Bruce W Longenecker
Biographic Data
| ID | 1482610 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bruce W Longenecker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bruce W |
| FAMILY NAME | Longenecker |
| SIGNATURE | LONGENECKER B W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Baylor University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9698-6617 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Rupture of an Association
The Christ group in Thessalonica was established when members of an association abandoned their deity and adopted Christ devotion. This interpretation has been advanced by others. While adopting this interpretation in general, I suggest modifications to it. In particular, I propose that the association experienced a split in its membership, with some members staying with the parent association and others breaking off to form a new assembly with a…
The Wrath of the Deities and The Privileged Deceased
After Paul, Silvanus and Timothy left Thessalonica, members of the fledgling Christ group in that city experienced death within their social network. Opinions differ as to whether the authors’ comments in 1 Thess 4.13–18 are addressing puzzlement internal to the Christ group alone, or whether these recent deaths also played into the wider discourse of the city. In addressing this issue, I adopt the view, propounded especially by Richard Ascough, …
A Socio-Economic Analysis of an Egyptian Association and Its Enslaved Members ( Sb 3.7182)
In recent years there has been a marked escalation in the study of Graeco-Roman associations. Useable data for recreating associational groups usually derive from the inscriptions embedded in stone monuments that have survived in the material record. Because data of this kind usually originate from groups with middling economic resources, it is imperative to focus particular attention on any data emerging from groups lower on the socio-economic s…
The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity
The first three hundred years of the common era witnessed critical developments that would become foundational for Christianity itself, as well as for the societies and later history that emerged thereafter. The concept of 'ancient Christianity,' however, along with the content that the category represents, has raised much debate. This is, in part, because within this category lie multiple forms of devotion to Jesus Christ, multiple phenomena, an…
Apocalyptic Interpretations of Galatians and the Faithfulness of God
Galatians regularly predominates in contemporary discussions of Paul’s “apocalyptic” theology. In this essay, two forms of apocalyptic interpretation of Galatians are presented – a “perfected” and a “non-perfected” apocalyptic interpretation in relation to two key test cases: Gal 4,4–5 and 6,16. That discussion then requires a survey of Paul’s discourse of divine faithfulness in other undisputed Pauline texts. In the process, an important but neg…
Pompeian Artifacts and Jesus-Devotion
Certain Pompeian artifacts have drawn debate as to whether they might be the product of Jesus-devotion within the walls of that small town. This article overviews the context for considering that issue in accordance with the best forms of current historiographical analysis and in light of the full spread of the evidence. To do otherwise is to mire the debate in a problematic web of outdated assumptions. When those assumptions are purged from the …
Peace, Prosperity, and Propaganda
Presenting the Pauline Voice
It is commonly thought that the apocryphal Letter to the Laodiceans was composed by an author who was little more than an editor, piecing together phrases from Pauline texts in a mediocre fashion. Not only does the text seem devoid of conceptual rigour and theological merit, but it is also thought to lack a coherent structure. This essay proposes that, to the contrary of most estimates, the Letter to the Laodiceans exhibits a discernible structur…
The Crosses of Pompeii
The eruption that destroyed Pompeii in 79 preserved a wealth of evidence about the town, buried for centuries in volcanic ash. Since the town's excavations in the eighteenth century, archaeologists have disputed the evidence that might attest the presence of Christians in Pompeii before the eruption. Now, Bruce Longenecker reviews that material evidence and introduces artifacts previously unrecognized for their relevance to the issue. Illustrated…
Exposing the Economic Middle
In 2004 Steve Friesen proposed a `poverty scale' for Graeco-Roman urbanism as a backdrop against which to assess features of the earliest urban Christian communities. This article offers an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Friesen's scale, not least in relation to binary taxonomies of Graeco-Roman economic stratification, rhetorical conventions of the ancient world, and the `middling groups' of Graeco-Roman urbanism. It proposes adju…
Lukan Aversion to Humps and Hollows
Rhetoricians of the ancient world make reference to a technique useful for signalling that a transition is being made from one text unit to another. Ancient texts spanning centuries and provenance testify to the utility of this technique, not least texts of the NT. In this essay, four Lukan examples of this technique are cited, focusing particularly on what is perhaps the most intriguing of them: Acts 11.27–12.25. After demonstrating the way in w…
‘Linked Like a Chain’
Rev 22.6–9 exhibits an elaborate structure. Fundamental to its structural complexity is the rhetorical technique of ‘chain-link’ construction, discussed by both Lucian of Samosata and Quintilian. Appearing in at least three other passages in the Johannine apocalypse, this transition device involves a back-and-forth (AbaB) arrangement of ideas that has not been adequately appreciated in modern scholarship. Rev 22.6–9 has occasionally been characte…
The Wilderness and Revolutionary Ferment in First-Century Palestine
L'A. critique les theses de Daniel R. Schwartz et Joel Marcus sur les intentions qu'avait Flavius Josephe dans sa presentation de la rebellion juive au premier siecle et sur une polemique dirigee contre le judaisme palestinien qui figurerait dans l'Evangile de Marc
The Unbroken Messiah
Two areas of biblical study identified as ‘growth points’ are the sociological and narrative approaches to early Christianity and its literature. Although these two approaches may be the offspring of different departments within the university, they are intricately related: narratives relate to a social context to the extent that they reinforce or subvert socio-perspectives. This project explores the interface of the two, examining one aspect of …
ΠΙΣΤΙΣ in Romans 3.25
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Exposing the Economic Middle
In 2004 Steve Friesen proposed a `poverty scale' for Graeco-Roman urbanism as a backdrop against which to assess features of the earliest urban Christian communities. This article offers an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Friesen's scale, not least in relation to binary taxonomies of Graeco-Roman economic stratification, rhetorical conventions of the ancient world, and the `middling groups' of Graeco-Roman urbanism. It proposes adju…
ΠΙΣΤΙΣ in Romans 3.25
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
The Unbroken Messiah
Two areas of biblical study identified as ‘growth points’ are the sociological and narrative approaches to early Christianity and its literature. Although these two approaches may be the offspring of different departments within the university, they are intricately related: narratives relate to a social context to the extent that they reinforce or subvert socio-perspectives. This project explores the interface of the two, examining one aspect of …
The Wilderness and Revolutionary Ferment in First-Century Palestine
L'A. critique les theses de Daniel R. Schwartz et Joel Marcus sur les intentions qu'avait Flavius Josephe dans sa presentation de la rebellion juive au premier siecle et sur une polemique dirigee contre le judaisme palestinien qui figurerait dans l'Evangile de Marc
‘Linked Like a Chain’
Rev 22.6–9 exhibits an elaborate structure. Fundamental to its structural complexity is the rhetorical technique of ‘chain-link’ construction, discussed by both Lucian of Samosata and Quintilian. Appearing in at least three other passages in the Johannine apocalypse, this transition device involves a back-and-forth (AbaB) arrangement of ideas that has not been adequately appreciated in modern scholarship. Rev 22.6–9 has occasionally been characte…
Lukan Aversion to Humps and Hollows
Rhetoricians of the ancient world make reference to a technique useful for signalling that a transition is being made from one text unit to another. Ancient texts spanning centuries and provenance testify to the utility of this technique, not least texts of the NT. In this essay, four Lukan examples of this technique are cited, focusing particularly on what is perhaps the most intriguing of them: Acts 11.27–12.25. After demonstrating the way in w…
Exposing the Economic Middle
In 2004 Steve Friesen proposed a `poverty scale' for Graeco-Roman urbanism as a backdrop against which to assess features of the earliest urban Christian communities. This article offers an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Friesen's scale, not least in relation to binary taxonomies of Graeco-Roman economic stratification, rhetorical conventions of the ancient world, and the `middling groups' of Graeco-Roman urbanism. It proposes adju…
Presenting the Pauline Voice
It is commonly thought that the apocryphal Letter to the Laodiceans was composed by an author who was little more than an editor, piecing together phrases from Pauline texts in a mediocre fashion. Not only does the text seem devoid of conceptual rigour and theological merit, but it is also thought to lack a coherent structure. This essay proposes that, to the contrary of most estimates, the Letter to the Laodiceans exhibits a discernible structur…
The Crosses of Pompeii
The eruption that destroyed Pompeii in 79 preserved a wealth of evidence about the town, buried for centuries in volcanic ash. Since the town's excavations in the eighteenth century, archaeologists have disputed the evidence that might attest the presence of Christians in Pompeii before the eruption. Now, Bruce Longenecker reviews that material evidence and introduces artifacts previously unrecognized for their relevance to the issue. Illustrated…
Peace, Prosperity, and Propaganda
Pompeian Artifacts and Jesus-Devotion
Certain Pompeian artifacts have drawn debate as to whether they might be the product of Jesus-devotion within the walls of that small town. This article overviews the context for considering that issue in accordance with the best forms of current historiographical analysis and in light of the full spread of the evidence. To do otherwise is to mire the debate in a problematic web of outdated assumptions. When those assumptions are purged from the …
The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity
The first three hundred years of the common era witnessed critical developments that would become foundational for Christianity itself, as well as for the societies and later history that emerged thereafter. The concept of 'ancient Christianity,' however, along with the content that the category represents, has raised much debate. This is, in part, because within this category lie multiple forms of devotion to Jesus Christ, multiple phenomena, an…
Apocalyptic Interpretations of Galatians and the Faithfulness of God
Galatians regularly predominates in contemporary discussions of Paul’s “apocalyptic” theology. In this essay, two forms of apocalyptic interpretation of Galatians are presented – a “perfected” and a “non-perfected” apocalyptic interpretation in relation to two key test cases: Gal 4,4–5 and 6,16. That discussion then requires a survey of Paul’s discourse of divine faithfulness in other undisputed Pauline texts. In the process, an important but neg…
The Rupture of an Association
The Christ group in Thessalonica was established when members of an association abandoned their deity and adopted Christ devotion. This interpretation has been advanced by others. While adopting this interpretation in general, I suggest modifications to it. In particular, I propose that the association experienced a split in its membership, with some members staying with the parent association and others breaking off to form a new assembly with a…
The Wrath of the Deities and The Privileged Deceased
After Paul, Silvanus and Timothy left Thessalonica, members of the fledgling Christ group in that city experienced death within their social network. Opinions differ as to whether the authors’ comments in 1 Thess 4.13–18 are addressing puzzlement internal to the Christ group alone, or whether these recent deaths also played into the wider discourse of the city. In addressing this issue, I adopt the view, propounded especially by Richard Ascough, …
A Socio-Economic Analysis of an Egyptian Association and Its Enslaved Members ( Sb 3.7182)
In recent years there has been a marked escalation in the study of Graeco-Roman associations. Useable data for recreating associational groups usually derive from the inscriptions embedded in stone monuments that have survived in the material record. Because data of this kind usually originate from groups with middling economic resources, it is imperative to focus particular attention on any data emerging from groups lower on the socio-economic s…
History (11 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (10 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (9 works) · Art (9 works) · Literature (7 works) · Historical and Linguistic Studies (6 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (5 works) · Epistemology (5 works) · Law (5 works)