Paul's Aegean Network: The Strength of Strong Ties

Abstract

István Czachesz adapts Mark Granovetter's Social Network Analysis (SNA) view, “the strength of weak ties,” that new, innovative information spreads through a network, not through one's intimate family and friends (“strong ties”), but through more distant, hardly known acquaintances (“weak ties”); Paul, constantly on the move, did not make many strong ties, but spread his message through weak ties. This article appreciates, but counterbalances, Czachesz's thesis with the SNA theory that strong ties are necessary for reinforcing risky behavioral change (complex contagions) and with conclusions about recruitment to, and spread of, new religions. It draws attention to Paul's longer stays as an artisan and the kinds of spaces in which he might have stayed. It also develops matrices and a simple sociogram of Paul's strong tie relationships and exchanges based on Paul's Philemon letter.