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Copyright by Michael A. Flexsenhar III 2013 The Report Committee for Michael A. Flexsenhar III Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis report: No Longer a Slave: Manumission in the Social World of Paul APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: L. Michael White Steven J. Friesen No Longer a Slave: Manumission in the Social World of Paul by Michael A. Flexsenhar III, B.A., M.T.S. Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Dedication In memoriam Janet Ruth Flexsenhar mea avia piissima Abstract No Longer a Slave: Manumission in the Social World of Paul Michael A. Flexsenhar III, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: L. Michael White The Roman Empire was a slave society. New Testament and Early Christian scholars have long recognized that slaves formed a substantial portion of the earliest Christian communities. Yet there has been extensive debate about manumission, the freeing of a slave, both in the wider context of the Roman Empire and more specifically in Paul’s context. 1 Cor. 7:20-23 is a key passage for understanding both slavery and manumission in Pauline communities, as well as Paul’s own thoughts on these two contentious issues. The pivotal verse is 1 Cor. 7:21. The majority opinion is that Paul is suggesting slaves should become free, i.e., manumitted, if they are able. In order to better understand this biblical passage and its social implications, this project explores the various types of manumissions operative the Roman world: the legal processes and results; the factors that galvanized and constrained manumissions; the political and social environment surrounding manumission in Corinth during Paul’s ministry; as well as the results of manumission as it relates to Paul’s communities. Finally, the project returns to the passage in 1 Cor. 7:20-23 and offers a new interpretation. v Table of Contents List of Figures: ....................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1 Manumission in Paul’s Social World: Possibilities and Results .............1 Roman Manuimssion .....................................................................................4 Roman Manumission: Summation of Rights .................................................9 (Junian) Latins ......................................................................................9 Roman Public Slaves: Servi Publici and Familia Caesaris .........................16 Greek Manumissions ...................................................................................19 Greek Manumissions: Summation of Statuses and Rights ...........................23 Pictures of Roman Manumissions ................................................................31 Chapter 2 Manumission in Context: Incentives and Constraints ...........................37 Roman Manumission in Context: Family and Circumstances ......................40 Incentives for Manumission ..........................................................................43 Conclusions ..................................................................................................60 Chapter 3 Manumission in Corinth: Political and Social Concepts .......................62 A Culture of Manumissions .........................................................................65 Test Case: Erastus (Rom. 16:23) .................................................................82 Conclusions ..................................................................................................87 Chapter 4 Manumission in Social Networks: Possibilities and Effects .................89 Patronage and Benefactions: Manumission in Networks ...........................92 Family Networks .........................................................................................96 Occupational Networks .............................................................................100 Excursus: Familia Caesaris ......................................................................106 Conclusions ...............................................................................................114 Chapter 5 Manumission in Paul: Reconstructing 1 Cor. 7:21 .............................116 vi Grammatical and Syntactical Reconstruction ........................................117 Philosophical and Social Reinterpretation ............................................134 Conclusions ............................................................................................140 Appendices: .........................................................................................................143 Appendix A: Roman and Greek Manumissions .........................................143 Appendix B: Familia Caesaris Cursus Honorum ......................................148 Appendix C: Catalogue of Inscriptions .......................................................149 Appendix D: Abbreviations ........................................................................158 Bibliography ........................................................................................................159 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Diatribal Reconstruction of 1 Cor. 7:21 ............................................130 viii CHAPTER 1 MANUMISSION IN PAUL’S SOCIAL WORLD: POSSIBILITIES AND RESULTS “You were called as a slave?” So begins Paul’s rhetorical foray in 1 Cor. 7:21-23. One of the discrete characteristics of this passage is the unexceptional nature of its content. The 1 word slave (δοῦλος) is as ubiquitous in Paul’s letters as the word gospel. Paul self- identifies as a slave (Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 9:19-27), describes Christ as a slave (Phil. 2:5-11), uses the term slave in baptismal formulae (Gal. 3:28; 1 Cor. 12:13), describes the moral life as slavery, whether to sin or to righteousness (Rom. 6:15-23), writes about an actual slave (Philm), and uses slavery to explain his gospel (Gal. 3:23-4:11; Rom. 8:14-17; 9:1- 24). What is equally remarkable about 1 Cor. 7:21–despite how shocking it may seem to us– is how it betrays the banality of slavery in the Roman world and in Paul’s milieu. The names Paul records in his letters- names like Fortunatus, Onesimus, and Urbanus- and the persons he does not name- like “those of Chloe” (1 Cor. 1:11)- intimate that slavery was a reality for the earliest Jesus movement, and that many slaves or former slaves likely filled the ranks of Paul’s communities. 1 Cor. 7:21-23 is also one of the only verses in Paul’s letters that seems to deal directly with the institution of slavery, and contains the only reference in the New Testament to the word “freedman” (ἀπελεύθερος) (7:22a), that is, a slave who has been 1 A form of the word δοῦλος appears seventeen times in the undisputed Pauline corpus: Rom. 1:1; 6:16, 17; 19, 20; 1 Cor. 7:21, 22, 23; 12:13; 2 Cor. 4:5; Gal. 1:10; 3:28; 4:1; 4:7; Phil. 1:1; 2:7; Phlm. 16. In the same semantic complex, the word διάκονός occurs ten times Rom. 13:4; 14:4; 15:8; 16:1; 1 Cor. 3:5; 4:1; 2 Cor. 3:6; 6:4; 11:15; 11:23. For 1 2 manumitted, “freed.” It is fitting that a passage mentioning slavery and freedmen should be addressed to communities in Roman Corinth. The city astride the isthmus was a center 3 for Mediterranean slave trade. As a Roman colony it was also a center for Roman freedmen. Roman freedmen, i.e. former slaves, had been instrumental in Corinth’s re- founding as a Roman colony under Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, and became its first citizens. What is more remarkable still is Paul’s rhetorical line in 1 Cor. 7:21b: ἀλλ᾿ εἰ καὶ δύνασαι ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι, µᾶλλον χρῆσαι. It is well-known for its hermeneutical difficulty. Today the majority opinion among scholars is that Paul was instructing slaves in Corinth to make use of freedom; nonetheless, this reading must be discussed. In other words, Paul was referring to manumission in 1 Cor. 71:b, the release of slaves. But what would manumission entail? What were the processes and results? What were the expectations for manumission, the factors that conditioned it, and the impact manumission had on Paul’s communities? Why would Paul mention manumission and how might one interpret the wider passage of 1 Cor. 7:21-23 anew? This project attempts to answer such questions. 2 ἀπελεύθερος is a hapax legomenon in the New Testament, meaning more technically “restored to freedom.” The Latin equivalent is libertus. In 1 Cor. 7:21 and 22 Paul uses the word ἐλεύθερος, which means “free person,” that is, one who has not been a slave. 3 Cf. excellent and concise overview in J. Albert Harill, The Manumission of Slaves in Early Christianity (HUT 32; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1995), 69-74. On slaver traders in various ancient literatures, cf. also J. Albert Harrill, Slaves in the New Testament: Literary, Social, and Moral Dimensions (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2006), 119-144; on the archaeological evidence for slave markets–or lack thereof– cf. more recent discussion and arguments in Monika Trümper, Graeco-Roman Slave Markets: Fact or Fiction? (Oxford; Oakville, CT: Oxbow Books, 2009). 2 Just as there were diverse forms of slavery in the Roman world–rural agricultural, urban domestic, private and public–there were also many forms of manumission, with varying processes and differing results for the freedperson. This introductory chapter begins to explore manumission by laying out the different types, and explaining