The New Testament was not written in a vacuum. The good news of Jesus Christ was first spoken into a world that was already full of other movements and competing ideologies. This series of Unjargoned will deal with terms related to that historical background. Some of these terms, like Pharisee and Stoic, Centurion and Sadducee dot the pages of Scripture themselves. Other terms, like Patronage, refer to cultural practices that, while not given that name in the New Testament era, were nevertheless very much a part of the world in which it was written. I look forward to “ungargoning” these and other terms in the weeks to come!
