Maidens, Magic and Martyrs in Early Christianity: Collected Essays I

Abstract

In this, the first of three volumes of collected essays, Jan N. Bremmer, who views himself first of all as an ancient historian, brings together his essays focusing on Christianity in the first two centuries. His goal is to situate Christianity in time and place and thereby deepen understanding.After 18 pages of prolegomena, including the table of contents, the main body of the volume is divided into four sections: (1) “Aspects of Early Christianity” (93 pages), (2) “Studies in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles and Pseudo-Clementines” (171 pages), (3) “Apocalypses and Tours of Hell” (79 pages), and (4) “The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas” (121 pages). This is followed by 32 pages of acknowledgements and indexes. Because these are collected essays, there is no bibliography.How does one summarize, much less evaluate, a volume of this sort? Fortunately, Bremmer assists the reviewer with clear and descriptive chapter titles. Thus, in the first section (“Aspects of Early Christianity”) one finds: “Why Did Jesus’ Followers Call Themselves ‘Christians’?” “The Social and Religious Capital of the Early Christians,” “Why Did Early Christianity Attract Upper-Class Women?” “Pauper or Patroness: The Widow in the Early Christian Church,” “Peregrinus’ Christian Career,” and “The Domestication of Early Christian Prophecy.” Clearly, there is an interest in women in early Christianity and an interest in topics that carry from the first into the second century in a Greco-Roman context.The second section (“Apocryphal Acts and Pseudo-Clementines”) is equally interesting, although in this case one more or less starts in the second century: “Women in the Acts of John,” “Man, Magic, and Martyrdom in the Acts of Andrew,” “Aspects of the Acts of Peter: Women, Magic, Place and Date,” “Magic, Martyrdom and Women’s Liberation in the Acts of Paul and Thecla,” “The Acts of Thomas: Place, Date and Women,” “Conversion in the Oldest Apocryphal Acts,” “Magic in the Apocryphal Acts,” “The Apocryphal Acts: Authors, Place, Time and Readership,” “Pseudo-Clementines: Texts, Dates, Places, Authors and Magic,” and “Apion and Anoubion in the Homilies.” Here, the themes of women and magic come to the fore but by no means are Bremer’s exclusive interests.The third section (“Apocalypses and Tours of Hell”) includes “The Apocalypse of Peter: Greek or Jewish?” “The Apocalypse of Peter: Place, Date and Punishments,” “Christian Hell: From the Apocalypse of Peter to the Apocalypse of Paul,” “Tours of Hell: Greek, Jewish, Roman and Early Christian,” and “Descents to Hell and Ascents to Heaven in Apocalyptic Literature.” In essence, Bremmer follows Bauckham in seeing Greek roots to the Jewish origins of Christian thought on hell.The final section (“Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas”) Bremmer places in the third century: “Perpetua and her Diary: Authenticity, Family and Visions,” “Felicitas: The Martyrdom of a Young African Woman,” “The Motivation of Martyrs: Perpetua and the Palestinians,” “Passio Perpetuae 2, 16 and 17,” “The Vision of Saturus in the Passio Perpetuae,” and “Contextualizing Heaven in Third-Century North Africa.” While the literature is different, one again sees themes similar to the preceding sections, for example, the interest in heaven (and hell), women, and martyrdom.While one can clearly see that references to biblical literature, including the NT predominate in the first section, the whole development of the trajectories of theological and experiential Christianity with its interaction with Jewish roots and its Greco-Roman context is relevant to examining early Christianity within the context of its reception history. Bremmer writes clearly and well. The work is fascinating in many respects, even if it is essays rather than an examination of a single text or theme.