Jews, pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire : collected essays III / Jan N. Bremmer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bremmer, Jan N., author.

Series:

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament ; 547.

Collected essays / Jan N. Bremmer ; III

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 0512-1604 ; 547

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Church history.

Judaism--Relations--Christianity--History--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Judaism.

Paganism--Relations--Christianity--History--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Paganism.

Christianity and other religions--Judaism.

Christianity and other religions.

Christianity and other religions--Paganism.

Christianity.

Church history--Primitive and early church.

Rome--Religion--History.

Rome.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

xxiii, 655 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Tübingen : Mohr Siebeck, [2025]

Summary:

"Organised into four thematic sections, this volume brings together a series of Jan N. Bremmer's articles on religion in the Roman Empire, all of which have been updated and revised where necessary. Starting with Jewish history, the author pays particular attention to the 38 CE pogrom, the emergence of the terms 'Judaism' and 'Christianity', and the interest of Roman authors in Jewish literature. The second section focuses on the mutual influences of pagans and Christians, examining subjects such as sacrifices, miracles and mysteries. The third section analyses various topics relating to early Christianity, such as human sacrifice, martyrs and persecutors, and the disputed dates of significant Christian texts, including the Letters of Ignatius and the Martyrdom of Polycarp. The final section examines key elements of religion in Late Antiquity, such as the demise of traditional Greek and Roman religion and Constantine's conversion . Thanks to its wide-ranging approach and rich bibliographies, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in religion in the Roman Empire." -- Publisher, inside front flap of dust jacket.

"This volume presents a selection of studies by Jan N. Bremmer on the interplay between Judaism, Christianity, and paganism in the Roman Empire. The author covers a wide range of subjects including pogroms, ghosts, sacrifice, miracles, mysteries, the decline of traditional ancient religion, Constantine's conversion and the survival of paganism." -- Publisher, back cover of dust jacket.

Contents:

Section I. Jews and Judaism.

1. Spartans and Jews : Abrahamic cousins?

2. Virgil and Jewish literature

3. The first pogrom? Religious violence in Alexandria in AD 38?

4. Ioudaismos and Christianismos and the parting of the ways

Section II. Pagans and Christians (1. The novel: pagan and Christian).

5. Priests and priestesses in the pagan and Christian novel

6. Ghosts, resurrections and empty tombs in the Gospels, the Greek novel and the Second Sophistic

7. Animal sacrifice in the novel and late antiquity

8. Eucharist and agape in the later second century : the apocryphal Acts and the pagan novel

9. Hellenistic and Roman miracle tales. Section II. Pagans and Christians (2. Mysteries).

10. Imperial mysteries

11. Philosophers and the mysteries

12. Celus and Origen on the mysteries

13. Richard Reitzenstein's Die Hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen

14. Religion and the mysteries in Arthur Darby Nock's Conversion. Section III. Early Christianity (1. Various themes).

15. Early Christian human sacrifice between fact and fiction

16. God against the gods : early Christians and the worship of statues

17. Where did the early Christians meet?

18. The portrait of the Apostle Paul in the Acts of Paul

19. Total devotion in the Acts of Peter

Section III. Early Christianity (2. Martyrdom and religious violence).

20. Tactitus and the persecution of the Christians : an invention of tradition?

21. The Apocalypse of Peter as the first Christian martyr text : its date, provenance and relationship with 2 Peter

22. Imitation of Christ in the Passion of the Scillitan martyrs?

23. Roman judge vs. Christian bishop : the trial of Phileas during the Great Persecution

24. Religious violence between Greeks, Romans, Christians and Jews

Section III. Early Christianity (3. Dating and locating).

25. The onomastics and provenance of the Acts of Paul

26. The place, date and author of the Ignatian letters : an onomastic approach

27. Lucian's Peregrinus, Celus, the Letters of Ignatius and the Martyrdom of Polycarp

28. Author, date and provenance of the Protevangelium of James. Section IV. Late antiquity.

29. How do we explain the quiet demise of Graeco-Roman religion?

30. The conversion vision of Constantine

31. Athanasius' Life of Antony : marginality, spatiality and mediality

32. Paganism in the hagiography of Asia Minor

33. Harnack and late antiquity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9783161705625

3161705629

OCLC:

1547136593

Publisher Number:

90104499865

9783161705632 (eISBN)