| 6741 T. Mos. 3:14. 6742 E.g., Sipre Deut. 305.2.1; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 2(Tannaitic tradition); 12:25; 15:5. Cf. traditions on the four kingdoms ( Dan 2; 2 Bar. 39:7; 5/7?. Or. 8.6–11; Midr. Pss. 40, §4; cf. Lucas, «Origin»). 6743 Philo Rewards 137; Good Person 36. One enslaved might be said to have lost half onés worth (Homer Od. 17.322–323), and the impoverished free, as much as aristocrats, resented treatment as slaves (Dionysius of Halicarnassus R.A. 19.9.4; Livy 4.3.7; Dio Cassius 8.36.3; Chariton 1.11.3). Although high-status slaves existed (e.g., Herodian 1.12.3; see our comment on 1:27), a slavés position was otherwise socially low (e.g., Cicero Acad. 2.47.144; Num. Rab. 6:1). 6744 Homer Od. 17.320–321; Sir 33:24–30 ; b. Qidd. 49b. 6745 Lucian [Asin.] 5. 6746 Terence Self-Tormentor 668–678; Lady of Andros 495; Chariton 2.10.7; Apuleius Metam. 10.7,10; cf. MacMullen, Relations, 116. 6747 Plato Ale. 1.135C; Achilles Tatius 7.10.5; Chariton 6.5.5; Josephus Ant. 4.219; m. Sotah 1:6; b. Menah. 43b-44a, bar.; Syr. Men. 154–67. 6748 Homer Od. 24.252–253; Chariton 1.10.7; 2.1.5; T. Jos. 11:2–3. 6749 Homer Od. 4.63–64; Arrian Alex. 5.19.1; Apuleius Metam. 4.23. 6750 E.g., Aeschines Timarchus 42. For manual labor, see, e.g., Dionysius of Halicarnassus R.A. 9.25.2; further Finley, Economy, 40–41; Luwel, «Begrip.» Manual laborers themselves were probably more pleased with their status (Martin, Slavery, 44–46,123–24; Lenski, «Crystallization»). 6751 E.g., Demosthenes Against Leptines 132; Epictetus Diatr. 1.6.30; 1.9.20; 1.12.24; 1.13.3; 1.24.17; 1.29.16; 2.7.13; 2.13.18; 3.24.74; Diogenes Laertius 6.2.33; 6.2.43; probably Plutarch Virt. 2, Mor. 100E. Also Jeremias, Jerusalem, 351, citing a baratta in b. Qidd. 28a. To call one a «son of a slave» was to imply one s illegitimate birth (Josephus Ant. 13.292)–a charge one polemical document, probably from the early first century, levels against the Jerusalem priesthood (T. Mos. 5:5). 6752 M. B. Qam. 8:6; see further development of this idea in texts in Bonsirven, Judaism, 61. Some suggest that even Roman Jewish freedmen omitted mention of their manumission because Judaism acknowledged only God as master (cf. Fuks, «Freedmen»), but this probably assumes too monolithic a view of Roman Judaism. |
| Since that time, Berry has striven to live out his promise to God. He has worked with at-risk youth, prisoners, and drug addicts. One of his many accomplishments included starting up a 7-step drug rehabilitation program in Detroit based on the principles of salvation in Orthodox theology. His two most recent achievements include founding a museum and church in Ash Grove, MO. Father Berry and his family have returned to his roots. They moved out of a comfortable three-story Victorian house in suburban St. Louis into a 150-year old unmarked farmhouse, the same farmhouse in which his great-grandmother was born. “Most of the Blacks moved out of Ash Grove. My family stayed. When they heard I was going to open up a museum in that little town, ‘Be careful’ they told me, white people are not going to like it.” The museum, however, has been successful and has become a point of pride for the town. The Ozark African-American museum houses a uniquely personal assortment of historical objects tied intimately to the “dark side” of the Boone family. Some are quilts his great-grandmother and grandmother collaborated on. One quilt, a 1790 piece, featured prominently in the Underground Railroad. The quilt in triangular green, brown, and yellow patterns would be draped over the porches of “safe houses” a signal that welcomed entry for runaway slaves. Over the doorway to the second room is a “two-lady saw,” another object the two women would use. It is smaller, thinner, and shorter, at least by a foot, than a regular saw. Among the other objects on display is a minted coin commemorating the lynching of three Black men on Good Friday 1906 in the Ozarks and an authentic 1858 AG Brock slave tag that was used during slave auctions at the houses of that company around the South. Father demonstrates a “screw lock” which looks like a menacing wrought-iron horseshoe with a long screw transversing it at the edge of which a bolt slowly tightens over a slave’s ankles. According to Berry, it is the origin of our slang expression for “screw” as slaves would report among themselves “so-and-so got screwed.” A leather-bound, yellowing volume of The Remarkable Advancement of the Afro-American by Lancaster Water, 1898 edition, and behind that, in a glass case, the same title but the original binding from 1852. The painting and photos in the museum tell the stories of slaves who fought in the Union army and were later freed for their service, of 12-year-old runaways who were frozen to death, married couples who started churches, of rebel slaves who saw visions and organized services in the forest eventually founding the African Methodist Episcopalian church. |
| Высшая церковная власть в новообразовавшейся протестантской церкви в Германии не могла сосредоточиться в руках германского императора, который отчасти не располагал достаточной силой в отношении к имперским князьям и городам, достигшим почти суверенитета к началу реформации, отчасти же по самому смыслу священной римской империи германского народа, обязан был стать на сторону не протестантизма, а католической церкви. Поэтому протестанты организовались по отдельным территориям, входившим в состав германской империи. Имперские князья и начальства имперских городов взяли в свои руки управление протестантской церковью своей территории (Landeskriche), вводя особый церковно-правительственный орган, под названием консистории, и особых должностных лиц для надзора, под названием визитаторов. Когда таким образом церковная организация приняла определенный вид, доктрина занялась изысканием способов к оправданию существующего устройства. Сначала господствовала епископальная теория, обосновывавшаяся различным образом и соединявшаяся с т. п. учением о трех состояниях. В церкви существуют три состояния: 1) status politicus, status ecclesiasticus u status oeconomicus. Status politicus – это княжеская власть, не как государственная, а как епископская, управляющаяся церковью на основании церковных норм и через особые церковные органы, 2) status ecclesiasticus – это духовенство в протестантском смысле, учительное сословие, дающее материальное содержание распоряжениям князя епископа и представляющее на его санкцию свои предположения, 3) status oeconomicus – совокупность домохозяев, отцов семейств, поддерживающих внутреннюю дисциплину в пределах дома и семьи и дающих церкви материальные средства для обеспечения ее существования. Епископальная теория представляла государственную власть членом церкви и епископом, причем ей чуждо было различие между церковным общением и политическим, так как церковь рассматривалась лишь как духовная сторона политического общения, которое в свою очередь представлялось как христианское общение с христианским (т. е. лютеранским) начальством. Другие две теории, явившиеся на смену епископальной, имели своим источником идеи естественного права: это – территориальная и коллегиальная теории. Первая совсем не допускала образования в государстве церкви, как особого общества; последняя хотя и допускала в принципе, но не могла сделать отсюда практических выводов. |
| It is possible that Jesus» hearers take him literally in a different way, perhaps deliberately choosing to interpret Jesus» words in a natural sense: as individuals we have never personally been enslaved (perhaps something like Nicodemus entering his mother " s womb in 3:4). This could play on the insulting status connotations sometimes attached to slavery, especially if Jesus» interlocutors here are viewed as associated with the elite (and some of John " s Christian audience may have been slaves or freedpersons). To many free persons, slavery was too demeaning for a person of free birth to endure; 6743 slave behavior was shameful for a free person (Josephus Ant. 4.238). Thus, for example, many free persons considered slaves lazy, 6744 gossipy, 6745 deceptive 6746 and otherwise virtueless; 6747 some expected that one could often ascertain slaves 6748 and nobility 6749 by their appearance. The aversion toward slavery and manual labor was widespread among those of higher class. 6750 Thus in some texts «slave» (often νδρποδον) functioned as an insult. 6751 R. Akiba, who studied with teachers contemporary with John, also insisted that even the poorest in Israel must be viewed as free persons by virtue of their descent from Abraham and the other patriarchs. 6752 It is possible that this idea plays a role in this dialogue. 6753 The ethical and covenantal sense of slavery and freedom is undoubtedly paramount in the passage. 6754 Jewish tradition also recognized that God " s people could be his servants in a positive sense ( Deut 32:36 ); 6755 Philo claimed that the one who serves God alone is the only one who is free (Good Person 20). Other texts also speak of God " s word (cf. John 8:31–32 ) as an agent of liberation: Jewish texts speak of the Torah bringing freedom, whether freedom from worldly cares, from national bondage, or from slavery in the coming world. 6756 Greek texts could similarly speak of the «word» (λγος), that is, the philosopher " s teaching, or knowing God " s commands (γνωκα ατο τς ντολς), as «freeing» one from slavery to worldly concerns. 6757 Greek thinkers quite often warned against being enslaved by false ideologies 6758 or passions. 6759 Some spoke of internal freedom that enabled them to ignore external troubles. 6760 Occasionally those writing from an aristocratic perspective might warn that excess political freedom might bring the masses into moral excess 6761 (see comment on 7:46–49). Jewish writers influenced by Hellenism repeated the demand that people avoid slavery to passions; 6762 other Jewish thinkers also recognized that one should not be enslaved to sin or the evil impulse. 6763 Thus Jesus» hearers may be claiming that descent from Abraham has freed them from slavery to sin (cf. 8:34). 6764 |
| 9087 Philo Sacrifices 130 and the texts in Barrett, John, 477; L.A.B. 23:9, 24:3, 25(amicus Do-mini); Sipre Num. 78.1.1; Exod. Rab. 45:2. Moses» special closeness to God also appears in Diaspora magical texts; see Gager, Moses, 140–45. Sib. Or. 2.245 is probably a Christian interpolation. 9088 Moses (four times); Israel (three times); sometimes Aaron, once each for Joshua, Noah, Abraham, and the three patriarchs (Johnston, «Parables,» 591). 9090 See Malina and Rohrbaugh, John, 236; in ancient texts, Homer I1. 6.212–231; Cicero Fam. 13.34.1. 9091 Mitchell, «Friends,» 259, citing Cicero Amtc. 6.22; Aristotle N.E. 8.11.6, 1161a. Xenophon Cyr. 1.6.45 warns that those who treat potential friends as «slaves» will suffer justly. Slaves could not be friends in Aristotle N.E. 8.11.6–7, 1161b. 9092 Philo Migration 45; cf. Seneca Dia1. 1.5.6. The contrast between the image of «friends» and «slaves» in general is common, e.g., Sallust Jug. 102.6–7 (allies vs. subjects). 9094 Contrast Bousset " s overemphasis, which misses the context, on the «not servants» paradigm as a possibly anti-Pauline Christ mysticism (Kyrios Christos, 211–12). 9098 Wis 8describes her as a μστις, an initiate into Mysteries; this is related to God " s special love for her and her living with him (8:3). 9099 Some third-century C.E. paganism portrays personal knowledge of a deceased hero by conversation rather than dependence on dreams and visions, but this might reflect the spreading influence of early Christian spirituality (cf. Maclean and Aitken, Heroikos, lxi-lxii, lxxvi). 9100 Hays, Vision, 154, comments on the remarkably egalitarian language here and its implications for the meaning of leadership in John " s community. 9101 It is a title in Luke 12(though stylistically a Lukan preference); cf. the charge in Matt 11:19; Luke 7:34. 9105 E.g., T. Ab. 2:3A. See fuller comment on 8:39–40. Abraham could share this chosen status with others, such as Jacob and Moses (Num. Rab. 3:2). 9106 Also rehearsed annually in the Passover haggadah, if these details were in wide use by the end of the first century (m. Pesah. 10:4). |
| 4571 At the same time, his statement heightens the contrast between their knowledge and the lack of knowledge on the part of those with greater status, suggesting that the Johannine version of the Messianic Secret has class and status implications, a suggestion reinforced by a contrast between Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman, or by the arrogance of the educated elite against the more open-minded masses in 7:46–52. 4572 (They may have been slaves, but the term δικονος need not imply this, in contrast to δολος in, e.g., 4:51; 18:10, 18, 26; but even if they were free caterers or relatives, their role here is not one of high status.) Johns heroes elsewhere may suggest that Johannine Christians, no matter how numerous they were, felt marginalized by an educated elite with greater social power (cf. esp. 9:24–34). They, too, received revelations unavailable to the larger world (14:17, 21–23). One should not press the status issue beyond its appropriate polemical function in the Johannine narrative, however: whatever else he may be understood to imply, John explictly emphasizes the faith of only the disciples here (2:11). 6. Manifesting His Glory (2:11) By explicitly noting this sign as Jesus» «first» (2:11; see above), John makes what he says about it paradigmatic for Jesus» signs in genera1. The prologue declares that Jesus reveals the Father " s glory to his followers as God revealed his glory to Moses on the mountain, a glory «full of grace and truth» (1:14–18). If this sign reveals Jesus» character by allowing him to show his concern for a bride and groom, it also points to Jesus» ultimate glorification starting in the cross (12:23–25). By devaluing the ritual purpose of the pots, Jesus has inaugurated a clash of values expressed more publicly in the following pericope (2:13–21), a clash of values that must inevitably lead to his «hour» (2:4; cf. 2:19). 4573 Public opinion was important at weddings, and one who ran out of wine would be shamed, probably for years to come. |
| «Dictator» was a negative term, and power was noble only when used nobly. 8139 Perhaps reflecting the broader Mediterranean distaste for boasting, 8140 a second-century teacher exhorted that one «should recount what is to his credit in a low voice and what is to his discredit in a loud voice.» 8141 Some said that Samuel «the small» was so known because he belittled himself. 8142 A later rabbi claimed that when a sage boasted his wisdom departed. 8143 Such humility was often expressed toward those in positions of greater power. One should be quick to serve a «head,» one in authority over oneself. 8144 Two third-century teachers attributed their longevity partly to never having walked in front of someone greater than themselves. 8145 But those in power dare never become too arrogant themselves. The aristocrat R. Gamaliel II insulted the dignity of R. Joshua, and was deposed from his position as head of the rabbinic academy until he went around and apologized. 8146 As one Tanna, perhaps Akiba, put it, «Power buries those who possess it.» 8147 In what may be the most relevant parallel to our passage in John, Rabban Gamaliel mixed wine for R. Eliezer, who was unwilling to accept it. But R. Joshua and R. Zadok responded that Abraham and God himself serve others» needs; therefore it was appropriate for Gamaliel as the most honored to serve his colleagues. 8148 Gestures of humility must have been common among the pious, but adopting postures of slavery must have been rare. The most progressive aristocrats of Greco-Roman antiquity, such as Seneca and Pliny the Younger, could advocate dining with freedpersons or even slaves, but never serving them at table. 8149 For a person of status, particularly a patron host, to wash his guests» feet as if a servant would be unthinkable! Although Jewish teachers may not have shared standard Roman aristocratic views of rank, in which most slaves and slaveborn could never acquire genuinely high status in aristocratic eyes, 8150 some, especially the many whose family means would have allowed their pursuit of advanced study, did retain such views. 8151 Some Jewish texts suggest that a Gentile slave consummated his entrance into servitude for a Jewish slaveholder by performing an act of menial service; perhaps Jesus demonstrates his servitude in such a manner here. 8152 The Foot Washing and Its First Interpretation (13:4–20) |
| So1. 17:32) 4830 and in the later rabbis. 4831 (Given rabbinic emphasis on Torah " s power to deliver from sin, 4832 it is not surprising that a few later rabbis also connected this deliverance with a new birth of Israel at Sinai.) 4833 But our extant sources also suggest a particular sort of newness associated with conversion in Judaism. It must be admitted at the outset that the most complete sources available on the topic are rabbinic, hence considerably later than John. Nevertheless, various streams of evidence suggest this images probable antiquity. If the image proves early enough, and if we are correct in our general understanding of John " s milieu and the Palestinian Jewish matrix of earliest Christianity, this is the association that would stand closest at hand for John, his tradition, and his audience. In this case, Jesus calls Nicodemus to be morally transformed by conversion just as Nicodemus would expect of a proselyte, albeit perhaps more ontologically: he invites Nicodemus to become fully Jewish in faith! 4834 As Robinson suggests, the passage portrays Nicodemus s religious life as mere «flesh,» waiting to be transformed by Gods Spirit. 4835 Later Jewish teachers opined that when a Gentile converted to Judaism, the proselyte became «like a new-born child.» 4836 Thus in a sense proselyte baptism, when accompanied by circumcision, cleanses away Gentile impurity. 4837 The rabbinic phrase «new-born child» is not precisely the language of «rebirth,» 4838 but when applied to an adult convert certainly implies it. A more important objection against the parallel is that in the earliest rabbinic sources the phrase applies to a new legal status rather than to an ontological transformation. 4839 Perhaps engaging in hyperbole to underline the newness of status, later rabbis took the new legal status of proselytes so seriously that in theory 4840 they permitted marriage to onés «former» mother; 4841 but this was a matter of legal status akin to what occurred in Roman adoption. Roman law recognized adoptive ties so strongly that it prohibited incest even if ties were based only on adoption; 4842 children were freed from their father " s authority if the father lost his citizenship, just as if he had died. 4843 By adoption, the new son lost all status connections with his natural family and his former debts. 4844 Likewise one who became a Roman might no longer be considered appropriate to inherit from a mother of another nationality. 4845 Cotta, recalled from exile, claimed to be «born twice» into Roman citizenship. 4846 Although there was never consensus, many Tannaim forbade proselytes to call Abraham their father; 4847 but many early Christians certainly understood converts to the Jewish Jesus movement as fully grafted into Israel " s heritage ( Rom 2:25–29; 11:17 ; Gal 3:8–14 ). |
| After Paul, the origin of the citizenship of Claudius Lysias, the military tribune, who acquired it for a great price, is easy, though some have managed to muddle the matter. From the gentile name Claudius and the dramatic date of the incident, it is not in dispute that this man secured the citizenship from the emperor Claudius. But there can be no question of his being an imperial freedman, as Cadbury in one place surmises. 569 He holds an equestrian commission in the Roman auxiliary army, stationed in Palestine and Syria. Equestrian status could be acquired by freedmen only in the most exceptional circumstances. Only for the personal favourites of an emperor were the numerous barriers sometimes set aside, which prevented the ex-slave from securing the coveted status of a Roman knight. There was a noted scandal in Roman society when the great Pallas, manager of the imperial accounts under Claudius, secured equestrian status and a series of equestrian appointments for his brother Felix, including the procuratorship of Judaea. 570 The ‘great sum’ which Lysias paid was not the price of freedom. It was the bribe given to the intermediaries in the imperial secretariat or the provincial administration who put his name on the list of candidates for enfranchisement. The well-known passage in Cassius Dio about the sale of citizenship under Claudius is not to be taken too literally. Agents of the government made what they could, on the side, out of the growing demand for Roman privileges. A Roman senator and courtier was still trafficking in honours and appointments in the time of Nero, who was extremely angry at the discovery. 571 It is possible that Claudius Lysias was by origin a promoted common soldier. The Principate of Clauduis is precisely the time when the organization of the officer system in the auxiliary army was being standardized. Previously the prefects and tribunes commanding auxiliary regiments of the provincial armies had been either promoted centurions, not holding equestrian status, or men of equestrian standing who had not served in the ranks. 572 From Claudius onwards the promoted centurions ceased to become auxiliary officers in the ordinary course, but were commissioned henceforth in the various corps – Pretorian Guard, urban cohorts, &c. – that served at Rome. The recent investigations of Dr. Birley into the history of equestrian officers have shown that most of them, in the final system, were not young men recruited in their early twenties. Commonly they were men of substance who had held political office in their municipalities, and entered the Roman army as officers in their middle thirties. 573 But from the date of Lysias’ carreer it is possible that he had worked his way up through the ranks and the centurionate of the auxiliary army of Syria, and bought his way into the citizenship – and equestrian status and a military tribunate too – with his personal savings. |
| Attempts to distinguish other Roman citizens in Acts, in addition to Lysias, Paul, and the governors, are rather uncertain. The use of single Latin names does not prove much, particularly when they are personal in type, prenominal, or cognominal. In the procedures of epigraphical prosopography it is reckoned that there can be no certainty about the status of a person with Latin names unless he has at least two, including a recognizable gentile name, and mentions either his tribe or a post in the Roman public or municipal service. 576 The difficulty is that Acts follows the Greek usage common to all folks except the Romans, that a man is known, as was said earlier, by a single official name and a patronymic. Acts 20:4 gives the provincial style: ‘Sopater the son of Pyrrhus, from Beroea.’ The Latin names in Acts and Epistles may cover some genuine Roman citizens, but equally they may be names assumed for purposes of prestige. In many parts of the Roman empire Latin names were adopted voluntarily by provincial peregrini in a spirit of imitation. Though less frequent in areas where the Greek spirit was strong, it yet occurs even in the old Greek provinces at a surprisingly early date. 577 But there were a fair number of individual Roman families, often of humble status, scattered about Asia Minor. This is shown by the remarkable diversity of proper Roman names among soldiers enlisted in Bithynia in a legionary levy held under Trajan. 578 Of sixty persons only three had an imperial gentile name characteristic of recently enfranchised citizens. Most likely these persons were the descendants of the freedmen of Roman and Italian business men of the Republican period. Or else there may well have been an anomalous population formed by the illegitimate children of soldiers, officials, and business men, persons of uncertain status, who might adopt Latin rather than Greek names. Some of these might secure the envied status of Romans. The inevitable Pliny records just such a request in the time of Trajan, from an auxiliary centurion for the legitimization of his daughter’s status, which the emperor duly granted. 579 |
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