Adiel Schremer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383775
- eISBN:
- 9780199777280
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383775.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This book seeks to reconstruct the earliest rabbinic discourse of minut (frequently understood as the Hebrew equivalent of the Christian term “heresy”), and to reassess the place that early ...
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This book seeks to reconstruct the earliest rabbinic discourse of minut (frequently understood as the Hebrew equivalent of the Christian term “heresy”), and to reassess the place that early Christianity occupied in that discourse. It suggests that the emergence of the rabbinic discourse of religious identity was a response to an identity crisis of a post-traumatic society, shattered by the powerful Roman empire. In order to re-affirm its values and distinct Jewish identity Palestinian rabbinic society developed a discourse of “heresy,” in which its religious boundaries were re-established by the labeling of some Jews as minim, and their placement beyond the pale. That discourse emphasized notions of social and communal solidarity and belonging, much more than a strictly defined concept of “correct belief,” and minim, accordingly, were Jews who's fault was seen in their separation from the rest of the Jewish community. The place that Christianity occupied in that discourse was relatively small, and the early Christians, who only gradually were introduced into the category of minim and became to be considered as such, were not its main target. Throughout Late Antiquity, the “significant other” for Palestinian Rabbis remained the Roman Empire, and the religious challenge with which they were mostly occupied was the Empire's power and the challenge it posed to the belief in God's power and His divinity.Less
This book seeks to reconstruct the earliest rabbinic discourse of minut (frequently understood as the Hebrew equivalent of the Christian term “heresy”), and to reassess the place that early Christianity occupied in that discourse. It suggests that the emergence of the rabbinic discourse of religious identity was a response to an identity crisis of a post-traumatic society, shattered by the powerful Roman empire. In order to re-affirm its values and distinct Jewish identity Palestinian rabbinic society developed a discourse of “heresy,” in which its religious boundaries were re-established by the labeling of some Jews as minim, and their placement beyond the pale. That discourse emphasized notions of social and communal solidarity and belonging, much more than a strictly defined concept of “correct belief,” and minim, accordingly, were Jews who's fault was seen in their separation from the rest of the Jewish community. The place that Christianity occupied in that discourse was relatively small, and the early Christians, who only gradually were introduced into the category of minim and became to be considered as such, were not its main target. Throughout Late Antiquity, the “significant other” for Palestinian Rabbis remained the Roman Empire, and the religious challenge with which they were mostly occupied was the Empire's power and the challenge it posed to the belief in God's power and His divinity.
Adiel Schremer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383775
- eISBN:
- 9780199777280
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383775.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter introduces the reader to the theme of “Jewish and Christian relations in Late Antiquity,” as treated by students of early rabbinic Judaism. It describes recent developments in scholarly ...
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This chapter introduces the reader to the theme of “Jewish and Christian relations in Late Antiquity,” as treated by students of early rabbinic Judaism. It describes recent developments in scholarly views of the relations between classical rabbinic texts and early Christian texts, and critically discusses especially the contributions of Israel J. Yuval and Daniel Boyarin to the field. It suggests that the early rabbinic reaction to Christianity should be seen as part of the rabbinic discourse of minut, which, following a theory current in sociological literature, should be understood as a discourse responding to an identity crisis and re-establishing group identity, by the ousting of some of society's member and their placement beyond the pale. The chapter concludes with explicating the book's historical approach to rabbinic texts and their interpretation.Less
This chapter introduces the reader to the theme of “Jewish and Christian relations in Late Antiquity,” as treated by students of early rabbinic Judaism. It describes recent developments in scholarly views of the relations between classical rabbinic texts and early Christian texts, and critically discusses especially the contributions of Israel J. Yuval and Daniel Boyarin to the field. It suggests that the early rabbinic reaction to Christianity should be seen as part of the rabbinic discourse of minut, which, following a theory current in sociological literature, should be understood as a discourse responding to an identity crisis and re-establishing group identity, by the ousting of some of society's member and their placement beyond the pale. The chapter concludes with explicating the book's historical approach to rabbinic texts and their interpretation.
Kim Haines-Eitzen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195171297
- eISBN:
- 9780199918140
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171297.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, ...
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This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, to be more specific, to what extent were women authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons of early Christian literature? Second, how did the stories of women in early Christian literature come to be transformed in the process of copying? And can we detect the influence of debates about women in the earliest churches and debates about asceticism and the human body in the textual transmission of the New Testament and apocryphal texts? These questions serve to guide the book, which aims most broadly to highlight the gendered and layered history of early Christianity. The book argues that historians cannot avoid the inherently representational evidence for women writers and readers as well as the layered stories of female figures such as Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Theca; rather, by embracing the multiplicity of representations, scholars and students can attend simultaneously to rhetorical and literature constructions and historical reality.Less
This book poses two sets of questions related to women and books in early Christianity: First, what roles did women play in the production, reproduction, and dissemination of early Christianity? And, to be more specific, to what extent were women authors, scribe copyists, book-lenders, and patrons of early Christian literature? Second, how did the stories of women in early Christian literature come to be transformed in the process of copying? And can we detect the influence of debates about women in the earliest churches and debates about asceticism and the human body in the textual transmission of the New Testament and apocryphal texts? These questions serve to guide the book, which aims most broadly to highlight the gendered and layered history of early Christianity. The book argues that historians cannot avoid the inherently representational evidence for women writers and readers as well as the layered stories of female figures such as Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Theca; rather, by embracing the multiplicity of representations, scholars and students can attend simultaneously to rhetorical and literature constructions and historical reality.
Christine E. Hayes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195151206
- eISBN:
- 9780199834273
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195151208.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
For more than a century, scholars of ancient Judaism and early Christianity have assumed that ancient Jews viewed Gentiles as ritually impure, and that this alleged principle of Gentile ritual ...
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For more than a century, scholars of ancient Judaism and early Christianity have assumed that ancient Jews viewed Gentiles as ritually impure, and that this alleged principle of Gentile ritual impurity was the basis for a strict and burdensome policy of separation between Jews and non‐Jews. The present volume corrects decades of erroneous scholarship on the question of Gentile ritual impurity and the history of Jewish perceptions of Gentiles in antiquity. Although purity and impurity were intimately connected with questions of identity and otherness in ancient Jewish culture, the terms “pure” and “impure” were employed in various ways by different groups of Jews to describe and inscribe sociocultural boundaries between Jews and Gentiles. Close analysis of biblical, Second Temple, New Testament, patristic, and rabbinic sources, shows that at least four distinct modes of impurity were associated with Gentiles by different groups – ritual impurity, moral impurity, genealogical impurity, and carnal impurity. This unexpected diversity of ancient Jewish views of Gentile impurity is tied to widely differing definitions of Jewish group identity and the access of Gentiles to that identity. Consequently, ancient Jews exhibited widely varying attitudes towards intermarriage and conversion – the two processes by which group boundaries might be penetrated. These diverse views of the permeability of the Jewish–Gentile boundary through intermarriage or conversion, deriving in turn from diverse conceptions of Gentile impurity and Jewish identity, contributed to the rise of sectarianism in Second Temple Judaism, and to the separation of the early church from what would later become rabbinic Judaism.Less
For more than a century, scholars of ancient Judaism and early Christianity have assumed that ancient Jews viewed Gentiles as ritually impure, and that this alleged principle of Gentile ritual impurity was the basis for a strict and burdensome policy of separation between Jews and non‐Jews. The present volume corrects decades of erroneous scholarship on the question of Gentile ritual impurity and the history of Jewish perceptions of Gentiles in antiquity. Although purity and impurity were intimately connected with questions of identity and otherness in ancient Jewish culture, the terms “pure” and “impure” were employed in various ways by different groups of Jews to describe and inscribe sociocultural boundaries between Jews and Gentiles. Close analysis of biblical, Second Temple, New Testament, patristic, and rabbinic sources, shows that at least four distinct modes of impurity were associated with Gentiles by different groups – ritual impurity, moral impurity, genealogical impurity, and carnal impurity. This unexpected diversity of ancient Jewish views of Gentile impurity is tied to widely differing definitions of Jewish group identity and the access of Gentiles to that identity. Consequently, ancient Jews exhibited widely varying attitudes towards intermarriage and conversion – the two processes by which group boundaries might be penetrated. These diverse views of the permeability of the Jewish–Gentile boundary through intermarriage or conversion, deriving in turn from diverse conceptions of Gentile impurity and Jewish identity, contributed to the rise of sectarianism in Second Temple Judaism, and to the separation of the early church from what would later become rabbinic Judaism.
Beth A. Berkowitz
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195179194
- eISBN:
- 9780199784509
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195179196.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter juxtaposes the death penalty discourse of the Rabbis with that of Christians. It shows that the early Christians, like the Rabbis, used death penalty discourse to great effect, but in an ...
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This chapter juxtaposes the death penalty discourse of the Rabbis with that of Christians. It shows that the early Christians, like the Rabbis, used death penalty discourse to great effect, but in an almost diametrically opposite way — Christian identification was with the executed, not the executioner. It examines the passion narrative in the four gospels: the stories of the execution of Stephen and the conversion of Paul in Acts, martyrdom narratives, and the writings of Ignatius and Justin to show that the identification with the judged and correlative criticism of the judge was central to the development of early Christian culture. It shows that the rabbinic and Christian discourses are not as far apart as they might initially seem — both produce new sites of authority for their respective audiences. The chapter considers the paradoxical ways in which the rabbinic embrace of power functions as critique, and the Christian critique of power functions also as an embrace, in an attempt to undermine enduring stereotypes of both the religious constellations of early rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity.Less
This chapter juxtaposes the death penalty discourse of the Rabbis with that of Christians. It shows that the early Christians, like the Rabbis, used death penalty discourse to great effect, but in an almost diametrically opposite way — Christian identification was with the executed, not the executioner. It examines the passion narrative in the four gospels: the stories of the execution of Stephen and the conversion of Paul in Acts, martyrdom narratives, and the writings of Ignatius and Justin to show that the identification with the judged and correlative criticism of the judge was central to the development of early Christian culture. It shows that the rabbinic and Christian discourses are not as far apart as they might initially seem — both produce new sites of authority for their respective audiences. The chapter considers the paradoxical ways in which the rabbinic embrace of power functions as critique, and the Christian critique of power functions also as an embrace, in an attempt to undermine enduring stereotypes of both the religious constellations of early rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity.
Amram Tropper
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199267125
- eISBN:
- 9780191699184
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267125.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter compares Avot's chain of transmission to the succession lists of the early Christian church. It continues the exploration of the wide historical context for Avot by focusing on ...
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This chapter compares Avot's chain of transmission to the succession lists of the early Christian church. It continues the exploration of the wide historical context for Avot by focusing on Christianity. Christianity emerged as a sister religion to rabbinic Judaism during the early Common era, and the relationship between rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity suggests that the early Christian experience may harbor instructive counterparts to Avot. The comparison of Avot's chain of transmission to Christian succession lists suggests that both rabbis and proto-orthodox Christians employed the same literary genre, within the context of two distinct evolutionary histories and in pursuit of some similar political strategies. While God is ever present in the Christian scene, he has essentially been replaced by Torah in the rabbinic setting.Less
This chapter compares Avot's chain of transmission to the succession lists of the early Christian church. It continues the exploration of the wide historical context for Avot by focusing on Christianity. Christianity emerged as a sister religion to rabbinic Judaism during the early Common era, and the relationship between rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity suggests that the early Christian experience may harbor instructive counterparts to Avot. The comparison of Avot's chain of transmission to Christian succession lists suggests that both rabbis and proto-orthodox Christians employed the same literary genre, within the context of two distinct evolutionary histories and in pursuit of some similar political strategies. While God is ever present in the Christian scene, he has essentially been replaced by Torah in the rabbinic setting.
Peter Schäfer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691181325
- eISBN:
- 9780691199894
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691181325.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Contrary to popular belief, Judaism was not always strictly monotheistic. This book reveals the long and little-known history of a second, junior god in Judaism, showing how this idea was embraced by ...
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Contrary to popular belief, Judaism was not always strictly monotheistic. This book reveals the long and little-known history of a second, junior god in Judaism, showing how this idea was embraced by rabbis and Jewish mystics in the early centuries of the common era and casting Judaism's relationship with Christianity in an entirely different light. The book demonstrates how the Jews of the pre-Christian Second Temple period had various names for a second heavenly power—such as Son of Man, Son of the Most High, and Firstborn before All Creation. The book traces the development of the concept from the Son of Man vision in the biblical Book of Daniel to the Qumran literature, the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, and the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the picture changes drastically. While the early Christians of the New Testament took up the idea and developed it further, their Jewish contemporaries were divided. Most rejected the second god, but some—particularly the Jews of Babylonia and the writers of early Jewish mysticism—revived the ancient Jewish notion of two gods in heaven. Describing how early Christianity and certain strands of rabbinic Judaism competed for ownership of a second god to the creator, this book radically transforms our understanding of Judeo-Christian monotheism.Less
Contrary to popular belief, Judaism was not always strictly monotheistic. This book reveals the long and little-known history of a second, junior god in Judaism, showing how this idea was embraced by rabbis and Jewish mystics in the early centuries of the common era and casting Judaism's relationship with Christianity in an entirely different light. The book demonstrates how the Jews of the pre-Christian Second Temple period had various names for a second heavenly power—such as Son of Man, Son of the Most High, and Firstborn before All Creation. The book traces the development of the concept from the Son of Man vision in the biblical Book of Daniel to the Qumran literature, the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, and the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the picture changes drastically. While the early Christians of the New Testament took up the idea and developed it further, their Jewish contemporaries were divided. Most rejected the second god, but some—particularly the Jews of Babylonia and the writers of early Jewish mysticism—revived the ancient Jewish notion of two gods in heaven. Describing how early Christianity and certain strands of rabbinic Judaism competed for ownership of a second god to the creator, this book radically transforms our understanding of Judeo-Christian monotheism.
Arthur Versluis
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195306378
- eISBN:
- 9780199850914
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306378.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This book provides an investigation into the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. The book unveils the connections between heretic-hunting in early and medieval Christianity, and the emergence of ...
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This book provides an investigation into the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. The book unveils the connections between heretic-hunting in early and medieval Christianity, and the emergence of totalitarianism in the 20th century. It shows how secular political thinkers in the 19th century inaugurated a tradition of defending the Inquisition, and how Inquisition-style heretic-hunting later manifested across the spectrum of 20th-century totalitarianism. This book begins with early Christianity, and traces heretic-hunting as a phenomenon through the middle ages and right into the 20th century, showing how the same inquisitional modes of thought recur both on the political Left and on the political Right.Less
This book provides an investigation into the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. The book unveils the connections between heretic-hunting in early and medieval Christianity, and the emergence of totalitarianism in the 20th century. It shows how secular political thinkers in the 19th century inaugurated a tradition of defending the Inquisition, and how Inquisition-style heretic-hunting later manifested across the spectrum of 20th-century totalitarianism. This book begins with early Christianity, and traces heretic-hunting as a phenomenon through the middle ages and right into the 20th century, showing how the same inquisitional modes of thought recur both on the political Left and on the political Right.
Judith Lieu
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199262892
- eISBN:
- 9780191602818
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199262896.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Early Christianity took shape through its texts, and is only available to us in the earliest centuries through its texts. Using contemporary models of how identity is constructed, the construction of ...
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Early Christianity took shape through its texts, and is only available to us in the earliest centuries through its texts. Using contemporary models of how identity is constructed, the construction of Christian identity through texts of the first two centuries can be placed alongside that of Greeks, Romans, and Jews. Particularly important are a sense of history, defining boundaries, a distinctive practice, conceptualized space to inhabit, constructions of gender, the use of ethnic categories, and the manipulation of ‘the other’, alongside the explicit development of a technical terminology. Close analysis demonstrates the strong continuities in strategies in identity-construction between overtly Christian texts and those of their contemporaries, and provides a clearer framework for considering texts and situations that resist easy categorization. This approach offers a radical alternative to explanations of the development of early Christianity through the growth of institutions, doctrine or ritual, and allows exploration of diversity without prejudice regarding orthodoxy or canonicity. It also offers a way forward towards an understanding of the continuities of Christianity across time and place.Less
Early Christianity took shape through its texts, and is only available to us in the earliest centuries through its texts. Using contemporary models of how identity is constructed, the construction of Christian identity through texts of the first two centuries can be placed alongside that of Greeks, Romans, and Jews. Particularly important are a sense of history, defining boundaries, a distinctive practice, conceptualized space to inhabit, constructions of gender, the use of ethnic categories, and the manipulation of ‘the other’, alongside the explicit development of a technical terminology. Close analysis demonstrates the strong continuities in strategies in identity-construction between overtly Christian texts and those of their contemporaries, and provides a clearer framework for considering texts and situations that resist easy categorization. This approach offers a radical alternative to explanations of the development of early Christianity through the growth of institutions, doctrine or ritual, and allows exploration of diversity without prejudice regarding orthodoxy or canonicity. It also offers a way forward towards an understanding of the continuities of Christianity across time and place.
Morwenna Ludlow
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199280766
- eISBN:
- 9780191712906
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280766.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter explores three related claims made by Torrance, and shows the way in which they are related to his fundamental assumptions about the relation between early Christianity and Hellenistic ...
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This chapter explores three related claims made by Torrance, and shows the way in which they are related to his fundamental assumptions about the relation between early Christianity and Hellenistic philosophy and the way in which Gregory of Nazianzus differs from the other two Cappadocians. The first claim is that Gregory of Nazianzus sees the three divine persons as ‘substantive relations’, whereas the other two Cappadocians see them as ‘modes of being’ (tropoi huparxeōs). Second is that for Basil and Gregory of Nyssa ousia is an ‘abstract’ and ‘impersonal’ concept. Thirdly, Torrance describes as ‘rather dualist’ the distinction which Basil and Gregory of Nyssa tend to draw between the transcendent unknowable ‘Being of God’ and ‘the uncreated energies of his self-revelation’. The chapter examines some other factors which influence Torrance's reading of Gregory of Nyssa, notably his reading of Cappadocian analogies and his response to debates in contemporary theology about the doctrine of the Trinity.Less
This chapter explores three related claims made by Torrance, and shows the way in which they are related to his fundamental assumptions about the relation between early Christianity and Hellenistic philosophy and the way in which Gregory of Nazianzus differs from the other two Cappadocians. The first claim is that Gregory of Nazianzus sees the three divine persons as ‘substantive relations’, whereas the other two Cappadocians see them as ‘modes of being’ (tropoi huparxeōs). Second is that for Basil and Gregory of Nyssa ousia is an ‘abstract’ and ‘impersonal’ concept. Thirdly, Torrance describes as ‘rather dualist’ the distinction which Basil and Gregory of Nyssa tend to draw between the transcendent unknowable ‘Being of God’ and ‘the uncreated energies of his self-revelation’. The chapter examines some other factors which influence Torrance's reading of Gregory of Nyssa, notably his reading of Cappadocian analogies and his response to debates in contemporary theology about the doctrine of the Trinity.
Michael Peppard
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300213997
- eISBN:
- 9780300216516
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300213997.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
In 1932, at an ancient military outpost on the Euphrates, excavators unearthed a series of wall paintings. A procession of veiled women, a soldier with sword drawn, a woman at a well. The space was ...
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In 1932, at an ancient military outpost on the Euphrates, excavators unearthed a series of wall paintings. A procession of veiled women, a soldier with sword drawn, a woman at a well. The space was designed for religious rituals, but whose? As a crossroads for travelers, the city of Dura-Europos had buildings honoring gods of Greece, Rome, Persia, and Judea. These archaeologists soon realized, though, that they were looking at the earliest preserved Christian building—a “house church” from about the year 250. The World’s Oldest Church shines a flashlight once again on the murals of the earliest Christian building. Michael Peppard’s research at the nexus of Bible, art, and ritual shows that many familiar interpretations of the church require historical and theological reevaluation. While updating scholarship on all aspects of the building, he advances bold re-identifications of the female figures on the church’s walls. What if the veiled women were going not to a tomb, but to a wedding? What if the woman at a well was not a repentant sinner, but a spotless virgin—the Virgin Mary herself? Contrary to commonly held assumptions about early Christian initiation, Peppard contends that the rituals here did not primarily embody notions of death and resurrection. Rather, the central motifs were victory, healing, incarnation, and especially marriage. He attends to how the presence of ritual in a given space affects our interpretation of its art. In other words, the meaning of what appears on these walls may become clear only when we imagine what happened between them.Less
In 1932, at an ancient military outpost on the Euphrates, excavators unearthed a series of wall paintings. A procession of veiled women, a soldier with sword drawn, a woman at a well. The space was designed for religious rituals, but whose? As a crossroads for travelers, the city of Dura-Europos had buildings honoring gods of Greece, Rome, Persia, and Judea. These archaeologists soon realized, though, that they were looking at the earliest preserved Christian building—a “house church” from about the year 250. The World’s Oldest Church shines a flashlight once again on the murals of the earliest Christian building. Michael Peppard’s research at the nexus of Bible, art, and ritual shows that many familiar interpretations of the church require historical and theological reevaluation. While updating scholarship on all aspects of the building, he advances bold re-identifications of the female figures on the church’s walls. What if the veiled women were going not to a tomb, but to a wedding? What if the woman at a well was not a repentant sinner, but a spotless virgin—the Virgin Mary herself? Contrary to commonly held assumptions about early Christian initiation, Peppard contends that the rituals here did not primarily embody notions of death and resurrection. Rather, the central motifs were victory, healing, incarnation, and especially marriage. He attends to how the presence of ritual in a given space affects our interpretation of its art. In other words, the meaning of what appears on these walls may become clear only when we imagine what happened between them.
Judith Lieu
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199262892
- eISBN:
- 9780191602818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199262896.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The ‘invention’ of a past, an acknowledged feature in the construction of identity, can be illustrated by Graeco-Roman and Jewish writings. Conflicting claims to, and re-writings of, the same history ...
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The ‘invention’ of a past, an acknowledged feature in the construction of identity, can be illustrated by Graeco-Roman and Jewish writings. Conflicting claims to, and re-writings of, the same history are common. Various strategies for the appropriation of Israel’s history characterize early Christian writings, alongside the creation of new histories reaching back to Jesus. Here too, different accounts reflect competing claims to represent the true heirs of the past.Less
The ‘invention’ of a past, an acknowledged feature in the construction of identity, can be illustrated by Graeco-Roman and Jewish writings. Conflicting claims to, and re-writings of, the same history are common. Various strategies for the appropriation of Israel’s history characterize early Christian writings, alongside the creation of new histories reaching back to Jesus. Here too, different accounts reflect competing claims to represent the true heirs of the past.
Andrew McGowan
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269724
- eISBN:
- 9780191683770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269724.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which argues that serious
consideration of the food and drink of the eucharistic meals of early
Christianity in social and cultural perspective helps ...
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This chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which argues that serious
consideration of the food and drink of the eucharistic meals of early
Christianity in social and cultural perspective helps create the possibility
of a new and somewhat different historical picture of the diversity of
eucharistic practice in the first few centuries, as well as offers potential
insight into the meanings of food in these various meals. It then explains
the method and rationale of the enquiry in this book.Less
This chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which argues that serious
consideration of the food and drink of the eucharistic meals of early
Christianity in social and cultural perspective helps create the possibility
of a new and somewhat different historical picture of the diversity of
eucharistic practice in the first few centuries, as well as offers potential
insight into the meanings of food in these various meals. It then explains
the method and rationale of the enquiry in this book.
Andrew McGowan
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269724
- eISBN:
- 9780191683770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269724.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter creates a picture of food and its uses in the wider world of
which early Christianity was a part, starting with the relatively narrow
expectations of the poor and moving to the highly ...
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This chapter creates a picture of food and its uses in the wider world of
which early Christianity was a part, starting with the relatively narrow
expectations of the poor and moving to the highly complex and differentiated
world of banquets, sacrifice, and matters for dispute regarding eating and
meals, and particularly the edibility, desirability, or appropriateness of
certain foods.Less
This chapter creates a picture of food and its uses in the wider world of
which early Christianity was a part, starting with the relatively narrow
expectations of the poor and moving to the highly complex and differentiated
world of banquets, sacrifice, and matters for dispute regarding eating and
meals, and particularly the edibility, desirability, or appropriateness of
certain foods.
Joshua A. Berman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374704
- eISBN:
- 9780199871438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374704.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism, Biblical Studies
The conclusion locates the ideas developed in these pages on the map of notions of equality in the history of western thought. The purpose here is to adumbrate what may be considered lines for future ...
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The conclusion locates the ideas developed in these pages on the map of notions of equality in the history of western thought. The purpose here is to adumbrate what may be considered lines for future comparative study, and is done with three distinct periods in mind: notions of equality in Greek philosophy; early Christian notions of equality; and modern notions of equality that have been spawned by the great political theorists of the Enlightenment. For each system, two primary questions are probed: What is the basis for claiming that such equality exists? What is the commodity that gets equalized between putatively equal persons? The conclusions may well be able to contribute to our thinking about the relation of rights to duties, the rights of individuals to the rights of groups, common goods and goals, and group relations in political theory, and the very origins of rights themselves.Less
The conclusion locates the ideas developed in these pages on the map of notions of equality in the history of western thought. The purpose here is to adumbrate what may be considered lines for future comparative study, and is done with three distinct periods in mind: notions of equality in Greek philosophy; early Christian notions of equality; and modern notions of equality that have been spawned by the great political theorists of the Enlightenment. For each system, two primary questions are probed: What is the basis for claiming that such equality exists? What is the commodity that gets equalized between putatively equal persons? The conclusions may well be able to contribute to our thinking about the relation of rights to duties, the rights of individuals to the rights of groups, common goods and goals, and group relations in political theory, and the very origins of rights themselves.
Kim Haines-Eitzen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195171297
- eISBN:
- 9780199918140
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171297.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter focuses on how the stories of Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and other more minor New Testament female characters came to be rewritten in the process of copying. ...
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This chapter focuses on how the stories of Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and other more minor New Testament female characters came to be rewritten in the process of copying. Storytelling is an important feature of early Christianity and stories about women became vehicles for transmitting nascent Christian ideology and ethics; likewise, the textual modification of these stories suggests that debates about women and their roles in the early churches made their way into the very processes of textual reproduction.Less
This chapter focuses on how the stories of Eve, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and other more minor New Testament female characters came to be rewritten in the process of copying. Storytelling is an important feature of early Christianity and stories about women became vehicles for transmitting nascent Christian ideology and ethics; likewise, the textual modification of these stories suggests that debates about women and their roles in the early churches made their way into the very processes of textual reproduction.
Simon Goldhill
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149844
- eISBN:
- 9781400840076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149844.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter relates the historical fiction of early Christianity in the Roman Empire to the intellectual lives of their authors, and uses this to see something of the social network within which the ...
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This chapter relates the historical fiction of early Christianity in the Roman Empire to the intellectual lives of their authors, and uses this to see something of the social network within which the books emerged and to which they spoke. It first considers Victorian biography as a genre, showing that the Victorian recognition of the interweaving of a writer's life and work is part of the reception of the author as a cultural figure. To make this point, the chapter considers Mrs. Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Brontö. It also examines the experience of historicity as a defining characteristic of Victorian culture by focusing on two major representative figures of the era: Charles Kingsley and Fred W. Farrar.Less
This chapter relates the historical fiction of early Christianity in the Roman Empire to the intellectual lives of their authors, and uses this to see something of the social network within which the books emerged and to which they spoke. It first considers Victorian biography as a genre, showing that the Victorian recognition of the interweaving of a writer's life and work is part of the reception of the author as a cultural figure. To make this point, the chapter considers Mrs. Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Brontö. It also examines the experience of historicity as a defining characteristic of Victorian culture by focusing on two major representative figures of the era: Charles Kingsley and Fred W. Farrar.
Kim Haines-Eitzen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195171297
- eISBN:
- 9780199918140
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171297.003.0000
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The introduction begins with a striking example of a “gendered palimpsest”: the variant readings in 1 Clement that differ by giving women a voice or silencing them. The remainder of the chapter ...
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The introduction begins with a striking example of a “gendered palimpsest”: the variant readings in 1 Clement that differ by giving women a voice or silencing them. The remainder of the chapter treats the multiple intersections of books and bodies in early Christianity. Finally, the chapter outlines the general contents of the book.Less
The introduction begins with a striking example of a “gendered palimpsest”: the variant readings in 1 Clement that differ by giving women a voice or silencing them. The remainder of the chapter treats the multiple intersections of books and bodies in early Christianity. Finally, the chapter outlines the general contents of the book.
Susan Ashbrook Harvey
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241473
- eISBN:
- 9780520931015
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241473.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
This book explores the role of bodily, sensory experience in early Christianity (first–seventh centuries c.e.) by focusing on the importance of smell in ancient Mediterranean culture. Following its ...
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This book explores the role of bodily, sensory experience in early Christianity (first–seventh centuries c.e.) by focusing on the importance of smell in ancient Mediterranean culture. Following its legalization in the fourth-century Roman Empire, Christianity cultivated a dramatically flourishing devotional piety, in which the bodily senses were utilized as crucial instruments of human–divine interaction. Rich olfactory practices developed as part of this shift, with lavish uses of incense, holy oils, and other sacred scents. At the same time, Christians showed profound interest in what smells could mean. How could the experience of smell be construed in revelatory terms? What specifically could it convey? How and what could be known through smell? The book argues that ancient Christians used olfactory experience for purposes of a distinctive religious epistemology: formulating knowledge of the divine in order to yield, in turn, a particular human identity. Using a wide array of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian sources, the author examines the ancient understanding of smell through: religious rituals, liturgical practices, mystagogical commentaries, literary imagery, and homiletic conventions; scientific, medical, and cosmological models; and ascetic disciplines, theological discourse, and eschatological expectations. In the process, she argues for a richer appreciation of ancient notions of embodiment and of the roles the body might serve in religion.Less
This book explores the role of bodily, sensory experience in early Christianity (first–seventh centuries c.e.) by focusing on the importance of smell in ancient Mediterranean culture. Following its legalization in the fourth-century Roman Empire, Christianity cultivated a dramatically flourishing devotional piety, in which the bodily senses were utilized as crucial instruments of human–divine interaction. Rich olfactory practices developed as part of this shift, with lavish uses of incense, holy oils, and other sacred scents. At the same time, Christians showed profound interest in what smells could mean. How could the experience of smell be construed in revelatory terms? What specifically could it convey? How and what could be known through smell? The book argues that ancient Christians used olfactory experience for purposes of a distinctive religious epistemology: formulating knowledge of the divine in order to yield, in turn, a particular human identity. Using a wide array of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian sources, the author examines the ancient understanding of smell through: religious rituals, liturgical practices, mystagogical commentaries, literary imagery, and homiletic conventions; scientific, medical, and cosmological models; and ascetic disciplines, theological discourse, and eschatological expectations. In the process, she argues for a richer appreciation of ancient notions of embodiment and of the roles the body might serve in religion.
Andrew McGowan
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269724
- eISBN:
- 9780191683770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269724.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter considers cases where bread and water are the elements of the
eucharistic meal. It shows that the bread-and-water pattern is not simply a
rare and extreme case of ‘encratite’ adaptation ...
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This chapter considers cases where bread and water are the elements of the
eucharistic meal. It shows that the bread-and-water pattern is not simply a
rare and extreme case of ‘encratite’ adaptation of the
Christian eucharist, but an important and widespread tradition in early
Eastern Christianity, especially in Syria and Asia.Less
This chapter considers cases where bread and water are the elements of the
eucharistic meal. It shows that the bread-and-water pattern is not simply a
rare and extreme case of ‘encratite’ adaptation of the
Christian eucharist, but an important and widespread tradition in early
Eastern Christianity, especially in Syria and Asia.
