Early Christianity and Christian Church (pre-Constantine, to c. 312)

In the Gospels Jesus is called a ‘Nazarene’ or ‘Nazoraean’. Does this mean he came from Nazareth? Basing himself on Lidzbarski’s analysis of the Hebrew/Aramaic origins of the Greek terms Nazarênos and Nazôraios Dr Osborne proposes that these epithets indicate that Jesus was a nôṣrî a ‘(Strict) Keeper/Guardian (of the Law)’. This meant he was a follower of the 364-day liturgical calendar known to us from 1 Enoch Jubilees and Qumran. An examination of the passages where these terms appear shows that this hypothesis leads to a deeper understanding of the circumstances in which the first Christian communities arose and clarifies greatly the background of Jesus’ crucifixion as Yēšû ha-Nôṣrî.

The book then traces the influence of the nôṣrîm on the history of Israel from their origin in the ‘calendar wars’ that tore apart the Jewish nation from 172-163 BCE. These broke out after the lunisolar calendar was introduced into the temple liturgy by Menelaus the high priest and only came to an end when the 364-day calendar was reintroduced under his successor Alcimus. In 151 BCE however Jonathan Maccabaeus was appointed high priest and reintroduced the lunisolar calendar. The nôṣrîm were suppressed and forced to emigrate or go underground. They reappear as leaders of Jewish resistance to Roman occupation after Pompey incorporated Judaea into the empire in 63 BCE. Eventually they became the chief instigators of the revolt against Rome that led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Osborne argues that the nôṣrîm thought to have been included in the Twelfth Benediction of the Amidah at Yavneh around 90 CE are these same ‘(Strict) Keepers/Guardians (of the Law)’.

Incubation (temple sleep) was a well-known ritual in the Near East and became increasingly popular in Classical and Hellenistic Greece becoming attached to Asclepius and other divinities. It flourished in the Eastern Mediterranean where it was encountered by the emergent Christianity. Temple sleep was so widespread that it was impossible to ban. The Christianization of the incubation ritual was thus a detailed and lengthy (but successful) process that encompassed several aspects of the Church’s self-definition including important social and theological issues of the era. The list of relevant issues is extensive: the fate of Greek temples and the reinterpretation of sacred space confronting Hippocratic medicine and the learned Greek intelligentsia. Since disease and a search for cure is a ubiquitous human need the early Church embraced a healing ministry in secular terms as well as in ritual healing. Incubation records show how the Church viewed dreams conversion or the notions of magic and divination. All these come within the framework of writing miracles: the transformation of the cult was thus incorporated into standard Church discourse from ritual practice to proper literary genres.

This first comprehensive monograph on Christian incubation examines the rich material of all the relevant Greek miracle collections: those of Saint Thecla Cyrus and John the different versions of Saint Cosmas and Damian and saint Artemios as well as the minor incubation saints As a result it unfolds the transformation of healing sites and practices related to dreams as they spread across Byzantium from rural Asia Minor to Constantinople and Alexandria.

Gesù era Cinico? I suoi discepoli? E Paolo? Queste domande che rientrano nel più generale tema della possibile influenza del Cinismo sul Cristianesimo delle origini costituiscono un importante capitolo storiografico nato in Germania nel primo Novecento e ampiamente sviluppatosi più tardi soprattutto negli Stati Uniti d’America.

A questi problemi è dedicato il presente volume che partendo da un’analisi sempre attenta alle evidenze testuali intende vagliare da una prospettiva storico-filosofica la possibilità che Gesù e il Cristianesimo delle origini siano stati influenzati dal Cinismo e da tale tradizione filosofica abbiano ricevuto sollecitazioni o stimoli. Lo studio è rivolto a testi quali i Vangeli Sinottici e le Lettere Paoline (nello specifico la Prima Lettera ai Corinzi) in cui i fautori della Cynic Jesus Hypothesis hanno ritenuto di poter rinvenire elementi definibili come ‘cinici’.

Tale analisi si presta in maniera singolare a gettare luce non solo su autori importanti e temi della tradizione cinica particolarmente discussi ma anche sui rapporti tra la tradizione ellenica e le origini del Cristianesimo.

Tema quest’ultimo di interesse non solamente storico-filosofico e teologico ma anche schiettamente teoretico perché tocca la questione viva e dibattuta ancora oggi seppure talvolta sotto forme diverse delle relazioni tra la riflessione filosofica e il credo religioso tra fides e ratio.

Leading scholars in the study of Late Antiquity discuss the religious landscape of the eastern Roman Empire with expert discussion of the theological political and social issues which confronted Jews and Christians in late Roman Palestine and surrounding regions. Individual chapters analyse in depth the rabbinic patristic and archaeological evidence to produce a sophisticated account of religious lives in provincial societies in which rabbinic Judaism took root within a Roman world increasingly dominated from the early fourth century CE by competing Christian power structures particularly within Palestine. Detailed studies investigate among other topics rabbinic speculation about the origins and nature of the Roman state; the implications of the sharing of urban space by different religious traditions and the sharing of religious iconography; competition both within Judaism and Christianity and between Jews and Christians in light of the political pressures exerted by the Christian Roman state; and both similarities and differences in speculation by Jews and Christians about the nature of the expected end of days.

The formal study of the collection of Jewish and Christian texts transmitted under the name of Sibylline Oracles highlights the continuity of the model of biblical prophecy while underlining the heritage of Greek didactic poetry. The interest of this approach is to situate the Sibylline Oracles as a literary work in the context of contemporary Greek versified literary production which implies on the part of their successive editors a familiarity with Greek poetic forms related to a common scholar background.

The study of the retelling of biblical episodes aims at identifying the passages where the fictitious Sibyl claims to announce the events of the biblical past and confronting these narrative sequences with contemporary rhetorical theories of paraphrase in order to highlight the formal technique that runs through them and the interpretation of the biblical hypotext that it presumes. Most of the rewritings preserved in the corpus are compatible with the prevailing doctrine of the third century ce.

As a prehistory to the Nativity accounts of the gospels of Matthew and Luke the Protevangelium of James dated to the second half of the second century aimed to fill in alleged gaps in the canonical accounts of Jesus' and his mother's ancestry and births. Thus it describes the birth of Mary the mother of Christ the Annunciation the Nativity and the death of Zachariah the high priest and father of John the Baptist.

The edition of the original Greek text has an English version on its facing pages.

The commentary pays particular attention to the early liturgical use of the Protevangelium and to artistic representations of the scenes it describes as these were the main means by which this highly influential text was transmitted throughout the known world. It also questions the usually accepted genre and purpose of the text and suggests that its author may have had a satirical intention or have intended it as an early Christian novelette using scriptural scenes and themes as his inspiration. Maybe we have approached the Protevangelium of James with solemn faces and have been prepared to carry out serious theological investigations whereas the many inconsistencies and glaring contradictions so obvious as to be ridiculous might suggest the author's intentions were not quite so grave or weighty.

The idea of participation in heavenly worship is a fascinating perspective on the Christian Eucharistic liturgy. Although somewhat forgotten in modern times the early church knew it as a central aspect of meaning in interpretations of the Eucharistic rite. Through this rite worshippers could see themselves in communion with angels and saints in the eternal liturgy of heaven. Interpretations along such lines emerge clearly in catechesis and homilies from the fourth century onwards and continue to develop in the following centuries especially in the eastern liturgical traditions. The question remains however what are the origins of this concept?

In Participation in Heavenly Worship Sverre Lied explores how the relations between the earthly and heavenly realms were understood within the context of Christian worship during the first three centuries CE. He argues that the idea of participation is an aspect of Christian worship that may be traced back to Jewish Christian apocalyptic mysticism and shows how this concept with considerable variations was preserved and developed during the following centuries. These observations also shed new light on the appearance of the Sanctus in the Eucharistic liturgy.

L’auteur de ce livre propose la comparaison critique de toutes les utilisations attestées du motif gnostique du blasphème de l’Archonte et l’étude de la transformation de la citation du texte d’Isaïe dans les textes gnostiques en examinant les particularités de chaque attestation. Cette approche permet entre autres de bien distinguer les différentes versions du blasphème de l’Archonte et de retracer autant que possible les différentes étapes de sa diffusion dans la littérature gnostique. Toutes ces variantes sont précieuses car elles permettent de préciser les destinataires visés par les différentes œuvres et les contextes socioreligieux spécifiques à chacune de celles-ci. L’Archonte apparaît tantôt comme un modèle de conversion à imiter tantôt comme un anti-modèle à rejeter comme le type de l’impiété religieuse. Ces présentations impliquent des destinataires et des situations communautaires différents si bien que les origines du motif du blasphème de l’Archonte sont diverses mais doivent être situées à l’intérieur du cadre de la construction du discours interreligieux. Le blasphème de l’Archonte apparaît alors comme un des volets de la crise identitaire du christianisme au ii ème siècle qui s’est cristallisée entre autres autour de la question de la véritable connaissance de Dieu.

Les prêtres et les lévites restent influents plusieurs siècles après la chute du Temple de Jérusalem en 70 de l’ère chrétienne. Ils tentent même une ou plusieurs reconfigurations de leurs fonctions dans la société. En même temps les Sages ou rabbins essaient de capter leurs prérogatives ancestrales. Un double mouvement de sacerdotalisation et de rabbinisation est alors perceptible dans les textes rabbiniques. Qu’en est-il des premiers textes mystiques juifs dits Hekhalot ? Une telle dialectique de rejet et d’intégration est-elle perceptible ? Par comparaison d’autres mouvements appelés plus tard chrétiens dont certains gnostiques et d’autres groupes dans le monde perse ont eu la même tendance.

La prière est à la fin de l’Antiquité non seulement un élément essentiel de la pratique religieuse publique et privée mais aussi un objet éminent de réflexion philosophique et théologique aussi bien au sein de la religion gréco-romaine que dans le christianisme. Les différents modes de rapport entre les théories et les pratiques de la prière forment ainsi la matière de ce livre qui réunit quatorze contributions (suivies d'un épilogue) consacrées aux diverses facettes d’une interaction multiforme qui rend nécessaire la collaboration des spécialistes de différentes disciplines : histoire religieuse des mondes grec et romain philosophie religieuse tardo-antique et littérature patristique. Cette collaboration se reflète dans un ensemble de questions qui traversent les contributions réunies dans ce volume : le lexique de la prière ; la tension entre ses dimensions personnelle et publique ; le contexte rituel des prières ; la géographie de la prière donnant lieu à une tension entre les prières liées à un espace précis et les prières à caractère universel ; le lien entre prière et affectivité celle des dieux mais aussi celle des orants ; la polarité entre la prière vocale et la prière silencieuse à la fois dans les milieux chrétiens et païens.