In this book Sabine R. Huebner explores the world of the New Testament protagonists and the early Christians using the rich papyrological evidence from Roman Egypt, a resource which gives us unparalleled insights into the everyday lives of a nonelite population. What were the daily concerns and difficulties experienced by a carpenter’s family or by a shepherd looking after his flocks? How did the average man or woman experience a Roman census? What obstacles did women living in a patriarchal society face in private, in public, and in the early church? Given the flight of Jesus’ family into Egypt, how mobile were the lower classes, what was their understanding of geography, and what costs and dangers were associated with travel? This volume gives us a better understanding of the structural, social, and cultural conditions in which figures from the New Testament lived.
Author(s): Sabine R. Huebner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 208
Tags: Ancient History, Classical Studies, Biblical Studies: New Testament, Religion, Egypt: Church History, Church History: Primitive And Early Church: ca. 30-600, Christian Life: Egypt: History
List of Illustrations page viii
Acknowledgments xi
Maps xiii
I Egypt and the Social World of the New Testament 1
II The Social Milieu of Early Christians in Egypt:
Who Were the First Readers of the New Testament Gospels? 18
III “In those days a decree went out . . .”: The Herodian
Kingdom and the Augustan Provincial Census System 31
IV “But these words seemed to them an idle tale”:
Discrimination and the Struggle for Women’s Equality
in Early Christianity 51
V “The Carpenter’s Son”: The Family and Household of
a Craftsman 65
VI “In those days Mary set out . . .”: Travel by the
Lower Classes in Roman Times 87
VII “In that region there were shepherds living in the fields . . .”:
An Occupation on the Margins of Society 115
VIII Afterword 135
Notes 138
Bibliography 165
Index Locorum 183
General Index 189
