rhetoric in Athens, 18 forms of, 2 1 , 8 7 ftmction of, 1 7 - 1 9 Greco-Roman, 2 1 , 8 9 , 9 5 , 9 6 , 1 0 0 , 116 Jewish apocalyptic as, 8 9 - 9 0 , 9 7 , 101 of Paul, 8 0 , 8 9 - 1 0 1 , 1 1 6 , 1 5 7 - 5 9 , 162,164,170 Rhoimetalus II, 57 righteousness, divine, 3 5 , 4 4 Rituals and Power (Price), 5 rituals of power, 83 Roman Empire banditry/piracy in, 179 brutahty of reconquest by, 7 citizenship in, 178 control by, 1 4 , 5 4 - 5 5 , 1 7 8 ftmction of rehgion in, 67n. 2 population of, 10-11 Romans as Kittim, 64 taxation in, 178 Roman imperial order 1 Cor 1-4 100 appreciation of, 6n. 9 bureaucracy under, 14,104 conventions of power under, 49 elite population under, 6 , 6 n . 9, 45,49,128-32,151 God's judgment of, 4 mstabihty under, 9 , 1 1 - 1 2 opposition to Paul by, 4 - 5 patronage under, 1 4 - 1 6 , 2 9 - 3 0 , 55,57,71n. 16,103-23 Paul s oppostion to, 2 - 3 , 5 , 4 9 - 5 0 , 54,63-65,67-68,97,109 rehgious tolerance under, 6 7 - 6 8 representation of power under, 69-70 resistance to, 4 8 - 4 9 rhetoric under, 1 7 - 1 9 , 6 2 ritual/propaganda of, 6 7 , 6 8 - 7 1

Index social setting of, 94 subjugation under, 3 , 1 1 , 4 6 Romanitas, 10 Romans (Rom) 1:5 74 1:11 2 1:14 36 1:16 74 1:16-17 80 1:17-18 35-36,40 1:18 32,33 1:18-32 35,156,169-70,172 1:21 37 1:24 155,163 1:26 163 1:27-28 163 1:28, RSV 163 1:32 163 2:2 41 2:8-9 172 2:21-24 172 3:19 41 3:21-26 163 5:1-5 172 5:2 38 5:5 44 5:7 35 5:18-19 172 6:6 171 6:6-7 172 6:8 171,172 6:11-14 172 6:12 163 6:12-13 172 6:13 79 6:13-23 156 6:18 172 6:19 163,171,172 6:21 171 6:22 172 7:5 32,171 7:14-15 172 8:2-4 172 8:5-8 172 8:9 172 8:11 172 8:12-13 172 8:12-17 172 8:14 172 8:15 44 8:17 32 8:18 32,43 8:18-23 20,25,31-46 8:19 34,39,40,43,44,46 8:20 36

Index 8:21 8:21b 8:22 8:22-23 8:23 8:26-27 8:30 9:9-11 10:4 10:11-12 10:15-16 11:25-36 12:1 12:1-2 12:2 12:6-13 12:8 12:16-18 13:9-10 13:12-14 15:7-13 15:14-16 15:18-19 15:22-24 15:25-27 15:28-29 15:30-32 16:1-2 16:3-16 16:23 Romulus, 160 Rufiis, Musonius, 158

197

37,38,39 40 42,43 25n. 1 , 4 0 - 4 1 98 43n. 7 9 , 4 4 34,172 4 4 172 52 4 172 36 172 172 112 172 172 172 36 74 74,80 121 121 121-22 122 119-22 121 114

Saecular Games, 2 7 - 2 8 , 4 3 , 1 8 1 Said, Edward, 48 saints, 4 , 3 2 , 3 4 Sailer, Richard, 107 salvation individualization of, 40 pain of, 42 plan of, 2 , 5 3 quest for, 1 source of, 65 Sarapis, bust of, 180 Saturn, Age of, 2 7 , 3 1 , 3 7 Saul of Tarsus, 7 Scaevola, Quintus, 143-44 Schlatter, 42 Schlier, Heinrich, 3 9 , 4 2 Scott, James C , 2 2 , 1 2 6 - 2 7 , 1 2 8 , 1 3 9 , 151,152 Sebastian Acevedo Movement against Torture, 8 5 , 8 7 Second Temple apocalyptists, 93 Seneca the Elder, 1 0 4 , 1 6 9 , 1 7 1

Sermon on the Mount, 179 Sibylline Oracles, 3 9 , 1 4 7 - 4 8 , 1 6 7 Sicarii. See Sicarioi Sicarioi (dagger men), 8 , 5 1 , 5 6 Siculus, Calpurnius, 30-31 Silvanus, 136 silver, age of, 26 sin, 44 Skordiskoi, 63 slavery degradation via, 1 3 , 3 5 , 1 6 5 n . 35 dependence on, 12-14 desire v. God, 163 as metaphor, 170-71 Smith, Abraham, 5 , 2 0 Society of Biblical Literature, 5 , 1 7 5 Solarium Augusti, 29 sonship, 44n. 8 4 , 4 6 Soviet Union, 85 Soyinka, Wole, 48 Spirit of God 1 Cor 98 2 Cor 98 action of, 4 4 , 9 8 Gal 3:1-5 98 gift of, 4 3 , 4 3 n . 79 Rom 44 Spirit rhetoric, 96 Spivak, Gayatri, 48 stardom. See kabod Stendahl, Krister, 2 Stepha, 113-14 Stephen, stoning of, 56 Stoics, 5 3 , 7 9 Stowers, Stanley, 111-12 suffering, human Gen 3:17-18 41 Job 31:38-40 41 nature and, 4 0 - 4 1 in Pauline assemblies, 6 1 - 6 2 Rom 8:22-23 40-41 triumph over, 38 sustenazo (cry out, groan together) Gen 3:17-18 41 Is 24:4-7 41 Job 31:38-40 41 link between human sin and nature as, 41 Rom 41 Syedra, 179 Syntyche Phil 4:2-3 116,118-19,119n. 42 systenazei kai synodinei (groans together and travails together), 42

Index

198

ta pathemata ton hamartion (sinful passions), 32 Tacitus, 167 Taubes, Jacob, 25 ten aparchen tou pneumatos (firstfruits of the Spirit), 4 3 - 4 4 ten apolutrosin tou somatos hemon (the redemption of our body), 45 ten eleutherian tes doxes (hberation consisting of glory), 40 ten mellousan doxan (the future glory), 32 ten mellousan pistin apokaluphthenai (ftiture faith to be revealed), 32 terrorism September 1 1 , 2 0 0 1 , 8 4 by Sicarioi, 8 social control by 8 4 - 8 5 , 8 8 U.S. pohcy support of, 84 Tertulhan, 179 Testament of Moses, 94 text-external dispositio, 9 1 , 9 3 , 9 4 - 9 6 thelema theou (will of God), 9 2 - 9 4 Thessalonians, culture of, 3 , 5 7 - 5 9 1 Thessalonians (1 Thess) 1:5 74 1:6 5,111 1:6b 62 1:9 173 1:10 3 2:2 5,54,62 2:4 52 2:12 3 2:13-16 49-50,58,60-62,66 2:14-15 62 2:14-16 5,20,59 2:16b 61 2:17 47 2:19 3,48 3:1-5 62 3:1-10 111 3:6 47 3:13 3,48 4:3-7 155,164 4:5 156,173 4:11 111 4:14-18 3,48 4:15 48,66 4:17 48,66 4:18 52 5:1-11 3,49-50,58,63-65 5:3 41,48 5:4-5 64 5:8 48 5:11 52 5:12-13 110-13

5:13l>-14 113 5:23 3,48 Paul s stand against Roman imperial order in, 47 Thessalonica 1 Thess 111 Acts 17:6 110-11 imperial cult m, 16 PauHne assembly in, 6 3 - 6 5 , 1 1 0 - 1 3 Paul's experience in, 5 , 4 3 , 5 9 persecution of Paul's assembly in, 110-11 resistance to Romans in, 4 9 , 6 0 - 6 2 Roman honors given in, 5 7 , 6 8 Roman orientation in, 10 siege mentaUty of, 6 3 - 6 4 Theudas,51 thiasoi, 15 Third Macedonian War, 57 Tunodiy (Tun) 3:4-5 112 3:12 112 5:17 112 Phil 2:19-24 116 Phil 2:22 116 topos, 6 2 , 9 3 - 9 6 , 9 9 - 1 0 1 , 1 3 9 , 1 4 1 , 172 torture, 8 4 - 8 6 Trajan, 1 0 6 , 1 1 6 , 1 6 1 , 1 8 0 transcripts, pubhc/hidden, 127,128 transformation, ethic of, 36 tribute, Roman, 7 triumphal procession, 7 2 , 7 5 , 7 6 , 7 7 . See also metaphor Trojan War, 55 universal intemational history, 4 U. S. civil rights movement, 111 U.S. School of the Americas, 85 vanity. See mataiotes Vercingetorix, 180 Via Egnatia, 134 Virgil, 2 7 , 5 5 , 5 5 n . 39 Vulcanius, 26n. 8 War Rule of the Qumran covenanters, 64 Wengst, Klaus, 156 Women, 1 7 - 1 8 , 1 6 4 - 7 3 Works and Days (Hesiod), 2 6 , 5 5 Yahweh, 3 3 , 6 4 Zeitgeist, 90 zodiac signs, 30

Paul and the Roman Imperial Order

Paul and the Roman Imperial Order

Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Themes

Roman Imperial Coinage

Roman Imperial Themes

Roman Imperial Coins

Roman Imperial Themes

Roman Imperial Coinage

Augustus (Roman Imperial Biographies)

Questioning the New Imperial World Order

Septimius Severus (Roman Imperial Biographies)

Paul: Jew, Greek, and Roman (Pauline Studies)

The Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation

Tiberius the Politician (Roman Imperial Biographies)

Constantine and the Christian Empire (Roman Imperial Biographies)

Carausius and Allectus: The British Usurpers (Roman Imperial Biographies)

Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire

Aurelian and the Third Century (Roman Imperial Biographies)

Constantine and the Christian Empire (Roman Imperial Biographies)

Galerius and the Will of Diocletian (Roman Imperial Biographies)

Paul and the Roman Imperial Order