The Spirit of Jesus, Then and Now Super Jesus Seminar on the Road November 2 4, 2017 Auburn, California Susan (Elli) Elliott PARABLES AND HOUSEHOLDS, THEN AND NOW Friday, 9:30-10:30am Many of Jesus parables are set in Greco-Roman Strict Father households. Jesus early followers may have opened discussions using these parables as they grappled with the penetration of the Roman family empire into their lives. Yet dominant interpretations soon assumed the Strict Father household as the model for God s empire. How can we come to grips with the legacy of these parables? I. The Early Jesus Movement as a Movement An outdoor gathering somewhere in the countryside in Palestine Parables as Problem-Posing Narratives 1 Yeast (Woman Baking Bread): Mustard Seed: Thom 20:2-4; Mark 4:30-2; Luke 13:18-19 ; Matt 13:31-2 Woman with the Empty Jar: Thom 97 2 An Assassin Prepares to Kill: Thom 98 II. Roman Strict Father Family and the Roman Empire as a Household Roman Empire as a Household in the Macrocosm (or How Augustus became Emperor without becoming a King) Titles of Caesar Augustus (b. 63 BCE d. 14 CE) Caesar Imperator Divi Filius Augustus Pontifex Maximus Pater Patriae Caesar Commander Son of God Revered Chief Priest 3 Father of the Fatherland Household Models as Root Metaphors for Nations & Empires 4 Roman Family/Household in the Microcosm: House as Stage House as Performance 1 Based on the work of William R. Herzog, Parables as Subversive Speech (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster / John Knox, 1994). 2 For a detailed consideration of this parable, see Susan M. Elliott, An Empty Jar and a Starving Woman: Gospel of Thomas Logion 97 and a Hermeneutics of Hunger, in By Bread Alone: The Bible through the eyes of the hungry, ed. Sheila E. McGinn, Ngan, Lai Ling Elizabeth and Ahida C. Pilarski (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014). 3 The title means Chief Bridge-Builder, but designates the position of chief priest of all civic cults. 4 See George Lakoff, Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2002) and Susan M. Elliott, Family Empires, Roman and Christian (2 vols), Roman Family Empires: Household, Empire, Resistance (Vol. 1), Christianity Seminar Series 1 (Farmington, MN: Polebridge Press, 2017 forthcoming).
Handouts for Presentations by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott p. 2 III. Households Forms in Palestine / Roman Empire 5 Large (Strict Father) 1% of the population Elites Large domus houses (with or without architectural features of the stage ) Multiple 9% of the population Families with lands or fisheries; retainers Courtyard houses with two or more conjugal units Nucleated 70-75% of the population One-room housing units with family members living at subsistence level Scattered / Homeless 15-20% Beggars without homes (οἱ πτωχοί) IV. Parables and Household Forms Teaching about Family and Empire Sayings about Family o True Relatives: Matt 12:48-50; Thom 99:2,3; Luke 8:21; Mark 3:33-35 o Hating one s family: Luke 14:26; Thom 55:1-2a; Matt 10:37; Thom 101:1-3 o Children in God s Domain: Mark 10:14b; Matt19:14; Luke 18:16 Parables and the Imperial Rule of God (Comparative frames in gospels) Parable Settings Scattered / Homeless o Sayings & teachings identifying with beggars and homeless poor: o Luke 6: 20; Thom 54; Cf. Matt 5:3-12 o Matt 8:20, Cf. Thom 86:1-2 (Jesus describes himself as homeless.) o Rich Man and Lazarus: Luke 16:19-31 o Banquet: Thom 64:1-12; Luke 14: 16:-24; Matt 22:2-13 Nucleated o A woman loses a coin: Luke 15: 8-9 o Friend at Midnight: Luke 11:5-8 o Placing Lamp / Lamp & Bushel: Luke 8:16; 11: 33; Mark 4:21; Matt 5:15; Thom 33:2-2 o Woman with the Empty Jar Thom 97 Multiple (Strict Father) o Two Sons: Matt 21:28-32 o? Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids: Matt 25:1-12 5 This typology and estimate of percentages of the population of Palestine in each type of household is based on a summary of archaeological research by Santiago Guijarro, The Family in First-Century Galilee, in Constructing Early Christian Families: Family as Social Reality and Metaphor, ed. Halvor Moxnes (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), 42-65.
Handouts for Presentations by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott p. 3 Multiple or Large/Elite (Strict Father) o Vineyard laborers: Matt 20:1-15 o Thief in the Night: Matt 24:43 o Rich Fool: Luke 12:13-21; Thom 63:1-6 o A Man had Two Sons/Prodigal Son: Luke 15:11-32 o Wheat and the Tares: Matt 13:24-30 Large/Elite (Strict Father) o Unjust Steward/Shrewd Manager: Luke 16:1-8a o Banquet: Thom 64:1-12; Luke 14: 16:-24; Matt 22:2-13 o Talents/Money in Trust: Luke 19:12-27; Matt 25:14-28 o Leased Vineyard/Wicked Tenants: Thom 65; Mark 12:1-11; Matt 21:33-43; Luke 20:9-18 o Unforgiving Slave: Matt 18:23-34 o Rich Man and Lazarus: Luke 16:19-31 o Watchful Slaves/Returning Master: Luke 12:35-8; Matt 25:1-13; Mark 13:33-6; Matt 24:42 o A Master has a Slave Plowing: Luke 17:7-10 V. A Problem-Posing Narrative: Once there was a man who had two sons Some questions for a problem-posing reading: 6 Can we read this story without assuming the father is God? Is this a functional family? Why might the younger son have wanted to leave? Is his return about familial feeling? Why might the older son be angry and resentful? Who is missing from this story? How might a materfamilias view this story? Or a daughter? How might slaves view this story? Or the fatted calf? Your questions: 6 In the talk, I will offer some answers based on a thought-provoking reading by Mary A. Beavis, 'Making Up Stories': A Feminist Reading of the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11b-32), in The Lost Coin: Parables of Women, Work, and Wisdom, ed. Mary A. Beavis (London, New York: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002). For a reading that addresses traditional anti-jewish readings, see Amy-Jill Levine, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, First edition (New York, NY: HarperOne, 2014), Ch. 1.
Handouts for Presentations by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott p. 4 Luke 15:11-32 (NRSV) 11 Then Jesus said, There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me. So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, How many of my father s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands. 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 22 But the father said to his slaves, Quickly, bring out a robe the best one and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! And they began to celebrate. 25 Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound. 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him! 31 Then the father said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.
Handouts for Presentations by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott p. 5 THE SPIRIT OF JESUS, THEN AND NOW Saturday, 11am-Noon When the earliest Christians worshipped Jesus as an alternative emperor to the Roman one, could they have imagined that they were creating a more virulent imperialism that would later glorify European colonization as a divine mission? How do Christian beliefs and practices perpetuate that divine imperialism today? What can we learn more from other Roman era resistance and from early Christians labeled heretics? I. The Roman Emperor as a Deity, Inclusion and Resistance Deities and Propaganda Family Unity and the Imperial Cult Reprise: Root Metaphors of Household and Nation Forms of Resistance and Survival in the Roman Era (Just a few notes lest we think the Jesus movement was the sole or most powerful resistance movement ) 7 Armed/National Resistance, e.g. Queen Boudicca) Intellectual (e.g. Cynic movement) Ritual Resistance and Popular Religiosity (e.g. Cult of Cybele and Attis) Convivial Resistance (Communal meals & voluntary associations) 8 II. III. Jesus as the Alternative Emperor Imperial Titles for Jesus: Christ (Anointed), Son of God, Savior, Prince of Peace, & coming as Good News and a new age From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Paul s greeting in letters) ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Hymn to Christ (Philippians 2:6-11) 9 The Empire of God Christianity as a New and More Virulent Imperialism Household Parables Revisited Household Codes and the Roman Strict Father Family Reinstated Martyrs in the Arena: Narrative and the Celestial Empire of God 10 7 For an extended discussion, see Part IV of Elliott, Family Empires, Roman and Christian, Vol. 1. 8 For more information on Greco-Roman communal meals and meals in the early church, see Dennis E. Smith, From Symposium to Eucharist: The Banquet in the Early Christian World (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003) and Hal Taussig, In the Beginning as the Meal: Social Experimentation and Early Christian Identity (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009). 9 Scholarly literature on this passage is vast. On the Hymn to Christ in the context of Greco-Roman ruler worship and the reign of Caligula, see David Seeley, The Background of the Philippians Hymn (2:6-11), Journal of Higher Criticism 1 (1994), online: http://www.depts.drew.edu/jhc/seelyphl.html 10 See Susan M. Elliott, Gladiators and Martyrs: Icons in the Arena, Forum, 3rd Series 6, no. 1 (2017); Gladiators and Martyrs, The Fourth R 29, no. 5 (2016) = http://www.westarinstitute.org/resources/thefourth-r/gladiators-martyrs/.
Handouts for Presentations by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott p. 6 Philippians 2:1-11 (NRSV & NA28) 2If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 21Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος, εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί, 2πληρώσατέ μου τὴν χαρὰν ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην ἔχοντες, σύμψυχοι, τὸ ἓν φρονοῦντες, 3μηδὲν κατ ἐριθείαν μηδὲ κατὰ κενοδοξίαν ἀλλὰ τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ ἀλλήλους ἡγούμενοι ὑπερέχοντας ἑαυτῶν, 4μὴ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστος σκοποῦντες ἀλλὰ [καὶ] τὰ ἑτέρων ἕκαστοι. 5Τοῦτο φρονεῖτε ἐν ὑμῖν ὃ καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 6ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, 7ἀλλ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος 8ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτὸν γενόμενος ὑπήκοος μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ. 9διὸ καὶ ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσεν καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα, 10ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων 11καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσηται ὅτι κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ πατρός.
Handouts for Presentations by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott p. 7 Family Model Form Roles & Responsibilities Priority Childrearing Mission Moral Priorities (Virtues determined by status) Conception of Moral Order Conception of Character Internal Role of Government External Role of Government Summary of Roman Strict Father Family Model 11 ROMAN STRICT FATHER FAMILY Roman Household Paterfamilias, son(s), legitimate wife, daughters, slaves, freed persons, clients, others Paterfamilias: Monarchical authority over all aspects of household; support & protect household, set & enforce rules & guidelines, administer rewards & punishment, ensure continuation of household through generations; exercise auctoritas Sons: Loyalty to father and to mother, and mutual defense of siblings; prepare to inherit role of paterfamilias in household; respect & obey parents, gain character; learn self-reliance & respect for legitimate authority Mother: Day-to-day managerial responsibility in the household; bearing of legitimate heirs; overseeing nurturance of children; upholding father s authority. Daughters: Loyalty to father, mother, and brothers; Slaves: Obedience to paterfamilias; anticipation and fulfillment of his will and desires; display of honor to paterfamilias by self-abasement; extensions of paterfamilias s body (tools of master) Freed persons: Continued acknowledgement of paterfamilias and demonstrations of support for his honor and status Clients: Same as freed persons and specific roles (house philosopher) Prepare male heirs for survival in competitive and fundamentally dangerous world; Prepare female heirs for supportive roles and cooperative alliances; Prepare all others for assigned social station Paterfamilias: Virtus: courage, virtue, virility, moral strength, manliness, moral perfection; Clementia: clemency and mercy; Iustitia: justice and legal fairness (reward and punishment); Pietas: devotion, loyalty, duty, religious observance, behavior appropriate to one s social position Legitimate Wife/Daughters as Future Legitimate Wives: Pudicitia (chastity); Modestia (modesty); Obsequium (obedience to husband); Lanificium (woolworking); Slaves: Fides (loyalty, faithfulness = Greek pistis, faith ); Obsequium (obedience to master); Benevolencia (good will); Pietas (behavior appropriate to one s social position) A natural and timeless order of role division within the household, the natural and entitled rule of Rome over the known world, and a just (Roman) system of reward & punishment in both Roman virtus/pudicitia as an individual moral essence that is established by adulthood and must be kept pure from corrupting influences; other virtues and character determined by status Ensuring punishment for lack of self-discipline; upholding moral order in the nation-family; providing for citizens (bread & circuses) Protecting Rome from barbarians and citizen-family from external evils 11 Elliott, Family Empires, Roman and Christian, Table 2, based on models outlined in Lakoff, Moral Politics
Handouts for Presentations by Susan M. (Elli) Elliott p. 8 Root Metaphor: The Nation is a Family (Government = Parent; Citizens = Children) 12 Family Model STRICT FATHER NURTURANT PARENT Form Roles & Responsibilities Priority Childrearing Mission Moral Priorities Conception of Moral Order Conception of Character Internal Role of Government External Role of Government Traditional Nuclear Family Father, Mother, Children Father: support & protect family, set & enforce rules & guidelines, administer rewards & punishment Mother: day-to-day responsibility in the home, care of children, upholding father s authority. Children: respect & obey parents, gain character; learn self-reliance & respect for legitimate authority Prepare children for survival in a competitive and fundamentally dangerous world Moral Strength (self-control, selfdiscipline, strength to resist external and internal evils) Authority (respect and obedience) Strict Norms (setting & following norms that conform to a moral order) A natural and timeless order of role division and a just system of reward & punishment An individual moral essence that is established by adulthood and must be kept pure from corrupting influences Formation of character, promoting self-discipline, responsibility, selfreliance; helping the truly needy; ensuring punishment for lack of selfdiscipline; uphold moral order in the nation-family Protect citizen-family from external evils Co-resident households with extended relationships Adults: support & protect children & family (which requires strength and courage); foster communication & climate of respect in the family; make clear decisions & explain them; foster capacity for responsibility Children: be cooperative family members; learn & grow; increase capacity for responsibility; question to learn to think for themselves Prepare children to be fulfilled and happy in their lives as responsible community members Love & Empathy (compassion, awareness of others needs, helping others) Taking Care of Oneself (in order to be able to help others & not be a burden) Nurturance of Social Ties (cooperation, connection, community) An interdependent world in which everyone must cooperate to survive and no one is left out A moral essence that resides in society, corrupting influences must be healed & transformed, not purged Promote fairness & equity in distribution of society s goods; help & protect those who cannot help & protect themselves; foster a climate of respect among all members of society Cooperate with other nation- families to make the world safer for all 12 Elliott, Family Empires, Roman and Christian, Vol. 1, Table 2 summarizing Lakoff, Moral Politics.