New Wine Into Fresh Wineskins: Contextualizing the Early Christian Confessions

Author: Longenecker, Richard N. Title: New wine into fresh wineskins. Publisher: Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Pubs, 1999

Decolonizing Biblical Studies: a View From the Margins

Author: Fernando F. Segovia. Title: Decolonizing Biblical Studies. Publisher: Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Bks, 2000

Mary: Glimpses of the Mother of Jesus

Author: Gaventa, Beverly Roberts. Title: Mary. Publisher: Columbia: Univ of South Carolina Pr, 1995. Series: Studies on personalities of the New Testament

Inspiration and Authority: Nature and Function of Christian Scripture

Author: Achtemeier, Paul J. Title: Inspiration and authority. Publisher: Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Pubs, 1999

Inspiring Intergenerational Relationships: Aging and the New Testament from One Historian’s Perspective

The Christian New Testament contains surprisingly few references to age and aging, and what readers do encounter is usually read through the lens of their own experiences and assumptions about age. In this article, I approach the New Testament from my vantage point as a historian of early Christianity to glean meaning relevant for aging and intergenerational relationships today by engaging a contextual approach to the reader and the text. I begin with a sketch of the diversity of attitudes and approaches among people who may have interest in finding meaning in the Bible as they age and among caregivers who want to nurture meaning as they care for older family members or clients. I then consider older age in the New Testament, noting that we find relatively few older individuals or inspiration for aging in the texts of the New Testament. However, focusing on one text in particular (1 Timothy) through a lens of storytelling, I argue that a historically and culturally sensitive reading of the biblical text in its own context opens new possibilities for finding meaning related to aging. Namely, I reflect on the value of three relational aspects of intergenerational interaction that may inspire such relationships today: (1) the power and wisdom of storytelling, (2) the importance of fictive kin, namely surrogate grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren and (3) the value of legacy, which includes instilling and transmitting inherited traditions

Age Matters: Age, Aging and Intergenerational Relationships in Early Christian Communities, with a Focus on 1 Timothy 5

Exploring age structure in Mediterranean cultures illuminates the social dynamics of intergenerational relationships that became more visible in late first and early second century early Christian texts, and especially in 1 Timothy 5. This was a time of crisis when those with a living memory of the foundations of the movement were almost gone, and the community was scrutinized by outsiders. Since we have relatively few clues related to aging and age structure in the extant texts, a model of generational stability and social change based on ethnographic data helps us to imagine culturally sensitive possibilities that we can then test out as we reread the texts in their Roman cultural context. In his fictive story of Paul and Timothy, the author of the heterographical (pseudepigraphical) letter of 1 Timothy establishes an ideal intergenerational relationship between “Paul” as an older man and “Timothy” as his adult “child.” When the fictive Paul directs Timothy to speak kindly to older people (5:1-2), he introduces a section on age-related issues. Behaviour that was causing concern for public reputation included adult children shirking filial duty (5:4, 8), young widows gadding about in public (5:11-15), and younger men accusing their elders (5:19). These behaviours threatened the reputation and honour of the community and may have been encouraged by the opposing faction. The author’s solution was to reject the opposing teachings and enforce behaviour that reflected proper age structure: adult children should fulfill their filial responsibilities and care for widowed mothers and grandmothers (5:4); young widows should be guided and supported by middle-aged women who were responsible for them in the age hierarchy among women (5:16); middle-aged women should imitate the exemplary behaviour of the enlisted widows who were over 60 years old; and young men were to be rebuked in front of everyone for their disrespect toward elders (5:20). In the face of social change, the author advocates for behaviour reflective of the traditional age structure of Roman society.Ph