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corpus-paul - Re: Resistance & Subversive movements in antiquity

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Subject: Corpus-Paul

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Edgar Krentz <ekrentz AT lstc.edu>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Cc: "Mike Conley" <Mike.Conley AT t-online.de>
  • Subject: Re: Resistance & Subversive movements in antiquity
  • Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 16:07:01 -0800


At 4:23 PM -0500 11/19/01, David C. Hindley wrote:
List,

I light of the events of Sept. 11th, and the subsequent media interest
in Osama BinLaden's Al Qaida organization, including its various front
organizations (charities, money exchanges, banking, etc), I am
reminded of Mike Conley's* not-so-recent posts in which he expressed
the opinion that early Christianity had assumed the form of a
subversive organization intent upon toppling the Roman state and
replacing it with one of its own making.

It seems to me that the relatively rapid dissemination of Christianity
(albeit in a multitude of forms) through the empire, and the
organizational structures mentioned or alluded to in the NT and early
Christian literature, bear a closer look.

Are listmembers aware of serious research on resistance movements and
subversive movements in the Roman empire (especially in the 1st
century CE)? I would also be interested in books or articles that deal
with dissemination of propaganda in connection with the advancement of
an agenda (political, religious or philosophical). They do not have to
bear directly on Christianity, and it might actually be better if the
critic does *not* attempt to draw (or refute) such a connection.

While I am not saying that Christianity was the kind of movement that
Mike portrays it as (almost like the Communist party in modern times
before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but if the shoe fits ...),
I do suspect that more complex organizational, financial and
propaganda structures were present (varying, of course, with time and
place) than is usually assumed.

Respectfully,

Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Try
Ramsay MacMullen, Enemies of the Roman Order. London and New York: Routledge, 2000.



--
****************************************************************
Edgar Krentz
Christ Seminary--Seminex Professor of New Testament, Emeritus
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
1100 East 55th Street, Chicago, IL 60615
Tel: 773-256-0773; home phone 773-947-8105
e-mail: ekrentz AT lstc.edu
home e-mail: ekrentz AT earthlink.net
------------------------------------------------------------
GERASKO D' AEI POLLA DIDASKOMENOS
"I grow old, constantly learning many things." [Solon of Athens]
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