What did it mean to be a Christian in the Roman Empire? In one of the inaugural titles of Oxford's new Essentials in Biblical Studies series, Harry O. Maier considers the multilayered social contexts that shaped the authors and audiences of the New Testament. Beginning with the cosmos and the gods, Maier presents concentric realms of influence on the new religious movement of Christ-followers. The next is that of the empire itself and the sway the cult of the emperor held over believers of a single deity. Within the empire, early Christianity developed mostly in cities, the shape of which often influenced the form of belief. The family stood as the social unit in which daily expression of belief was most clearly on view and, finally, Maier examines the role of personal and individual adherence to the religion in the shaping of the Christian experience in the Roman world. In all of these various realms, concepts of sacrifice, belief, patronage, poverty, Jewishness, integration into city life, and the social constitution of identity are explored as important facets of early Christianity as a lived religion. Maier encourages readers to think of early Christianity not simply as an abstract and disconnected set of beliefs and practices, but as made up of a host of social interactions and pluralisms. Religion thus ceases to exist as a single identity, and acts instead as a sphere in which myriad identities co-exist.

About the Author
Harry O. Maier is Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at Vancouver School of Theology and Fellow of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt. His publications include Picturing Paul in Empire: Imperial Image, Text, and Persuasion in Colossians, Ephesians and the Pastoral Epistles.

Reviews
Summing up: Recommended * CHOICE *
Harry Maier's excellent new book, New Testament Christianity in the Roman World, offers instructors what standard textbooks do not: a thorough and nuanced, yet brief and accessible orientation to the Roman world as the social context of the New Testament texts. * G. Anthony Keddie, University of British Columbia , Review of Biblical Literature *
This is an excellent book * Wendell Willis, Restoration Quarterly *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190264390
Author Harry O. Maier
Format Hardback
Page Count 262
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 403g
Dimensions(mm) 145mm * 211mm * 20mm