The Context Group
Encyclopedia
The Context Group is a working group of international biblical
scholars who promote research into the Bible using social-scientific
methods such as anthropology
and sociology
. Its webpage defines the group succinctly as "A Project on the Bible in its Socio-Cultural Context".
and the social sciences to interpret the Bible in its social and cultural contexts. It initially organized in 1986 as the "Social Facets Seminar," headed by John H. Elliott as Chair, meeting in conjunction with The Jesus Seminar under the direction of Robert W. Funk and the Westar Institute. In 1989 it broke ties with the Jesus Seminar and reorganized in Portland, Oregon, as The Context Group, A Project on the Bible in its Social and Cultural Environment.
Two seminal publications by founding members were Bruce J. Malina's The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology (1981), which presented a new paradigm
for biblical studies, and John H. Elliott's Home for the Homeless: A Sociological Exegesis of 1 Peter (1981). Elliott's What is Social-Scientific Criticism of the Bible? (1993) coined a new term for the group's methodology and provided an essential bibliographic survey. Other key figures who published on the subject during this era (all of whom eventually became part of the Context Group) include Dennis Duling, Philip Esler, Douglas E. Oakman, Jerome Neyrey SJ, John J. Pilch, Richard L. Rohrbaugh, and Wolfgang Stegemann.
The work of the group, since inception, has had considerable influence in the field (as attested by widespread citation), but also has attracted a variety of criticisms.
cultural
assumptions for granted when interpreting the Bible, an ancient document produced in a much different culture.
The key difference is that the modern western world is an individualistic
, industrial society, whereas the society of the ancient Mediterranean world was collectivistic
and agrarian
.
The ancient Mediterranean was also a high-context society
, where discourse took shared cultural values for granted. This contrasts with the modern western world, which is a low-context society in which discourse tends to be more specific and specialized (i.e. to particular groups, subcultures, etc.). According to the Context scholars, the interpreter must learn the cultural assumptions and values behind the text in order to understand it correctly. This involves understanding values such as honor and shame
, for example, which Malina calls "pivotal cultural values."
Other common themes in Context analysis of the Bible include honor and shame, patron-client relationships, the "evil eye
", kinship
, purity
codes, and dyadic/group-oriented personalities.
, Jerome H. Neyrey SJ, John J. Pilch, Wolfgang Stegemann, K.C. Hanson, Douglas E. Oakman, S. Scott Bartchy
and Richard L. Rohrbaugh.
Important publications include the following:
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
scholars who promote research into the Bible using social-scientific
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
methods such as anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. Its webpage defines the group succinctly as "A Project on the Bible in its Socio-Cultural Context".
Founding
The Context Group is an international team of scholars that merges historical exegesisExegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
and the social sciences to interpret the Bible in its social and cultural contexts. It initially organized in 1986 as the "Social Facets Seminar," headed by John H. Elliott as Chair, meeting in conjunction with The Jesus Seminar under the direction of Robert W. Funk and the Westar Institute. In 1989 it broke ties with the Jesus Seminar and reorganized in Portland, Oregon, as The Context Group, A Project on the Bible in its Social and Cultural Environment.
Two seminal publications by founding members were Bruce J. Malina's The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology (1981), which presented a new paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
for biblical studies, and John H. Elliott's Home for the Homeless: A Sociological Exegesis of 1 Peter (1981). Elliott's What is Social-Scientific Criticism of the Bible? (1993) coined a new term for the group's methodology and provided an essential bibliographic survey. Other key figures who published on the subject during this era (all of whom eventually became part of the Context Group) include Dennis Duling, Philip Esler, Douglas E. Oakman, Jerome Neyrey SJ, John J. Pilch, Richard L. Rohrbaugh, and Wolfgang Stegemann.
The work of the group, since inception, has had considerable influence in the field (as attested by widespread citation), but also has attracted a variety of criticisms.
Main ideas
At the root of the Context Group's social-scientific method is the belief that biblical scholars have taken westernWestern culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
cultural
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
assumptions for granted when interpreting the Bible, an ancient document produced in a much different culture.
The key difference is that the modern western world is an individualistic
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
, industrial society, whereas the society of the ancient Mediterranean world was collectivistic
Collectivism
Collectivism is any philosophic, political, economic, mystical or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation...
and agrarian
Agrarian society
An agrarian society is a society that depends on agriculture as its primary means for support and sustenance. The society acknowledges other means of livelihood and work habits but stresses the importance of agriculture and farming, and was the most common form of socio-economic oganization for...
.
The ancient Mediterranean was also a high-context society
High context culture
High context culture and the contrasting "low context culture" are terms presented by the anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his 1976 book Beyond Culture. It refers to a culture's tendency to use high context messages over low context messages in routine communication...
, where discourse took shared cultural values for granted. This contrasts with the modern western world, which is a low-context society in which discourse tends to be more specific and specialized (i.e. to particular groups, subcultures, etc.). According to the Context scholars, the interpreter must learn the cultural assumptions and values behind the text in order to understand it correctly. This involves understanding values such as honor and shame
Shame
Shame is, variously, an affect, emotion, cognition, state, or condition. The roots of the word shame are thought to derive from an older word meaning to cover; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame....
, for example, which Malina calls "pivotal cultural values."
Other common themes in Context analysis of the Bible include honor and shame, patron-client relationships, the "evil eye
Evil eye
The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike...
", kinship
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
, purity
Virtue
Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....
codes, and dyadic/group-oriented personalities.
Important Context scholars and publications today
The Context Group's founding and early members include important scholars in the field today: Bruce J. Malina, Philip EslerPhilip Esler
Philip Francis Esler is an Australian-born academic who became the inaugural Chief Executive of the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council in 2005, remaining in the role until 2009. Phillip completed his high school at the then named Marist Brothers High School in the Sydney suburb of Eastwood...
, Jerome H. Neyrey SJ, John J. Pilch, Wolfgang Stegemann, K.C. Hanson, Douglas E. Oakman, S. Scott Bartchy
S. Scott Bartchy
S. Scott Bartchy is a New Testament scholar and member of the The Context Group, a group of biblical scholars committed to using social-scientific interpretative methods...
and Richard L. Rohrbaugh.
Important publications include the following:
- Craffert, Pieter F. The Life of a Galilean Shaman: Jesus of Nazareth in Anthropological-Historical Perspective. Matrix. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2008.
- Crook, Zeba A. Reconceptualising Conversion: Patronage, Loyalty, and Conversion in the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean. BZNW 130; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2004).
- DeMaris, Richard E., The New Testament in Its Ritual World. London: Routledge, 2008.
- Duling, Dennis C. The New Testament: History, Literature, and Social Context. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003.
- Elliott, John H. Conflict, Community, and Honor: 1 Peter in Social-Scientific Perspective. Cascade Companions. ugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2007.
- Elliott, John H. A Home for the Homeless. 2d ed. Reprinted, Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2006.
- Elliott, John H., editor. Social-Scientific Criticism of the New Testament and Its Social World. Semeia 35 (1986).
- Elliott, John H. What Is Social-Scientific Criticism? Guides to Biblical Scholarship. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.
- Esler, Philip F., editor. Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in Its Social Context. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006.
- Esler, Philip F. Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
- Esler, Philip F. New Testament Theology: Community and Communion. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005.
- Hanson, K. C., and Douglas E. Oakman, Palestine in the Time of Jesus. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998; 2d ed., 2008.
- Malina, Bruce J. The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology. 3d ed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.
- Malina, Bruce J., and Jerome H. Neyrey. Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient Personality. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1996.
- Malina, Bruce J., and John J. Pilch, Social-Science Commentary on the Book of Revelation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
- Malina, Bruce J., and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of John. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998.
- Malina, Bruce J., and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels. 2d ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
- Neufeld, Dietmar. "The Social Sciences and Biblical Translation." Symposium Series 41. Atlanta/Leiden: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008.
- Neyrey, Jerome H. Paul, in Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990.
- Neyrey, Jerome H. Render to God: New Testament Understandings of the Divine. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004.
- Neyrey, Jerome H., editor. The Social World of Luke-Acts: Models for Interpretation. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1991.
- Oakman, Douglas E. Jesus and the Peasants. Matrix. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2008.
- Pilch, John J., editor. Social Scientific Models for Interpreting the Bible. Biblical Interpretation Series 53. Leiden: Brill, 2001.
- Pilch, John J. & Bruce J. Malina, editors. A Handbook of Biblical Social Values. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1998.
- Rohrbaugh, Richard L. The New Testament in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Matrix. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2007.
- Rohrbaugh, Richard L., editor. The Social Sciences and New Testament Interpretation. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996.
- Stegemann, Ekkehard S., and Wolfgang Stegemann. The Jesus Movement: A Social History of Its First Century. Translated by O. C. Dean Jr. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999.
External links
- Context Group Official site
- Coleman A. Baker Home Page
- S. Scott Bartchy Faculty Page
- Alicia Batten Home Page
- David Bossman Home Page
- Zeba Crook Home Page
- Dennis Duling Home Page
- John H. Elliott Home Page
- Philip F. Esler Home Page
- K.C. Hanson Home Page
- John S. Kloppenborg Home Page
- Jason T. Lamoreaux
- Jerome Neyrey Home Page
- Douglas E. Oakman Home Page
- Carolyn Osiek Home Page
- Mauro Pesce Home Page
- John J. Pilch Home Page
- Richard L. Rohrbaugh Home Page
- Craig de Vos Home Page
- Ritva Williams Home Page
- Dietmar Neufeld Home Page