This careful study shines new light on the multiple and overlapping identities of first-century church members. MacDonald’s perceptive analysis gives us deeper understanding of the texture of life in the early church and calls us to recognize the complexities of the domestic and ecclesial lives of those early believers. Every study of these texts and all constructions of life in the early church will need to be in conversation with this superb book.
~Jerry L. Sumney, Professor of Biblical Studies, Lexington Theological Seminary
In this stimulating and groundbreaking book, Margaret MacDonald brings children to the forefront of early Christian history, seeking them out in the margins and shadows of the text and bringing them into the center. The Power of Children is not only a compelling account of house churches as complex multigenerational communities but also a demonstration of how placing children at the center opens up the liberating potential of New Testament texts.
~Terence L. Donaldson, Lord and Lady Coggan Professor of New Testament Studies, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto
MacDonald offers biblical scholarship at its best: nuanced, multidisciplinary, detailed, informed, critically engaged, and insightfully reasoned.
~Choice
MacDonald’s analysis is careful and cogent, her conclusions measured (respecting the limits of the evidence), and her approach fully informed by relevant ancient evidence and scholarly work.
~Larry Hurtado, Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature & Theology, The University of Ediburgh, https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com
Here is a deeply researched and informative study that casts light on an overlooked dimension of early Christianity, namely, the place of children and their influence in the life and traditions of the church in its formative period.
~Dianne Bergant, CSA, The Bible Today
In The Power of Children, Margaret MacDonald continues her previous work on early Christian families and house churches, probing deeper into what we know and can surmise about the most silent members of early Christian communities. The Power of Children is the best book available on children, households, and the household codes in early Christianity.
~Carolyn Osiek, Brite Divinity School, Emerita
A wealth of insight
~Amy L. B. Peeler, Wheaton College, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
The book is a powerful contribution to the study of Christian children in antiquity and, after reading it, it is impossible to read the household codes without pondering the lives of ancient children. Not only is MacDonald’s book now required reading for those studying Christian children in antiquity, it must be required reading for those who study the Deutero-Pauline Epistles.
~John W. Martens, Journal of Theological Studies
Well-researched, accessible, interesting, and insightful.
~Julie Faith Parker, Review of Biblical Literature
This book makes an important contribution to the study of children in early Christianity by incorporating and comparing a wealth of material on children in the Greco-Roman world to that of diverse New Testament texts and by arguing that children were both participants and a focus of attention in early Christian communities.
~Judith M. Gundry, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology
MacDonald weaves together her intimate knowledge of cultural values of honour, patronage and gender hierarchy with fruitful, new insights on the lives of children, parenting, slaves and the composition and functioning of the early Christians in community. It is a wonderful contribution to continued work on families and households in early Christian scholarship.
~Mona Tokarek LaFosse, Studies in Religion
…MacDonald has given the field of early Christian studies a valuable resource, and one that humbly invites further scholarship. Her depth of knowledge in the field is evident, and even those who may disagree with some of her interpretations of Scripture or historical data will nonetheless be aided by her research.
~J. Ryan Davidson, Fides et Humilitas
