Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient PersonalityHow did ancient persons understand themselves, other people, and the world around them? Is there a marked contrast between their understandings of "self" and "other" and the way modern Westerners define those concepts? Bruce Malina and Jerome Neyrey focus on the figure of Paul to provide a comprehensive investigation of how one man was perceived in the ancient world. Drawing on primary sources from antiquity, as well as lessons from cultural anthropology, the authors help provide a fuller understanding of the person of Paul and his world. By doing so, they offer readers a new, and more balanced, way to approach the New Testament. |
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Acts of Paul ancient Mediterranean animals antiquity Archilochus Aristotle authors behavior Biblical birth boast body character Christ Cicero circumcised claims collectivist cultures concern considered courage Damascus deeds of fortune derive described deviant Dio Chrysostom divine elite embedded embeddedness encomium ethnic group eusebeia example expectations father females fictive first-century Mediterranean forensic defense speech gender geography God's gospel Greek group-oriented person honor human in-group indicate individual individualist Jerusalem Jesus John Judeans kinship live Loeb loyalty Luke male Malina Matt means Mediterranean informants Menander modern moreover native nature Neyrey norms noted oikoumene one's Onesiphorus Orat oriented Paul of Tarsus Paul's perceived Pharisee Philostratus physiognomic physiognomists piety Plutarch polis praise present progymnasmata prophet Ps.-Aristotle psychological Quintilian ranean readers resurrection rhetorical role Roman scenarios shame slaves social society speaker status stereotypes Tarsus in Cilicia Testament things tion tradition ture understanding values virtues