The impact of the Roman army (200 BC-AD 476) : economic, social, political, religious...
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To many inhabitants of the Roman Empire the army was the most visible representation of imperial power. Roman troops were the embodiment of imperial control. Military installations and buildings, the imperial guard, other troops, fleets, and militarily tinged works of art brought home the majesty of Rome to anybody who saw them, in Rome and in other parts of the Empire. With Roman armies came administrators, taxes and requisitions in cash and kind, traders, permanently residing veterans and military personnel, useful relations between local notables and Roman military cadre, and chances of upward social mobility. This sixth volume in the series Impact of Empire focuses on these topics.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047430391 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Sacred words orality, literacy, and religion /
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A prevalent view in the current scholarship on ancient religions holds that state religion was primarily performed and transmitted in oral forms, whereas writing came to be associated with secret, private and marginal cults, especially in the Greek world. In Roman times, religions would have become more and more bookish, starting with the Sibylline books and the Annales Maximi of the Roman priests and culminating in the canonical gospels of the Christians. It is the aim of this volume to modify this view or, at least, to challenge it. Surveying the variety of ways in which different types of texts and oral discourse were involved in ancient Greek and Roman religions, the contributions to this volume show that oral and written forms were in use for both Greek and Roman state and private religions.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004214217 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Portraits of spiritual authority : religious power in early Christianity, Byzantium, and the Christian Orient /
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This volume deals with several figures of spiritual authority in Christianity during late antiquity and the early middle ages, and seeks to illuminate the way in which the struggle for religious influence evolved with changes in church and society. A number of literary portraits are examined, portraits which, in various literary genres, are themselves designed to establish and propagate the authority of the people whose lives and activities they describe. The sequence begins with visionary and prophetic figures of the second and third centuries, proceeds through several testimonies from the fourth century to the power of holy persons, moves on to Syriac portraits of the fifth to seventh centuries, and ends with the demise of the authority of the holy man in the eighth.
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1 online resource (xiii, 227 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004295919 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Violence, scripture, and textual practice in early Judaism and Christianity /
: Proceedings of a conference held Oct. 6-8, 2007 at the University of Minnesota. : 1 online resource. : Includes bibliographical references and indexes. : 9789047444787 : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Coping with violence in the New Testament /
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Violence is present in the very heart of religion and its sacred traditions - also of Christianity and the Bible. The problem, however, is not only that violence is ingrained in the mere existence of religions with their sacred traditions. It is equally problematic to realise that the icy grip of violence on the sacred has gone unnoticed and unchallenged for a very long time. The present publication aims to contribute to the recent scholarly debate about the interconnections between violence and monotheistic religions by analysing the role of violence in the New Testament as well as by offering some hermeneutical perspectives on violence as it is articulated in the earliest Christian writings. Contributors include: Andries G. van Aarde, Paul Decock, Pieter G.R. de Villiers, Ernest van Eck, Jan Willem van Henten, Rob van Houwelingen, Kobus Kok, Tobias Nicklas, Jeremy Punt, Jan G. van der Watt, and Wim Weren.
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Proceedings of a conference held Jan. 21-23, 2008 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. :
1 online resource (x, 305 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004221055 :
1566-208X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Religious identity and national heritage : empirical-theological perspectives /
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In some parts of our world, religion is on the wane, losing its thrust of doctrinal authority and communal bonds. In other regions, it is gaining public significance as a powerful social, cultural and political force. Secularization theories are less successful in accounting for these differences in religion's role. Other theories describe religion in terms of social capital to be invested whenever it offers certain personal, social or political benefits and market opportunities allow smart choices. Still other theories simply hold that religion corresponds to an inborn need or stable disposition that guarantees a culture's identity and reflects a natural equilibrium of social cohesion. There are also critical theories that point to the intrinsic relationship of religion with power and identify it as a major cause of tension and conflict. In this book distinguished scholars reflect on these questions and present empirical research about religious identity and national heritage.
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Description based upon print version of record. :
1 online resource (320 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004228788 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.