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  • Aliens and Sojourners: Self as Other in Early Christianity
  • Carolyn Osiek
Aliens and Sojourners: Self as Other in Early Christianity. By Benjamin H. Dunning. [Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion.] (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2009. Pp. vi, 186. $49.95. ISBN 978-0-812-24156-3.)

The subject of early Christian identity and self-understanding has been extensively studied in recent years. The present volume is a welcome contribution. The introduction focuses especially on the problem of how to expropriate social data from texts that were not written for that purpose, but rather for a highly rhetorical context. The rhetorical strategy of authors who use the topos of alien or foreign identity of a subgroup within a larger society functions positively to construct a tighter insider identity within the group.

Greek, Roman, and Jewish precedents show that this is a ubiquitous way to create and strengthen insider identity. The elite male Greek understanding of self as normative over others was challenged by the ascendancy of Rome in power and prestige, while elite Romans both disdained the Greeks and [End Page 760] admired their cultural and intellectual achievements at the same time. Roman ambiguity about otherness was shown further in the puzzling way in which the Romans could incorporate previously despised persons (for examples, slaves and former enemies) as Roman citizens.

The theme of the heavenly destiny of Christians so that they do not belong where they are occurs with surprising frequency, beginning with Phil. 3:20 and 1 Peter. In this book, four Christian documents are examined for their play on otherness and insider identity. The canonical Epistle to the Hebrews offers contrasting images of entering into rest and going out to Jesus outside the camp, because no permanent city exists on Earth (Heb 13:10-16). The Epistle to Diognetus, a second- or third-century apologetic treatise, has its own contrasting images: Christians are like everyone else, whether Greek or barbarian (the two categories of people in the Greek mind)—yet they are a different genos, roughly understood as "race." They excel in virtuous practices over all their neighbors because they do not swap marriage partners or expose babies. Christians are the consummate insiders, yet they become outsiders by outdoing others in noble conduct.

The Shepherd of Hermas uses the theme of foreignness in service of its main purpose: the critique of wealth and unjust practices against the poor. The theme of Christians as living in a foreign country is used only in Similitude 1, where it is developed extensively in parable form: People should not accumulate wealth and land in this country, because its ruler can throw them out; rather, wealth should be stored up in their home country so that when they go home, they will be able to rely on it.

The Apocalypse of James from the Nag Hammadi collection plays on the theme of foreignness only to reject it. Christians may feel that they do not belong where they are, but the solution is to take hold of what lies within as the way to salvation. The author engages in "semiotic playfulness" whereby Jesus rebukes his disciples again and again until they finally come to understanding. The text is part of an "internal conversation" about the topos in early Christianity.

The book is well done and well written. The reader should simply keep in mind that, however frequent the theme of the outsider is in early Christianity, there are other images that suggest a more this-worldly understanding: the Church as family in Colossians, Ephesians, and 1 Timothy; God's building and field and Christ's body in 1 Corinthians; and the tower being built in The Shepherd of Hermas, to name a few. Nevertheless, otherness is a significant category in early Christianity that is well studied here. [End Page 761]

Carolyn Osiek
Archives, Society of the Sacred Heart
St. Louis
...

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