ABSTRACT
In this chapter, and as the context for the ‘theological voice’ that is explicated in Chapter 5 is set out, the authors look at the economic and marketing world of the early Roman Empire. This provides the setting for appreciating the commercial forces that existed in the circum-Mediterranean basin, Israel and especially in Galilee. The authors describe the complex social interrelationships and cultural values of this world that help us understand the way people viewed property and possessions given their placement on Rome’s social hierarchy. The Roman world was not a simple construction between the rich and the poor, between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in a cybernetic or oppositional relationship. Nor was it a structural-functionalist world of social harmony with economic needs being fulfilled by the urban elites whose wealth dripped down to those lower on the social ladder and gave them greater material access. The economic snapshot and social relationship between those in the various strata was more variegated and complex, ranging between the cybernetic and structural-functionalist. Property was multivalent. It included life: lands, houses, people, honour, status, food, goods. It also had broader social implications that affected kinship relationships, domestic economic power, religion and political action. Property touched the ‘soul’ of the person in their relationship to others and their freedom to choose. In certain parts of the Empire, including Galilee, property ownership for some increased discontent amongst others who felt marginalised. As shall be seen in Chapter 5, status dissonance and cyclic marginalisation were major factors for the attraction of the Jesus movement in Galilee in the 30s CE.
