Corpus-Paul

["Jim Hester" <hester AT jasper.uor.edu>]

Sheila McGinn wrote:

> I am working on Rom 8:1-17 where Paul uses the language of "adoption as 
> sons"
> (huiothesein).  Can anyone point me to studies of this term which specify
> who might be the object of the adoption?  Ultimately I am trying to 
> determine
> whether this should be read as a gender inclusive or exclusive term in
> this context; Castelli argued it should be read exclusively because there 
> are
> no attestations of the term being used for adoption of women as heirs.

A long time ago I looked at inheritance and adoption in my little monograph,
Paul's Concept of Inheritance (Oliver and Boyd, 1968). Francis Lyall looked
at adoption in his JBL article "Roman Law in the Writings of Paul --
Adoption" (Vol 88: 458-468).

Castelli may be correct, but if memory serves me correctly, under Roman Law
wives could be testamentary heirs of their husbands. However, Adolf Berger,
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, p. 350, points out that one of the
characteristic features of adoption was to affect a change of families. For
women, marriage would have served that purpose, for the woman in marriage
came under the patria potestas of her husband's father if he were living or
under his potestas if he were head of the family.

Ed Krentz may know more about this sort of thing than I do, however.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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----------
>From: Sheila McGinn <smcginn AT jcu.edu>
>To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
>Subject: [corpus-paul] adoption
>Date: Wed, Aug 16, 2000, 11:54 AM
>

  Is there a comparable term for women?  Any
> help will
> be appreciated.  SEM
>