Jesus and Mary Reimagined in Early Christian Literature. Edited by Vernon K.Robbins and Jonathan M.Potter. Writings from the Greco-Roman World Supplement Series, 6. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2015. Pp. x + 351. Cloth, $60.95; paper

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-183
Author(s):  
Michael Kochenash
Keyword(s):  
Supplement Series ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Christian Literature

The Celibate Athlete

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-490
Author(s):  
Jared Secord
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Sexual Abstinence ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Lifestyle Choice ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Christian Literature

In this article, I propose a new way of interpreting athletic metaphors in early Christian literature. I argue that the metaphorical figure of the athlete would have evoked for ancient readers not simply the ideas of competitive struggle, but also the idea of sexual abstinence, a lifestyle choice closely associated with athletes in the Greco-Roman world. The article collects and discusses evidence for the practice of athletic celibacy, drawing together a disparate collection of medical and philosophical literature, with Christian sources, from the second and third centuries CE. It demonstrates that athletic celibacy was a familiar concept in this period, and that many observers were interested in the methods that athletes used to control their sexual urges, including applying lead plates to their loin muscles. The treatment of this evidence suggests that there was greater interest in sexual abstinence among non-Christians than has previously been understood, and that athletes were implicated in controversies about whether or not total abstention from sex was a healthy lifestyle choice. As such, I argue that it is plausible to regard the athletic imagery of early Christians not only as a metaphorical comparison between two kinds of strident individuals, but also as advocacy for the celibate life as the most healthful lifestyle.

Purity, Community, and Ritual in Early Christian Literature

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Blidstein
Keyword(s):  
Third Century ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
Christian Literature ◽  
Christian Practices ◽  
Dietary Laws ◽  
New Religion

This book examines the meanings of purification practices and purity concepts in early Christian culture, as articulated and formed by Greek Christian authors of the first three centuries, from Paul to Origen. Concepts of purity and defilement were pivotal for understanding human nature, sin, history, and ritual in early Christianity. In parallel, major Christian practices, such as baptism, abstinence from food or sexual activity, were all understood, felt, and shaped as instances of purification. Two broad motivations, at some tension with each other, formed the basis of Christian purity discourse. The first was substantive: the creation and maintenance of anthropologies and ritual theories coherent with the theological principles of the new religion. The second was polemic: construction of Christian identity by laying claim to true purity while marking purity practices and beliefs of others (Jews, pagans, or “heretics”) as false. The book traces the interplay of these factors through a close reading of second- and third-century Christian Greek authors discussing dietary laws, death defilement, sexuality, and baptism, on the background of Greco-Roman and Jewish purity discourses. There are three central arguments. First, purity and defilement were central concepts for understanding Christian cultures of the second and third centuries. Second, Christianities developed their own conceptions and practices of purity and purification, distinct from those of contemporary and earlier Jewish and pagan cultures, though decisively influenced by them. Third, concepts and practices of purity and defilement were shifting and contentious, an arena for boundary-marking between Christians and others and between different Christian groups.

Shedding Light on Early Christian Domestic Cult: Characteristics and New Perspectives in the Context of Archaeological Findings

2017 ◽  
Vol 18-19 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-236
Author(s):  
Verena Fugger
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Different Characteristics ◽  
Archaeological Perspective ◽  
Domestic Cult

Abstract Focusing primarily on findings from late antique housing structures in Asia Minor this paper approaches the complex phenomenon of early Christian domestic cult from an archaeological perspective. In correlation to pagan house sanctuaries from the east and west of the Greco-Roman world, Christian domestic cult sites are analyzed according to architectural and decorative features as well as to their spatial distribution in the house. Thereby the synopsis of already well known monuments and recent archaeological findings reveals a great diversity of different characteristics of Christian domestic cult sites which has not been taken into account yet.

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