Abject Joy: Paul, Prison, and the Art of Making Do

No extant text gives so vivid a glimpse into the experience of an ancient prisoner as Paul's letter to the Philippians. As a letter from prison, however, it is not what one would expect. For although it is true that Paul, like some other ancient prisoners, speaks in Philippians of his yearning for death, what he expresses most conspicuously is contentment and even joy. Setting aside pious banalities that contrast true joy with happiness, and leaving behind too heroic depictions that take their cue from Acts, Abject Joy offers a reading of Paul's letter as both a means and an artifact of his provisional attempt to make do. By outlining the uses of punitive custody in the administration of Rome's eastern provinces and describing the prison's complex place in the social and moral imagination of the Greek and Roman world, Ryan Schellenberg provides a richly drawn account of Paul's nonelite social context, where bodies and their affects were shaped by acute contingency and habitual susceptibility to violent subjugation. Informed by recent work in the history of emotions, and with comparison to modern prison writing and ethnography provoking new questions and insights, Schellenberg describes Paul's letter as an affective technology, wielded at once on Paul himself and on his addressees, that works to strengthen his grasp on the very joy he names. Abject Joy: Paul, Prison, and the Art of Making Do by Ryan S. Schellenberg is a social history of prison in the Greek and Roman world that takes Paul's letter to the Philippians as its focal instance--or, to put it the other way around, a study of Paul's letter to the Philippians that takes the reality of prison as its starting point. Examining ancient perceptions of confinement, and placing this ancient evidence in dialogue with modern prison writing and ethnography, it describes Paul's urgent and unexpectedly joyful letter as a witness to the perplexing art of survival under constraint.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Preface Translations and Abbreviations Introduction: Paul, Prison, and the Social History of Emotions Prison and the Pauline Legend Prison Letters and Pauline Incomparability "The Characteristic Emotion of the Sage" The Body of Paul and the History of Emotions Outline, and a Note on Comparison 1. Far More Imprisonments: Punitive Custody in the Letters of Paul Paul and Other Imprisoned Apostles Magistrates and Jurisdictions Paul in Local Custody Writing in Chains Plausible Accusations Conclusion 2. To Die Is Gain: Subjection, Glory, and Paul's Wish for Death Prison before the Prison Everyday Violence Confinement and Subjugation A Noble Death? To Depart and Be with Christ To Die Is Gain Conclusion 3. Speaking with All Boldness: Prison in the Roman Social Imagination Prisoners of War Ill-Fated Aristocrats Nonelite Malefactors Philosophers, Astrologers, and Other Divine Heralds For the Defense of the Gospel Conclusion 4. I Have Learned to Be Content: Performing the Autarkic Self You Can't Always Get What You Want Thanks Anyway Agency and Abasement Performing Indifference Conclusion 5. Rejoice with Me: The Epistolary Cultivation of Collective Emotion Paul Unaffected My Joy and Crown Joy, Hardship, and Solidarity Socioaffective Emotion Regulation Conclusion Conclusion: The Body of Our Humiliation Bibliography

About the Author :
Ryan S. Schellenberg is Associate Professor of New Testament at Methodist Theological School in Ohio. His research seeks to ground reconstructions of early Christ groups in lived human experience by placing the ancient evidence in dialogue with contemporary ethnography. Schellenberg's previous book, Rethinking Paul's Rhetorical Education, was awarded the 2015 F. W. Beare Award for an outstanding book in New Testament and Christian Origins by the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies.

Review :
Among the most exciting scholarly monographs about the new testament in recent years This remarkable book, learned and elegantly written, will open up new horizons to anyone interested in the emotional experience of Paul and of others of the social underclasses in the harsh and violent world that was ancient Rome. Schellenberg's analysis of the prison setting out of which Paul writes his letter to the Philippian Christ assembly is striking in its creativity and provocative in its audacity. . .In every one of Schellenberg's five chapters, rich (and shocking) insights emerge about the horrific somatic experience of imprisoned individuals (both ancient and modern), which he then brings to bear on Paul's depiction of himself in Philippians. Abject Joy is among the most exciting scholarly monographs about the New Testament in recent years. . .Schellenberg has provided a considerable service in making an accessible, interesting, and innovative point of entry for those less familiar with theory-driven scholarship into the complexities of emotion and affect. As a truly interdisciplinary work, the implications of this study are beyond New Testament studies and theological discourses, and it can contribute to classics, especially Roman legal studies, and historical considerations of emotions. . .It also leads to ethical considerations about the relationship between contemporary Christianity and incarceration. After Schellenberg's book, the US church can no longer comfortably distance the incarcerated Paul from incarcerated people today, or the conditions of ancient prisons from the reality of prisons today. An honest assessment shows that the economic and racial biases behind who gets repeatedly locked up today look a lot like what happened to Paul-and this challenges Christians to engage in the same sort of resourcing, re-narration, and risk that marked the church at Philippi. This study presents a historical and literary exploration of Paul's humanity by exploring his physical experience as a prisoner, his real joy, and his deep relationship with his friends...Abject Joy first reexamines Paul's social station in light of his own reports of multiple imprisonments and instances of corporal punishment...Schellenberg immerses the reader in Paul's experience as a human being under duress while challenging more idealized readings of Paul and offering nuances to the scholarly conversation. It is a seal of quality of the book that it provides numerous and always well-founded insights into Paul's imprisonment, but also opens perspectives for further studies. Schellenberg's treatment of Philippians is a welcome contribution to the literature on this letter. His careful work of redirecting ...provides new entry points for engaging with this rich and textured artifact left to us by the apostle's ministry of writing from prison.