David Hellholm, Tor Vegge, Øyvind Norderval, Christer Hellholm (Eds.):Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism. Late Antiquity, early Judaism, and early Christianity (BZNW 176/IIII)

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (01) ◽  
pp. 79-83
Author(s):  
Nils Aksel Røsæg
2021 ◽  

This collection of essays investigates signs of toleration, recognition, respect and other positive forms of interaction between and within religious groups of late antiquity. At the same time, it acknowledges that examples of tolerance are significantly fewer in ancient sources than examples of intolerance and are often limited to insiders, while outsiders often met with contempt, or even outright violence. The essays take both perspectives seriously by analysing the complexity pertaining to these encounters. Religious concerns, ethnicity, gender and other social factors central to identity formation were often intertwined and they yielded different ways of drawing the limits of tolerance and intolerance. This book enhances our understanding of the formative centuries of Jewish and Christian religious traditions. It also brings the results of historical inquiry into dialogue with present-day questions of religious tolerance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 684-717
Author(s):  
Anna Lankina

The fifth-centuryEcclesiastical Historyof Philostorgius is an unusual example of a surviving minority source. Although scholars have mined his work for raw data on events between 320 and 425c.e., in contrast to other contemporary ecclesiastical historians, Philostorgius has received little attention. His work has suffered derision, being seen as nothing more than “Arian” polemic and thus as more partisan than its pro-Nicene counterparts. This essay analyzes Philostorgius's role as one of many competitive voices participating in the composition of historical works for the elite readership of Constantinople in the fifth century. Philostorgius'sEcclesiastical Historyconstituted an integral part of the historiography of late antiquity and early Christianity. His representation of the relationship between bishops and emperors reveals a distinctive theory of history which informs his entire work.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-283
Author(s):  
Blossom Stefaniw

Two recently-published works involved in the representation of women in the Christian past show two contemporary but divergent historiographic modes. The following essay examines each study within a larger frame of inquiry as to how patriarchy continues to shape both the institutional and embodied orders within which feminist historiography of early Christianity and Late Antiquity takes place. Using Critical Race Theory as the best available perspective from which to engage with systems of oppression, I articulate certain revisions which should be made to current efforts towards equality and consider what it would mean to write feminist historiography as counter-narrative or counter-storytelling without that becoming a decorative or extra-curricular practice in the academy. When feminist historiography is treated simultaneously in institutional, embodied, and epistemic terms it becomes evident that the way we think about women is part of a high-stakes conflict around the use of the past.


2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert J. Steyn

The origin and text form of Psalm 45:6-7 (44:7-8) in Hebrews 1:8-9 are investigated. On a tradition-historical level it is established that Psalm 45:1-2b was quoted in 4Q171 in early Judaism, but in early Christianity, prior to Hebrews, no evidence of quoting Psalm 45 has been found. Messianic connections might have prompted the author to use it. On a text-critical level, new manuscript evidence is assessed and variant readings are discussed. It is concluded that the author himself made minor changes to his text without following another Vorlage. Insofar as Jesus is being called “God” by God himself, Psalm 45 confirmed to the author of Hebrews the divinity of Jesus. The royal imagery, righteous rule and eternal throne are christologically applied.


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