Converging Ideologies: Berger and Luckmann and the Pastoral Epistles

Abstract

Berger and Luckmann's work has been a prominent resource for sociological approaches to the New Testament. Margaret MacDonald has recently drawn upon it in order to describe and understand the process of institutionalization from the time of Paul to that of the Pastoral Epistles. This article raises critical questions in relation to both Berger and Luckmann's theory and the Pastoral Epistles, in the belief that the ideologies of the theory and the texts are notably similar. The theory, therefore, is in danger of reinforcing and confirming the ideology of the text, rather than penetrating it critically. A critical sociological approach, Horrell suggests, must raise the questions concerning the social interests reflected in the texts and the texts' ideological dimensions. Adopting such a critical approach, it is tentatively suggested that the Pastorals represent an ideological form of Pauline Christianity which offers religious legitimation for the domination of subordinate social groups.