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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," 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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