Paul and Asklepios

Paul and Asklepios
Author: Christopher D. Stanley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2022-08-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567696561

What role did offers of physical healing (or the hope of receiving it) play in the missionary program of the apostle Paul? What did he do to treat the many illnesses and injuries that he endured while pursuing his mission? What did he advise his followers to do regarding their health problems? Such questions have been broadly neglected in studies of Paul and his churches, but Christopher D. Stanley shows how vital they truly become once we recognize how thoroughly “pagan” religion was implicated in all aspects of Greco-Roman health care. What did Paul approve, and what did he reject? Given Paul's silence on these subjects, Stanley relies on a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to develop informed judgments about what Paul might have thought, said, and done with regard to his own and his followers' health care. He begins by exploring the nature and extent of sickness in the Roman world and the four overlapping health care systems that were available to Paul and his followers: home remedies, “magical” treatments, religious healing, and medical care. He then examines how Judeans and Christians in the centuries before and after Paul viewed and engaged with these systems. Finally, he speculates on what kinds of treatments Paul might have approved or rejected and whether he might have used promises of healing to attract people to his movement. The result is a thorough and nuanced analysis of a vital dimension of Greco-Roman social life and Paul's place within it.

Paul and Asklepios

Paul and Asklepios
Author: Christopher D. Stanley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2022-08-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567696588

What role did offers of physical healing (or the hope of receiving it) play in the missionary program of the apostle Paul? What did he do to treat the many illnesses and injuries that he endured while pursuing his mission? What did he advise his followers to do regarding their health problems? Such questions have been broadly neglected in studies of Paul and his churches, but Christopher D. Stanley shows how vital they truly become once we recognize how thoroughly “pagan” religion was implicated in all aspects of Greco-Roman health care. What did Paul approve, and what did he reject? Given Paul's silence on these subjects, Stanley relies on a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to develop informed judgments about what Paul might have thought, said, and done with regard to his own and his followers' health care. He begins by exploring the nature and extent of sickness in the Roman world and the four overlapping health care systems that were available to Paul and his followers: home remedies, “magical” treatments, religious healing, and medical care. He then examines how Judeans and Christians in the centuries before and after Paul viewed and engaged with these systems. Finally, he speculates on what kinds of treatments Paul might have approved or rejected and whether he might have used promises of healing to attract people to his movement. The result is a thorough and nuanced analysis of a vital dimension of Greco-Roman social life and Paul's place within it.

Corinth in Context

Corinth in Context
Author: Steve Friesen
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2010-06-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004181970

In this book, archaeologists, classicists, and specialists in Christian origins examine the social and religious life of ancient Corinth. The interdisciplinary contributions present new materials and findings on the themes of Greek and Roman identities, social stratification, and local religion.

A Rooster for Asklepios

A Rooster for Asklepios
Author: Christopher Stanley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2020-05-23
Genre:
ISBN:

A slave without a past. A master without a future. A journey of discovery that will forever change the lives of both men. The ancient world comes alive in this vivid and engaging trilogy by an expert on Roman social history. What if you suddenly discovered that you were not who you thought you were--that your true family history had been hidden from you since birth? What if the truth about your origins would cause others to despise you? What if the man who had arranged the deception was seriously ill and needed your help? What if you were a slave and that man held your life in his hands--and you his? These are some of the questions explored in the first two volumes of the new historical trilogy, A Slave's Story. The story centers on a slave named Marcus who manages the business affairs of a wealthy Roman citizen in central Asia Minor in the first century AD. The first volume, A Rooster for Asklepios, narrates his eventful journey to a famous healing center in western Turkey following a dream in which the god Asklepios appears to promise that his master will be cured there of a nagging illness. The second volume, A Bull for Pluto, relates the aftermath of this journey. Along the way, both men encounter people and ideas that undermine everything that they have ever believed about themselves, one another, and the world around them. Societal norms are challenged, personal loyalties tested, and identities transformed in this engaging story that brings to life a unique corner of the Roman world that has been neglected by previous storytellers. Christopher D. Stanley is a professor at St. Bonaventure University who studies the social history of early Christianity and the Greco-Roman world. He has written or edited six books and dozens of professional articles on the subject and presents papers regularly at conferences around the world. The trilogy A Slave's Story, which grew out of his historical research on first-century Asia Minor, is his first work of fiction. . For more information please visit https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001H6EUCA PRAISE FOR THE FIRST TWO VOLUMES "This compelling and enjoyable story offers the reader a superb 'insider' view of life in the first-century Greco-Roman world. I enjoyed traipsing around Anatolia with Lucius and Marcus!"Dr. Terence Donaldson, Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament, Wycliffe College, Canada "The realism of this story reflects the author's deep first-hand knowledge of the landscape and culture where the narrative takes place."Dr. Mark Wilson, Director, Asia Minor Research Center, Antalya, Turkey "This well-researched book really brings the Roman world to life!"Dr. Alanna Nobbs, Professor of Ancient History, Macquarie University, Australia "The amount of research, imagination, and effort involved in crafting this story earned my admiration, and stirred my curiosity, too."Dr. Mark Nanos, Lecturer, University of Kansas, USA

Paul, Founder of Churches

Paul, Founder of Churches
Author: James Constantine Hanges
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 588
Release: 2012
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9783161507168

Expanded from the author's dissertation--University of Chicago, 1999.

Heavenly Perspective

Heavenly Perspective
Author: Ian Smith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2006-06-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567439097

This book identifies the source of the Colossian error as from within Jewish mystical movements and shows how both the theology and practice which is taught in the epistle is to be understood from this context. The book gives a helpful overview of scholarship that has attempted to identify the nature and source of the Colossian error. The book, unlike many others on the topic, is exegetically driven, and will model thorough and careful exegetical practice. The book interacts with extra-Biblical texts which help the reader to understand the mystical contexts of first century Judaism.

Metaphors and Social Identity Formation in Paul's Letters to the Corinthians

Metaphors and Social Identity Formation in Paul's Letters to the Corinthians
Author: Kar Yong Lim
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2017-05-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 149828289X

Why did Paul frequently employ a diverse range of metaphors in his letters to the Corinthians? Was the choice of these metaphors a random act or a carefully crafted rhetorical strategy? Did the use of metaphors shape the worldview and behavior of the Christ-followers? In this innovative work, Kar Yong Lim draws upon Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Social Identity Theory to answer these questions. Lim illustrates that Paul employs a cluster of metaphors--namely, sibling, familial, temple, and body metaphors--as cognitive tools that are central to how humans process information, construct reality, and shape group identity. Carefully chosen, these metaphors not only add colors to Paul's rhetorical strategy but also serve as a powerful tool of communication in shaping the thinking, governing the behavior, and constructing the social identity of the Corinthian Christ-followers.

Paul and Scripture

Paul and Scripture
Author: Christopher D. Stanley
Publisher: Society of Biblical Lit
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2012-08-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1589836952

This book, which grew out of the Society of Biblical Literature’s Paul and Scripture Seminar, explores some of the methodological problems that have arisen during the last few decades of scholarly research on the apostle Paul’s engagement with his ancestral Scriptures. Essays explore the historical backgrounds of Paul’s interpretive practices, the question of Paul’s “faithfulness” to the context of his biblical references, the presence of Scripture in letters other than the Hauptbriefe, and the role of Scripture in Paul’s theology. All of the essays look at old questions through new lenses in an effort to break through scholarly impasses and advance the debate in new directions. The contributors are Matthew W. Bates, Linda L. Belleville, Roy E. Ciampa, Bruce N. Fisk, Stephen E. Fowl, Leonard Greenspoon, E. Elizabeth Johnson, Mitchell M. Kim, Steve Moyise, Jeremy Punt, Christopher D. Stanley, and Jerry L. Sumney.

Paul and the Creation of a Counter-Cultural Community

Paul and the Creation of a Counter-Cultural Community
Author: Sin-pan Daniel Ho
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2015-02-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 056765589X

This study offers a new interpretation of 1 Corinthians 5-11:1. Taking a social identity approach, Ho investigates the inner logic of Paul from the ears of the Corinthian correspondence. Ho argues that Paul consistently indoctrinates new values for the audience to uphold which are against the mainstream of social values in the surrounding society. It is shown that Paul does not engage in issues of internal schism per se, but rather in the question of the distinctive values insiders should uphold so as to be recognisable to outsiders. While church is neither a sectarian nor an accommodating community, it should maintain constant social contact with outsiders so as to bring the gospel of Christ to them. In addition, insiders should practice radical values that could challenge the existing shared social values prevalent in the urban city of Corinth. These new values are based mainly on Scripture, ancient Jewish literature and the new social identity of the church defined by Jesus Christ. This fresh interpretation renders the logical flow, unitary design and coherence of 1 Cor 5 -11.1 more apparent.