Patronage in Early Christianity: Its Use and Transformation from Jesus to Paul of Samosata

by Alan B. Wheatley

Overview

How did the community we glimpse in the New Testament become an institution quite willing to have the emperor Constantine as a primary public partner? By tracing the use of resources, titles, and functions of leaders and patterns of honor giving, Wheatley traces from a wide variety of sources both acceptance and revision of Roman patronage in this countercultural community. Along the way, it is possible to see dissident groups like the Montanists and Marcionites more clearly and sympathetically, and to ask ourselves some pertinent questions about how a Christian community might function in the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630878009
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	04/14/2011
Series:	Princeton Theological Monograph Series , #160
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Alan B. Wheatley is Associate Professor of History and chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations vii

1 Patronage: The Heart of Roman Life 1

2 The Challenge to Traditional Patronage in the New Testament 9

3 Early Church Order Documents 43

4 The Christian Communities at Rome 52

5 The Work of Irenaeus of Lyons 78

6 The Christian Communities around the Aegean 85

7 The Christian Communities of Syria and Osrhoene 101

8 The Christian Communities in Alexandria and Southern Palestine 129

9 The Christian Communities of Northwest Africa 155

10 Conclusion: An Overview of the Patristic Project 178

Appendix 1 189

Appendix 2 191

Bibliography 195