Hidden Transcripts and the Arts of Resistance: Applying the Work of James C. Scott to Jesus and Paul (SBL: Semeia Studies, 48 - Society of Biblical Literature Semeia Studies)

217 Pages·2004·0.7 MB·English

by  Richard A. Horsley

HIDDEN TRANSCRIPTS AND
THE ARTS OF RESISTANCE
Semeia Studies
Gale A. Yee, General Editor
Editorial Board:
Roland Boer
Elizabeth A. Castelli
Musa Dube
David M. Gunn
Richard A. Horsley
David Jobling
Cheryl Kirk-Duggan
Stephen D. Moore
Tina Pippin
Ilona N. Rashkow
Fernando Segovia
Yvonne M. Sherwood
Abraham Smith
Gerald O. West
Number 48
HIDDEN TRANSCRIPTS AND
THE ARTS OF RESISTANCE
Applying the Work of James C. Scott
to Jesus and Paul
HIDDEN TRANSCRIPTS AND
THE ARTS OF RESISTANCE
Applying the Work of James C. Scott
to Jesus and Paul
Edited by
Richard A. Horsley
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2004
HIDDEN TRANSCRIPTS AND THE ARTS OF RESISTANCE
Copyright © 2004 by the Society of Biblical Literature
This edition published under license from the Society of Biblical Literature
by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved.No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by
means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted
by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should
be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature,
825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hidden transcripts and the arts of resistance : applying the work of James C. Scott to Jesus
and Paul / edited by Richard A. Horsley
p. cm. — (Semeia studies ; no. 48)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 90-04-13053-5(cloth binding : alk. paper)
1. Jesus Christ—Political and social views. 2. Bible. N.T. Mark—Social scientific criti-
cism. 3. Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul—Social scientific criticism. 4. Opposition (Political sci-
ence) in the Bible. 5. Scott, James C. I. Horsley, Richard A. II. Series: Semeia studies ; no.
48.
BS2417.P6H53 2004b
225.6—dc22 2004024392
ISSN 1567-200X
Printed in The Netherlands
on acid-free paper.
CONTENTS
Abbreviations..................................................................................................vii
Introduction—Jesus, Paul, and the “Arts of Resistance”:
Leaves from the Notebook of James C. Scott
Richard A. Horsley ....................................................................................1
Part 1: Jesus, Hidden Transcripts, and the Arts of Resistance
The Arts of Resistance in an Age of Revolt
Allen Dwight Callahan............................................................................29
Onstage and Offstage with Jesus of Nazareth: Public
Transcripts, Hidden Transcripts, and Gospel Texts
William R. Herzog II................................................................................41
The Politics of Disguise and Public Declaration of the Hidden
Transcript: Broadening Our Approach to the Historical Jesus
with Scott’s “Arts of Resistance” Theory
Richard A. Horsley ..................................................................................61
James C. Scott and New Testament Studies: A Response to
Allen Callahan, William Herzog, and Richard Horsley
Warren Carter ..........................................................................................81
Part 2: Hidden Transcripts and Arts of Resistance in Paul’s Letters
Strategies of Resistance and Hidden Transcripts in the
Pauline Communities
Neil Elliott..................................................................................................97
The Role of Symbolic Inversion in Utopian Discourse: Apocalyptic
Reversal in Paul and in the Festival of the Saturnalia/Kronia
Erik M. Heen ..........................................................................................123
vi contents
Reconstructing “Resistance” or Reading to Resist:
James C. Scott and the Politics of Interpretation
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge ......................................................................145
Hidden Transcripts and Arts of Resistance in Paul’s Letters:
A Response
Susan M. (Elli) Elliott ............................................................................157
Explicating Domination and Resistance: A Dialogue between
James C. Scott and Biblical Scholars
Gerald West ............................................................................................173
Works Consulted ..........................................................................................195
Contributors....................................................................................................207
ABBREVIATIONS
AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6
vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
AJP American Journal of Philology
AThR Anglican Theological Review
BibInt Biblical Interpretation
BibOr Biblica et orientalia
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
FCNTECW Feminist Companion to the New Testament and Early
Christian Writings
JAAR Journal of the American Academy of Religion
JAC Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JRH Journal of Religious History
JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic,
and Roman Periods
JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement
Series
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement
Series
JTSA Journal of Theology for Southern Africa
LCL Loeb Classical Library
NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament
NTS New Testament Studies
SBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers
SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series
TynBul Tyndale Bulletin
-vii-

INTRODUCTION
JESUS, PAUL, AND THE “ARTS OF RESISTANCE”:
LEAVES FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF JAMES C. SCOTT
Richard A. Horsley
James C. Scott offers a rich range of knowledge and theory that helps
biblical studies broaden and deepen approaches to texts in contexts. Bib-
lical studies, understandably for a field devoted to illumination of the
Jewish and Christian scriptures, focuses heavily on the religious and cul-
tural dimension to the neglect of other aspects of life that are also
abundantly evident in biblical texts. As the product mainly of Protestant
theology and North Atlantic societies that operate with a separation
between church and state, biblical studies focuses on “the things of God,”
as opposed to “the things of Caesar.” Trained as a political scientist, Scott
is an expert in “the things of Caesar.” Yet Scott insists throughout his
scholarship that politics cannot be understood apart from culture and
religion. His work can help biblical scholars understand the relation
between often separated dimensions of texts and history.
Biblical studies, devoted to understanding the sacred writings central
to the canon of established Western culture as well as of churches and
synagogues, writings that played an instrumental role in Western Euro-
pean colonial rule of other peoples of the world, has tended to ignore
power relations in texts and history. Yet all civilizations, including West-
ern civilization in which the Bible has been instrumental, have been
based on the domination and exploitation of the vast majority of people
by an elite ruling class. Scott is unusual among political scientists not only
in acknowledging the power relations that constitute civilizations but
also in repeatedly coming up with sophisticated original ways of under-
standing relations of domination and resistance that can be helpful to
biblical scholars, who are only recently discovering such issues.
Biblical studies, because of the Herculean tasks involved in learning
ancient languages and sophisticated methods of criticisms, tends to be
focused intensively but narrowly on the particular languages and cultures
of ancient Israel and early Jewish and Christian groups in the ancient east-
ern Mediterranean world. In his rich and varied scholarly work James
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