Books of the month
March - 2026
CHRISTIANITY, CLASS, GENDER AND ETHNICITY
In Jesus, Paul, Luke—Acts, and 1 Clement: Studies in Class, Ethnicity, Gender, and Orientation (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2023, 382 pages, $47.26), David L. Balch offers a socio-political reading of early Christianity, articulating class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Using New Testament and patristic sources (such as 1 Clement), but also literary sources, especially Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Pompeian iconography, Balch seeks to reconstruct the symbolic universe of the first readers and emphasize violence, poverty, domestic practices, and imperial relations. The author interprets Christian writings as responses to the ideologies of the Roman Empire, often understood as forms of resistance. By focusing on class, gender, and ethnicity, the author presents the New Testament not only as theology but also as a political response from marginalized groups. Finally, Balch demonstrates how archaeology and literary sources reveal the resistance and social adaptation of early Christian communities in the face of the Pax Romana.
WORKSHOPS IN GREECE AND EGYPT
Pratiques d’ateliers dans la Grèce et l’Égypte anciennes. Du coroplathe au bronzier (Paris: Presses universitaires du Septentrion; Louvre éditions, 2023, 230 pages), edited by Sophie Descamps-Lequime and Violaine Jeammet, is a multidisciplinary analysis of ancient craft practices. Using archaeological sources such as molds, iconographic sources, and classical literary texts, such as those by Pliny the Elder and Poseidon, the authors highlight the role of the modeler (plastès) as the common link between coroplasts (clay workers) and bronzers. The chapters explore collaboration and physical proximity in craft quarters, where the sharing of molds and wax techniques reveals productive networks interacting with religious and political contexts. By prioritizing the operational chain and the agents of production, the book shifts the focus from finished works to processes, contributing to an understanding of artisanal production as a collective social practice integrated into networks of technical sharing.
