Foreign Cults Research Articles

Paul, Politics, and New Creation: Reconsidering Paul and Empire by Najeeb T. Haddad

Reviewed by: Paul, Politics, and New Creation: Reconsidering Paul and Empire by Najeeb T. Haddad Timothy Gombis najeeb t. haddad, Paul, Politics, and New Creation: Reconsidering Paul and Empire (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2021). Pp. xiii + 213. $100. This volume, a revision of the author's doctoral dissertation completed at Loyola University in Chicago (2018), critiques counterimperial interpretations of Paul. Haddad argues that Paul's theological outlook and instructions in his letters demand a more nuanced description than being either "anti" or "pro" imperial (p. 3). The first two chapters consider the state of the question and examine arguments that Paul's rhetoric was counterimperial. In a third chapter, H. explores the manner in which foreign cults existed within the Roman Empire. Haddad then describes, in chap. 4, the relationship of Paul's assemblies to associations as they existed in the ancient Greco-Roman world. His final chapter articulates the thrust of Paul's preaching, focusing on the distinction between kosmos ("cosmos") and kainē ktisis ("new creation") "and their cosmological and anthropological significance in Paul's eschatological soteriology" (p. 139). Haddad's opening chapter describes the state of play in scholarship and highlights substantive criticisms put to those who argue for a counterimperial Paul. He notes the diversity of its forms throughout various regions to support his claim that "the imperial cult was not a sort of unified doctrine across the Roman Empire" (p. 7). Further, the manner in which the emperor was regarded as a deity is ambiguous, at the very least. That the emperor was "divine" was more of an honorific title than a recognition that he held a place among the gods (p. 9). Sacrifices and prayers were not made to emperors, but rather on their behalf. H. regards this as important in order to demonstrate that it is misguided to compare as competing claims the attribution of the title divi filius to Augustus and Paul's reference to Jesus as "the Son of God." These terms function differently in Roman ideology and Pauline christology. In his second chapter, H. questions the claim that Paul's letters contain "coded speech" meant to undermine the empire by exploring "figured speech" in ancient rhetoric: "a rhetorical device that communicates a covert message" (p. 43). He notes that ancient rhetoricians commonly referred to three forms of such speech: implied meaning, deflection, and [End Page 327] saying the opposite. He reviews the circumstances in which these forms would be employed, along with how they would be created and detected, before then analyzing Pauline passages that interpreters claim to be hidden transcripts. Especially pertinent is Rom 13:1–7. Reviewing several proposals, H. finds that their claims do not hold up to close scrutiny against the conventions of ancient rhetoricians. Taking into account Paul's Jewishness, his noting that civil authorities are "servants" and not divinities is not a subversion but is consistent with how Paul's Jewish contemporaries regarded earthly rulers. And Paul was aware of Greco-Roman rhetoric, so the absence of clues indicating figured speech is notable. In treating the relationship of Roman imperial rule to the religious practices of subjugated peoples in far-flung locations, H. notes that there was little interest in converting foreigners to a Roman religion. While foreign cults within Rome itself would have invited more intense scrutiny and, occasionally, suppression, Rome was far more tolerant in the Greek east. Further, when it comes to identifying contemporaneous analogous social realities with the kinds of communities Paul saw himself creating and nurturing, H. asserts that Paul was creating something completely new (p. 129). This new reality, H. asserts in his final and concluding chapter, is the kainē ktisis, a new cosmic reality into which people are delivered by God, who rescues them from enslavement under various powers within the kosmos. According to H., this is the cosmic reality within which Paul conceives of the Roman Empire. Along with the kosmos, which is fading away in light of the dawning eschatological salvation God is bringing about in Christ, the Roman Empire will pass away and so is not a prominent target of Paul's rhetoric (p. 154). Overall, H. presents a satisfying account of how...

Roman and Christian Just War: A Re-Analysis

There is no denying that the early Catholic Church grew up in a climate predominated by a rich and broad religious pantheon. Emerging at first as a perceived outgrowth of Judaism, Christianity was exposed to, among other things, Roman culture. Roman religious practice, which was typically very open to adopting foreign cults, felt threatened by Christianity, resulting in periods of persecution. As a result, the early Christian community had a very complicated relationship with Imperial Rome. The Church stressed non-collaboration, but evidence points that there was a divide between teachings and practice on the topic of military service. The patristic writings of the Early Church fathers are noticeably sparse until Ambrose and Augustine, who present what can generally be called a theory of just war. They also waver between support and condemnation, reflecting the needs of their congregations.
 Despite this relative absence of discussion, the prevailing attitude in the historical scholarship of the Early Church was that the pre-Constantine Church pushed for non-collaboration with Roman society, i.e. not serving in public office or the army. After Constantine, that same scholarship points towards an about-face in Church teachings, and a co-opting of the burgeoning Christian community. What this paper seeks to address is that Roman iustum bellum, and Christian just war, were developments specific to their contemporary societies and, while there is definitely a link, the two form distinct systems of thought. One might even say that iustum bellum was more concerned with justifying war, than the moral quandaries of Christian just war.

The political vow of Jephthah in Judges 11:30-31

This study responds to Jephthah’s ambiguous vow that led to a heart-wrenching and outrageous tragedy. There are conflicting ideologies held by Jephthah and the Deutronomist tradition in laying the biblical theology foundations. The church is challenged to be vigilant in vowing. To achieve this goal, the text of Judges 11:30–31 is explored by using an ideological critique approach. The focus of this study is to underline the concept of Jephthah’s ideology of victory on the fighting against the enemy of Israel as a political way to prove one’s identity and get out of social discrimination at the expense of everything including his own family. Jephthah’s act was not aligned with what the Deuteronomists promoted. Attempts to incorporate any sacrificial foreign cult (including anyone) resulted in deep scars on the faith history of the Israelites. In addition, it shows that Jephthah’s leadership, which is contrary to God’s ideals, is unable to maintain its existence in international relations when it is able to maintain its religious exclusivity. This study contributes to the interpretation of biblical texts by exposing the ideological aspects of the reader to take the right stance to be aware of the tendency to cause gender violence with a vow.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This is a multidisciplinary study because it integrates biblical hermeneutics with the context of the political constellation of Christian leaders. Apart from that, it serves as a reference for reflection and dialogue that corrects, criticises or legitimises the situation in the context of ideology, history, poverty, social conflicts, political problems and gender justice for readers.

Isis the immigrant and Roman toleration

In adopting a foreign cult, ancient Roman worshippers were not searching for a new religion to replace their old one, but rather seeking to expand the range of gods and practices at their disposal. They assumed that all traditional gods and religions were valid and effective. There was, therefore, an implicit toleration built into the system of ancient polytheism, and this was admired by the thinkers of the Enlightenment, though the Roman state never guaranteed freedom of worship. The cult of Isis was distasteful to the Roman élite, and the government often reacted brutally to particular actions by her worshippers. Nevertheless, her cult was always popular with the general public and the state never wished to abolish it, and eventually built a public temple to Isis. The worshippers of Isis tested the limits of Roman toleration and demonstrated its vitality.

The legend of Tan-varp-ekva

The object of the study is the texts about Tan-varp-ekva, «the tendon twistress», recorded during the 20th c. The majority of the full-text tales has been recorded from the northern Mansi (Lyapin River Basin, Upper Lozva), some folklore stories have been published for various groups of Khanty (Yugan, Middle Ob, Berezovo, Kazym, Upper Purov, Shurishkar); the Nenets legend about the old woman-Sihirtia stands out. The tales mostly split into two plots: the first one is associated with the prohibition to spin veins at night, the second — with changeling and kidnapping of children. The analysis of the key points of the legends has been carried out, the position of the Ob-Ugorsk forest spirit among similar images of the Komi and Russians has been determined. The authors suggest that the village of Lombovozh (Lyapin Mansi) became the place of creation of the folklore storyline, linking it to the presence of a large archaeological site, a medieval settlement. The spread of the legend of Tan-varp-ekva among other Mansi and Khanty groups was the result of migrations. The main plot of the story refers to the introduction of regulations by the Ob Ugrians on inclusion of a daughter-in-law, young women into the foreign cult community. The story with a silver cup explains the rules of entry of a newly manufactured or brought from the outside object into the sphere of worship in the Ob Ugrians. Tan-varp-ekva in the role of a female deity could act as the patro-ness of needlework, as, for the Ob Ugrians, twisting of deer tendon threads was a traditional female work. The stories about Tan-varp-ekva are similar to those of many Russian fairy tales, ballades about mythical spin-stresses, as well as bans on needlework during the night and transition time. Her image has a lot in common with Baba Yaga and with the character of Yoma — her double in Komi (forest spirits, creatures of the lower world, kidnappers of children, cannibals, treasure keepers, treasure givers, «spinning» deities). The motifs of killing and eating of daughter-in-law by the spinstress of tendons can be an allusion of the rite of transition to a new family, when the girl «died» for her former family and left the protection of the spirits-keepers of her family. The popular-Christian layer of views of the Russians and Komi provides material for comparative analysis of mythological con-cepts of Slavic and Finn-Ugric peoples, who for a long period experienced mutual influence on ethnocultural tradi-tions. The function of Tan-varp-ekva as a «twister of tendons» can be secondary, borrowed from neighboring populations, for example, from the Komi, who, together with Orthodoxy, accepted and adapted the popular-Christian beliefs of the Russians.

Cultic Allusions in the Heraklitos Mosaic

The Heraklitos mosaic, which dates to the second century AD and is displayed today at the Vatican Museums, depicts the theme of the asarotos oikos (unswept floor) alongside allusions to Dionysian and Isiac mystery cults. The mosaic is well known due to its highly illusionistic depiction of scraps of food, which are scattered evenly across the room’s floor, as if left behind – a theme which according to Pliny was first created by the mosaicist Sosus in Hellenistic Pergamon. The mosaic Pliny is referring to was never discovered, and the theme is known today only through five surviving Roman variations, the Heraklitos mosaic being the largest and most elaborate one. This article examines the ways in which the Heraklitos mosaic expresses the connection between power, social statues and initiation into mystery cults in Imperial Rome, and explores the connection between traditional Roman beliefs, foreign cult practices and elitist artistic representation.

Ein Text aus Palästina? Gedanken zur einleitungswissenschaftlichen Verortung der Apokalypse des Abraham

Nearly all scholars focusing on the Apocalypse of Abraham agree that the text originated in Palestine. The reason for this is generally quite simple: on the one hand, the text refers directly to the destruction of the Second Temple, and on the other hand, its storyline has a very strong “Jewish” character. I question the plausibility of this argument. The literary treatment of Jerusalem, the use of Exodus motifs, as well as the role of the cult in the Apocalypse of Abraham differ substantially from other works that were written more likely in the region around Jerusalem. Instead, it is more reasonable to regard the text as a response to the invasion of foreign cults into synagogal structures in a diaspora context. Although it is not possible to locate the text with any certainty, I tentatively propose the area around Alexandria as its place of origin.

Permutations of 'Aštarte: Introduction

For the 2012 meeting held at the University of Amsterdam, the Expressions of Religion in Israel program unit (ERI) elicited papers treating the permu tations and avatars of'Astarte in Mediterranean Religions of the second and first millennia BCE.1 A northwest Semitic goddess, 'Astarte is widely attested in the Mediterranean Levant, beginning in the third millennium BCE in Syr ian texts (Ebla and arguably Early Dynastic Mari). References are more plen tiful in the second millennium, for example at Emar and Ugarit (mentioned dozens of times in texts from the latter). By the first millennium and there after one looks to the Phoenicians for the spread of her cult in the mainland coastal cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos, and in Sicily, Malta, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Greece, and in North Africa, especially Carthage. In the Hebrew Bible she appears as 'astorcet and mostly in the plural {'astarot). Masoretic vocal ization imputes the vowels of the word shame (Hebr. boscet), often in con junction with the male god Baal or Baals in categorical condemnations of foreign gods (e.g., Judg 2:13; 10:6; 1 Sam 7:4; 12:10). References to the god dess in the Deuteronomistic Histories are generally restricted to categorical polemics against foreign cults blamed for the apostasy of Israel and Judah. In studying the roles and functions of 'Astarte, scholars wrestle with the problem that the goddess appears in a wide temporal and geograph ical range: from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman Period and through out the whole Mediterranean she has undergone numerous permutations. On another front, the thorny problem of disparate and inconsistent sources presents itself: mythological texts from the LBA, in particular from Ugarit and Egypt, epigraphical texts in Phoenician and Greek, as well as the notori ously polemic Biblical accounts all require detailed comparative evaluation. On yet another front, the history of research has left modern scholarship a burden to carry from the past, namely, the reduction of the multifaceted 'Astarte to a fertility goddess or sex goddess. The latter problem is taken in hand by Schmitt, who instead finds continuity in 'Astarte's role as violent goddess of war and as a political deity closely associated with kingship. Although surely a prominent deity in Phoenicia throughout the first mil lenium, the lack of artifactual evidence impedes 'Astarte's research. In view of the fact that Phoenician kings perform priestly functions for the goddess, her importance in cities seems certain. Ackerman's paper focuses on the sit

Foreign Cults in Rome: Creating a Roman Empire – By Eric M. Orlin

Foreign Cults in Rome: Creating a Roman Empire – By Eric M. Orlin

The Jesus of Paul: A contribution from the social sciences

The letters of Paul speak more frequently of the resurrected and exalted Jesus than they do of the earthly Jesus. Nonetheless, this does not mean that the apostle and his addressees did not know the teachings and main events of Jesus’ life. Their insistence as to the heavenly identity of Jesus is as likely to have been motivated by contextual factors which guided the development of the primitive Christological confessions which Paul received in the years after his conversion. This article will focus on two of these factors: the configuration of the Christian communities of the Diaspora as foreign cults in a context of religious plurality and the new revelatory experiences which triggered the formation of a binitarian faith.Determining the relationship between Jesus and Paul is one of the fundamental tasks of those who, like Prof. Andries van Aarde, study the origins of Christianity and the beginnings of Christian theology. The basic question in this regard, at least as it has been formulated recently by David Wenham (1995), is whether Paul was a follower of Jesus or the founder of Christianity (see also Wedderburn [1989] and Barbaglio [2006]). In this brief article, I would like to consider one aspect of this general topic and to offer a few suggestions that might contribute to a better understanding of the peculiar vision of Jesus that we find in the letters of Paul. In them, in fact, the apostle moves from the incarnation to the death and resurrection, leaving in the shadows the activity and teaching of Jesus to which the gospels subsequently give so much importance.This contrast raises some questions concerning the knowledge which Paul had of the Jesus tradition and the value he accorded to it: What did he know about Jesus? Did he know the traditions which the evangelists later collected? Why does he not refer to them in his letters more frequently? By contrast, why does he give so much importance to the death and resurrection of Jesus and to Jesus’ divine condition?

Foreign cults in Rome: creating a Roman Empire

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION 1. Foreign Cults in Rome 2. Cult Introductions of the Third Century 3. Foreign Priests in Rome 4. Prodigies and Expiations 5. Ludi 6. Establishing Boundaries in the Second Century 7. The Challenges of the First Century CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

Octavian and Egyptian Cults: Redrawing the Boundaries of Romanness

Octavian's decision in 28 B.C.E. to ban Egyptian cults from within the pomerium was not a sign of hostility to foreign cults, especially since the emperor himself arranged for the restoration of those shrines outside the city's religious boundary. Rather, his action served to reassert the Roman openness to foreign religions while at the same time underlining the distinctions between Roman and foreign religious practices. Using the pomerium to demarcate a clear boundary between Roman and non-Roman helped to reconstruct the sense of Roman identity that had been shattered by the civil wars of the previous fifty years.

Paul between Synagogue and State: Christians, Jews, and Civic Authorities in 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians

Paul between Synagogue and State: Christians, Jews, and Civic Authorities in 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians, by Mikael Tellbe. ConBNT 34. Stockholm: Ahnqvist & Wiksell, 2001. Pp. xii + 340. euro30.00 (paper). This thoroughly researched and well-presented doctoral dissertation (Lund University) warrants careful reading. Tellbe examines tripartite relationships between Christians, Jews, and civic authorities at three major urban centers: Thessalonica, Rome, and Philippi. The common link among three is, of course, Paul. Tellbe maintains that using Paul's letters to each of these communities, along with supplementary material from Acts, allows one to take note of interactions and tensions among major entities in each city. Doing so allows him to determine interactions in this tripartite relation shaped self-understanding and identity of Christian of 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians (p. 4). In particular, it reveals how need for political legitimacy shaped Christian identity as early as mid-first century C.E. The first chapter lays out need for this study within matrix of previous biblical scholarship on Paul and his communities. Tellbe's primary analysis is historical, with a detailed textual analysis of Paul's letters, although he also draws upon sociological and rhetorical methods. While few would question use of these letters as authentic Pauline letters (which for Tellbe are without interpolation), Tellbe is to take much of detailed material of Acts as a credible source of information in task of reconstructing setting of Pauline communities (p. 18). His decision to do so is under-defended and, given his reliance on Acts for critical information, his choice not to defend this more thoroughly is unfortunate. Those less inclined than he to place much reliance on Acts will find that some of his assumptions about composition of Pauline and urban interactions of Jews, Christians, and civic authorities rest on a somewhat unstable foundation. Chapter 2 sets stage for remainder of book by undertaking an analysis of the legal status of Diaspora under Roman rule, focusing primarily on information provided by Josephus and Philo, although with some reference to Roman writers. Jewish were treated by Romans much like other foreign cults and voluntary associations-left to their own religious activities as long as they did not disrupt public order, but brought under control if perceived to be unruly. Although Tellbe agrees with recent arguments against a special Jewish designation ofpolituema, he does note a number of unusual concessions granted only to Jews (p. 42): Judaism in first century CK was thus granted a legal standing in Roman society that in practice seems to have been more specific than what is actually conveyed by more general Roman expression collegium licitum (p. 59). Nevertheless, Jews in particular cities were not immune from periods of opposition by local authorities (p. 63). Chapter 3 gives attention to specific situation at Thessalonica, beginning with a description of city itself and Roman, Jewish, and Christian populations therein. Tellbe correctly surmises that Roman imperial ideology and propaganda played a large part in civic affairs. However, he is on less secure ground in asserting that there was an influential group of Jews in city. Here he relies only on Acts 17:1-9,1 Thess 2:13-16 (considered by many to be an interpolation), and either late or questionable epigraphic evidence. Although he acknowledges the apparent tension between Luke and Paul concerning composition of Thessalonian church Tellbe claims that it is important not to overplay these differences (p. 93). This seems to be understated in light of Tellbe's reliance on elimination of tension in order for his thesis to hold. …

Foreign Cults in Republican Rome: Rethinking the Pomerial Rule

Foreign Cults in Republican Rome: Rethinking the Pomerial Rule

Finding a Charge That Fits: the Accusation Against Paul and Silas At Philippi (Acts 16.19-21)

The charges against Paul and Silas at Philippi are normally taken to be disturbing the peace and introducing a foreign cult. But such charges do not fit the context. In particular, they are not appropriate given the action that precipitated them, namely, the exorcism of the prophesying slave-girl. Therefore, this essay suggests that the recorded charges are probably redactional. If the precipitating action is taken as the starting point it is clear that the actual charge would have been using magic to cause property damage and loss of livelihood. However, since Luke considers magic to have a satanic origin and he presents Christians as opposing magic he cannot allow Paul and Silas to be accused of it. Therefore, he plays down the accusation of magic and presents charges that can easily be refuted.

The Martyrdom of St. Paul: Historical and Judicial Context, Traditions, and Legends

The Martyrdom of St. Paul: Historical and Judicial Context, Traditions, and Legends, by Harry W. Tajra. WUNT 2/67. Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1994. Pp. xii + 225. DM 98,00 (paper). The first three chapters of the book (pp. 1-117) are devoted to an absorbing account of Paul's trial and condemnation. The account opens with a reconstruction of the trial based on the available evidence amplified (necessarily so, given the exiguous amount of hard evidence) by legitimate speculation. The author postulates that on his arrival in Rome, in 60 CE, Paul spent two years awaiting the hearing of the appeal to Caesar which he had lodged with the procurator of Judaea. Over that period he was not in prison but was kept under military surveillance in his private quarters. The appeal lapsed due to the accusers' failure to prosecute the case within the prescribed period, and Paul's first Roman captivity came to an end. After his release Paul visited Spain, including Tarragona, as is evidenced by the modern statue of Paul and the inscription thereon in that city. Returning to Rome, Paul was subjected to another prosecution. The date was ca. 634 CE and the charge was maiestas, or treason. The factual basis of the charge was Paul's neglect of his duty as a citizen to show loyalty to the national religion; Paul had promoted a foreign cult that was in opposition to the official state theology. At a later point (chapter 2) the author amplifies the factual basis by postulating that the earlier charges against Paul in the provincial courts-Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Caesarea-prefigured the eventual charges in the Roman trial. That is, one feels, quite possible. The provincial charges will have been the gravamen of the lapsed appeal, and as there had been no verdict in that case there was no question of double jeopardy. As a citizen Paul was given proper trial and was punished within the limits of the law, in contrast to Peter who was, as a peregrine, punished extra-judicially. (The distinction between iudicatio and coercitio is not, however, quite as simple as that.) As for the particular jurisdiction that conducted the trial, Nero did not try the case himself; Paul's actions were not seen as a major threat to state security. The prosecution was handled by a private accuser, and the trial took place before the urban prefect, to whom Nero had delegated the task. The prefect was chosen in preference to other delegated jurisdictions, such as the senate (sic) or a special mandatory, because the prefect could try all types of case and had the same power of punishment as the emperor himself. The attribution of the trial to Nero himself in, especially, the Martyrium Pauli (a sharp debate between emperor and accused) is apocryphal. Although Paul was tried as a citizen, he stood in terrible isolation, being denied both the services of counsel and the support of defense witnesses. Paul was found guilty of maiestas, and since that was a capital crime he was sentenced to execution rather than banishment. After ratification of the sentence by Nero, Paul was led to the place of execution, on the Via Ostiense outside the city. He was accompanied by a military escort and was preceded by a placard (titulus) on which the reasons for his punishment were inscribed. Paul was executed by decapitation by the sword; as a citizen he was spared the rigors of the punishments meted out to peregrines, humiliores, such as being thrown to the beasts, crucified, or burnt alive. Paul's civic status secured him proper burial, in a sepulcher close to the place of execution. This conclusion is supported by an interesting analysis of the ius se pulcri and the crime of violatio se pulcri. …

The Social Setting of the Ministry as Reflected in the Writings of Hermas, Clement and Ignatius (review)

Reviewed by: The Social Setting of the Ministry as Reflected in the Writings of Hermas, Clement and Ignatius Thomas M. Finn Harry O. Maier . The Social Setting of the Ministry as Reflected in the Writings of Hermas, Clement and Ignatius. Dissertations SR Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1991. Pp. 230. $25.00. Completed at Oxford under Maurice F. Wiles, Maier's study is the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion's first offering in their new series, "Dissertations SR." They have chosen well, for Maier looks at the vexing problems surrounding the rise of authority structures in early Christianity through lenses ground by sociologists interested in religion. Max Weber, Bryan Wilson, Clifford Geertz, and Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann are the best-known experts among them. Hardly a new venture, by any means. Nor is the point of entry new: the early Christian community as shaped by the structure and dynamics of that fundamental social institution, the Greco-Roman household. Indeed, he freely [End Page 322] avails himself of the work of Jack Elliott, Wayne Meeks, and Michael White, among others. Nor are his target documents new grist for the mill. Two of his three texts, 1 Clement and the letters of Ignatius, have been the victims of post-Reformation polemics about polity for almost all of this century. So, what's new? For one thing, the sustained use of legitimation as a heuristic device for reading Clement and Ignatius, about which more in a minute. For another, reading Ignatius as a charismatic leader. For still another, understanding Hermas' principal concern as an attempt to maintain the boundaries of Christianity as a sect in Rome. And last but not least, Maier's attempt to use a social-world approach to untangle the thicket created by those greats of the past—among them, Harnack, Bauer, and von Campenhausen—who have read a theological agenda into the target texts. Maier's thesis is disarmingly straightforward: The household church is the social setting for the development of early Christian structures of leadership and authority (4). The trajectory of development begins with Paul and extends to Rome, Corinth, and the Asian communities of Ignatius. Although it can embrace a wider horizon, Maier wisely keeps the trajectory modest, for it permits the focus to be sharp. His conclusion is also modest, and all the more compelling for its modesty: the early ministry in the communities of Hermas, Clement, and Ignatius can be adequately understood only if one takes account of 1) the power wielded by relatively wealthy household owners who hosted the church in their homes, and 2) the fact that the authors formulated Christian belief in a way that maintained the household setting (199-200). The introduction lays the groundwork with detailed attention to the models he intends to employ, the chief being Berger and Luckmann's concept of legitimation, a process that explains to individuals the inherited institutions which affect them, even though they had little or nothing to do with constructing them. Maier uses social models to provoke insight rather than to impose them on data or reader. They are heuristic means for getting his texts to disclose the evolving leadership structures. Fundamental to his work is the primary institution that shaped Greco-Roman civilization, the household, which he explores in the first chapter with special attention to mystery and foreign cults, philosophical schools, collegia, and synagogues. To this reviewer, at least, he makes his case for the nuts-and-bolts centrality of the household in the rise of Christian ministry. Then he looks with care at the Pauline corpus, applying Bryan Wilson's "conversionist sect" type, availing himself of the primary position of the household virtues of hospitality and love-patriarchalism, and concluding to pater familias as the line authority that emerged, succeeding to the place of Paul and his apostolic intimates. In short, very early (even before Paul) the household setting shaped the identity and governance of communities established by Paul. For it was the hosts who had the wealth and initiative to invite the church into their homes and, as patrons, held important leadership responsibilities (47). In this section he follows with telling effect the work of Meeks...

Keiserkult: fremmed kult i det romerske samfunn?

It has been claimed that, originally, the divinity of the living emperor was alien to traditional Greek and Roman religion. This article tries to show that elements which are introduced with a foreign cult - the cult of the living emperor - may be latent in the traditional cult - the cult of the dead, the ancestor-cult, the need for a present benefactor and subsequently a cult to him - which then become relevant. The socalled foreign cult of the emperor, in this way, filled a gap. Even if this new god was foreign in relation to the traditional gods, i.e. his name, the essence in the cult might on the other hand be something which was aalready present. The way of approaching the problem is from a comparative analysis of ancient Graeco-Roman soiety and present-day society in southern Italy and Greece. The comparison is based on certain religious festivals.

Levantine Elements in the Sacred Architecture of the Aegean at the Close of the Bronze Age

Two cult structures from Mycenae and from a sanctuary recently discovered at Phylakopi, on the island of Melos, shed a new light on the sacred architecture of the Aegean at the close of the Bronze Age. This paper suggests that the edifices of both these sites should be classified as popular places of worship. This suggestion is based on their location, layout and size as well as on their foreign architectural affinities. The Phylakopi sanctuary, located against the fortification wall of the town, consists of a major temple to which a subsidiary shrine is attached. The pair of adjacent structures located on the lower terrace of the acropolis of Mycenae, are of approximately the same size, presumably possessing the same religious status. The three edifices bear several asymmetrical features, such as indirect entrances and corner platforms that have no parallels elsewhere in the Aegean. These features are diagnostic to a special type of Canaanite temples that prevailed in maritime posts and harbour sites. There are indications, however, that in spite of the foreign architectural affinities, the cult practised in the Mycenae structures and in the major temple of Phylakopi was distinctively Aegean. On the other hand, architectural and contextual data seem to support the assumption that the subsidiary shrine of Phylakopi was reserved for foreign cult, practised by Canaanite traders.

Il Tempio Romano: Questioni di Terminologia e di Tipologia

THE ROMAN TEMPLE: QUESTIONS OF TERMINOLOGY AND TYPOLOGY1. An analysis of the meaning of the terms aedes, templum, delubrum, fanum, sacrarium, lucus: even if these terms are often interchangeable, the precise meaning of each can be established. 2. On the basis of the original meaning of templum (a ritually delimited space), it is proposed to apply this term to the platform with the aedes of Fortuna and of Mater Matuta, the ‘area sacra di S. Omobono’, and also to the ‘podium’ of the temple of the Capitoline triad. A typological comparison may also be made between these two templa, which were perhaps constructed at almost the same time. 3. The typology of the temple inside an area bounded by a portico may also be referred to the templum. The numerous variants of this typology are examined. 4. After a consideration of templum in its more specific sense of locus augurii aut auspicii causa definitus, the two auguracula—on the arx and the collis Latiaris—are examined in particular, and new identifications are proposed for them. 5. The term lucus raises the question of extra-urban cult sites. A scheme of classification is proposed: shrines of purely local importance, and sanctuaries repeating city cults in more distant sites (political motivation may be detected). For cult sites very close to the city the problem is more complex, involving in part the pomerium, evocatio, and the introduction of foreign cults.