{"id":5388,"date":"2010-02-06T11:54:27","date_gmt":"2010-02-06T11:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/saturday-afternoon-book-review-4.html"},"modified":"2010-02-06T11:54:27","modified_gmt":"2010-02-06T11:54:27","slug":"saturday-afternoon-book-review-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/saturday-afternoon-book-review-4.html","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Afternoon Book Review: Michael Kruse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EngEconomics.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Kruse <\/a>is well-known to the Jesus Creed blog, and here he plies his trade once again in a book review.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A variety of anthropological lenses have been used to examine the New Testament world but one lens remains relatively neglected … an economic lens. Scholars like Bruce Malina, K. C. Hanson, Douglas Oakman, and Justo Gonzalez are but a few that I’ve read that are trying to understand the economic world of the New Testament from the inside out. Now enters Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception<\/a>\"\"<\/strong><\/em>, edited by Bruce W. Longenecker and Kelly D. Liebengood.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Engaging Economics<\/i> is a thirteen essay collection examining the economic dimensions New Testament theology. (Most of the essays came from the Bibilcial Studies Seminar at the University of St. Andrews in the spring of 2008.) Half of the essays examine the role of economics in the New Testament and the other half examine how Christians in the era immediately following the New Testament handled economic issues. Particularly noteworthy is that none of the contributors or editors is receiving any royalties from the book. All proceeds will be donated to World Vision.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Peter Oakes offers an opening essay that explores what is meant by economics and discusses the sources of economic evidence. One of the big challenges is the temptation to project our twenty-first century experience with a market economy back into the biblical context. What we would typically refer to as economic factors … supply and demand, utility, markets, etc. … were not categories through which the New Testament folks interpreted their world. There was no semi-distinct sphere known as the economy. Oakes writes:<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“…For
\nexample, the nature of patron-client relationships ensured constant distortion
\nof what we might expect to be market interaction. Distribution of resources was
\ndependent much more on power relationships than on the market.” (11) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many
\neconomists today see economics as a study of the choices that individuals and
\nsocietal entities make regarding limited resources. That may work for thinking
\nabout modern economies but Oakes writes:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“… The focus
\non choice is problematic in a society where most economic activities are
\ngoverned by custom or compulsion. I suppose it works fairly reasonably as long
\nas one remembers that the choices lie with the powerful elite. The stress on
\nincentives might be useful, but only if it is realized that, for most people,
\nthey were generally of an ‘offer you can’t refuse’ type. …” (11-12)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oakes
\nsubscribes to the traditional characterization of economics as “the study of
\nthe allocation of scarce resources” to be the most helpful in analyzing ancient
\nsocieties. (And if “scarce” is problematic to you in light of “abundance”
\ntheology, substitute “limited” and you will be approximating what economists
\nhave in mind.) It doesn’t presume that people have a wide array of choices.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An important
\nissue Oakes tackles is the view that Rome was ruled by elites while 99% of the
\npopulation living in abject poverty. Recent studies suggest there was more
\nstratification than this but it is hard to be precise. While society was hierarchical,
\nstatus and wealth did not perfectly coincide. Referencing the work of Steven J.
\nFriesen, Oakes suggests stratification likely looked something like this:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

00.04%  <\/span>Imperial elites<\/b><\/p>\n

01.00%  <\/span>Regional or provincial elites<\/b><\/p>\n

01.76%  <\/span>Municipal elites<\/b>. Includes some merchants.<\/p>\n

07.00%?  <\/span>Moderate surplus resources<\/b>. Includes some merchants,
\nsome traders, some freedpersons some artisans (especially those employing
\nothers), and military veterans.<\/p>\n

22.00%?  <\/span>Stable near subsistence<\/b> (with reasonable hope for remaining
\nabove min. to sustain life.) Includes many merchants and traders, regular wage
\nearners, artisans, large shop owners, freedpersons, and some farm families)<\/p>\n

40.00%  <\/span>At subsistence level<\/b> (and often below minimum sustain
\nlife) Includes small farmers, laborers, artisans (esp. employed), wage earners,
\nmost merchants\/traders, and small shop owners.<\/p>\n

28.00%  <\/span>Below subsistence level<\/b>. Includes some farm families,
\nunattached widows, orphans, beggars, disabled, unskilled day laborers, and
\nprisoners. (30)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David Horrell,
\nin his essay Aliens and Strangers?<\/i>,
\ndoes further analysis of Friesen’s work concluding that approximately 80% of
\nthe population lived very near or below subsistence levels. The way society was
\nstratified is very similar to societies in pre-industrial emerging nations
\ntoday. This general construct gives us some clues about the individuals and
\ngroups we encounter in the text of the New Testament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There isn’t
\nspace here for me to review each essay but here is brief sampling to give a
\nflavor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

John Kloppenborg
\npresents Agrarian Discourse and the
\nSayings of Jesus<\/i>. He focuses on three types of reciprocity: general
\n(exchange between close kin and friends), balanced (quid pro quo<\/i> market exchange) and negative (exploitive exchange).
\nKloppenborg examines “measure for measure” statements like Luke 6:37-38:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 37<\/sup>“Do
\nnot judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be
\ncondemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38<\/sup>Give, and it will be
\ngiven to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over,
\nwill be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured
\nto you.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These are
\ndrawn directly from the world of agrarian exchange and draw on balanced
\nreciprocity … not values of mercy or justice … to make their ethical point.
\nThat is, they draw on the self-interest of the hearer to motivate them to action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Is God Paul’s Patron? The economy of
\nPatronage in Pauline Theology<\/i>, David J. Downs takes on the metaphor of God
\nas patron with Christ as broker. Examining the language and nature of the
\nexchanges involved in Paul’s metaphors, Downs concludes that Paul’s
\nmetaphorical rhetoric has been misunderstood. Rather Paul is using metaphor’s
\nfrom the context of the household and fictive kinship, where God is the father
\nand we are God’s children, not patron to client images.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One essay is
\ndevoted to the idea of holding things in common in Acts but others touch on
\nthis topic as well. There is also an examination of the economic dimension in
\nJames.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the
\nsecond half of the book the focus shifts to how the early church fathers read
\nthe texts. Longenecker presents an interesting essay on Galations 2:10:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“All they
\nasked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was
\neager to do.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is Paul
\nreferring to the poor in a particular geographic area or is Paul making a
\nbroader theological statement about the poor? The former has tended to be the
\nconclusion of modern interpreters but Longenecker demonstrates that the early
\nchurch fathers had the later view. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grant Macaskill
\ndraws us to the critique of Rome presented in Revelation, which includes
\ncritique of their economic activity. Yet the early church fathers were
\nvirtually silent about the economic issues except in peripheral ways …
\nsometimes being more interested indentifying the Antichrist rather than the
\ncritique. Macaskill says Revelation was focused on union with Christ and, “For
\nthis reason it is not to be primarily judged as an attack on Rome so much as a
\nchallenge to potentially complicit church.” (259) He concludes, writing:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“… The
\ntrajectories of interpretation of Revelation among the early church fathers,
\nhowever, suggest that full integration into the Roman economic system may not
\nhave been as troubling for the church as other aspects of Roman Life, notably
\nidolatry. With the single exception of Tertullian, the evidence suggests a
\ngeneral tendency by the fathers to overlook the systemic importance of
\neconomics.” (259)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I read
\nthis, I wanted to ask Macaskill in what sense he meant “systemic importance of
\neconomics.” Without the records and constructs by which we do economic analysis
\ntoday, what would systemic analysis look like? As Oakes notes, our modern
\nconcepts of economics are very recent (a little more than 100 years old.) I
\nwonder if we are assuming a lens that was not present to John or the early
\nChurch fathers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another
\nessays looks at the development of the idea of almsgiving. Yet another explores
\nascetic values from the Syriac Book of
\nSteps<\/i>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The book is
\na great resource for exploring the economic dimensions of the New Testament. As
\nwith any scholarly work, the essays are meticulously footnoted pointing readers
\nto other resources for further study and, as with any collection of essays, the
\nsignificance of the articles will vary according to the interests of the
\nreader. For anyone wanting a wider ranging provocative reader, this certainly
\nqualifies. It is great read.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Significant
\nportions of Engaging Economics<\/i> can be
\npreviewed at Google
\nBooks<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Kruse is well-known to the Jesus Creed blog, and here he plies his trade once again in a book review. A variety of anthropological lenses have been used to examine the New Testament world but one lens remains relatively neglected … an economic lens. Scholars like Bruce Malina, K. C. 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