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Journal ArticleDOI

Out of Mind, Out of Voice: Slave-Girls and Prophetic Daughters in Luke-Acts

F. Scott Spencer
- 01 Jan 1999 - 
- Vol. 7, Iss: 2, pp 133-155
TLDR
In this article, an examination of three cases involving direct speech by slave-girls in Luke-Acts, set within diverse literary and social contexts (Lk. 22.54-62; Acts 12.12-17; 16.16-18), reveals a consistent pattern of truthful proclamation on the part of each slave-girl followed by some form of repudiation-even stigmatization of her and her message.
Abstract
The promise in Acts 2 (disclosed in Peter's programmatic citation of Joel at Pentecost) that women in general and female slaves in particular will become Spirit-inspired prophets is never fully realized and is even resisted to some degree within the wider Lukan narrative. An examination of three cases involving direct speech by slave-girls (paidiskai) in Luke-Acts, set within diverse literary and social contexts (Lk. 22.54-62; Acts 12.12-17; 16.16-18), uncovers a consistent pattern of truthful proclamation on the part of each slave-girl followed, however, by some form of repudiation-even stigmatization-of her and her message. Despite its more inclusive and receptive ideals, ultimately Luke-Acts more mirrors than challenges conventional first-century Mediterranean society in its suppression of lower-class female voices.

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BookDOI

The Cambridge world history of slavery

TL;DR: Eltis and Eltis as discussed by the authors discuss dependence, servility and coerced labor in time and space, and discuss the role of women in the early modern era of slavery in Africa and Asia.
Book ChapterDOI

The Roman slave supply

TL;DR: A survey of the scale and sources of the Roman slave supply can be found in this article, where the authors present the Cambridge world history of slavery, 1: The ancient Mediterranean world.
Book ChapterDOI

Slavery in the late Roman world

Cam Grey
Book ChapterDOI

Slavery Under the Principate

TL;DR: The slave society of Roman Italy, characterised by the presence of large numbers of slaves (forming perhaps as much as 35 per cent of the population) in all kinds of activity from personal service to crafts to business to education, and in all regions and all levels of society from the depths of the countryside to the houses of the urban elite, developed over the course of the last two centuries bc.