Gentile Christian identity from Cornelius to Constantine : the nations, the parting of the ways, and Roman imperial ideology / Terence L. Donaldson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Donaldson, Terence L., author.

Contributor:

EBSCOhost.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600.

Church history.

Church history--Primitive and early church.

Identification (Religion).

Identity (Psychology)--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Identity (Psychology).

Gentiles.

Christians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Grand Rapids, Michigan : William. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Originally an ascribed identity that cast non-Jewish Christ-believers as an ethnic other, "gentile" soon evolved into a much more complex aspect of early Christian identity. Gentile Christian Identity from Cornelius to Constantine is a full historical account of this trajectory, showing how, in the context of "the parting of the ways," the early church increasingly identified itself as a distinctly gentile and anti-Judaic entity, even as it also crafted itself as an alternative to the cosmopolitan project of the Roman Empire. This process of identity construction shaped Christianity's legacy, paradoxically establishing it as both a counter-empire and a mimicker of Rome's imperial ideology. -- Drawing on social identity theory and competitive ethnography, Terence Donaldson offers an analysis of gentile Christianity that is thorough and highly relevant to today's discourses surrounding identity, ethnicity, and Christian-Jewish relations. As Donaldson shows, a full understanding of the term gentile is key to understanding the modern Western world and the church as we know it.

Contents:

1 Three Orations and a Question p. 1

Eusebius's On the Holy Sepulchre p. 1

Aelius Aristides's Regarding Rome p. 7

Paul's Speech in Acts 25:23-26:32 p. 11

The Construction of Gentile Christian Identity p. 13

2 Positioning the Question p. 37

The Parting of the Ways p. 37

Ethnicity and Social Identity p. 54

Identity, Ethnicity, and Power in the Roman Empire p. 69

3 Ethne as an Identity Ascribed to Non-Jews: By Jews p. 103

Jewish Identity Construction in the Greco-Roman World p. 103

Ethne and Ascribed Identity p. 129

4 Ethne as an Identity Ascribed to Non-Jews: By Jewish Christ-Believers p. 151

Earliest Jewish Christ-Communities and the Gentiles p. 152

Ascribed Identities p. 194

5 The Nations in Roman Imperial Discourse p. 244

Vocabulary and Usage: General Considerations p. 245

Roman Imperial Ideology and the Nations p. 277

6 Ethne and Gentile Christian Identity (Before 135 CE) p. 310

Setting Up the Questions p. 311

Ethne and Identity: Up to 70 CE p. 322

Ethne and Identity: Between the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Bar Kokhba Revolt p. 329

7 Ethne and Gentile Christian Identity (After 135 CE) p. 387

Ethne as an Identity Term in the Writings of Justin Martyr p. 389

Constraints: Celsus and Marcion p. 422

Ethne and Christian Identity Construction after Justin p. 434.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Ipswich, MA Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781467459556

1467459550

Publisher Number:

99985687991

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.