Exploring Early Christian Identity / Edition 1

by Bengt Holmberg

Overview

The main point of emphasis in the book is that approaching the Christian movement's early history through investigating its identity helps us to understand how the followers of Jesus developed from an intra-Jewish messianic renewal movement into a new religion with a major Gentile membership and major differences from its Jewish matrix - all in only a hundred years. Identity is not simply a collection of beliefs that was agreed upon by many first-century Christians. It is embedded, or rather, embodied in real life as participation in the founding myths (narrativized memory of and accepted teaching on Jesus), in cults and rituals as well as in ethical teaching and behavioral norms, crystallized into social relations and institutions. This is a dynamic feedback process, full of conflicts and difficulties, both internal and caused by the surrounding society and culture. The authors explore different aspects of identity, such as how the Gospels' narrativization of the social memory shapes and is shaped by the identity of the groups from which they emerge, how labels such as Jewish and Christian should and should not be understood, the identity-forming role of behavioral norms in letters, and the interplay between competing leadership ideals and the underlying unity of different Christian groups. They also show that identity formation is not necessarily related to innovation in moral teaching, nor averse to making use of ancient conventions of masculinity with their emphasis on dominance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783161496745
Publisher:	Mohr Siebeck
Publication date:	12/31/2008
Series:	Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament , #226
Pages:	205
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Bengt Holmberg, is professor emeritus at Lund University, Sweden.

Table of Contents

Bengt Holmberg: Understanding the First Hundred Years of Christian Identity - Samuel Byrskog: Memory and Identity in the Gospels: A New Perspective - Anders Runesson: The Invention of Christian Identity: Paul, Ignatius, and Theodosius- Rikard Roitto: Behaving like a Christ-Believer. A Cognitive Perspective on Identity and Behavior Norms in the Early Christ-Movement - Mikael Tellbe: The Prototypical Christ-Believer. Early Christian Identity Formation in Ephesus - Runar Thorsteinsson: The Role of Morality in the Rise of Roman Christianity - Fredrik Ivarsson: Christian Identity as True Masculinity - Bengt Holmberg: Early Christian identity - some conclusions