Professor Peter Oakes releases new publication
Professor Peter Oakes has a new publication: ‘The Christians and their Politeuma in Heaven: Philippians 3:20 and the Herakleopolis Papyri’, In the Crucible of Empire: The Impact of Roman Citizenship upon Greeks, Jews and Christians. Katell Berthelot and Jonathan Price, eds. (Leuven: Peeters, 2019), 141-63.
Professor Peter Oakes from the Centre for Biblical Studies has contributed to a book produced by the recent European Research Council funded project, ‘Re-thinking Judaism’s Encounter with the Roman Empire: Rome’s Political and Religious Challenge to Israel and its Impact on Judaism (2nd Century BCE – 4th Century CE)’.
As well as Professor Oakes’ involvement, one of the full-time project researchers was Dr Kimberley Fowler, who completed her BA, MA and PhD at The ¼â½ÐÊÓƵapp and is currently lecturing in New Testament at the University of Durham.
Professor Oakes’ article argues that politeumain Philippians 3:20, usually translated ‘citizenship’, can instead be usefully likened to a Jewish governing body in a city (outside Israel) which oversees smaller Jewish communities in surrounding villages.
The article includes the first English translations of key papyri that show this in action for Jews in Egypt.