Early Christian Families in Context: An Interdisciplinary DialogueDavid L. Balch, Carolyn Osiek Typical studies of marriage and family in the early Christian period focus on very limited evidence found in Scripture. This interdisciplinary book offers a broader, richer picture of the first Christian families by drawing together research by experts ranging from archaeologists to ancient historians. By exploring the nature of households in the ancient Greco-Roman world, the contributors assemble a new understanding of ancient Christian families that is both compelling and instructive. Divided into six parts, the book covers key aspects of ancient family life, from meals and child-rearing to women's roles and the lives of slaves. Three concluding chapters explore the implications of all this information for theological education today. Contributors: David L. Balch |
Contents
Families and Housefuls | 3 |
The Case of Hellenistic Delos | 19 |
The Case of RomanPeriod Galilee | 44 |
A Constructivist Approach | 73 |
1 in Light of Paintings and Sculptures of Suffering and Death in Pompeiian and Roman Houses | 84 |
Sex and the Married Woman in Ancient Rome | 111 |
The Cases of Babatha and Berenice | 130 |
Was Celsus Right? The Role of Women in the Expansion of Early Christianity | 157 |
Female Slaves Porneia and the Limits of Obedience | 255 |
Death Burial and Commemoration of Children in Roman Italy | 277 |
Desperately Different? Delicia Children in the Roman Household | 298 |
Detente in the Culture Wars | 327 |
Theological Education and the Analogical Imagination | 337 |
Why Family Matters for Early Christian Literature | 345 |
Bibliography | 359 |
Acknowledgments | 389 |
Women Slaves and the Economy of the Roman Household | 185 |
Slave Families and Slaves in Families | 207 |
A Moral Polarity of Household Slaves in Early Christian Apologies and Martyrdoms | 231 |
Common terms and phrases
Agrippa ancient Ancient Rome ancillae Andrew Wallace-Hadrill Archaeology Babatha Balch Berenice Cambridge century C.E. child Christian women Classical constructed context courtyard cultural daughter death Delian delicia children delicium Delos discussion domestic domus early Christian epitaphs erotic evidence example father female slaves funerary Galatians gender gospel Greco-Roman Greek Hellenistic Herodian History House Churches house types household husband imperial inscriptions insula Iphigenia Jesus Jewish Jews Josephus Judah Kokkinos labor Laocoon Late Antiquity literary living London male marriage married martyrdom martyrs master moral mother normal houses Osiek owners Oxford pagan paintings papyri Paul Paul's peristyle peristyle houses Pompeii relations relationship role Roma Roman Egypt Roman Empire Roman Family Rome rooms Routledge Saller sarcophagus Scheidel scholars Sepphoris sexual slave Slavery social Society space square meters status suggest Tertullian Testament texts theological education tion tradition Treggiari University Press widows wife wives woman Yadin καὶ