What role did offers of physical healing (or the hope of receiving it) play in the missionary program of the apostle Paul? What did he do to treat the many illnesses and injuries that he endured while pursuing his mission? What did he advise his followers to do regarding their health problems? Such questions have been broadly neglected in studies of Paul and his churches, but Christopher D. Stanley shows how vital they truly become once we recognize how thoroughly “pagan” religion was implicated in all aspects of Greco-Roman health care. What did Paul approve, and what did he reject? Given Paul's silence on these subjects, Stanley relies on a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to develop informed judgments about what Paul might have thought, said, and done with regard to his own and his followers' health care. He begins by exploring the nature and extent of sickness in the Roman world and the four overlapping health care systems that were available to Paul and his followers: home remedies, “magical” treatments, religious healing, and medical care. He then examines how Judeans and Christians in the centuries before and after Paul viewed and engaged with these systems. Finally, he speculates on what kinds of treatments Paul might have approved or rejected and whether he might have used promises of healing to attract people to his movement. The result is a thorough and nuanced analysis of a vital dimension of Greco-Roman social life and Paul's place within it.

"For a man who endured so much bodily suffering during the course of his ministry, the apostle Paul has surprisingly little to say about health, medical care, or healing in his letters. Christopher D. Stanley explores the reasons for this silence and what we might reasonably infer regarding Paul's views on the subject. He focuses in particular on two questions that have been neglected in previous scholarship on the apostle Paul:first, what did Paul think, say, and do regarding the treatment of his own and his followers' illnesses and injuries, including "pagan" modes of medical care? And second, how did his ideas on this subject affect the success of his missionary enterprise? Stanley begins with a thorough and nuanced examination of the nature and extent of sickness and injury in the Greco-Roman world, and then moves into a critical review of the three overlapping systems of care that were available to treat it: folk remedies, religious healing, and medical cures. From there this volume transitions to a consideration of what is known about how Jews and Christians other than Paul viewed and used these systems in the first few centuries of the Christian era. Stanley finally speculates on what Paul himself might have thought about the available modes of treatment, what he might have taught his followers on the subject, and how his teachings might have affected the success of his missionary enterprise."--

What role did offers of physical healing (or the hope of receiving it) play in the missionary program of the apostle Paul? What did he do to treat the many illnesses and injuries that he endured while pursuing his mission? What did he advise his followers to do regarding their health problems? Such questions have been broadly neglected in studies of Paul and his churches, but Christopher D. Stanley shows how vital they truly become once we recognize how thoroughly “pagan” religion was implicated in all aspects of Greco-Roman health care. What did Paul approve, and what did he reject? Given Paul's silence on these subjects, Stanley relies on a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to develop informed judgments about what Paul might have thought, said, and done with regard to his own and his followers' health care. He begins by exploring the nature and extent of sickness in the Roman world and the four overlapping health care systems that were available to Paul and his followers: home remedies, “magical” treatments, religious healing, and medical care. He then examines how Judeans and Christians in the centuries before and after Paul viewed and engaged with these systems. Finally, he speculates on what kinds of treatments Paul might have approved or rejected and whether he might have used promises of healing to attract people to his movement. The result is a thorough and nuanced analysis of a vital dimension of Greco-Roman social life and Paul's place within it.

In this book, archaeologists, classicists, and specialists in Christian origins examine the social and religious life of ancient Corinth. The interdisciplinary contributions present new materials and findings on the themes of Greek and Roman identities, social stratification, and local religion.

Delving deeply into ancient medical history, Bronwen L. Wickkiser explores the early development and later spread of the cult of Asklepios, one of the most popular healing gods in the ancient Mediterranean. Though Asklepios had been known as a healer since the time of Homer, evidence suggests that large numbers of people began to flock to the cult during the fifth century BCE, just as practitioners of Hippocratic medicine were gaining dominance. Drawing on close readings of period medical texts, literary sources, archaeological evidence, and earlier studies, Wickkiser finds two primary causes for the cult’s ascendance: it filled a gap in the market created by the refusal of Hippocratic physicians to treat difficult chronic ailments and it abetted Athenian political needs. Wickkiser supports these challenging theories with side-by-side examinations of the medical practices at Asklepios' sanctuaries and those espoused in Hippocratic medical treatises. She also explores how Athens' aspirations to empire influenced its decision to open the city to the healer-god's cult. In focusing on the fifth century and by considering the medical, political, and religious dimensions of the cult of Asklepios, Wickkiser presents a complex, nuanced picture of Asklepios' rise in popularity, Athenian society, and ancient Mediterranean culture. The intriguing and sometimes surprising information she presents will be valued by historians of medicine and classicists alike.

A slave without a past. A master without a future. A journey of discovery that will forever change the lives of both men. The ancient world comes alive in this vivid and engaging trilogy by an expert on Roman social history. What if you suddenly discovered that you were not who you thought you were--that your true family history had been hidden from you since birth? What if the truth about your origins would cause others to despise you? What if the man who had arranged the deception was seriously ill and needed your help? What if you were a slave and that man held your life in his hands--and you his? These are some of the questions explored in the first two volumes of the new historical trilogy, A Slave's Story. The story centers on a slave named Marcus who manages the business affairs of a wealthy Roman citizen in central Asia Minor in the first century AD. The first volume, A Rooster for Asklepios, narrates his eventful journey to a famous healing center in western Turkey following a dream in which the god Asklepios appears to promise that his master will be cured there of a nagging illness. The second volume, A Bull for Pluto, relates the aftermath of this journey. Along the way, both men encounter people and ideas that undermine everything that they have ever believed about themselves, one another, and the world around them. Societal norms are challenged, personal loyalties tested, and identities transformed in this engaging story that brings to life a unique corner of the Roman world that has been neglected by previous storytellers. Christopher D. Stanley is a professor at St. Bonaventure University who studies the social history of early Christianity and the Greco-Roman world. He has written or edited six books and dozens of professional articles on the subject and presents papers regularly at conferences around the world. The trilogy A Slave's Story, which grew out of his historical research on first-century Asia Minor, is his first work of fiction. . For more information please visit https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001H6EUCA PRAISE FOR THE FIRST TWO VOLUMES "This compelling and enjoyable story offers the reader a superb 'insider' view of life in the first-century Greco-Roman world. I enjoyed traipsing around Anatolia with Lucius and Marcus!"Dr. Terence Donaldson, Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament, Wycliffe College, Canada "The realism of this story reflects the author's deep first-hand knowledge of the landscape and culture where the narrative takes place."Dr. Mark Wilson, Director, Asia Minor Research Center, Antalya, Turkey "This well-researched book really brings the Roman world to life!"Dr. Alanna Nobbs, Professor of Ancient History, Macquarie University, Australia "The amount of research, imagination, and effort involved in crafting this story earned my admiration, and stirred my curiosity, too."Dr. Mark Nanos, Lecturer, University of Kansas, USA

Brian Abasciano continues his project examining the use of the Old Testament in Romans 9. Abasciano builds upon his forthcoming LNTS volume Paul's Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9.1-9, continuing the project begun in that volume and its intertextual methodology. This method incorporates into a thorough traditional exegesis a comprehensive analysis of Paul's use of Scripture against the background of interpretive traditions surrounding the texts alluded to, with great emphasis placed on analyzing the original contexts of Paul's citations and allusions. Such an intertextual exegesis is conducted in Romans 9:10-33 with an awareness of the broader unit of chapters 9-11 especially, and also the epistle as a whole. Conclusions for the meaning of these passages and their theological significance are drawn. Formerly the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement, this is a book series that explores the many aspects of New Testament study including historical perspectives, social-scientific and literary theory, and theological, cultural and contextual approaches. The Early Christianity in Context series, a part of JSNTS , examines the birth and development of early Christianity up to the end of the third century CE. The series places Christianity in its social, cultural, political and economic context. European Seminar on Christian Origins and Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus Supplement are also part of JSNTS .

This book attempts to prove the consistent nature of Paul's financial policy by drawing from his social environment and theological convictions to tease out a three-way relational pattern with God as the source of all possessions. This three-way relational framework not only dictates Paul's decision to accept or reject finances from his churches but also directly challenges long-standing claims made about Paul's financial policy. After outlining the various approaches that scholars have taken to make sense of Paul's seemingly inconsistent financial policy, this book provides a close exegetical analysis of relevant passages in Philippians, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians in order to unearth a three-way relational pattern found in Philippians but that is absent from the Corinthian Correspondence. In Paul's positive gift-exchange relationship with the Philippians, God is acknowledged as the source of all possessions, whereas the Corinthians are criticized for striving after two-way exchanges that result in honor, power, and prestige.After this is demonstrated, a socio-theological reason for Paul's refusal of Corinthian gifts is propounded. Paul refused Corinthian support, not because they desired to patronise him as a dependent client, but because they sought to be under Paul as their superior, an act that neglected God as the superior source of all gifts in the divine economy. Paul therefore refuses their support to avoid two-way relationships of gift so prevalent in ancient society and to underscore the source of the gift of the gospel, the one from whom and through whom and to whom are all things - God.

A careful examination of the way Paul and other ancient authors handled the wording of their explicit quotations.