Book Review: The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. By Peter Brown. Twentieth Anniversary Edition. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2008. Pp. lxviii + 504. Paper, $27.50

Abstract

171 of slavery in the New Testament, supplying readers with a balanced analysis of the tensions between church and culture found in New Testament passages related to the oppressive social institution. Ample (but not exhausting) footnotes and annotated bibliographies at the end of each chapter provide up-to-date resources for readers interested in pursing any particular topic in more detail. There is also an additional annotated bibliography of primary sources at the end of the book, followed by a general bibliography, an illustration listing, and indices of subjects, important persons, and scriptural and ancient sources. Numerous charts, illustrations, photographs, and maps make this a very attractive volume. A book such as this one inevitably invites quibbles over omitted material. The Essenes, for instance, are briefly covered in the chapter on John the Baptist, but one might be inclined to agree with the ancient Jewish historian Josephus that they were one first-century Jewish group significant enough to merit an extended treatment. Similarly, the chapter on Greek philosophers has useful descriptions of Epicureans and Stoics; yet it does not engage the Cynics and their potential impact on the New Testament writings. To cite one final omission, a chapter on women in the world of the New Testament would have contributed a great deal to this volume. Simmons himself notes in the preface that “the presentation on the Greco-Roman world is generally arranged in terms of power, beginning with the Roman imperial rulers and ending with the section on slaves and freedmen and freedwomen” (p. 11). Given this structural emphasis on the issue of power, a chapter on women as a group— or perhaps chapters on groups of/including women (e.g., widows [but cf. 176–78], households, matrons, etc.)—might have remedied this important lacuna. These caveats aside, this book offers readers a solid introduction to the religious, political, and social context of the New Testament. It would be a particularly good choice as a supplementary textbook for introductory courses on the New Testament, although pastors, church teachers, and some graduate students will also find it useful. David J. Downs Fuller Theological Seminary Pasadena, CA, 91182