Patronage in Early Christianity: Its Use and Transformation from Jesus to Paul of Samosata - Hardcover

by Alan B. Wheatley (Author)

How did the community we glimpse in the New Testament become an institution quite willing to have the emperor Constantine as a primary public partner? By tracing the use of resources, titles, and functions of leaders and patterns of honor giving, Wheatley traces from a wide variety of sources both acceptance and revision of Roman patronage in this countercultural community. Along the way, it is possible to see dissident groups like the Montanists and Marcionites more clearly and sympathetically, and to ask ourselves some pertinent questions about how a Christian community might function in the twenty-first century.

Author Biography

Alan B. Wheatley is Associate Professor of History and chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho.