Description
Book SynopsisPeace and Peacemaking in Paul and the Greco-Roman World compares the Apostle Paul's understanding of peace with various conceptions of peace in the Greco-Roman thought world of the first century. In contrast to similar studies that focus on the question of pacifism in the ancient world, the author seeks to clarify how the Greeks defined peace and then to show how their conception of war and peace established the ethos that ultimately defined them as a people.
From their earliest days, the city-states that eventually became Greece were constantly ravaged by war. Their myth, legend, religion, education, philosophy, and science created and perpetuated the idea that conflict was essential for existence. This idea passed to Rome as well so that by the first century, the Greco-Roman world consistently viewed peace as brief periods of tranquility in an existence where war and conflict were the norm.
Paul, however, insists that peace must be the norm within the churches. Peace
Table of ContentsContents: A Philosophical Definition of Peace – War and Conflict in Greek History and Culture – Conceptions of Peace in Homer and Hesiod – Conceptions of Peace in Greek Philosophy – Conceptions of Peace in the Literature of Rome – Direct References to Peace in Paul – Indirect References to Peace in Paul – Social Dynamics in Conflict Resolution – Philemon and Onesimus – Euodia and Syntyche – Civil Court Cases Among the Believers – Peter and Paul in Antioch.
