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Document Details :

Title: Jesus, Fishermen and Tax Collectors
Subtitle: Papyrology and the Construction of the Ancient Economy of Roman Palestine
Author(s): KLOPPENBORG, John S.
Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses
Volume: 94    Issue: 4   Date: 2018   
Pages: 571-599
DOI: 10.2143/ETL.94.4.3285530

Abstract :
Comparison of the Galilean fishing industry with that of the Graeco-Egyptian industry as it is reflected in numerous documentary papyri offers several important conclusions about the organization and profitability of fishing and the degree to which fishermen were embedded in other economic networks. First, the requirements of fishing meant that fishermen were necessarily connected with multiple 'upstream' suppliers of materials essential to fishing and also to intensive supervision and surveillance of landlords and tax officials. Second, some data suggest that fishermen likely enjoyed a level of income well above subsistence. Third, the fishing industry had multiplex connections with other social and economic sectors. It is perhaps because of the instrumental role that fishermen, tax supervisors, and their network connectivity played in the dissemination of the early Christ cult that of the early named members of Jesus’ entourage, it is only fishermen and tax collectors who are identified specifically in relation to their trade.

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