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Honor, Patronage, Kinship & Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture
Contemporary Western readers may find it surprising that honor and shame, patronage and reciprocity, kinship and family, and purity and pollution offer us keys to interpreting the New Testament. But as recent scholarship has proposed and as David deSilva demonstrates, paying attention to these cultural themes opens our eyes and ears to new discoveries and deeper understanding. Through our understanding of honor and shame in the Mediterranean world, we gain new appreciation of the way in which the personhood of early Christians connected with group values. By examining the protocols of patronage and reciprocity, we more firmly grasp the meaning of God's grace--and our response has fresh meaning. In exploring the ethos of kinship and household relations, we enlarge our perspective on the early Christian communities that met in houses and functioned as a new family or "household" of God. And by investigating the notions of purity and pollution along with their associated practices, we come to realize how the ancient "map" of society and the world was revised by the power of the gospel. DeSilva's work will reward you with a deeper appreciation of the New Testament, the gospel and Christian discipleship. More than that, it will also inform your participation in contemporary Christian community.
336 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2000
88 people are currently reading
601 people want to read
About the author
David A. deSilva
85 books68 followersDavid A. deSilva (PhD, Emory University) is Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. His numerous books include Introducing the Apocrypha and An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods, and Ministry Formation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
June 25, 2022
I like DeSilva's conversational, detailed discussion of basic social realities in the world of the New Testament. With his help, you start to feel the common-sense realities of that world: How everything depended on personal relations. How "grace" was the benefit exchanged between patrons and clients. "Faith" was loyalty and trust, that had to be earned and kept. People had mental "purity maps" of what was esteemed or contemptible, which formed their boundaries of exclusion or inclusion. It all starts to feel less static, and more full of social tension.
April 27, 2024
A very helpful and comprehensive introduction to these key themes in first century culture.
DeSilva is an expert on the topic and brings many examples of each concept from both outside and inside the Bible to illustrate what he is teaching. This worked better as a textbook for my 'Biblical Backgrounds' class for undergraduate students than 'The World of the New Testament' (Green and McDonald), which is too technical.
The chapters of 'Honor, Patronage, Kinship, and Purity' are longer than they need to be. I read this with undergraduate students over the course of four weeks. That worked out to more than 70 pages of reading each week, which they found difficult to keep up with. However, it generated really fruitful discussions in class. Next time I plan to assign just the first chapter on each topic and will incorporate the examples from the second chapter on each topic into class lectures. For a class only on New Testament backgrounds, I would think this book would be ideal. My class covered the whole Bible.
DeSilva is an expert on the topic and brings many examples of each concept from both outside and inside the Bible to illustrate what he is teaching. This worked better as a textbook for my 'Biblical Backgrounds' class for undergraduate students than 'The World of the New Testament' (Green and McDonald), which is too technical.
The chapters of 'Honor, Patronage, Kinship, and Purity' are longer than they need to be. I read this with undergraduate students over the course of four weeks. That worked out to more than 70 pages of reading each week, which they found difficult to keep up with. However, it generated really fruitful discussions in class. Next time I plan to assign just the first chapter on each topic and will incorporate the examples from the second chapter on each topic into class lectures. For a class only on New Testament backgrounds, I would think this book would be ideal. My class covered the whole Bible.
February 27, 2014
This book is right up my alley in so many ways. Desilva seeks to get into the world behind the New Testament text, and he does so by tackling four major cultural issues that we Westerners are likely to misunderstand: Honor, Patronage, Kinship & Purity. He brilliantly discusses each of these four subjects in depth, backing up his assertions with plenty of citations from literature in that world, before discussing all the relevant New Testament texts for each topic. Like most writers with an eye on the "socio-rhetorical" background (a la Ben Witherington), I felt that this book breathed new life into many dried-up theological words. His discussion of honor will renew your thinking of eschatalogical glory, his discussion of patronage will renew your understanding of divine grace, kinship will unlock your views on forgiveness, and purity will open up your understanding of holiness and sanctification. This was written with a bent towards the academically-minded, but I cannot recommend it highly enough!
September 14, 2021
The Patronage section of this book was the most interesting. It really explained how Roman culture connects with God's unceasing grace. It made a good argument. I also felt the Purity section was on point. It made what seem like antiquated Jewish customs for food and garments make a lot of common sense.
Ultimately, though, this book is about what Christians, Romans, and Jews should be doing in 0 BCE to be good people and upstanding members of their society. It's not about what ordinary Christians, Romans, and Jews being average people or even kind of scummy. So I didn't find it realistic as a whole. Society simply didn't work the way it's portrayed in this book.
Ultimately, though, this book is about what Christians, Romans, and Jews should be doing in 0 BCE to be good people and upstanding members of their society. It's not about what ordinary Christians, Romans, and Jews being average people or even kind of scummy. So I didn't find it realistic as a whole. Society simply didn't work the way it's portrayed in this book.
January 3, 2014
Fantastic book! It greatly enriched my understanding of karis (the Greek word we translate as "grace") and has changed the way I read the New Testament. The Bible has come alive in a new way! I'm not fond of all of deSilva application to the modern church, but I appreciate his scholarship. I love that while the book is accessible for a layperson, it's chock full of footnotes, lengthy quotes from original sources, and a formidable bibliography that both give credibility to his case and also provide many opportunities for further exploration.
May 30, 2025
Some thoughts:
- While I have read DeSilva on these subjects before there were quite a few surprises around the edges.
- He includes a lot of application and clearly is trying to reach a wide audience with this book.
-He often does not "show his work" on how he is bridging the cultural divide and this triggers my old gripe about biblical theologians equivocating between incident (what the original audience believed) and message (what we should believe).
- The honor shame section largely ignores the OT and Jewish sources. This pleases me in some ways as I think Greek/Roman sources are important, but it is odd, especially when he dives so deeply into them on the other subjects.
- For DeSilva the historical context on patronage is the controlling lens for interpreting NT passages that intersect with the topic over and above canonical context and lexical semantics (which is where I like to focus).
- He thinks 1 Tim and Titus prohibit non-householders (singles) from being elders!? (Or is he equivocating between incident/message here too?)
- I think he is much more honest/open on slavery and gender equality issues in the original context than many.
- He does a great job about being open about his sources, citing them every time, quoting them at length, and dealing with primary sources. This is fantastic and not that common.
- I really liked the chapters on purity but it's interesting to me that he sees so much discontinuity between Jesus's teaching and the OT and historical context here when he doesn't for patronage.
- He is more nuanced than I expected on grace, which disarms some critiques but also raises questions about whether what he describes regarding God's benevolence better fits simple gift-giving in most cultures.
- While I have read DeSilva on these subjects before there were quite a few surprises around the edges.
- He includes a lot of application and clearly is trying to reach a wide audience with this book.
-He often does not "show his work" on how he is bridging the cultural divide and this triggers my old gripe about biblical theologians equivocating between incident (what the original audience believed) and message (what we should believe).
- The honor shame section largely ignores the OT and Jewish sources. This pleases me in some ways as I think Greek/Roman sources are important, but it is odd, especially when he dives so deeply into them on the other subjects.
- For DeSilva the historical context on patronage is the controlling lens for interpreting NT passages that intersect with the topic over and above canonical context and lexical semantics (which is where I like to focus).
- He thinks 1 Tim and Titus prohibit non-householders (singles) from being elders!? (Or is he equivocating between incident/message here too?)
- I think he is much more honest/open on slavery and gender equality issues in the original context than many.
- He does a great job about being open about his sources, citing them every time, quoting them at length, and dealing with primary sources. This is fantastic and not that common.
- I really liked the chapters on purity but it's interesting to me that he sees so much discontinuity between Jesus's teaching and the OT and historical context here when he doesn't for patronage.
- He is more nuanced than I expected on grace, which disarms some critiques but also raises questions about whether what he describes regarding God's benevolence better fits simple gift-giving in most cultures.
July 15, 2023
4.5 stars
September 15, 2009
This is a great book. It gives a great background to the socio-culture background of the New Testament. Most people tend to think the New Testament people were a lot like us -- just without computers, cell phones, and electricity. But as this book points out, their most basic cultural values were different. We, who do not live in an honor-shame society or with patronage-- cannot fully understand the NT world without understanding their mindset. This book is a valuable tool to do so and is interesting and not laborious to read. Also check out Malina's social-science commentaries on the Synoptic Gospels and on John.
April 12, 2012
DeSilva's anthropological study of four key cultural components of the first-century Mediterranean world - honor/shame, patron/client, kinship, and purity - is done well and is accessible. Further, he takes his study and applies it to New Testament scripture to give the reader a deeper understanding of the text as its original audience would have understood it and then applies this understanding to the present-day Christian and church. This would be a helpful book to any student of the Bible.
November 26, 2024
Wow! I learned a ton. Anthropology is so helpful in explaining cultural differences. This book will explain four areas of culture that are significantly different from modern Western culture. Very insightful!
December 16, 2020
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, this is a really important work of New Testament scholarship. DeSilva examines four cultural dynamics (honor, patronage, kinship, and purity) which played a much larger role in ancient mediterranean cultures and the shaping of scripture than most modern Christians realize. I was already somewhat aware of these cultural dynamics, and yet I found deSilva's work to be immensely illuminating. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who regularly teaches from, or studies, the New Testament.
On the other hand, there are a few smaller sections in the book which are of notably lower quality. DeSilva ends his presentation of each theme with suggestions for how modern Christians should incorporate it into their own faith practice. These sections assume without question that the ancient cultural frameworks within which the Bible was written should be normative for modern readers. DeSilva does not address the notoriously thorny task of translating culturally-specific teaching into universal religious truth. To use a couple examples (not from deSilva's book), few modern Christians greet each other with a holy kiss, despite New Testament writers repeatedly instructing Christians to do so. Nor do most western churches require women to wear head coverings in church, despite Paul's clear command to the Corinthians. These are some of the countless expressions of ancient culture which, though they shape the teaching of scripture, modern Christians rightly conclude need not be applied today. DeSilva does not mention the need for these kinds of distinctions. Rather, having just explained how particular biblical themes are culturally-conditioned, deSilva then uncritically applies them to the modern context. At the same time, he avoids mentioning the other, more problematic, applications of these themes, which have historically caused great harm. Much modern scholarship has explored the sociological, psychological, and cognitive implications of purity/impurity, honor/shame, and in-group/out-group thinking, but deSilva considers none of this in his suggestions that we import these concepts form the ancient world into our modern practice. As a result, this book whipsaws between valuable scholarship and uncritical moralizing. I understand the desire of Biblical scholars to make their work practically relevant for their Christian audience, but deSilva has done a better job of it elsewhere, for example in his excellent Introduction to the New Testament.
TL/DR: read this book for the great Biblical scholarship; skip the unscholarly moralizing.
On the other hand, there are a few smaller sections in the book which are of notably lower quality. DeSilva ends his presentation of each theme with suggestions for how modern Christians should incorporate it into their own faith practice. These sections assume without question that the ancient cultural frameworks within which the Bible was written should be normative for modern readers. DeSilva does not address the notoriously thorny task of translating culturally-specific teaching into universal religious truth. To use a couple examples (not from deSilva's book), few modern Christians greet each other with a holy kiss, despite New Testament writers repeatedly instructing Christians to do so. Nor do most western churches require women to wear head coverings in church, despite Paul's clear command to the Corinthians. These are some of the countless expressions of ancient culture which, though they shape the teaching of scripture, modern Christians rightly conclude need not be applied today. DeSilva does not mention the need for these kinds of distinctions. Rather, having just explained how particular biblical themes are culturally-conditioned, deSilva then uncritically applies them to the modern context. At the same time, he avoids mentioning the other, more problematic, applications of these themes, which have historically caused great harm. Much modern scholarship has explored the sociological, psychological, and cognitive implications of purity/impurity, honor/shame, and in-group/out-group thinking, but deSilva considers none of this in his suggestions that we import these concepts form the ancient world into our modern practice. As a result, this book whipsaws between valuable scholarship and uncritical moralizing. I understand the desire of Biblical scholars to make their work practically relevant for their Christian audience, but deSilva has done a better job of it elsewhere, for example in his excellent Introduction to the New Testament.
TL/DR: read this book for the great Biblical scholarship; skip the unscholarly moralizing.
May 30, 2023
What was the context of the New Testament? In Honor, Patronage, Kinship, and Purity, David A, DeSilva help you unlock New Testament culture.
The book begins immediately by looking at Honor and Shame. My own culture as an Asian American gave me some insight into this, but I was pleased to see DeSilva show how a person’s attributed or ascribed honor could change through adoption. Of course, this has particular meaning to Christians as we have been adopted into the family of God.
Patronage and Reciprocity
I was stunned to learn of the social game of challenge and riposte. This is a game of honor, where honor can be gained by publicly posing a challenge that cannot be successfully answered. The bystanders would deem if the challenged person could defend his own honor. This makes sense of all of the interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees.
Chapter 3 looks at Patronage and Reciprocity, and I was surprised to see what the social context of “grace” meant in a Greco-Roman society. Grace is a type of showing favor, and it socially requires a response of gratitude. This is in contrast with how the western world makes grace to just be a “free gift,” inconsequential of a relationship between the giver and receiver.
Kinship and the Church
Kinship comes next in the book, and DeSilva shows how it is connected with identity. Cooperation, harmony, hiding the shame of kin, and forgiveness, reconciliation, and patience are all parts of it. Chapter 6 connects the idea of kinship with the idea of the “household of God” in the New Testament. It brings a fullness to the ideas of a “church family” and “church community” that I had not before considered.
The ends with a look at purity and pollution, and links closely with the concepts of sin and not being stained by the world. This book is a revelatory read that will help you better understand your Bible. Academic yet accessible, your eyes will be opened to better see and understand Christ and his kingdom.
I received a media copy of Honor, Patronage, Kinship, and Purity and this is my honest review.
The book begins immediately by looking at Honor and Shame. My own culture as an Asian American gave me some insight into this, but I was pleased to see DeSilva show how a person’s attributed or ascribed honor could change through adoption. Of course, this has particular meaning to Christians as we have been adopted into the family of God.
Patronage and Reciprocity
I was stunned to learn of the social game of challenge and riposte. This is a game of honor, where honor can be gained by publicly posing a challenge that cannot be successfully answered. The bystanders would deem if the challenged person could defend his own honor. This makes sense of all of the interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees.
Chapter 3 looks at Patronage and Reciprocity, and I was surprised to see what the social context of “grace” meant in a Greco-Roman society. Grace is a type of showing favor, and it socially requires a response of gratitude. This is in contrast with how the western world makes grace to just be a “free gift,” inconsequential of a relationship between the giver and receiver.
Kinship and the Church
Kinship comes next in the book, and DeSilva shows how it is connected with identity. Cooperation, harmony, hiding the shame of kin, and forgiveness, reconciliation, and patience are all parts of it. Chapter 6 connects the idea of kinship with the idea of the “household of God” in the New Testament. It brings a fullness to the ideas of a “church family” and “church community” that I had not before considered.
The ends with a look at purity and pollution, and links closely with the concepts of sin and not being stained by the world. This book is a revelatory read that will help you better understand your Bible. Academic yet accessible, your eyes will be opened to better see and understand Christ and his kingdom.
I received a media copy of Honor, Patronage, Kinship, and Purity and this is my honest review.
September 8, 2025
An absolutely amazing book. Though I've studied the topic of cultural background in depth, this book is an excellent study on the NT background and the role of Honor and Purity and family. And as DeSilva points out, it's one of the few books that cross over Biblical studies and the study of missions. It's a phenomenal introduction into the cultural background for any student delving into Biblical studies (both in and out of a school setting), and a book I still recommend for it's insights into this aspect that though has lost it's import in Western societies has immense importance in places all around the world that still live by these types of honor codes.
"Our study of purity and pollution has left us, then, with the task of discovering and properly handling the boundaries God has drawn between his holy people and the unbelieving world. The boundary must remain clear and fixed with regard to the perceptions of people, the values, and the agendas that derive from the society around us rather than from the Spirit of God. The boundary must remain porous with regard to outreach and admission of converts into God’s holiness. We are challenged to resist the temptation to collapse God-made boundaries and replicate society-made boundaries within the Christian community and within our individual lives. Rather, we are pushed toward recovering the sacred character of our liminality, our threshold existence outside society’s lines and awaiting God’s kingdom. In these margins we are free to invent the quality of community that God desires for all his daughters and sons."
Chapters:
1 Honor and Shame: Connecting Personhood to Group Values
2 Honor and Shame in the New Testament
3 Patronage and Reciprocity: The Social Context of Grace
4 Patronage and Grace in the New Testament
5 Kinship: Living as a Family in the First-Century World
6 Kinship and the “Household of God” in the New Testament
7 Purity and Pollution: Ordering the World Before a Holy God
8 Purity and the New Testament
"Our study of purity and pollution has left us, then, with the task of discovering and properly handling the boundaries God has drawn between his holy people and the unbelieving world. The boundary must remain clear and fixed with regard to the perceptions of people, the values, and the agendas that derive from the society around us rather than from the Spirit of God. The boundary must remain porous with regard to outreach and admission of converts into God’s holiness. We are challenged to resist the temptation to collapse God-made boundaries and replicate society-made boundaries within the Christian community and within our individual lives. Rather, we are pushed toward recovering the sacred character of our liminality, our threshold existence outside society’s lines and awaiting God’s kingdom. In these margins we are free to invent the quality of community that God desires for all his daughters and sons."
Chapters:
1 Honor and Shame: Connecting Personhood to Group Values
2 Honor and Shame in the New Testament
3 Patronage and Reciprocity: The Social Context of Grace
4 Patronage and Grace in the New Testament
5 Kinship: Living as a Family in the First-Century World
6 Kinship and the “Household of God” in the New Testament
7 Purity and Pollution: Ordering the World Before a Holy God
8 Purity and the New Testament
October 8, 2018
Cultural insights
Scholarly text on Jewish and Christian cultures as well as cultures that surrounded both Israel and the early Christian church. Many valuable insights are had. One point made by the author is that often we are quick to criticize the Pharisees and Jews of Jesus' day for their standoffish nature but are blind to our own cultural fixations which can be just as contrary to the call of Jesus. Another sticking point was that of God's blessing Jesus and telling the disciples to listen to Him, implying they should view the teachings of Jesus as superior to that of the views of the day and therefore apply them. One point of contention would be comments on the unity of the church. While there is a level of agreement, where would one draw the line regarding heresy. When a whole entity is outside the NT teaching, is one to willingly embrace them and commune with them? The author brings this up but, in my humble opinion, leaves the door too wide open.
Scholarly text on Jewish and Christian cultures as well as cultures that surrounded both Israel and the early Christian church. Many valuable insights are had. One point made by the author is that often we are quick to criticize the Pharisees and Jews of Jesus' day for their standoffish nature but are blind to our own cultural fixations which can be just as contrary to the call of Jesus. Another sticking point was that of God's blessing Jesus and telling the disciples to listen to Him, implying they should view the teachings of Jesus as superior to that of the views of the day and therefore apply them. One point of contention would be comments on the unity of the church. While there is a level of agreement, where would one draw the line regarding heresy. When a whole entity is outside the NT teaching, is one to willingly embrace them and commune with them? The author brings this up but, in my humble opinion, leaves the door too wide open.
November 28, 2018
This should be required reading for all Bible students. It provides important backgrounds for understanding the New Testament (and some of the old). It is very easy to read our life situations into the text and this book reminds us that we can't do that. If we want to better appreciate the text then we need to better understand the world in which that text was written. Remember the old cliche: we are reading someone else's mail. This was my second time through the book and it was just as eye opening. Do yourself a favor and read this book!!!
November 11, 2021
This book was an absolute joy to read. Learning about how the first century viewed honor, patronage, kinship, and purity did exactly what the subtitle said, it simply unlocked some passage's meaning to me. This book is accessible to the layperson and you can find it for under $10 dollars used, which is a rarety with some of these academic books. Overall, a great book for expanding your knowledge of the new testament culture, highly suggest you give it a read.
January 6, 2021
David A. deSilva is a first rate scholar and a fine thinker and writer. This book is a must read for a student who wants to bridge a reading of the New Testament with its Hebrew and Judean heritage and the Greco-Roman culture of the Mediterranean world of imperial Rome in which it is rooted and written.
November 4, 2024
This was a very well-written, well-researched, in-depth look at New Testament era Greco-Roman and Jewish culture as well as the way the early Christian church responded to and subverted those majority cultures. I deeply enjoyed and appreciated each chapter, and I'll likely re-read this one many times in the future.
April 1, 2019
Wonderful resource!
DeSilva offers a very accessible scholarly treatment of the New Testament context. At the same time, he offers solid insights for relating the implications to the life of discipleship today. I will return to this resource often.
DeSilva offers a very accessible scholarly treatment of the New Testament context. At the same time, he offers solid insights for relating the implications to the life of discipleship today. I will return to this resource often.
June 24, 2020
Very Enlightening
Best digested a little at a time. Facts and figures which open a new world of understanding of Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian culture. Great material for any serious preacher of God’s Word.
Best digested a little at a time. Facts and figures which open a new world of understanding of Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian culture. Great material for any serious preacher of God’s Word.
October 2, 2022
Must read for New Testament study!
This is. Must read for New Testament study. Anyone interested is understanding the New Testament more fully should read and engage with deSilva's ideas in this book.
This is. Must read for New Testament study. Anyone interested is understanding the New Testament more fully should read and engage with deSilva's ideas in this book.
May 25, 2017
Very much an introductory text. Good for use in classrooms, I would imagine.
July 21, 2018
So helpful and insightful
November 13, 2020
If you haven't read this and have an interest in theology you are doing yourself a disservice. That purity chapter should hit you like a tonne of bricks! 5 out of 5 stars!
August 12, 2023
Worth reading every few years.
December 1, 2015
Being required reading for class, I had to read through this one pretty quickly. However, this is one of the better resources for grasping a wide understanding of first century Greco-Roman and Jewish culture.
DeSilva breaks the book up into four parts (Honor/Shame, Patronage/Client, Kinship, and Purity/Pollution). He systematically, rhythmically explores each topic as understood by the people groups at the time, how the New Testament speaks both FROM and INTO them, and how we can apply the understandings today in the modern 21st century church.
My eyes were opened to much understanding that often goes beneath the surface "between the lines" in the words of the New Testament. Because of DeSilva's work, my understanding of Jesus Christ, his teachings, and his followers are on the verge of a deeper understanding. Cannot wait to go through the New Testament again after having read this one.
DeSilva breaks the book up into four parts (Honor/Shame, Patronage/Client, Kinship, and Purity/Pollution). He systematically, rhythmically explores each topic as understood by the people groups at the time, how the New Testament speaks both FROM and INTO them, and how we can apply the understandings today in the modern 21st century church.
My eyes were opened to much understanding that often goes beneath the surface "between the lines" in the words of the New Testament. Because of DeSilva's work, my understanding of Jesus Christ, his teachings, and his followers are on the verge of a deeper understanding. Cannot wait to go through the New Testament again after having read this one.
May 25, 2013
Great book. DeSilva's writing style was the only reason I didn't give this one 5 stars. He did a masterful job of opening up the cultural context of the first century and making the Scriptures come alive through an understanding of this cultural context. It was also particularly interesting to me as one who is living in another culture where these four elements of honor, patronage, kinship, and purity play an important role in daily life. A little editing and elimination of the over use of repetition would put this book in an elite status, but it's a great read nonetheless.
Currently reading
January 15, 2009I am learning about the New Testament Culture, so I will have a better understanding of the Bible.
November 18, 2011
Excellent book for understanding 1st century Roman times and the cultural impact Jesus, his disciples, and Paul made.
Currently reading
August 8, 2012I haven't finished yet, but it provides perspective on the New Testament that modern Americans might not otherwise have.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews