Reading Romans in Pompeii: Paul’s Letter at Ground Level
Overview
Peter Oakes relies on demographic information and data from excavations in nearby Pompeii to paint a compelling portrait of daily life in a typical insula, or apartment complex, like the ones in which Paul's audience in Rome likely lived. Imaginatively fleshing out profiles of the circumstances of actual residents of Pompeii, Oakes then uses these profiles to invite the reader into a new way to hear Paul's letter to the Romans as the apostle's contemporaries might have heard it. The result of this ground-breaking study is a fuller, richer appreciation of Paul's most important letter.
- Bibliographical references
- Notes and indexes
- Craftworkers' houses, a bar and a mansion
- Pompeian houses and first-century society
- A model craftworker house church for reading Romans
- Romans 12 for a model craftworker house church
- Primus, Sabina, Iris: justice, survival, tension
- Holconius and the Jewish salvation of a holy people
- Reading Romans in view of first-century social diversity
Top Highlights
“Paul’s call does away with the relevance of all this in assessing one’s position. All is faith, a gift.” (Page 102)
“The Cabinet-Maker’s House shows that someone non-elite, a craftworker, could have space to host a meeting of a fair-sized house church. Forty or so people could fit into the garden, portico and rear-facing dining rooms—as long as they did not mind stepping over boxes of tools and work in progress.” (Page 44)
“Although a craftworking family would appreciate the truth of the interdependence of the household members, that interdependence operated within a strong hierarchy of privileges and duties. There was social distance as well as interconnectedness. To make the householder and a slave interdependent, in a close, symmetrical, reciprocal relationship, challenged the most fundamental conceptual structures of the household.” (Page 103)
“Thousands occupied such limited spaces, which were workshop, shop and living accommodation. Such archaeological remains are found right across the Roman empire. If we think of typical early Christians as members of craftworking families, as most scholars do, we need to realize that this was the most common kind of setting for such people.” (Page 3)
“What does it mean for Christian salvation to create a group, rather than simply to change the lives of individuals? What kind of group is created? How does such a group relate to the structure of society?” (Page 152)
With imagination yet appropriate methodoligical caution, Peter Oakes looks at a specific archaeological site, the Insula of the Menander at Pompeii, to reveal a neighborhood of personalities typical of the time and place, and therefore typical of the possible types of persons whose interests fill the pages of Paul's Letter to the Romans. This is the kind of integrative interpretation that is needed, contextualization of the original message in order to aid us with the new contextualization that we need to do. It is a book I wish I had written.
—Carolyn Osiek, Professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School
A fresh innovative approach to Romans. First, by examining the limited living space of ordinary people in the town of Pompeii, Oakes confirms the marginal economic circumstances of the vast majority of the people in the Roman Empire in general and in the Pauline assemblies in particular. Then, drawing on wide knowledge of ancient urban life, he explores how typical members of a model house-church—a slave, a dirt-poor stone-worker, a barmaid, and the craft-worker who hosted the house church in his workshop—would have heard the arguments and admonitions in Paul's letter to the Romans. In an exemplary multidisciplinary investigation, Oakes restores Romans to the people.
—Richard Horsley, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion, retired, University of Massachusetts, Boston
In this groundbreaking study, Peter Oakes advances our understanding of the life setting of the original recipients of Romans and offers a plausible account of how they would have 'heard' Paul's letter. All who want to develop a deeper appreciation of this letter will find this book invaluable.
—Edward Adams, Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies, King's College, London
- Title: Reading Romans in Pompeii: Paul’s Letter at Ground Level
- Author: Peter Oakes
- Publisher: Fortress Press
- Publication Date: 2009
- Pages: 224