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Paul's letter to the Romans has a long history in Christian dogmatic battles. But how might the letter have been heard by an audience in Neronian Rome? James R. Harrison answers that question through a reader-response approach grounded in deep investigations of the material and ideological culture of the city, from Augustus to Nero. Inscriptional, archaeological, monumental, and numismatic evidence, in addition to a breadth of literary material, allows him to describe the ideological "value system" of the Julio-Claudian world, which would have shaped the perceptions and expectations of Paul's readers. Throughout, Harrison sets prominent Pauline themes¿¿his obligation to Greeks and barbarians, newness of life and of creation against the power of death, the body of Christ, "boasting" in "glory" and God's purpose in and for Israel¿¿in startling juxtaposition with Roman ideological themes. The result is a richer and more complex understanding of the letter's argument and its possible significance for contemporary readers.
List of contents
1.Introduction
2. Viewing Paul's Epistle to the Romans with Roman Eyes: A Visual Exegesis of the Artifacts of Rome
3. Paul and Status Signifiers from Late Republican to Neronian Rome: An Epigraphic Reconsideration of the Social Constituency of the Roman Churches
4. Paul's "Indebtedness" to the Barbarian in Latin West Perspective
5. Paul and the "Social Relations" of Death at Rome (Rom 5:14, 17, 21)
6. Paul's "Groaning" Creation and the Roman Understanding of Nature: A Contemporary Conversation in the Grounds of Livia's Villa and Nero's Garden
7. Augustan Rome and the Body of Christ: A Comparison of the Social Vision of the Res Gestae and Paul's Letter to the Romans
8. Paul the "Zionist": Romans 9:33 and 11:26 in their Jewish and Roman Context
9. Paul and the Roman Ideal of Glory in the Epistle to the Romans
10. Conclusion
About the author
James R. Harrison is Professor and Director of Research at Sydney College of Divinity, Australia, and Honorary Associate of Macquarie University Ancient History Department. He is author of Paul and the Imperial Authorities at Thessalonica and Rome (Mohr Siebeck, 2011), and co-editor of volume 10 of New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity (Eerdmans, 2012). His new book, Paul and the Ancient Celebrity Circuit: The Cross and Character Formation, is another Mohr Siebeck publication forthcoming. Along with Larry Welborn, he is also co-editor of the SBL series on urban Christianity, The First Urban Churches, with volumes published on the methodology of studying ancient cities (2015), Roman Corinth (2016), and Ephesus (2017). Harrison also edits the renamed pentad, New Documents Illustrating the History of Early Christianity Vols 11-15, investigating the inscriptions of the major New Testament cities.
Summary
James R. Harrison investigates how Paul’s letter to the Romans might have been heard by an audience in Neronian Rome by examining the material and ideological culture of the city and setting prominent Pauline themes in juxtaposition with Roman ideological themes.
Additional text
Harrison’s breakout book Paul’s Language of Grace in Its Graeco-Roman Context and his follow-up on the imperial cult in Thessalonica provided a well-powered two stage launch for New Testament students on their voyage back to the world of Paul and the first hearers of his letters. Now Harrison’s Reading Romans with Roman Eyes offers a slingshot boost and focus in trajectory to first century Rome and the letter Paul sent there. Reading Romans with Roman Eyes is without peer in the way it offers a stereoscopic consideration of both Jewish and Roman cultural perspectives by means of literary, archaeological, epigraphic, iconographic, and numismatic evidence. This balance of perspectives and accompanying range of evidence is unmatched by anyone else studying Romans today. With the release of Reading Romans with Roman Eyes, Harrison has become a patron of many, especially those seeking to understand Romans in its first century contexts.
