Fall is time for publishing new books, and there seem to be no end to all book writing (Eccl. 12:12); but here is one I would like to have a closer look at:
Crook, Zeba A.,
Reconceptualising Conversion. Patronage, Loyalty, and Conversion in the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean. 2004. 23 x 15.5 cm. XV, 310 pages. Cloth. Euro [D] 88,- / sFr 141,- / für USA, Canada, Mexico US$ 98,-. ISBN 3-11-018265-3.
The
Publisher presents the book thus:
Combining classical, epigraphical, and biblical sources with social-scientific methodology, this monograph questions the way in which modern scholarship has tended to discuss ancient conversion. The author challenges long-held assumptions of psychological continuity between ancient and modern people, and offers in place of these assumptions a model founded on the categories the ancients used themselves. Graeco-Roman and Mediterranean religions and philosophies, including Hellenistic Judaism and Christianity, framed their religion in the language of patronage / benefaction and loyalty, and thus an understanding of ancient conversion must start there. I would like to see what role the works of Philo might play here, but also how the author would 'recenceptualize' conversion in relation to a New Testament authoer as Paul.
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