Constructing Early Christian Families: Family as Social Reality and Metaphor

by Halvor Moxnes (Editor)

Overview

The family is a topical issue for studies of the Ancient world. Family, household and kinship have different connotations in antiquity from their modern ones. This volume expands that discussion to investigate the early Christian family structures within the larger Graeco-Roman context.
Particular emphasis is given to how family metaphors, such as 'brotherhood' function to describe relations in early Christian communities. Asceticism and the rejection of sexuality are considered in the context of Christian constructions of the family. Moxnes' volume presents a comprehensive and timely addition to the study of familial and social structures in the Early Christian world, which will certainly stimulate further debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415146388
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/24/1997
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1350L (what's this?)

About the Author

Halvor Moxnes is Professor of New Testament at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is the author of The Economy of the Kingdom (1988) and other studies of social relations in early Christianity.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations, List of contributors, Preface, List of abbreviations, 1 INTRODUCTION, Part I The social context of early Christian families, Part II Family as metaphor, Part III Family, sexuality and asceticism in early Christianity, Index of ancient sources, Index of modern authors