Publisher's Synopsis
The Household of Caesar and the Body of Christ addresses the writings of the Apostle Paul in the political context of the Roman Near East of the first century for the first time. The author begins by addressing Paul's worldview, placing special emphasis on his conception of time and human history. Then he explores Paul's most common images of community beginning with the household, which Paul uses as a metaphor in a way that is at times consistent with and at times critical of Roman social practices. The next discussion involves "the body of Christ" which is not strictly metaphorical, but in some sense literal, goes beyond the social critique of his household imagery and poses a deep threat to the Roman world view, and thus to the Roman order, when understood in combination with Paul's conception of time and history.
