Abstract
This book has many strengths. The obvious erudition is present on every page. It assembles the finest recent research into the phenomenon of associations in the ancient Greco-Roman world and employs that information as a heuristic comparison for the emergent early Christian groups that existed alongside this plethora of ancient associations. The comparisons resist making assumptions about simple equivalences between groups. Instead, the rich descriptive data that is discussed permits early Christian groups to be viewed in the midst of other contemporary voluntary associations. The masterful way in which Kloppenborg handles and evaluates the data pertaining to wider associative practices creates space for fresh and incisive questions to be generated in relation to the structure, benefits, and maintenance of early Christ groups.
The book commences with the example of a mid-second century inscription from Rome recording the bylaws of an ancient association devoted to Aesculpius the healing god and Hygia the goddess of health. The group consisted of about sixty members and it held face-to-face meetings and banquets in its chapel on the Via Appia (pp. 1-2). Kloppenborg notes that from this single inscriptions we know much about the group: its financial structure, that a majority of members were freed slaves, and the wine entitlement of each member. By contrast, while the letters of Paul and the gospels tell us much about the beliefs and the portrait of the foundational figure of Christ groups, little is known about the structure, size and regulation of these groups in the early centuries. This is the starting point that allows Kloppenborg to vividly illustrate the types of questions that he is seeking to explore in relation to the early Jesus movement through a detailed analysis of other voluntary associations.
After illustrating the widespread, numerous and varied nature of associations in the ancient world in his first chapter, Kloppenborg turns in the next chapter to the methodologically more challenging issue of how best to model Christ assemblies in light of the larger picture pertaining to associations. As with the majority of early Christian gatherings, most of the associations were active in urban centres. Kloppenborg selects six diverse associations to illustrate the way in which such groups offered a sense of connectivity. To illustrate how these groups functioned, two chief types of evidence are documented. First, the alba, or membership roster for such groups. Second, preserved mainly from Egyptian associations, records of meetings, which document attendance and the type of activity carried out at the meeting. The membership rotas often illustrate the rank and legal status of members. Thus they not only reveal social diversity, but illustrate connections between people of differing social standing. Taking just one of the examples, the association of the boatmen and registrars of Ostia, this group is noted to be well connected to civic elites, but mainly comprised of males. The data assembled is used to create ‘imaginative possibilities’ in relation to Christ assemblies (p. 80). Three Christ groups are considered in relation to the data gleaned from the six comparative associations discussed. The three groups in question are the Philippian, the Corinthian, and the Thessalonian Christ assemblies. In relation to the Philippian group, it is noted that there are only four named individuals. One of these, Epaphroditus, bears a name that was overwhelmingly (but not exclusively) given to slaves. Hence this might be a clue to his social status. Kloppenborg follows the suggestion of Julien Ogereau that the commercial language in Philippians is not metaphorical, but ‘suggests that Paul and the Philippians were involved in some kind of commercial venture’ (p. 82). This group is then considered in parallel with the builder-carpenters of Luna – a commercial, gender-mixed group. Kloppenborg suggests that the reason Paul might not address any of the leaders of the Philippian group by name could be because it had an annual rotating leadership as did the builder-carpenters of Luna. In this way he open new interpretative possibilities for understanding the structure of the Philippian group. In relation to the other two groups, it is theorised that the Corinthian was the most diverse in terms of ethnicity, gender, and legal status. By contrast, the Thessalonian assembly is seen as ‘more homogenous, including only men and probably only slaves, free handworkers, and perhaps some freedman’ (p. 90). Kloppenborg discussed the statement in Acts 17.4, which states that the newly formed Thessalonian assembly had attracted many leading women. However, he finds this to be an unlikely representation of the real situation, especially on the basis of the comment in the letter that the Thessalonian association had ‘suffered much from your own countrymen’ (1 Thess 1.6; 3.3-4). It is argued that leading and socially well-connected women would not have been subjected to such violence. From this modelling of assemblies, Kloppening draws a number of important conclusions. Among these is the possibility of representing the make-up of groups on five different scales: ‘(1) Ethnic diversity versus ethnic uniformity; (2) Gender diversity versus gender exclusivity; (3) Diversity versus uniformity in the legal status and citizenship of members; (4) Connectivity to civic elite; (5) Lateral connection to other groups’ (p. 94). Moreover, deriving social capital from membership of an ancient association was a key reason for joining the group.
In the third chapter, Kloppenborg seeks to better understand the membership practices of Christ assemblies. It is noted that scholars have rarely considered the membership practices of Christ groups in a systematic fashion (p. 97). Here Kloppenborg considers the likely numerical size of such groups, and draws upon data on the size of possible meeting spaces. In particular, the extensive table of membership sizes of various associations is rich and fascinating data. From the rotas of 141 associations the mean size is 77.15, and the median (less skewed by outliers) is 29. This may provide a useful indication of the likely size of Christ groups, although no doubt there was significant variation. The next chapter considers the sense of belonging that came to individuals through membership of a voluntary association. Here the removal of names from inscriptions of membership lists is presented as a vivid illustration of the consequences of not belonging to a group. As Kloppenborg puts it, ‘[i]t is perhaps difficult for the modern reader to appreciate the importance of being seen to belong to a group until one considers its opposite’ (p. 135). Under the heading of ‘technologies of belonging’ it is noted the connectivity to a group is publicly affirmed through activities such as the processions of occupational guilds and cultic associations, membership rosters, meals, mandatory attendance, and baptism. It is noted that while baptism became the standard public entrance ritual into a Christ community, baptism or a washing ceremony was also practiced as an initiation rite in the Eleusinian and Korybantic mysteries. This sense of belonging, publicly declared, ‘created a social zone of intense interactions and the generation of social capital’ (p. 161).
In the following two chapters Kloppenborg probes the relationship of Christ assemblies to the larger urban economy and discusses the social level of these Christ groups. First, he describes what is labelled as an ‘old consensus’, originating with Deissmann, that members of Christ communities as reflected in the letters of Paul belonged to the lower strata of society, and that even the writings of these groups portrayed communication to the ‘illiterate lower strata’. By contrast, a new consensus has emerged that argues ‘all economic and social strata of imperial society were represented in early Christ assemblies with the exception of the rural poor and the civic elite’ (p. 181). Thus Kloppenborg suggests that Christ assemblies were places where social capital could be conferred on members. This was achieved ‘by a combination of strategies: some groups attracted and co-opted patrons of high rank in order to boost the profile of the whole group; others formed lateral connections with comparable guilds and associations’ (p. 208).
The following three chapters, ‘meals’, ‘the collection’, and ‘funerals’ look at some of the activities practiced within the Christ groups. In relation to meals it is noted that the lack of information has generated much speculation. Kloppenborg draws on two meal practices from other associations to present parallels with known practices, the model of elite patronage and the ‘eranistic’ model. Kloppenborg seeks to correct misunderstandings surrounding the first model, especially as it has been applied to understanding tensions in meal practice at Corinth. It is argued that in associations that a patron typically did not fund regular meals for the entire community, and that patrons did not engage in the practice of consuming most of the food before others arrived. Instead, association meals were designed to create equality between members. The second model ‘proposed that all members were expected to bring foodstuffs to the banquet’ (p. 228). Admittedly the quantity and quality varied according to individual resources. The point of such meals was to create a fictive equality between members. Kloppenborg suggests that although Paul’s response to the Corinthian practice is exaggerated and sarcastic, it still reflects problems in practice. The issue was not adhering to the group’s own banqueting rules. Either some were claiming hunger and depriving others of their portion, or through greed they simply overconsumed and thus left others without a portion. The second group activity concerns the fiscal activity of the collection for the Jerusalem poor. Here collections for common purposes within associations, often through a subscription (epidosis), are considered to offer parallels. However, Paul’s collection is seen as ‘transgressive’ of some of the norms in associative practices. Thus it is noted that ‘[h]is rationale for the collection transgressed the boundaries of several cultural practices current in the Greek world, in particular the promotion of an epidosis-like collection for an extralocal, non-Greek group’ (p. 263). Burials of members was one of the key benefits of many associations. However, as is noted, prior to Tertullian there is little in Christian documents about the treatment of the dead. On the whole, Kloppenborg finds little evidence to distinguish Christian funerary practices from those of wider society.
The final two chapters look at the ways in which Christians lived in connection with wider urban society, and how they entered of left a Christ association. In relation to the former, a tension is noted between a discourse that articulates a sense of alien status in relation to wider society, while at the same time adopting group practices that mimic associations that provide social capital with civic life. In relation to entering and leaving Christ groups, it is noted that this is not solely a matter of individual choice. In conclusion Kloppenborg notes that the comparison of information concerning occupational guilds and cultic associations with Christ assemblies ‘has raised questions that had rarely been entertained up to now’ (p. 344). In many ways, this is precisely the primary intellectual contribution of the book regardless of the answers that it provides to those questions. With great skill and verve, Kloppenborg has drawn upon a rich vein of important evidence that until recently has been overlooked by scholars of the early Christ movement. His incisive analysis provides greater leverage on understanding the motivation for becoming a member of such Christ groups since they offered social capital and a sense of connectedness. This is a book that cannot be ignored. By delving into the realities of associations in the ancient Greco-Roman world, Kloppenborg has shown that Christ assemblies cannot be fully understood apart from the wider culture, but that they are more fully illuminated by a careful consideration of the heuristic comparison of relevant features and practices of other associative groups. There is much to learn from this book, but there will be even more to ponder over many years to come.