Table Of ContentROMAN CHRISTIANITY AND ROMAN STOICISM
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Roman Christianity
and Roman Stoicism
A Comparative Study of Ancient Morality
RUNAR M. THORSTEINSSON
1
3
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I dedicate this book to the loving memory of my father
IN MEMORIAM
Þorsteinn Bjo¨rgvinsson
(1944–1988)
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Preface
Theimmediatebackgroundofthisstudywasalargerresearchprojectentitled
‘ChristianIdentity—theFirst100Years’,whichwasbasedatLundUniversity
in Sweden and led by Professor Bengt Holmberg. The project ran roughly
from 2003 to 2007, and included several scholars who were all active at
Swedishuniversitiesatthetime,inLund,Go¨teborg,Linko¨ping,andO¨rebro.
The project was Wnanced by The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation
(Riksbankens Jubileumsfond). A re´sume´ of some of the project’s results can
be found in the recently published book, Exploring Early Christian Identity
(ed.B.Holmberg;WUNT226;Tu¨bingen:MohrSiebeck,2008).
A number of people have lent their hand to improve this study, and
Igreatlywelcomethisopportunitytoexpressmygratitudetotheminwriting.
Firstofall,Iwishtothankmycolleaguesandfriendsinthe‘IdentityProject’
formanyhelpfuldiscussionsandcommentsonmywork,especiallyinitsearly
stages. Thank you, Bengt Holmberg, Samuel Byrskog, Dieter Mitternacht,
Mikael Tellbe, Fredrik Ivarsson, Rikard Roitto, Ha˚kan Ulfgard, and Bo
Brander. I also wish to thank the Senior New Testament Seminar at Lund
University for commenting on earlier drafts of Chapters 3 and 4. I am
especiallygratefultoProfessorBirgerOlsson,who,withhisusualgenerosity,
also commented on Chapter 7. Another truly generous scholar, Professor
Troels Engberg-Pedersen at the University of Copenhagen, kindly read
through the whole of Part III in its penultimate version and made many
helpfulcommentsandsuggestions.ForthatIamdeeplygrateful.Iamgrateful,
too,to NicholasMeyer, Ph.D.student atMcMasterUniversity, whoreadthe
entiremanuscript(ormostofit)andgreatlyimproveditslanguage.Needless
tosay,anymistakesremainmyown.
I wish to express my gratitude to The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary
Foundation for the award of a research fellowship from 2003 to 2007 and
thus for making this project possible. I am indebted to the Centre for
Theology and Religious Studies at Lund University for providing me with
thenecessaryspaceandtoolstoworkontheproject,andIamgratefultothe
staV at the Centre, especially Ann-Louise Svensson, for seeing to thevarious
practicalaspectsof theproject.Thanksarealsodue totheSwedish Research
Council(Vetenskapsra˚det)foragranttoenablethelanguagerevisionofthis
book.
I am grateful to Oxford University Press for accepting this work for
publication. Iwish to thank the competent staV at OUP, as well as the three
viii Preface
anonymous readers for OUP who commented on parts of this study and
oVeredvaluableadvice.
There is a personal level to each scholarly work. I wish to express my
deepest gratitude to my family. Thank you, Silla, Sigru´n, and Dagur, for
yourconstantloveandsupport!
RunarM.Thorsteinsson
Lund,June2009
Contents
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
ComparisonsofStoicandChristianMorality 1
ThePresentApproach:FocusingonFirst-CenturyRome 5
MethodologicalIssuesandProcedureoftheStudy 7
PART I MORALTEACHING IN ROMAN STOICISM
1. IntroductiontoRomanStoicism 13
RomeandRomanStoicism 13
‘RomanStoicism’:DeWnitionandAssessmentofPrimarySources 20
2. LuciusAnnaeusSeneca 22
Introduction:ANoblePhilosopherandPolitician 22
MoralTeachinginSeneca:LovingEachandAll 27
3. GaiusMusoniusRufus 40
Introduction:ASocialandPoliticalProvocateur 40
MoralTeachinginMusonius:TheWelfareoftheNeighbour 43
4. Epictetus 55
Introduction:ALearnedEx-Slave 55
MoralTeachinginEpictetus:LovewithoutLimits 58
PART II MORALTEACHING IN ROMAN CHRISTIANITY
5. IntroductiontoRomanChristianity 73
First-CenturyRomanChristianity 73
‘RomanChristianity’:DeWnitionandAssessmentof
PrimarySources 86
6. Paul’sLetter totheRomans 89
Introduction:ProclaimingtheTeachinginRome 89
MoralTeachinginRomans:MutualLove,Respect,and
Adaptability 92
