Remarriage in Early Christianity

by A. Andrew Das

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2024

Overview

What did early Christians actually believe about remarriage after divorce?

The New Testament sends mixed messages about divorce. Jesus forbids it in Mark’s and Luke’s Gospels, but he seems to make an exception for victims of infidelity in Matthew’s Gospel. Paul permits divorce in 1 Corinthians when an unbeliever initiates it. Yet other Pauline passages imply that remarriage after divorce constitutes adultery.

A. Andrew Das confronts this dissonance in Remarriage in Early Christianity. Challenging scholarly consensus, Das argues that early Christians did not approve of remarriage after divorce. His argument—covering contemporary Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts, the Gospels, Paul’s epistles, and ante-Nicene interpretation—reveals greater consistency in early Christianity than is often assumed. Das pays special attention to the Greek words used in contemporary bills of divorce and in the New Testament, offering much-needed clarity on hotly contested concepts like porneia.

At once sensitive and objective, Das finds an exegetically sound answer to the question of remarriage among early Christians. This bold study will challenge scholars and enlighten any Christian concerned with what Scripture has to say on this perennially relevant topic.

Key Features

• Argues that early Christians did not approve of remarriage after divorce
• Reveals greater consistency in early Christianity than is often assumed
• Offers much-needed clarity on hotly contested concepts

Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1. The Widespread Acceptance of Remarriage in Antiquity
• 2. Jesus “behind” the Gospels, or Jesus Remembered
• 3. The Meaning of Words in the Matthean Exceptions
• 4. The Matthean Divorce-Remarriage Texts in Context
• 5. “Not Bound” and “Free” in the Apostle Paul?
• 6. The Witness of the Early Church
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Indexes

Product Details

• Title: Remarriage in Early Christianity
• Author: A. Andrew Das
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2024
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 359
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Bible. N.T. › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Divorce › Biblical teaching; Remarriage › Biblical teaching
• ISBNs: 9780802883742, 0802883745
• Resource ID: LLS:RMRRGRLCHRSTNTY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-06-18T16:50:53Z

About A. Andrew Das

A. Andrew Das is the Niebuhr Distinguished Chair and professor of religious studies at Elmhurst College in Illinois. He is the author of several books, including Paul, the Law, and the Covenant.