The New Testament in Its Social Environment

by John E. Stambaugh and David L. Balch

Book Overview

This insightful volume in the Library of Early Christianity examines the social, political, and economic world of early Christianity. The Library of Early Christianity is a series of eight outstanding books exploring the Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts in which the New Testament developed.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0664250122
• ISBN13: 9780664250126
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Cultural Drama in Christian Beginnings

An excellent volume in the superb series, Library of Early Christianity, Wayne A Meeks, editor. These two authors provide detailed insight into the daily life in all spheres of society in the Roman Empire, drawing examples from the New Testament after laying the foundational picture gained from extensive archaeological documentation. The Drama of Culture They reference all sorts of sources from the period, including grave stones and other monuments, many of which included life summaries and occupational information; Latin and Greek authors of several centuries; ostraca or manuscripts of commercial transactions and other records and various sources. This is a very detailed, and yet very readable portrayal of the status of language, literature and commerce as well as the general cultural interaction of the Macedonian and Roman Empires. The details they provide and the lively writing style animate the ear for the reader to make the classical period come alive. You can see the real people and their cutlural characteristics and the multi-ethnic dynamic of the period. They cover the centuries from about Alexander the Great into the third century or so of the Christian era. Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic They provide good information on the Jewish language situation, confirming other recent studies indicating that Jews of the Diaspora usually spoke only Greek, and Hebrew was not commonly used in the synagogue schools. They also indicate that Greek was the primary language even in Palestine, and confirm other scholars' view that the Palestinian synagogues would have used Greek scriptures primarily. Hebrew was not commonly spoken as we approach the first century BC, and Aramaic was the common speech, though Greek more widely used. They also detail the multi-ethnic character of the region, especially Galilee and the surrounding Greek areas.