Paul and Imperial Divine Honors: Christ, Caesar, and the Gospel

by D. Clint Burnett

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2024

Overview

How did the imperial cult affect Christians in the Roman Empire?

“Jesus is lord, not Caesar.” Many scholars and preachers attribute mistreatment of early Christians by Roman authorities to this fundamental confessional conflict. But this mantra relies on a reductive understanding of the imperial cult. D. Clint Burnett examines copious evidence—literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological—to more accurately reconstruct Christian engagement with imperial divine honors.

Outdated narratives often treat imperial divine honors as uniform and centralized, focusing on the city of Rome. Instead, Burnett examines divine honors in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. While all three cities incorporated imperial cultic activity in their social, religious, economic, and political life, the purposes and contours of the practice varied based on the city’s unique history. For instance, Thessalonica paid divine honors to living Julio-Claudians as tribute for their status as a free city in the empire—and Christian resistance to the practice was seen as a threat to that independence. Ultimately, Burnett argues that early Christianity was not specifically antigovernment but more broadly countercultural, and that responses to this stance ranged from conflict to apathy.

Burnett’s compelling argument challenges common assumptions about the first Christians’ place in the Roman Empire. This fresh account will benefit Christians seeking to understand their faith’s place in public life today.

Key Features

• Examines divine honors in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth
• Explores literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological evidence to reconstruct Christian engagement with imperial divine honors
• Challenges common assumptions about the first Christians’ place in the Roman Empire

Contents

• List of Images
• List of Tables
• Foreword by Pheme Perkins
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Epigraphic Conventions
• Introduction
• 1. Imperial Divine Honors
• 2. Imperial Divine Honors, Paul, and the Philippian Church
• 3. Imperial Divine Honors, Paul, and the Thessalonian Church
• 4. Imperial Divine Honors, Paul, and the Corinthian Church
• Conclusion: Synthesis and Recap
• Imperial Divine Honors and Rom. 13:1–7
• Appendixes
• Bibliography
• Indexes

Product Details

• Title: Paul and Imperial Divine Honors: Christ, Caesar, and the Gospel
• Author: D. Clint Burnett
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2024
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 332
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Paul, the Apostle, Saint › Theology; Bible. Epistles of Paul › Hermeneutics; Emperor worship › Rome; Ritual › Rome--History; Christianity and other religions › Roman; Rome › Religious life and customs
• ISBNs: 9780802879851, 0802879853
• Resource ID: LLS:PLMPRLDVCSRGSPL
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-02T17:10:43Z

About D. Clint Burnett

D. Clint Burnett is an independent scholar with research interests in early Christianity and Greco- Roman material culture. He holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston College. His previous books include Studying the New Testament through Inscriptions: An Introduction and Christ's Enthronement at God's Right Hand and Its Greco-Roman Cultural Context.