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| author | James N. Hoke |
| title | Under God? A Queer and Feminist Subversion of Submission in Romans |
| abstract | This dissertation argues that Paul's letter to the Romans is a participant in two assemblages, one kyriarchal and the
other ἐκκλησία-l. Its reading of Romans employs an affective historiographical approach developed by blending queer and feminist theories. When Romans is
situated within a kyriarchal assemblage, which aligned first-century bodies with the socio-sexual-political dominion of the Roman Empire, submission emerges
as a posture and force that pulses through the epistle. Therefore, Paul’s presentation of Jesus’ πίστις as a model for ἔθνη to enter a submissive relation
with God draws upon Roman uses of πίστις, which promised benefits for its conquered ἔθνη who submitted to its rule. πίστις, which is central to Paul’s
theo-Christological elaboration of God’s justice in Romans 3-5, requires a cruelly optimistic submission to a God who replaces Caesar at the top of a
Roman-without-Rome kyriarchy. Similarly, Paul’s imperative to submit to Rome’s authority in Romans 13:1-7 renders such submission explicit and shows how
it can be embodied in the ethical actions of Christ-followers. The exhortation to ethical submission in Romans 13 aligns theo-Christological ethics with
the mores of Roman elite discourse, especially with regard to sexual moderation, and presents Christ-followers as subjects worthy of rehabilitation and
praise from Rome. However, by placing Romans into an ἐκκλησία-l assemblage, which encompasses the ideas, bodies, and sensations that moved within the ἐκκλησία
of Christ-followers who gathered in Rome, it is possible to subvert this submission. This subversion occurs when Paul’s ideas are considered with the myriad
responses that were proliferating among the wo/men in this assembly. Thus, Paul’s faithfully submissive ideas can be heard alongside other theo-Christological
ideas that were plausibly held by some Roman Christ-followers. Likewise, Paul’s homonational ethics are only a few of the practical suggestions among the many
plausible ethical actions that Christ-followers considered and practiced that may have simultaneously submitted to and rebelled against kyriarchy. By overlapping
these kyriarchal and ἐκκλησία-l assemblages, this dissertation concludes that the ἐκκλησία in Rome, as one among many gatherings of Christ-followers, represents
a site of queerness that affects and changes bodies both ancient and contemporary. |
| school | The Theological School, Drew University |
| degree | Ph.D. (2017) |
| advisors | Stephen D Moore
Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre |
| committee | Althea Spencer Miller
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| full text | JNHoke.pdf |
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