Familial Dimensions of Group Identity: "Brothers" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) in Associations of the Greek East‪.‬

The language of familial relation, particularly the term "brothers" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), is prominent in Paul's letters and subsequently becomes common in segments of early Christianity. (1) Recent decades have witnessed a number of studies that pursue the meaning of this figurative language within Christianity, including works by Robert J. Banks, Wayne A. Meeks, Klaus Schafer, Karl Olav Sandnes, Joseph H. Hellerman, and Trevor J. Burke. (2) Yet, with the exception of scholars such as Peter Arzt-Grabner and Reidar Aasgaard, who begin to address Greco-Roman uses of sibling language more fully, none has sufficiently explored epigraphic and papyrological evidence for fictive kinship within small-group settings or associations in the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean. (3) One reason for this neglect is that, although many scholars rightly point to the importance of Paul's use of fictive kinship for understanding group identity, this is often expressed by scholars in terms of sectarianism (in a sociological sense). Thus, Meeks is among those who correctly emphasize the community-reinforcing impact of the term "brothers" as used in Pauline circles. Yet Meeks goes further to argue that Paul's use of "brothers" is indicative of how "members are taught to conceive of only two classes of humanity: the sect and the outsiders." (4) The use of affective language within Pauline circles was an important component in "the break with the past and integration into the new community." (5) Most Christian groups strongly set themselves apart from society, and the common use of familial language is one further indicator of this, from this perspective.