Torstein Theodor Tollefsen
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199605965
- eISBN:
- 9780191738227
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199605965.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion in the Ancient World
This book is an investigation into two basic concepts of ancient pagan and Christian thought, namely activity and participation. It shows how activity in Christian thought is connected with the topic ...
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This book is an investigation into two basic concepts of ancient pagan and Christian thought, namely activity and participation. It shows how activity in Christian thought is connected with the topic of participation: for the lower levels of being to participate in the higher means to receive the divine activity into their own ontological constitution. It is mainly a discussion of some important Church Fathers. Against a background of Aristotelian and Neoplatonist philosophy, the book discusses Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and culminates with a chapter on Gregory Palamas before some conclusions are drawn. The concern of the author is to highlight how the Christians think energeia (i.e. activity or energy) is manifested as divine activity in the eternal constitution of the Trinity, the creation of the cosmos, the Incarnation of Christ, and in salvation understood as deification. Terms such as essence and energy are associated with the theology and spirituality of the fourteenth-century Byzantine thinker Gregory Palamas. One purpose of this book is to show how Palamas’ theology is in accordance with Greek patristic thinking, with its background in a definite trend in ancient pagan philosophy.Less
This book is an investigation into two basic concepts of ancient pagan and Christian thought, namely activity and participation. It shows how activity in Christian thought is connected with the topic of participation: for the lower levels of being to participate in the higher means to receive the divine activity into their own ontological constitution. It is mainly a discussion of some important Church Fathers. Against a background of Aristotelian and Neoplatonist philosophy, the book discusses Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and culminates with a chapter on Gregory Palamas before some conclusions are drawn. The concern of the author is to highlight how the Christians think energeia (i.e. activity or energy) is manifested as divine activity in the eternal constitution of the Trinity, the creation of the cosmos, the Incarnation of Christ, and in salvation understood as deification. Terms such as essence and energy are associated with the theology and spirituality of the fourteenth-century Byzantine thinker Gregory Palamas. One purpose of this book is to show how Palamas’ theology is in accordance with Greek patristic thinking, with its background in a definite trend in ancient pagan philosophy.
Daniel H. Williams
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198264644
- eISBN:
- 9780191682735
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198264644.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This study re-evaluates the history of the struggle between orthodoxy and heresy in the early church. The author argues that the traditional picture of Nicene ascendancy in the Western church from ...
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This study re-evaluates the history of the struggle between orthodoxy and heresy in the early church. The author argues that the traditional picture of Nicene ascendancy in the Western church from 350–381 is substantially misleading, and in particular that the conventional portrait of Ambrose of Milan as one who rapidly and easily overpowered his ‘Arian’ opponents is a fictional product derived from idealized accounts of the 5th century. Sources illustrating the struggle between the orthodox pro-Nicenes and ‘Arians’ or Homoians, in the 4th century reveal that Latin ‘Arianism’ was not the lifeless and theologically alien system that historians of the last century would have us believe. The author shows that the majority of churches in the West had little practical use for the Nicene creed until the end of the 350s — over 25 years after it was first issued under Constantine — and that the ultimate triumph of the Nicene faith was not as inevitable as it has been assumed. Ambrose himself was seriously harassed by sustained attacks from ‘Arians’ in Milan for the first decade of his episcopate, and his early career demonstrates the severity of the religious conflict that embroiled the western churches, especially in North Italy. Only after an intense and uncertain decade did Ambrose finally prevail in Milan once the Nicene form of faith was embraced by the Roman empire through imperial legislation and ‘Arianism’ was outlawed as heresy.Less
This study re-evaluates the history of the struggle between orthodoxy and heresy in the early church. The author argues that the traditional picture of Nicene ascendancy in the Western church from 350–381 is substantially misleading, and in particular that the conventional portrait of Ambrose of Milan as one who rapidly and easily overpowered his ‘Arian’ opponents is a fictional product derived from idealized accounts of the 5th century. Sources illustrating the struggle between the orthodox pro-Nicenes and ‘Arians’ or Homoians, in the 4th century reveal that Latin ‘Arianism’ was not the lifeless and theologically alien system that historians of the last century would have us believe. The author shows that the majority of churches in the West had little practical use for the Nicene creed until the end of the 350s — over 25 years after it was first issued under Constantine — and that the ultimate triumph of the Nicene faith was not as inevitable as it has been assumed. Ambrose himself was seriously harassed by sustained attacks from ‘Arians’ in Milan for the first decade of his episcopate, and his early career demonstrates the severity of the religious conflict that embroiled the western churches, especially in North Italy. Only after an intense and uncertain decade did Ambrose finally prevail in Milan once the Nicene form of faith was embraced by the Roman empire through imperial legislation and ‘Arianism’ was outlawed as heresy.
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- August 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199245789
- eISBN:
- 9780191601453
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245789.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
De officiis, by Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397), is one of the most important texts of Latin Patristic literature, and a major work of early Christian ethics. Modelled on the De officiis ...
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De officiis, by Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397), is one of the most important texts of Latin Patristic literature, and a major work of early Christian ethics. Modelled on the De officiis of Cicero, it synthesizes Stoic assumptions on virtue and expediency with biblical patterns of humility, charity, and self–denial to present Ambrose's vision of conduct appropriate for representatives of the church of Milan in the late 380s. Ambrose aspires to demonstrate that Christian values not only match but also exceed the moral standards advocated by Cicero. His purpose is not to build bridges between Cicero and Christ, but to replace Cicero's work with a new Christian account of duties, designed to show the social triumph of the gospel in the world of the Roman Empire. This edition consists of Ambrose's Latin text and a new English translation, the first since the nineteenth century. The Introduction considers in detail such matters as the composition of the work, its intended purpose, and its combination of biblical teaching and Ciceronian Stoicism. The Commentary (Volume 2 of the set) concentrates on the structure of the work, its copious citations of Scripture and Cicero, and its historical and social context.Less
De officiis, by Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397), is one of the most important texts of Latin Patristic literature, and a major work of early Christian ethics. Modelled on the De officiis of Cicero, it synthesizes Stoic assumptions on virtue and expediency with biblical patterns of humility, charity, and self–denial to present Ambrose's vision of conduct appropriate for representatives of the church of Milan in the late 380s. Ambrose aspires to demonstrate that Christian values not only match but also exceed the moral standards advocated by Cicero. His purpose is not to build bridges between Cicero and Christ, but to replace Cicero's work with a new Christian account of duties, designed to show the social triumph of the gospel in the world of the Roman Empire. This edition consists of Ambrose's Latin text and a new English translation, the first since the nineteenth century. The Introduction considers in detail such matters as the composition of the work, its intended purpose, and its combination of biblical teaching and Ciceronian Stoicism. The Commentary (Volume 2 of the set) concentrates on the structure of the work, its copious citations of Scripture and Cicero, and its historical and social context.
Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199230204
- eISBN:
- 9780191710681
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230204.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the ...
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The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the author's mysterious identity (which scholars have puzzled over for centuries) and places him in a broad historical and intellectual context. Later, it addresses Ambrosiaster's political theology, an idea which has been explored in other late Roman Christian writers but which has never been addressed in his works. The book also looks at how Ambrosiaster's attitudes to social and political order were formed on the basis of theological concepts and the interpretation of scripture, and shows that he espoused a rigid hierarchical and monarchical organization in the church, society, and the Roman empire. He also traced close connections between the Devil, characterized as a rebel against God, and the earthly tyrants and usurpers who followed his example.Less
The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the author's mysterious identity (which scholars have puzzled over for centuries) and places him in a broad historical and intellectual context. Later, it addresses Ambrosiaster's political theology, an idea which has been explored in other late Roman Christian writers but which has never been addressed in his works. The book also looks at how Ambrosiaster's attitudes to social and political order were formed on the basis of theological concepts and the interpretation of scripture, and shows that he espoused a rigid hierarchical and monarchical organization in the church, society, and the Roman empire. He also traced close connections between the Devil, characterized as a rebel against God, and the earthly tyrants and usurpers who followed his example.
Stephen J. Shoemaker
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199250752
- eISBN:
- 9780191600746
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199250758.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The ancient Dormition and Assumption traditions, a remarkably diverse collection of narratives recounting the end of the Virgin Mary's life, first emerge into historical view from an uncertain past ...
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The ancient Dormition and Assumption traditions, a remarkably diverse collection of narratives recounting the end of the Virgin Mary's life, first emerge into historical view from an uncertain past during the fifth and sixth centuries. Initially appearing in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, these legends spread rapidly throughout the Christian world, resulting in over 60 different narratives from before the tenth century preserved in nine ancient languages. This study presents a detailed analysis of the earliest traditions of Mary's death, including the evidence of the earliest Marian liturgical traditions and related archaeological evidence as well as the numerous narrative sources. Most of the early narratives belong to one of several distinctive literary families, whose members bear evidence of close textual relations. Many previous scholars have attempted to arrange the different narrative types in a developmental typology, according to which the story of Mary's death was transformed to reflect various developments in early Christian Mariology. Nevertheless, evidence to support these theories is wanting, and the present state of our knowledge suggests that the narrative diversity of the early Dormition traditions arose from several independent ‘origins’ rather than through ordered evolution from a single original type. Likewise, scholars have often asserted a connection between the origin of the Dormition traditions and resistance to the council of Chalcedon, but the traditions themselves make this an extremely unlikely proposal. While most of the traditions cannot be dated much before the fifth century, a few of the narratives were almost certainly in composed by the third century, if not even earlier. These narratives in particular bear evidence of contact with gnostic Christianity. Several of the most important narratives are translated in appendices, most appearing in English for the first time.Less
The ancient Dormition and Assumption traditions, a remarkably diverse collection of narratives recounting the end of the Virgin Mary's life, first emerge into historical view from an uncertain past during the fifth and sixth centuries. Initially appearing in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, these legends spread rapidly throughout the Christian world, resulting in over 60 different narratives from before the tenth century preserved in nine ancient languages. This study presents a detailed analysis of the earliest traditions of Mary's death, including the evidence of the earliest Marian liturgical traditions and related archaeological evidence as well as the numerous narrative sources. Most of the early narratives belong to one of several distinctive literary families, whose members bear evidence of close textual relations. Many previous scholars have attempted to arrange the different narrative types in a developmental typology, according to which the story of Mary's death was transformed to reflect various developments in early Christian Mariology. Nevertheless, evidence to support these theories is wanting, and the present state of our knowledge suggests that the narrative diversity of the early Dormition traditions arose from several independent ‘origins’ rather than through ordered evolution from a single original type. Likewise, scholars have often asserted a connection between the origin of the Dormition traditions and resistance to the council of Chalcedon, but the traditions themselves make this an extremely unlikely proposal. While most of the traditions cannot be dated much before the fifth century, a few of the narratives were almost certainly in composed by the third century, if not even earlier. These narratives in particular bear evidence of contact with gnostic Christianity. Several of the most important narratives are translated in appendices, most appearing in English for the first time.
Ellen Muehlberger
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199931934
- eISBN:
- 9780199332991
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931934.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Ellen Muehlberger explores the diverse and inventive ideas Christians held about angels in late antiquity, focusing especially on the fourth and fifth centuries. At that time, Christians were ...
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Ellen Muehlberger explores the diverse and inventive ideas Christians held about angels in late antiquity, focusing especially on the fourth and fifth centuries. At that time, Christians were experimenting with new modes of piety, adopting long-standing forms of public authority to Christian leadership and advancing novel ways of cultivating both body and mind to further the progress of individual Christians. She argues that in practicing these new modes of piety, Christians developed new ways of thinking about angels. The first half of the book is a detailed exploration of the two most popular discourses about angels that developed in late antiquity: in one, developed by Christians cultivating certain kinds of ascetic practices, angels were one type of being among many in a shifting universe, and their primary purpose was to guard and to guide Christians; in the other, voiced by urban Christian leaders contesting with one another, angels were morally stable characters described in the emerging canon of Scripture, available to enable readers to render Scripture coherent with emerging theological positions. In the second half, Muehlberger shows how these two discourses influenced wider Christian culture. In detailed studies of popular biographies written in late antiquity, of the community standards of emerging monastic communities, and of the training programs developed to prepare Christians to participate in ritual, new ideas about angels shaped and directed the formation of those institutions that we think of as defining late antiquity.Less
Ellen Muehlberger explores the diverse and inventive ideas Christians held about angels in late antiquity, focusing especially on the fourth and fifth centuries. At that time, Christians were experimenting with new modes of piety, adopting long-standing forms of public authority to Christian leadership and advancing novel ways of cultivating both body and mind to further the progress of individual Christians. She argues that in practicing these new modes of piety, Christians developed new ways of thinking about angels. The first half of the book is a detailed exploration of the two most popular discourses about angels that developed in late antiquity: in one, developed by Christians cultivating certain kinds of ascetic practices, angels were one type of being among many in a shifting universe, and their primary purpose was to guard and to guide Christians; in the other, voiced by urban Christian leaders contesting with one another, angels were morally stable characters described in the emerging canon of Scripture, available to enable readers to render Scripture coherent with emerging theological positions. In the second half, Muehlberger shows how these two discourses influenced wider Christian culture. In detailed studies of popular biographies written in late antiquity, of the community standards of emerging monastic communities, and of the training programs developed to prepare Christians to participate in ritual, new ideas about angels shaped and directed the formation of those institutions that we think of as defining late antiquity.
Dominic Keech
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199662234
- eISBN:
- 9780191746314
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199662234.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Theology
Falling outside of the usual categories of Patristic Christological discourse, Augustine’s Christology remains a relatively neglected area of his thought. This study focuses on his understanding of ...
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Falling outside of the usual categories of Patristic Christological discourse, Augustine’s Christology remains a relatively neglected area of his thought. This study focuses on his understanding of the humanity of Christ as it emerged in dialogue with his anti-Pelagian conception of human freedom and Original Sin. By reinterpreting the Pelagian controversy as a Western continuation of the Origenist controversy before it, it argues that Augustine’s reading of Origen lay at the heart of his Christological response to Pelagianism. Augustine is, therefore, situated within the network of fourth- and fifth-century Western theologians concerned to defend Origen’s orthodoxy—and the orthodoxy of a broader Christian Platonism—against their opponents. Opening with a survey of scholarship in the areas of both Augustinian Christology and Augustine’s anti-Pelagianism, it proceeds by detailing Augustine’s engagement with the issues and personalities involved in both the Origenist and Pelagian controversies. Chapter 3 examines the importance of Augustine’s understanding of Christ ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh’ (Rom 8.3) within his anti-Pelagian works; Chapter 4 traces the dependence of this motif on Origen’s exegesis. The fifth chapter considers Augustine’s treatment of Christ’s soul in relation to his understanding of Apollinarianism. The study concludes by exploring Augustine’s handling of the origin of the soul, suggesting that the inconsistencies in his Christology can be explained by recourse to an Origenian framework, in which the soul of Christ remains sinless in the Incarnation because of its relationship to the eternal Word after the Fall of souls to embodimentLess
Falling outside of the usual categories of Patristic Christological discourse, Augustine’s Christology remains a relatively neglected area of his thought. This study focuses on his understanding of the humanity of Christ as it emerged in dialogue with his anti-Pelagian conception of human freedom and Original Sin. By reinterpreting the Pelagian controversy as a Western continuation of the Origenist controversy before it, it argues that Augustine’s reading of Origen lay at the heart of his Christological response to Pelagianism. Augustine is, therefore, situated within the network of fourth- and fifth-century Western theologians concerned to defend Origen’s orthodoxy—and the orthodoxy of a broader Christian Platonism—against their opponents. Opening with a survey of scholarship in the areas of both Augustinian Christology and Augustine’s anti-Pelagianism, it proceeds by detailing Augustine’s engagement with the issues and personalities involved in both the Origenist and Pelagian controversies. Chapter 3 examines the importance of Augustine’s understanding of Christ ‘in the likeness of sinful flesh’ (Rom 8.3) within his anti-Pelagian works; Chapter 4 traces the dependence of this motif on Origen’s exegesis. The fifth chapter considers Augustine’s treatment of Christ’s soul in relation to his understanding of Apollinarianism. The study concludes by exploring Augustine’s handling of the origin of the soul, suggesting that the inconsistencies in his Christology can be explained by recourse to an Origenian framework, in which the soul of Christ remains sinless in the Incarnation because of its relationship to the eternal Word after the Fall of souls to embodiment
Charles M. Stang
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199640423
- eISBN:
- 9780191738234
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199640423.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Religion and Literature
This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book ...
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This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book demonstrates how Paul in fact animates the entire corpus, that the influence of Paul illuminates such central themes of the CD as hierarchy, theurgy, deification, Christology, affirmation (kataphasis) and negation (apophasis), dissimilar similarities, and unknowing. Most importantly, Paul serves as a fulcrum for the expression of a new theological anthropology, an “apophatic anthropology.” Dionysius figures Paul as the premier apostolic witness to this apophatic anthropology, as the ecstatic lover of the divine who confesses to the rupture of his self and the indwelling of the divine in Gal 2:20: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Building on this notion of apophatic anthropology, the book forwards an explanation for why this sixth‐century author chose to write under an apostolic pseudonym. It argues that the very practice of pseudonymous writing itself serves as an ecstatic devotional exercise whereby the writer becomes split in two and thereby open to the indwelling of the divine. Pseudonymity is on this interpretation integral and internal to the aims of the wider mystical enterprise. Thus this book aims to question the distinction between “theory” and “practice” by demonstrating that negative theology—often figured as a speculative and rarefied theory regarding the transcendence of God—is in fact best understood as a kind of asceticism, a devotional practice aiming for the total transformation of the Christian subject.Less
This book argues that the pseudonym, Dionysius the Areopagite, and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. This book demonstrates how Paul in fact animates the entire corpus, that the influence of Paul illuminates such central themes of the CD as hierarchy, theurgy, deification, Christology, affirmation (kataphasis) and negation (apophasis), dissimilar similarities, and unknowing. Most importantly, Paul serves as a fulcrum for the expression of a new theological anthropology, an “apophatic anthropology.” Dionysius figures Paul as the premier apostolic witness to this apophatic anthropology, as the ecstatic lover of the divine who confesses to the rupture of his self and the indwelling of the divine in Gal 2:20: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Building on this notion of apophatic anthropology, the book forwards an explanation for why this sixth‐century author chose to write under an apostolic pseudonym. It argues that the very practice of pseudonymous writing itself serves as an ecstatic devotional exercise whereby the writer becomes split in two and thereby open to the indwelling of the divine. Pseudonymity is on this interpretation integral and internal to the aims of the wider mystical enterprise. Thus this book aims to question the distinction between “theory” and “practice” by demonstrating that negative theology—often figured as a speculative and rarefied theory regarding the transcendence of God—is in fact best understood as a kind of asceticism, a devotional practice aiming for the total transformation of the Christian subject.
Daniel A. Keating
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199267132
- eISBN:
- 9780191602092
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199267138.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Presents a comprehensive account of sanctification and divinization in Cyril as set forth in his New Testament biblical commentaries. By establishing the importance of pneumatology in Cyril’s ...
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Presents a comprehensive account of sanctification and divinization in Cyril as set forth in his New Testament biblical commentaries. By establishing the importance of pneumatology in Cyril’s narrative of divine life and by showing the requirement for an ethical aspect of divinization grounded in the example of Christ himself, this study brings a corrective to certain readings of Cyril that tend to exaggerate the ‘somatic’ or ‘physicalistic’ character of his understanding of divinization, by arguing that Cyril correlates the somatic and pneumatic means of our union with Christ, and impressively integrates the ontological and ethical aspects of our sanctification and divinization. The final chapter offers brief sketches of Cyril in comparison with Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine, and Leo the Great, with the aim of gaining further clarity to the Christological debates of the fifth century, and a better grasp of the theological similarities and differences between the East and West.Less
Presents a comprehensive account of sanctification and divinization in Cyril as set forth in his New Testament biblical commentaries. By establishing the importance of pneumatology in Cyril’s narrative of divine life and by showing the requirement for an ethical aspect of divinization grounded in the example of Christ himself, this study brings a corrective to certain readings of Cyril that tend to exaggerate the ‘somatic’ or ‘physicalistic’ character of his understanding of divinization, by arguing that Cyril correlates the somatic and pneumatic means of our union with Christ, and impressively integrates the ontological and ethical aspects of our sanctification and divinization. The final chapter offers brief sketches of Cyril in comparison with Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine, and Leo the Great, with the aim of gaining further clarity to the Christological debates of the fifth century, and a better grasp of the theological similarities and differences between the East and West.
Richard Hillier
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198147862
- eISBN:
- 9780191672330
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198147862.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book looks at Arator, the Roman sub-deacon who wrote a verse-commentary on the Acts of the Apostles in AD 544, and studies the Historia Apostolica as biblical ...
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This book looks at Arator, the Roman sub-deacon who wrote a verse-commentary on the Acts of the Apostles in AD 544, and studies the Historia Apostolica as biblical commentary. Baptism for the early Christians was a subject of crucial importance, and its symbolism fired the imagination of writers throughout the Christian world. Arator was no exception. Arator's Historia Apostolica is a work of historical importance. Written at a time of crisis, politically and theologically, it is of interest as propaganda for a papacy under threat from Constantinople. But Arator's concentration on baptismal themes offers vital evidence of the transmission of exegetical ideas in late antiquity. Passages of particular baptismal importance are presented both in the original Latin and in a new translation, and considered in the context of the writings of earlier Christian commentators.Less
This book looks at Arator, the Roman sub-deacon who wrote a verse-commentary on the Acts of the Apostles in AD 544, and studies the Historia Apostolica as biblical commentary. Baptism for the early Christians was a subject of crucial importance, and its symbolism fired the imagination of writers throughout the Christian world. Arator was no exception. Arator's Historia Apostolica is a work of historical importance. Written at a time of crisis, politically and theologically, it is of interest as propaganda for a papacy under threat from Constantinople. But Arator's concentration on baptismal themes offers vital evidence of the transmission of exegetical ideas in late antiquity. Passages of particular baptismal importance are presented both in the original Latin and in a new translation, and considered in the context of the writings of earlier Christian commentators.
Justice and Legitimacy in Upbringing
Clausewitz's Puzzle
International Legitimacy and World Society
Levelling the Playing Field
Multicultural Nationalism
The Politics of Public Service Bargains
Corporate Governance, Competition, and Political Parties
The European Union and the People
Citizenship and the Environment
