Christians in Caesar's Household: The Emperors' Slaves in the Makings of Christianity by Michael Flexsenhar III

Abstract

Reviewed by: Christians in Caesar's Household: The Emperors' Slaves in the Makings of Christianity by Michael Flexsenhar III Mary Ann Beavis michael flexsenhar iii, Christians in Caesar's Household: The Emperors' Slaves in the Makings of Christianity (Inventing Christianity; University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019). Pp. 191 + xvi. $89.95. Paul's intriguing greeting to "the saints of Caesar's household" (Phil 4:22) has long been interpreted as evidence that, from an early date, Christian imperial slaves and freedmen served in the Roman court. This line of interpretation began with J. B. Lightfoot (Saint Paul's Epistle to the Philippians [London: Macmillan, 1868, 1888]), who connected these "saints" with several imperial slaves and freedman putatively mentioned in early Christian writings and inscriptions from the mid-first to the second century. Adolf von Harnack (The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries [trans. James Moffatt; 2 vols.; 2nd ed.; New York: G. P. Putnam, 1908]) augmented Lightfoot's work with a panoply of primary literary and epigraphic references to Christian imperial slaves and [End Page 318] freedmen, from "Caesar's household" in Phil 4:22 to the inscription for the "Christian high chamberlain (Marcus Aurelius) Prosenes" in the court of Caracalla (p. 7). For Harnack, the apparent ubiquity of Christians of servile origin in the Roman court played an important role in the expansion of Christianity. Harnack's position has remained influential into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, especially in scholarship highlighting social description and social history (pp. 8-9). Flexsenhar's book provides a necessary critique of what amounts to a triumphalist "pioneer narrative" that traces the influence of Christian imperial slaves and freedmen from modest beginnings in Paul's time to the reign of Valerian (253–260 c.e.), when, according to Eusebius, the court was so full of Christians that it was a veritable church (Hist. eccl. 7.10). F. begins by interrogating the notion that the slaves and freedman of the familia Caesaris were a widespread and powerful ordo in Roman society. While a few imperial personnel could rise to dizzying heights of influence and wealth (p. 14), F. emphasizes that the emperor's slaves were really slaves, and imperial freedman were former slaves, who shared the experience of "violent domination, natal alienation, and dishonor" (p. 13). While a few imperial slaves were manumitted, most remained in slavery. In chap. 1, "Paul, the Philippians, and Caesar's Household," F. presents evidence that Phil 4:22 is unlikely to refer to the Roman court. Adolf Deissmann's observation that hē Kaisaros oikia likely referred to slaves employed as petty clerks in the imperial service, possibly in Ephesus (Light from the Ancient East: The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-Roman World [trans. Lionel Strachan; rev. ed.; New York: George H. Doran, 1902]), has been embraced by many scholars, although "the traditional explanation that Paul made Christians among Caesar's household in Rome … has continued to be credible" for others (p. 28). F.'s salient contribution here is his cogent disambiguation of the phrase "Caesar's household" (familia Caesaris), which would have referred to a specific, local group of imperial slaves (as opposed to freedmen/women) who practiced some form of piety toward the Jewish god (or the god's son), and were socially connected to members of the Philippian ekklēsia through kinship or occupational networks (pp. 38-44). Chapters 2–6 revisit literary, epigraphic, artistic, and archaeological evidence that has been used to bolster the pioneer narrative. In chap. 2, F. argues that ancient stories of Paul, Peter, and Nero's household (Martyrdom of Paul, Acts of Peter, Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul) use imperial slaves, for example, Patroclus, to construct "a Christian cultural history and a geography centered in the imperial capital" (p. 59). Chapter 3, "Rome's Imperial Household in Christian Polemic and Apologetic," argues that Hippolytus's Refutation of All Heresies and Tertullian's apology Ad Scapulam adapt stories about slaves in Caesar's household for their own purposes. Hippolytus portrays his opponent Callistus, whose master is described as "a faithful man of Caesar's household," as a disreputable runaway...