Abstract To characterize the attitude of the man who approaches his friend at midnight to obtain food for his guest, Luke employs a striking term: ἀναίδεια . From the early Imperial period onward, this word increasingly came to denote the shamelessness typically associated with the Cynic philosopher—a set of scandalous and subversive behaviors that challenged established norms. Pagan, Jewish, and Christian authors were uneasy with this particular trait, to the point of omitting it, rejecting it, or reshaping it altogether. In this article, the author argues that Luke participates in a similar negotiation of the Cynic ideal. Yet he does so in a distinctive way: by adopting it as a posture of bold freedom, directed toward one’s neighbor and toward God.
The ancient historian Edwin A. Judge of Macquarie University (Sydney) exerted a major influence on the study of early Christianity within the Roman Empire. After a short academic biography, this article focuses on two elements of his scholarship. First, the often-overlooked relevance of Judge as a Roman historian for New Testament studies is examined. Judge contrasted the Latin West republican quest for glory on the part of the Roman nobility with the approach of the apostle Paul, who disavowed ancient boasting culture through his rhetorical self-parody, his spoofing of the corona muralis award, and his stepping down socially. Second, Judge reset New Testament discussion of the social location of the Pauline churches by highlighting the Roman base of Paul's mission and exploring Paul's utterances on self-abandonment, status-renunciation, and the position of women. Judge emphasized Paul's socially innovatory and transformative approach, investigating significant elements of cultural conflict in practice and ideology.
