Prejudice and Christian Beginnings

Prejudice and Christian Beginnings

Few Christians would dispute that issues surrounding race, gender and ethnicity have largely dominated the recent history of the church in Western European culture. So important have these areas become that they are now mandatory topics for study and reflection by all serious theological students, particularly those exploring ministerial training. That these issues are not new, but core to our faith tradition, is less widely acknowledged and it is for this reason that an in-depth exploration of race, gender and ethnicity is to be warmly welcomed.
Prejudice and Christian Beginnings seeks to encourage us to read Christian texts in the light of the diversity of attitudes and experience towards race, gender and ethnicity that have existed throughout the generations of our faith’s development. This is an innovative approach primarily because of its inter-disciplinary nature (embracing feminist, postcolonial and critical race frameworks and methodologies).
The book is divided into two parts; the first considers race, gender and ethnicity in the context of the Roman Empire and the impact of these influences on the development of early Christian thought and in particular on Paul. The second part considers how these issues have shaped the discipline of Christian studies in more recent times. Although many readers may find the content of some of the articles too narrow to sustain their interest, two chapters stand out as being of more than passing interest to anyone with an enthusiasm for understanding and conveying the gospel. Cynthia Baker’s ‘From every nation under heaven’ is a highly informative and accessible exploration of the diversity of Jewish ethnic identity in the Greco-Roman World. Sze-kar Wan’s article: ‘To the Jew First and also to the Greek’ is a similarly accessible but also challenging reading of Romans in the light of ethnic considerations.
For a UK readership the relevance of Prejudice and Christian Beginnings is constrained perhaps by its overwhelmingly American authorship. There are important black, feminist and post-colonial theologians in the UK whose distinctive voice is missing. Secondly, the area of sexuality is almost entirely absent and that is a pity in a Western European context where the subject remains a critical one to the life of the church and is regularly considered alongside race and gender. These comments apart, this is an important study that should have a home in every serious theological library.

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