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The field of New Testament studies often appears splintered into
widely different specializations and narrowly defined research
projects. Nevertheless, some of the most important insights have
come about when curious men and women have defied disciplinary
boundaries and drawn on other fields of knowledge in order to gain
a more adequate view of history. The essays in Bridges in New
Testament Interpretation offer surveys of the current scholarly
discussion in areas of New Testament and Christian origins where
cross-disciplinary fertilization has been decisive and describe the
role that interdisciplinary 'bridges,' especially as led by Richard
A. Horsley, have played. Topics include the socioeconomic history
of Roman Palestine; the historical Jesus in political and media
contexts; communication media, orality, and social context in the
study of Q; the Gospels in the context of oral culture,
performance, and social memory; reading Paul’s letters in the
context of Roman imperial culture; the narrativization of early
Christianity in relation to the ancient media environment; and the
role of power in shaping our understanding of history, as evident
in 'people’s history;' the historical agency of subordinate
classes; and the role of public and 'hidden transcripts' in
contexts shaped by power relations. Essays also address the role of
the interpreter as engaged with the social and political concerns
of our time. The sum is even greater than the parts, presenting a
powerful argument for the value of further exploration across
interdisciplinary bridges.
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," 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.
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