An Economic Analysis of the Perception of ‘Grief’ in the Letter to Philippians in the Light of New Institutional Economics (NIE)

Abstract

Beginning with Paul Holloway’s view that the letter to Philippians is a letter of consolation aimed at comforting the “grief” of the grieving among the Philippi community, this paper argues one step further that the grief in the community is a problem of perception, with the help of new institutional economics (NIE). The primary reason for the divergence in perception is due to living in the Roman colony, the believing community was greatly affected by the values embedded in both formal and informal rules of the economy. In order to justify this view, this paper will, first, demonstrate the textual evidence showing that Paul’s major concern is the perception of believing community. Then, with the help of NIE, I will show how the formal and informal economic institutions of the Roman colony might constitute a perception that is very different from what Paul would expect.