Paul's Koinonia with the Philippians: A Socio‐Historical Investigation of a Pauline Economic Partnership By Julien M.Ogereau. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament II, 377. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014. Pp. xiv + 592. Paper, €99.00.

This richly detailed and carefully argued revised dissertation (Macquarie University) focuses on the economic, particularly accounting, terminology Paul uses in Philippians in light of documentary (rather than literary) sources. Although a number of nouns and verbs are treated in depth in Part I, the key to Ogereau's approach is his broad survey of the use of κωινων-cognates, undertaken in Chapter 5. He draws on a compendium of original texts and translations from 100 inscriptions and 370 papyri (included as Appendix A and B, respectively), that includes contracts, receipts, leases, decrees, honorific inscriptions, and private letters. He concludes that “κωινωνία could correspond to the legal and commercial Roman concept of societas,” thus affirming the position J. Paul Sampley put forth in 1980 (Pauline Partnership in Christ). The letter itself is the focus of Part II, where the “payoff” for all the philological work of Part I comes in Chapter 7, with an exegesis of Phil 1:3–11 and 4:10–20. Ogereau argues persuasively that “Paul employed the term κωινωνία in reference to the strategic economic partnership he established with the Philippians.” The further argument that “they cooperated in his missionary activities by providing material and human resources, while he performed the work of the ministry” will resonate well with most readers, although I find myself slightly less persuaded in this regard. That said, Ogereau is correct in his conclusion that Paul's use of an explicit business model that applies terminology from the commercial sphere to his relationship with fellow Christ-believers and to his missionary activities will startle those who prefer to see Paul framing such things theologically. In the final chapter, Ogereau draws on Roman legal sources to demonstrate that Paul and the Philippians had mutually agreed to form a financial κωινωνία/societas (“partnership”) with a shared objective, in this case, the proclamation of the gospel—a societas evangelii. Throughout the work, Ogereau digs deeply into the secondary material, providing detailed overviews of the history of scholarship on key issues while arguing the nuances of his points judiciously. Overall, this is a monumental study that is highly recommended and deserves wide attention by scholars.

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