Scholars Katherine Shaner and Christy Cobb discuss their collaboration as editors for the book Ancient Slavery and Its New Testament Contexts and their respective contributions. They explore the historical context of slavery, the implications of household codes, and the importance of language in discussing these topics. Additionally, the conversation delves into the complexities of enslavement as depicted in biblical texts, exploring the nuances of translation, the ethical implications of modern slavery, and the importance of reading against the grain to uncover the presence and roles of enslaved individuals in scripture. Resources mentioned or recommended in this episode include, Corinthian Democracy: Democratic Discourse in 1 Corinthians, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, Slavery in Early Christianity, Criminalization in Acts of the Apostles: Race, Rhetoric, and the Prosecution of an Early Christian Movement, Mitzi J Smith, Angela N Parker, Kristin Hannah, A Mercy, and James.

Further Reading from Katherine Shaner:

Brooten, Bernadette J. “Early Christian Enslaved Families (First to Fourth Century).” Pages 111-34 in Children and Family in Late Antiquity: Life, Death and Interaction. Edited by Christian Laes, Katarina Mustakillo, and Ville Vuolanto. Leuven: Peters, 2015.

Cohen, Shaye, ed. The Jewish Family in Antiquity. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 1993.

Johnson, Sylvester. “The Bible, Slavery, and the Problem of Authority.” Pages 231-48 in Beyond Slavery: Overcoming Its Religious and Sexual Legacies. Edited by Bernadette J. Booten. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Martin, Clarice J. “The Haustafeln (Household Codes) in African American Biblical Interpretation: ‘Free Slaves’ and ‘Subordinate Women’.” Pages 206-31 in Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation. Edited by Cain Hope Felder. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2021.

Shaner, Katherine A. “Family Structures: New Testament.” Pages 217-22 in Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Studies. Edited by Julia M. O’Brien. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Smith, Mitzi J. Chloe and Her People: A Womanist Critical Dialogue with First Corinthians. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2023.

Smith, Shively. Strangers to Family: Diaspora and 1 Peter’s Invention of God’s Household. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016

Further Reading from Christy Cobb:

Briggs, Sheila. Lavery and Gender.” Pages 171-92 in On the Cutting Edge: The Study of Women in Biblical Worlds: Essays in Honor of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. Edited by Jane Schabeg, Alice Bach, and Esther Fuchs. New York: Continuum, 2004.

Brooten, Bernadette J. “Gender and Slavery in the Acts of Andrew.” Pages 165-86 in Ancient Christian Apocrypha: Marginalized Texts in Early Christianity. Edited by Outi Lehhtipuu and Silke Petersen. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2022.

Cobb, Christy. Slavery, Gender, Truth, and Power in Luke-Acts and Other Ancient Narratives. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Glancy, Jennifer A., and Stephen D. Moore. “How Typical a Roman Prostitute Is Revelation’s ‘Great Whore’?,” Journal of Biblical Literature 130, no. 3 (2011): 551-69.

Glazebrook, Allison. “Gender and Slavery.” Pages 1-23 in The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Slaveries. Edited by Stephen Hodkinson, Marc Klejwegt, and Kostas Vlassopoulos. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

Smith, Shanell T. Woman Babylon and the Marks of Empire: Reading revelation with a Postcolonial Womanist Hermeneutics of Ambivalence. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2014.

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