Steven J. Friesen
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195131536
- eISBN:
- 9780199834198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195131533.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Lays out a theoretical orientation that allows Friesen to compare the evidence for the imperial cult institutions of mainstream society with a visionary religious text like Revelation, which was ...
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Lays out a theoretical orientation that allows Friesen to compare the evidence for the imperial cult institutions of mainstream society with a visionary religious text like Revelation, which was produced by a marginal group in society. The chapter begins with a review of critiques of modernity found in the work of three scholars of religion – Mircea Eliade, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, and Charles Long. The chapter then draws on the comparative model of Lawrence E. Sullivan, which describes cosmogony, cosmology, human maturation, and eschatology as the four cornerstones of religious systems. This phenomenological method is amended by the incorporation of Edward Said's concept of contrapuntal interpretation of history and society.Less
Lays out a theoretical orientation that allows Friesen to compare the evidence for the imperial cult institutions of mainstream society with a visionary religious text like Revelation, which was produced by a marginal group in society. The chapter begins with a review of critiques of modernity found in the work of three scholars of religion – Mircea Eliade, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, and Charles Long. The chapter then draws on the comparative model of Lawrence E. Sullivan, which describes cosmogony, cosmology, human maturation, and eschatology as the four cornerstones of religious systems. This phenomenological method is amended by the incorporation of Edward Said's concept of contrapuntal interpretation of history and society.
Steven J. Friesen
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195131536
- eISBN:
- 9780199834198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195131533.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The four components of Lawrence E. Sullivan's comparative model allow us to summarize the role that imperial cults played in the polytheistic religious systems of Asia. Imperial cults had some ...
More
The four components of Lawrence E. Sullivan's comparative model allow us to summarize the role that imperial cults played in the polytheistic religious systems of Asia. Imperial cults had some influence on cosmogony and human maturation. Their major contribution, however, was to cosmology. These cults articulated an imperialist elaboration of Greco‐Roman religious life that made Roman rule seem normal, or at least inevitable. This strong commitment to the longevity of Roman imperialism resulted in an absurd eschatology, which could not represent an end to Roman rule. This fundamental flaw in the religion of imperial cults created the matrix within which Revelation's critique of Roman rule could take root.Less
The four components of Lawrence E. Sullivan's comparative model allow us to summarize the role that imperial cults played in the polytheistic religious systems of Asia. Imperial cults had some influence on cosmogony and human maturation. Their major contribution, however, was to cosmology. These cults articulated an imperialist elaboration of Greco‐Roman religious life that made Roman rule seem normal, or at least inevitable. This strong commitment to the longevity of Roman imperialism resulted in an absurd eschatology, which could not represent an end to Roman rule. This fundamental flaw in the religion of imperial cults created the matrix within which Revelation's critique of Roman rule could take root.
