Late Antique Christian Research Articles

Finding Forgiveness: Augustine and Greco-Roman Thought on Interpersonal Forgiveness

Abstract: Despite the great esteem for forgiveness in the modern world, recent historical studies have cast doubt on the existence of the practice or even the concept of interpersonal forgiveness in the Greco-Roman world. Classical scholars have noted the prevalence of vengeance in the popular and literary imagination, the scarcity of apology, the subordination of clemency to political power, and the philosophical opposition to forgiveness. The Latin bishop Augustine of Hippo (354–430) surprisingly agreed with this assessment. Augustine, his contemporary Roman critics, and even his congregation understood the church as advocating—even discovering—a novel, difficult practice: unconditional forgiveness. Though Augustine offers no singular treatment of forgiveness, his letters and sermons bear witness to a clearly developed and articulated position: that forgiveness must be preveniently, unconditionally offered but is still necessarily oriented toward the just reform of the offender. Augustine particularly highlights the example of Christ's forgiveness and its union with prayer. Augustine interprets the scandal of unconditional forgiveness in reference to the even greater scandal of love of enemies, which seeks the true good of offenders in accord with justice, rather than satisfaction through a belittling vengeance. Thus, Augustine's view of forgiveness can be best grasped by distinguishing between the offer of forgiveness— forgiving —and the reception of forgiveness— being forgiven . Forgiving is unconditional, but being forgiven occurs through just reform. In this way, the complete arc of forgiveness incorporates both prevenient mercy and justice. In addition to illuminating the place of late antique Christianity in the history of forgiveness, this article shows that Augustine presents a robust account of unconditional forgiveness that is not a passive resignation but rather intrinsic to true justice.

Plato’s Phaedrus and Symposium in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies

Abstract The presence of Plato and Platonic philosophy in the late antique Christian novel, the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, has been underexamined. The present article takes a twofold approach: first, it discusses Platonic references and allusions in the disputes between Appion the grammarian and Clement, a follower of the apostle Peter (Homiliae Clementinae 4–6), and links them to the rest of the Homilistic narrative. Plato’s dialogues of the Symposium and, in particular, the Phaedrus turn out to be insightful philosophical and literary frameworks by means of which the Homilist reflects on the value of eros, paideia, rhetoric and philosophy, the value of written discourse, and truth. Secondly, this article also compares the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies with (other) novels and narratives from the Second Sophistic that intertextually engage with similar Platonic motifs and passages. My analysis reveals how the Homilist, as a Christian novelist with strong philosophical (and one might say Sophistic) interests, is a remarkable member of the late antique, cultural dialogue, in which the reception of Plato’s dialogues took place.

The Cult of Stephen in Jerusalem: Inventing a Patron Martyr by Hugo M�ndez (review)

Reviewed by: The Cult of Stephen in Jerusalem: Inventing a Patron Martyr by Hugo Méndez Kyle Smith Hugo Méndez The Cult of Stephen in Jerusalem: Inventing a Patron Martyr Oxford Early Christian Studies Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022 Pp. xiv + 175. $90.00. Twenty years ago, in explaining the need for a comprehensive dossier on Stephen, François Bovon lamented what he characterized as a lack of dialogue between New Testament scholars and historians of Christianity in late antiquity ("The Dossier on Stephen, the First Martyr," HTR 96.3 [2003]: 279–315). The former, he said, stop with the Stephen of Acts; meanwhile, the latter do not start until the fourth century, with the rise of the cult of Stephen the martyr. Neither group cares to "bridge the gap" and unite "two phases of a continuous history." Noble as Bovon's attempt at interdisciplinary reconciliation may have been, there was no "continuous history" of the first Christian martyr. Most especially not in Jerusalem. The Holy City—as Hugo Méndez makes clear in his important new contribution to the study of Stephen—was late to embrace its patron: Jerusalem "boasted numerous pilgrimage sites associated with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, [but] it lacked even a single tomb or monument associated with a local Christian martyr up to the late fourth century" (6). If Jerusalem wanted a civic hero, Stephen may have been the obvious choice, but cities do not "inherit their claims" on local saints; they curate them, Méndez says, "consciously shaping them to serve specific programs and ends" (12). After lying dormant for centuries, Stephen sprang to life again on distant shores, eventually making his way back to Jerusalem and the church of Hagia Sion, where his bones were reinterred on his feast day, December 26, in the year 415 c.e To explain how Stephen was reintroduced to his city, Méndez focuses his study on the liturgical life of fifth-century Jerusalem. The city's "feasts, material relics, architectural spaces, and lectionary readings," he writes, all deepened the city's claims on Stephen "as a local patron" (16). It was, he continues, two local bishops of Jerusalem, John II and Juvenal—episcopal successors of Cyril—who were the most influential in "moving a once peripheral figure to the center of the city's ritual practice and memorialization" (11). John presided over the inventio of Stephen's relics and the transfer of his bones to Hagia Sion; Juvenal hastened the later dedication of "the largest ecclesiastical complex in the city . . . a grand [End Page 261] and imposing basilica located just outside its principal gate." By the mid-fifth century, it was Stephen who had "three days on the Jerusalem calendar at a time when Mary boasted only two and only a few dozen saints claimed even one" (59). Stephen, the "first-born of the martyrs," sits at the head of the liturgical year—on the day after Christmas, Méndez explains—where he presides "over the entire choir of martyrs that follows" (25). But Christmas came late to Jerusalem, being forcibly imposed on the city in the sixth century. Instead of December 25, "Jerusalem interpreted the Epiphany [on January 6] as the starting point of its liturgical year" (53). Aware of the importance of December 26, Jerusalem did adopt that feast for Stephen, but it also developed another for him on January 7, "the second day of the Epiphany octave," which arose from a "desire to emulate the practice of those cities that accorded Stephen the first position in the annual cycle of martyr feasts" (101). At the same time, a third feast was added for Stephen following Easter, further strengthening the martyr's local prestige while simultaneously proclaiming Jerusalem's connection to Stephen "to the masses of visitors already flooding the city during those special seasons" (128). Of course, and as Méndez explains throughout his book, a martyr's cult needs more than just days on the calendar to thrive. The Revelatio Sancti Stephani, a text that identifies "Christian Jerusalem as the preordained resting place" of Stephen's relics, casts the city as "the unique conduit of their power" and narrates...

Terminum figat : Remarks on a Difficult Phrase in the Eucharistic Prayer of the Traditio Apostolica

The former communis opinio, according to which the Traditio Apostolica (TA) was a church order written by Hippolytus of Rome and representing valuable insights into third-century Roman liturgy and church discipline, has been radically questioned in recent research. The similarities between the eucharistic liturgies in TA and oriental anaphoras no longer seem to support the theory of a transregional genre in the late antique Christian West and East, but probably indicate an eastern provenance of TA itself. In addition to many currently discussed problems regarding structure and literary unity, the famous eucharistic prayer in TA 4 also bears difficulties in textual understanding: e.g., it states that Jesus Christ terminum figat during his descent into the realm of death. The motif of Christ's descent, which fortunately is quite frequently attested in the early sources, emerged in the second century. Therefore, the diachronic development of the descensus Christi can be reconstructed in its different arrangements. This is helpful in defining the "border" that Christ "established" while he visited the underworld. Some accounts of Syrian provenance seem to be the closest parallels to TA 4: here, a dramatic version of this narrative predominates, in which Death quarrels with Christ because he fears losing his inhabitants (the souls of the dead). The story culminates in a ceasefire, the end of which will be the second coming of Christ.

Network analysis reveals insights about the interconnections of Judaism and Christianity in the first centuries CE

The development of the two religions: Christianity and Judaism, is a topic of much debate. Whereas Judaism and Christianity are known as separate religions, in fact, these two religions developed side by side. While earlier researchers conceptualized a “parting-of-the-ways,” after which the two religions evolved independently, new studies reveal a multi-layered set of interactions throughout the first several centuries CE. Until recently, this question was explored with the limited source material and limited tools to analyze it. While working on a limited set of data, from a specific corpus, this project offers a new set of methodological tools, borrowed from computer sciences, that could ultimately serve for understanding the connections between Jews and Christians in late antiquity. We generated models of inter-religious Christian–Jewish networks that demonstrate the scope, nature, and advantages of network analysis for revealing the complex intertwined evolution of the two religions. The Jewish corpora chosen for this research are rabbinic writings from late antique Babylonia and Palestine. Christian texts range from the first through sixth centuries CE. Instead of representing interactions between people or places, as is typically done with social networks, we model literary interactions that, in our view, indicate historical connections between religious communities. This novel approach allows us to visually represent sets of temporal–spatial–contextual relationships, which evolved over hundreds of years, in single snapshots. It also reveals new insights about the relationships between the two communities. For example, we find that rabbinic sources exhibit a largely polemical approach towards earlier Christian traditions but a non-polemical attitude towards later ones. Moreover, network analysis suggests a temporal–spatial familiarity correlation. Namely, Jewish sources are familiar with early, eastern Christian sources and with both Eastern and Western Christian sources in later periods. The application of network analysis makes it possible to identify the most influential texts—that is, the key “nodes”—testifying to the importance of certain traditions for both religious communities. Finally, the network approach is a tool for pointing scholarly research in new directions, which only reveals itself as a result of this type of mapping. In other words, the network not only describes the known data, but it is itself a way to enlarge the network and lead us down new and exciting paths that are currently unknown.

PRACTICE AND FUNCTION OF ECCLESIASTICAL RECOMMENDATION IN LATE ANTIQUITY (FOURTH – FIFTH CENTURIES AD)

In the ancient world, recommendation was an important expression of patronage, effecting introduction, mediation, problem‑solving. Christianity took over and adapted Roman models to suit new realities of Christian travel and hospitality, pastoral care, recruitment, career advancement (clerical as well as ascetic), the articulation of communion and orthodoxy, among others. This paper explores the functions of late antique Christian recommendation practices, its complex and often ambiguous typology, with particular emphasis on the correspondence – or discrepancy – between evidence collected from extant papyri, canonical prescriptions, and examples from epistolary corpora of known authors.

The Slow Fall of Babel: Languages and Identities in Late Antique Christianity. By Yuliya Minets. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2022. xvi + 418 pp. $120.00 cloth; $36.99 paper.

The Slow Fall of Babel: Languages and Identities in Late Antique Christianity. By Yuliya Minets. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2022. xvi + 418 pp. $120.00 cloth; $36.99 paper.

The Ethnography of Gender

In her 1998 article “The Lady Vanishes,” Elizabeth Clark issued a challenge to the foundationalisms of feminist historiography of Late Antiquity through developments in poststructuralist theory. This article proposes its own reorientation to historical work on gender, but it does so now in light of recent developments in Black feminist, transgender, and postcolonial feminist studies, arguing gender should be understood as always within colonialism and racialization. It describes the way gender appears in the linked projects of the medicalized body and ethnographic discourses, both in antiquity and modernity, and asks about the political stakes and ambivalent histories attending gender as an analytically separable facet of experience. It also offers a brief reframing of the Proto-gospel of James and select scholarship on late ancient Christianity to offer a constructive redirection for the field of Late Antiquity.

Apollinaris of Laodicea: Metaphrasis Psalmorum. Edited and Translated by Andrew Faulkner

Faulkner has presented an edition with translation of a Metaphrasis psalmorum, a complete hexametric paraphrase of all 150 psalms. The text has received little attention in recent decades, although it belongs to the corpus of Christian poetry of which some has survived (see Anna Lefteratou and Fotini Hadjittofi, ‘Generic Debates and Late Antique Christian Poetry’, in eaed., The Genres of Late Antique Christian Poetry: Between Modulations and Transpositions [Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020], pp. 3–35), but only one other extensive Greek paraphrase of a biblical text exists, namely Nonnos of Panopolis’ paraphrase of the Gospel of John. Faulkner has made this extremely interesting work newly accessible and will thus stimulate new research on the text and the subject. First of all, it is a great achievement to publish this highly sophisticated poetic work together with a translation. It is the first translation of the work ever. Faulkner has brilliantly mastered the specific task of translating poetry.

Intertextuality and Late Antiquity in Michael E. Pregill's Interpretation of the Worship of the Golden Calf in Surah Thāhā: 83-97

Michael E. Pregill argues that the story in Surah Thāhā: 83-97 reflects an interpretation trend of a story in the Bible, thriving among Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity, about Israelites who worshipped the golden calf. Pergill also argues about the intertextuality between the Qur’an and Bible. This study aims to comprehensively examine Pregill’s interpretation of Surah Thāhā: 83-97 as it responds to the differences in detailed stories of golden calf worship in the Qur’an and Bible and various interpretations of Al-Sāmīrī. Primary data of this qualitative study included a book entitled The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur’an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis from Late Antiquity to Islam. Relevant data were collected and analyzed through data condensation, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification. According to Pregill, Al-Sāmīrī was a literary work of the Qur’an using biblical materials; then, Qur’an applied it to Harun’s name and emphasized his role as the Israelites’ guardian. The intertextuality between Qur’an and Bible was perceived from the possibility of using Ethiopic Bible materials to retell the event. In response to interpretation trends focusing on covenant, priesthood, and idolatry themes, Pregill argues that the Qur’an has affirmed Harun’s position as the Priest under Moses the Prophet.

Dal simbolismo della rosa alle reliquie

Christians of the fourth and fifth centuries adopted Late Antique aesthetics, characterized by brilliance, dazzle and colors, to create a new form of imagination, where the corpses of the martyrs and their physical remains became shining bodies. Relics became a spiritual body, whose μετάληψις often produced roses or violets. Therefore there was a strict association in Late Antique Christianity among roses, relics and the colour red.

The Body and Desire: Gregory of Nyssa's Ascetical Theology by Raphael A. Cadenhead

Reviewed by: The Body and Desire: Gregory of Nyssa's Ascetical Theology by Raphael A. Cadenhead Anthony J. Thomas IV The Body and Desire: Gregory of Nyssa's Ascetical Theology. By RAPHAEL A. CADENHEAD. Christianity in Late Antiquity, vol. 4. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2018. Pp. xii + 267. Hardback, $95.00. ISBN: 978-0-520-29796-8. In The Body and Desire, Raphael A. Cadenhead provides an insightful analysis of the place of desire and sexuality in Gregory of Nyssa's ascetical writings, stressing the need for a diachronic understanding of spiritual maturation. Cadenhead demonstrates that apparent gender fluidity in Gregory's thought must be understood within the context of his larger program of ascetical transformation that progresses through specific stages. Part 1, examining the early phase in Gregory's career, considers marriage and virginity, primarily in De virginitate. Chapter 1 discusses the manner in which virginity supersedes Platonic pederasty and points to Gregory's moderate view of marriage. In a section that will particularly appeal to students of classical philosophy, while stressing that in the ancient world sexual practices were not intimately linked with sexual identity, he shows that Christian celibacy is intended to replace Platonic pederasty; celibacy provides the same beneficial results as pederasty, "fecundity and contemplation of the Form of Beauty," while removing the need for the young male erōmenos. In this fascinating section, Cadenhead argues that Gregory actually presents a critique of pederasty. Chapter 2 shows the implications of Gregory's "integrationist ethic" for his understanding of sexual virtue and vice. In the De virginitate, sexual excess is only treated as one of the vices, with gluttony taking center stage. By making fidelity to Christ, the Bridegroom, the factor uniting the virtues, and thus making any sin a form of adultery, Gregory Christianizes the idea originating in ancient philosophy that the virtues support each other. [End Page 239] Chapter 3 develops Gregory's early understanding of Christ as the proper end of desire. For Gregory, the passions do not have to be utterly extirpated but rather directed toward Christ. Discussing Gregory's use of ancient stereotypes that associate courage with males and weakness with females, Cadenhead argues that effeminacy, for Gregory, is not connected with homosexual identity, noting that it is mentioned in connection with married people. At the same time, the use of male and female imagery "does not refer to ontologically male or female referents"; both male and female imagery are used to depict the soul's relationship with Christ (70). Part 2, examining the middle phase in Gregory's career, considers the effects of the deaths of Gregory's siblings on his theology and also considers the doctrinal controversies in which Gregory was involved. Chapter 4 shows that in the middle phase Gregory nuances his account of marriage and asceticism; spiritual fecundity is superior, but physical fecundity is still good. Cadenhead also notes, against modern attempts to focus on Gregory's positive use of female imagery in describing spiritual ascent, that Gregory criticizes female vice and presents a hierarchical picture of the relations between the sexes. Chapter 5 shows that the deaths of Basil and Macrina led Gregory to consider the possibility that in the resurrection human bodies will not be sexually differentiated. While Gregory resists the confusion of the sexes when addressing married people, when he addresses ascetics, he presents ascetics of both sexes as appropriating virtues characteristic of both genders (89). Cadenhead, moreover, providing insight into an ongoing discussion in the scholarship, concludes that Gregory was not sure if the resurrected body would have genitalia. In considering Gregory's theory of desire in the De anima and the De hominis opificio, Cadenhead notes that Gregory makes use for the first time in his works of a distinction drawn by Hierocles and Seneca between hormai and pathē and suggests that the rationality resulting from being made in the imago Dei allows human beings to use their reason to overcome pathē. Chapter 6 discusses the influence on Gregory's understanding of asceticism of the Christological and Trinitarian controversies in which he was involved. Part 3, focusing on Gregory's Life of Moses and Commentary on the Song of Songs, works...

‘The ʿAbbas after Whom Those Who Rule in Baghdad Are Named’

This article is concerned with the representation of al-ʿAbbās b. al-Walīd’s involvement in the Muhallabid revolt (102/720) and the third fitna (126–36/744–54) across Arabic-Islamic and Christian sources. The contribution makes a case for the study of “minor figures” as a means to contend with the eulogizing and historiographical re-imagining of the Marwānid past by later ʿAbbāsid compilers. It sheds light on the status of concubine-born sons of Marwānid caliphs, who were unable to become caliph until precisely this period and the generational shift that occurred in the 120s/740s. Al-ʿAbbās appears in Arabic-Islamic sources as foreshadowing the impending fitna, warning of its consequences and attempting to dissuade his brother, Yazīd b. al-Walīd (d. 126/744), from revolting against the caliph al-Walīd b. Yazīd (d. 126/744). Eventually “captured” by his brother Yazīd b. al-Walīd’s supporters, al-ʿAbbās’ bayʿa (oath of allegiance) turns the tide in Yazīd’s favor. In contrast, late antique Christian sources in Arabic, Armenian, Greek, and Syriac see him as instrumental in the fall of al-Walīd b. Yazīd, wanting the caliphate for himself and betraying his cousin. The following analysis will demonstrate how Christian sources employed figures internal to their own traditions to understand and explain caliphal history. The overlapping but competing historiographies of al-ʿAbbās shed light on the source material and agendas of Arabic-Islamic and Christian late antique sources. This study also helps to disentangle some of the conflicting elements of the fitna narrative, while underlining the polycentric nature of Marwānid rule and how members of the imperial elite were legitimized and exerted authority.

Caught in Translation. Studies on Versions of Late Antique Christian Literature, edited by Madalina Toca and Dan Batovici

Caught in Translation. Studies on Versions of Late Antique Christian Literature, edited by Madalina Toca and Dan Batovici

The Life of Simeon of the Olives: An Entrepreneurial Saint of Early Islamic North Mesopotamia. By Robert G. Hoyland, Sebastian P. Brock, Kyle B. Brunner, and Jack Tannous. Texts from Christian Late Antiquity 66. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2021. Pp. 224. $50 (paper).

Previous article No AccessBook ReviewThe Life of Simeon of the Olives: An Entrepreneurial Saint of Early Islamic North Mesopotamia. By Robert G. Hoyland, Sebastian P. Brock, Kyle B. Brunner, and Jack Tannous. Texts from Christian Late Antiquity 66. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2021. Pp. 224. $50 (paper).Bradley BowmanBradley BowmanUniversity of Louisville* Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 81, Number 2October 2022 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/721451 Views: 28Total views on this site For permission to reuse a book review in this section, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

<i>The Garb of Being: Embodiment and the Pursuit of Holiness in Late Ancient Christianity</i>, edited by Georgia Frank, Susan R. Holman and Andrew S. Jacobs

The Garb of Being: Embodiment and the Pursuit of Holiness in Late Ancient Christianity, edited by Georgia Frank, Susan R. Holman and Andrew S. Jacobs. Fordham University Press, 2020. 384pp., Hb., $65. ISBN-13: 9780823287024.

Simplicity and Humility in Late Antique Christian Thought. Elites and the Challenges of Apostolic Life, written by Jaclyn L. Maxwell

Simplicity and Humility in Late Antique Christian Thought. Elites and the Challenges of Apostolic Life, written by Jaclyn L. Maxwell

The Formation of the Concept of Freedom in the Ancient Period

This paper aims to analyze the formation dynamics of the concept of freedom in the antique philosophic tradition. The author examines the conceptualization of the term of freedom in the context of the emerging subjectivity paradigm together with the terms like guilt, legitimacy, pursuit, spontaneity, determinism, will and mind. The article claims that the shift from the archaic understanding of freedom as a generic feature of ethnic identity and liberation from external compulsion to the interpretation of freedom as a subject’s ability to set goals and self-identify is a result of redefining the connection between such terms as will and mind. There are described the changes in social practices that came from redefining of the above-mentioned terms. The author examines the connection between the classical tradition and the early Christian discourse that set the freedom of will as the highest ontological principle determining the ethical modality of a subject. The late antique Christian discourse links the concept of freedom with the will of a subject. However, unlike the classical tradition, the freedom is not defined through rationality (freedom as a conscious decision leading to a desired goal), but is shifted to the sphere of affect (emotional resonance with the doctrinal provisions of Christianity, whose aim is to merge with the Creator), which set the basis for voluntarist theories. The article argues that the intention of the concept of freedom formed within the antique tradition is relevant to the modern discussions of human freedom, defined in terms of opposition to natural determinism, lack of external compulsion and manipulations, rational goal-setting, opportunity to act differently, subject’s control over the alternative choices, expression of subject’s psychological life.

Monks and the Hierarchical Church in Egypt and the Levant during Late Antiquity. By Ewa Wipszycka, with a chapter on Persian Christians in Late Antiquity by Adam Izdebski. Translated by Damian Jasiński. The Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplements 40. Leuven: Peeters, 2021. xviii + 497 pp. €95.00 cloth.

Monks and the Hierarchical Church in Egypt and the Levant during Late Antiquity. By Ewa Wipszycka, with a chapter on Persian Christians in Late Antiquity by Adam Izdebski. Translated by Damian Jasiński. The Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplements 40. Leuven: Peeters, 2021. xviii + 497 pp. €95.00 cloth. - Volume 91 Issue 3

First Cities in Late Antique Christian Thought

First Cities in Late Antique Christian Thought