Reconceptualising Conversion: Patronage, Loyalty, and Conversion in the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean

328 Pages·2004·8.946 MB·English

by  Zeba A. Crook

Zeba A. Crook
Reconceptualising Conversion
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die
neutestamentliche Wissenschaft
und die Kunde der älteren Kirche
Herausgegeben von
James D. G. Dunn · Carl A. Holladay
Hermann Lichtenberger · Jens Schröter
Gregory E. Sterling · Michael Wolter
Band 130
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DE
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Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
Zeba A. Crook
Reconceptualising Conversion
Patronage, Loyalty, and Conversion
in the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean
w
DE
_G
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
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Printed in Germany
Cover design: Christopher Schneider, Berlin
This work is dedicated to three teachers who, though they might be
surprised to learn this, shaped me as a scholar:
my mother Rithea who taught me to inquire into all things;
my father Patrick who taught me to distrust traditional answers;
my coach Dr. D. B. Clement who taught me to risk aspiring
beyond my reach.

Acknowledgements
My first debt of gratitude must be extended to Professor John S. Kloppenborg,
my doctoral advisor. His ability and care as a scholar in such a wide array of
areas never ceases to amaze me, and he acted as mentor and model for me.
What can I say about this scholar that has not been said already by a "cast of
thousands"? Professor Kloppenborg sought to control my propensity for
excess and to strengthen my weaknesses; would that we were all so lucky as
to have advisors of this quality.
In addition, Professors J. M. Bryant, T. L. Donaldson, Β. H. McLean, and
A. F. Segal were generous and helpful readers, commentators, and examiners.
Professors Leif Vaage, Colleen Shantz, and Stanley Porter read parts of this
work at various stages, and reined me in methodologically at several points.
Professor David Bossman encouraged me both warmly and forcefully to
finish this work when it was a dissertation, and in that probably had a greater
influence on me than he realises. I also gratefully acknowledge the encourage-
ment, guidance, and diligence of Professors Gregory Sterling, Gustavo
Benavides, and Kocku von Stuckrad, and of Dr. Claus-Jürgen Thornton at De
Gruyter.
I would like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada, Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Catholic Biblical
Association, and the University of St. Michael's College, whose generous
financial support made timely completion of the doctoral process possible.
It strikes me as inadequate to even attempt to enumerate the myriad ways
in which my partner, Professor Kelly Quinn, has helped me in this project. At
every stage I have burdened her with my questions and concerns. Though
our respective fields complement each other, I suspect strongly that the
benefits that are to be had from the attention of a critical eye and keen
intellect flow more in my direction than in hers. She is mea patrona inimitabilis.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Abbreviations and Editions xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter One: The Influence of Psychology
on Contemporary Society and Scholarship 13
1.0 Introduction 13
1.1 The Early Influence of Psychology 15
1.1.1 The Influence of Psychology on New Testament Studies 17
1.2 Psychology and the Study of Conversion 22
1.2.1 Movements Away from Psychological Approaches
to Conversion 28
1.3 A Critique of the Cross-Cultural Psychological Model 31
1.3.1 The Self as Culturally Constructed 34
1.3.2 Emotion and Culture 39
1.3.3 New Testament Social Scientific Criticism 47
1.4 Conclusion 49
Chapter Two: General Reciprocity
Among Humans and their Gods 53
2.0 Introduction 53
2.1 A Taxonomy of Reciprocal Exchange 54
2.1.1 Marshall Sahlins 54
2.1.2 Stegemann and Stegemann 56
χ Table of Contents
2.2 Defining our Terms: Patronage vs. Benefaction 59
2.2.1 Stephan Joubert 60
2.3 Human Patronage and Benefaction 67
2.3.1 Social Patronage 67
2.3.2 Literary Patronage 74
2.4 Divine Patronage and Benefaction 76
2.5 Divine Patronage and Benefaction in Hellenistic Judaism 79
2.5.1 Septuagint 80
2.5.2 Flavius Josephus 82
2.5.3 Philo of Alexandria 85
2.6 Conclusion 88
Chapter Three: The Rhetoric of Patronage and Benefaction 91
3.0 Introduction 91
3.1 The Call of the Patron/Benefactor 93
3.1.1 Human Patronage and Benefaction 93
3.1.2 Divine Patronage and Benefaction 97
3.2 Persuasion and Philosophical Conversion 100
3.2.1 Philosophy and Religion 101
3.2.2 Philosophy and Persuasive Rhetoric 104
3.2.3 The Call of the Philosopher-Patron 107
3.3 Prayer, Praise, and Proselytism 108
3.3.1 Prayer and Praise 108
3.3.2 Patronal Proselytism 112
3.4 Patronal Synkrisis 117
3.4.1 Human Patronage and Benefaction 119
3.4.2 Divine Patronage and Benefaction 122
3.4.3 Philosophical Patronage and Benefaction 124
3.4.4 Patronal Synkrisis in the Septuagint, Philo, and Titus 128
3.5 The Χάρις of the Patron/Benefactor 132
3.5.1 Meanings of χάρις 132
3.5.2 Moffatt, Manson, and Conzelmann on χάρις 136
3.5.3 Χάρις and Patronage and Benefaction 139
3.6 Conclusion 148