Paul and Empire Criticism: Why and How?

The world's ever growing highly partisan political environment has fuelled a renewed interest in the study of politics in the New Testament. This interest has given rise to "empire criticism," which attempts to understand how the Roman Empire affected the early Christian communities and writings. The subgenre of "Paul and empire" studies has produced several important studies, but none have offered a clear methodological approach to this topic. This book fills this lacuna by introducing readers to the difficulties of method in Paul and empire studies, as well as introducing them to contemporary methods, debates, and other issues. Most importantly, it will be a guide for learning to apply sound methods to this field of study.