scholarly journals The World of Honor and Shame in the New Testament: Alien or Familiar?

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-14
Author(s):  
Colin Patterson
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Psychological Analysis ◽  
Mediterranean Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
Honor And Shame

During the last sixty or more years, analysis of the New Testament which draws on the social sciences of cultural anthropology and sociology has made great strides in elucidating the cultural assumptions behind many scriptural texts. Prominent among its themes has been the idea that the biblical world can be understood as reflecting a Mediterranean culture with the core values of honor and shame. This, it has been argued, stands in sharp contrast to modern western societies. However, more recent work on the New Testament which exploits research in cognitive science/psychology suggests that it can provide a helpful corrective and complement to anthropological and sociological approaches. In line with this work, the present essay will apply the psychological analysis of social dominance hierarchies to the theme of honor-shame in order to fill out the picture painted by the social-scientific approach and, in doing so, seek to highlight continuities between New Testament and modern cultures. It will conclude by suggesting a reason why it has been the case that scholars employing social-scientific criticism have shown less awareness of these continuities.

scholarly journals Armoedekultuur: Die leefwereld van die Nuwe Testament en die situasie in Suid-Afrika vandag

1996 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andries Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Culture Of Poverty ◽  
Economic Statistics ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Scientific

Culture of poverty: The world of the New Testament then and the situation in South Africa today. In this article poverty in the world of the New Testament is explained in the  light of the social dynamics of the first century Eastern Mediterranean. The focus is on the sub-culture of the disreputable poor. Features of a culture of poverty are reflected upon from a social-scientific perspective in order to try to understand why poverty is intensifying in South Africa today. The article aims at identifying guidelines for Christians in using the New Testament in a profound way to challenge the threat of poverty. The following aspects are discussed: the underdevelopment of third-world societies over against the technical evolution in first-world societies during the past two hundred years, economic statistics with regard to productivity and unemployment in South Africa, the social identity of the disreputable poor, poverty within the pre-print culture of the biblical period, and the church as the household of God where Christians should have compassion for others.

scholarly journals ’n Verruimde invalshoek tot die verlede? Die sosiaal-wetenskaplike benadering tot die Nuwe Testament

1991 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Joubert
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Scientific

A broadened perspective to the past? The social scientific approach to the New Testament This paper focuses on the possibilities that the social scientific approach holds out for the understanding of the New Testament. A review of the contributions of the sociological and the cultural anthropological approaches to the New Testament is undertaken before the social-scientific approach as a whole is evaluated. The use of social-scientific models, in particular, in the construction of the possible social contexts of the New Testament documents, is evaluated in terms of the ability of these contexts to establish ‘new’ systems of meaning.

scholarly journals Social-scientific criticism in Nigerian New Testament scholarship

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kingsley I. Uwaegbute ◽  
Damian O. Odo ◽  
Collins I. Ugwu
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Standard Methodology ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Face ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Methodological Considerations

The use of the social sciences in the interpretation of the New Testament emerged from the 1970s and has become a standard methodology for interpreting the New Testament. However, it has not been significantly used in the interpretation of the New Testament in Nigeria by biblical scholars. This article discusses what social-scientific criticism is and the need for its application in the interpretation of the New Testament by Nigerian New Testament scholars for a better understanding of the New Testament and the people, beliefs and teachings it presents and contextualisation in the face of changing contexts of Christianity in Nigeria.Contribution: As far as we know, this article is the first one written on using social-scientific criticism to interpret the New Testament in the Nigerian context. It therefore contributes to the need for a multidisciplinary approach to interpreting the New Testament in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. It therefore contributes also on methodological considerations with regard to interpreting the New Testament.

Social Sciences and the New Testament

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietmar Neufeld
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Scientific

Social-scientific criticism is the stage in the exegetical process that brings scrutiny to bear on the religious, geographical, historical, economic, social codes, and cultural values operative within the world of early Christianity. It does so by utilizing the perspectives, theories, and models generated by the social sciences. Broadly defined, social-scientific criticism approaches the texts of the New Testament from the viewpoint that meaning in language is embedded in a social system that is shared and understood by speakers, hearers, and readers in the communication process. It investigates the social features of the form and content of the texts along with the factors that gave shape to them. It seeks to discover the intended consequences of the communication process. It looks for complementary relationships between the texts linguistic, literary, ideological, and social dimensions—each of which contributes to a proper analysis and understanding of the texts of the New Testament. Social-scientific criticism investigates the manner of textual communication—that texts were strategically designed for effective social interaction that had social, literary, and theological consequence. Most significantly, it seeks to isolate the social data embedded in texts and constructs models that simplify and systematize the data for comparative purposes. Models of social phenomena such as kinship and family, honor and shame, patronage and clientage, collectivism, social status, limited good, evil eye, purity and pollution, ritual, gender and sexuality, landscape and spatiality, ancient economies, healing and health, and social memory permit the careful examination of these issues in biblical texts in socially significant ways.

scholarly journals The tenants in the vineyard (GThom 65/Mark 12:1-12): A realistic and social-scientific reading

2007 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Van Eck
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Original Form ◽  
Realistic Interpretation ◽  
Mediterranean Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Honor And Shame

Kloppenborg’s reading of the parable of the tenants (Mk 12:1-12/GThom 65) can be regarded as the first thoroughgoing realistic interpretation of the Tenants. By using extensive literary evidence on viticulture from 300 BCE to 300 CE, Kloppenborg argues that GThom 65 most probably comes closest to the original form of the parable, calling into question important values of first-century Mediterranean culture. Following a summary of Kloppenborg’s reading of the parable of the tenants, the second part of the article focuses on a social-scientific reading of GThom 65 through the lens of patronage and clientism and that of honor and shame. Finally, the conclusions reached by the social-scientific reading are compared with Kloppenborg’s realistic reading thereof.

scholarly journals Inleiding tot die sosiaal-wetenskaplike kritiese eksegese van Nuwe-Testamentiese tekste: Die metodologiese aanloop in die navorsingsgeskiedenis

2007 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andries G. Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Social World ◽  
First Century ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Scientific

Introducing the social-scientific critical exegesis of New Testament texts: Methodological initiators in the research history The article is the first of a series of three that aim to introduce social-scientific exegesis of New Testament texts. Aspects of the social background of these writings are analyzed in light of the perspectives which underlie the dynamics of first-century Mediterranean social world. The article shows that social-scientific criticism of the New Testament represents an exegetical approach by means of which the rhetoric of texts is interpreted in light of their cultural environment and the social interaction that determines this context and semeiotic codes. The first article focuses on the initiators in the field of historical-critical exegesis who paved the way to social scientific criticism and explain key facets of the “new” exegetical approach. The second article explains some models and methods of social-scientific criticism. The third article discusses some advantages of social scientific criticism and poses a critique of the approach by reflecting on the positivism that could underlie the epistemology behind some interpretation models used in social scientific criticism. It concludes with an emphasis on cultural criticism as a hermeneutical challenge.

Social-Scientific Approaches to Paul

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd D. Still
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Initial Growth ◽  
Social Scientific Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Scientific

This chapter considers how Pauline interpreters have used and are using the social sciences to study the apostle and his letters. Before turning to the social-scientific study of Paul in particular, the advent and initial growth of the social-scientific study of the New Testament in general is considered. A treatment of prominent pioneers in and primary approaches to the social-scientific study of Paul comprises the majority of this essay, which concludes with a treatment of the identifiable developments both within and alongside the discipline.

The Biblical World of Limited Good in Cultural, Social, and Technological Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-105
Author(s):  
Douglas E. Oakman
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Economic Production ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Scientific

Forty years ago, Bruce Malina led the way in applying social-scientific models and concepts to the study of the New Testament. He especially argued that respectful reading scenarios could be drawn from the cultural anthropology of the Mediterranean world, which offered the nearest contemporary analogy to biblical societies. His early work on limited good beliefs in biblical cultures is here extended to investigate links between cultural beliefs and conditions of agrarian economic production and to test several corollaries in the cases of the Jesus group in Palestine and Christ-followers in the Roman cities. It is argued that limited good beliefs in the New Testament are related to the actual conditions of the low-productive societies and social-stratification realities in which the Bible was inscribed.

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