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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Tensions in Rome
  • Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 03:40:35 -0800 (PST)


Gary Burnett wrote:

>The generally accepted background these days
>for Romans is based on the expulsion and then
>subsequent return of Jews to Rome due to an
>edict of Claudius around 49...

>But how does this tally with Acts 28?...

>1. Luke tells the story in Acts 28 in a certain
>way so as to make Paul appear the real founder of
>the Roman church; or has the Jewish leaders
>deliberately sounding vague so as to encourage
>Paul to give his point of view about the Christians

>2. Chrestus does not mean Christ and so the dispute
>in 49 was not to do with the Jewish Christians.

>Mark Nanos, for one, assumes the latter, which
>suits his purposes, given he proposes a Christian
>group in Rome which was still very much part of
>the synagogue.

Interestingly, I have found Mark's assumption
unnecessary. It's not far-fetched to assume that
loosely organized house-church based Gentiles would
have (initially) sought to re-establish themselves
under the umbrella of the synagogues after the Jewish
return in 54. This, of course, assumes that Roman
Christianity had been tied to the synagogues to begin
with (from, say, the early 40s up to the expulsion in
49). I take this to be the case, following Judge and
Thomas, whose position is that Paul was responsible
for organizing churches separate from the synagogues;
and he hadn't yet come to Rome.

Tensions would have mounted fast after the Jewish
homecoming and the return of the Gentiles to the
synagogues. Before, the Gentiles had been a small
minority with little influence; now they had stronger
influence and authority bolstered by five years of
independence. They had developed patterns of practice
which weren't especially Jewish, even by "Noahide"
standards. This would seem compatible enough with Mark
Nanos' theory that "the Christian Gentiles in Rome
were not tempted to 'Judaize', but to disrespect, and
in the extreme, to 'Gentilize' (paganize)" -- based on
five years of such (independent) practice.

I would guess that only after Nero's persecution of
Christianity (64) did the Roman Christians begin to
pull away from the synagogues altogether.

I cannot see Acts 28 being a barrier to any of this,
since Luke's final chapter of Paul's career must be
taken with a grain of salt in any case. Paul gets to
Rome, and everything is too clean. He doesn't even get
martyred... how about that?

Loren Rosson III
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com

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