Mark Jeong examines scenes in the New Testament book of Acts where members of the church are banished or exiled from cities. He argues that the author of Luke-Acts presents the church as a community of political exiles, whose exilic way of life is presented as part of following Jesus.
Mark Jeong examines those scenes in Acts where members of the church are banished, exiled, or displaced from the city. He argues that Luke-Acts presents the church as a community of political exiles who have been exiled or banished from the cities of the Roman Empire. This narrative displacement prompts a response or solution that in Luke-Acts is found in the community itself. Unlike other early Christian texts, which spoke of the church in exile from heaven or awaiting a city to come, Luke-Acts portrays the church itself as this »new city« that becomes a refuge for the displaced believers. Furthermore, exile or homelessness in Luke-Acts is not a problem requiring an otherworldly solution, but a part of the new way of life engendered by the proclamation of the Gospel; it is a core part of following the way of Jesus, who himself is exiled from Nazareth in the Gospel of Luke.
Table of contents:
Chapter 1. Exile in Greece and Rome
1.1 The Goal of Politics
1.2 Exile as Political Act
1.3 Reimagining a New Kind of Politics
1.4 Conclusion
Chapter 2. Exile in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity
2.1 Exile in the Hebrew Bible and Septuagint
2.2 Exile in Philo of Alexandria
2.3 Exile in Josephus
2.4 Citizenship among Diaspora Jews
2.5 Exile in Early Christianity
2.6 Conclusion
Chapter 3. The Church in Exile in Acts
3.1 Stephen's Speech in Acts 7:1-53
3.2 Scenes of Exile in Acts
3.3 Conclusion
Chapter 4. Jesus the Exile
4.1 Settings in Literary Studies
4.2 Hometowns in Ancient Literature
4.3 Nazareth as Jesus' Patris
4.4 The Expulsion of Jesus in Luke 4:16-30
4.5 Wandering Without a Home
4.6 Renouncing Your Family
4.7 Conclusion
Chapter 5. The Church as Polis
5.1 The Early Christian Community
5.2 Dio Chrysostom and Aelius Aristides
5.3 Stasis in Corinth
5.4 Civic Language in Acts
5.5 The Church as Home
5.6 Conclusion
5.7 Conclusion
6.1 Summary
6.2 Implications and Avenues for Further Research
