Matthew, Paul, and the Anthropology of Law

Description

Drawing from Michel Foucault's understanding of power, David A. Kaden explores how relations of power are instrumental in forming law as an object of discourse in the Gospel of Matthew and in the Letters of Paul. This is a comparative project in that the author examines the role that power relations play in generating discussions of law in the first century context, and in several ethnographies from the field of the anthropology of law from Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and colonial-era Hawaii. Discussions of law proliferate in situations where the relations of power within social groups come into contact with social forces outside the group. David A. Kaden's interdisciplinary approach reframes how law is studied in Christian Origins scholarship, especially Pauline and Matthean scholarship, by focusing on what makes discourses on law possible. For this he relies heavily on cross-cultural, ethnographic materials from legal anthropology. Cover Preface Table of Contents List of Abbreviations 1. Foucault, Smith, and Comparison 1.1 Problem, Method, and Theory 1.1.1 Overview 1.1.2 Method 1.1.2a 1.1.2b 1.1.2c 1.1.3 Theory 1.1.3a 1.1.3b 1.1.4 Conclusion 2. Ethnographic Materials, Power Relations, and the Anthropology of Law 2.1 Anthropology of Law in Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Colonial Hawaii 2.1.1 Overview 2.1.2 Dou Donggo (Indonesia) 2.1.3 Zapotec Peoples (Mexico) 2.1.4 Ilongot Peoples (Philippines) 2.1.5 Colonizing Hawaii 2.1.6 Conclusion 3. Literature Review of Matthean and Pauline Scholarship on the Topic of Law 3.1 The Problem of Situating Matthew and Paul vis-à-vis Judaism 3.1.1 Overview 3.1.2 Matthew 3.1.3 Paul 4. Power and Judean Ancestral Customs in the Roman World 4.1 Philo, Josephus, and Roman Administration 4.1.1 Overview 4.1.2 Philo of Alexandria and Judean Ancestral Customs 4.1.3 Framing Judean Rights in the Roman World 4.1.4 Flavius Josephus and Judean Ancestral Customs 4.1.4a 4.1.4b 4.1.4c 4.1.4d 4.1.5 Conclusion 4.1.6 Summary 5. Relations of Power in Matthew and Paul 5.1 Empire, Legal Fiction, and Geography 5.1.1 Overview 5.1.2 Imperial Context 5.1.2a 5.1.2b 5.1.2c 5.1.3 Summary 5.1.4 Law, Power, and Legal Fiction 5.1.4a 5.1.4b 5.1.4c 5.1.4d 5.1.5 Conclusion Bibliography Index of Ancient Sources Old Testament New Testament Noncanonical New Testament and Patristic Sources Apocrypha Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Dead Sea Scrolls Josephus Philo Classical Sources Index of Authors Index of Subjects