From Jupiter to Christ : on the history of religion in the Roman imperial period / Jörg Rüpke ; translated by David M.B. Richardson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rüpke, Jörg, author.

Contributor:

Richardson, David M. B.

Standardized Title:

Von Jupiter zu Christus. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jesus Christ.

Jupiter (Roman deity).

Jupiter.

Rome--Religion.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Religion.

Physical Description:

vi, 328 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

The history of Roman imperial religion is of fundamental importance to the history of religion in Europe. Emerging from a decade of research, From Jupiter to Christ demonstrates that the decisive change within the Roman" imperial period was not a growing, number of religions or changes in their ranking and success, but a modification of the idea of religion and a change in the social place of religious practices and beliefs. Religion is shown to be transformed from a medium serving the individual necessities-dealing with human contingencies like sickness, insecurity, and death-and a medium serving the public formation of political identity, into an encompassing system of ways of life, group identities, and political legitimation. Instead of offering an encyclopaedic presentation of religious beliefs, symbols, and practices throughout the period, the volume thematically presents the media that manifested and diffused religion (institutions, texts, and law), and analyses representative cases. It asks how religion changed in processes of diffusion and immigration, how fast (or how slow) practices and institutions were appropriated and modified, and reveals how these changes made Roman religion 'exportable', creating those forms of intellectualisation and enscripturation which made religion an autonomous area, different from other social fields. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Globalization in a Traditional Form

1 'Globalization' as a Model for Individual Religious Creativity in the Roman Imperial Age 27

2 Integration and Transformation of an Immigrant Religion Observations on the Inscriptions of the Jupiter Dolichenus Cult in Rome 35

3 A Judaeo-Christian Variant of Professional Religion in Rome: The Shepherd of Hermas 53

4 Organizational Patterns in Respect of Religious Specialists in a Range of Roman Cults 83

Part II Media and Vectors of the Spread of Religion in the Roman Empire

5 The Rise of Provincial Religion 105

6 Religion in the lex Ursonensis 113

7 The Export of Calendars and Festivals in the Roman Empire 137

8 Book Religions as Imperial Religions? The Local Limits of Supraregional Religious Communication 153

Part III The Roman World Changes: Religious Change on a Global Scale

9 Polytheism and Pluralism: Observations on Religious Competition in the Roman Imperial Age 169

10 Religious Pluralism and the Roman Empire 185

11 Representations of Roman Religion in Christian Apologetic Texts 211

12 Religious Centralization: Traditional Priesthoods and the Role of the Pontifex Maximus in the Late Imperial Age 233

13 Visual Worlds and. Religious Boundaries 255

14 How Does an Empire Change Religion, and How Religion an Empire? Conclusion and Perspectives Regarding the Question of 'Imperial and Provincial Religion' 271.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780198703723

0198703724

OCLC:

880192663