Associations, Jews, Paul and his "churches"

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spin
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Associations, Jews, Paul and his "churches"

Post by spin »

I stumbled on an interesting section of Josephus a while back regarding Julius Caesar's favorable attitude to the Jews (AJ 14.213-216). He has just learned of laws at Parium restricting Jewish—among other communities'—cultic activities, which included collecting "contributions for communal meals". Caesar restated Jewish exemption from such laws. The word for "community" is actually θιασος or "association" (in Latin "collegium"). John Kloppenborg wrote a paper delineating collegia/θιασοι available online here.

The quote from Josephus brings home the fact that Jewish organization in the diaspora was in fact in the form of collegia/θιασοι. A θιασος was a voluntary association of people with like-minded interests and Kloppenborg outlines that a religious association was one of the basic uses for free associations in the era, another being guild-like associations, where workers with similar skills promote their efforts. Among the activities of these associations were the collection of common funds to pay for communal meals and often to pay for members' funerals. The communal meal was an aspect of most known associations and the notion of common funds should be familiar to anyone working with the Dead Sea Scrolls which embody an association known as the Yahad.

My interest though is as a background to Paul's communities, which appear to be associations. The communal meal in 1 Cor 11 is in the tradition of diaspora Jewish association communal meals intimated in Josephus's comment about collecting contributions for such meals. That members are called "brothers" is only to be expected in an association. Formal associations had office bearers such as deacons and presbyters.

Now, like other associations, members had their own means of earnings, but the contributed to the association in order for it to function. The question arises to me isn't Paul's ekklesia financing the meals whose abuse by the Corinthians Paul is so upset about? They have their own homes to go to if they want to eat. The communal meal is for the whole association to share in and is not a first-come-first-served affair.

In the ancient association seen across the Roman empire hopefully we see the cultural background for the phenomenon of Paul's "churches".

(There is quite a large body of scholarly analysis of associations that hasn't made it into the eye of the casual reader. I'll have to read another of Kloppenborg's papers called "Greco-Roman Thiasoi, the Ekklēsia at Corinth, and Conflict Management" in Redescribing Paul and the Corinthians, edds Ron Cameron & Merrill P. Miller, SBL 2011. And a related subject on the plate: Dennis E. Smith From Symposium to Eucharist, Fortress 2003.)
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Nathan
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Re: Associations, Jews, Paul and his "churches"

Post by Nathan »

spin wrote:(There is quite a large body of scholarly analysis of associations that hasn't made it into the eye of the casual reader. I'll have to read another of Kloppenborg's papers called "Greco-Roman Thiasoi, the Ekklēsia at Corinth, and Conflict Management" in Redescribing Paul and the Corinthians, edds Ron Cameron & Merrill P. Miller, SBL 2011. And a related subject on the plate: Dennis E. Smith From Symposium to Eucharist, Fortress 2003.)
Philip Harland's Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society might be of interest to you, if you're not already familiar with it. His website too.
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neilgodfrey
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Re: Associations, Jews, Paul and his "churches"

Post by neilgodfrey »

Nathan wrote:
spin wrote:(There is quite a large body of scholarly analysis of associations that hasn't made it into the eye of the casual reader. I'll have to read another of Kloppenborg's papers called "Greco-Roman Thiasoi, the Ekklēsia at Corinth, and Conflict Management" in Redescribing Paul and the Corinthians, edds Ron Cameron & Merrill P. Miller, SBL 2011. And a related subject on the plate: Dennis E. Smith From Symposium to Eucharist, Fortress 2003.)
Philip Harland's Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society might be of interest to you, if you're not already familiar with it. His website too.
Especially recommended is James Constantine Hanges, Paul, Founder of Churches -- both for his discussion and avalanche of relevant citations -- do a text search on keywords.
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spin
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Re: Associations, Jews, Paul and his "churches"

Post by spin »

Nathan wrote:Philip Harland's Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society might be of interest to you, if you're not already familiar with it. His website too.
Thanks for the reference... you've reminded me of a book by Harland that I have seen though whose importance hadn't dawned on me at the time—written after the first edition of the work you've mentioned—, Dynamics of Identity—in the Early Christian World, the first part of which is called "Judean and Christian Identities in the Context of Associations". I've certainly bitten off a large body of work to chew on.
neilgodfrey wrote:Especially recommended is James Constantine Hanges, Paul, Founder of Churches -- both for his discussion and avalanche of relevant citations -- do a text search on keywords.
I have been trawling through this book since your mention here. Hell, 500 pages. There seems to be a lot that is of interest to the topic.
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DCHindley
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Re: Associations, Jews, Paul and his "churches"

Post by DCHindley »

I've read and commented on both books, starting around 2013, and yes the subject is interesting as heck.

Paul seems to be promoting, IMHO, private associations within an extended household, probably Herodian. Of course, I am dubious that what Paul was promoting was anything related to Christian dogma, despite all the Christological statements. He rather seemed to offer slaves in the household the option to share in the "inheritance" God promised to Abraham's descendants, without having to convert fully to Judaism as one might have to do upon manumission by their Jewish master (very common). Apparently, he is not dealing with first tier slaves who have caught the master's eye and have a prospect to be manumitted. However, you will notice that he is inordinately interested in household codes of conduct, as if saying "keep trying" while presenting the benefits one can get in the next life by just believing in those promises.

Early Christian communities in other contexts (like in the gospels) do not appear to be household associations, but seem to be related to the Synagoue associations.

In both cases the associations are tolerably legal (Paul's) or totally legal (Synagogues).

Lunch is over ...

DCH
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