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Early Christianity relied heavily on walking, yet New Testament Studies has largely neglected the cultural significance of walking in the ancient world and its connection to Early Christian communication. Walking, often seen as a conscious cultural act, is often overlooked in scholarly discourse, with the focus primarily on its symbolic aspects. Drawing from interdisciplinary research in classics, cultural studies, and social science, this study aims to explore how early Christian bodily movement and communication have been perceived and culturally appropriated in European and North American scholarship. It presents three case studies: the portrayal of disabled bodies' movements in healings, the interpretation of Jesus and his disciples as itinerant wanderers, and the examination of walking in Pauline literature as a means of profiling missionary success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secularisation theory contends that religiosity and trust in religious organisations tend to decline when trust in their secular counterparts increases. However, it is puzzling why religious organisations receive public trust as high as their secular counterparts in countries where religiosity is low. If religious organisations are deemed to be doomed as trust in secular counterparts rises, why do people still trust them? We argue that a high level of trust in religious organisations is associated with their importance in nation‐building and national identity construction: Individuals with a strong national identity are more likely to trust religious organisations. Using both qualitative and quantitative data about public trust in the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) and Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC), this study finds that the historical role of religious organisations in strengthening national cohesion and building national identity during times of instability leads ordinary citizens to place both generational and strategic trust in these religious organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I engage Athanasius of Alexandria's invocation of the infamous dismemberment of the unnamed woman found in Judg 19. By the fourth century, this story of gang rape—along with other preserved stories of sexual violence—found in Judges, were scattered throughout early Christian literature. Judges 19 holds a particularly troubling history in the late ancient context. The story of the rape and dismemberment of the unnamed woman in Judg 19 gave life to another story and typified a style of writing that I characterize in the article as a her esiology. The spectacle of Judges, along with other gruesome deaths of women, was one way in which heresiological discourse frames rhetorical arguments for writers like Athanasius of Alexandria. Here, I purposely draw our attention to how Athanasian orthodoxy became reliant on gender-based violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The letter to the Philippians is a work traditionally ascribed to the early Christian martyr Polycarp of Smyrna. The scholarly discussions surrounding the Polycarpian letter have concerned themselves with the question of the authenticity and unity of the text. In contrast, the present study aims at providing the first unifying account of the three major themes dealt with in the letter: sin, heresy and righteousness. In the Polycarpian letter, one encounters evidence of a way of conceiving of social and religious evil, in which objects of moral and doctrinal concern are judged equally regarding their disruptive force – particularly in relation to the longed-for uniformity of the Church. This way of blurring the distinction between different socially disruptive dogmas ("proto-heresies") and habits ("proto-sins") may be conceived of as characteristic of a pre-normative religious order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two splendid Oxford Handbooks deserve the opening slot of my review. The Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography contains forty chapters, each of which closes with a helpful section on recommended further reading. The editors have organized the material in five very well-conceived parts. The first section, 'Mythography from Archaic Greece to the Empire', naturally wrestles with the question: When does mythography start? Two initial chapters provide their answers, and the rest of the contributions in this section offer an overview of mythography in Greek (Hellenistic and Imperial period) and Latin. The second section aims to provide an overview of individual mythographers: the stars of this section are Apollodorus, Antoninus Liberalis, Parthenius, Conon, and Hyginus. The eighteen chapters provide informative and concise introductions to authors who specialized in mythography, but also to the mythographic tendencies in authors such as Pausanias or Ovid, as well as in the scholia and even mythographical papyri. The third section is on the typical genres or interpretative models with which mythography tends to intersect: rationalizing historical approaches, philosophical allegoresis, etymologizing, catasterism, local historiography, paradoxography, creative approaches to mythography in ancient education, the role of mythography in political discourse, geography, and, finally, an investigation of the ancient terms used to designate the activity and the writings of a mythographer. The fourth section, 'Mythography and the visual arts', is a provocative and highly interesting experiment in viewing visual representations of myth as a mythography of sorts: can vases, frescoes, and sarcophagi be seen as visual pendants to literary mythography? These three contributions are all highly rewarding and thought-provoking. The closing, fifth, section offers richly rewarding discussions of the role of mythography in the age of Christianity, starting with the way early Christian writers draw on Greek and Latin mythographers, followed by chapters on mythography in the Byzantine Empire, the Latin West, and in the Renaissance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the English translation with commentaries of some interesting passages from the unpublished manuscript by Abgar Payazat, an Armenian-Udi intellectual of the beginning of the 20th century. He particularly describes episodes of proselytism among the Udis from the Armenian Apostolic Church to the Russian Orthodoxy. The manuscript itself, is an attempt of compiling a grammar of the Udi language in Armenian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, it must be pointed out that because Manichaeism is a "source-rich" area of research and as such qualifies for international research funding, scholars active in Manichaean research, including the present reviewer, have pushed for Manichaean Studies to become a discipline in its own right independent of patristic studies. A major question for Manichaean scholars is how much access Mani had to Greek Christian writings or Syriac Christian writings of Greek origin. Given the importance of Manichaeism to the intellectual evolution of Augustine, the continuing interest of patristic scholars in Manichaeism is unabated. [Extracted from the article]

This article surveys the subscriptions to the Gospel of Mark in 157 Greek manuscripts, noting their gradual development from being identical to the title in the earliest phase to becoming more and more elaborate and significant for the history of interpretation. Early on, as reflected in the title, the Second Gospel was associated with Mark, known to be Peter's disciple and interpreter. In the fourth or fifth century, an editor added the information that it was written (or spoken) by Mark in Latin in Rome as reflected in the Peshitta and later Byzantine manuscripts. At some point between the seventh and ninth centuries, an unknown editor added dates for each of the four Gospels from a source which has been attributed to Hippolytus' Chronicle , and in the process made a cascading error which resulted in too early dates for Mark, Luke and John. In the archetype of Family 13, these traditions were combined which suggests that the archetype of Family 13 is no earlier than the eighth century. A main factor behind this gradual growth of the subscriptions is authentication and authorisation – in the case of the Second Gospel, the association with Mark and Peter legitimates its claim of apostolicity and orthodoxy. Moreover, the situating of each Gospel in time and space through the subscriptions not only satisfies human curiosity but contributes to the construction of an ancient Christian 'landscape of memory', reflecting the collective memory of the early Christians, thus shaping and enhancing their identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The Shepherd of Hermas: A Literary, Historical, and Theological Handbook" by Jonathon Lookadoo is a comprehensive study of the early Christian apocalypse known as The Shepherd of Hermas. Lookadoo argues that the text was written by a single author over an extended period of time and likely completed around 140 CE. The book is divided into two parts, with the first part providing an overview of the text and its reception, and the second part focusing on various aspects of the Shepherd, including its characters, historical context, and theological themes. This handbook serves as an excellent introduction to the Shepherd of Hermas and will be of interest to both novice readers and seasoned scholars. [Extracted from the article]

"The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity" is a book that explores the concept of the evil inclination, or yeṣer, in various historical and religious contexts. The book brings together scholars specializing in different areas to examine the yeṣer and the problem of evil in pre-rabbinic Judaism, Judaism in relation to early Christianity, and late antiquity. The contributors discuss topics such as the semantics of the yeṣer in biblical Hebrew, its representation in Greek translations, its role in tannaitic literature, and its depiction in Christian apocrypha. The book offers a comprehensive and comparative analysis of the yeṣer, making it a valuable resource for scholars studying the Dead Sea Scrolls and related texts. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a book review of "Resetting the origins of Christianity: A new theory of sources and beginnings" by Markus Vinzent. The book challenges conventional accounts of the early church and explores the origins of Christianity from a different perspective. Vinzent examines the influence of figures such as Eusebius, Julius Africanus, Origen, Tertullian, and Irenaeus on the development of the Christian narrative. The book also delves into the question of which texts, such as Acts or the Pauline Epistles, should be given priority in understanding the early Jesus movement. While the book offers new insights and encourages readers to question preconceived notions, some reviewers note that it may be overwhelming and lacks a clear direction. [Extracted from the article]

"The Roman mass: From early Christian origins to Tridentine reform" by Uwe Michael Lang is a comprehensive and up-to-date study on the origin and evolution of the Roman mass. The author draws on a wide range of liturgical and musical studies to shed new light on the subject. It is important to note that the author's perspective aligns with the "Reform of the Reform" camp, which may occasionally influence the study. The book covers topics such as the Last Supper, the development of the eucharistic prayer, the Roman canon missae, and the adoption of the Roman Curia's use throughout the Western Church. Overall, it is a valuable resource for scholars and students interested in the Roman mass. [Extracted from the article]

"The Christian Invention of Time: Temporality and the Literature of Late Antiquity" by Simon Goldhill is a groundbreaking study that explores the transformation of conceptions of time in early Christianity and its impact on Western attitudes towards time. Goldhill, a classicist with a deep understanding of Greek literature, sheds new light on Christian texts and traditions by drawing comparisons with Jewish literature. The book is divided into two parts, with the first part focusing on thematic essays that examine various aspects of time, and the second part analyzing specific texts from Christian authors. While the book offers valuable insights, the reviewer suggests that future research should consider the complexity of early Christian attitudes towards time, including the self-definition of early Christianity as Verus Israel and the intertextual reading of both the Old and New Testaments. [Extracted from the article]

"A Spirit of Revitalization: Urban Pentecostalism in Kenya" by Kyama M. Mugambi is a comprehensive exploration of the development and significance of urban Pentecostalism in Kenya. Mugambi challenges the prevailing belief that Pentecostalism in Kenya is solely an import from North America, instead highlighting its indigenous roots and connections to earlier Christian initiatives. The book examines key themes such as orality, kinship, and holistic spirituality, and draws on a range of sources including interviews, participant observation, and audio-visual recordings. Mugambi's work sheds light on the role of women in founding churches and the political engagement of Progressive Pentecostal Churches, making it a valuable resource for scholars of Christianity, Kenya, and African religion. [Extracted from the article]

In recent decades, archaeological and written records have been used in combination to improve our understanding of Late Antique and Early Medieval Hispanic architectural culture (5th–10th c.). Within this renewed research context, the rebuilding of Late Antique churches and the reuse of earlier materials in both Early Medieval Christian and Islamic religious buildings; the transformation of Late Antique churches into early Islamic mosques in al-Andalus; and the rebuilding of other churches by the Christians themselves, both in al-Andalus and in the northern Iberian plateau, from the late 8th century onwards, have often been used to thread narratives concerning tradition, continuity, and re-sacralisation of earlier religious architectural spaces and, through this, religious change in the middle ages. However, the application of modern archaeological methodology reveals that these processes need to be qualified, for the stratigraphic gaps between building phases make them sometimes hard to interpret. By analysing some examples of Hispanic religious sites, this paper reflects on the many concepts related to sacralisation, explains the way archaeology is able to trace the sacralisation processes, and intends thus to highlight the complexity of these phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Le Royaume [English Translation: The Kingdom] is one of the French author Emmanuel Carrère's most successful works. The main question posed by this book is this: how can normal, intelligent people believe in something as absurd as the Christian religion? One of the believers with whom the author enters into dialogue is Carrère, who for some years was a devout Catholic himself. He then links this questioning to a form of historical research into the sources of Christianity. If Carrère's historical research is not always up to date, the part devoted to introspection is a convincing testimony, showing how a renowned author grapples with his own past and that of the church in a postmodern, secular world. The interesting aspect of his research is that he finds that, although he is not a believer, he wants to be a disciple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of burials at S:t Olofsholm, a site associated with the Saint Olaf cult on Gotland in Sweden, has enabled a bioarchaeological contextualization of medieval legends and sagas in conjunction with the archaelogical record. This study seeks to illuminate who were buried at S:t Olofsholm, through a biocultural lens, and whether these burials can be linked to folklore and sagas associated with the site. Five burials of possibly six individuals (cal. AD 980–1270) were assessed macroscopically and through stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, 87Sr/86Sr, and δ18O) of incremental dentine, bulk enamel, and bone samples. Sagas and legends associated with S:t Olofsholm mention episodes of conflict and contact involving King Olaf Haraldsson of Norway (later canonized as Saint Olaf), Gutes and Icelanders, and travels between Norway and Kyiv Rus. Two (or three) burials show signs of violent deaths, including evidence of sharp force trauma and burning. Isotope analyses indicate local and non‐local signals, with possible links to southern Scandinavia, Britain, Iceland, the Baltics, and Kyiv Rus. In general, the evidence neither challenges nor confirms the legends and sagas associated with S:t Olofsholm. Instead, the findings illustrate the site's function as an early Christian place of worship within a wider Viking world that was characterized by travel and contact across the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia, and beyond. The burials at S:t Olofsholm are likely to be non‐normative as indicated by their place of interment and the violent cause of death of most individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Church Fathers' writings are a valuable resource for grasping the development of discipleship in the early centuries of the Christian Church. The Apostolic Fathers understood discipleship differently from the way we understand it today. They understood the word discipleship to mean not merely lip service, but rather living the truth. They believed that suffering and martyrdom were basic ingredients of Christian discipleship. They further perceived discipleship to mean an imitation of Christ in the life of the believer, and they stressed this with regard to humility, persecution, and suffering. The Apostolic Fathers spoke frequently of disciples and the life of discipleship, and they revealed the earliest attitudes about the concept of discipleship in the Church following the passing of the apostles. This paper delves into first-century AD discipleship, tracing it from Clement of Rome to Papias of Hierapolis (AD 35-163). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a commonplace of ancient Near Eastern worldviews that temples have cosmic significance. This understanding persists and develops in the Second Temple period, with numerous texts witnessing to a widely held belief that the Jerusalem temple reflected heaven or the universe. Scholars have largely been content either to recognize a basic relationship, or to distinguish temple-in-heaven from temple-as-universe, sometimes construing the former as "apocalyptic" and the latter as "Hellenistic." Jonathan Klawans' work represents an important articulation of this distinction. This article summarizes his contribution, and critiques it on the grounds that it remains overly dichotomous and does not do full justice to the evidence. Instead, a fresh taxonomy is proposed with four key categories, each illustrated from Second Temple and biblical texts. None of these categories is discrete; rather they demarcate a spectrum or scale of ways that ancient Jewish and early Christian writers conceptualized the heaven–temple relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Faith' (pistis) is a key term in early Christianity. It not only describes the self-understanding of an individual Christ-follower, but also operates as the social marker of the Christ-groups. Rather than adding to the renaissance of studies on faith in recent years, this article seeks to illuminate what faith is by focusing on the phenomenon of doubt, broadly understood. After some linguistic reflections, the article identifies six basic types of doubt in early Christian writings and then compiles eighteen coping strategies and patterns of resilience reflected in the most prominent texts. The article is not an attempt at systematizing early Christian reflections on doubt but is rather a cornucopia of insights into how the first Christian theologians talked about doubt, dealt with it, and tried to overcome it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the purpose and features of womens' writing in early Christianity. Among early Christian texts, only three can be attributed reliably to women authors, and all three are primarily efforts at biblical interpretation. In her section of The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity , Perpetua becomes an inspired prophet and interpreter. The Spanish traveler Egeria investigates the sites of biblical episodes and two later stories of apostolic travels in order to teach the women with whom she corresponds; and Proba composes a cento to cast and reinterpret the life of Christ in fourth-century Rome. Finally, a contemporaneous description of Melania the Elder as a teacher and exegete confirms that women in some parts of early Christianity had the ability to teach and interpret scripture; their work should be discussed along with that of contemporary male authors in early Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work focuses on the solid modeling of the church of Santa Sofia in Benevento, Italy, and is related to a multidisciplinary research project that involved methods typical to both the humanities and mathematical engineering. Starting from the history of the church and its current configuration, a twofold objective is pursued: to give a brief account of the methodology used to analyze and virtualize the main phases of Santa Sofia and to report on the problem of modeling the church vault complex. Indeed, the 3D modeling of the church presented different levels of difficulty with some parts very easy to draw and others calling for specific geometrical analysis. In particular, to reconstruct the complex system of vaults of the church, a home-made code based on remapping Coons patches was written. The resulting 3D models of the different archeological and architectural phases of Santa Sofia are an example of virtual heritage and, being a digital content, allow for immediate sharing both to the scientific community and to a general and nonexpert audience, keeping in mind that knowledge is the means used to ensure the enhancement and preservation of cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

34-year-old-woman died during the resuscitation shortly after finding in the morning at the port. Improper cause of the death was hat embolism after falls on a hard surface. Her family history was without psychiatric disorders or criminality. The victim in the age between 15 to 28 devote herself to modeling, travelling around the world, has intensive sexual life, she used various drugs recreationally. Than she changed her „spiritual orientation", became a member of Apostolic Church, received baptism, spraid faith among close ones. The last weeks she had „spiritual crisis", internal conflict between Catholic, Apostolic Church and Scientology. She has never been explored by psychiatrist or psychologist. Due to changes of mood (anxious-depressive), sociability (withdrawall), bizarre thinking and behaviour, we closed diagnostically the state of victim as a schizoaffective disorder. We analyzed three motivation alternatives: 1) selfkilling in the psychotic state, 2) death due to interplay of misfortune and psychosis, 3) death through the fault of stranger. Psychopathological interpretation of religious experience is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the notion of precious stones as a unit in the early medieval Christian imagery. This idea was repeatedly echoed in the coeval writings of important Christian scholars such as Augustine of Hippo, Bede the Venerable or Hrabanus Maurus. Rather than considering the symbolism of individual types of precious stones, the article focuses on the precious stones as a unified medium that had the quality of being varied, symbolizing the perfect diversity of believers and virtues coming together in the unified Church of God. At the same time, the article draws attention to the same notion of precious stones functioning as a diverse unit that was captured in the bejeweled medieval objects such as reliquaries, altars or book covers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theological education today has almost exclusively aligned itself with tertiary educational expectations, all of which focus their attention, and appropriately so, on the transference of conceptual knowledge in an objective and detached manner. Moreover, having had to engage with the widely accepted methodological norms of the empirical sciences, theological education has increasingly endeavored to present itself in almost exclusively rationalist and logically conditioned ways, in order to demonstrate its rightful place within the university sector. In examining the scriptural, patristic and liturgical sources of the early Church, the paper will want to recover what could be called a 'mystagogical' understanding of the theological enterprise and the means by which this might be realised. The hope is that a contribution to modern understandings of theological education will have been made, with a well-deserved place afforded to its theophanic dimension--one which, in the end, could also be shown to better achieve theology's ultimate aim in encountering the living God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early martyrdom accounts are replete with depictions of the martyrs themselves embodied as fruit, bread, wine, and, more generally, as food. The Martyrdom of St Polycarp is no exception; these themes take a central place in the narrative depiction of the martyr. This paper explores these themes in the broader context of the Old Testament burnt offering, the eucharistic meal, St Paul's imagery of grafting, and the Christian concept of fruitfulness and the vine. In so doing, it endeavours to contextualise the martyrdom of St Polycarp within the broader early Christian tradition of floral and comestible imagery and symbolism. As part of that discussion, it also touches on important Orthodox themes related to those symbols and the act of martyrdom such as suffering, kenosis, and theosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1987 Leo O'Reilly observed that 'signs and wonders' and its function in the overall narrative of Acts is a neglected topic. Only a few scholars have taken up the challenge and contributed to this topic. In this article, the author will strengthen O'Reilly's arguments and further demonstrate that Luke uses the collocation of signs and wonders to argue for a strong parallel of Jesus and Moses and the 'prophet to come'. Luke additionally demonstrates the continuity of Jesus' prophetic ministry through his followers. In Acts the progress of early Christian mission is also associated with signs and wonders. Luke employs a chiasm – created throughout his use of signs and wonders – to argue for the church as the divinely commissioned continuation of salvation history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Testimony of Truth (NHC IX,3) is characterized by polemic against other Christians and certain aspects of Judaism, and shows familiarity with Jewish textual traditions. One such case is a narrative surrounding Solomon's building of the Jerusalem temple with the help of demons, who are incarcerated in the temple water jars and released by Roman armies, who unknowingly perform an act of purification on a demon-infected space. This paper argues that: 1) Testimony of Truth should be read as part of the wider early Christian polemical tradition presenting Rome as purveyors of vengeance against the errant Jewish people; 2) Testimony of Truth offers evidence for a flourishing Jewish presence in second or early third-century Alexandria, against the long-held argument that the community was largely annihilated following the Diaspora Revolt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called Hymn of the Bride is found in Chapters 6–7 in the first Act of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas. The manuscripts containing it show a particular history of the text which does not always coincide with that of the rest of the Act. For instance, family gamma (Γ) often presents a summarized version of the first two Acts, thus heavily shortening the Hymn. A study of the text is essential to establish a new edition with translation, which is the aim of the project in which this study is embedded. However, analysis of the manuscripts omitting or summarizing the Hymn is also relevant for other goals, such as a proper understanding of the interrelationships between the different manuscripts and of the interest in the text, and its use by early Christian communities and by later readers. Consequently, in this paper, I will analyse the particularities of such a textual tradition and offer a few conclusions that will, in turn, contribute to the broader analysis of the Acts of Thomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied two fundamental linguistic channels—the sentences and the interpunctions channels—and showed they can reveal deeper connections between texts. The applied theory does not follow the actual paradigm of linguistic studies. As a study case, we considered the Greek New Testament, with the purpose of determining mathematical connections between its texts and possible differences in the writing style (mathematically defined) of the writers and in the reading skill required of their readers. The analysis was based on deep-language parameters and communication/information theory. To set the New Testament texts in the larger Greek classical literature, we considered texts written by Aesop, Polybius, Flavius Josephus, and Plutarch. The results largely confirmed what scholars have found about the New Testament texts, therefore giving credibility to the theory. The Gospel according to John is very similar to the fables written by Aesop. Surprisingly, the Epistle to the Hebrews and Apocalypse are each other's "photocopies" in the two linguistic channels and not linked to all other texts. These two texts deserve further study by historians of the early Christian church literature at the level of meaning, readers, and possible Old Testament texts that might have influenced them. The theory can guide scholars to study any literary corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the book review titled "Trafficking with Demons: Magic, Ritual and Gender from Late Antiquity to 1000," the author challenges the prevailing belief that women were particularly skilled in magic during the first millennium. The review argues that previous scholarship has often projected fifteenth-century stereotypes of witches onto earlier periods, overlooking the nuanced gendered dimensions of early medieval attitudes towards magic. The author of the book being reviewed, Rampton, analyzes various early Christian and medieval sources to argue that women were not considered the primary practitioners of magic. The review highlights Rampton's exploration of the relationship between ritual, authority, and gender in the early Christian and medieval context, offering a new perspective on elite Church views of magic. [Extracted from the article]

Reinhard G. Kratz's book, "Qumran: Die Schriftrollen vom Toten Meer und die Entstehung des biblischen Judentums," provides a comprehensive exploration of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their connection to biblical Judaism. The book is divided into eleven chapters, covering topics such as the discovery and publication of the scrolls, archaeological observations at Khirbet Qumran, and the community behind the texts. Kratz argues that the Dead Sea Scrolls played a central role in the development of biblical Judaism, as well as early Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. While the book offers valuable insights into the significance of the scrolls, it lacks a precise historical characterization of the Qumran community and neglects certain aspects of the writings. Overall, it serves as a useful introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls for German-speaking readers interested in the literature found near the Dead Sea. [Extracted from the article]

Brown writes positively about Foucault's work but admits that Foucault offers a simplified picture of early Christianity. Brown refers several times to these letters as the dream of the scholar, "a pure fragment from the past, fresh as the dawn" (p. 608). Oxford Patristic conferences, in which Brown participated from 1963, were important gatherings and widened the young scholar's perspective to include the French and Italian academic worlds. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the study of the Gospels included in the New Testament in relation to other ancient Gospels that were not included. The author, Simon Gathercole, compares the canonical Gospels with seven non-canonical Gospels to determine their distinctiveness and antiquity within early Christianity. He argues that the four canonical Gospels contain all four elements of the early Christian kerygma, making them unique and early within Christian history. While the study is comprehensive and well-researched, the author does not address theological questions or the assumption of the superiority of the canonical Gospels. The article suggests that further exploration is needed to engage with these questions and their implications for Christian thought and practice today. [Extracted from the article]

Aztec Antichrist: Performing the Apocalypse in Early Colonial Mexico. By Ben Leeming. Louisville : University Press of Colorado, 2022. Pp. 314. $100.00 cloth; $35.95 paper; $29.95 e-book.By Justyna OlkoReported by Author [Extracted from the article]

What Schmidt has shown is that work that survives as the I Commentary on Daniel i is not the work of the engraver/corrector: that title is found neither on the plinth of the statue nor in Eusebius' catalogue but only in that of Jerome. The author of the I Commentary on Daniel i is clearly the heir to two conflicting chronological approaches, the one astronomical and scientific (or trying hard to be so) and the other hermeneutic and allegorical that he has combined, not without some mutual contradictions. Furthermore, if we are to regard (as Schmidt actually regards) those surviving works as from more than one writer representing a second-century, Roman ecclesial community, each influenced by a quite different perspective, then we can explain, for example, what the I Commentary on Daniel i presents as the chronology of Christ's life. [Extracted from the article]

In Galatians 1–2, Paul mentions several times that the apostles' leadership is situated in Jerusalem. In Gal 2:1–2, he even designates it simply as "Jerusalem". Paul acknowledges the centrality of the apostles in Jerusalem in his enterprise of the collection of the money for the saints in Jerusalem. Yet, the city is transformed into central theological concepts in Paul's distinction between "the present Jerusalem" and "Jerusalem above" (Gal 4:25–26). Thus, despite his debates with Peter and James, Paul not only accepts that the early Christian leadership dwells in Jerusalem, but he also designates the center of the Jesus movement as "Jerusalem". This means that the holiness of the city, its prophetic heritage, and messianic hopes as reflected in the Hebrew Bible are associated with the apostles' community. Quite a similar picture is found in the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles. Jerusalem is mentioned in Acts fifty-nine times. Luke refers to the name of the city time and again, stressing that the apostles act and live in Jerusalem, that Paul comes to the city, and that other events happen there. Yet, the oft-repeated references to Jerusalem in Acts go far beyond accurate geographic descriptions. In Acts, the author stresses that the Jesus movement operates in/from the Jewish holy center, which accords the movement legitimacy as a Jewish movement. Jerusalem is "the place" of the apostles' community. The community of apostles is identified with the city, as if they are Jerusalem. In a sense, Luke follows Paul (and most probably the apostles' community) in associating the origin and center of the Jesus movement with Jerusalem. This association may be explored in light of the theory of place (which is related to the general theory of space or spatial theory). The apostles identify with Jerusalem to show other believers in Jesus that they are the leaders and center of the Jesus movement. It is an act of domination. At the same time, they claim to be "Jerusalem" while being persecuted. Hence their self-association with the city is also an act of resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes up the matter of Paul's education and explores it within the Roman world of education. In order to do this, the article draws upon and contributes to reception historical studies of Paul. More specifically, the article illustrates the flexibility of Paul's education as it is described in his letters, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Acts of Paul. While Paul downplays his education in several autobiographical statements within his letters, his letters nevertheless suggest that Paul received a high level of education. The Acts of the Apostles further contributes to an early Christian portrayal of Paul as an educated figure by giving readers a Paul who speaks eloquently and presents a controversial message that can be narrated with reference to both Jewish scripture and to Graeco-Roman philosophy. The Acts of Paul presents Paul as a persuasive speaker, but the speeches contained within this narrative are generally of a more concise nature. On the other hand, the Acts of Paul presents Paul as a writer who can read and respond eloquently to highly disputed queries from other groups of believers. These texts coalesce in depicting a Paul who is well educated, but they differ in their depictions of how his education was evident in his life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coptic literature abounds with references to books that never existed as physical objects in their own right. This article explores the role of fictional books specifically in a selection of Coptic apocrypha deriving from the entire period of Coptic literary production. Whether presented as apostolic, prophetic, or angelic; earthly or heavenly; historical or contemporary, references to fictional books could function as veracity devices, authority claims, or as materials for storyworld creation. Taking as its points of departure recent work on pseudo-documentarism, transnarrative storyworlds, and the cognitive effects of fiction, this article explores implicit claims to authority and authenticity, as well as the fuzzy boundaries and interrelationships between fictional and factual references in meaning- and world-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, posthumanist arguments regarding ontology and agency have played a significant role in reshaping the contours of the so-called humanities. Whereas this reshaping has focused heavily on the impact of technology (e.g. artificial intelligence) on the meaning of "being human," as well as on the agency of nonhuman others (e.g. nonhuman animals), typically invisible beings (e.g. gods, spirits) have received significantly less attention. This article addresses this lacuna through a close and comparative study of the role of the invocation of particular divine names in the canonical Acts of the Apostles and a tenth-century Tibetan spellbook. After examining how each text presents the onomastic invocation of divinities as an efficacious method, under certain conditions, for accomplishing particular goals, this article elucidates how such texts both challenge posthumanist thinkers to articulate much more robust accounts of agency and ontology while also providing a means of doing so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Protestant theology—particularly of the Reformed and evangelical variety—has shown an increased interest in historical retrieval. Various theologians have engaged in the work of mining the Great Tradition of Christianity in order to resource contemporary theology with wisdom from the past. Presupposed in this work of retrieval is a claim that is by no means a foregone conclusion for Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theologians: the notion that Protestants also lay claim to the Great Tradition of the 'one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.' Protestant theologians working on retrieval believe they are drawing from their own heritage, not the heritage of another. While it may appear counterintuitive to do so, this paper seeks to defend this notion by drawing together three terms commonly considered disparate: Christian Platonism, Reformed soteriology, and Baptist sacramentalism. It disputes two popular insistences: first, that Reformed soteriology depends on a nominalism that contradicts the realism of the Christian-Platonic metaphysical tradition; and second, that the Baptist view of baptism amounts to mere symbolism (and thus depends on nominalism in another sense). This paper therefore argues not only that Reformed evangelicals, broadly speaking, lay rightful claim to the Great Tradition (and specifically, its metaphysics), but also that Baptists in particular share this heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The apocryphal account of the birth and childhood of Mary, mother of Jesus (and to a lesser degree Jesus himself) known most commonly as the Protevangelium of James is one of the most influential early Christian texts outside of the New Testament. It is witnessed substantially in the Greek manuscript tradition as well as in several other languages. In the process of its transmission in Greek from the late third century or the fourth century into the late medieval/early modern period, various titular formulae were attached to the text. This article examines the earliest manuscript witness for Prot. Jas, Papyrus Bodmer V, and argues that the title present here is reflective of the complexities surrounding the perceived genre and function of early Christian literature in addition to the creation and continuation of traditions encompassing authorial identity and legitimacy. The Prot. Jas demonstrates well the hermeneutical weight often carried by titular paratexts as literature is transmitted, and regardless of whether P. Bodmer V represents continuity or evolution in this regard, it offers a window onto the flexibility of genre and its representation in early Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Race, Ethnicity, Judaism and Christianity are problematic labels, and so is family. Recent postcolonial approaches have attempted to deconstruct them, not without facing the inherent paradox of the danger of re-essentialising them. This paper approaches these concepts retrospectively to show the complexities and to warn of their anachronistic use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]