The pagan holy man in late antique society

1982 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 33-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garth Fowden
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
Indefinite Future ◽  
Holy Man ◽  
The Church

A Love and desire, to sequester a Mans Selfe, for a Higher Conversation … is found, to have been falsely and fainedly, in some of the Heathen; As Epimenides the Candian, Numa the Roman, Empedocles the Sicilian, and Apollonius of Tyana; And truly and really, in divers of the Ancient Hermits, and Holy Fathers of the Church.F. Bacon, Of friendshipThe holy men of Greco-Roman paganism will never inspire either the reverence or the fascinated horror that the ascetics and monks of early Christianity have commanded ever since they first impinged on the common mind in the time of Antony and Athanasios. Writing for a Christian audience, Francis Bacon could dismiss the semi-mythical Epimenides and Numa, and notorious exhibitionists like Empedokles and Apollonios, as self-evident imposters; while in our own less devout times the abundance of the hagiographical literature ensures that the Christian saint will preoccupy scholars for the indefinite future, if only as the unwitting patron of a mass of historical and sociological data that is only just beginning to be analysed. Yet this is poor excuse for neglecting the pagan holy man, who came in the later Roman empire to play a conspicuous part in his own religious tradition, and also affords instructive points of comparison with his Christian competitors. This paper offers a first orientation towards such wider perspectives, by investigating the social and historical consequences entailed by the distinctive pagan concept of personal holiness. It will be suggested that a tendency to associate holiness with philosophical learning (Section I) determined the essentially urban (II) and privileged (III) background of the pagan holy man, and also encouraged his gradual drift to the periphery of society (IV).

scholarly journals Philanthropy and places of care (xenodochia) in the late Roman empire, 350-600 CE

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Júlio Matzenbacher Zampietro ◽  
Pedro Paulo Abreu Funari
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
General Population ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Era

Hospitals and places of care in general are topics that have received little attention from historians of Late Antiquity. The scarcity of detailed studies, although explained by a proportional scarcity of primary sources, written or archaeological, seems unjustified. The study of places of care can be a good tool to assess changes in power relations in the Later Roman Empire, as well as a way of comprehending important features of the Late Antique landscape that affected the general population in a myriad of ways. Our research chiefly intends to learn how Byzantine places of care related to the social surroundigs from the fourth to the sixth centuries of the Common Era, while also aiming to understand internal aspects of these institutions, ranging from its healthcaring practices to the objectives of their members.

Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Machado
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Elite ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

This book analyses the physical, social, and cultural history of Rome in late antiquity. Between AD 270 and 535, the former capital of the Roman empire experienced a series of dramatic transformations in its size, appearance, political standing, and identity, as emperors moved to other cities and the Christian church slowly became its dominating institution. Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome provides a new picture of these developments, focusing on the extraordinary role played by members of the traditional elite, the senatorial aristocracy, in the redefinition of the city, its institutions, and spaces. During this period, Roman senators and their families became increasingly involved in the management of the city and its population, in building works, and in the performance of secular and religious ceremonies and rituals. As this study shows, for approximately three hundred years the houses of the Roman elite competed with imperial palaces and churches in shaping the political map and the social life of the city. Making use of modern theories of urban space, the book considers a vast array of archaeological, literary, and epigraphic documents to show how the former centre of the Mediterranean world was progressively redefined and controlled by its own elite.

Marriage and Sexual Relations in the New Testament World

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Loader
Keyword(s):  
Roman Society ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Many ◽  
Marital Sex ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Common Understanding

After a brief overview of the social context and role of marriage and sexuality in Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, the chapter traces the impact of the Genesis creation narratives, positively and negatively, on how marriage and sexuality were seen both in the present and in depictions of hope for the future. Discussion of pre-marital sex, incest, intermarriage, polygyny, divorce, adultery, and passions follows. It then turns to Jesus’ reported response to divorce, arguing that the prohibition sayings should be read as assuming that sexual intercourse both effects permanent union and severs previous unions, thus making divorce after adultery mandatory, the common understanding and legal requirement in both Jewish and Greco-Roman society of the time. It concludes by noting both the positive appreciation of sex and marriage, grounded in belief that they are God’s creation, and the many dire warnings against sexual wrongdoing, including adulterous attitudes and uncontrolled passions.

scholarly journals Panggilan Sosial Gereja Berdasarkan Pelayanan Yesus dalam Lukas 4:18-19: Sebuah Upaya Merevitalisasi Pelayanan Gereja

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-112
Author(s):  
Herry Susanto
Keyword(s):  
Social Issues ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Church Ministry ◽  
Book Of Isaiah ◽  
The Third ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Church

Salah satu unsur penting dalam pelayanan gereja yang terabaikan adalah peran sosial gereja untuk mewujudkan kesejahteraan. Padahal warga jemaat berhadapan dengan berbagai isu sosial. Salah satu yang cukup krusial adalah kemiskinan. Dalam upaya merevitalisasi pelayanan gereja, salah satu yang perlu diwujudkan adalah integrasi antara kepedulian sosial dan pelayanan gereja. Artikel ini akan menjelaskan bahwa gereja memiliki panggilan dan tanggung jawab sosial. Fondasi bagi gagasan ini adalah karakteristik pelayanan Yesus yang termuat dalam Lukas 4:18-19, yang merupakan kutipan dari Yesaya 61:1-2; 58:6. Berdasarkan penggunaan Yesaya 61:1-2 yang dikombinasikan dengan Yesaya 58:6, artikel ini menunjukkan bahwa penulis Injil Ketiga memodifikasi kutipan tersebut untuk memperkuat karakteristik sosial dalam pelayanan Yesus. Dimensi sosial pelayanan Yesus merupakan landasan penting untuk membangun pelayanan gerejawi yang memiliki kesadaran sosial untuk membentuk kehidupan umat secara menyeluruh. Dalam menguraikan gagasannya, artikel ini akan menerapkan metode kualitatif yang berorientasi pada studi literatur dan analisis hermeneutika. Adapun pendekatan hermeneutika yang akan diterapkan berfokus pada pembacaan Injil sebagai biografi Yunani-Romawi. Prinsip-prinsip yang umum digunakan dalam metode kritik naratif juga akan diterapkan. Karena adanya kutipan dari Kitab Yesaya, pendekatan hermenutika yang digunakan juga akan menganalisis cara penulis Injil Ketiga menggunakan teks Yesaya tersebut. Artikel ini akan berfokus pada tiga aspek, yaitu karakteristik sosial Injil Ketiga, karakteristik sosial pelayanan Yesus berdasarkan Lukas 4:18-19, dan implikasi dimensi sosial pelayanan Yesus bagi upaya revitalisasi pelayanan gereja. One important element that neglected in church ministry is the social responsibility of the church in realizing the well-being of the community. Whereas the congregation is dealing with various social issues. One that is quite crucial is poverty. In an effort to revitalize church ministry, one that needs to be realized is the integration of social care and church ministry. This article will explain that the church has social calling and responsibility. The foundation for this idea is the characteristics of Jesus' ministry conveyed by Luke 4:18-19, which is a quotation from Isaiah 61:1-2; 58:6. Based on the use of Isaiah 61:1-2 combined with Isaiah 58:6, this article shows that the writer of the Third Gospel modified the quotation to strengthen social characteristics in Jesus' ministry. The social dimension of Jesus' ministry is an important foundation for building church ministries that have social awareness to shape the lives of believers holistically. This article will apply qualitative methods that focus on literary study and hermeneutical analysis. The hermeneutical approach applied here focuses on reading the Gospels as Greco-Roman biography. The principles commonly used in narrative criticism will also be applied. Because of the quotation from the Book of Isaiah, this article will also analyze the way the writer of the Third Gospel used the text of Isaiah. This article will focus on three aspects, namely the social characteristics of the Third Gospel, the social characteristics of Jesus' ministry based on Luke 4: 18-19, and the implications of the social dimension of Jesus' ministry for revitalizing church ministry.

scholarly journals United by the same concern. Ecumenical impulses of Pope Francis in the context of integral ecology

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Anderwald
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
The Common ◽  
Other World ◽  
The Church ◽  
Integral Ecology

One of the important tasks of the Church in the temporal order are concern for the work of creation and for man himself, and sometimes even the defense against threats of technical progress, conducted from any ethical and moral references. The concern for the common home is not only a domain of the Catholic Church. Similarly, other churches and Christian communities as well as other world religions reflect on the issues relating to the degradation of human and natural environment. Thus, the aim of these reflections is an attempt to recognize ecumenical impulses of the Pope in the context of integral ecology that takes into account the interlinkages between different dimensions of reality. Therefore, during the considerations will be presented firstly the papal diagnosis of the social and ecological crisis (1), then the proposals of actions aiming at the development of integral ecology (2) as well as an invitation to a dialogue resulting from the care for the common home (3). The main sources of the analysis undertaken are the two papal documents, namely the encyclical Laudato si’ (LS) and the post-synodal apostolic exhoration Querida Amazonia (QA).

Paul

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry L. Sumney
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
New Rhetoric ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
Pauline Studies ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
The Church

Paul is one of the most important figures in the earliest church. Although he was not a follower during the ministry of Jesus, he came to be recognized as an apostle. Seemingly the most successful missionary of the church during its first few decades, his converts were mostly non-Jews. He was not the first to admit gentiles into the church, but his work among them and his understanding of how they participate as full members permanently shape the history of the church. Paul is also the author of the earliest extant writings from the church. He begins writing his letters to churches approximately twenty years before the earliest of the canonical Gospels was composed. He is, then, a valuable source of information about the situation and beliefs of the earliest churches. Pauline studies have experienced several important shifts since the middle of the 20th century, even as the work of F. C. Baur continues to exert extraordinary influence. The groundbreaking work of E. P. Sanders on 1st-century Judaism has affected nearly every aspect of Pauline studies. Sanders’s view of Judaism supported new discussions about Paul’s theology, particularly some growing doubts about identifying justification by faith as its center. J. C. Beker’s emphasis on the contextual nature of Paul’s theologizing and the importance of eschatology for Paul began a move to examine the theology of each letter individually before producing a theology of the whole corpus. Sanders’s work also made room for a reexamination of the relationship between Paul’s churches and the synagogue, with most scholars seeing a closer relationship than had been hypothesized previously. Other developments in Pauline studies include the recognition of a closer relationship between Paul’s theology and his ethical instructions. Studies of ancient letters discovered since the 1920s opened ways to analyze the structure and categorize Paul’s writings by comparing them with contemporaneous materials. New methodologies were also introduced, particularly in understanding the social and cultural context of the letters. Methods from anthropology and postcolonial studies have shifted understandings of Paul’s stance with respect to Greco-Roman culture and the Roman Empire, such that he is often seen to possess a more countercultural stance. The rise of narrative theology contributed to a new interest in investigating the way Paul uses Israel’s Scriptures in his argumentation. Finally, there has been a renewed interest in a rhetorical analysis of Paul’s letters, with some scholars using ancient rhetorical categories; others, the “new rhetoric”; and still others devising distinctive methodologies.

The Trinity in Africa

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Kombo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Theological Thinking

AbstractThe African pre-Christian experience of God has turned out to be the gate through which Yahweh has penetrated Africa. This does not only mean that for the African Christians the Trinity must emerge from Nyambe, Nyame, Nyasaye, and so on—as various African peoples call God—but also that the Son and the Holy Spirit are now constitutive in the identity of those names. In this case, confession of one God (monotheism) is not in the 'common substance-essence' terms of the Greco-Roman heritage, nor in the 'monotheism as one-ness, non-divisible essence' in Islam and Neo-Platonism, nor as oneness in the sense of 'absolute subject' in the philosophy of Idealism. Here, oneness of God is confessed in the context of the fatherhood as contemplated from the point of view of the Father whose NTU is split between the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father in this case is the 'Great Muntu' (God) who uniquely shares the Divine NTU with the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this mix of things, four things are noteworthy: 1) there emerges yet another way of thinking about God, 2) the Christian faith receives alternative resources for renewal of the church, 3) assumptions of conventional theological thinking are once again re-examined, and 4) Christians have an opportunity to use their own cultural identity for God's glory.

The Persecutions: some Links between Judaism and the Early Church

1958 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. C. Frend
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
The West ◽  
Monastic Life ◽  
The Common ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Church

Each generation of historiographers has had its own interpretation of the persecutions. In their hour of triumph in the years following the Council of Nicaea, Christians in both halves of the Roman Empire looked back to these events as the heroic age of the Christian faith. The sufferings of the Church were linked to the sufferings of the children of Israel and this time, too, anti-Christ and his abettors, the pagan emperors, their officials and the mobs had been worsted. Like the Egyptians they had perished miserably. But, as so often happens, victory dissolved the common bonds which united the victors. In the next centuries the relations between Church and State in the East and West were to follow different paths. In the East the ‘martyrdom in intention’ of the monastic life tended to replace the martyrdom in deed in opposition to the emperor. In the West, the martyr tradition was to underline that same opposition. Tertullian, Hilary, Ambrose, Gregory VII, Boniface VIII embody a single trend of ideas extending over a thousand years.

Ditches of destruction – Cyril of Alexandria and the rhetoric of public security

2014 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maijastina Kahlos
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Public Security ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Cyril Of Alexandria ◽  
Church Father ◽  
The Guardian ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis article examines the rhetoric of destruction and damage with which Cyril of Alexandria depicted Nestorius and the deviating theological views during the Christological dispute (the Nestorian controversy). In my analysis, I focus on Cyril’s ways of appealing to security, unity and peace. One of the aims of this article is retranslate Cyril from a venerated church father into a late antique opinion leader who had both the capacity and the power to persuade and who used language not only for describing, but also for moulding social reality. Consequently, I draw attention to the rhetorical techniques by which he constructed the disagreement of theological views into a heresy that dangers the life and salvation of fellow Christians. In this analysis, the discursive category called “orthodoxy” is, therefore, understood as a process in which “orthodoxy” was continually defined, redefined, tested, retested, preserved and challenged in particular historical situations. Cyril’s rhetoric of confrontation and the ways he represented himself as the guardian of the correct doctrine were in line with the conventions of other earlier ancient as well as contemporary ecclesiastical writers. Furthermore, in this article, Cyril’s rhetoric of confrontation is considered in the framework of the reign of Theodosius II. Guarding the borderlines of the correct doctrine was associated with protecting the borders of the Roman Empire. The concerns for heresy and orthodoxy were increasingly understood as an issue of public security: thus, what was claimed to be at stake was not only the unity of the church, but also the fate of the whole Empire, as Cyril’s argumentation shows.

'Lock up your valuables': Perceptions of sailors and sea-merchants in port cities of late antiquity and early Byzantium

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 47-75
Author(s):  
Janet Wade
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Social Stigma ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Port Cities ◽  
Negative Perception ◽  
The Social ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
The Church ◽  
Maritime Community ◽  
Early Byzantine

The ongoing presence of sailors and sea-merchants in the major port cities of the late antique and early Byzantine periods made them an important and influential subculture. This paper looks at the range of perceptions of the maritime community that exist in late Roman and early Byzantine sources. Various secular and ecclesiastical attitudes are discussed and compared with relevant sections of the civil and maritime law codes. When sailors, sea-merchants, and other mariners are mentioned by their contemporaries, they are more often than not portrayed in an unfavourable light. The legislation suggests that the negative perception of these men does have some basis in reality, yet the traditional view of these men as unsavoury and dishonest characters needs to be questioned. This paper asks why the ancient sources perceived sailors and sea-merchants in the way that they did. It discusses the social stigma attached to these men, the potential moral threat that they posed, their superstitious nature, and their socially disruptive and subversive behaviour. This paper highlights the reasons why modern scholars have tended to overlook the presence of the maritime community and their sociological importance in major port cities of this period. It argues that the maritime crowd had an integral role in the shaping of the economy, society, and even the church during this period.

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