The studies in this volume are drawn together from a widely scattered set of publications, many difficult of access. They exemplify the variety of influences - religious, cultural, political - that interacted in Syria in Late Antiquity, and the range of responses that these evoked in changing historical circumstances. The first section of the book is concerned with the development of Syriac Christianity, with particular articles looking at the relations between Christians and Jews, and at the position of holy men. There follow two sections focusing on Marcionism and on Manichaeism, while the final studies examine aspects of Syriac Christianity after the Arab conquests.

The Christianity of Roman North Africa provides the setting for many of the articles collected here. Several focus on the writings of Cyprian and Augustine, others on the nomenclature of the martyrs of the 2nd-3rd centuries and their cult. The development of this cult and the cult of relics, both in general, and specifically in relation to Africa and to Rome, is a key theme in the author's work. He approaches the question from a liturgical standpoint, as well as those of archaeology and hagiography, and the liturgical history of the early Church forms a further strand running through the volume.

This book presents a series of Dr. Blumenthal's studies on the history of Neoplatonism, from its founder Plotinus to the end of Classical Antiquity, relating especially to the Neoplatonists' doctrines about the soul. The work falls into two parts. The first deals with Plotinus and considers the soul both as part of the structure of the universe and in its capacity as the basis of the individual's vital and cognitive functions. The second part is concerned with the later history of Neoplatonism, including its end. Its main focus is the investigation of how Neoplatonic psychology was modified and developed by later philosophers, in particular the commentators on Aristotle, and used as the starting point for their Platonizing interpretations of his philosophy.

"This wonderfully researched and elegantly written book provides the reader with a compelling and trustworthy portrait of how the fathers of the church read the story of Adam and Eve. As Bouteneff tells that story we see that the tale of the fall is always contextualized within a narrative that celebrates the restoration and redemption of the human race."--Gary Anderson, professor of Old Testament, University of Notre Dame

""Beginnings" takes us back to the beginning of the scriptural creation narrative and to the beginning of the Christian appropriation of this narrative. The reader is initiated into precursors of the Christian tradition (especially the Septuagint and Philo) and then guided through the early Christian thinkers (especially Origen) whose writings underpin current theological reflection on Genesis 1-3. "Beginnings" allows twenty-first-century readers to wrestle with issues ranging from creation and the image of God to anthropology and gender--all in the context of the community of faith that found its beginning, middle, and end in Jesus Christ. Peter Bouteneff has done the church a valuable service in this focused study."--Joel C. Elowsky, managing editor, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Drew University

"The question of the origin of humankind and the cosmos has perhaps never been so hotly debated as nowadays, with 'evolution' and 'creationism' presenting themselves as polar opposites. In this fine book, Peter Bouteneff presents a carefully researched and scholarly reading of early Christian readings of the creation account in Genesis. What emerges is a range of interlocking insights into God's creative purpose and the human place in the cosmos. Genesis 1-3is seen as neither a myth nor an outdated scientific account, but a poem of creation, yielding deeper meanings upon closer ponderings. Bouteneff unveils the often surprising riches of our patristic inheritance with a rare intelligence and passion."--Andrew Louth, professor of patristic and Byzantine studies, University of Durham

Eighty years ago, Walter Bauer promulgated a bold and provocative thesis about early Christianity. He argued that many forms of Christianity started the race, but one competitor pushed aside the others, until this powerful 'orthodox' version won the day. The victors rewrote history, marginalizing all other perspectives and silencing their voices, even though the alternatives possessed equal right to the title of normative Christianity. Bauer's influence still casts a long shadow on early Christian scholarship. Were heretical movements the original forms of Christianity? Did the heretics outnumber the orthodox? Did orthodox heresiologists accurately portray their opponents? And more fundamentally, how can one make any objective distinction between 'heresy' and 'orthodoxy'? Is such labeling merely the product of socially situated power? Did numerous, valid forms of Christianity exist without any validating norms of Christianity? This collection of essays, each written by a relevant authority, tackles such questions with scholarly acumen and careful attention to historical, cultural-geographical, and socio-rhetorical detail. Although recognizing the importance of Bauer's critical insights, innovative methodologies, and fruitful suggestions, the contributors expose numerous claims of the Bauer thesis (in both original and recent manifestations) that fall short of the historical evidence.

This is the story of the transformation of the ways in which the increasingly Christianized elites of the late antique Mediterranean experienced and conceptualized linguistic differences. The metaphor of Babel stands for the magnificent edifice of classical culture that was about to reach the sky, but remained self-sufficient and self-contained in its virtual monolingualism - the paradigm within which even Latin was occasionally considered just a dialect of Greek. The gradual erosion of this vision is the slow fall of Babel that took place in the hearts and minds of a good number of early Christian writers and intellectuals who represented various languages and literary traditions. This step-by-step process included the discovery and internalization of the existence of multiple other languages in the world, as well as subsequent attempts to incorporate their speakers meaningfully into the holistic and distinctly Christian picture of the universe.

The first set of articles in this collection is concerned with the nature of the bishop's authority in the Early Church and the sources from which it was drawn. This is seen in political terms, as in the writings of Justin Martyr, as well as spiritual ones. Charles Munier singles out Tertullian as the first to formulate a doctrine of apostolic succession, but also traces his subsequent path towards the affirmation of the authority of the Holy Spirit over that embodied in the 'Orthodox Church'. The following studies turn to a complementary area of ecclesiology, that of pastoral care. The author points to the great diversity of forms of worship and rite, from the earliest days of the Church; these, he argues, reflect a constant process of adaptation, to fit particular religious needs, and to understand such divergences it is necessary to investigate the theological motives that lay behind them. Particular topics here are those of baptism and marriage, especially the still controversial question of how and with what discretion to treat divorce and remarriage. La premiere serie d'articles de cette collection examine la nature et la source de l'autorite des evAques de l'Eglise primitive. Ceci est aborde en termes politiques, au travers d'etude sur Justin le Martyr, ainsi qu'en termes spirituels. Charles Munier, tout en reconnaissant Tertullien pour avoir ete le premier A formuler la doctrine de la succession apostolique, retrace aussi la voie parcourue ulterieurement par ce dernier vers l'affirmation de la supremacie de l'autorite du Saint Esprit sur celle representee par l'Eglise orthodoxe . Les etudes suivantes se tourent vers un domaine complementaire de l'ecclesiologie, celui de la sollicitude pastorale. L'auteur souligne la grande diversitie de liturgies et de rites qui ont toujours eu cours au sien de l'Eglise; selon lui, on voit lA le reflet d'un processus d'adaptation constant, destine a repondre A des besoins

How did Christianity make its remarkable voyage from the Roman Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent? By examining the social networks that connected the ancient and late antique Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, central Asia, and Iran, this book contemplates the social relations that made such movement possible. It also analyzes how the narrative tradition regarding the apostle Judas Thomas, which originated in Upper Mesopotamia and accredited him with evangelizing India, traveled among the social networks of an interconnected late antique world. In this way, the book probes how the Thomas narrative shaped Mediterranean Christian beliefs regarding co-religionists in central Asia and India, impacted local Christian cultures, took shape in a variety of languages, and experienced transformation as it traveled from the Mediterranean to India, and back again.

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Constantine's life - his career, faith and relationship to the church - raises questions for Christians and for historians that cannot be ignored. Scholars continue to be intrigued with Constantine the man, the influence he wielded over the church and the paradigm that he introduced for church-state relations. Seventeen hundred years after Constantine's victory at Milvian Bridge, Rethinking Constantine reinvigorates the conversation and examines the historical sources that inform our picture of Constantine, the theological developments that occurred in the wake of his rise to power and the aspects of Constantine's legacy that have shaped church history. Rethinking Constantine reassesses our picture of Constantine through careful historical enquiry within the scope of the early Christian period.

Carol Harrison counters the assumption that Augustine of Hippo's (354-430) theology underwent a revolutionary transformation around the time he was consecrated Bishop in 396. Instead, she argues that there is a fundamental continuity in his thought and practice from the moment of his conversion in 386. The book thereby challenges the general scholarly trend to begin reading Augustine with his Confessions (396), which were begun ten years after his conversion, and refocuses attention on his earlier works, which undergird his whole theological system.

"This new translation of the Pistis Sophia ... brings clarity to the Gnostic myth of the exile of feminine wisdom whose dwelling place is with the people. Her story, like that of the Hebrew Shekinah and of Mary Magdalene herself, is the story of the exclusion of the sacred feminine over millennia of human history and its eventual restoration to a place of honor." -Margaret Starbird, author of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar and The Goddess in the Gospels. "Sophia (the world soul) fell from her place in the heavens to the chaos below..." Sophia is among the most haunting and mysterious figures in Western spirituality. She is also one of the great symbols of the divine feminine in world civilization. The personification of divine Wisdom, Sophia is praised in the biblical book of Proverbs as co-creator of the universe with God. In the secret teachings of early Christianity known as Gnosticism, she represents our shared consciousness, trapped in the material world as a result of the Fall. One of the most sublime Gnostic texts is the Pistis Sophia or "Faith Wisdom," a great allegory in which the resurrected Christ explains how he freed the divine Sophia from her imprisonment by the forces of spiritual wickedness. Christ goes on to show his disciples how they will share in this cosmic act of redemption. In this profound yet accessible work, Egyptologist Violet MacDermot gives us a fresh translation of the Pistis Sophia from the Coptic and discusses it in its historical setting. She also shows us how Sophia's story of is our story. It is a tale of our separation and isolation as a result of ego-consciousness, but it is one in which we, too, can share spiritual liberation. Her engaging discussion relates this work not only to ancient teachings but to the thought of C.G. Jung, Emanuel Swedenborg, and the Kabalah. Violet MacDermot studied Egyptology at University College, London, and was a board member of the Egypt Exploration Society. She has translated two Coptic texts, Volumes IX and XIII in the Nag Hammadi Studies series: Pistis Sophia and The Books of Jeu and the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex. Stephan A. Hoeller, born in Hungary, speaks regularly at the Los Angeles Gnostic Society on Western inner traditions, with emphasis on Jungian psychology and Gnostic wisdom. He is the author of The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead and Jung and the Lost Gospels: Insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library.

This is the first book to analyse urban social relations in the eastern Roman Empire through the perspective of one elite family. From the late first to the mid-third century CE, the Vedii and their descendants were magistrates, priests and priestesses of local and imperial cults, and presided over Ephesos' many religious festivals. They were also public benefactors, paying for the construction of public buildings for the pleasure of fellow citizens. This study examines the material evidence of their activities - the buildings with their epigraphic and decorative programs - to show how members of the family created monuments to enhance their own and their family's prestige. It also discusses the inscriptions of the honorific statue monuments raised by the city and its sub-groups for the family in return for their benefactions, arguing that these reflect the community's values and interests as much as they commemorate the benefactors and their families.

The social values of upper-class Christians in Late Antiquity often contrasted with the modest backgrounds of their religion's founders - the apostles - and the virtues they exemplified. Drawing on examples from the Cappadocian Fathers, John Chrysostom, and other late antique authors, this book examines attitudes toward the apostles' status as manual workers and their virtues of simplicity and humility. Due to the strong connection between these traits and low socioeconomic status, late antique bishops often allowed their own high standing to influence how they understood these matters. The virtues of simplicity and humility had been a natural fit for tentmakers and fishermen, but posed a significant challenge to Christians born into the elite and trained in prestigious schools. This volume examines the socioeconomic implications of Christianity in the Roman Empire by considering how the first wave of powerful, upper-class church leaders interpreted the socially radical elements of their religion.

One of the books most central to late-antique religious life was the four-gospel codex, containing the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A common feature in such manuscripts was a marginal cross-referencing system known as the Canon Tables. This reading aid was invented in the early fourth century by Eusebius of Caesarea and represented a milestone achievement both in the history of the book and in the scholarly study of the fourfold gospel. In this work, Matthew R. Crawford provides the first book-length treatment of the origins and use of the Canon Tables apparatus in any language. Part one begins by defining the Canon Tables as a paratextual device that orders the textual content of the fourfold gospel. It then considers the relation of the system to the prior work of Ammonius of Alexandria and the hermeneutical implications of reading a four-gospel codex equipped with the marginal apparatus. Part two transitions to the reception of the paratext in subsequent centuries by highlighting four case studies from different cultural and theological traditions, from Augustine of Hippo, who used the Canon Tables to develop the first ever theory of gospel composition, to a Syriac translator in the fifth century, to later monastic scholars in Ireland between the seventh and ninth centuries. Finally, from the eighth century onwards, Armenian commentators used the artistic adornment of the Canon Tables as a basis for contemplative meditation. These four case studies represent four different modes of using the Canon Tables as a paratext and illustrate the potential inherent in the Eusebian apparatus for engaging with the fourfold gospel in a variety of ways, from the philological to the theological to the visual.

Augustinus (354430 CE), son of a pagan, Patricius of Tagaste in North Africa, and his Christian wife Monica, while studying in Africa to become a rhetorician, plunged into a turmoil of philosophical and psychological doubts in search of truth, joining for a time the Manichaean society. He became a teacher of grammar at Tagaste, and lived much under the influence of his mother and his friend Alypius. About 383 he went to Rome and soon after to Milan as a teacher of rhetoric, being now attracted by the philosophy of the Sceptics and of the Neo-Platonists. His studies of Paul's letters with Alypius and the preaching of Bishop Ambrose led in 386 to his rejection of all sensual habits and to his famous conversion from mixed beliefs to Christianity. He returned to Tagaste and there founded a religious community. In 395 or 396 he became Bishop of Hippo, and was henceforth engrossed with duties, writing and controversy. He died at Hippo during the successful siege by the Vandals.

From Augustine's large output the Loeb Classical Library offers that great autobiography the "Confessions" (in two volumes); "On the City of God" (seven volumes), which unfolds God's action in the progress of the world's history, and propounds the superiority of Christian beliefs over pagan in adversity; and a selection of "Letters" which are important for the study of ecclesiastical history and Augustine's relations with other theologians.

The Didache is one of the earliest Christian writings, earlier than most of the documents that make up the New Testament. It provides practical instructions on how a Christian community should function, and offers unique insights into the way the earliest Christians lived and worshipped. In this highly readable introduction, Thomas O'Loughlin tells the intriguing story of the Didache, from its discovery in the late nineteenth century to the present. He then provides an illuminating commentary on the entire text, highlighting areas of special interest to Christians today, and ends with a fresh translation of the text itself.

During the fourth century A.D., theological controversy divided Christian communities throughout the Eastern half of the Roman Empire. Not only was the truth about God at stake, but also the authority of church leaders, whose legitimacy depended on their claims to represent that truth. In this book, Galvao-Sobrinho argues that out of these disputes was born a new style of church leadership, one in which the power of the episcopal office was greatly increased. The author shows how these disputes compelled church leaders repeatedly to assert their orthodoxy and legitimacy--tasks that required them to mobilize their congregations and engage in action that continuously projected their power in the public arena. These developments were largely the work of prelates of the first half of the fourth century, but the style of command they inaugurated became the basis for a dynamic model of ecclesiastical leadership found throughout late antiquity.

Buch 1 und 2 bilden innerhalb der disparaten Sammlung der antiken Sibyllinischen Orakel ein zusammenh ngendes Werk: eine historische Apokalypse, die den Bogen von der Sch pfung bis in die eschatologische Goldene Zeit spannt und dabei biblische und heidnische Mythologie harmonisiert. Die vorliegende Studie analysiert das in seiner jetzigen Gestalt klar christliche Doppelbuch. Sie rekonstruiert daraus eine vorchristliche Grundschrift, die als literarisches Zeugnis der j disch-heidnischen Symbiose im kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien gelesen werden kann. In seiner bearbeiteten Form ist das Doppelbuch die vermutlich lteste Sibyllenschrift aus christlicher Hand. Die Studie bietet einen detaillierten Kommentar zu der gesamten Schrift. Dabei untersucht sie auch das umfangreiche Pseudo-Phokylides-Zitat in Buch 2 sowie die Beziehungen der eschatologischen Abschnitte zur Petrusapokalypse. Within the disparate collection of ancient Sibylline Oracles book 1 and 2 form a historical apocalypse reaching from the creation to the eschatological Golden Age. It is unique in integrating biblical and classical mythology. Although Christian in its present form, its origins have been debated for a long time. This study examines its different parts and tries to reconstruct a pre-Christian document. It interprets the original work as a literary evidence of the Jewish-pagan symbiosis in Asia Minor in the imperial period. Its adaption is probably the earliest Sibylline writing produced by Christians. The study provides a line-by-line commentary. It contains a close examination of the tradition of Pseudo-Phocylides included in the Christian document as well as a comparison with the Apocalypse of Peter.

Have you ever wanted accessible introductions to the key figures of Christian history? In this book two expert authors draw on biblical scholarship to bring Jesus and Paul and their worlds vividly to life. Jesus and His World Jesus Christ is probably the single most influential figure in world history, but who was this preacher from Nazareth? Can we be sure he existed? And if he did, what was the world like in which he lived? Placing Jesus firmly in the Jewish world of 1st-century Palestine, Peter Walker explores the religious and social background to his life, the Jewish expectations of a messiah, Jesus' ministry and teaching, and helps readers interpret Jesus' radical mission and the way he related to the world around him. Paul and His World We know little about Paul, yet he has had a greater impact on the development of Christianity than any other person except Christ. For some, his influence has been largely negative. For others, he is simply the greatest mind in Christian history. Stephen Tomkins argues that Paul would have been quite at home with such a mixed reception. Despite enjoying a degree of hero worship in his lifetime, he was also more reviled than any other Christian, and his Christian life was a constant arduous missionary journey of shipwrecks, prison, mob violence and the depressing politics of church life. This is a lively and lucid portrayal of the man behind the controversy and the drama.

In our Western, post-Christendom society, much of Christianity's cultural power, privilege, and influence has eroded. But all is not lost, says bestselling author Gerald Sittser. Although the church is concerned and sobered by this cultural shift, it is also curious and teachable.

Sittser shows how the early church offers wisdom for responding creatively to the West's increasing secularization. The early Christian movement was surprisingly influential and successful in the Roman world, and so different from its two main rivals--traditional religion and Judaism--that Rome identified it as a 'third way.' Early Christians immersed themselves in the empire without significant accommodation to or isolation from the culture. They confessed Jesus as Lord and formed disciples accordingly, which helped the church grow in numbers and influence.

Sittser explores how Christians today can learn from this third way and respond faithfully, creatively, and winsomely to a world that sees Christianity as largely obsolete. Each chapter introduces historical figures, ancient texts, practices, and institutions to explain and explore the third way of the Jesus movement, which, surprising everyone, changed the world.

Arnobius of Sicca, in North Africa, was a Christian convert writing under the persecution of the emperor Diocletian. This book is the first ever scholarly study of the man and his writings, and it deals with every major aspect of relevant debate. Set at the height of intense and bloody conflict between the pagans of the Roman Empire and Christianity, the book demonstrates the importance of Arnobius' contribution towards the final triumph of Christianity.

Exploring the key documents, authors and themes of Early Christian traditions, this volume traces the vital trajectories of emerging distinctive Christian identity in the Graeco-Roman world. Special attention is given to the coherent growth of Christian faith in connection with worship, alongside the crucial transformation of Christian life and doctrine under the Christian Emperors. As well as offering a chronological development of the Early Church, the book examines the interaction between Christian worship and faith. In addition, readers interested in systematic theology can refer to chapters on the roots of some significant theological notions in Christian Antiquity, also with reference to ancient philosophy. Issues addressed include: * Distinctiveness of the Christian identity during the first centuries * Diversity of communities and their theologies * Connection between faith and worship * Transition from the persecuted minority to triumphant Church with Creeds * History of early Christian thought and modern systematic theology

Imbued with character and independence, strength and articulateness, humor and conviction, abundant biblical knowledge and intense compassion, Katharina Schutz Zell (1498-1562) was an outspoken religious reformer in sixteenth-century Germany who campaigned for the right of clergy to marry and the responsibility of lay people--women as well as men--to proclaim the Gospel. As one of the first and most daring models of the pastor's wife in the Protestant Reformation, Schutz Zell demonstrated that she could be an equal partner in marriage; she was for many years a respected, if unofficial, mother of the established church of Strasbourg in an age when ecclesiastical leadership was dominated by men.
Though a commoner, Schutz Zell participated actively in public life and wrote prolifically, including letters of consolation, devotional writings, biblical meditations, catechetical instructions, a sermon, and lengthy polemical exchanges with male theologians. The complete translations of her extant publications, except for her longest, are collected here in "Church Mother," offering modern readers a rare opportunity to understand the important work of women in the formation of the early Protestant church.

The Cross was present at the Eucharist in early Christianity as an idea, a gesture, and an object. Over time, these different actualizations of the quintessential symbol of Christianity have generated important questions about their meaning and function, among them: is the Eucharist a meal and/or a sacrifice? Can the sign of the Cross illuminate the absence of a Roman epiclesis? Is it pertinent -historically and theologically - to use an altar Cross? In this study, Daniel Cardo explores the relation between the Cross and the Eucharist. Offering a thorough and fresh reading of patristic and Roman liturgical texts, he identifies their emphases and common themes on the Cross and the Eucharist, and demonstrates their significance for the liturgical debates of recent decades.