Reading and Study Guide - Barr Chapter One, pages 26-53

1. What is the point of Barr’s story about trying to find the ruins of Philadelphia in Turkey?

2. What are the key events Barr outlines in the section on history starting on p. 28? That is, what are the major events that might impact your understanding of the ancient Mediterranean world in which early Christianity took shape?

3. In the section on culture Barr sets out the Roman social order. What are the "classes" in this order? What three major factors determined someone’s status? How did the Greco-Roman world see the stages of life?

4. How did the social and political world effect Greco-Roman views of the divine?

5. Why was being "saved" an issue? What does Barr mean by "saved"?

6. In terms of worldviews there are a number of key categories. What are each of the following:

Fate, Fortune, monotheism (two forms), dualism, apocalyptic.

7.  On the map inside the front cover locate the following cities:

Rome (in Italy), Corinth, Thessalonica (in Achaia, i.e. Greece), Antioch (in Cilicia and Syria), Jerusalem, and Alexandria (in Egypt)

8.  Do Barr's reading and reflection question:

    Read the story of Cornelius in Acts 10, noting indications of social status, household arrangements, and behaviors that might earn honor.  Write a short paragraph imagining what you would answer if Cornelius were to ask you, "Who do people say that I am?"  (42)

Click here for online access to New Testament:  oremus.org   OR http://bible.logos.com/#q=&ref=Ge%201&ver=NRSV&tab=home&content=   You can type in Acts 10 to call it up.

9.  Imagine a first century city such as Corinth in Greece.  What would daily life be like for a Roman soldier there?  For the Jewish owner of an orchard nearby?    For a female household slave of a shopkeeper? 

To see photos of Corinth see http://www.ancientcorinth.net/gallery.aspx   Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's book St. Paul's Corinth:  Text and Archaeology has an extensive section on the archaelogy, etc. of the city.  Much of it is available on googlebooks at http://books.google.com/books?id=j8QPUES_C34C&printsec=frontcover&dq=corinth+archaeology&source=bl&ots=e4vOPFsX1D&sig=GJbjQb0xBSIH8-2XYYxwQmluIKA&hl=en&ei=jexUS52uNILWsgOnzPzkBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCUQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=&f=false