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corpus-paul - Re: Neil Elliot, "Liberating Paul"

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  • From: David Noy <sj014 AT lamp.ac.uk>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Neil Elliot, "Liberating Paul"
  • Date: Thu, 08 Jul 1999 15:52:48 +0100


>
>I think it is resonable to consider the threat this could involve for the
>Jewish communities. Especially if these righteous gentiles were to regard
>themselves no longer as pagans and thus claim under the privileges of the
>Jewish communities the rights to refrain from pagan practices.

Is this quite the right way to think of it? In 1st century Rome, no-one
was obliged to take part in pagan practices unless they were a senator,
soldier or something else out of the ordinary. Obligatory participation in
paganism only became a general issue when loyalty tests for Christians
started to be used. An ordinary civilian who opted out of pagan religious
life might attract adverse comment, but wasn't doing anything illegal in
the 1st century.

David

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David Noy
Department of Classics, University of Wales, Lampeter SA48 7ED
Tel: 01570 422351 ext 428 Fax: 01570 423877
http://www.lampeter.ac.uk/~davidnoy






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