To gain a fuller understanding of self denial in antiquity, I begin with what the synoptic tradition tells about Jesus' injunction in this regard. Then I consider what contemporary social psychologists have discovered and invented about individualist and collectivist cultures, self-centered and other-centered personalities within those cultures, and how the self is defined in all cultures. After describing a comparative model, I apply the features of collectivist cultures to the synoptic story to see what it entails. In conclusion, I point out the extremely limited range of meanings available for the term self-denial in a first-century C.E. Mediterranean social setting.
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