Ritual, Women, and Philippi

by Jason T Lamoreaux

Overview

As one surveys the scholarship on the canonical letter to the Philippians, one notices the lack of attention to women within many scholars' analyses. To a certain extent, this lack of attention exists because ancient texts often leave out information about women. Using ritual studies, archaeology, and textual evidence, this work brings life to the ritual lives of ancient Philippian women in their own cultural context. The discipline of ritual studies provides new questions that shed more specific light on the lives of women in this fledgling Jesus group. Therefore, ritual studies brings clarity to early Philippian women's reception of the letter. Furthermore, this ritual background helps modern readers visualize a more diverse community of Jesus followers in Philippi and provides a clearer picture of the struggles this nascent Jesus community was experiencing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620322208
Publisher:	Cascade Books
Publication date:	10/30/2013
Series:	Matrix: The Bible in Mediterranean Context , #8
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Jason T. Lamoreaux is adjunct instructor at Texas Christian University. He is coeditor of Finding a Woman's Place: Essays in Honor of Carolyn Osiek (Pickwick Publications, 2011). He is also a member of the Context Group, a working group of international scholars committed to using the social sciences in biblical interpretation.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Abbreviations x

Acknowledgments xi

1 Philippi in History and Scholarship 1

2 Ritual as a Window to the World of Women 20

3 Women and the Artemis/Diana Cult 43

4 Other Cults in the Material Record of Philippi 76

5 Women's Reception of Paul s Letter to Philippi 101

Bibliography 127

Index of Ancient Documents 139

Index of Modern Authors 145

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"An important contribution to feminist scholarship, this work offers ritual studies as a way of finding the women of Philippi who have been hidden away by androcentric texts and writers. There is a model here that ought to be replicated in other locations."
—Zeba Crook, Associate Professor, Carleton University

"Historical Jesus scholars have been using the archaeological record for some time to re-create the world Jesus lived in, but not so scholars of the Apostle Paul. Jason Lamoreaux is one of a rare breed that uses the material record of Philippi to shed light on the recipients of Paul's letter. Added to that is the explicit and judicious deployment of theory—in this case ritual theory—to make sense of both the material and literary data. The result? Rich insights into several keys passages in Philippians and new light on female Christ followers in Philippi. This is the way Pauline scholarship should be done."
—Richard E. DeMaris, Professor, Valparaiso University

Editorial Reviews

"An important contribution to feminist scholarship, this work offers ritual studies as a way of finding the women of Philippi who have been hidden away by androcentric texts and writers. There is a model here that ought to be replicated in other locations."
—Zeba Crook, Associate Professor, Carleton University

"Historical Jesus scholars have been using the archaeological record for some time to re-create the world Jesus lived in, but not so scholars of the Apostle Paul. Jason Lamoreaux is one of a rare breed that uses the material record of Philippi to shed light on the recipients of Paul's letter. Added to that is the explicit and judicious deployment of theory—in this case ritual theory—to make sense of both the material and literary data. The result? Rich insights into several keys passages in Philippians and new light on female Christ followers in Philippi. This is the way Pauline scholarship should be done."
—Richard E. DeMaris, Professor, Valparaiso University

From the Publisher