Corpus-Paul

["Edgar M. Krentz" <ekrentz AT sbcglobal.net>]

> Greetings,
>
> Part of the problem in our discussion of the question concerning 
> Judaism and mission is that we tend to operate with an unexamined -- 
> and, I think, faulty -- assumption of what a missionary religion 
> would look like in antiquity. The assumption, of course, is drawn 
> from a common understanding of the early Christian mission, namely, 
> that in the first centuries of its existence Christianity was 
> engaged in a systematic, centrally organized, area-by-area 
> evangelization of the Roman empire, carried out by people who saw 
> themselves as "missionaries" playing their own part in such a larger 
> coordinated mission. But it is very difficult to find evidence in 
> early (esp. post-NT) Christian material for such a construct. Lack 
> of evidence notwithstanding, however, the construct continues to be 
> widely assumed. At least two factors have contributed to this 
> situation. One is the Pauline model of mission (but what exactly was 
> that?), which has been imposed willy-nilly on the later period. The 
> other is the influence of the modern missionary movement. It was 
> John Townsend who pointed out a few years ago that it was not until 
> the rise of the modern missionary movement in the 18th century that 
> interpreters began to  speak of the "three missionary journeys" of 
> Paul in the Acts of the Apostles. The idea signalled by this phrase 
> --  a commissioned missionary who goes out from a commissioning 
> church, engages in missionary travels, and returns periodically to 
> report to the home body -- while not without some foundation in 
> Acts, is nevertheless a more modern construct. In our study of the 
> religions of late antiquity it might be better to dispense with the 
> term "mission" altogether, at least for a while, and to investigate 
> afresh the ways in which religions propagated themselves (by 
> creating a public profile, attracting and incorporating new members, 
> etc.).
>
> Best wishes,
Terry Donaldson

I suspect that the term mission in this case gets in the way. One 
might generalize the question by asking 1) what was conversion in 
antiquity, 2) what led to it, and/or 3) how did a new religion enter 
into a city or area.

A. D. Nock's classic CONVERSION might be helpful here, as well as 
other literature related to this topic.

Ed Krentz
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Edgar  Krentz                                                     
Professor Emeritus of New Testament                       
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
1100 East 55th Street
Chicago, IL 60615
Telephone: (773) 256-0773               Home Tel: 773-947-8105
Office e-mail:  ekrentz AT lstc.edu        Home e-mail: ekrentz AT sbcglobal.net
 GERASKO D' AEI  POLLA  DIDASKOMENOS.
 "I grow older, learning many things all the time." [Solon of Athens]
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