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This article considers the construction of the speaking subject in Justin's First Apology and Tatian's To the Greeks, two interlocking texts (often associated with the problematic genre of Christian apologetics). Bracketing questions of biographical reality, it explores the fictionalising techniques Justin and Tatian adopt to magnify their own authority, co-opt well-known narrative models (including martyrologies and imitatio Christi) in the service of their own self-fashioning. I take their autobiographies as stylised self-dramatisations, rather than guides to historical realities. There are strong parallels with the kind of self-modelling that we see in the works of pagan sophists of the era, notably Dio Chrysostom. Reading these two authors in this way blurs the sharp distinctions they seek to draw between Christian and pagan. It also requires a reading of their texts, in line with recent scholarship, as generically complex, sophisticated and absorbent, and open to the opportunistic appropriation of elements characteristic of pagan literature of the era. Foucault has argued that the voice of early Christianity was characterised by its confessional quality, which was new, confident and distinctive; this article argues, by contrast, that Justin and Tatian at any rate were intellectual bricoleurs and experimentalists, and had much more in common with their pagan peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the traditional perspective, the early Christians refused to continue with the temple sacrifice. Christ on the cross had already atoned for all sins. Recently, other scholars, especially those belonging to the Radical New Perspective on Paul (or "Paul within Judaism" research), have argued instead that Paul carried on with temple worship, considered it efficacious, and expected Christ-following Jews to continue with the sacrifice. In this research we will investigate the positions of the different perspectives on Paul's attitude toward Jewish sacrifices and evaluate the arguments at stake. Our research leads us to the conclusion that Paul did not consider the temple sacrifices a problem, but neither did he give them any salvific relevance for the recipients of his letters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers archaeological evidence for various aspects of early Christian church building and comes to the conclusion that diversity was an essential quality of late antique Christianity. The diversity in question is ill-attested in written sources, but becomes apparent when the material record and everyday life are taken into consideration (cultural/material/pictorial/iconic turn). Church buildings looked and functioned differently in various regions and provinces of the late Roman empire. The diversity does not appear to have been accidental, but was cultivated throughout late antiquity. It was sometimes related to, but did not depend on, differences in liturgical practice, nor was it a matter of knowledge, ability, and workshop tradition alone. Provincial diversity was maintained even when and where the metropolitan alternative was manifestly known and available and although secular art and architecture continued to uniformly emulate the capital cities. A combination of written and material evidence suggests that the diverse formal repertoire of early Christian art and architecture was chosen and decided individually, but tended to form local/provincial/regional clusters. The decision makers seem to have been guided by religious conventions as well as by personal or political allegiances, many of which appear to have been determined locally, each province or region onto itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christine Luckritz Marquis's book, "Death of the Desert: Monastic Memory and the Loss of Egypt's Golden Age," offers a new perspective on early Christian monasticism in the Egyptian desert. The book explores the mental and discursive aspects of ascetic life, highlighting the violence inherent in the monastic project. It argues that the attack on the Long Brothers marked a turning point in monasticism, leading to a decline in the allure of the desert and a subsequent exodus from Egypt. While some claims in the book require further evidence, it provides a valuable contribution to the study of early Christian monasticism by connecting various phenomena and introducing the concept of the link between asceticism and violence. The book is praised for its comprehensive approach and individual chapters, which will hopefully inspire further research and discussions on these topics. [Extracted from the article]

The text discusses the book "Legendae martyrum urbis Romae: lateinisch-deutsch = Märtyrerlegenden der Stadt Rom" edited by Hans Reinhard Seeliger and Wolfgang Wischmeyer. The book explores the creation of narratives of Christian martyrs in Rome during the decline of the Roman Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries. The texts provide a diverse collection of stories, ranging from short and simple to long and elaborate, and offer insights into the last days of paganism in Rome. The texts are presented in a readable and reliable translation, with helpful annotations and minimal introductions. The book provides a valuable resource for studying these texts and their historical and literary significance. [Extracted from the article]

For interpreting Scripture, one needs to figure out what exactly is to be interpreted when the Word of God is interpreted. Because canon and hermeneutics are so tightly connected, several early Christian introductions to Scripture (introductiones) provided lists of canonical books. This article assesses a little-known canonical list provided by a sixth-century treatise Instituta regularia divinae legis by Junillus. His aim was to show the particular ways the biblical books in various genres communicated their message as the canonical Scripture. Junillus' Instituta is a Latin version of the lost work of Paul the Persian, who was educated in Syria, at the School of Nisibis. As such, Instituta is a unique and original example of a broadly Antiochean exegetical tradition, which is disseminated for western readers. Cassiodorus recommended it to his students at Vivarium. [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]

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]

The so-called Codex Zacynthius (Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 10062) is believed to be the earliest surviving Byzantine manuscript bearing commentaries on the New Testament; it preserves a series of commentaries on the Gospel of Luke consisting of quotations from writers of the early Christian period. The present article demonstrates that Codex Zacynthius must no longer be deemed the only witness to this collection of exegetical passages: the same collection for Luke 1:1–2:35 is found on four pages at the beginning and end of a 12th-century manuscript (Codex Vaticanus Palatinus graecus 273). This manuscript not only helps us to read parts of Codex Zacynthius that are now illegible, but it also provides us with the text of seven pages of the collection that are missing from Codex Zacynthius. These include commentaries by seven of the ten authors cited in this collection, including Greek passages from Severus of Antioch. The article includes the editio princeps of these previously unknown parts of the collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late Roman Egypt, a woman of high-standing named Caesaria corresponded extensively with Severus of Antioch, a bishop who had relocated to Egypt in exile. A few complete letters from their correspondence survive, and many fragments are scattered in florilegia, in biblical catenae, and as quotations in other works. The present paper argues that a reading for the Thursday after Easter found in an Ethiopic homiliary for the season of Pentecost contains three genuine excerpts from their correspondence. These three excerpts discuss the origin of evil and the resurrection of the dead, drawing on both the biblical text as well as the writings of Gregory of Nyssa. The excerpts offer important information about Severus's correspondence with Caesaria as well as the circulation of early Christian writings in early Solomonic Ethiopia. An edition and translation of the excerpts follow in the appendices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twenty-five years since Richard Ascough's article, "Translocal Relationships among Voluntary Associations and Early Christianity," scholarship has largely swung the pendulum away from viewing the translocality of early-Christ groups as an anomaly and using that "uniqueness" as justification for denying the heuristic value of Greco-Roman associations for understanding Christ-groups. A side-effect of this shift, however, has been that scholars often only compare Greco-Roman associations and Christ-groups on the basis of local instantiations. This article, in contrast, recovers a focus on the translocal relationships between associations, examining various motivations for translocal relationships between voluntary associations and showing the heuristic payoff for comparing translocal voluntary associations with early Christ-groups. Additionally, the article concludes that the comparison should work in both directions. That is, the nature of the evidence of the translocality of early Christ-groups actually allows these groups to function as an important heuristic for translocal Greco-Roman associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution examines whether some early Christian thinkers, usually classified as "gnostics," were influenced in a special way by interpretations of the biblical account of creation in developing their particular doctrine (Cerinthus, Menander, Simon Magus, and Saturninus/Satornil). It turns out, however, that not only is there too little solid information about these thinkers, but the apparent specifics of interpretation are taken from contemporary Judaism. Only the distance between the supreme God and his helpers in creation seems to be more clearly accentuated than in many texts, but this may also be polemics of these Gnostics majority church opponents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue publishes selected papers from a seminar held over various Annual Meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature. By providing these papers we hope to inspire new research on Jewish and Christian exegesis. It has the advantage that it focuses not just upon the discovery of "pagan" sources of Christian texts but also upon the specific use of "pagan" material and its limit within a Christian framework. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the reception history of the story of the woman with a flow of blood as recounted in Mark 5:25–34, Matthew 9:20–22, and Luke 8:43–48 within the writings of two late antique poets: Jacob of Serugh (ca. 451–521 CE) and Romanos Melodos (b. ca. 485 CE). In their poetic compositions, Jacob and Romanos retell and interpret biblical stories employing narrative expansions and the attribution of imagined speech. The Syriac poet, Jacob of Serugh, wrote in the form of narrative poems, or mēmrē, while Romanos perfected the form of the Greek kontakion. Like prose homilies, these poems reached Christians from across the social spectrum, providing spiritual instruction and delighting audiences. Previous reception histories of this biblical narrative have largely overlooked late antique and early Byzantine poetry performed within the liturgical space. In addition to filling this lacuna in scholarship, this article also highlights how these understudied poems contribute to our understanding of early Christian discourses of (im)purity. Romanos emphasizes the symbolic value of the gendered body, blending the imagery of stain, impurity, and sin. In contrast, Jacob's lexical choices and poetic style underscore the woman's physical and emotional strife. Through speech and the description of the woman's bodily state, both poets provide dramatic depictions of the woman's encounter with Jesus that enrich our understanding of how late antique Christians interpreted this biblical story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scriptural citations of early Christian theologians have often been enlisted in scholarly reconstructions concerning the development of the canon. The underlying assumption in many such reconstructions appears to have been that the frequent quotation of a writing indicates a corresponding level of authority for that writing. More recent scholarship has challenged this assumption by drawing attention to the specific rhetorical contexts in which scriptural quotations are employed. The current work contributes to this trajectory of research and the field of reception history more generally by considering citations of the Epistle to the Hebrews among the second- and third-century Christian writers who utilize the epistle most frequently, namely, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement, and Origen. The utilization of the Epistle to the Hebrews by these authors bears much greater resemblance, I argue, to the compositional and citational practices of their Greek predecessors than to the canon lists created by Christian theologians in the fourth century and beyond. The evaluation of these citations within the framework of later debates about canon, therefore, serves to flatten the diversity of approaches evident among the citations of Hebrews prior to the fourth century. Careful examination of citations from the Epistle to the Hebrews in the second and third centuries reveals that the various ways in which the document was quoted were frequently determined by the immediate rhetorical context in which those quotations were employed rather than by debates about the epistle's authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hundred years ago (1917/1918) Wilhelm Bousset broke new ground with the thesis that the Acts of Thomas showed traces of Manichaean editing, especially in the Hymn of the Pearl, perhaps the most famous and the most beautiful poem in the Syriac language. In this poem, according to Bousset, the stages in the life of the prince, the protagonist, strangely match the stages in the life of Mani, the founder of the Manichaean religion. The present article revisits this thesis, which enjoys as much interest as ever and is accepted by several well-known contemporary scholars. It takes account of older witnesses (such as the traditions of the early church) while introducing new arguments based on a consideration of original Manichaean literature and striking features of language and style. In a kind of panoramic view, it shows that the Hymn of the Pearl was indeed subjected to Manichaean editing: motives and themes from older traditions were adapted to refer to Mani and supplemented with new interpretive material. Taken together, the old and the new observations confirm Bousset's thesis that the son of the king in the Hymn of the Pearl was identified with Mani and that an editor (or a school of editors) reworked the poem to make it point to him. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I propose a different reading of Foucault's newly published work than suggested by the publishers and in initial reviews. I question the claim that it represents the fourth volume of the History of Sexuality and rather propose to regard it as an intended second volume. Comparing Foucault's final plan of publication of the series with the background and stated purpose of Les aveux de la chair, I hold that it is part of a different philosophical project than volumes two and three. Foucault wrote Les aveux de la chair to explore the roots of modern power in the experiences that early Christianity occasioned. This makes the work relevant for current theology and the philosophy of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dogmatic debates in early Christianity shaped philosophical discourse just as Greek philosophy offered the conceptual tools to engage and, accordingly to crystalize early Christian practice, into a formal system of belief. Thus, in the recently-published The Rise of Christian Theology and the End of Ancient Metaphysics, Johannes Zachhuber notes that "Patristic thought as a whole can be identified as a Christian philosophy." Following suit – though not without nuance – this paper suggests treating Patristic scriptural exegesis as an exercise of speculative philosophy, as evidenced in Augustine's interpretation of the figure of the cross at Eph 3.18, where the cross progressively becomes a simple yet compelling paradigm of divine manifestation. This paradigm can be framed according to Augustine's mature articulation of the 'ontological principle' of manifestation in s. 165: "From the depth which you cannot see rises everything that you can see." By engaging in scriptural exegesis, within a gestalt where Wisdom, sacred and profane alike, merge in the incarnate God manifest in Christ, Augustine articulates unprecedented philosophical principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at describing the Lukan project by applying – in the wake of other scholars – social memory theories to Luke's double work. In particular, it argues that the type of memory and its criteria defined by Jan Assmann on the basis of the Deuteronomy can help explain the nature of the narrative composed by the auctor ad Theophilum as well as its originality in an early Christian context marked by a proliferation of books and other traditions of the origins of the Church (cf. Luke 1:1a.2.4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth Book of Ezra is one of the most skillful and ambitious writings of ancient Judaism on the subject of time, especially with respect to the future. 4 Ezra is at the same time the most profound text of that special group of apocalyptic writings that were written at the turn of the 1st century CE which react to the religious policy of the Roman Empire towards Jerusalem and the early Christians: 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, the Revelation of John, the 4th and 5th books of the Sibylline Oracles, as well as certain historiographical passages in the work of Josephus. The experience of the extension of time which exceeds one’s own short life (4:33; 8:5) poses a crucial problem for the author. The intellectual solution is found in 5:42–43, in the idea of the final judgement as a circle. Overall, time can be thought of in terms of its temporal extension or its fundamental momentary presence (“thick presence”): as a line (linear concept), as a sequence of partial lines (sequential concept), or as the center of a circle (central concept). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents concepts of time and time measurement in diverse Greco-Roman, Jewish and early Christian texts dating to the early Roman Imperial period. It then considers the specific role and conceptual function of historiographical texts in ancient discourses about how to perceive, measure and structure time and how to cope with temporality. In that discourse frame, the early gospel writings appear as early Christian modes of memorializing the past for the sake of mastering (present) time: the gospels thus participate in the ancient historiographical project of operating “against Time the all-destroying” (Momigliano). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late 380 s, Ambrose of Milan preached nine Lenten homilies on the "six days" of Genesis 1. Basil of Caesarea's Homiliae in Hexaemeron (ca. 378) has long been recognized as a source for Ambrose. To study Ambrose's reception of Basil is, however, complicated by Ambrose's familiarity with other early Christian thinkers, as is attested by Jerome's assertion in Epistula 84,7 that "Ambrose also compiled from his [Origen's] Hexaemeron, in such a way that he conforms more nearly to the thoughts of Hippolytus and Basil." Jerome's sweeping judgment, whether or not we should take it at face value, suggests that Ambrose in some way borrowed from Origen while claiming the authority of Hippolytus and Basil. In an attempt to consider the reliability of Jerome's testimony, this article considers the extent to which Jerome's depiction of Ambrose's use of Origen and Basil can be validated by looking more closely at the way their respective views of the nature, origin, and relation of spiritual and material creation arise out of their exegesis of Genesis. Attending to the legacy of Origen in Basil and Ambrose enhances our understanding of Ambrose's subtle and selective use of the theological and interpretive traditions of earlier Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Im Allgemeinen bleibt das Forschungsvorgehen den archäologischen und epigraphischen Quellen fern, da der Text der I Sermones i von Chromatius in der Regel den Ausgangs- und Angelpunkt der Diskussion bildet. Eine Literaturliste - in Ausgaben der antiken Quellen (S. 175-177) und in Sekundärliteratur (S. 177-189) weiter untergliedert - sowie ein Register der Eigennamen und der wichtigsten Begriffe (S. 191-194) schließen den Band ab. Auf S. 9-11 wird erstmals der Deutungsansatz unter Berufung auf das bei McEachnie einflussreiche Werk von Peter Brown deklariert, wonach die Häresien nur als ideologische Konstrukte der Herrschenden anzusehen seien und die ökumenischen Konzile, wie jenes in Aquileia 381 n. Im vierte Kapitel (S. 81-104) wird die Herausbildung einer neuen römischen Identität im multiethnischen Reich des ausgehenden vierten Jahrhunderts nachgezeichnet, wobei die traditionelle ethnische Gegenüberstellung von I Romani i und unzivilisierten I barbari i außerhalb der Reichsgrenze zum ethisch-religiösen Gegensatz der rechtgläubigen Christen - d. h. der neuen Römer samt den konvertierten Barbaren (vgl. schon Gal 3,28) - zu allen Nicht-Rechtgläubigen - Häretikern, Heiden und bes. [Extracted from the article]

Cain behauptet, Butler und die von ihm abhängigen Vertreter der Revisionstheorie hätten nicht erkannt, dass Sozomenos genug Latein verstehen konnte, um Rufinus' Übersetzung zu benutzen, und dass nun ein Cain kommen müsse, um das Gegenteil zu beweisen. Das fünfte Kapitel ("Style", S. 92-124) ist das erste in diesem Buch, das ganz aus Cains eigenen Beobachtungen hervorgegangen ist. Wenn der Umstand, dass keiner von ihnen einen Namen hat, als eine Art von I Damnatio memoriae i gedeutet wird (S. 194), so ist zu bedenken, dass in der I Historia monachorum in Aegypto i kein Mensch, der mit den Mönchen in Berührung kommt, einen Namen erhält, wenn er nicht ebenfalls Mönch oder der Kaiser Theodosius ist. In einem einleitenden Abschnitt redet Cain vom intendierten Publikum der I Historia monachorum in Aegypto i und meint, der Verfasser denke an ein Publikum, das weit über das römische Ägypten und griechisch sprechende Auslandsägypter hinausgehe, und er schreibe nicht für Frauen. [Extracted from the article]

This article challenges a consensus position in Ignatian studies by arguing that Ignatius's use of scripture has been underestimated and exploring two proposals for ways in which scripture influenced Ignatius. The essay first addresses the weak foundations of the consensus, namely, Ignatius's report about his visit to Philadelphia and the small number of direct citations. It then explores two suggestions for how Ignatius displays his indebtedness to an early Jewish thought-world. First, Ignatius employs scriptural imagery in his letters. Second, he alludes to language that is found in several places across the Old Testament. Although the number of explicit citations is small, an expanded understanding of Ignatius's use of Jewish scripture that takes into account imagery and allusions sheds light on Ignatius's awareness of scripture and is in keeping with the practices of other early Christian texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epicurus is well known as the letter writer par excellence among ancient philosophers. This is shown by examples from Alciphron, Diogenes Laertios, Seneca, and Plutarch. Additionally, the long list of partially preserved letters in the collections of fragments by Usener and Arrighetti is analyzed. These quotes demonstrate the use of letter collections originating with Epicurus and his first students. A new valuable testimony is provided by the publication in 2011 of POxy 5077. Its three fragments are clearly taken from a collection of letters of Epicurus. We find his name in a typical prescript: "Epicurus (to NN), greetings". Leonteus and Mithres of the founding generation are mentioned. The copying of letters and the exchange of documents within the Epicurean community are fully on display. The little known shipwreck suffered by Epicurus is alluded to. All this is not without interest for students of early Christian letter collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of the diplomacy between the Carolingians and the ʿAbbāsids has been hampered by the absence of any sources from the Caliphate commenting on their relationship. This paper identifies two variants of the Arabic Tiburtine Sibyl, apocalyptic prophecies composed by Syriac Christians in the early ninth century, that provide contemporary Arabic references to contact between Charlemagne and Hārūn al-Rashīd. In doing so, they shed new light on this diplomatic activity by indicating that it was considerably more important for the Caliph than normally appreciated. Combined with other references to the Franks in Arabic apocalyptic of the period, the evidence of these Sibyls suggests that Hārūn al-Rashīd accrued considerable prestige from his reception of Charlemagne's envoys and the gifts that they brought with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a narratological reading of the Gospels is relatively well accepted, their characterisation as parts of the genre of ancient biography was much antagonised in former times. Although things have changed thanks to seminal monographs on the problem from the second half of the 20th century and to continuing work, some questions remain open. Therefore, a narratological comparison of Gospels with concrete representatives of the ancient bios could possibly help to clarify the relations between both. In what follows, the oldest Gospel is read simultaneously with Plutarch's Biography of the Younger Cato. Three observations are made: a) The structures of the narratives of Cato and of Jesus match to a high degree. Both protagonists carry out certain duties while operating in public. In most instances, they achieve great successes. From a certain point on, however, they irrevocably approach failure and ruin. This structure of story seems to form the basis both of the Gospel and of the biography of Cato, written ca. three decades later. b) Obviously, both works narrate the life of a man, his exceptional character, his extraordinary operations in public and his non-natural violent dead. In Plutarch's version, the Younger Cato fails in the end. At first sight, also Mark's Jesus fails to accomplish his mission. By God's action he is turned into the saviour of the faithful however. This claimed unsurpassed relevance of the story is contrasted with the laconism of the narration. c) Both narrations are composed out of both factual and fictional elements. Thus, readers cannot separate both elements precisely in every instance. Both stories are imagined worlds designed for the in narratology so called game of fiction. As can be learned in Plutarch, authors of stories like the Life of Cato or the Gospel of Mark guarantee a certain sense of responsibility in their work. Summed up, the narratological comparison has illustrated both the close affinity and the individual specifications of both narratives. It thus helps to clarify the position-fixing of the Early Christian literature within its Graeco-Roman context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the importance of acknowledging the underlying methodology in the interpretation of early Christian art. I raise these issues via an engagement with the frescoes at Dura Europos, as interpreted by Michael Peppard in his recent work, The World's Oldest Church. I demonstrate that Peppard's ideology and archaeological methodology entail a creative, hermeneutical nexus for interpreting the initiation rituals at the Dura Europos house church. For Peppard, this nexus entails an innovative interplay between non-canonical sources, art and liturgical identity. This yields a surprising interpretation of initiation rituals at Dura Europos and, by extension, of early Christianity in Syria. After describing some problematic aspects of Peppard's ideological and archaeological choices, I offer suggestions for a related proposal on Christology and visual exegesis at the Dura Europos house church baptistery. This proposal begins with clarification of ideological issues that foreground visual exegesis at Dura Europos, and argues for the adoption of six essential criteria when reconstructing the operative Christology in the baptistery of Dura Europos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overlooked textual evidence demonstrates Eusebius of Caesarea's authorship of the treatise Contra Hieroclem, on which doubt has recently been cast by Tomas Hägg and Aaron Johnson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the fragments of Saint Pachomius edited by Louis T. Lefort there is one that is mirrored in the apophthegmatic tradition in various ways, in terms of language and region (Coptic, Greek, Latin, Ethiopic, and Armenian) as well as in terms of variations in the text itself. It is indeed also part of the Meterikon and there attributed to Melania. It seems that the original form of the saying belongs to Pachomius (in spite of some doubts raised by Samuel Rubenson concerning the quest for the original apophthegms in general), and that it was later adapted to the anchoretic milieu. It has then been enlarged and has been transmitted in both the shorter (Coptic, Greek, Latin, the Meterikon) and the longer version (Greek, Ethiopic, Armenian, and also the Meterikon). While most of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers can be traced down only to the 6th century, when the larger collections were written in Palestine, we have in this case the rare opportunity of following an apophthegm up to its original source, and we know the speaker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th century biblical manuscript, offers an interesting point of view on the textual transmission of the Shepherd of Hermas, which is extremely complicate because of the fragmentary status of all its Greek sources and of the presence of several translations in different languages (Latin, Ethiopic, Coptic, Georgian and Middle Persian). New studies on some of the most significant sources like the new leaves Codex Sinaiticus (2010) and the Latin translation Vulgata (2014) enable a new reconstruction of Hermas' textual transmission. The present article will evidence the key role of the Sinaiticus as point of contact between different textual versions of the Shepherd, which have had their autonomous life, and will offer a new reconstruction of Hermas' textual transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gegenüber der Ausgabe von 1992 fällt ins Auge, dass die Texte jeweils mit einer knappen Einführung und erläuternden Anmerkungen versehen sind, die die Einordnung und das Verständnis sehr erleichtern. Hunter, David G. Marriage and Sexuality in Early Christianity, Ad Fontes: Sources of Early Christian Thought 5 Minneapolis Fortress Press 2018 xiii + 978-1-5064-4593-9 1 272 $ 24.00 Im Jahre 1992 erschien eine Vorgängerversion des hier zu besprechenden Bandes mit ausgesuchten Texten zum Thema Ehe und ehelicher Sexualität im frühen Christentum. [Extracted from the article]

Rouwhorst follows this up with a second essay examining briefly the origins and transformation of three Christian feasts: the Christian Passover, the pilgrimage liturgy of Jerusalem, and the Epiphany. Nienke M. Vos and Albert C. Geljon, eds.:Rituals in Early Christianity. The first essay is a valuable summary by Gerard Rouwhorst of the methodological differences between the traditional study of early Christian liturgy and the newer study of rituals. [Extracted from the article]

De Bruyn examines a period of transition, in which the cultural norms and the horizons of the creators of amulets and their customers were more and more shaped by the emerging Christianity. This is in my opinion a felicitous choice of words, as it conveys what de Bruyn demonstrates to have been the position of amulets and their producers in the societies examined. De Bruyn examines how Christian elements in amulets were formed by Christian ritual. [Extracted from the article]

The significance of Marcion's Gospel in understanding the history of early Christianity has often been noted; however, a major challenge in research on Marcion's Gospel as it relates to numerous issues (e. g., the gospel genre itself, the textual history of Luke, the relationship between Marcion's Gospel and Luke, the Synoptic Problem, etc.) is that since no copies of Marcion's Gospel are extant, the text must be reconstructed. This article offers a critical appraisal of specific issues related to the reconstruction of Marcion's Gospel in recent scholarship on Marcion and his texts by Jason BeDuhn, Markus Vinzent, Matthias Klinghardt, and Judith Lieu. Particular attention is given to the variety of challenges confronting the academic study of this text, the manner in which potentially problematic reconstructions contribute to the place one ascribes to Marcion's Gospel in the history of early Christianity, and the variety of points that must be discussed and debated further in order to advance research on Marcion's Gospel. Only then is it possible to gain a better understanding of the Gospels, including Marcion's Gospel, in the second century and in the history of early Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evagrius Ponticus's theory of the eight bad thoughts has often been read as indebted to Stoic ideas of mental representation. This is in part, however, a consequence of the fact that the significance of φαντασία to Plato's own thought has only recently begun to receive adequate attention. In this paper, I explore how recent studies into Plato's theory of passion help illuminate Evagrius's ideas about the relationship between affect and mental representation. Interpreting Evagrius's treatment of passion as perspectival (rather than judgmental) helps illuminate his understanding of the relationship between the ascetic and contemplative lives and his conception of selfhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I Biblica 101 (2020) 1: i 47-68: M. Kowalski, The Cognitive Spirit and the Novelty of Paul's Thought in Rom 8, 5-6; 69-86: J. White, The Paraenetic Use of "Spiritual Songs" (Col 3, 16b) in Colossians; 87-106: A. Pitta, A Peg to Hang 1 Thessalonians On? I Zeitschrift für Neues Testament 23 (2020) 45: 7 i -23: K. Bieberstein, Jerusalem - mehr als die Summe seiner Steine. Königreiche im Konflikt; 37-52: B. Kollmann, Warum wollte Jesus nach Jerusalem?. [Extracted from the article]

Using evidence from the Book of Revelation of the New Testament of the Christian Bible, the article discusses the religious biography of its author, known as John of Patmos, as a Jewish Christian. The author examines the motif of the sealing of the 144000, the concept of eschatology, and the representation of Jerusalem and its temple as indicators of John's Jewish roots. He also considers how the Book of the Apocalypse reflects the social conditions in the Christian communities in Asia minor during the Roman Empire as well as how these may have influenced the ideas about withdrawal from society evident in the text.

Der Beitrag untersucht die Bedeutung autobiographischer Konversionsberichte im Blick auf die Bedeutung von Bildung im frühen Christentum. Während Justin eine Tour d'horizon durch die antike Philosophie unternimmt und sich aufgrund seiner einschlägigen Kenntnisse den paganen Philosophen als gewachsen, ja überlegen fühlt, sind die pseudoklementinischen Homilien ostentativ bildungskritisch, so dass der junge Protagonist eine spezifi sch christliche Bildung erwirbt. Die Dankrede des Gregor Thaumaturgus an Origenes illustriert schließlich die grundlegende Rolle paganer Bildung und Philosophie für den Erwerb christlicher Bildung, so dass christlicherseits eine begründete Stellungnahme und Abgrenzung möglich wird. Allen drei Textkomplexen ist gemeinsam, dass die Autoren das Bedürfnis verspürten, ihre vor- oder außerchristliche Bildung zum christlichen Glauben und Leben ins Verhältnis zu setzen [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper gives an outline of Carl Andresen's scholarly biography and then points out some of his lasting achievements for the writing of Church History. Being initially infl uenced by Hans Lietzmann's concept of the history of early Christianity, Andresen developed a more theologically informed way of analysing historical phenomena (while retaining his interest in sociological, cultural and philosophical approaches to Religion). Church History is structured by certain 'types' of Churches, reflecting sociological as well as ecclesiological aspects. While early Christianity inevitably belongs to the religious commonwealth of Late Antiquity, its self-understanding leads to distinguishing it from other religions. Andresen's work thus provides a theological framework even for current historical analyses of the Ancient Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]