Kinship as a Trustworthy Cue: The Signalling of Religious Expertise in the Epigraphy of Ephesian Voluntary Associations

This article addresses the relationship between religious expertise and kinship language in the inscriptions of Ephesian voluntary associations. I argue that kinship language functioned as a well-established rapid signaller of stable trustworthiness. I base my analysis on perspectives gained from evolutionary studies on religion, which I present before my analysis. As a conclusion to my analysis, I propose that a similar reliance on stable genealogical kinship also characterises early Christian expertise in Ephesus, even though only a few early Christian authorities had religious experts as close relatives.