Description
Book SynopsisPaul’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,” 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.
Trade ReviewHarrison’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 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. -- Mark Reasoner, Marian University
Table of Contents1.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
