Women and Gender in the New Testament:
Hermeneutics-
“science and art of interpretation.”
SYNCHRONIC and DIACHRONIC
SYNCHRONIC
Means looking at the text at a fixed point in time
Looks at the current form of a text at the moment when it was fixed
DIACHRONIC
Looks at a process of a text’s construction and reads it in separate components
Looks chronologically
Literary criticism-
Looking for art and design in the text
Make something accurate/convincing
Historical criticism-
Political/geographical setting
-Marxist/Queer/Post-Colonial criticism
Historical Context-
Worlds of thought around the time the new testament was written:
-Persian Empire
-Greek Empire
-Hellenism
-Second Temple Judaism
-Roman Republic
-Early Roman Empire
-Rabbinic Judaism
Persian Empire
539-332 BCE
Begins with Cyrus of Persia- when he captured Babylon
-something that is mentioned in the Book of Revelation, had a massive impact
One of the most powerful empires in history (depending on how we define power)
Has relationship to Jewish people as Babylonian captivity a large part of Jewish
history
-Cyrus of Persia liberates Jewish people from slavery, helps set up temple
-Isaiah 43:1-3 Cyrus mentioned, God honours him through a prophet
-Cyrus described as the Lords Messiah
Zoroastrianism- was/is central Persian Religion. Started by Zarathustra, and began to
push monotheism to Persia
, dualism- good vs evil
detailed angelology and demonology
eschatology- time is linear and has a cataclysmic end
afterlife will have a judgement in the end times (similar to ideas presented in NT)
if you see a scholar arguing an extreme one way or another is probably due to bias
Greek Empire-
Alexandra the Great
Can be seen in Art from the time
Hellenism-
Sparked by Alexander the Great
Ends with the rise of the Roman Empire
-some people believe it to be a continuation
Alexander never named a successor and his generals fought
Eventually split into four kingdoms:
-Antigonid
-Ptolemaic Dynasty
-Seleucid Empire
-Attalid Dynasty
Characteristics of Hellenism:
-one language (GREEK)
-everyone meeting in the middle so everyone can communicate
-syncretism, life before was tribal, every deity seen as fighting but diversity of
Hellenism leads to religious mixing
-people cherry pick from other religions
-increased mobility and travel (cosmopolitanism)
-flourishing in art and literature (including in Jewish communities)
-Great libraries in Alexander and Ephesus
-people wanting to know about the other
-Hasmonaean Dynasty (when Jews beat the Seleucids)
-internal economy
-expanded boundaries
-commissioned text
Rise of Rome
Begins in 64 BCE- 25 BCE
Emperors seen as God
Augustus known as Son of God as Julius Caesar known as God
Julius Caesar
Appointed in 64 BCE
Appointed dictator for life
Did reform in relation to debts, calendars, security and the poor
Assassinated by friends at 44
, Augustus
Emperor from age 19-death
Lost control in East to Mark Antony but invaded again in 30 BCE
Reforms were ‘moral’ reforms
Herod (The Herods)
Herod 1st- puppet king for Mark Antony
Jews already had a king
Herod = half Jewish
Herod 1st expanded temples and gave to the community but known as a tyrant
Had 3 sons in power after him
Seen as a mouthpiece for Rome
Jews in Rome
1st two decades relatively peaceful- allowed a local council ‘Sanhedrin’
Synagogue dedicated to Augustus, seen as a time of flourishing
Were allowed to not do things on the Sabbath
Roman/Jewish war
66-73 CE
Seizure and destruction of the temple in 79
Josephus (Jewish historian)
When NT begins to be written
Jews lost
John the Baptist and Jesus are voices for reform
Rabbinic Judaism
Rose alongside early Christianity
Temple destruction causes change in Judaism- centred in synagogue
2nd-6th century
Talmud solidified in 6th century
Judaism today
Rabbinic period 2nd-10th century
Masculinity in the New Testament
Paul says “I appeal to you by the gentleness and humanity of Christ”
Stereotypically feminine
Massive importance of gender in relation to Christ
Theological Anthropology-soteriology-Christology-rhetoric all link to gender
Idea of gender changes with society
Masculinity and femininity not separate
Jesus was young when he was crucified, earliest art of Jesus has no beard
Patriarchal structures can be damaging to men too- important to remember
Warner Sallman Jesus
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