"A Week in the Life of Ephesus" by David A. deSilva. A Review
Stop the presses! Hold your horses! Cease fire! Power off those computers, iPads, and cellphones (after you read this review and purchase a copy of this book)! David A. deSilva, Trustees' Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary and prolific author, has given pastors, professors and parishioners a delightful resource in this new 176-page softback, "A Week in the Life of Ephesus". It's the latest addition to the "A Week in the Life of" series put out by IVP Academic. And this little volume is well worth setting everything else aside and diving in!
The manuscript reads like a novella, and draws one into the social, civic and ceremonial life in Ephesus just at the time "The Apocalypse" was sent to the seven churches. This is what makes it such a uniquely valuable resource. It may not give you all the inner secrets of John's Revelation, but it will give you a believable feel for the thinking, perspectives, decisions, and cultural milieu the biblical dossier met when it arrived in that 1st Century port city. The characters are credible, the dilemmas are convincing, and the plots and ploys conceivable.
I especially appreciated three aspects of the book. First, deSilva brings out the entwining of religious, judicial, and political loyalties. Religious disloyalty was understood as political disloyalty and judicial disloyalty. In the words of the plotting pagan, Serapion, "The disappearance of piety toward the gods will eventually mean the disappearance of loyalty and unity among people and the decay of all justice. We need to cleanse our city of such pollution..." (158). In our highly specialized and dissected western ideological framework, we easily forget that this is, and was, how most of the world lives.
Further, the author gives readers a very plausible Nicholaus (the potential and imaginative founder of the Nicolaitans?). Nicholaus was the "son of Strato, of Pergamum, a Christian and junior priest of the Provincial Temple of Augustus and Roma in Pergamum" (14). This description in the list of characters in the drama, alerts readers. How could one who claimed to be a Christ-follower rationalize such conflicting roles and responsibilities. And the reader will not be left hanging and guessing. The author brings out a suitable facsimile of the character's reasoning, and how convincing it must have been, especially since "we all need to adapt if our faith is going to survive in the long term...I want to see our movement flourish rather than be swept further and further into the cracks and crevasses of society" (123). The whole rationale sounds very contemporary.
Finally, deSilva teases out what it would have cost our 1st Century brothers and sisters to remain faithful in their setting. From slaves, to manual laborers, to the wealthy, believers paid a heavy cost, and the value of John's Apocalypse for that moment is crystal clear. This volume will give thoughtful readers a greater appreciation not only for the challenges in the early years, but also the challenges many Christians face throughout the majority world, and are subtly facing us in the West.
"A Week in the Life of Ephesus" is the book to get and read immediately. Once it arrives, put aside all other chores and charges, sit down, and pour over these pages. It will take a few hours, and you will never regret it. I especially encourage pastors and bible teachers who are preparing to present sermons or lessons on the Revelation to snatch up a copy quickly. I highly recommend this book.
Much thanks goes to IVP Academic. I requested the book, and they happily sent me the copy i used for this analysis. There were no strings attached, therefore this evaluation is freely made and freely given.
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