Honor, Patronage,
Kinship & Purity
Unlocking
New Testament
Culture
DAVID A. deSILVA
An imprint of InterVarsity Press
Downers Grove, Illinois
InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com
E-mail: mail@ivpress.com
©2000 by David A. deSilva
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.
InterVarsity Press® is the bookpublishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a student movement active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 537077895, or visit the IVCF website at <www.intervarsity.org>.
Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. and are used by permission.
Chapters three and four were published previously as “Patronage and Reciprocity: The Context of Grace in the New Testament,” Ashland Theological Journal 31 (1999): 32-84, and are reprinted by permission.
Cover illustration: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.
ISBN-10: 0-8308-1572-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8308-1572-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
DeSilva, David Arthur.
Honor, patronage, kinship & purity : unlocking New Testament culture / David A. deSilva.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-8308-1572-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T.—Socio-rhetorical criticism. I. Title.
BS2380 .D47 2000
225.9’5—dc21
To the faculty and administration
of Ashland Theological Seminary,
men and women after God’s own heart
whom I’m favored to call friends
Introduction: Cultural Awareness & Reading Scripture
1. Honor & Shame: Connecting Personhood to Group Values
2. Honor & Shame in the New Testament
3. Patronage & Reciprocity: The Social Context of Grace
4. Patronage & Grace in the New Testament
5. Kinship: Living as a Family in the First-Century World
6. Kinship & the “Household of God” in the New Testament
7. Purity & Pollution: Structuring the World Before a Holy God
Index of Ancient & Modern Authors
Index of Other Ancient Literature
Translations of the Bible
kjv King James Version
niv New International Version
nrsv New Revised Standard Version
rsv Revised Standard Version
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About Honor, Patronage, Kinship & Purity: Unlocking New Testament CultureContemporary Western readers may find it surprising that honor and shame, patronage and reciprocity, kinship and family, and purity and pollution offer us keys to interpreting the New Testament. But as recent scholarship has proposed and as David deSilva demonstrates, paying attention to these cultural themes opens our eyes and ears to new discoveries and deeper understanding. Through our understanding of honor and shame in the Mediterranean world, we gain new appreciation of the way in which the personhood of early Christians connected with group values. By examining the protocols of patronage and reciprocity, we more firmly grasp the meaning of God's grace--and our response has fresh meaning. In exploring the ethos of kinship and household relations, we enlarge our perspective on the early Christian communities that met in houses and functioned as a new family or "household" of God. And by investigating the notions of purity and pollution along with their associated practices, we come to realize how the ancient "map" of society and the world was revised by the power of the gospel. DeSilva's work will reward you with a deeper appreciation of the New Testament, the gospel and Christian discipleship. More than that, it will also inform your participation in contemporary Christian community. |
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