Tradition and Innovation: Baptismal Rite and Mystagogy in Theodore of Mopsuestia and Narsai of Nisibis.
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In Tradition and Innovation , Nathan Witkamp convincingly argues that Narsai of Nisibis' (d. circa 503) baptismal rite and mystagogy, as portrayed in his Liturgical Homilies 21-22, are much less dependent on Theodore of Mopsuestia (ca. 350-ca. 428) than scholars have previously supposed. Narsai's baptismal rite turns out to represent a particular East Syrian liturgical tradition, independent of Theodore. In his mystagogy, Narsai uses Theodore's Baptismal Homilies 1-3 as just one source among others to create the artwork he desires. This detailed comparative study contributes to our understanding of rite and mystagogy in Theodore and Narsai within the broader early Syrian context, as well as to the reception of Theodore by Narsai and the East Syrian Church.
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1 online resource. :
9789004377868
The Didache in modern research /
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This volume makes available a collection of the most important and influential modern articles on the Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles , many of them appearing in English for the first time. Leading Jewish and Christian scholars in the field represented in the volume include G. Alon, J-P. Audet, E. Bammel, J. Betz, J.A. Draper, D. Flusser, A. de Halleux, E. Mazza, K. Niederwimmer, W. Rordorf, G. Schöllgen, H.R. Seeliger and C.M. Tuckett. Essays included provide a representative sample of most aspects of study of this first-century Christian writing, documenting an increasing scholarly interest in its importance for the understanding of Christian origins. The editor provides an extensive review of scholarship on the Didache in the past fifty years, outlining its major trends and implications.
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1 online resource (xviii, 445 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 383-412) and indexes. :
9789004332492 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Origen : philosophy of history and eschatology /
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A common accusation made against Origen is that he dissolves history into intellectual abstraction and that his eschatology (if this is recognized at all) is notoriously obscure. In this new work, the author draws on an impressive range of bibliography to consider Origen's Philosophy of History and Eschatology in the widest context of facts, documents and streams of thought, including Classical and Late Antiquity Greek Philosophy, Gnosticism, Hebraism and Patristic Thought, both before Origen and well after his death. Against claims that he causes history to evaporate into barren idealism, his thought is shown to be firmly grounded on his particular vision of historical occurences. Confronting assertions that Origen has no eschatological ideas, his eschatology is shown rather to have made a distinctive mark throughout his works, both explicitly and tacitly. In Origen's view, history was the foundation of scriptural interpretation, a teleological process determined by factors and functions such as providence - prophecy - promise - expectation - realization - anticipation - faith - anticipation - hope - awaiting for - fulfilment - end . Since 1986, the author has argued for the unpopular thesis that Origen is, in many respects, an anti-Platonist. Nevertheless, the author casts light upon the Aristotelian rationale of Origen's doctrine of apokatastasis , arguing that its validity is bolstered by ontological rather than historical premises. The extent of Origen's influence upon what is currently regarded as 'orthodoxy' turns out to be far wider and more profound than has hitherto been acknowledged.
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1 online resource (xvii, 498 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 439-460) and indexes. :
9789047428695 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Angelomorphic pneumatology : Clement of Alexandria and other early Christian witnesses /
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This book discusses the occurrence of angelic imagery in early Christian discourse about the Holy Spirit. Taking as its entry-point Clement of Alexandria's less explored writings, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, and Adumbrationes, it shows that Clement's angelomorphic pneumatology occurs in tandem with spirit christology, within a theological framework still characterized by a binitarian orientation. This complex theological articulation, supported by the exegesis of specific biblical passages (Zech 4: 10; Isa 11 : 2-3; Matt 18:10), reworks Jewish and Christian traditions about the seven first-created angels, and constitutes a relatively widespread phenomenon in early Christianity. Evidence to support this claim is presented in the course of separate studies of Revelation, the Shepherd of Hermas, Justin Martyr, and Aphrahat.
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1 online resource (xxix, 232 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-215) and indexes. :
9789047444480 :
0920-623X ; :
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The Gospel "according to Homer and Virgil " cento and canon /
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In the fourth century C.E. some Christians paraphrased the stories about Jesus' life in the style of classical epics. Imitating the genre of centos, they stitched together lines taken either from Homer (Greek) or Virgil (Latin). They thus created new texts out of the classical epics, while they still remained fully within the confines of their style and vocabulary. It is the aim of this study to put these attempts into a historical and rhetorical context. Why did some Christians rewrite the Gospel stories in this way, and what came out of this? On the basis of these Christian centos, it is natural to address the view held by some scholars, namely that New Testaments narratives are imitations of the epics.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-259) and indexes. :
9789004194427 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Evil--freedom--and the road to perfection in Clement of Alexandria /
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This study deals with Clement of Alexandria's interpretation of evil and free will in the context of the rising Christianity, the influence of Near Eastern and Greek thought on him, his differences from St. Augustine, and how his interpretation affected the rise of the Eastern Christian thought. The book also treats briefly the subject of man's personal aim in life perceived by Clement as the supersession of his nature. Failure to realize this personal aim in life leads to alienation from God, and death. The moral dilemma of Clement's interpretation of evil as failure of life's aim is not a conventional explanation of good and evil but something much more: the option between real life and death. Consequently, Clement's idea of evil refers to existential problems and ontological realities.
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1 online resource (xii, 192 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 181-186) and index. :
9789004313101 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Ignatius of Antioch and the Arian controversy /
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In Ignatius of Antioch and the Arian Controversy , Paul R. Gilliam III contends that the legacy of the second-century martyr Ignatius of Antioch was one battleground upon which Nicene and Non-Nicene personalities fought for their understanding of the relationship of the Son to the Father. It is well-know that Ignatius' views continued to live on into the fourth century via the long recension of his letters. Gilliam, however, shows that there was much more to Ignatius' fourth-century presence than the Ignatian long recension.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004342880 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Poetry and exegesis in premodern Latin Christianity : the encounter between classical and Christian strategies of interpretation /
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This volume investigates various exegetical possibilities in Christian Latin poetry during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the Latin West poetry was mainly associated with the powerful pagan tradition of writers like Vergil and Ovid, and by many poetry was considered to tell lies and provide mere entertainment potentially corrupting the soul. Therefore, Christians initially had reservations about this genre and believed it to be incompatible with Christian worship, literacy and intellectual activity. In practice, however, forms of specifically Christian poetry developed from the end of the third century onwards; theoretical reconciliations were developed around 400 A.D. This collection examines specimens of Christian poetry from Juvencus (the first biblical epicist shortly after 300) up to the thirteenth century. Its particular usefulness lies in the combination of literary theory and hermeneutics, close readings of the texts and new readings on a sound philological basis.
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1 online resource (xi, 360 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047421320 :
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The origin and meaning of Ekklēsia in the early Jesus movement /
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In The Origin and Meaning of Ekklēsia in the Early Jesus Movement , Ralph J. Korner explores the ideological implications of Christ-follower associations self-designating collectively as ekklēsiai . Politically, Korner's inscriptional research suggests that an association named ekklēsia would have been perceived as a positive, rather than as a counter-imperial, participant within Imperial Greek cities. Socio-religiously, Korner argues that there was no universal ekklēsia to which all first generation Christ-followers belonged; ekklēsia was a permanent group designation used by Paul's associations. Ethno-religiously, Korner contends that ekklēsia usage by intra muros groups within pluriform Second Temple Judaism problematizes suggestions, not least at the institutional level, that Paul was "parting ways" with Judaism(s), 'Jewishness', or Jewish organizational forms.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004344990 :
1871-6636 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Christian origins and Greco-Roman culture : social and literary contexts for the New Testament /
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In Christian Origins and Greco-Roman Culture , Stanley Porter and Andrew Pitts assemble an international team of scholars whose work has focused on reconstructing the social matrix for earliest Christianity through the use of Greco-Roman materials and literary forms. Each essay moves forward the current understanding of how primitive Christianity situated itself in relation to evolving Hellenistic culture. Some essays focus on configuring the social context for the origins of the Jesus movement and beyond, while others assess the literary relation between early Christian and Greco-Roman texts.
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1 online resource (vii, 751 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004236219 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Recovering Jewish-Christian sects and gospels /
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The mystery of lost, apocryphal Jewish-Christian gospels has intrigued scholars for centuries. Scholars have also debated whether the Ebionites with their low Christology or the more "orthodox" Nazarenes are the genuine successors of the early Jerusalem church. This book provides a fresh assessment of the patristic sources and the scholarly theories on the number and contents of Jewish-Christian gospels. A new approach, the study of indicators of Jewish-Christian profiles, shows the artificial nature of the church fathers' heretical discourse, bringing forth previously neglected connections between various Jewish-Christian movements. This book also challenges the widely accepted theory of three Jewish-Christian gospels bringing the Gospel of the Hebrews closer to its synoptic cousins-not, however, as a witness of the earliest Jesus traditions but as a post-synoptic composition.
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1 online resource (xiv, 296 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-276) and indexes. :
9789004217430 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Reconsidering Eusebius : collected papers on literary, historical, and theological issues /
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Over the last decades, Eusebius has been the focus of a great deal of attention. New light has been shed both on his writings and on his personality, which has led to a welcome re-assessment of his significance. As a result, he is no longer perceived as a mere compiler but as a powerful author who largely contributed to the construction of the orthodox Church's triumphalism. This volume seeks to contribute to the ongoing re-evaluation of Eusebius as an active participant to the construction of late antique history, theology, and literature. The result is an interdisciplinary collection of articles by an international team of scholars who offer innovative papers on one of the most important late antique author.
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Papers presented at a workshop held Mar. 3, 2008, at the Centre interdisciplinaire d'étude des religions et de la laïcité, Université libre de Bruxelles. :
1 online resource (xii, 254 pages, [12] pages of plates) : illustrations, maps. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004206540 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Hebrew scripture in patristic biblical theory : canon, language, text /
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The status of the Christian Old Testament as originally Hebrew scripture had certain theoretical implications for many early Christians. While they based their exegesis on Greek translations and considered the LXX inspired in its own right, the Fathers did acknowledge the Hebrew origins of their Old Testament and in some ways defined their Bible accordingly. Hebrew scripture exerted its influence on patristic biblical theory especially in regard to issues of the canon, language, and text of the Bible. For many Fathers, only documents thought to be originally composed in Hebrew could be considered canonical, the Hebrew language was considered the primordial language subsequently confined to Israel, and the LXX, as the most faithful translation, corresponded precisely to the Hebrew text.
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1 online resource (ix, 266 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004228023 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The earliest history of the Christian gathering : origin, development and content of the Christian gathering in the first to third centuries /
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Recent research has made a strong case for the view that Early Christian communities, sociologically considered, functioned as voluntary religious associations. This is similar to the practice of many other cultic associations in the Greco-Roman world of the first century CE. Building upon this new approach, along with a critical interpretation of all available sources, this book discusses the social and religio-historical background of the weekly gatherings of Christians and presents a fresh reconstruction of how the weekly gathering originated and developed in both form and content. The topics studied here include the origins of the observance of Sunday as the weekly Christian feast-day, the shape and meaning of the weekly gatherings of the Christian communities, and the rise of customs such as preaching, praying, singing, and the reading of texts in these meetings.
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Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Leiden University, 2009. :
1 online resource (xvii, 342 pages) : illustrations, plans. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-321) and indexes. :
9789004190702 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Preaching after Easter : mid-Pentecost, Ascension, and Pentecost in late antiquity /
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The studies collected in Preaching after Easter examine the festal history and homiletics of Mid-Pentecost, Ascension, and Pentecost in the late antique Mediterranean world. Articles on individual sermons or the work of individual preachers such as John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, Peter Chrysologus, Leo the Great, and Severus of Antioch exhibit the richness of late antique festal preaching. Questions of authenticity, heresiology, and theological, exegetical, or liturgical history are addressed with methodological rigor. Complementary contributions that deal with ancient Jewish-Christian dialogue, art-historical reception, and contemporary liturgical theology illustrate the wide ramifications of ancient Christian festal practice. Students and scholars of these feasts and the interpretive traditions devoted to them will find this volume to be an indispensable source of information and analysis.
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"Papers delivered at a conference with the same title held in Leuven in March 2013." :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004315549 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Intellectus gratiae : die erkenntnistheoretische und hermeneutische Dimension der Gnadenlehre Augustins von Hippo /
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This is the first large scale study on the link between the concepts of intellect and grace in the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo. Its five chapters deal with Augustine's writings on grace as they focus on questions concerning epistemology and hermeneutics. Already non-Christian ancient philosophers identified intellectual perfection with salvation as caused by divine grace. Under their influence (I) Augustine developed also his biblical thought (II). The culmination of his concept of intellectus gratiae , however, came in the later works on sacraments (III), hermeneutics (IV) and against Pelagius and Julian of Eclanum (V). This study highlights that development and recommends the concept of intellectus gratiae as a possible key to Augustine's theological thought as a whole.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis--Regensburg, 1996. :
1 online resource (xii, 501 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 427-466) and indexes. :
9789004313057 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Der Paradox Eine : antignostischer Monarchianismus im zweiten Jahrhundert /
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These essays propose a new dating of, and historical setting for the letters of \'Ignatius of Antioch\'. In so doing this volume forms an important contribution to the study of Monarchianism and early church history as well. An examination of the fragments of Noëtus of Smyrna, the founder of Monarchianism, leads to the discovery of the oldest Regula fidei , and of its origin as part of anti-gnostic polemics. On the ground of late second-century parallels, especially Melito and Irenaeus, this Regula can be dated between 160 and 180 CE. It is within this context that the so-called Letters of Ignatius fit seamlessly. As a result of these findings this volume argues for a significant revision of our understanding of early church history. Monarchianism (\'Sabellianism\', \'Patripassianism\'), later considered heretical, is shown to have been the almost universally accepted belief within the Church up to the period of the Roman bishops Zephyrinus and Callistus.
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1 online resource (xviii, 332 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-332) and index. :
9789004313163 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Irenaeus on the Trinity /
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In Irenaeus on the Trinity , Jackson Lashier provides a fresh reading of Irenaeus' understanding of God, in dialogue with his opponents and sources, which reveals a more developed Trinitarian theology than traditionally thought. Key Trinitarian themes that emerge are the Fatherhood of God, the mutual indwelling relations of Father, Son, and Spirit, and the cooperative divine work of all three in the economy. The study finds Irenaeus' thought to depart in these areas from standard second century trajectories--Apologists and Gnostics--moving Trinitarian theology in the direction of more developed Trinitarian thought of later centuries. This monograph offers not only a better understanding of Irenaeus' thought, but also a fuller picture of the development of Trinitarian thought in early Christianity.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Marquette University, 2011. :
1 online resource (x, 256 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-239) and indexes. :
9789004281271 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
God in early Christian thought : essays in memory of Lloyd G. Patterson /
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While the diversity of early Christian thought and practice is now generally assumed, and the experiences and beliefs of Christians beyond the works of great theologians increasingly valued, the question of God is perennial and fundamental. These essays, individually modest in scope, seek to address that largest of questions using particular issues and problems, or single thinkers and distinct texts. They include studies of doctrine and theology as traditionally conceived, but also of understandings of God among the early Christians that emerge from study of liturgy, art, and asceticism, and in relation to the social order and to nature itself.
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1 online resource (vi, 407 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 361-373) and index. :
9789047427582 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Calendar, chronology, and worship : studies in ancient Judaism and early Christianity /
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This book takes as its theme the related issues of calendar, chronology and worship, as they were conceived and practised in ancient Jewish and early Christian times. After a general discussion of the way the three issues are related, there follow six chapters on the calendar, first the standard Jewish calendar, then the Qumran calendar (giving particular attention to the Book of Enoch and the Temple Scroll) and finally the Christian calendar - both the standard Christian calendar and that observed by the Montanists. Three chapters on chronology come next, one of them offering a chronological solution to a puzzling calendrical problem in the Dead Sea Scrolls, another relating Jewish eschatological expectations to New Testament teaching, and a third examining the chronological calculations of the Hellenistic Jew Demetrius, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the Book of Jubilees. The three concluding chapters, on worship, include an investigation of the historical development of the Psalter and a careful survey of the relationship between ancient Jewish worship and early Christian. The book discusses a variety of issues that arise in modern biblical, intertestamental and patristic study, some neglected, some very controversial, and throws new light upon them.
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1 online resource (viii, 255 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047415473 :
0169-734X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.