Early Christian Research Articles

Political Intertheology

ABSTRACT The following paper introduces the concept of political intertheology as a post-secular counterpart to Carl Schmitt's notion of political theology. It elaborates this concept by examining two interpretations of the New Testament narrative regarding the choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Both interpretations revolve around the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. The first, anti-antisemitic reading, emphasizes the identity between Jesus and Barabbas. The second, anti-anti-Christian interpretation, intensifies the political-theological antagonism. This article proposes a third, guilt-political interpretation. This perspective enables us to acknowledge both the inevitability of the distinction between Christians and what they perceived as Jews, and the fact that a politico-intertheological intensification (the accusation against the Jews of demanding the crucifixion of Jesus) was not inevitable. Understanding how it unfolded facilitates overcoming this fateful accusation at its core, without succumbing to a new accusation (against early Christians) and thereby replacing anti-Judaism with potential anti-Christian sentiment.

Proxenia as a Model for Early Christian Host-Leaders

To mitigate the costs and risks of travel, Greek communities utilized the formal social institution of proxenia. The honorific title of proxenos (“public host”) was bestowed upon someone in another community who provided travelers with hospitality services, such as physical accommodation, social access, and legal protections. This social institution of proxenia, similar to but more specific than ancient patronage or benefaction, offers a fruitful heuristic model for interpreting travel among early Christians and the role of host-leaders within the emerging movement. Itinerant Christians would have utilized the proxenos-paradigm and cultivated proxenos-like relationships with prominent Christian hosts. This paper examines how Philemon and Phoebe functioned as proxenos-like hosts for Christians traveling through their respective cities. We conclude with discussions regarding the prominence and authority of proxenia-like host-leaders within early Christian social networks. Such people with the capacity to facilitate travel and grant social inclusion amassed significant power, as they became the centralized nodes enabling social connectivity..

Концепция души христианских учителей Ранней Церкви

The article is devoted to the teachings about the soul, which were developed in the early Christian tradition before the 4th century. There is no shortage of research on this topic, how-ever, in this article, firstly, no attempt is made to develop a uni-versal patristic teaching, but, on the contrary, an overview of the entire variety of ideas that were formed in the Early Church is give; secondly, the observation is made that the opinion ac-cepted among scientists about the unconditional adherence of Christian authors to one or the other philosophical schools are not supported by the sources. Christian writers argue with their contemporary philosophy, and at the same time rely more on the authority of St. Scriptures and the church tradition, creative-ly reworking the philosophical heritage. Christians use only the general idea of the soul, which was developed by the Greek philosophical schools. Idealistic teaching was spread among the Hellenized Jews of the Diaspora. Christian church teachers used both the «Platonic» immaterial concept of the soul, as well as the «Aristotelian» materialistic one. The author of the article concludes that the choice in favor of one or another model de-pended more on regional specifics. In those provinces of the West and East where the degree of Hellenization was higher, there is a greater attraction to Platonic idealism. On the contra-ry, in Roman North Africa, where Hellenistic culture did not spread, and as the local population as a whole tended to reli-gious literalism and materialism, typical for Punic culture, the materialistic doctrine of the soul also spread. Since it is in Ro-man Africa that Latin Christianity was born, it is in it that Christian materialism would develop. It is precisely caused by cultural specifics of the Mediterranean regions, and not by the difference in Greek and Latin languages, that is usually esti-mated as a core factor of the split between teachings of the soul in the Eastern and Western Christian thought.

Defining the sanctissimus

This article presents the results of a programme of investigation into vallum enclosures around known or suspected early Christian church sites in eastern Scotland. Survey and keyhole excavation results are reported on for four sites: Abersnithock, Aberdeenshire; Migvie, Aberdeenshire; Glamis, Angus; and Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross. At each site a combination of aerial survey, geophysics and evaluative excavation revealed rectilinear or curvilinear ditched enclosures centring on the position of the church, with radiocarbon dating showing these enclosures are of early medieval date. The significance of the church vallums are discussed, including their role as marking the sacred precincts of the early church and the significance of such large enclosures in the early medieval landscapes of Pictland. In addition to the early medieval results, the geophysical survey at Dunkeld revealed part of old Dunkeld town, which was burnt down and abandoned after the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

Contextualizing Transnational Chinese Christianity: A Relational Approach

In recent years, the number of Chinese Christian organizations in Europe has grown considerably compared to other overseas Chinese community organizations. They can mobilize transnational networks and resources to expand religious space in host societies and form a highly visible social force. Although the rise of early Christianity in the Western world has been considered an outcome of inherent religious strength, especially in terms of its central doctrines and religious ethics, this article suggests that in the diasporic Chinese world where Christianity constitutes a non-indigenous religious tradition, social relatedness based on native place, family, and kinship ties provides a more useful context for understanding its dynamic expansion and cross-regional transmission. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Europe among overseas Chinese Christian traders and entrepreneurs, this research seeks an alternative framework for understanding the religious-cultural dynamics of Chinese Christianity in the context of transnational migration.

Renovating House Church Assumptions

Missiologists have often claimed that early Christian house churches could not have surpassed 15-30 people. The argument often centers on two prongs—persecution and space. Persecution kept house churches relatively small to avoid visibility. The size of Greco-Roman houses kept churches relatively small due to space limitations. For some missiologists, these limitations became advantageous and led to rapid multiplication as the church grew "sideways." This article questions both of these assumptions and instead provides evidence that early Christian churches could and did embrace several models based on their particular context.

Rome and Women’s Response to Crisis: from Early Christianity to the Present Day

Rome and Women’s Response to Crisis: from Early Christianity to the Present Day

APPLICATION OF MICROBIOMORPHIC AND TOTAL PHOSPHORUS ANALYSES TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE SREDNY ZELENCHUK TEMPLE, NIZHNY ARKHYZ HILLFORT

The article presents the results of the first geoarchaeological study of the materials of Christian burials identified in the interior of the Middle Zelenchuk temple of the 10th century in the Nizhne-Arkhyz ancient settlement (Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia). The results of microbiomorphic (phytolith) and total phosphorus content analyses allowed us to reveal previously unknown features of the funeral rites of the multicultural and multi-ethnic Christian population of one of the largest cities of the North Caucasus in the Middle Ages. The differences in funerary practices between the 11th and 13th centuries became evident when studying even a small group of funerary complexes in which people of the same social group – representatives of the social elite of Western Alania – were buried. The geoarchaeological study showed an abundance of plant and animal organic matter in the burials. The complex analysis of archaeological materials and data obtained during the microbiomorphic study allowed us to conclude that members of the urban Christian community had several burial traditions: in stone boxes (tombs), in wooden frames, and a mixed ritual when a wooden structure was placed in a stone box. The presence of wooden bark particles in the burials seems to be related not so much to the material from which the burial structures were made as to the presence in the graves of bark or bast objects (bast caskets or boxes, birch bark amulets, toys, etc.). The tradition known from pagan Alanian burials of placing the head of the deceased on a “stone cushion” (more typical for male burials) was preserved in early Christian burials. In one of the four women’s graves studied, the analysis showed the presence of a “hay pillow.” Probably, before the burial, a ritual of washing the deceased was performed, as evidenced by the presence of diatoms and sponge spicules in the samples.

Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus on the Role of the Devil in Problems of Evil and Suffering

AbstractThe aim of this essay is to reconsider the way scholarship conceives the role of the devil in early Christian approaches to evil and suffering, using as a case study theological reflection on this theme by Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus. Through a close reading of three texts concerned with the origins of evil, suffering, and the continued presence of the devil on earth after Christ's victory, I propose the devil's existence contributes to the mystery of evil for Basil and Gregory. Put simply, the devil does not serve as a strategy to solve problems of evil and suffering. The devil himself is a problem.

Book Review: The Roman Mass: From Early Christian Origins to Tridentine Reform

Book Review: The Roman Mass: From Early Christian Origins to Tridentine Reform

Spatial Imagination, Embedded Female Agency, and Women’s Networks in Early Christianity

Abstract Using spatial and intersectional analysis as well as theory dedicated to embedded gender agency, this article argues that the religious identities of female Christians were dynamic and pluriform not static and singular. These tools help to identify the ways in which one or more aspects of simultaneously co-existing female gendered identities became salient in different situations, through specific social practices. Documents for analysis include references to urban women in Pauline literature with special attention to widows/single women in 1 Timothy, ascetical women rejecting marriage as represented by the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, and the representations of female Christ followers and the gendering of Christianity by first and second century Greek and Roman polemicists/magistrates against Christ religion (Celsus, Lucian, Caecilius, Pliny).

After Paul: The Apostle’s Legacy in Early Christianity by James W. Aageson (review)

After Paul: The Apostle’s Legacy in Early Christianity by James W. Aageson (review)

What Justification? Pauline Reception and the Interpretation of Phld. 8.2

While studies of how Paul and the Pauline letters were received in early Christianity continue to appear at an ever-quickening rate, there are still corners of early Christian literature that remain underexplored with regard to Pauline reception. The letters of Ignatius of Antioch would not usually be included in the underexplored category, but this article argues that one statement within Ignatius’s letters is deserving of more careful attention vis-à-vis its relationship to Pauline themes and terminology. After showing that interpretations of Ignatius’s Philadelphians (Phld.) 8.2 have typically run along two opposing tracks, the article argues that both ways of interpreting Ignatius’s letter fail to do justice to his rhetoric in the letter. The article proposes an alternative way of reading Ignatius’s justification language in Phld. 8.2. Whereas Paul wrote about justification before God, Ignatius desires to be proven right in the eyes of his Philadelphian readers, with whom he has had a dispute. The article concludes by offering ways to account for the different meanings evidenced in the letters of Ignatius and Paul while also endeavouring to explain the purpose for which Ignatius employs terminology that is similar to that of Paul. In the final clause of Phld. 8.2, Pauline terminology provides Ignatius not with his doctrinal substance but rather with authoritative rhetoric that evokes the Apostle.

Space and Sonship: Paul’s Familial Metaphors in Rom 8

Paul often uses metaphors as a method of persuasion. In Rom 8, Paul’s use of kinship metaphors such as “sonship” and being “heirs” is particularly ubiquitous. Paul writes to an audience situated in Rome where they would have been well aware of kinship metaphors as this inter alia formed part of the Julio-Claudio Caesars’ vocabulary and legitimation of their rule. Paul’s familial metaphors would have resonated with an audience in Rome au fait with the notion of adoption and its implications. The use of the images of “sonship” and “heir” also function as spatial metaphors indicating a vertical and horizontal understanding which the audience would have picked up on. The spatial metaphors contribute to an understanding of “in” and “out”, underscoring an alternative family identity found in Christ. These metaphors play a role in the formation and construction of what is later to be called early Christianity.

The Souring of the Ways: Anti-Jewish Readings of Psalm 69 and the Wine Offerings to Jesus

Abstract This essay traces one particular way that the passion tradition of mixed/sour wine offered to Jesus developed in extracanonical gospels, broader New Testament Apocrypha, Tatian’s Diatessaron, and other early Christian writings. Notably, the divergent details of these offerings in the passion narratives of the four canonical gospels were often simplified out of a growing awareness of an allusion to Ps 69:22 (68:22 LXX) with its reference to gall and sour wine. The early Christian tradition comes to be stabilized as a single offering of sour wine and gall, even though that pairing does not appear in the canonical gospels. Further evidence that early Christians used Ps 69 to simplify the various traditions is seen from the way they also drew upon the imprecations from the broader context of the psalm for polemical leverage against the Jews. This hermeneutical and apologetic trajectory developed despite the fact that (a) the gospels show varying degrees of awareness of the psalm in their respective passion accounts, and (b) the gospels do not indict anyone making the offer, except for Luke (implicitly), when the Roman soldiers do so mockingly.

Are Luke’s Community Summaries in Acts 2 and 4 a Cultural Appeal?

Scholars have long suggested that Luke employs idealized, philosophical language to describe the life of the Christ-believing community in Acts 2.44–47 and 4.32–35 for the purpose of garnering social capital for the movement. In defense of this case, many scholars point to the similar cultural appeal evident in descriptions of the communal life of the Essenes in the works of Josephus and Philo. Against this consensus, I argue that the communal summaries of Acts 2 and 4, unlike the comparable accounts in Josephus and Philo, do not share enough distinctive language or themes with any of the various philosophical traditions to merit the claim that Luke alludes to them. Undue attention to these unlikely parallels distracts from the way Luke’s allusion to LXX Deuteronomy, which stands on firmer ground, rhetorically portrays the early Christian community as fulfilling the ideals set down in the Law of Moses—a credible legitimizing technique within an intra-Jewish apologetic context.

TOLKIEN'S UNIQUE RECEPTION OF PYTHAGOREAN ‘DISSONANCE’ IN THE AINULINDALË OF THE SILMARILLION

This article is about J. R. R. Tolkien's adaptation of Pythagorean musical elements in the ‘Song of the Ainur’ of the Silmarillion. It details Tolkien's use of Pythagorean dissonance, along with what that amounts to in terms of musical theory, and explores the epistemological origins of the concept and how it found its way into this work of fiction. On the latter point, Platonism, Neoplatonism, and early Christian theology are considered. This includes the likes of Prudentius, pseudo-Dionysius, Augustine, and Aquinas, among others. The article observes that Tolkien has deliberately chosen a somewhat esoteric element of Pythagorean musical theory, albeit highly relevant to his own historical context, in order to explore concepts of morality along with the traditional, Christian conundrum of predestination vs. free will.

Religion and persecution

AbstractThis paper investigates the relationship between local religiosity and episodes of persecutions in Europe between 1100 and 1850. We introduce a novel proxy for measuring local religion: the cult of saints in early Western Christianity. Our findings show that cities with an established cult of a saint are 11% points more likely to engage in Jewish persecutions and witch trials. However, cities with more progressive gender norms, measured by the presence of a female saint cult, are less likely to persecute witches compared to male-only saint cities. Our baseline relationship persists after controlling for a range of city-level economic, geographic and institutional characteristics and after accounting for other major confounders. Suggestive evidence points towards two mechanisms behind the saints-persecution relationship: (i) changes in norms induced by longer exposure to Christianity; and (ii) proximity of religious groups due to congruence of religious festivities.

:From Roman to Early Christian Cyprus: Studies in Religion and Archaeology

:<i>From Roman to Early Christian Cyprus: Studies in Religion and Archaeology</i>

Re-examining the early Irish marriage laws

abstract: Breatnach 2016 provides a comprehensive inventory of the many legal and literary instances of cétmuinter and concludes by suggesting that his linguistic analysis of the word proves that polygyny in early Christian Ireland did not exist. This paper reviews Breatnach's work; re-examines the early Irish marriage laws more generally; puts those laws within their larger medieval European context; and concludes that the situation in medieval Ireland is not as clear-cut as Breatnach would suggest.