The Grotesque Body in Early Christian Discourse

The Grotesque Body in Early Christian Discourse PDF Author: Istvan Czachesz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317544048
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Early Christian apocryphal and conical documents present us with grotesque images of the human body, often combining the playful and humorous with the repulsive, and fearful. First to third century Christian literature was shaped by the discourse around and imagery of the human body. This study analyses how the iconography of bodily cruelty and visceral morality was produced and refined from the very start of Christian history. The sources range across Greek comedy, Roman and Jewish demonology, and metamorphosis traditions. The study reveals how these images originated, were adopted, and were shaped to the service of a doctrinally and psychologically persuasive Christian message.

The Grotesque Body in Early Christian Discourse

The Grotesque Body in Early Christian Discourse PDF Author: Istvan Czachesz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317544048
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Early Christian apocryphal and conical documents present us with grotesque images of the human body, often combining the playful and humorous with the repulsive, and fearful. First to third century Christian literature was shaped by the discourse around and imagery of the human body. This study analyses how the iconography of bodily cruelty and visceral morality was produced and refined from the very start of Christian history. The sources range across Greek comedy, Roman and Jewish demonology, and metamorphosis traditions. The study reveals how these images originated, were adopted, and were shaped to the service of a doctrinally and psychologically persuasive Christian message.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Ritual

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Ritual PDF Author: Risto Uro
Publisher:
ISBN: 019874787X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 753

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Book Description
The Handbook provides an indispensable account of the ritual world of early Christianity from the beginning of the movement up to the end of the sixth century.

T&T Clark Handbook to Early Christian Meals in the Greco-Roman World

T&T Clark Handbook to Early Christian Meals in the Greco-Roman World PDF Author: Soham Al-Suadi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567666417
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
This handbook situates early Christian meals in their broader context, with a focus on the core topics that aid understanding of Greco-Roman meal practice, and how this relates to Christian origins. In addition to looking at the broader Hellenistic context, the contributors explain the unique nature of Christian meals, and what they reveal about early Christian communities and the development of Christian identity. Beginning with Hellenistic documents and authors before moving on to the New Testament material itself, according to genre - Gospels, Acts, Letters, Apocalyptic Literature - the handbook culminates with a section on the wider resources that describe daily life in the period, such as medical documents and inscriptions. The literary, historical, theological and philosophical aspects of these resources are also considered, including such aspects as the role of gender during meals; issues of monotheism and polytheism that arise from the structure of the meal; how sacrifice is understood in different meal practices; power dynamics during the meal and issues of inclusion and exclusion at meals.

Maidens, Magic and Martyrs in Early Christianity

Maidens, Magic and Martyrs in Early Christianity PDF Author: Jan N. Bremmer
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161544507
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description
In this work, Jan N. Bremmer aims to bring together the worlds of early Christianity and those of ancient history and classical literature - worlds that still all too rarely interlock. Contextualising the life and literature of the early Christians in their Greco-Roman environment, he focusses on four areas. A first section looks at more general aspects of early Christianity: the name of the Christians, their religious and social capital, prophecy and the place of widows and upper-class women in the Christian movement. Second, the chronology and place of composition of the early apocryphal Acts of the Apostles and Pseudo-Clementines are newly determined by paying close attention to their doctrinal contents, but also, innovatively, to their onomastics and social vocabulary. The author also analyses the frequent use of magic in the Acts and explains the prominence of women by comparing the Acts to the Greek novel. Third, an investigation into the theme of the tours of hell suggests a new chronological order, shows that the Christian tours were indebted to both Greek and Jewish models, and illustrates that in the course of time the genre dropped a large part of its Jewish heritage. The fourth and final section concentrates on the most famous and intriguing report of an ancient martyrdom: the Passion of Perpetua. It pays special attention to the motivation and visions of Perpetua, which are analyzed not by taking recourse to modern theories such as psychoanalysis, but by looking to the world in which Perpetua lived, both Christian and pagan. It is only by seeing the early Christians in their ancient world that we might begin to understand them and their emerging communities. (Publisher's description).

On Christology, Anthropology, Cognitive Science and the Human Body

On Christology, Anthropology, Cognitive Science and the Human Body PDF Author: Martin Claes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350296112
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
This book reads texts of Augustine on the topic of the human body in the context of contemporary debates in philosophical theology and relevant authors from the cognitive science of religion. Martin Claes focuses particularly on Augustine's special position in the intellectual discourses of Western philosophy (free will, theodicy), theology (grace, incarnation) and humanities (anthropology, political sciences, law), arguing that his written work is an excellent point of departure for a multidimensional scholarly approach. The reading in this book shows that a different picture emerges if we make the effort to situate Augustine's mature anthropology within contemporary debates in philosophical theology and cognitive science of religion. Omnipotence, vulnerability, suffering but also purification and perfection are discussed in dialogue between patristic and philosophical theology; the human offers the clue to concepts of unity in diversity in Christ.

Revisioning John Chrysostom

Revisioning John Chrysostom PDF Author: Chris de Wet
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004390049
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 868

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Book Description
In Revisioning John Chrysostom, Chris de Wet and Wendy Mayer harness and promote a new wave of scholarship on the life and works of this famous late-antique (c. 350-407 CE) preacher. New theories from the cognitive and neurosciences, cultural and sleep studies, and history of the emotions, among others, meld with reconsideration of lapsed approaches – his debt to Graeco-Roman paideia, philosophy, and now medicine – resulting in sometimes surprising and challenging conclusions. Together the chapters produce a fresh vision of John Chrysostom that moves beyond the often negative views of the 20th century and open up substantially new vistas for exploration.

Monasteries and the Care of Souls in Late Antique Christianity

Monasteries and the Care of Souls in Late Antique Christianity PDF Author: Paul C. Dilley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316878589
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
In Monasteries and the Care of Souls in Late Antique Christianity, Paul C. Dilley explores the personal practices and group rituals through which the thoughts of monastic disciples were monitored and trained to purify the mind and help them achieve salvation. Dilley draws widely on the interdisciplinary field of cognitive studies, especially anthropology, in his analysis of key monastic 'cognitive disciplines', such as meditation on scripture, the fear of God, and prayer. In addition, various rituals distinctive to communal monasticism, including entrance procedures, the commemoration of founders, and collective repentance, are given their first extended analysis. Participants engaged in 'heart-work' on their thoughts and emotions, which were understood to reflect the community's spiritual state. This book will be of interest to scholars of early Christianity and the ancient world more generally for its detailed description of communal monastic culture and its innovative methodology.

Journeys to Heaven and Hell

Journeys to Heaven and Hell PDF Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300265166
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
A New York Times best-selling scholar's illuminating exploration of the earliest Christian narrated journeys to heaven and hell “[An] illuminating deep dive . . . An edifying origin story for contemporary Christian conceptions of the afterlife.”—Publishers Weekly From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged. He examines how fundamental social experiences of the early Christian communities molded the conceptions of the afterlife that eventuated into the accepted doctrines of heaven, hell, and purgatory. Drawing on Greek and Roman epic poetry, early Jewish writings such as the Book of Watchers, and apocryphal Christian stories including the Acts of Thomas, the Gospel of Nicodemus, and the Apocalypse of Peter, Ehrman demonstrates that ancient tours of the afterlife promoted reflection on matters of ethics, faith, ambition, and life’s meaning, the fruit of which has been codified into Christian belief today.

Talking God in Society

Talking God in Society PDF Author: Ute E. Eisen
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN: 3647573175
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 808

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Book Description
Peter Lampe's work has covered a wide range of fields, the common denominator being his interest in contextualizing belief systems. Mirroring his multifaced work, the authors pursue his interest from different interdisciplinary angles, addressing the interdependence between religious expressions and their situations or contexts. The application of theoretical models to texts examples flanks the inspiring theoretical – epistemological and methodological – reflections. Studies in socio-economic and political history adjoin archaeological, epigraphic, papyrological and iconographic investigations. (Social-)psychological interpretations of texts complement rhetorical analyses. The hermeneutical reception of biblical materials in, for example, the Koran and Christian Chinese or Orthodox contexts, as well as in religious education and homiletics, rounds off the volumes.

Language, Cognition, and Biblical Exegesis

Language, Cognition, and Biblical Exegesis PDF Author: Ronit Nikolsky
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350078123
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
What role do texts play in religious practice? What is the relationship between these texts and cognition? Are some texts more successful because they are better adapted to our cognitive structures? Why is biblical interpretation necessary, and what is the cognitive process behind it? This book considers such questions, and fills the gap in research on religious texts and narratives in the cognitive science of religion. The study of ancient religions and biblical studies are dominated by textual evidence. However, the cognitive science of religion is lacking significant research on the language and textual interpretation of this literature. This book presents a systematic attempt to redefine the interpretation of religious texts in a cognitive framework, providing concrete textual analysis on a broad selection of biblical passages. It explores the ways that cognitive approaches to language and textual interpretation expand the disciplines of the cognitive science of religion and biblical studies. This book brings together methodology from the cognitive sciences, linguistics, philology, biblical studies, and religious studies, to offer a new perspective for biblical studies and cognitive sciences. It presents a renewed vision of textual interpretation - one that aligns hermeneutical reflection with our cognitive capacities.