Early-Christian Epitaphs from Phrygia

1955 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 25-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Calder
Keyword(s):  
Second Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Christian Mission ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Face

The earliest Christians of Phrygia were the nameless converts made by Paul the Apostle when he preached to a congregation of Jews and “Godfearing” gentiles (the latter being Greek or Greco-Phrygian incolae or cives of the colonia and Greek-speaking members of Roman colonial families in the synagogue at Colonia Caesareia Antiocheia in A.D. 49; and before Paul's death the Christian mission to Phrygia had been launched from bases both in the east (Iconium and Antioch) and in the west (Laodicea, Hierapolis and Colossae). Between the middle of the first and the end of the second century, five generations of Phrygian Christians (as Paul expressed it on the same occasion) “fell on sleep and were laid unto their fathers”—in surface family sepulchres along the roads outside the cities and in country graveyards throughout all the hellenised districts of Phrygia. During this period the strong conservatism of Phrygian sepulchral custom, reinforced by the prudence in the face of persecution or proscription held to be enjoined by Scripture (had not Jesus himself withdrawn into Gethsemane?), precluded the open display on tombstones—in all ages the consecrated tokens of sorrow and of hope—of any trace of the Christian profession.

The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward J. Watts
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fall Of Rome ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Better Than

The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea traces the development and use of the rhetoric of Roman decline and renewal across 2200 years. Beginning in the Roman Republic at the turn of the second century BC and stretching to the uses of Roman decline in the present day, the book argues that the use of this common rhetoric frequently blamed people for sparking Roman decline. It also evolves over time. In the Republic, politicians like Cato pointed to decline in the present and promised future renewal. Augustus and other emperors beginning a new imperial dynasty often claimed to have sparked a renewal that corrected the decline caused by their predecessors. Early Christian emperors like Constantine and Theodosius I experimented with a rhetoric of progress in which they claimed that Rome’s embrace of Christianity meant it would become better than it ever had been before. The fifth-century loss of the West forced Christians like Augustine to disentangle Christian and Roman progress. It also enabled the Eastern emperor Justinian to justify invasions of Africa, Italy, and Spain as restorations of lost territories to Roman rule. Western emperors ranging from Charlemagne to Charles V used similar claims to support military action directed from the West against the East. Figures as diverse as Napoleon and Mussolini show that the allure of restoring Rome remained potent into the twentieth century, but the story of Rome’s decline and fall, popularized by eighteenth-century writers like Montesquieu and Gibbon, is now most frequently evoked as a warning about the consequence of social or political change.

Some North African Turning Points in Christian Apologetics

2006 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
W. H. C. FREND
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
North African ◽  
Christian Mission ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The North ◽  
The Face ◽  
Important Means ◽  
Christian Apologetics

Apologetics take their place beside miracles of healing and courage in the face of persecution as an important means of furthering the early Christian mission. In the first two centuries AD, when the popular perception was that Christianity was closely allied to Judaism, the argument from Old Testament prophecy was important. In the third century, however, as the Church gained ground among the educated classes in east and west, the emphasis changed to an attempt to demonstrate the superiority of Christianity over its pagan rivals as a philosophy with a more convincing understanding of the role of providence. Apologists in the north African tradition, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Arnobius and Lactantius, all played their part in this process. The prophecies of the Old Testament had to be confirmed by other prophecies, notably the Sibylline oracles and the sayings of Hermes Trismegistus. Finally, in the fourth century, many north Africans who, like Augustine for ten years, adhered to Manichaean Christianity relied wholly on these authorities, rejecting the Old Testament altogether.

Studying Modern Arabic Literature

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Public Intellectual ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
Global Culture ◽  
The West ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
The Face ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Modern Arabic

This book is devoted to the life and academic legacy of Mustafa Badawi who transformed the study of modern Arabic literature in the second half of the twentieth century. Prior to the 1960s the study of Arabic literature, both classical and modern, had barely been emancipated from the academic approaches of orientalism. The appointment of Badawi as Oxford University's first lecturer in modern Arabic literature changed the face of this subject as Badawi showed, through his teaching and research, that Arabic literature was making vibrant contributions to global culture and thought. Part biography, part collection of critical essays, this book celebrates Badawi's immense contribution to the field and explores his role as a public intellectual in the Arab world and the west.

Sexual Defilement in Early Christian Texts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Blidstein
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Sexual Ethics ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Family ◽  
Main Target ◽  
Christian Society

Chapter 7 demonstrates that sexual sin became the main target for purity discourse in early Christian texts, and attempts to explain why. Christian imagery of sexual defilement drew from a number of traditions—Greco-Roman sexual ethics, imagery of sexual sin from the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple texts, and both Jewish and pagan purity laws, all seen through the lens of Paul’s imagery of sexuality and sexual sin. Two broad currents characterized Christian sexual ethics in the second century: one upheld marriage and the family as the basis for a holy Christian society and church, while the second rejected all sexuality, including in marriage. Writers of both currents made heavy use of defilement imagery. For the first, sexual sin was a dangerous defilement, contaminating the Christian community and severing it from God. For the second, more radical current, sexuality itself was the defilement; virginity or continence alone were pure.

Money and Flows of Coinage in the Red Sea Trade

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Nappo
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Precious Metal ◽  
Metal Content ◽  
Silver Content ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Roman Coins ◽  
Precious Metal Content ◽  
The Face ◽  
Over Time

This chapter considers the financial scale of Indo-Roman trade via the Red Sea, comparing the large sums mentioned by Pliny with the evidence of customs dues, ostraca from the Red Sea port of Berenike, and hoards of Roman coins found in India. Analysis of the finds of Roman coins in India by value rather than number over time suggests that, contrary to prevailing opinion, there was not a major diminution in the value of the trade after the reign of Tiberius. Although there was apparently some decline in the Flavian period, the face value of coin finds recovers in the second century until the reign of Antoninus Pius. Coins for export to India were specially selected for their higher precious metal content, and older issues with a higher silver content continued to be exported to India long after they had largely ceased to circulate within the Roman Mediterranean.

Connecting Gospels

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Century ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Single Field ◽  
Vantage Points ◽  
Canonical Texts ◽  
Normative Status ◽  
Two Bodies ◽  
Shed Light

By the late second century, early Christian gospels had been divided into two groups by a canonical boundary that assigned normative status to four of them while consigning their competitors to the margins. The project of this volume is to find ways to reconnect these divided texts. The primary aim is not to address the question whether the canonical/non-canonical distinction reflects substantive and objectively verifiable differences between the two bodies of texts—although that issue may arise at various points. Starting from the assumption that, in spite of their differences, all early gospels express a common belief in the absolute significance of Jesus and his earthly career, the intention is to make their interconnectedness fruitful for interpretation. The approach taken is thematic and comparative: a selected theme or topic is traced across two or more gospels on either side of the canonical boundary, and the resulting convergences and divergences shed light not least on the canonical texts themselves as they are read from new and unfamiliar vantage points. The outcome is to demonstrate that early gospel literature can be regarded as a single field of study, in contrast to the overwhelming predominance of the canonical four characteristic of traditional gospels scholarship.

Kerntechnik als Sicherheitsversprechen

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (84) ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Sascha Brünig
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Nuclear Technology ◽  
Reactor Accident ◽  
The West ◽  
The Face ◽  
Public Relations Campaign

Abstract In the mid-1970s, the dangers associated with nuclear power moved to the center of risk debates in Germany. Following the reactor accident at Three Mile Island (1979) and the Chernobyl disaster (1986), the West German nuclear industry’s business prospects severely deteriorated. How did the nuclear industry perceive and confront the challenge of nuclear skepticism? And how did this emerging challenge alter the perceived future of nuclear technology in the Federal Republic and beyond? The article argues that the nuclear industry did not passively accept the »depletion of utopian energies« (J. Habermas) to which the peaceful use of the atom was subjected. Instead, the industry worked to create new (utopian) prospects for nuclear power. The industry’s public relations campaign positioned nuclear power in two interrelated fields of insecurity: the decline of industrial society and environmental crises. Both threats, ran the argument put forth by nuclear proponents, could only be combatted by relying on nuclear power for electricity production. In this way, nuclear power was translated into a comprehensive promise of security that was intended to salvage the future of nuclear power as well as that of its investors in the face of growing anti-nuclear sentiment.

scholarly journals Looking Beyond a Nuclear-Armed Iran: The Major Implications of Nuclear Iran for the Middle East

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. p50
Author(s):  
Sayed Reza Hussaini
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
Cascade Effect ◽  
The Face ◽  
Enriched Uranium ◽  
Socioeconomic Consequences

Iran has pursued nuclear weapons for over four decades. The basic reasons for this quest have remained unchanged in the face of the most crippling sanctions. Almost three and a half years after Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Pact (JCPOA), Tehran officially announced that it has enriched uranium up to 60%, very close to the 90% suitable for nuclear weapons. Iran is highly likely to be the world’s next nuclear state. A nuclear-armed Iran will be emboldened to accelerate its aggressive activities in the region and act against its neighbors with little fear of retribution. Moreover, Iran’s network of proxies would adopt a more confrontational approach towards Israel. Besides, Iran’s politics of threat can have serious socioeconomic consequences for Israel.Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons could arguably set off a cascade effect, encouraging other major regional powers to move in the same direction. The West, particularly the United States, would seek to offset this risk by providing a “defenceumbrella”. HhhhjkhggHowever, some might be reluctant to be openly protected by the United Statesor would find the umbrella questionable and choose nuclear option for both security concerns and prestige.

scholarly journals Textual Criticism, Translation Studies, and Symmachus’s Version in the Book of Job

Textus ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Alison Salvesen
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Textual Criticism ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Book Of Job ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Variant Reading ◽  
Descriptive Translation Studies

Abstract The late second century CE translator/reviser Symmachus took a very different approach to the versions of his predecessor Aquila. His renderings do not appear to have survived in Jewish circles but were much admired by early Christian scholars, thanks to their preservation in Origen’s Hexapla. However, for textual critics of the Hebrew Bible Symmachus’ free approach has limited his value since his readings cannot be easily retroverted, unlike those of Aquila or Theodotion. In the case of the book of Job, although Symmachus’ “transformations” (to use a term from Descriptive Translation Studies) differ in nature from the freedoms observed in OG Job, while rejecting the narrow isomorphism of Aquila and Theodotion he nevertheless adheres quite closely to his Hebrew Vorlage. This offers the possibility of identifying elements significant for textual criticism in his rendering, including variant reading traditions or a different consonantal text.

scholarly journals A 6th–7th century solitary burial of a warrior with his horse at Tiszagyenda

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-192
Author(s):  
László Kocsis ◽  
Erzsébet Molnár
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
West Bank ◽  
The West ◽  
Common People ◽  
Migration Period ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractThe site of Tiszagyenda-Búszerző dűlő became known during the archaeological and field surveys prior to the construction of the Tiszaroff Dam. The site covered the northern part of a large contiguous Migration Period settlement, the southern extents of which were discovered within the same project.The settlement occupying both banks of the Tisza River's backwater had been inhabited for centuries. The first settlers in the Bronze Age (leaving behind three burials) were followed by the Sarmatians (seven burials), Gepids (nineteen burials), Avars (seven burials) and finally tribes of Hungarian conquerors (81 burials). Besides of the linear graveyards of common people, solitary, richly-furnished graves of the Gepid and the Avar Periods were also found.The solitary grave of an armed man was unearthed on the west bank of the Tisza's backwater. His horse and his dog, cut in half and thrown over the horse, were buried a couple steps away in a separate grave. Grave No. 1660 is of especially outstanding archaeological value. Dated by the solidus of Byzantian Emperor Maurikios Tiberius (582–602), the grave held rich finds decorated with Early Christian symbols. The mounts of the swordbelt and his belt-set refer to Lombard and Merovingian connections. The Gepid-Germanic warrior of Gyenda was buried in the early Avar period after the collapse of the Gepid Kingdom in 567–568, in the first decade of the 7th century.

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