The Crucible of Religion in Late Antiquity : Selected Essays

"The religious revolution of late antiquity and its intertwined religious history are reflected in a broad array of new forms of religious belief and practice, of which Christianity is only the most perceptible one. It is represented in the passage from polytheistic systems to monotheistic and dualist ones, as well as in the move from rituals centred upon sacrifices in temples to rituals established upon scriptures, in churches, synagogues, or mosques. This double dynamism of beliefs and rituals sheds light on the transformations of religious ethos. Guy G. Stroumsa's two-part volume reflects this double argument. The essays all focus on central aspects, such as in Part I on mental aspects of religion in the Roman Empire, as expressed in early Christian texts and traditions, and in Part II on religious communication across the empire's cultures and communities"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Title 4 Preface 8 Table of Contents 10 Introduction. A New Religious Ethos 12 Part I. Christ’s Laughter: Visions, Docetism, Martyrdom 22 1. Myth into Metaphor: The Case of Prometheus 24 2. The Early Christian Fish Symbol Reconsidered 35 3. The Jewish and Christian Afterlives of Orphism 41 4. To See or not to See: On the Early History of the Visio Beatifica 63 5. Mystère juif et mystère chrétien: le mot et la chose 77 6. In illo loco: Paradise Lost in Early Christianity 89 7. Christ’s Laughter: Docetic Origins Reconsidered 102 8. The Greek and Jewish Origins of Docetism (with Ronnie Goldstein) 120 9. Sacrifice and Martyrdom in the Roman Empire 137 10. Les martyrs chrétiens et l’inversion des émotions 148 Part II. A New Axial Age? Sacrifice, Intolerance, Manichaeism 160 11. The End of Sacrifice Revisited 162 12. Les sages sémitisés 174 13. Cultural Memory in Early Christianity: Clement of Alexandria on the History of Religions 187 14. Moses the Lawgiver: The Idea of Civil Religion in Patristic Thought 204 15. Axial Religion in the Late Antique Scriptural Galaxy 217 16. Christian Intolerance and its Roots 235 17. Titus of Bostra and Alexander of Lycopolis Against Manichaean Dualism 257 18. The Words and the Works: Augustine and Faustus 267 19. Anti-Manichaean Polemics: Late Antiquity to Islam (with Sarah Stroumsa) 278 Conclusion. Shapes of Time in the Abrahamic Religions: A Phenomenological Sketch 298 List of First Publications 312 Index of Selected Topics and Names 314