Abstract
In spite of numerous studies on the patronage system in Mediterranean antiquity, little attention has been paid to either how the patronage of women was part of the system or how it differed. In fact, there is substantial evidence for women’s exercise of both public and private patronage to women and men in the Greco-Roman world, by both elites and sub-elites. This information must then be applied to early Christian texts to infer how women’s patronage functioned in early house churches and Christian life.
Highlights
The name of Phoebe and the allusion to Romans 16:1 these days evokes interest, controversy, and extensive bibliography
I do not intend here to exegete this passage, but to use it as a springboard to examine a significant part of the social life of early Christianity that has received little attention: the role of women patrons in the life of the church
We must back up and look first of all at the wider phenomenon of patronage in the ancient Greco-Roman world and how it functioned with regard to women
Summary
The name of Phoebe and the allusion to Romans 16:1 these days evokes interest, controversy, and extensive bibliography. We must back up and look first of all at the wider phenomenon of patronage in the ancient Greco-Roman world and how it functioned with regard to women. The phenomenon of patronage in ancient Roman society has been well studied. Diakonos and prostatis: Women’s patronage in early Christianity occupy the attention of biblical scholars and historians, beginning already with Fred Danker’s influential Benefactor 1982 (later, Chow 1992; Joubert 2001) and the ever-insightful E A Judge already in 1960. This article has four parts: first, a quick survey of patronage and how it functioned; second, women’s exercise of patronage in the Roman world; third, the role of patronage in early Christian life; and the role of Christian women in this social system
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