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The Social Distinctives Analysis

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The title assigned to this compilation of E.A. Judge’s essays is very appropriate. The Social Distinctives title describes the essence of these essays. Judge shows how Christians in the First Century are socially distinct from other voluntary associations in the Greco Roman world. Judge examines papyrological, inscriptional, and epigraphical evidence that inform readers of the social context of the first century Christians.
In order to understand the social patterns of the first Christians, one must understand that the Hellenistic Republic governed the geographical regions at that time. Republic governance had several concepts; the deification of royal patrons, legal proceedings, basic mistrust of some religious movements, the household …show more content…

Judge examines Classical Rhetoric in general, rhetoric in antiquity, and rhetoric in the New Testament. Judge concludes that although Paul was familiar with various components of Classical Rhetoric, he chose not to employ the Grand style of rhetoric often employed by the Sophist. Paul’s rhetoric was not powerful in oration, but was “powerful in knowledge and penetration of thought.”(61)
In essay three, Judge argues, to understand Pauls’ relationship to Classical society, one needs to study, thoroughly important cities and particular institutions and reconstruct the first-century conditions. Judges correctly asserts in regard to civil obligations, “A better appreciation of the complex of civil obligations and expectations under which Paul and his converts lived would not only give us a framework for defining social position but might help us understand the force of Paul’s doctrines of subordination.”(83)
In essay four, Judge believes Paul was not a conservative person in his ideas of society. Paul, in Judge’s view is a radical. He is radical in the sense that he abandons self and status. Paul’s philosophy is eschatalogical. He adopted this perspective because he understands that everything in the world is all temporary and God will bring ultimate vindication and exaltation. …show more content…

He argues that the New Testament studies are “dislocated from the social and intellectual history of its times.”(118)The tendency of these models to be anachronistic is what Judge opposes. These methods impose a contemporary model of social science onto a first century context. Judges reduces these methods to what he calls the “sociological fallacy” which is “an importation of ideas and social models without serious regard to the social facts if life characteristics of the world to which the New Testament belongs.”(128)
The sixth essay examines papyri reflecting how those of New Testament times understood rank and status. Judges argues that the study of nomenclature can aid in understanding how social rank was viewed. He concludes the essay by examining four letters which reveal how status relationships are conducted within the circle of family and friends. Judge correctly asserts that Christian’s view of status and rank collides with the Roman classical

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