Ethnic values changed as Imperial Rome expanded, challenging ethnocentric values in Rome itself, as well as in Greece and Judea. Rhetorically, Roman, Greek, and Judean writers who eulogized their cities all claimed they would receive foreigners. Further, Greco-Roman narratives of urban tensions between rich and poor, proud and humble, promoted reconciliation and fellowship between social classes. Luke wrote Acts in this ethnic, economic, political context, narrating Jesus as a founder who changed laws to encourage receiving foreigners, which promoted civic, missionary growth and legitimated interests of the poor and humble. David L. Balch relates Roman art to early Christianity and introduces famous, pre-Roman Corinthian artists. He shows women visually represented as priests, compares Dionysian and Corinthian charismatic speech and argues that larger assemblies of the earliest, Pauline believers "sat" (1 Cor 14.30) in taverns. Also, the author demonstrates that the image of a pregnant woman in Revelation 12 subverts imperial claims to the divine origin of the emperor, before finally suggesting that visual representations by Roman domestic artists of "a category of women who upset expected forms of conduct" (Bergmann) encouraged early Christian women like Thecla, Perpetua and Felicitas to move beyond gender stereotypes of being victims. Balch concludes with two book reviews, one of Nicolas Wiater's book on the Greek biographer and historian Dionysius, who was a model for both Josephus and Luke-Acts, the second of a book by Frederick Brenk on Hellenistic philosophy and mystery religion in relation to earliest Christianity.

This stimulating collection of essays by prominent scholars honors Carolyn Osiek. The essays reflect her career and attempt to pay tribute to both the unity and the diversity of her accomplishments. The authors interpret early Christians in their social world and women in early Christianity, with interpretations spanning the New Testament and early church documents. The editors have brought together an international group of scholars. The book includes both a comprehensive bibliography of Osiek's work as well as a brief introduction by the editors reflecting on their experiences with her during her career.Contributors:David Balch Jeremy W. BarrierTerri Bednarz, R.S.M.Laurie Brink, O.P.Warren CarterAdela Yarbro CollinsAmy-Jill LevineMargaret Y. MacDonaldJason L. MerrittHalvor MoxnesBarbara Reid, O.P.David RhoadsDonald Senior, C.P.Yancy W. Smith

Homosexuality is one of the most hotly debated issues in the church today. This book arises directly out of the current discussion of what the Bible says about the morality of homosexual acts and relationships. Taking up the question from both sides of the debate, twelve biblical scholars, psychologists, and theologians debate the meaning of the scriptural passages on homosexuality -- from Genesis, Leviticus, Romans, and 1 Corinthians -- in light of contemporary scientific and exegetical evidence. Balanced and well reasoned, this volume will help readers constructively engage this pressing, highly sensitive subject.

Typical studies of marriage and family in the early Christian period focus on very limited evidence found in Scripture. This interdisciplinary book offers a broader, richer picture of the first Christian families by drawing together research by experts ranging from archaeologists to ancient historians.

By exploring the nature of households in the ancient Greco-Roman world, the contributors assemble a new understanding of ancient Christian families that is both compelling and instructive. Divided into six parts, the book covers key aspects of ancient family life, from meals and child-rearing to women's roles and the lives of slaves. Three concluding chapters explore the implications of all this information for theological education today.

Contributors: David L. Balch
Suzanne Dixon
J. Albert Harrill
Ross S. Kraemer
Christian Laes
Peter Lampe
Amy-Jill Levine
Margaret Y. MacDonald
Dale Martin
Eric M. Meyers
Margaret M. Mitchell
Carolyn Osiek
Beryl Rawson
Richard Saller
Timothy F. Sedgwick
Monika Trumper
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill

Homosexuality is one of the most hotly debated issues in the church today. This book arises directly out of the current discussion of what the Bible says about the morality of homosexual acts and relationships. Taking up the question from both sides of the debate, twelve biblical scholars, psychologists, and theologians debate the meaning of the scriptural passages on homosexuality -- from Genesis, Leviticus, Romans, and 1 Corinthians -- in light of contemporary scientific and exegetical evidence. Balanced and well reasoned, this volume will help readers constructively engage this pressing, highly sensitive subject.

The world of the Roman Empire offered extensive cultural expectations about how families should live. Some passages from the New Testament reflect these values of social stability, but at the same time, other passages make strong statements that seem to be against the family. What was the family like for the first Christians? How did they combine their family values and their new faith? When there were conflicts between family and faith, how did early Christians make choices between them?

Informed by archaeological work and illustrated by figures and photographs, Families in the New Testament World is a remarkable window into the past, one that both informs and illuminates our current condition.

In contrast to most studies of earliest Christianity that focus on texts, David Balch inquires into the visual world of the culture in which early Christians lived and worshipped. Jews and Christians outside Israel lived in Greek and Roman houses and apartment buildings. During earlier Republican and later Imperial periods, artists painted frescoes on the walls of their patrons' houses. Beginning in the mid-1700s, archaeologists began unearthing brilliantly colored domestic paintings, often of Greek (rarely of Roman) myths and tragedies, especially in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Rome. The author inquires how visual representations seen daily might influence the understanding of Jewish and Christian scriptures read and heard in those same spaces as well as the meaning of rituals performed in domestic worship. Scenes from the tragedies of Euripides as well as visual representations of contemporary gladiatorial games make suffering, sacrifice, and death surprisingly present in Roman houses, themes not first introduced by Christian preaching or the Eucharist. Further, David Balch includes not only recent studies of domestic art, but also of Roman domestic architecture (domus and insulae) by British (Wallace-Hadrill), American (Clarke, Leach), German (Zanker, Dickmann), and Italian (Maiuri, Pappalardo) scholars, studies that affect descriptions of the social history of early Christianity.