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They did not repent of the work of their hands: a reading of Revelation from the cultural context of Ephesian marble-workers
Bowden, Anna Michelle Vestal
Bowden, Anna Michelle Vestal
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Date
2019
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Abstract
How might Jesus-followers living in first-century Ephesus have experienced Johns urge to come out from her, to disengage from imperial accommodation (18:4)? This dissertation explores the praxis Revelation requires from its audience and questions is practicality. Previous scholarship has failed to recognize explicitly that Johns command is impossible to heed. This study offers a reading of Revelation within a construction of first-century Ephesus, bringing forward the (im)practicalities of Johns command. After a brief description of the methods employed in this project (ch. 2), the study will have two foci. First, it constructs a detailed portrait of Ephesuss marble economy (ch. 3) and the life of the marble-workers, looking in particular at their living and working conditions (ch. 4).^Second, it proceeds to read Revelation within my construction of the marble economy by foregrounding the experiences of Ephesian marble-workers in order to press questions concerning the (im)practicality of Johns urgings for his audience to stop accommodating. Chapter 5 looks for ways in which Jesus-following marble-workers might identify as those to whom John is addressing in Revelation, focusing in particular on the opening letters (Rev 2-3). It also explores the ways in which the marble-workers participated in empire through the work of their hands (9:20) by looking in depth at three primary ways in which the marble-workers might have been seen as accommodating idolatry, materialism, and profiteering.^Chapter 6 explores the practical implications of Johns urge for zero cultural accommodation (Rev 2-3; 18:4) by asking if Johns characterization of the marble-workers as idolaters, sorcerers, murderers, fornicators, and thieves overlooks their daily realities, their pragmatic concerns for food, shelter, and the basic necessities for life. This study concludes that from the cultural context of Ephesian marble-workers, the praxis that Revelation requires from its audience of complete withdrawal from all imperial involvement is pragmatically not sustainable and is ultimately a manifesto providing no concrete strategies to address consequences such as food insecurity. The result would be malnutrition, poor living conditions, and even death.
Contents
Subject
Subject(s)
Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Stone-cutters Greece.
Marble Rome History.
Marble Greece History.
Marble industry and trade Rome History.
Marble industry and trade Greece History.
Ephesus (Extinct city)
Rome Economic conditions 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
Stone-cutters Greece.
Marble Rome History.
Marble Greece History.
Marble industry and trade Rome History.
Marble industry and trade Greece History.
Ephesus (Extinct city)
Rome Economic conditions 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Genre
Dissertation
Description
Format
1 online resource (xxv, 255 pages) :
Department
Brite Divinity School