A Spiritual Economy by Thomas R. Blanton

Author:Thomas R. Blanton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2016-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

Phoebe

A similar inversion of hierarchical preeminence occurs in Paul’s relation with Phoebe of Cenchreae, who by most accounts functioned as a patroness to the assemblies. Paul refers to her as prostatis, “patroness” to “many” within the assemblies, including Paul himself (Rom 16:1–2).31 He does not indicate what form her patronage took: perhaps she opened her home for assembly meetings, provided food for the Lord’s supper, donated funds, or hosted traveling emissaries from other assemblies. It seems likely that it is she who delivered Paul’s letter from Corinth to the early Christian assembly in Rome in 57 CE.32 Of interest is the fact that Paul recommends Phoebe to the assembly at Rome: “I recommend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is also a servant of the assembly in Cenchreae, that you might receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and that you might provide for her whatever she might need from you. For indeed, she has been a patroness [prostatis] of many, including myself.” Peter Lampe notes the incongruity:33

On the one hand, Phoebe was a “patroness” for Paul (16:2c). On the other hand, Paul was an apostle, the founder of the Corinthian church, and, in Rom 16:1–2, he writes a short letter of recommendation in favor of Phoebe. That is, he assumes the role of patron here, wanting to make sure that the Roman Christians receive her well and support her in all that she needs during her visit in Rome. Thus, the roles of patron and client were not static, vertical-dependency relationships in early Pauline Christianity, but could even be reversed.

Indeed, the reversal of status roles seems to have been prevalent in the assemblies connected with Paul. But the extent to which hierarchical relations were “not static” should not be exaggerated. In both of the examples we have considered, the positional status of apostle outranked that of patron or patroness: spiritual resources were evaluated more highly than material ones. Paul appears to have been consistent in his attempts to impose a social hierarchy that corresponded with this inverted evaluative system. Although the possibility for individuals to be “ranked in different ways” was endemic to the early assemblies, Paul seems actively to have encouraged one possible ranking system—that which privileged himself and those styled “apostles”—at the expense of another, based on wealth. He exploited a potentiality inherent in the heterarchic situation of the assemblies.

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