Framing Social Criticism in the Jesus Movement: The Ideological Project in the Sayings Gospel Q

Description

Although it has become increasingly popular to understand the earliest rural Jesus movement as emerging from a peasant milieu, proponents of this model have not yet taken the time to explore the ramifications for a highly stylized written document being the earliest evidence for this movement. On the contrary, the Sayings Gospel Q, a sophisticated literary text having affinities with other ancient literature and even documentary papyri, does not seem to be a product of a peasant milieu. Even so, Q does not appear to be the product of elites either, for the text is rife with tropes of social and economic marginality. In order to access the elusive "middling stratum" from which Q's authors may stem, Sarah E. Rollens looks cross-culturally at middling figures to understand the ideological project in Q. Cover Preface Table of Contents List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. Peasantry in Christian Origins: On the Origins and Utility of a Scholarly Category 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Historical Origins of Peasant Studies 2.2.1 Peasantry as a Socio-Economic Type 2.2.2 Peasantry as a Cultural Type 2.3 Impact on Christian Origins 2.3.1 Social Stratification in Graeco-Roman Antiquity 2.3.2 Douglas E. Oakman 2.3.3 Richard A. Horsley 2.4 Scholarly Resistance to the Term 2.5 Evaluation 2.6 The Utility of Peasantry as an Analytical Concept 2.7 Conclusion and Relevance to the Current Project 3. The Sociology of the Middle in Antiquity 3.1 Introduction 3.2 A Note on Comparison 3.3 A Note on Terminology 3.3.1 Conceptualizing the Middle in Antiquity 3.4 Characteristics of Middling Figures 3.4.1 Structural Marginality 3.4.2 Creativity and Innovation 3.4.3 The Capacity to Articulate Class Concerns and Facilitate Social Movements 3.5 Ambiguity: Advocates, Allies, or Manipulators? 3.6 Cautions 3.7 Conclusion 4. The Problem of Q 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Q as a Written Document 4.3 Q as a Greek Text 4.4 The Date of Q 4.5 The Geographical Provenance of Q 4.6 Conclusion 5. Recent Perspectives on the “Q People” 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Prophetic Performers 5.3 Village Scribes 5.3.1 Scribes in Antiquity 5.3.2 Structural Relationship to Peasants 5.4 Conclusion 6. The Ideological Project in Q 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Peasant Concerns in Q? 6.2.1 Q 6:20b–23 6.2.2 Q 11:2b–4, 9–13 6.2.3 Q 12:22b–31 6.2.4 Other Purported Peasant Concerns 6.3 Q’s Authors and Structural Marginality 6.3.1 Marginality Evident through Q’s Redaction 6.3.2 Other Evidence of Marginality in Q 6.4 Creativity and Innovation in Q 6.5 Articulating “Class” Concerns 6.5.1 Q’s Audience 6.5.2 The Kingdom of God in Q: The Crux of Q? 6.5.3 The Maintenance of Marginality and the Kingdom in Q 6.5.4 Excursus: The Failure of the Kingdom? 6.6 Ambiguity in Q 6.7 Summary and Conclusions 7. Conclusion: Implications for the Galilean Jesus Movement Bibliography Index of Ancient Sources Index of Modern Authors Index of Subjects