Christian Origins: A People's History Of Christianity, Vol. 1

A People's History of Christianity #1

by Richard A. Horsley (Editor)

Dealing with a time when "Christians" were moving towards separation from the movement's Jewish origins, this inaugural volume of A People's History of Christianity tells "the people's story" by gathering together evidence from the New Testament texts, archaeology, and other contemporary sources. Of particular interest to the distinguished group of scholar-contributors are the often overlooked aspects of the earliest "Christian" How, for example, did they manage to negotiate allegiances to two social groups? How did they deal with crucial issues of wealth and poverty? What about the participation of slaves and women in these communities? How did living in the shadow of the Roman Empire color their religious experience and economic values?

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Theology, Religion, Christian

318 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[Ted Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot I read this and some other volumes in the series. I will have to review my reading of this work.

[Fiona Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book that provides a strong foundation to a series proposing to explore a people’s history of Christianity. Richard A Horsley has brought together a variety of compelling contributors and contributions that throw some light onto the early Christian period. This is no mean task given the paucity of source material to work with and that we only catch a glimpse is not the fault of the authors but a reflection of the difficulty of the task.

Richard Horsley begins with a comprehensive scene setting for the series and for this initial book. The importance of understanding the stratification of Roman society (a resounding theme throughout the book), the defining impact of literacy and the popular culture of first century Palestine is established providing a step into the eclectic following chapters.

The first section focuses on ‘Early Jesus Movements’ with Horsley starting off looking at popular revolts that led ultimately to vicious repression by the Roman authorities. Looking at early followers of Jesus within this context he argues that they differed from revolts that sought to pull people away from their communities. Rather the message was one of renewal of Israel/covenant based on existing village communities – these were to be renewed. In this way Horsley explains why, although Jesus was executed, his followers were pretty much left alone. Rome did not perceive that the movement was such a threat although analysis shows it was very much a rebellion against the status quo. This was not the first time that I found parallels between ideas in this book and later historical developments where new forms of Christianity were embraced by the power-elite because they were perceived as supporting the status quo when actually being agents of social change – Black Christianity among the slaves of Southern states of America being one example.

William R Herzog II follows with a focus on peasants (the majority of the population) and how they responded to Jesus. In doing so he draws on Paulo Freire’s distinctive educational approach to analyse the way in which Jesus’ message, through the parables, might have been absorbed by his listeners. This is a captivating analysis of familiar texts.

Antoinette Clark Wire takes us from the peasants general to women’s history and birth- prophecy stories. Taking these stories Wire explores who created them and why they were told. The role of these stories as harbingers of potential – each birth story focussed on an individual but with the story came the knowledge of their lives impact on the people.

Bringing this section to a very satisfying conclusion is Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley’s chapter on the followers of John the Baptist – the Mandaeans. This covers the familiar ground of rival traditions but within the context of a people’s history it gives us an outsider/hostile view of early Christian development.

In Cities and Texts we have four chapters taking us on a textual travelogue – an early Rough Guide - starting with Paul and Corinth. Ray Pickett situates Paul’s letter within the streets of Corinth and works/walks through the different clashes between Paul and ‘his’ church. One aspect picked up again later in the book is early Christian approaches to slavery – buying their freedom soon changed into maintenance of the existing societal stratification as the Church itself started to create its own hierarchical structure.

Warren Carter introduces us to Matthew’s people again with the emphasis on poverty and violent suppression. They are seen as people who are engaged in a rebellion of the mind, of attitudes and of practice reflecting the alternative demands of God’s empire – but which do not seek conflict with Rome.

John’s people come under the careful scrutiny of Allen Dwight Callahan who presents a desire through the Gospel to show how Jesus sought to reunite the ancient kingdom of Israel – a mammoth task given the schisms and prejudice that kept regions distinct.

Finally we come to Rome and Neil Elliott explores the experience of the Judean community in Rome. He paints a picture of a suppressed community subject to the vagaries of the political elite. In this context the assumed antagonism between the Judean community and the nascent Christian community is proposed as unlikely. Christianity developed drawing on Judean and non-Judean communities and drew on Jewish symbols and thinking etc and only later did the Christian community distance itself from the Judean community.

In the final section we turn to Social Patterns and Practice. Carolyn Osiek tries to get inside the family house and family life. Again the population is defined by its poverty and she explores in some detail the role and experience of slaves and analyses this in relation to the identification of Christians as slaves of God – where the status of a slave relies on the status of their owner such an identification gives the believer a sense of high status even if their life was one of poverty and oppression. Having established family norms within early Christian tradition Osiek analyses these with reference to the Christian tradition of family denial leading to the conclusion that most Christians ‘lived lives of quiet virtue and vice…their stories go untold’.

Clarice J Martin focuses solely on the slave experience with a particular emphasis on ‘eye-service’ as a means by which a slave could rebel – I interpreted this as what I would call lip service, a rebellion from within which was all that was possible when the life of a slave was such a disposable commodity.

Steven J Friesen then considers how poverty – which was the lot of the majority of early Christians – could be explained within this new world view. Through an analysis of texts he shows how the economic situation was understood in terms of political power (James), the work of Satan (Revelation) and as a blessing (Hermas). In comparing Paul’s writings with Acts Friesen charts a discrepancy in the economic profile of believers – in Acts the profile has only Paul at subsistence level with all others doing a lot better. In Paul’s letters the named individuals are, mainly, ‘poor, very poor or desperately poor’!. From each text he draws out actions from separation from the economic system through to full engagement which included charitable giving.

Finally, Barbara R Rossing looks at prophecy and the voices of women. In her analysis of prophecy she discusses the way in which a woman’s role was continually under scrutiny and often suppressed especially as the Church developed its own power structures with eventually prophetic succession giving way to Episcopal succession.

A number of themes are carried through these distinctive chapters and one of these is the role given to women and much is done to discuss and celebrate the role of women in these developing communities.

As I read the book I was continually drawn to the question of how, given the economic, political and social environment, the Jesus story developed. Given the number of competing ideologies – many resulting in the death of the leader – the violent suppression of anything that challenged the power of secular or religious authorities and the immense geography, why did this new ‘thing’ not just disappear? All the evidence suggests it should have died out centuries before it was aligned with the state under Constantine. In addition, where did Jesus fit into the economic analysis and how then did that inform his ministry?

A book that makes you think, challenges presumptions and stays with you. I recommend it…but take your time with it, it needs careful mental digestion!

[Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first in a series of volumes tracking (or attempting to track) the history of Christianity from the ground up. Much of what is known and thought about the history of Christianity, in particular the earliest decades, comes from history written after the fact by the shapers of doctrine and orthodoxy. What gets lost in such accounts is, well, the facts. Or rather, the facts as they were experienced by the earliest followers of Jesus of Nazareth, before those facts got sanded and shaped and repurposed for theological aims. And since these followers were typically quite poor and usually illiterate, it is not as if they left hard records of their own that the various gospels and church fathers simply wrote over or out of existence. If these people and their lives are to be recovered, it is going to have to be done through the margins of what literary records we do possess. Thus the aim of the various essays in this collection is to read against the grain or in the margins of better known texts to ferret out what can be known or surmised about the earliest communities from and in which what came to be known as Christian belief flourished. The participants manage this to varying degrees of success and interest. For this reader, the highlights included essays which sought to get past writers like Josephus to offer a richer account of the overlapping and confusing polities within Judea at the time of Jesus. Also of some interest are a couple of essays that work to discuss the role (later occluded) of women among the earliest believers. Maybe the most food for thought comes from an essay that reads Acts, the Shepherd of Hermas, Revelation and a couple of other texts for evidence of how the earliest believers were taught to think about the wealthy and the powerful in the Roman empire. Spoiler alert: there was a range of opinion, even among the biblical texts, which suggests what we already know: later orthodoxy hides the rich variety of life among the earliest believers. To the degree this volume of essays uncovers or hypothesizes convincingly about such lives, it is worth the candle.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only read a couple of these essays so far but they are very good (both from professors here at LSTC- Ray Pickett and Barbara Rossing). New scholarship and alternative views on movements and lives of average people during the time when Christianity is now seen by some as having been a Jewish sectarian movement, and the changes that came when the early churches became predominantly gentile. Lots of reactions to Roman imperialism. Interesting information on slavery, women's roles in different early movements, economics. I use this as a commentary, a reference for Bible studies or preaching.

[Margie Dorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really worthwhile and eye-opening. I sent excerpts to friends.

[Bpatchett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm basically a communist again after reading this.