Christian Beginnings: A Study in Ancient Mediterranean Religion

Acknowledgments
introduction
Part I: Everyday Religion and Its Alternatives
1. The Religion of Plant and Animal Offerings Versus the Religion of Meanings, Essences and Textual Mysteries
2. Locating the Religion of Associations
3. Why “Common Judaism” Does Not Look Like Mediterranean Religion
Part II: Paul as Freelance Expert
4. Kinds of Myth, Meals and Power: Paul and the Corinthians
5. The Social Formations of Paul and His Romans: Synagogues, Churches and Occam’s Razor
Part III: Paul’s Message and Objectives
6. The Dilemma of Paul’s Physics: Features Stoic-Platonist or Platonist-Stoic
7. What is Pauline Participation in Christ?
8. Paul’s Four Discourses about Sin
9. Are Paul’s Moral Teachings Designed for Ordinary Humans?
Part IV: Historians and Critical Historiography
10. The Concept of Community and the History of Early Christianity
11. Jesus the Teacher and Stoic Ethics in the Gospel of Matthew
12. The Secrets of the Gods and the End of Interpretation
Bibliography
Ancient Sources Index
Subject Index