Honor, Patronage, Kinship and 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.

David A. deSilva (PhD, Emory University) is Trustees' Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. He is the author of over fifteen books including4 Maccabees (Septuagint Commentary Series); An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation; Introducing the Apocrypha: Context, Message and Significance; New Testament Themes; Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle "to the Hebrews"; Honor, Patronage, Kinship and Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture; and The Hope of Glory: Honor Discourse and New Testament Interpretation. He is also an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.

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