T&T Clark Handbook to Social Identity in the New Testament

by J. Brian Tucker; Coleman A. Baker

Publisher:

Bloomsbury

, 2014

Overview

Combining the insights of many leading New Testament scholars writing on the use of social identity theory this new reference work provides a comprehensive handbook to the construction of social identity in the New Testament. Part one examines key methodological issues and the ways in which scholars have viewed and studied social identity, including different theoretical approaches, and core areas or topics which may be used in the study of social identity, such as food, social memory, and ancient media culture.

Part two presents worked examples and in-depth textual studies covering core passages from each of the New Testament books, as they relate to the construction of social identity. Adopting a case-study approach, in line with sociological methods the volume builds a picture of how identity was structured in the earliest Christ-movement. Contributors include; Philip Esler, Warren Carter, Paul Middleton, Rafael Rodriquez, and Robert Brawley.

Key Features

• Explores the various ways the New Testament constructs social identity
• Focuses on methodological, textual, and theoretical issues
• Examines the processes of social identity formation among the earliest groups of Christ-followers

Contents

Part 1: Methodological Studies

• Introduction
• An Outline of Social Identity Theory
• Social History and Social Theory in the Study of Social Identity
• Ethnicity and Social Identity
• Ritual and Social Identity: The Deutero-Pauline Shaping of Early Christianity
• Letter Writing and Social Identity
• A Narrative-Identity Model for Biblical Interpretation: The Role of Memory and Narrative in Social Identity Formation
• Nodes of Objective Socialization and Subjective Reflection in Identity: Galatian Identity in an Imperial Context

Part 2: Textual Studies

• Group Norms and Prototypes in Matthew 5.3–12: A Social Identity Interpretation of the Matthaean Beatitudes
• Suffering and the Creation of Christian Identity in the Gospel of Mark
• Textual Orientations: Jesus, Written Texts, and the Social Construction of Identity in the Gospel of Luke
• Filial Piety and Violence in Luke-Acts and the Aeneid: A Comparative Analysis of Two Trans-Ethnic Identities
• Social Identities, Subgroups, and John’s Gospel: Jesus the Prototype and Pontius Pilate (John 18.28–19.16)
• Children of Abraham, the Restoration of Israel and the Eschatological Pilgrimage of the Nations: What Does it Mean for ‘In Christ’ Identity?
• Social Identity and Conflict in Corinth: 1 Corinthians 11.17–34 in Context
• ‘If Anyone is in Christ, New Creation: The Old has Gone, the New has Come’
• Galatians 2.1–14 as Depiction of the Church’s Early Struggle for Community-Identity Construction
• Adopted Siblings in the Household of God: Kinship Lexemes in the Social Identity Construction of Ephesians
• Echoes of Paul’s Philippians in Polycarp: Texts that Create Identity
• New Identity and Cultural Baggage: Identity and Otherness in Colossians
• Stereotyping and Institutionalization as Indications of Leadership Maintenance in the Pastoral Epistles: 1 Timothy as a Test Case
• Paul’s Particular Problem–The Continuation of Existing Identities in Philemon
• Calling on the Diaspora: Nativism and Diaspora Identity in the Letter of James
• Aliens’ among ‘Pagans’, ‘Exiles’ among ‘Gentiles’: Authorial Strategy and (Social) Identity in 1 Peter
• The Agapé Feast in 2 Peter, Imperial Ideology, and Social Identity
• Identity in 1 John: Sinless Sinners who Remain in Him
• Constructing Identity in the Epistle of Jude
• Israelite Ethnic Identity Responding to the Roman Imperium in Revelation

Contributors

• Atsuhiro Asano
• Coleman A. Baker
• Jack Barentsen
• Robert L. Brawley
• Warren Carter
• Andrew D. Clarke
• K. Jason Coker
• Markus Cromhout
• Daniel K. Darko
• Philip F. Esler
• Mark T. Finney
• Aaron J. Kuecker
• Kar Yong Lim
• Matthew J. Marohl
• Paul Middleton
• Steven Muir
• Rafael Rodríguez
• Rikard Roitto
• Sergio Rosell Nebreda
• Minna Shkul
• Todd D. Still
• R. Alan Streett
• J. Brian Tucker
• Natalie R. Webb
• Ritva H. Williams
• Christopher Zoccali

Praise for the Print Edition

The editors are to be congratulated on bringing together in one volume such a fine collection of essays of uniformly high quality and all of which offer significant insights for the interpretation of the texts with which they deal. The 68 page bibliography is in itself an invaluable asset for scholars researching the area.

—W.S. Campbell, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK, Journal of Beliefs and Values

This highly recommended Handbook offers an introduction to many social scientific theoretical approaches to the New Testament, a relatively new and promising methodological application based upon a relatively new and growing field of observation. Throughout, the Handbook combines methodological explanations with textual examples to offer an accessible introduction to the field for student and scholar alike.

—Mark D. Nanos, University of Kansas, USA

The application of identity theory to biblical studies is no passing fad, for identity lies at the heart of what the Bible is about. Anyone interested in identity and the Bible will find that this handbook presents both explanations of method in applying identity theory to Scripture and textual studies dealing with most of the New Testament documents. The authors of these helpful essays are some of the most important people currently writing on identity. The editors are to be congratulated for making such a fine handbook available

—Klyne R. Snodgrass, North Park Theological Seminary, USA

Product Details

• Title: T&T Clark Handbook to Social Identity in the New Testament
• Editors: J. Brian Tucker and Coleman A. Baker
• Series: T&T Clark Handbooks
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2014
• Pages: 680
• Resource Type: Collected Essays
• Topic: New Testament

About the Editors

J. Brian Tucker is Associate Professor of New Testament at Moody Theological Seminary, USA, and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, UK.

Coleman A. Baker is Program Manager at the Soul Repair Center, Brite Divinity School, USA, and Adjunct Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University, USA.

Sample Pages from T&T Clark Handbook to Social Identity in the New Testament