The authors' goal is to introduce social scientific
methods and models which help bridge the gap
between the modern western world and the Palestine
of Jesus. Written for seminarians, undergraduates,
pastors, and educated laypersons, the book
supplements traditional New Testament introductions based primarily on history,
linguistics, geography, and archaeology by explaining the social systems,
institutions, and values underlying the Gospels. A brief introduction (3-18) and
conclusion (161-166) bracket the book's main chapters on four basic social
domains: kinship, politics, economics, and religion.
Kinship is the first social domain under discussion in the longest chapter "All in
the Family: Kingship in Agrarian Roman Palestine" (19-62). Here the authors
persuasively argue that family and kinship relations were interwoven with all other
social domains—politics, economics, and religion. The typical ancient Palestinian
kinship system, labeled the "endogamous community family," is illustrated with
Josephus' descriptions of the Herodian house's drama, laws in the Hebrew Bible,
and stories from subsequent Jewish literature. After contrasting this with modern
kinship systems in terms of gender, genealogies, inheritance, marriage, and
divorce, the authors spell out the implications for understanding Jesus' genealogy
(Matthew 1:1-17) and aspects of his peasant family dynamics (e.g. Mark 6:3;
3:21, 31-35 and parallels). The next chapter, "Pyramids of Power: Politics and
Patronage in Agrarian Roman Palestine" (63-98), sketches the familiar
Lenski-Kautsky model of aristocratic agrarian empires. Roman-backed elite
interests kept the social hierarchy intact and prevented the lower classes from
expressing displeasure in any meaningful way. The rulers repressed the resulting
chronic social banditry and periodic popular movements, at times with public
crucifixion. Reading Jesus' trial attuned to political structures in the Roman
Empire, the authors argue that Pilate and Jerusalem's priestly elite crucified him
as a political threat. The presentation of kinship and politics converge in the next
chapter, "The Denarius Stops Here: Political Economy in Roman Palestine"
(99-130), which stresses that rulers and elite families in urban settings dominated
the production and distribution of goods. Their control of land, labor, and capital,
coupled with the oppressive taxation of both the Roman-backed rulers and the
Temple, pushed an increasing number of peasants off their ancestral land into
tenancy or poverty. This chapter succinctly summarizes much of Oakman's
important work (including his dissertation Jesus and the Economic Questions of
His Day [Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity 8; Lewiston: Edwin Mellen,
1986]), and concludes that the essential ministry of Jesus embodied "a potent
critique of political arrangements and through the symbol of God's reign speaks of
a reorganization of society through fictive kinship patterns" (128). "Was Bigger
Better: Political Religion in Roman Palestine" (131-159) focuses primarily on the
Temple, and ties together aspects of the previous three domains. The Herodian
family and priestly elites politically enforced a Temple system oppressive to the
peasantry, and Jesus voiced a non-elite vision of an egalitarian distributive system
during the social solidarity fostered by pilgrimage. Especially after this chapter,
readers will no longer neatly compartmentalize ancient life into discrete
units—family, public politics, economics, and personal religion, but see the
interconnectedness of the various social do mains and how the teachings of Jesus
are embedded in them.
Although successful in communicating the social differences between the
modern and ancient worlds, Palestine in the Time of Jesus suffers from some
basic problems. First, even though the authors seek to describe the society and
social structures underlying the life and teachings of Jesus, they rarely focus on
the particularities of Galilee in any significant way. The important work of Eric
Meyers on Galilean regionalism is almost entirely neglected, and though Sean
Freyne's work on Galilee is found in the bibliography, his essential argument that
Galilean culture, society, and religion must be reconstructed as its own entity is
slighted in favor of a general pan-Mediterranean agrarian society and
honor-shame culture. This problem is compounded by another oddity of the book,
namely the authors' insistence on translating Ioudaios/oi as "Judean/s," rather
than the more traditional "Jew/s," which the authors feel "has specifically
'religious' connotations for modern readers, with different social indices" (176).
The resulting labels are certainly more confusing than any clarification of the term
"Jew" at the beginning of the book would have been. For example, Herod the
Great is described at one point as a "Judean monotheist," (77), the general
population is at times described as "Palestinian" (even when referring only to
people in Galilee and Judea, 77), the Jews that Flaccus crucified in Alexandria are
called "ethnic Israelites" while the Jews crucified by the "Judean" high priest
Alexander Jannaeus are called "Judeans" (92-93), and the "Greeks" of John 11
are assumed to be "hellenized Israelites from outside Palestine" (80). An
anthropologically oriented definition of Ioudaios/oi, describing ethnicity in terms
of socialized patterns of behavior, descent consciousness, and religion would have
been welcomed. Aside from confusing the general reader, this reviewer was left
unsure about how the authors understand Jesus' identity as a Galilean (read
Jewish?), other than that as a Galilean he was subject to an oppressive Judean
(also read Jewish?) Temple system. This leads to the third concern, namely the
presentation of ancient Palestine solely with a sociology that is conflictual in
orientation. While this perspective brings to light political-economic aspects of
public religion that are too often neglected in New Testament introductions, it is
misleading to approach Jewish religion in the first century almost exclusively in
terms of the Herodian Temple and the priestly oligarchy's exploitation of the
Jewish peasantry. Although recommended as supplemental reading in an
undergraduate or seminary class, Hanson and Oakman's negative view of the
Temple should be accompanied by an antidote like E. P. Sanders' more positive
description (Judaism: Practice and Belief 63 BCE - 66 CE [Philadelphia: Trinity
Press International, 1993]). The Pharisees' role in shaping Jewish life or even
influencing social structures, without undermining the Temple sy stem, also
deserved more consideration as an influential social movement alone, not to
mention as the chief antagonists in Jesus' teachings.
In sum, the title Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and
Social Conflicts, captures both the essence as well as the limitations of the book.
It takes the reader back to the Time of Jesus by sketching the general
Mediterranean world of which Palestine was a part, but not specifically Galilee. It
describes the important Social Structures, but confuses with regard to Jewish
ethnicity. And its preoccupation with Social Conflicts illuminates much but
presents a one-sided picture of Second Temple Judaism.
In spite of these criticisms, the book succeeds in its basic goal of introducing
and accentuating the gap between our social institutions and forms and theirs.
The style tends to be written with the general reader in mind, and the four
chapters on social domains begin with a series of reflection questions, end with
well thought out assignments on Gospel texts, and suggest further reading.
Throughout the book, terms from life in antiquity, ancient sources, or sociological
vocabulary are marked with asterisks and then explained in helpful glossaries
(167-204). Bibliographies (205-218) and indices (219-235) round out the work,
which is enhanced by several photographs and numerous charts ("pictorial
conceptual models").
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