Abstract This article traces Augustine’s understanding of how human embryos are formed and the roles of both male and female in this process. A close analysis of Augustinian texts presents Augustine’s embryology within its contemporary theological and scientific framework. Before analysing Augustine’s texts, the paper provides some context of ancient Graeco-Roman embryological doctrines that somehow influenced his thought and of their reception and transformation in patristic literature. Setting Augustine’s embryology in context provides a better understanding of the theological reasons behind his own theories and of the significance of such a doctrine in Augustine’s Christology and anthropology.

Abstract This article treats several fragments from Emperor Julian’s Against the Galileans that mention the ancient Jewish king Solomon and John the Evangelist. Analysis of Julian’s brief treatment of these two characters reveals several features about Julian’s wider argumentation in Against the Galileans: his sophisticated engagement with Christian Scriptures, including attempts to get behind the text to its compositional context (a new strategy in the history of anti-Christian writing); the theological criterion at the center of his criticisms, right worship; and his charges about the serial nature of Christian apostasy. By tracing how Julian uses characters from Christian texts to advance these arguments, this article also contributes to growing interest in uses of exempla in ancient writing.

Abstract The present article focuses on the potential of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to assist in dating undated Coptic manuscripts from a monastic context. Focusing on one individual – Papa Mena of the Great Cell, a monk and lector from the Monastery of Saint Macarius in Lower Egypt – I examine the social networks in which he participated in order to estimate the dates of the manuscripts in which he appears. The results of this analysis have further implications for our understanding of manuscript production and donation in Islamic Egypt, as well as demonstrating the usefulness of SNA in the study of early Christian manuscripts.