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The Liminal Life of Pre-Constantine Christian Communities

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The Liminal Life of Pre-Constantine Christian Communities UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles In the World But Not of the World: The Liminal Life of Pre-Constantine Christian Communities A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Annette Suzanne Russell 2013 © Copyright by Annette Suzanne Russell 2013 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION In the World But Not of the World: The Liminal Life of Pre-Constantine Christian Communities by Annette Suzanne Russell Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor S. Scott Bartchy, Co-chair Professor Ronald J. Mellor, Co-chair This study has used Victor Turner’s model of liminality as a heuristic framework for understanding the beliefs, behavior, and self-understanding of the early Christian communities. Unlike other groups in liminality who experience communitas in rites of passage separated from the broader society, and ultimately return to reinforce structure, this study proposes that the unique characteristic of the early Christian communities was that they lived in communitas within the structures of society and extended those relationships to people outside the community. There were three aspects of liminality that were studied through four different sets of writing in the pre-Constantine communities of Christ followers: the Jesus tradition represented in ii Luke’s narrative of Jesus’ life and teaching, the formation of the community represented in Luke’s narrative of Acts, and writings to Pauline communities and post-Pauline communities. In these writings, liminality was expressed as a temporal liminality, embodied liminality, and the liminality of the social body. The liminality of the social body was exhibited through the characteristics of anti-structure for inclusion in the community, interpersonal relationships, and authority in the community. Finally, the relationship of the anti-structural community to structure was examined. There were several areas of continuity throughout the four sets of writings. First, consistently throughout this period, the early communities of Christ followers understood themselves to be living between the times. For them, the new age had begun, while the old was still present. Second, the followers of Jesus saw themselves as embodying this liminality through the in-dwelling of the Spirit in their physical body. Through the Spirit, the followers of Jesus believed they experienced new life in Christ. And third, consistently across traditions followers of Jesus believed they were incorporated into a new community that had a common identity marker, the Spirit. This identity marker transcended structural statuses of gender, ethnicity, wealth, and social rank. The Spirit did not erase these statuses but early Christians were to relate anti-structurally within their structural statuses. Although there was commonality among the communities in this study, how they related to the broader structures of their surrounding societies was a function of their particular situational context. iii The dissertation of Annette Suzanne Russell is approved. Joel Robbins S. Scott Bartchy, Committee Co-chair Ronald J. Mellor, Committee Co-chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv For my gracious, gentle husband, David, whose life reflects so much of what is written here. v Table of Contents List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ xi Vita ................................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1.Understanding Early Christian Communities .................................................... 1 Models of Early Christian Communities Reflecting Structure ....................................... 3 Households .................................................................................................................. 4 Synagogues ................................................................................................................. 7 Associations .............................................................................................................. 10 Philosophical Schools ............................................................................................... 14 Mystery Religions ..................................................................................................... 17 Summary ................................................................................................................... 19 Models of Early Christianity Against Structure ........................................................... 20 Sectarian Movement ................................................................................................. 23 Millenarian Movement.............................................................................................. 26 Charismatic Group .................................................................................................... 30 Critique ..................................................................................................................... 32 Models of Early Christian Communities as Redefining Structure ............................... 35 Fictive or Surrogate Kin............................................................................................ 35 Contrast society ......................................................................................................... 38 Liminality, Structure, and Anti-structure ...................................................................... 40 Chapter 2. Liminality, Structure, and Anti-Structure ....................................................... 45 Development of the Concept of Liminality .................................................................. 48 Van Gennep’s Rites de Passage ................................................................................ 48 Turner’s Liminality and Liminal Persons ................................................................. 52 Quality of Relationships in Liminality—Communitas ............................................. 56 Communitas and Structure ........................................................................................ 59 Liminality in the Study of Early Christianity ............................................................... 60 Key Characteristics ....................................................................................................... 68 Honor and Status in the Greco-Roman World .......................................................... 69 Boundaries and Ethnicity .......................................................................................... 76 Chapter 3. Liminality, Jesus, and the Kingdom of God.................................................... 81 Kingdom of God—Liminality, Structure, and Anti-structure ...................................... 83 Temporal Dimension—Present, Future, or Already/Not Yet ................................... 84 vi The Character Dimension of the Kingdom—Transcendent, Political, or Both ........ 90 Physical, National Kingdom ..................................................................................... 91 Mediating Position—Redefining the People of God ................................................ 93 Liminality, Structure, and Anti-structure. ................................................................. 97 Liminality, Jesus, and the Kingdom of God ................................................................. 99 Temporal Liminality of the Kingdom of God......................................................... 101 Liminality of the Messianic King—Agent of God’s Salvation .............................. 108 Liminality of the People of God ............................................................................. 116 Summary ................................................................................................................. 119 The People of God ...................................................................................................... 121 Who is “In”—Redefining the People of God. ........................................................ 121 Relationships of the People of God Kingdom—Anti-structural and Allocentric ... 128 Authority and Leadership ....................................................................................... 136 Summary ................................................................................................................. 137 Conflicting Kingdoms—Anti-structure and Structure ................................................ 138 Purity ....................................................................................................................... 139 Sabbath .................................................................................................................... 141 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 144 Chapter 4. Liminal Community—Acts ........................................................................... 146 Luke’s Use of the Spirit in Acts .................................................................................. 147 Framing the Conversation ....................................................................................... 148 Eschatological Focus .............................................................................................
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