Eric Stewart

New Testament Space/Spatiality

This Readers Guide introduces biblical interpreters to the use of spatial theory as it is applied to biblical texts. Modern geographers, anthropologists, and sociologists understand space to consist of the physical world in which people exist, the ideological underpinnings of understanding places as designated for certain activities while restricting other activities, and the lived practices of people within those places that sometimes challenge and sometimes reaffirm the expected uses of such places. Biblical scholars have only recently begun to consider how space fits into an analysis of the texts with which they are interested. These scholars use spatial theory to analyze the spaces of the Roman Empire and how Jesus and his early followers fit within those spaces, in some cases contesting dominant meanings and practices, while in other cases adopting the dominant spatial practices of their cultural contexts.

Book Review: Jesus and the GospelsJesus and the Gospels. 3rd edition. By MarshClive & MoyiseSteve. T & T Clark Approaches to Biblical Studies. London, UK: Bloomsbury, 2015. Pp. 184. Paper,

109 ly), the persecution recounted in the Letter to the Hebrews (chapter 11), and the social pressures recounted in Revelation (chapter 12). In each of these chapters, Winters argues that the first Christians faced a growing hostility to their group because they were markedly different from the Jews (see his excellent discussion on circumcision on pp. 226–37). Winters’ argument could be improved by placing it in the context of previous political interpretations of those passages, since his argument is intrinsically associated with recent contributions to this area of study (e.g., N. T. Wright, Richard Horsley, Peter Oakes, Seyoon Kim, etc.). Moreover, his approach to the Pauline letters misses the importance of context in exchange for an anti-imperial response. Overall, this monograph is well written and shows close attention to detail. Though there are difficulties with regard to semantics and methodology, this book would make an excellent companion reader to students and scholars of Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity. It will not make easy reading for those outside this discipline because of its use of highly technical terms and its entrenchment in primary sources. His conclusions (though the book ends without a chapter devoted to his conclusions) are quite straightforward. Christians did not participate in the liturgical aspects of the emperor cult. Rather, they chose to be persecuted (or prosecuted) for the sake of Christ. But students of history will readily recognize that this conclusion is much too uniform for this very complex period in time. Najeeb Haddad Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL 60660

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62 Regarding Witherington’s use of rhetoric as a methodological tool, he seems more centered on it without criticism of its use. As with his discussions of social science methods, there are moments in the commentary where he brackets out discussions of rhetoric and its use in Greco-Roman contexts. Although this is the case, these asides seem far more useful since he integrates his rhetorical method more widely throughout the book. For example, he has a section on synkrisis in his section on 3:1–4:1 (pp. 191–93). He cites Quintilian and explains how synkrisis works in a Greco-Roman context. His discussion here centers on the Judaizers and Paul’s rhetorical arguments against them and in favor of his leadership. What is problematic about his use of rhetoric is that he still uses Kennedy’s work extensively while ignoring studies that have moved the conversation forward. For example, Vernon Robbins’ work is not cited nor addressed in the commentary; nor does the author engage with J. David Hester, both scholars who critique earlier understandings of rhetoric that fail to address ideological issues. Kennedy’s approach is more descriptive and remains in the vein of form criticism while Hester has demonstrated that it’s necessary to address issues of language and power via Foucault. Ignoring these advances in his commentary causes his analysis to fall flat and, at times, his application of rhetorical descriptions offers little interpretative freight. In the body of the commentary, Witherington continues to make some strides in dealing with gendered issues, but still misses opportunities to move the conversation on this issue forward. He states in his introduction that women were important within the Philippian Pauline community and rightly notes that women were leaders in this Gentile community, but he misses the chance to place gendered issues at the center of some of his analysis. For example, Witherington discusses Paul’s remapping of citizenship, but he does not mention how women would have been impacted by a Roman citizenship that was exclusive to elite males rather than inclusive (pp. 93, 101–02). In his comments on 4:2–3, Witherington gives a background of women’s issues in the Greco-Roman context and rightly applies these to Euodia and Syntyche’s situation, doing more than most commentaries on this section in terms of women. While uneven in its methodological application, the commentary offers readers an introduction to Philippians that would be useful in the context of upper division undergraduate as well as beginning seminary courses with caveats from other readings and the professor. Jason Lamoreaux Texas A & M University College Station, TX 77843-0100

Book Review: Travel and Religion in Antiquity

172 memory and tradition in the Hellenistic world. She contextualizes Justin Martyr’s allusions to the “Apomnemoneumata of the Apostles” in the practices of Hellenistic schools where biographical, social, and cultural memories were preserved and transmitted as anecdotes (chreia) in texts, oral performances, and as tradition. Alexander sees a similar process in the Christian evidence with the Gospels representing the transfer of an early anecdotal tradition into writing for the purpose of re-oralization in worship, teaching, and self-defense (apologia). Alan Kirk, “Memory” (pp. 155–72), demonstrates how contemporary studies of memory and tradition are not only in continuity with but go well beyond Gerhardsson’s initial work. Scholars today have a better grasp of the limits of literacy and education in the ancient world, the nature of oral genres as stable yet variable speech forms, and the cognitive, social and cultural dynamics of memory. Kirk calls for a greater convergence of memory and tradition than Gerhardsson imagined. This volume pays homage to Gerhardsson’s pioneering work on memory in the origin and transmission of the Jesus tradition, while simultaneously exploring subsequent developments. It provides a useful introduction to the historical and cultural realities that shaped the Jesus tradition, especially ancient Israelite and Hellenistic oral-scribal practices. For many these essays will invite further reflection about the impact of oral-memory models on contemporary discussions of biblical historicity and authority. Ritva H. Williams Augustana College Rock Island, IL 61201

Book Review: Children in Late Ancient Christianity. Edited by Cornelia B. Horn and Robert R. Phenix. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2009. Pp. xxvi + 497. Paper,

This book brings a sustained analysis of literary themes of masculinization and feminization of early Christian martyrs through the lens of social identity theory, which asks not only how martyrs are presented in terms of masculinity and femininity, but how this presentation functions socially to produce an identity for Christians. Recent treatments of “suffering” have similarly emphasized the role that martyrdom accounts play in identity formation for early Christians, but Cobb’s thesis diverges from this view by showing that these texts do not highlight the suffering of martyrs, but rather present the lack of suffering of the martyrs as the embodiment of masculine ideals of self-control. Cobb’s important contribution comes when she explains why the female martyrs are subject to masculinizing descriptions at the same time that they are intensely feminized by the authors who write about them. This paradox of the female martyr as both masculine and feminine forms a central topic of this book. Cobb argues that “when female martyrs are described as manly, it is not a liberating description of women per se, but . . . is rooted firmly in the ancient world’s correlation of maleness with virtue, strength, and honor” (p. 13). The injunction for Polycarp to “be a man” and Perpetua’s transformation into a man mark Christians as embodying masculine virtues. Chapter 1 lays out social identity theory building on the work of Herni Tajfel and his student John Turner, which seeks to explain “how and why individuals define themselves . . . as part of a group and how group membership influences and explains intergroup encounters” (p. 19). This approach attempts to account for how gendered language is mobilized by early Christians to draw boundaries between Christians and non-Christians. Chapter 2 contextualizes the martyrdom stories through a survey of the masculine imagery of gladiators, athletes, and soldiers in Roman spectacle. Christians used this discourse for their own ends as a sight to display Christian masculinity by comparing themselves to noble gladiators, athletes, and soldiers. Chapter 3 explores the theme of masculinity in the martyrdom stories by showing how masculinity is located in the virtues of courage, volition, self-control, justice, and invulnerability to emotion or persuasion from opponents. These masculine traits are assigned even to Christians whose masculinity would otherwise be suspect, such as women, slaves, young men, and old men. By comparison, the Roman governors, crowds, and Jews are depicted as out of control of their emotions and unjust. Further, apostate Christians lack masculinity because they are susceptible to persuasion and pain. The final chapter treats the figure of the female martyr, who is both masculinized and feminized at the same time. The paradox of the manly female martyr is manifest in Perpetua, Felicitas, Blandina, and Agathonike. On one hand, these texts masculinize women in the same way as the men by presenting them with self-control, fearlessness, and other Roman virtues of masculinity. On the other hand, these texts emphasize their beauty, the spectacle of the nude female body, motherhood, and even submissive obedience of the female martyrs. Cobb explains this dilemma of both masculinity and femininity of the female martyr by claiming that these women are masculine with respect to non-Christians, but feminine with respect to Christians. The main thesis of this book is that the possession of masculine virtues was important for marking boundaries between groups, and these texts show that Christian portrayed themselves as masculine and non-Christians and apostates as lacking masculinity. That is, all Christians whether old, young, male, female, slave or free are meant to appear uniformly masculine to non-Christians, but among Christians this uniform masculinity is tempered. These “two distinct didactic tasks” (p. 122) deploy gendered language to mark the outside of the group through masculinity, as well as to redomesticate women martyrs as feminine with respect to those inside the group. This book is to be commended for its lucid articulation of the question of gendered presentations in the martyr acts and its efforts to answer this question with a clear, consistent thesis. The close readings of the primary texts and the engaging footnotes are particular strengths. This book adds not only to our understanding of the social function of the martyr texts, but also contributes to a fuller understanding of gender in early Christianity and Greco-Roman antiquity. Taylor Petrey Harvard Divinity School Cambridge, MA

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Richard Burridge’s groundbreaking and important work on the Gospels as examples of Greco-Roman biographies continues to yield valuable insight into the interpretation and application of gospel texts. In Imitating Jesus Burridge seeks to address what he sees as a deficiency in the area of New Testament ethics and in particular the lack in most ethical treatments of any significant content or application of ethics to current contexts. Burridge takes up these issues by insisting on a Christological focus that stems from the genre of the Gospels themselves. Specifically, any discussion of the ethics of Jesus must begin with the biographical presentations of Jesus as found in the canonical Gospels. Invariably, the presentation of Jesus via biography is in fact a call, on the part of the evangelists, to imitate Jesus. In chapter 2, Burridge seeks to offer a holistic approach to the person and work of Jesus by suggesting that Jesus should be understood in terms of his deeds and words/activities and preaching. This twofold approach of “deeds and words” conforms to the generic interests of GrecoRoman biographies. In considering both the deeds (actions) and words (teachings/ preaching) of Jesus, a complete picture emerges. Jesus preaches about the “Kingdom of God” and a particular “eschatological reality.” His deeds demonstrate him to be a “friend of sinners” who accepts them prior to their repentance and calls them to imitation of him. Perhaps one of the weaknesses of Burridge’s presentation is his treatment of the historical Jesus (pp. 34–39). However, Burridge admits that there is not enough space to devote to this topic and he provides ample references on the state of the discussion. Chapter 3 follows Burridge’s pattern of “excavating” or unearthing the ethics of Jesus by moving from the historical Jesus to the teachings and interpretations of Jesus on the part of Paul. Burridge concedes that Paul’s treatment of ethical issues is distinct from that of Jesus as presented in the Gospels. This again highlights the importance of genre as integral to scriptural interpretation. Epistles are not biographies, and so the content and treatment of ethical issues in epistles may in fact be different from ethical presentations in biographies, etc. Burridge poses the question as to the extent to which Paul is a follower of Jesus or a founder of a distinct religious/ethical tradition. Ultimately, Burridge sees Paul following the ethical example set by Jesus by placing a strong emphasis on the centrality of Christology for theology and ethics, as well as Paul’s accent on Christ’s call to love (“the love command”) and his emphasis on the imitation of Christ. In chapters 4 through 7, Burridge examines the portraits of Jesus as found in the canonical Gospels. For each Gospel, he follows the evangelists’ treatment of the following issues as they relate to Jesus: (1) Jesus’ treatment of the law and love; (2) the ethical issues present in each Gospel; and (3) imitation of Jesus. The topics of Christology and eschatology, both being central to the portraits of Jesus presented in the Gospels, are also discussed. Burridge is able to conclude that despite the differences, the four Gospels all conform to the thesis of the Gospels as biographical narratives where Jesus and Christology are central. All four Gospels take up the issue of Jesus’ command to love within an inclusive community made up of those who are in the process of accepting the call of Christ while reaching out to others. The emphasis, again, is on the imitation of the person and work and words and deeds of Jesus. One of the most important aspects of Burridge’s presentation is his use of apartheid in South Africa as a test-case for current New Testament ethical approaches as well as his own. Burridge may or may not be completely effective in applying his thesis to that particular historical situation; yet he does explore and recognize the inadequacies and issues with other approaches to such ethical difficulties, as well as his own. Ultimately, Burridge continues to push the discussion forward as to the importance and effectiveness of reading the Gospels as biographies. This emphasis again moves the discussion of Jesus and the Gospels in the direction of Jesus. For Burridge, the Gospels are intended to say something about Jesus and moreover, the imitation of his life (deeds and words) should form the basis for any discussion of Christian ethics. Justin Marc Smith University of St. Andrews St. Andrews UK KY16 9AJ