The Ransom of Captives: Evolution of a Tradition

1981 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Osiek
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Verbal Expression ◽  
Moral Conviction ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
Christian Literature ◽  
Social Tradition

The admonition to ransom captives has a long paraenetic and social tradition that is documented in a variety of genres in early Christian literature. It is a tradition which, like many of its companion pieces in paraenetic literature, springs from roots in the Hebrew Scriptures which were consciously adopted by Christians as an important base upon which to build their own theology. The development of this particular tradition in early Christianity is an interesting example and test case of how a theological and moral conviction was not limited to verbal expression but was effectively translated into practice and creatively adapted to changing situations.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Otto
Keyword(s):  
Early Christian ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
Christian Literature

As an allegorical interpreter who perceived some of the spiritual teachings embedded in the Hebrew scriptures, Philo did not match the image of the stereotypical Jew constructed by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius. Neither, however, did he fulfill their criteria to be considered a legitimate Christian. This chapter argues that Philo functions in early Christian writings as neither a Christian nor a Jew but is situated in between these two increasingly differentiated identities. Acting as a third term in the equation, Philo the “Pythagorean,” the “predecessor,” and the “Hebrew,” mediates between the categories of Christian and Jew while ensuring that the two identities remain rhetorically and conceptually distinct. An epilogue briefly traces the varying depictions of Philo in later Christian literature, including accounts of his baptism by the apostle John and his transformation into Philo Judaeus, Philo the Jew.

Influence on Early Christian Worship

2020 ◽  
pp. 377-391
Author(s):  
Paul F. Bradshaw
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Ritual Practices

This chapter traces the various ways in which the cultic language and imagery of the Hebrew Scriptures influenced and shaped the liturgical thought and ritual practices of early Christianity, from the first to the fourth century ce. At first, this was primarily through the metaphorical or spiritual application of such concepts as priesthood and sacrifice, but eventually there are indications of the beginnings of the adoption of a more literal correspondence between some elements of the Temple cult and aspects of Christian worship. Both corporate and individual practices of prayer are covered, including the use of the canonical psalms, as well as the appropriation of traditional ritual gestures and the emergence of Christian holy days out of biblical festivals.

scholarly journals Ritual, Memory and Writing in Early Christianity

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
RISTO URO
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Public Performance ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Printed Books ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Individual Memory ◽  
Religious Teaching ◽  
Christian Literature

The article examines ways in which the views of biblical scholars as to the transmission of early Christian traditions, especially the Jesus traditions, have been revolutionized by so-called orality/literacy studies since Werner Kelber’s seminal The Oral and the Written Gospel (1983). In the 2000s, an important turn in the study of orality and literacy in early Christianity took place with the discovery of memory. This has given rise to a focus on theories of collective memory and more recently on the cognitive aspects of individual memory, producing fresh new insights into the close intertwining of orality and literacy in ancient literary activity. The last part of the article brings up the role of ritual in the transmission of early Christian traditions, an aspect that has received less attention in the discussion. For purposes of further analysis, three perspectives on the role of ritual in the study of orality and textuality in early Christianity are highlighted and elaborated. The first underscores the need for a fresh analysis of the numerous liturgical passages in the New Testament identified by the generation of form critics. The second focuses on oral-aural (‘liturgical’) aspects of early Christian literature as part of the larger phenomenon of Greco-Roman literary culture, in which literacy was defined by public performance and recitation to a degree that differs substantially from the modern use of printed books. The last perspective highlights the important question of ritual’s capacity to function as an instrument of religious teaching and doctrinal consolidation.

scholarly journals The books of the Bibles in early Christianity

2012 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Scheetz
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Source Information ◽  
Substantial Agreement ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Literature

A resurgence in the interest in other early Christian literature has brought the issue of the Christian biblical canon(s) to the forefront. Questions in relation to what the literature was, which literature was authoritative, and when did it become authoritative, have all been reopened both on a popular and scholarly level. With this climate, a re-evaluation of primary source information in relation to the various lists was in order. The lists from Origen, Eusebius, the Muratorian Canon, Athanasius, and to a lesser extent Tertullian, were examined. The result was: a nuanced perspective that reflects a three level reading hierarchy that gave precedence to the unquestioned texts, allows for mediated expansion through the questioned texts, and calls for a complete correction of the rejected texts based on the first two levels. Further, although none of the lists are exactly alike, substantial agreement was established between these various lists spanning more than a 150 years. In contrast to Marcion, theological harmony did not appear to be the main consideration in these various lists.

The Virgin, the Bride, and the Church: Reading Psalm 45 in Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine

2000 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Linguistic Turn ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Past ◽  
Christian Literature ◽  
Christian Discourse ◽  
The Church

Within the past decade or so, historical studies of early Christianity have been affected by what has been called the “linguistic turn.” This development has entailed a new appreciation of the varied forms of Christian “discourse” and their importance in shaping the cultural, political, and social worlds of late antiquity. For example, historians of religion and culture, such as Judith Perkins and Kate Cooper, have drawn attention to the way in which narrative representation in early Christian literature functioned to construct Christian identities and to negotiate power relations both within the church and in society at large. It has become increasingly difficult for historians to ignore the power of rhetoric in shaping the imaginative (and, therefore, real) worlds of late ancient Christians.

The New Testament and Early Christian Literature in the History of Gender and Sexuality

2019 ◽  
pp. xxvi-15
Author(s):  
Benjamin H. Dunning
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Sexual Difference ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Literature

What is the place of the New Testament and early Christianity in the history of gender and sexuality? This essay explores this question in conversation with feminist and queer theory. It considers the terminology of sex, gender, sexual difference, sex acts, and sexuality both as theoretical concepts and in relation to New Testament and Early Christian Studies. It then surveys the question of ancient androcentrism and the methodological problem posed by the so-called linguistic turn, arguing that the ongoing study of gender and sexuality in the New Testament and early Christianity will, of necessity, continue to be a prismatic, if contested, exercise in writing “the history of the present.”

The Promises to David and their Entrance into Christianity—Nailing down a Likely Hypothesis

1973 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis C. Duling
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Hebrew Scriptures ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of

The fundamental outlook in what follows is that there is a fairly consistent, compact, yet expanding and developing promise tradition which is founded on the promises to David (and his descendants) in the Hebrew Scriptures; that this tradition in certain ways has been rejuvenated and strengthened in the early Christian period; and that it enters Christianity in connection with the application of these promises to Jesus' resurrection apart from the title Son of David itself, a title whose acceptance and adaptation in early Christianity appears on both historical and redaction critical grounds to be relatively late. The hypothesis is not totally new. My intention will be to put some older information into what will hopefully be an illuminating perspective, to draw out some implications from the perspective itself, and to nail down the hypothesis of the use of Old Testament texts in connection with the resurrection of Jesus a little tighter. I have not undertaken here to trace out a history of tradition in the New Testament such as can now be found in C. Burger's excellent study,Jesus als Davidssohn, though the direction of the paper will support the legitimacy of his starting point in early Christian formulae.

scholarly journals What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? Early Christianity and the Second Sophistic

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 567-586
Author(s):  
Aleksey Panteleev
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The World ◽  
Greek History ◽  
The Status ◽  
Christian Literature

The article deals with the early Christian literature of the 2nd–3d centuries in the context of the Second Sophistic. Famous sophists and Christian intellectuals were contemporaries, and they were educated by the same teachers. The focus of the article is on such themes as the claims of apologists for the status of ambassadors to the Roman emperors, the desire to demonstrate their education and include Christianity in the mainstream of development of ancient culture, an appeal to Greek history. When Christians tried to prove the truth of their views on the world and the deity and to demonstrate the superiority of their culture and their own tradition, they often used ideas and methods borrowed from the arsenal of Second sophistic.

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