Rethinking Early Christian Identity: Affect, Violence, and Belonging

by Maia Kotrosits (Translator)

Maia Kotrosits challenges the contemporary notion of early Christian literature, showing that a number of texts usually so describedNew Testament writings including Hebrews, Acts, the Gospel of John, Colossians, and 1 Peter, as well as the letters of Ignatius, the Gospel of Truth, and the Secret Revelation of Johnare not particularly interested in a distinctive Christian identity or self-definition. Rather, by appealing to the categories of trauma studies and diaspora theory and giving careful attention to the dynamics within each of these texts, she shows that this sample of writings offers complex reckonings with chaotic diasporic conditions and the transgenerational trauma of colonial violence. The heart of her study is an inquiry into the significance contemporary readers invest in ancient writings as expressions of a coherent identity, asking, What do we need and want out of history? Kotrosits interacts with important recent work on identity and sociality in the Roman world and on the dynamics of desire in contemporary biblical scholarship as well. At last, she argues that the writings discussed made possible the rise of Christianity by effecting a forgetfulness of imperial traumaand questions the affective dimensions of contemporary empire-critical scholarship.

Genres: Biblical Studies, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2015

Reviews

[Luke Hillier]

My experience reading this surfaced a memory from my Spanish II class in high school, in which we were assigned to "do our best" to read through a Spanish version on Don Quixote. I recognized many of the words, and had steady bursts of comprehension, but ultimately struggled to feel as though I was achieving a competent, comprehending read. In other words, Dr. Kotrosits (who, by the way, taught at my undergrad for a time, though I was sadly done with my Religion courses when she arrived) is very brilliant, immensely well-read, and it shows. Alternatively, this was my first introduction to affect theory and the featured Gnostic extrabiblical texts, and while I feel slightly better versed in concepts from diaspora, queer, and trauma theory (in ascending order), quite a lot here felt frustratingly just beyond reach. In fact, there were a few points where I seriously considered giving up on it in hopes that a future me a few years from now could more adeptly wrestle with the ideas and insights. But ultimately I'm glad I stuck with it, especially because I actually did find the final 3 chapters much more digestible than what came before.

One big takeaway (after a caveat that I'm still not sure if this is indeed what affect theory implies lol): Just as we've become increasingly inclined to attend to the specific sociopolitical contextual realities that shape biblical writers and their texts, we are also invited to acknowledge the subtler, murkier implications of affect and emotion that also shape the text. For example, Kotrosits surmises that communities we associate with early Christianity are of course Jewish people navigating diaspora existence under empire following the fall of the temple, and so this shared social trauma colors their perspective and conclusions. This offered an intuitive sense of logic to reading the texts, a way of "looking under the hood" to emphasize what is implicit and resonant rather than explicitly stated. I loved her association of this with the concept of "haunting" throughout the book, and really wish there had been more of a climax with that idea.

Ultimately, though, this is not a study interested in climaxes. In the conclusion, Kotrosits herself notes that her findings here do not necessarily overturn any prior work in the field of New Testament and early Christianity studies, and her interest is more so on showcasing a new style of engaging with these texts. I was struck by her embrace of irresolution, which seems possibly to be an inevitability of affect theory (?). Notably, that irresolution is applied to the notion of early Christianity, which she argues was less of a cohesive communal identity than a cluster of assemblages navigating the trauma of diaspora and the coinciding need for allies and affiliates under empire. There are a lot of provocative, intriguing insights to grapple with here, but unfortunately, I wasn't well-equipped enough to feel capable of really engaging with them. In other words, I grappled with the book, and the book won.

[Gary Wallin]

Super fascinating.

[Nathan]

A somewhat deep, thought-provoking read. Having not spent any real time with "Gnostic texts", much of the source material was new to me. I found Kotrosits' interpretation of those tests intriguing. The parallels she drew between "queer" and "Christian" as well as the 2nd century Christian as a displaced (physically, religiously, and theologically) Jew are worth additional time devoted to spiritual inquiry.

[Shayna]

Brilliant analysis, careful scholarship, and an approach that acknowledges the position(s) of the reader. Well done! I'm excited to review this book at a panel at SBL 2018 in Denver.

[Eric Vanden Eykel]

An outstanding and important book. For those who may be new to affect theory, I recommend starting with Chapter 7 and the Conclusion!