The New Testament World, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded: Insights from Cultural Anthropology

by Bruce J. Malina

Overview

A classroom standard for two decades, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology has introduced students to both the New Testament and the social-scientific study of the New Testament. This revised and expanded third edition offers new chapters on envy and the Jesus movement, updates chapters from earlier editions, augments the bibliography, and offers student study questions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780664222956
Publisher:	Westminster John Knox Press
Publication date:	02/01/2001
Edition description:	Revised, Expand
Pages:	277
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1300L (what's this?)

About the Author

Bruce J. Malina is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity of the Department of Theology at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Table of Contents

	Preface	xi
	Acknowledgments	xv
	Introduction: Bible Study and Cultural Anthropology	1
	Presuppositions behind This Book	7
	Nature, Culture, Person	7
	Understanding Culture	11
	The Bigger Picture--Cultural Cues	13
	Why the Bigger Picture--Humans as Model Makers	17
	Models in Cultural Anthropology	19
	Summary	24
	References and Suggested Readings	25
1.	Honor and Shame: Pivotal Values of the First-Century Mediterranean World	27
	Understanding Honor	30
	How Does a Person Get a Grant of Honor?	32
	How Honor Is Acquired	33
	Honor Symboled by Blood	36
	Honor Symboled by Name	37
	How Honor Is Displayed and Recognized	38
	Honor and the Interpretation of a Challenge	40
	Honor and Going to Court	43
	Dimensions of Collective Honor	43
	Honor and the Moral Division of Labor: The Double Standard	46
	Toward Defining Honor and Shame	48
	A Significant Clarification	51
	Summary	52
	References and Suggested Readings	56
2.	The First-Century Personality: The Individual and the Group	58
	The First-Century Personality	58
	Group-Oriented Personality	60
	The Makeup of Human Beings: A Three-Zone Model	68
	The Makeup of Human Beings and God	71
	Summary	75
	References and Suggested Readings	79
3.	The Perception of Limited Good: Maintaining One's Social Status	81
	Ruralized Society	81
	Kinship	82
	Politics	83
	City and Country	83
	The Preindustrial City	85
	Limited Good: A Basic Cue of Perception	89
	The Honorable Person's Defensive Strategy	90
	The Honorable Person's Dyadic Alliances	93
	Limited Good and the Accumulation of Wealth	97
	Limited Good and Personal Causality	100
	Limited Good and the Structured Social World	104
	Summary	105
	References and Suggested Readings	106
4.	Envy--The Most Grievous of All Evils: Envy and the Evil-Eye in the First-Century Mediterranean World	108
	The Social Roots of Envy	108
	Envy and Honor Concerns	110
	Envy and Limited Good	112
	Observing Envy	118
	Evil Eye: Proof of Envy	120
	Protection against the Evil Eye	123
	Protection against Envy	125
	Envy Is Not Jealousy	126
	Envy Is Not Hate	128
	Envy Enters the Ten Commandments	129
	Summary	130
	References and Suggested Readings	132
5.	Kinship and Marriage: Fusing Families Together	134
	Kinship	134
	Main Structural Features of the Kinship System Compared	136
	Marriage	143
	Marriage Strategies in the Bible	145
	The Patriarchal Immigrant Period	146
	The Israelite Period	147
	The Postexilic Period	150
	The Pauline Period	154
	The Post-Pauline Period	157
	Summary	158
	References and Suggested Readings	159
6.	Clean and Unclean: Understanding Rules of Purity	161
	Sacred and Profane	161
	Purity: Clean and Unclean	164
	Anomalies and Abominations	165
	General Israelite Perspectives	170
	Classification of Persons in Israel	173
	Classification of Clean and Unclean Animals	177
	Sanctifying and Sacrifice	180
	Purity Arrangements in Post-Jesus Groups	187
	Summary	196
	References and Suggested Readings	196
7.	How Jesus Groups Evolved: Understanding Group Development	198
	Why Small Groups At All	201
	Stages of Small Group Development	207
	Forming Jesus Groups	208
	Storming in Jesus Groups	208
	Norming in Jesus Groups	209
	Performing in Jesus Groups	209
	Jesus Groups Adjourn	210
	Small Group Focuses	211
	Social Movement Organization: Fictive Polity	212
	Countermovement Organizations: Pharisees and Others	212
	Elective Associations: Fictive Kin Groups	214
	Summary	217
	References and Suggested Readings	219
	A Theological Conclusion	221
	Study Questions for Testing the Hypothesis	223
	Indexes	245
	Index of Scriptural References	245
	Index of Ancient Authors	251
	Index of Subjects and Names	252
	Figures and Tables
	Figures
Figure 1.	The Basic Presupposition--Nature, Culture, Person	8
Figure 2.	Challenge and Response	34
Figure 3.	Honor and Shame: Moral Division of Labor	50
Figure 4.	Marriage Strategies in the Bible	159
	Tables
Table 1.	Contrasting Child Rearing Approaches	54
Table 2.	Contrasting U.S. Persons with Ancient Mediterraneans	76
Table 3.	Envy in U.S. Experience and Ancient Mediterranean Experience	131
Table 4.	Jesus' Group and Post-Jesus Groups Compared	218

Editorial Reviews

Written for undergraduate students who have little training in religion, this volume provides an accessible guide to the use of cultural anthropology as a tool for recreating the context of the society in which Jesus lived. Malina (theology, Creighton U.), whose detailed discussion conveys the richness of meaning contained in the New Testament, discusses the values of honor and shame, the first-century personality, its role as an individual and in a group, the perception of limited good, the evil eye, kinship and marriage, rules of purity, and group development. This edition contains updated bibliography for each chapter. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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