Category: Robert Jewett
A Few Things I Learned from Dr. Robert Jewett
I was given the privilege to spend some time with Dr. Jewett, who recently lectured on Romans (for thoughts on that lecture, see here), on a drive from Salem to Portland. Little did I know what I would learn in that short time. Here are a few things, most of which pertain to my major project, the MA thesis:
Draft as soon as possible. An important thing, especially for bigger projects like a thesis, dissertation, or book, would be to avoid over-researching and drafting as soon as one understands the subject and has formulated a working or even a tentative thesis. The mind works best with its ideas when they have been put onto paper (literally or electronically).
Write consistently. I tend to write much sporadically. I learned that it is better to write smaller amounts consistently because it keeps me coming back to the material and keeps the material fresh. In consistently coming back to written material and adding onto it, new ideas and insights can develop more readily than coming back to the material after days and weeks away from it.
Read broadly. One thing I noticed about Dr. Jewett is that he reads much outside of his field, which I presume is theology and biblical studies. Among the many non-theological and non-biblical things he told me, the one that stuck with me most is about the research on people who get into the flow. When someone gets into the flow of whatever it is at hand, one needs less sleep and food, can concentrate better, increases in creativity, and understands when the product is finished. Furthermore, one whose project developed under many instances of flow tends to not care whether the final project will be accepted by anyone or not.
The cross was an extreme offense. In light of the honor-shame system of the Greco-Roman world, the cross was the ultimate symbol of shame. No one who was crucified was ever considered a person of great stature or status. Whoever was condemned to the cross was seen as a low-life and a shameful person. No philosopher of the first century would accept Christ as the Messiah on a rational or philosophical basis. No Jew in the first century would accept that their Messiah was died a despicable death. Yet, the offense comes in that the person Jesus of Nazareth was truly the Messiah.
Dr. Robert Jewett on Romans
On Tuesday, March 15, Robert Jewett, PhD, and author of the Romans commentary for the Hermeneia series by Fortress Press, gave a lecture at George Fox Evangelical Seminary on the Epistle to the Romans. His lecture, partly based on the Romans commentary, was titled “Romans as a Challenge to Evangelicals—and Others.” The following is my take on this lecture.
Jewett’s lecture focused on the “welcome” in Romans 14:1 and 15:7. He saw this as a new ethic that overcomes shameful status. One must recall that Rome was an ancient honor society, and so the two major elements were honor and shame. The Roman churches were fighting in-house and thus some were reaching for honor at the expense of shaming the others. Part of Paul’s argument in Romans is to help the shamed overcome shameful that status.
Paul, of course, needs the help of all the Romans congregations. So how does Paul do this? By the admonishment to for all the churches to welcome each other—even the shamed. Indeed, Christ’s death was on behalf of the shamed, and so to “welcome” the shamed was to welcome Christ. Furthermore, because of their unity in Christ through baptism, the Roman churches were to be united in their treatment of one another.
Why is this admonition to welcome one another so important? In those time, the act of welcoming was usually directed to family members as they gathered for a meal. The act of welcoming involved an embrace and a kiss. The shock value of Paul’s admonition to welcome meant that the Roman churches were to consider each other family, and to welcome the other just as they welcome their own immediate family. Considering that many in the churches were marginalized (perhaps even “barbarians,” “foolish,” and “uneducated”), the edict to welcome other Christians was to bestow a place of honor to them.
So what significance does any of this have for the twenty-first century believers? First, it directs the theme of justification by faith toward a social orientation. It requires one to understand and act on the truth that Christ died on behalf of the shamed. The result, then, is that the believer—understanding and acting on Christ’s death for the excluded and marginalized—seeks to carry out Christ’s mission of overcoming shameful exclusion.
Second, it moves one past forgiveness and it emphasizes unconditional acceptance. Unconditional acceptance does not mean that one is allowed to stay in the same place, but that one is accepted where they are at and throughout the journey of being conformed into the image of the Son.
Lastly, even though we are more of a culture based on responsibility-guilt, Jewett’s lecture opens our eyes to the shame that is still prevalent, although subtle, in our culture, but, even more, is still prevalent in non-Western cultures. From this we begin to understand the Scriptures better and understand other similar religions such as Isalm.
