Abstract
The present study aspires to catch a glimpse of a peculiar phenomenon in the history of religions, namely, the competitive character of early Christian apologetic literature in its attempt to confront head-on the non-Christian ideological life-world and, for that matter, to persuade the latter’s adherents to convert to the new hierophanic message. More specifically, in this study I look into the hierophanic/religious/spiritual market of the first three centuries CE, focusing on its creating, perpetuating and promoting of intellectual hegemony interactions, while at the same time I explore the conversion discourse used by all parties concerned in order to win over the Other. Apart from other religions, early Christian ‘Apologists’ faced predominantly Middle Platonism, Stoicism, Neopythagoreanism and, last but not least, Neoplatonism. In doing so they adopted a number of rhetoric and social strategies at hand; strategies that, although intended to turn the Other into the Same—which they did achieve, albeit gradually—ended up turning the Same into the Other as well.
Highlights
The Hellenistic (323–30 BCE) and Imperial Periods (30 BCE–c. 300 CE) could be described as a historical phase of the most pronounced inter-religious co-existence and exchange.1 that they belong to a truly global scale
In this study I look into the hierophanic/religious/spiritual market of the first three centuries CE, focusing on its creating, perpetuating and promoting of intellectual hegemony interactions, while at the same time I explore the conversion discourse used by all parties concerned in order to win over the Other
With Origen the apologetic conversion discourse of the early Church was not aiming anymore at convincing people to either become Christians or to consolidate their choosing of Christian faith, but it was opening up new avenues in the history of ideas—even by functioning as a catalyst for the transformation of pagan thought through the emergence of its last great intellectual moment, namely, Neoplatonism
Summary
The Hellenistic (323–30 BCE) and Imperial Periods (30 BCE–c. 300 CE) could be described as a historical phase of the most pronounced inter-religious co-existence and exchange. that they belong to a truly global scale. Apart from intellectual competition, there was a peculiar balance operative between monopoly and pluralism—between the monopoly of State ideology and intellectual/religious pluralism In effect, the former guaranteed the latter at the social level, but because both were hierophanic the possibility of clash was always lurking and inevitable. There is a number of ‘Philosophies of the Empire’, such as Skepticism, Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, it seems that the most formidable competitor for early Christian thinkers was Middle Platonism, which in many respects combined most of the concerns of the other philosophical ‘schools’ Another such ‘school’—somewhat marginal, but still influential—was Neopythagoreanism, which proved to be quite formidable as an opponent for early Christianity, since the hierophanic features and intentionality of the Pythagorean tradition were especially heightened.. (a) when conversion was sought after through active opposition to the Other, the strategies included ridicule, (moral and social) stigmatization, explicit calls for conversion and attempts to have prohibitions imposed against the group under fire; (b) when the discourse was focused on and directed internally to one’s own community, what we can see is edification and the promotion of solidarity amongst members, argumentation about the Same, and threats of sanctioning against members; lastly, (c) when conversion discourse came as a defensive reaction to the strategies making up (a), one witnesses attempts amounting to information campaign, profile promotion and counter-argumentation
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