Description
Book SynopsisCombining classical, epigraphical, and biblical sources with social-scientific methodology, this monograph questions the way in which modern scholarship has tended to discuss ancient conversion. The author challenges long-held assumptions of psychological continuity between ancient and modern people, and offers in place of these assumptions a model founded on the categories the ancients used themselves. Graeco-Roman and Mediterranean religions and philosophies, including Hellenistic Judaism and Christianity, framed their religion in the language of patronage / benefaction and loyalty, and thus an understanding of ancient conversion must start there.
Trade Review"Crook has given us a rewarding study in ancient patronal relationships that is competent, interesting, and [...] undoubtedly correct."Carolyn Osiek in: Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2006.02.33
Table of ContentsChapter I: The Influence of Psychology on Contemporary Society and Scholarship · Chapter II: General Reciprocity Among Humans and their Gods · Chapter III: The Rhetoric of Patronage and Benefaction · Chapter IV: The Rhetoric of Patronage and Benefaction in Paul's Conversion Passages · Chapter V: Patronage and Benefaction, Loyalty, and Conversion
