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Reading Romans with Roman Eyes: Studies on the Social Perspective of Paul

Publisher:
, 2020
ISBN: 9781978705142
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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” and 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.

1.Introduction

2. Viewing Paul’s Epistle to the Romans with Roman Eyes: A Visual Exegesis of the Artifacts of Rome

3. Paul and Status Signifiers from Late Republican to Neronian Rome: An Epigraphic Reconsideration of the Social Constituency of the Roman Churches

4. Paul’s “Indebtedness” to the Barbarian in Latin West Perspective

5. Paul and the “Social Relations” of Death at Rome (Rom 5:14, 17, 21)

6. Paul’s “Groaning” Creation and the Roman Understanding of Nature: A Contemporary Conversation in the Grounds of Livia’s Villa and Nero’s Garden

7. Augustan Rome and the Body of Christ: A Comparison of the Social Vision of the Res Gestae and Paul’s Letter to the Romans

8. Paul the “Zionist”: Romans 9:33 and 11:26 in their Jewish and Roman Context

9. Paul and the Roman Ideal of Glory in the Epistle to the Romans

10. Conclusion

James Harrison’s Reading Romans with Roman Eyes is a fine addition to the Paul in Critical Contexts series. Harrison’s work provides a useful addition to socio-cultural analyses of Romans, by setting the letter in the context in which it was read and inviting consideration of how Rome itself shaped the perspective of its readers. The attention to detail and the archaeological data, both small and large-scale, takes recognised honour/shame categories, which sometimes appear nebulous, and gives them a concrete (at times, literally) form.

[T]hese materials provide an integrated and illuminating study of Romans, deeply informed by H.’s (Harrison) extensive engagement with epigraphic, archaeological, literary, and numismatic evidence.... It is impossible in a short review to do justice to the depth of these learned case studies. H.’s knowledge of the ancient evidence jumps off every page. At various points, H. draws attention to the extensive coverage that material evidence from Corinth has received in the interpretation of Paul’s Corinthian letters. Without ignoring previous contextual work on Romans, H. laments that similar study of “archaeological, inscriptional, iconographic, and numismatic” material from Rome has not shaped more studies of Romans (p. 383). He is to be commended for addressing this lacuna and pointing the way forward to more materially informed interpretations of Paul’s most famous letter.... [T]his is an excellent monograph that significantly advances the study of Romans, both through its proposed method and through its innovative interpretations of the letter arrived at through H.’s approach

James R. Harrison’s breakout book Paul’s Language of Grace in Its Graeco-Roman Context and his follow-up on the imperial cult in Thessalonica provided a well-powered two stage launch for New Testament students on their voyage back to the world of Paul and the first hearers of his letters. Now Harrison’s Reading Romans with Roman Eyes: Studies on the Social Perspective of Paul offers a slingshot boost and focus in trajectory to first-century Rome and the letter Paul sent there. Reading Romans with Roman Eyes is without peer in the way it offers a stereoscopic consideration of both Jewish and Roman cultural perspectives by means of literary, archaeological, epigraphic, iconographic, and numismatic evidence. This balance of perspectives and accompanying range of evidence is unmatched by anyone else studying Romans today. With the release of Reading Romans with Roman Eyes, Harrison has become a patron of many, especially those seeking to understand Romans in its first century contexts.

With his brilliant expertise in classical studies, Harrison reads Paul’s letter to the Romans against the backdrop of the capital city’s culture and local peculiarities. He brings the Pauline texts into a critical dialogue with Roman concepts, values, and conventions reflected not only in literary sources but also the material evidence of artifacts, inscriptions, coins, and archaeological structures. A fascinating panorama opens up, counterbalancing the somewhat one-sided emphasis of previous scholarship on Paul’s conversation with Second Temple Judaism in Romans. A seminal milestone in exploring the multifacetedness of Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Reading Romans with Roman Eyes is an eye-opening endeavor at the intersection of text and context, history, and theology. Drawing on his superior knowledge of the ancient material, Harrison leads as a distinguished guide into the cityscapes and mindsets of Augustan and Neronian Rome, realigning the basic coordinates of Pauline theology along the way. A highly persuasive and comprehensive book for anyone searching for fresh access to Paul and his provocative, transformative gospel of grace in its real-world imperial contexts.

Few biblical scholars have as strong a grip as James Harrison on the fullest range of types of evidence from the first-century world. In this book, he brings all his expertise to bear on Paul’s letter in a host of fascinating ways that help us better understand Romans.

James R. Harrison is professor and research director at the Sydney College of Divinity, Australia.

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