Describes the social setting of the early Christians, looks at the Greek and Roman ethical traditions, and explains the moral formation of the beginning Christian movement

Meeks analyzes the letters of Paul to see what kind of people joined the Christian groups in the urban centers and what it was like to be a Christian then.

"The volumes in this series are intended to contribute to the development of the study of religion. It seems to us that it is especially important that appropriately conceived and well-written materials be available for use in undergraduate and graduate instruction. Moreover, it is our hope that this series will not only be a useful teaching instrument within the formal curriculum, but will also play an important role in shaping the study of religion. Individual Volumes fall into one of three subsections in the series. One set of studies, small in number, will be concerned with theories of religion or methodological approaches to the study of religion. Our attempts will be to offer books were none are available or where the existing materials are inadequate. A second group of books, also small, will deal with general aspects of religion in various traditions. Mysticism, symbol and myth, religious ethics, and other comparable topics deserve theoretical and systematic treatments not available at present, The third section of the series consists of the particular studies of various religious traditions, periods or movements. The editors will try to identify areas of study to which sufficient attention has not been given, as well as classical subjects which deserve or even require fresh approaches. We hope that each of the volumes in the series will be sufficiently lucid to serve as an introductory study, while also providing insights that will contribute to the work of specialists. Scholarly apparatus and bibliographies will be included to provide direction for further study. Throughout the project the editors will seek out studies which manifest unquestioned quality in scholarship and writing." -Editors

F. Hock -- Paul's thorn and cultural models of affliction / Susan R. Garrett -- Light on Paul from the Testaments of the twelve patriarchs? / M. de Jonge -- God's new family in Thessalonica / Abraham J. Malherbe -- Parents and children in the letters of Paul / O. Larry Yarbrough -- Matthew and the spirit / Leander E. Keck -- The problem of perjury in Greek context : prolegomena to an exegesis of Matthew 5:33; 1 Timothy 1:10; and Didache 2.3 / John T. Fitzgerald -- The social world of James : literary analysis and historical reconstruction / Luke Timothy Johnson -- The footwashing in John 13:6-11 : transformation ritual or ceremony? / Jerome H. Neyrey -- Rich and poor, proud and humble in Luke-Acts / David L. Balch -- Visualizing the "real" world of Acts 16: toward construction of a social index / L. Michael.

Theissen inquires into the correlation between the theological and ethical convictions of the first Christians as well as the social realities of the world in which they lived. He expands the form-critical inquiry into the Sitz im Leben of early Christian texts to ask about the significance of early Christian convictions in society.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Explores the socio-economic background of people in the New Testament using papyrological evidence from Roman Egypt.