Johnson - Among The Gentiles Greco Roman Religion and Christianity (2009)

AMONG THE GENTILES
Greco/ Roman Reliion and Christianity

LUI(E TIMOTHY JOHNSON
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AMONG THE GENTILES
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AMONG
THE GENTILES
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Greco-Roman Religion
and Christianit
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LUKE TIMOTHY JOHNSON
YALE

AYBRL
Yale Universit Press
New Haven < London
The Anchor Yale logo is a trademark of Yale University.
Copyright 2009 by Luke Timothy Johnson.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Joy
My Darling Girl
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CONTENTS
lrelace ix
ONE eyond Attack and Apology. A New Look at
an ld Oebate 1
TWO eginning a New Conversation 15
THREE A lreliminary lrohle ol Creco-Koman Keligion 32
FOUR Keligion as larticipation in Oivine enehts.
Ael ius Aristides 50
FIVE Kel igion as Moral 1ranslormation. Lpictetus q
SIX Kel igion as 1ranscending the World. Poimandres 79
SEVEN Kel igion as Stabilizing the World. llutarch 93
EIGHT Ways ol eing )ewish in the
Creco-Koman World III
NINE 1he Appearance ol Christianity in the
Creco-Koman World 130
TEN New 1estament Christianity as larticipation i n
Oivine enehts 142
VIII Contents
ELEVEN Ncw Jcstamcnt Christiani[ as Mora| Jrans|ormation i S
TWELVE Christianity in thc Sccond and Jhird Ccnturics.
larticipation i n Oivinc cnchts iyz
THIRTEEN Moral 1rans|ormation in Sccond- and
1hird-Century Christianity iq
FOURTEEN 1ranscending the World i n Second- and
1hi rd-Century Christianity ziq
FIFTEEN Stabil izing the World i n Second- and
1hird-Century Christianity zq
SIXTEEN Aher Constantinc. Christianity as lmperial Kcl igion z
Lpilogue zy
Notes zS
Scripture lndex qo
lndex ol Ancient Authors qiS
lndex ol Modern Authors 44
Subject lndex q
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PREFACE
1he question ol Christianity`s relation to the other rel igions ol the world is
more pertinent and dilhcult today than ever belore. lt is more perti nent be-
cause we l ive in a global village that makes virtual neighbors ol people i n lands
lar away, and in which people l iving i n our neighborhoods have religious com-
mitments loreign to most Christians. lt is more dilhcult because pluralism presses
on us i n a way that makes avoidance i mpossible, and because Christians are ill
equipped to engage those adhering to rel igions other than their own.
Christianity`s historical lailure to appreciate or to actively engage )udaism is
notorious. Less understood is Christianity`s even more shoddy record with re-
spect to "pagan" rel igions. Christians have inherited a vi rtually unanimous
theological tradition that thinks ol paganism i n terms ol demonic possession,
and ol Christian missions as a rescue operation that saves pagans lrom inher-
ently evil practices.
At lcast in part, such perceptions are shaped by the same texts that have
lormed Christian attitudes toward )ews. Christianity`s lailure to adequately come
to grips with its hrst pagan neighbors inhibits any positive ehort to engage present-
day adherents ol world religions.
Lxcept in its very last paragraphs, this book does not deal with theology. lt is,
rather, a study ol rel igion. lt undertakes a lresh inquiry into early Christianity
and Creco-Koman rel igion. Kather than viewing "Christianity" and "pagan-
ism" as monol ithic entities, l allow the sources to reveal unexpected complexi-
ties. At the level ol sensibil ity or temperament, l argue, Christians were religious
pretty much i n the ways that Centiles were rel igious.
l think that my argument may have some pertinence both to internal Chris-
tian ecumenism and to a chastened understanding ol Christian mission. 1he
IX
x Preface
heart ol the book, however, is a close and l hope) carelul comparison between
the ways ol being religious among Centiles and i n Christianity. 1his is an exer-
cise in religious studies, let readers draw theological inlerences as they will.
1he main surprise lor some readers will be the way that some ol my judg-
ments concerning New 1estament writings depart lrom scholarly consensus. ln
particular, l consider all the letters ascribed to laul to have been authorized by
hi m during the span ol hi s mi nistry, even though the actual "writing" ol them
undoubtedly involved others. l do not, therelore, consider the three letters to
laul `s delegates (1 1imothy, z 1imothy, 1itus) as evidence lor second-century
Christianity but lor hrst-century Christianity. Similarly, l hold a minority posi-
tion when l date Hebrews and )ames to a period roughly contemporaneous to
laul . 1hese judgments are not arbitrary but are based in long study.
1he hrst ellort at constructing the book`s argument took the lorm ol a lec-
ture called "Threskeia: Creco-Koman Kel i gion and Larliest Christianity" that l
del ivered as a lhi eta Kappa Visiting Scholar at Wake Iorest University and
Stetson University i n iy, to the iblical and Archaeological Society ol Creater
Atlanta i n zooo, and at Notre Oame University i n zoo. l expanded the argu-
ment to three lectures that l del ivered as the Caldwell Lectures at Louisville
lresbyterian 1heological Seminary i n zooq, and as the Currie Lectures at Aus-
tin lresbyterian 1heological Seminary in zoo. l deeply appreciate the hospi-
tality shown toward me and these ideas on each occasion. l am particularly
gratelul to the Catholic iblical Association ol America, which provided the
sabbatical support in zooy~zooS that enabled the completion ol the study. 1he
research l ibraries at Notre Oame and Lmory Universities were rich i n uselul
resources. Kichard Manly Adams )r. provided i nvaluable technical assistance
in making the manuscript ready lor publ ication. I owe special thanks to my
lriends. Mary )o Weaver, a hne historian who hrst pushed me to recognize the
lourth lorm ol rel igiosity, arry )ay Seltser, whose cheerlul and quick response
to chapters as they were written was both chastening and encouraging, and
Steve Kraltchick, without whose high tolerance lor nonsense my mental lile
would be diminished. And as always, I owe thanks most ol all to my dear )oy,
who supports with gracious love my every undertaking, however obscure.
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AMONG THE GENTILES
1
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BEYOND ATTACK AND ApOLOGY: A NEW
LOOK AT AN OLD DEBATE
ls there any kinship between paganism and Christianity 1his is an old ques-
tion. lt is also a good question, and one that has never been answered satislac-
torily. 1he second-century apologist 1ertullian lamously asked, "What indeed
has Athens to do with )erusalem"' He meant to separate Christianity lrom
Creek philosophy. Not all Christian thinkers agreed, and in a variety ol ways
Christianity eventually embraced and was enriched by a long engagement with
Creek philosophers.
ut il by "Athens" the questioner meant Creek and Koman rel igion, then all
Christians agreedand still tend to agree with 1ertull ianthat there is no con-
nection at all. n one side is truth and on the other side is error, pure and
simple. ut as another lamous epigrammatist reminded us, "the truth is rarely
pure and seldom simple."
'
lerhaps the disjunction is too severe. And perhaps
the characteristic way in which the question has been put has kept us lrom see-
ing connections and continuities that, while not simple, are nonetheless true.
ANCl LN1 A11ACK ANO AlLCY
Irom the very beginning, Christians emphasized the distance between them-
selves and practitioners ol pagan rel igion. 1o hear them tell it, becoming Chris-
tian was something entirely newthere was no connection between Christianity
and the Centile rel igion practiced by their neighbors and by themselves belore
their conversion). 1hey identihed themselves with the ancient texts ol lsrael
rather than with the myths ol the pagan gods. 1his is not to suggest that secur-
ing a place within the world ol 1orah was easy or uncontested. 1he New 1esta-
ment ohers abundant evidence ol arguments between these lollowers ol )esus
2 Beyond Attack and Apology
and )ews who did not recognize hi m as the Messiah. 1he earliest Christian
compositions can be regarded, in lact, as a massive ellort to reinterpret 1orah in
light ol the distinctive Christian experiences and convictions connected with
)esus. ` And part ol this process ol identity lormation was a sustained polemic
against the )ews who lailed to see in )esus either a Lord or a Messiah.'
ecause ol the long history ol Christian anti-Semitism that led on such vitu-
peration, and above all because ol the experience ol the Holocaust, Christians
and )ews alike are now highly sensitive to such slanderous language, and some-
times respond with moral outrage. ` Here is a case where historicai knowledge
helps. lt reminds contemporary readers that there is a great distance between a
tiny cult trying to hnd its way in the world in competition with the more an-
cient and impressive rival, and an imperial church that had and was willing to
use) the power to extirpate its ancient loe. lt reminds us as well that New 1esta-
ment language against )ews by no means exceeds the bounds ol ancient rhetori-
cal conventions, which were l iberal in the use ol abuse between rival schools
and sects.
What contemporary readers, both Christian and )ewish, seldom notice is how
much more sustained and savage the polemic ol the New 1estament is with
respect to the Centile world than with respect to )udaism. And the lavorite
target was Centile religion. ln this regard, the writers ol the New 1estament
al igned themselves completely on the side ol )udaism, which had already devel-
oped lorms ol polemics against pagan rel igion that were at least the equal ol the
herce Centile anti-Semitism directed against the )ews. 1he prophets ol ancient
lsrael had long mocked the polytheism ol their neighboring Centiles, attacking
their worship as idolatry. And this tradition was continued in the herce antago-
nism )ews showed toward the worship ol the maj ority population in the Helle-
nistic Oiaspora. ln a stroke ol translation that would prove to have enormous
consequences, the Septuagint LXX, ca. zo CL) rendered the Hebrew ol
lsalm . , "1he gods ol the nations are idols," as "1he gods ol the nations are
demons [daimonia] LXX ls . ), thereby placing all pagan rel igion neatly into
the realm ol the demonic. 1he author ol Wisdom of Solomon has this to say
about the rel igious practices ol his Centile neighbors probably in Lgypt) .
lt was not enough |or them to err about the know|edge o| Cod, but they |ive
in great stri|e due to ignorance, and they ca|| such great evi|s peace. |or
whether they ki || their chi|dren in their initiations, or ce|ebrate secret myster-
ies, or ho|d |renzied reve|s with strange customs, they no |onger keep either
their | ives or their marriages pure, but they treacherous|y ki|| one another, or
grieve one another by adu|tery, and a|| is a raging riot o| b|ood and murder,
Beyond Attack and Apology
thch and dcccit, corruption, |aith|cssncss, tumu|t, pcrjury, con|usion ovcr
what is good, |orgct|u|ncss o| |avors, po||ution o| sou|s, scx pcrvcrsion, di sordcr
in marriagc, adu|tcry, and dcbauchcry. |or thc worship ol ido|s not to bc
namcd is thc bcginning and causc and cnd o| cvcry cvi| . |or thcir worship-
pcrs cithcr ravc in cxa|tation or prophcsy | ics, or |ivc unrightcous|y, or rcadily
commit pcrjury.`
3
1hc samc ani mus toward Ccntilc rcl igion pcrvadcs thc writings ol thc Ncw
1cstamcnt. 1hc vcry authors who attackcd thc )cws lor thcir lailurc to lollow
)csus, ahcr all, wcrc capablc ol making positivc statcmcnts about thc )cwish rc-
ligious tradition and cvcn about )cws. "Salvation," says )csus in )ohn`s Cospcl ,
is "lrom thc )cws" )ohn q. zz). laul boasts ol his )cwish pcdigrcc lhil . q, z
Cor ii. zi, Cal i. i~iq) and says ol hi s brcthrcn, hi s kinsmcn by racc, "1hcy arc
lsracl itcs, and to thcm bclong thc sonship, thc glory, thc covcnants, thc giving
ol thc law, thc worship, and thc promiscs, to thcm bclong thc patriarchs, and ol
thcir racc, according to thc hcsh, is thc Christ, who is Cod ovcr all, blcsscd lor
cvcr. Amcn" Kom . ). l thc )cwish law, laul dcclarcs that it is " holy, and
thc commandmcnt is holy and just and good" y.iz), and that it is "spiritual"
y. iq). laul takcs hi s stand on thc )cwish conviction that "Cod is nc" (Bo).
laul and othcr Christian writcrs hnd it astonishing that thcir lcllow )cws do not
lollow thcm in thcir commitmcnt to )csus as thc Mcssiah, but thcy do not chal-
lcngc thc truthlulncss ol thc )cwish Cod, ol thc tcxts that rcvcal him, or ol thc
moral prcccpts and practiccs that givc him honor.
ln contrast, only onc Ncw 1cstamcnt passagc pays cxpl icit tributc to gcnuinc
rc| igious impulscs among Ccntilcs. 1hc Acts ol thc Apostlcs placcs laul on
Mars Hill in Athcns, whcrc hc dcclarcs, "Mcn ol Athcns, l pcrccivc that in cv-
cry way you arc vcry rcl igious [deisidaimonesterus] . Ior as l passcd along, and
obscrvcd thc objccts ol your worship, l lound also an altar with this inscription,
`1o an Unknown Cod` ` Acts iy.zz~z). ut laul `s acknowlcdgcmcnt rhctori-
cally a captatio benevolentiae) simply scrvcs as thc basis lor a corrcction ol thc
Ccntilcs` cxpl icit bcl icls. "Wc ought not to think ol thc dcity as li kc gold, or
silvcr, or stonc, a rcprcscntation by thc art and imagination ol man" iy. z).'
1hc laul ol thc lcttcrs, though, writing to mi xcd congrcgations ol Ccntilcs
and )cws, is lar morc outspokcn in his rcj cction ol Crcco-Koman culturc. Al-
thogh scholars today can dctcct multiplc ways in which laul `s corrcspon-
dcncc i s shapcd by ancicnt rhctoric and mora| phi |osophy, ' " hc cxpl icit|y
di stanccs hi mscl| |rom both. Hc dcclarcs that his prcachi ng to thc Cori nthi-
ans is not in c|cvatcd spccch or wisdom but is thc proc|amation o| thc cruci-
hcd Mcssiah i Cor z. i~z). ln rcsponsc to critics, hc rccognizcs that his own
4
speech is negl igible z Cor io. io). He rejects human wisdom (sophia) lor the
wisdom revealed by Cod through the cross i Cor i. iS~z. ) and speaks rather ol
"Cod`s wi sdom" hidden in mystery as set in opposition to the "wisdom ol this
age" that reluses to acknowledge Christ z. ~S). He warns the Colossians,
"See to it that no one makes you a prey by philosophy and empty deceit, ac-
cording to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits ol the universe
and not according to Christ" Col z. S).
laul`s negative view ol Creco-Koman rel igion is even more pronounced. ln
his earliest extant letter, he tells the 1hessalonians that they had turned "lrom
idols to serve the l iving and true Cod" i 1hess i. ), that they should not act in
the passion ol lust "l ike the heathen who do not know Cod" q. ), and that they
should not grieve their dead li ke those "who have no hope" q.i). Similarly, laul
tells his Centile readers in the churches throughout Calatia, "Iormerly, when
you did not know Cod, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are not
gods . . . weak and elemental spirits" Cal q.S). When warning them against
"the works ol the hesh" . zozi), he l ists eidololatria "idolatry") as a vice, plac-
ing it i n his list alter "lornication, impurity, and licentiousness" and belore "sor-
cery" or "magic". pharmakeia). 1 1 Writing to the Lphesians, laul depicts the
readers` Centile past as one ol "lollowing the prince ol the power ol the air, the
spirit that is now at work in the sons ol disobedience," which involved them in
unruly passions and desires Lph z.z~), they were l ike people who had "no hope
and without Cod i n the worl d" z.iz).
ln hi s letter to the Komans, laul sketches, in contrast to the good news that
reveals Cod`s righteousness, a portrait ol the unrighteousness that brings lorth
Cod`s wrath, and he takes as hi s prime evidence the practice ol pagan religion
Kom i. iS~z). He here totally adopts the Hellenistic )ewish view ol Centile reli-
gion. He declares that idolatry is the result ol a lundamental relusal to acknowl-
edge the true Cod i. izo), that the worship ol images derives lrom a darkening
ol the mind consequent to the big lie, and that such lalse worship leads to the
distortion ol natural sexual relations and every sort ol loul practice. "Since they
did not see ht to acknowledge Cod, Cod gave them up to a base mind and to
improper conduct" i.zS). lresent-day readers ol this passage tend to locus on its
depiction ol human depravity and lorget that laul connects every kind ol vice
to the rel igious practices ol his readers` neighbors in Kome.
ln his hrst letter to the Corinthians, laul shows the same deep disdain lor
anything specihcally Centile in character. He rebukes his readers lor lailing to
discipl i ne a member ol the community who lives in a kind ol sexual i mmoral ity
(porneia) "ol a sort not heard ol even among Centiles" i Cor . i) . Shortly there-
alter, he takes up an issue that vexed members ol his mixed )ewish-Centile
5
community, namely, whether purchasing and eating meats that had previously
been ollered in sacrihce at a pagan shrine is allowable, and, lor the socially bet-
ter connected among Centile bel ievers, whether participation in a meal at such
a shrine dedicated to a pagan Cod i s legitimate. '
'
laul walks a delicate line
between two groups. there are "the strong," who, l ike hi m, know that "an idol
has no real existence" S. q) and that "although there may be so-called gods in
heaven or on earthas indeed there are many gods and many lordsyet lor us
there is one Cod, the Iather, lrom whom are all things and lor whom are all
things, and one Lord )esus Christ, through whom are all things and through
whom we exist" S. ~), and there are "the weak," who do not have this knowl-
edge and who may be encouraged, when seeing one ol the strong eating such
lood or sitting in such a place, to act against their own conscience by sharing in
such practices S. yi).
laul knows that idols are not real gods, but he regards idolatry itsell as having
a real and negative power. 1he inhuence ol the translation, "the gods ol the
nations are demons," in LXX lsalm . , appears lorcelully i n laul `s di re warn-
ing to those who would presume on their own strength and take part i n pagan
sacral meals. "What do l imply then 1hat lood ollered to idols is anything, or
that an idol is anything No, l imply that what pagans sacrihce they oller to
demons and not to Cod. l do not want you to be partners with demons. You
cannot drink the cup ol the Lord and the cup ol demons. You cannot partake ol
the table ol the Lord and the table ol demons" i Cor io. i~zi). laul regards
such arrogance as opposing the true Cod. "Shall we provoke the Lord to jeal-
ousy Are we stronger than he" io.zz).
Lven though laul does not want his churches to "go out ol the worl d" in or-
der to avoid the immoral ol this world, including the idolaters i Cor . ), and
although he clearly envisages the ekklesia ol Christ to be accessible to outsiders,
he nevertheless worries that certai n community rel igious practices, especially
those i nvolving spiritual utterances, might be regarded by interested outsiders
as a variation ol Creco-Koman religion. 1he lear ol such misapprehension may
have something to do with his demand that women be veiled when praying or
prophesying ii. z~i). ' ` laul `s prelerence lor the rational discourse that he calls
prophecy, moreover, rather than the ecstatic babble that is glossolalia, has much
to do with the lact that it can challenge outsiders and convince them ol the
presence ol the true Cod, rather than lead them to exclai m, hoti mainesthe
"these people are raving ecstatically")as they could i n response to cultic
prophets among Creeks and Komans iq.zo~z) . ' '
y no means is laul alone among the earliest Christian writers in hi s desire
to
distinguish the movement`s rel igious practices lrom those ol the Centiles.
1he Iirst Letter ol leter sounds much l ike laul when it tells its readers drawn
lrom a Centile background, "As obedient children, do not be conlormed to the
passions ol your lormer ignorance" i let i. iq), and when it contrasts the behav-
ior expected ol them to that ol their lormer associates. "Let the time that is past
sulhce lor doing what the Centiles l ike to do, l iving in licentiousness, passions,
drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. 1hey are surprised that you
do not now j oin them in the same wild prohigacy, and they abuse you, but they
will give an account to hi m who is ready to judge the l iving and the dead"
q. ). Matthew`s Cospel has )esus warn his disciples i n the Sermon on the
Mount, ` ^nd in praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Centiles do, lor
they think that they will be heard lor their many words. Oo not be li ke them,
lor your Iather knows what you need belore you ask him" Matt . yS).
As l have already noted, the Acts ol the Apostles portrays laul as appealing
to the "rel igious instinct" (deisidaimonia) ol the Athenians who constructed an
altar to an unknown Cod. Acts also portrays a number ol "righteous Centiles"
who are described as such not because ol their dedication to pagan religion
but because they are open to the truth as it is lound in )udaism and the Cos-
pel. the centurion Cornelius Acts io. i~, compare with the centurion ol the
Cospel , Luke y. zq), the proconsul Sergius lubl ius Acts i. y, iz), the lhil ip-
pian j ai ler i. z~q), the proconsul Callio iS. iziq), and lubl ius, the chiel
man on the island ol Malta zS. yio). ut the nave pagans in Lystra who con-
luse arnabas with Zeus and laul with Hermes and seek to worship them, are,
li ke the philosophers on Mars Hi l l , rebuked and corrected by laul `s proclama-
tion. "Men, why are you doing this We also are men, ol l ike nature with you,
and bring you good news, that you should turn lrom these vai n things to a l iv-
ing Cod who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in
them" iq. SiS).
Ior the most part, Acts shares the perceptions ol laul and leter with respect
to Centile rel igion. ln lact, the progress ol the Cospel lrom )erusalem to Kome is
marked by a series ol turl battles between the apostles and representatives ol Hel-
lenistic religious practices, resulting in a literal expansion ol "Cod`s kingdom"
throughout the empire, as laul triumphs over the powers ol magic Acts i.Sii,
i.iSi), over the divinatory powers ol pagan prophecy i. i~zo), and even over
the powerlul interests involved in the cult ol Artemis in Lphesus i.z~qi). 1hese
triumphs are portrayed by the author as the conquest ol Satan`s "counter-King-
dom" and as the revealing ol the demonic lorces at work i n pagan rel igion.
IS
Christian apologists alter the time ol the New 1estament continued the
same l ines ol attack. ' Although they occasionally and increasingly) lound a
positive ro|e lor Creek poets and philosophers and agreed on the special status
7
to be accorded the Sybil as a unique prophetic voice, ' ' they were uni lorm in
th
eir rej ection ol all things rel igious in the Centile world.
Yet there is a decided ambivalence in their evaluation, which may hnd its
antecedent in laul `s discussion ol lood ollered to idols in i Cor Sio. n one
side, we see Christian apologists conhdently asserting the nonreal ity ol the
pagan gods, the worship ol whom is simply vai n. '` 1he idols are the work ol
human hands, the labrications ol poets, or even the result ol hnancial and po-
| itical machinations. '' Many ol the apologists adopt a lorm ol Luhemerism,
claiming that the so-called gods were simply humans who were elevated by
other humans to a divine status aher death. " 1his strong-minded position re-
gards the worship ol the gods as a lorm ol absurdity matching the silliness ol the
myths themselves. ' Such comments extend laul `s bold statement, "An idol has
no real existence" S. q).
An even larger set ol statements by these same apologists, however, continues
laul`s own ambivalence toward pagan rel igious practices. idols may not be real,
but something is at work i n those shrines and meals, and that something is de-
monic power. "What pagans sacrihce they oher to demons and not to Cod"
i Cor io. zo). ln hi s response to Celsus, in lact, rigen quotes laul on j ust this
point. idolatry involves its worshippers in the realm ol the demonic. rigen
lollows 1atian i n identilying Zeus hi msell as a demon,` and the identihcation
ol idols with demons is lrequent.' Augustine speaks lor the entire prior tradi-
tion when he declares that "Cods they are not, but mal ignant spirits,"` as does
Minucius Ieli x when he says that Christians avoid contact with idols in order to
avoid contact with demons.
Christians were not alone in speaking about demons and the power ol de-
mons. 1he category was widely deployed in antiquity lor a variety ol divine and
semidivine activities. ' As rigen notes, "lt is not we alone who speak ol wicked
demons, but almost all who acknowledge the existence ol demons."` What did
distinguish Christian discourse was its tendency to associate every manilesta-
tion ol Creco-Koman rel igion with the demonic as well as its reduction ol de-
monic activity to the malehcent. 1he connection between pagan rel igion and
immoral ity that was noted already in the )ewish composition Wisdom of Solo
mon continues throughout the Christian apologetic l iterature. An easy target is
the immoral ity ol the gods as depicted in the myths. Not only are the gods de-
picted as doing wicked things, hearing myths about these gods stirs the l isteners
to base emotions and even incites them to evil deeds. ' 1he most immediate
manilestation ol this evil inhuence is the practice ol pagan rel igion itsell. 1he
Christian apologists miss no opportunity to characterize the lestivals i n honor
o|
demons as displays ol immoral behavior ol the most shamelul sort. `" 1he
Mysteries are particularly reprehensible. their clandestine character and vows
ol secrecy serve as a cover lor lewd and l icentious behavior. `' Clement ol Alex-
andria goes into considerable detail in an ellort to expose the sexual libertinism
that he insists hides beneath the solemn hummery ol the Mysteries. `
1he apologists also reveal, however, a genuine level ol anxiety concerning
pagan rel igion. ll demons are at work i n idolatry, then something real and more
than human is happening in pagan worship that must be taken i nto account. lt
will not do simply to say, "lt is not real," lor there is evidence lor powerlul phe-
nomena that must be taken i nto consideration. lt is in connection with this
anxiety that we hnd the language about the "deceptions ol demons" manilested
in Creco-Koman rel igion. y speaking ol demons and their deceptions, Chris-
tians are at once able to acknowledge the undeniable lact ol powerlul activity and
yet ascribe it to malevolent lorces that are lesser beings than the true Cod but
who seek to captivate and destroy humans through such rel igious phenomena. ``
)ustin and Augustine speak ol the myths concerning the gods as themselves
the product ol deceptive demons who seek to captivate and destroy humans
through such labrications concerning the divine. `' 1atian and )ustin, in turn,
identily as demonic in origin the revelations that people receive lrom the gods
through dreams. `` 1ertullian and rigen say that the healings perlormed at
pagan shrines are doubly deceptive. the demons both cause the illness and take
it away.` Augustine maintains that demons are at work when people undergo
physical translormations (metamorphoses)37 and adduces the moral precepts given
through the Mysteries as lurther evidence ol demonic deception. ` Above all, pro-
phetic revelation or divination is a sign ol demonic power and deception.`' All
these complaints actually testily to the presence ol something at work in pagan
religion that even they could not deny but could only relrame as the work ol lesser
and malicious powers antagonistic to the true Cod and the good news.
lt was a short step to extend the logic to categorize as demonic any powers
inimical to Christianity. ll the demons belong to a "counter-kingdom" ruled by
Satan, then it makes sense to associate demons with the imperial powers that
resisted the good news, especially since the practices ol Creco-Koman rel igion
were so inextricably involved with the state and society. lt was therelore a small
step to explicitly attribute the persecution ol Christians by the state to the inhu-
ence ol demons.' And the logic can be extended even lurther, to include those
who threaten the church lrom withi n. ln i 1imothy, laul speaks ol lalse teach-
ers within the Lphesian church in this way. "Now the Spirit expressly says that
in later times some will depart lrom the laith by giving heed to deceitlul spirits
and doctrines ol demons" i 1im q. i).'' )ustin Martyr does not therelore hesitate
to associate Simon Magus and other heretics with demons.'
Beond Attack and Aology
9
1he language ol demonization continued to hourish within Christianity as a
mechanism lor rejecting inhuences that were perceived to be not only wrong
or wicked, but also capable ol seducing others because ol their "deceptive
power." When the newly baptized "renounced Satan," they also renounced "all
your worship," which Cyril ol )erusalem expl icates this way. `ûgury, divina-
tion, watching lor omens, wearing amulets, writing on leaves, sorcery and other
such practices are the worship ol the devi l. 1hese, then, you must avoid, be-
cause il alter renouncing the devil and making your act ol adhesion to Christ
you succumb to them, you will hnd Satan a harsher master i n temptation."'`
1hus, every lorm ol religious practice that was innovative or borrowed lrom
other than authorized sources could quickly be ascribed to demonic possession
in the practitioner. Lvery lorm ol heresy could be denominated as demonic. 1he
lalse prophet Muhammad was obviously demonic. And Christian missions to
every land on earth were motivated and driven by the conviction that poor
pagan babies were captive to demons and needed rescue through the preaching
ol the gospel . Irom such a perspective, there was no possible link between
Christianity and paganism, in the past or in the present. 1he pagan world was
and is i n darkness. 1he Cospel was and is the exclusive source ol li ght in the
world. lt therelore was not and is not possible to recognize any light among Cen-
tiles with respect to their rel igious practices and sensibilities.
1HL MlXlNC OF LLLMLN1S
Such a sharp division between Christianity and paganism was artihcial, to be
sure. )ustin Martyr acknowledged that Christian doctrines brought to luller ex-
pression precedents lound among Centile poets and philosophers, that Chris-
tian baptism had its analogies in pagan lustrations, and that the "mystic rites" ol
Mithras with respect to bread and water were a demonic imitation ol the Lucha-
rist.'' rigen`s charge that demons were at work i n pagan shrines and prophecy
was in response to Celsus` claim that the wonders worked by Christians were
due to the power ol demons.'` ln the Octavius, the pagan philosopher Caecilius
claims that Christian bel iels are simply reshaped versions ol pagan religious
lantasy. `^ll such hgments ol unhealthy beliel, and vain sources ol comlort,
with which deceiving poets have trihed in the sweetness ol their verse, have
been disgracelully remoulded by you, believing undoubtingly on your god."'
More lorcelully, the Manichaean teacher Iaustus, in his dispute with Augus-
tine, argues that both )ews and Christians represent subsets ol Centile rel igion,
whereas the Manichaeans represent a genuine alternative view ol reality. "1he
sacrihces you change into love-leasts, the idols into martyrs, to whom you pray
as they do their idols. You appease the shades ol the departed with wine and
lood. You keep the same holidays as the Centiles, lor example, the calends and
the solstices."'' Iaustus` claim is notable not only lor the way in which it antici-
pates a number ol the charges to be made in later internal Christian debateshe
was claiming, remember, that the Manichaeans were true lollowers ol )esus be-
cause they regarded as authoritative only the words that came lrom him and not
the interpretations ol the Cospelsbut also lor his insight that both )udaism and
Christianity had some real resemblances to Centile religion.
y the time Iaustus and Augustine debated ca. 397 CL), it appeared that
both )udaism and paganism were rel igions ol the pastalthough in Augustine`s
youth (360-363) the emperor )ulian had lor a short time managed the restora-
tion to the empire ol pagan worshipwhile Christianity and Manichaeism
seemed the obvious competitors as world rel igions. When Manichaeism laded,
and Christianity seemed, especially to its Western Luropean adherents, to be
the obviously true religion, seamlessly l inked to lsrael through the biblical story,
connections between Christianity and Centile rel igion were easily lorgotten,
and the dichotomy ol the apologistsCod on one side, demons on the other-
was received as sober truth rather than delensive polemic.
1he situation began to change with the ltalian Kenaissance ol the hheenth
century, when the translation ol ancient Creek texts began to alter the percep-
tion ol both the past and the present. 1he key hgures here are Marsilius Iicinus
(1433-1499) and Ciovanni lico della Mi randola (1463-1494), who in turn inhu-
enced the northern humanist )ohn Keuchlin (1455-1522). Iicinus was the trans-
lator not only ol llato but also ol Hermes 1rismegistos, lamblichus, and the
Lnneads ol llotinus. ln all these authors, he lound the language ol the Creek
Mysteries, and he considered the entire llatonic tradition to be one deeply con-
sonant not only with the realm ol the Mysteries but also with Christianity. He
was a priest and wrote works such as De Religione Christiana (1474) and Theo
logica Platonica (1477) in order to draw atheists and skeptics to the Christian
laith. He drew l ittle or no distinction among the ritual, hgurative, and theurgic
dimensions ol the language ol the Mysteries and sought a synthesis between
Christianity and Creek thought, arguing, lor example, that laul and llato
meant the same thing when they spoke ol love. lico della Mirandola also saw a
deep consonance between Creek philosophy and the ible and argued that the
Hebrews had Mysteries as much as the pagans did. His work sought to establish
and illuminate the secret alhnity between pagan and biblical revelation, on the
conviction that the respective texts spoke ol the same mysterious real ity. )ohn
Keuchlin, in turn, saw even lurther connections between Christianity and neo-
lythagorean number symbolism and )ewish Kabbalah. 1he language ol the
Beyond Attack and Apology 11
Creek
Mysteries, in short, was welcomed by the ltalian humanists as a way ol
broadening and deepening the philosophical truth ol Christianity.'`
ln the northern Lurope ol the Kelormation, in contrast, the pagan Mysteries
were once more the locus ol attack and delense, this time within a divided Chris-
tianity. ln one sense, the terms ol controversy were set by Luther himsell, who
insisted on measuring the sacramental claims ol the church against the witness ol
scripture alone.'' Luther`s theological opposition between the authentic Christi-
anity lound in scripture and the corrupt Christianity lound in the later church
was quickly translated by Matthias Ilacius lllyricus (1520-1575) and his compan-
ions, the Centuriators ol Magdeburg, into a historical account ol Christianity
century by century) that emphasized a simple proposition, namely, that the pure
Christianity ol the New 1estament was corrupted by the papal Antichrist. `"
1he lrotestant attack was quickly answered by Cardinal Cesare aronius.
He directed 12 lolio volumes against the Centuria tors ol Magdeburg, seeking to
show that "as it was now, so was it always. " ` ' 1he exchange was closed, and also
given a new shape, by the lrotestant apologist lsaac Casaubon (1559-1614), who
brought the beginnings ol scientihc historiography to the debate and used a
signihcant degree ol learning in antiquity to make hi s argument against ar-
onius that "a principio non ita luit" "lrom the beginning, it was not so"). lsaac
Casaubon contrasted the simplicity ol the Cospels to the developments that
were i ntroduced later, which, and here is the critical point, bore strong resem-
blance to pagan prayers and sacrihces and rel igious usages. `
A less learned and more visceral sort ol criticism was i nitiated by ritish
Oeists such as Conyers Middleton, whose Letter from Rome (1729) attacked
Koman Cathol ic ritual , "showing," as the subtitle states it, "an exact conlormity
between popery and paganism." Middleton stands near the start ol a long tradi-
tion ol polemic that )onathan Z. Smith characterizes as "lagano-lapism." ``
Irom the eighteenth century to the present, a series ol popular writersolten
widely read but rarely scientihcally preciserepeated the same argument, namely,
that pure Christianity had been corrupted by Catholicism, that is, by pagan
Mystery rel igions. `' Notable both lor the sweep ol its charges and lor its inhu-
ence on popular anti-Catholic polemic down to the present is Alexander His-
lop`s The Two Babylons: Papal Worship Revealed to Be the Worship of Nimrd
and His Wife, which appeared hrst as a pamphlet i n 1853 and has enj oyed an
astonishing l i le i n print. ` ` Ior writers l ike these, it was obvious that in Catholic
Christianity the "simple love ol Cod and trust i n )esus was lost," because ol the
i
nhuence ol Creek religion. `
1he passion driving this polemical tradition was not unl ike that inspiring the
quest lor the historical )esus, which l ikewise hrst arose among ritish Oeists ol
the eighteenth century and was then most vigorously pursued by the Cerman
inheritors ol their Lnlightenment perspective. `' 1he search was never disinter-
estedly historical and was always at least impl icitly theological. )ust as the re-
lormers had rej ected a Catholic Christianity on the basis ol scripture alone,
these Lnlightenment scholars sought a )esus on the basis ol reason alone. ll
Luther, however unintentionally, set up an opposition between scripture and
church, the questers worked withi n an opposition between scripture and rea-
son, on the premise that creedal laith, grounded in the teaching ol laul , him-
sell a captive ol Creek philosophy and Mystery rel igion, was already a corruption
ol the pure and natural reli gion that )esus must have taught. ` However elusive
that unadorned )esus proved to be, it is unquestionably the case that the quest
was itsell an important impetus to the development ol more rehned historio-
graphical methods in the study ol ancient Christianity. `'
ln the same way, the question ol the relation between earliest Christianity
and Creco-Koman rel igion clearly needed more science and less polemic. e-
ginning with the hrst serious ellort to provide a critical assessment ol the sources
lor the Mystery religions by Christian August Lobeck in 1829, scholars through
the ni neteenth and twentieth centuries made use ol the steadily growing body ol
real knowledge provided by l iterary and archaeological evidence." y no means
did scholars using such sources agree i n their conclusions. Ior every Loisy or
Keitzenstein who saw Christianity as lundamentally shaped by the Mysteries,
there was a Clemen or Angus who delicately distinguished what was "essential "
in Christianity lrom the undoubted presence ol Mystery sensibil ity. ' 1he mid-
dle and moderate position was classically stated in the Hibbert Lectures ol 1891
by Ldwin Hatch. Hatch argued that both )esus and laul were thoroughly )ew-
ish and "poetic" in their religion and that elements ol Creek rhetoric, thought,
and rel igion grew within Christianity between the second and lourth century, a
view that was repeated with considerable decisiveness by Arthur Oarby Nock in
1928. 63
ut il there is no trace ol Creco-Koman rel igion to be lound i n )esus, can the
same really be said ol laul Oid the transition lrom )ewish to Creek not begin
when laul translormed the message ol )esus i nto a Mystery rel igion' nce
more, the opinions are divided. Some scholars assert emphatically that laul
made Christianity into a mystery.` thers are more cautious, willing to hnd
traces ol Creco-Koman religion among laul `s congregants, but insisting that
laul hi msell is more dehned by )ewish concepts. A variation ol this position is
lound i n the "History ol Kel igions School ". l ike )esus, the primitive Christianity
ol lalestine was thoroughly )ewish, but it was in the Oiaspora specihcally Anti-
och) that Hellenistic Christians created the "Christ Cult" under the inhuence ol
th
e
\ysteries, and this was the Christianity into which laul was baptized and
wh
ose sacramental character he subsequently interpreted theologically.'
Albert Schweitzer, in contrast, centered his interpretation ol laul on the em-
ph
atic
rejection ol any version ol a Mystery hypothesis and the attempt to ex-
plain all ol laul `s language on the basis ol )ewish eschatology.` Ior scholars
wishing to protect the distinctiveness ol Christianity against the charge ol pagan
inhuence, )udaism played a key but alsoas ). Z. Smith perceptively notesa
deeply ambiguous role. ")udaism has served a double or, a duplicitous) lunc-
tion. n one hand, it has provided apologetic scholars with an insulation lor
early Christianity, guarding it against ` inhuence` lrom its environment. n the
other hand, it has been presented by the very same scholars as an object to be
transcended by early Christianity."'
1HL NLLO IK A NLW AllKACH
lt is clear that the earl ier conversation about Christianity and Creco-Koman
religion, despite its genuine contributions to learning, was hampered in a num-
ber ol ways. Most ol the dilhculties stemmed lrom the basic lact that all the dis-
cussants were, i n one lashion or another, Christian. 1his meant that they all had
a theological stake in the outcome ol the argument." ut neither polemic nor
apologetics advance understanding. Neither demonizing the Mysteries nor using
them as a cudgel against a corrupt Catholicism serves the cause ol knowledge.'
1he Christian allegiances ol the disputants also meant that the di scussion
tended to be shaped by specihcally Christian concerns and commitments i n at
least lour important ways. Iirst, the i nternal Christian debate over the sacra-
ments tended to locus attention on the Mysteries more than on other aspects ol
Creco-Koman or Christian) religious practice. Second, the debate gave inordi-
nate attention to the presence and meaning ol certain words such as mysterion)
in certain contexts. 1o some extent, the argument was l inguistic because the
available sources were l iterary, but to some extent as well, the i nternal Christian
tradition ol theological disputation such as the debate over the eucharist and
transubstantiation) was at work.
1hi rd, j ust as "Christianity" was conceived in unitary termsas one easily
identihed real ity, however internally dividedso was there a tendency to think
ol "paganism" as well as ")udaism" i n a similarly unitary lashion. Little attention
was paid to the internal complexities ol Creco-Koman rel igion, still less to the
complexities ol hrst-century )udaism, and less still to the variety ol ways ol being
Christian in the time belore Constantine. Iourth, the discussion was carried
out primarily in terms ol "inhuence" or "dependence," as though that were the
most i mportant or even the most interesting question to be pursued, which, to
be sure, it was lor those hghting lor "authentic Christianity." ln short, since the
Christian re| i gion dehned what the discussants assumed to be authentic re| i-
gion, the debate was cast in essentia||y Christian terms.
ln addition to theo|ogica| bias, certain lorms ol academic bias l i mited the
discussion. )ust as the lack ol a perspective distinctive to "re| igious studies" re-
sulted in Christianity`s supp|ying the categories ol ana|ysis and appreciation, so
did the interests ol discrete academic pursuits | imit what cou|d be seen and how
it was viewed. Ior the greater part ol this period, the discipline ol history was
interested primari|y in the deeds ol great men or the development ol great ideas,
the common practices ol the common people, the experiences and convictions
ol women, children, and slaves, or the mundane matters ol social arrangement
seemed ol little i nterest. Ior the greater part ol this period, lurthermore, the lit-
erature ol the early empire seemed scarcely worth attention among those calling
themselves classicists and philosophers. Ior classicists, Creek studies aher llato
ollered l ittle charm and Latin studies aher Virgil even less. Ior philosophers,
l ikewise, the period ol the early empire, with its popu|ar sages l ike Seneca and
Lpictetus, was merely a dull interlude between llato and llotinus, when the great
metaphysical symphony was resumed once more. 1he li mited vision ol what
counted in history, | iterature, and philosophy meant that those most capable ol
subt|e and prolessiona| analysis ol rel igious sources paid least attention to them,
so that the discussion ol Creco-Koman religion and Christianity was lelt to pas-
sionate amateurs whose main interest was scoring points lor their version ol au-
thentic Christianity.
Virtually all ol these l i mitations have lallen away in recent decades. New
ways ol seeing, and, as a consequence, new things seen, have enab|ed new ways
ol thinking and speaking about ancient re|igion and Christianity`s place withi n
the rel i gious li le ol the hrst-century Mediterranean world. 1hose changes, and
the way they enable the sort ol questions l want to pursue in this book, are the
subject ol the next chapter.
2
-
BEGINNING A NEW CONVERATION
1he long conversation that l have described concerning Creco-Koman reli-
gion and Christianityil such a rancorous debate can be dignihed by that
termwas distorted, as we have seen, by passion and prejudice. Christians sim-
ply reduced paganism to "the other," either as a way ol asserting Christianity`s
own privileged status or as an explanation lor the corruption ol original and
authentic laith. 1he way to a new conversation has been opened, in turn, by a
combination ol new perspectives and new knowledge, which together make it
possible to observe the ways in which Christians and pagans resemble each other
as well as the ways i n which they diller.
NLW lLKSlLC1lVLS
New perspectives have come about in part through a change ol tone and the
addition ol voices to the conversation. 1he earlier debate took place exclusively
among Christians and their cultured despisers who were also Christian, and the
point was less ol mutual understanding than it was ol vanquishing a loe. Among
most Christians today, in contrast, a spirit ol ecumenical cooperation has re-
placed that ol polemic, and a desire to learn lrom each other has replaced the
rhetoric ol attack. 1he change in tone is by no means universal. Many Christians
still demonize non-Christian rel igions, and some lrotestants and Catholics con-
tinue the game ol mutual recrimination. ut among the Christians likely to take
up our subject, the tone ol voice has changed dramatically.
An even greater change has occurred because new voices have j oined the
conversation. 1he contributions ol leminist scholars have dramatically altered
Beginning a New Conversation
such traditional discipl ines as history, shilting everyone`s sense ol what matters
in the study ol the past. Attention to women`s l ives leads to a sense ol history
that i s larger than recitals ol war and great events, one that encompasses the
world ol the everyday and the domestic and enduring cultural patterns, i n all
ol which ancient rel igion was involved. ' 1he presence ol voices other than
those ol Christians has also changed perspectives. )ewish scholars have com-
pl icated and enriched the conversation both by resisti ng the easy superses-
sionist) reductions ol )udaism by Christian theologians and by exposing the
astonishing diversity ol )ewish l i leand its connections with paganismin
late antiquity. And although representatives ol ancient Centile religion are
not personally available lor study, l iving participants i n non monotheistic and
nontheistic rel igious traditionsnot only lrom the "great" world rel igions but
as wel l lrom the olten still vibrant local cults ol Alrica, Asia, and the Americas~
have at once advanced their own claims to be taken seriously and have placed
Christianity in a new and more interesting context. Now, "the nations" are pres-
ent at the table i n a way they could not be since the imperial victory ol Christi-
anity, and this provides the possibility lor lairer comparison and contrast among
religious traditions. `
New perspectives lollow as well lrom the new academic setting lor the study
ol rel igion. Lspecially in the United States, the last 40 years have seen a dra-
matic di splacement ol Christian schools ol theology by university departments
ol rel i gious studies as the center lor serious conversation about rel igion. Schools
ol theology have had as their main goal the lormation ol Christian mi ni sters,
and theology quite rightly) is taught as intricately l i nked to the convictions and
practices ol the l i le ol laith. lt is withi n the context ol the university, however,
that rel igious studies has truly come i nto its own, lor in this setting it is not the
l i le ol the church that i s primarily in view but rigorous scholarship, and the
lramework lor studying rel igion is not Christian theology, but instead all the dis-
cipl i nes available in the setting ol the university. the traditional helds ol classics
and literature and philosophy, yes, but also the social sciences, such as anthro-
pology, psychology, and sociology, have vigorously joined in the study ol hu-
man religious behavior.' Here, rel igion is lar less l i kely to be studied i n terms ol
authentic and i nauthentic, ol true or lalse, or "natural" and "revealed," than in
terms ol broadly attested human behavior that is placed on the same basic level
as economics and politics and is analyzed in much the same manner. Scholars
in the university might inquire i nto the "essence" or "nature" ol rel igion, but
they are likely to hnd more lascinating and illuminating the description, analy-
sis, and comparison ol the manilold manilestations ol rel igion across diverse
human cultures. `
Changes in i ntellectual lashion within universities also allect the study ol
religion. lt is still occasionally possible to hnd academics engaged i n the phe-
nom
enological study ol religion or i n the comparative study ol rel igionas l try
to do i n this book. ut the rise ol a variety ol ideological criticisms l iberation-
ist, lemi nist, postcolonialist) has sharpened the hermeneutics ol suspicion with
regard to religious language and behavior that was already obvious i n the en-
lightenment critique, which lrom the start sought to reduce rel igious claims ol
transcendence to the level ol "what happens in Lurope every day. "' Like their
predecessors, ideological critics regard rel igious behavior i n terms ol the ma-
nipulation ol human power and study rel igious l iterature with an eye mainly to
whose i nterest the rhetoric serves. Like social scientihc approaches to rel igion,
but to a still greater degree, they privilege the etic the perspective and catego-
ries ol the observer) over the emic the perspective and language ol the partici-
pant). Although such approaches have undoubtedly opened up new perspectives
and generated new knowledge,
"
it is di lhcult to think that rel igious language
and practice has adequately been understood as a human phenomenon simply
because it has been revealed as politically i nterested.
Nevertheless, the university context has lor the most part been good lor the
study oI religion, and the distinctive ways in which rel igious studies has been
able to approach the subject holds the promise ol a more lruitlul way ol think-
ing about paganism and Christianity than did the old context ol a divided
church and the perspectives ol theology. Scholars now generally understand
rel igion as a constructive human activity i n which experiences and convictions
concerning ultimate power both depend on and reshape people`s social struc-
tures and symbolic worlds, enabl ing a way ol l i le based on and seeking to ex-
press through a variety ol practices those experiences and convictions.' We can
begin to work our way into this new perspective by considering each part ol that
sentence in more detail, showing i n the process how new ways ol looking can
enable new ways ol seeing.
l begin with the assertion that rel igions involve experiences and convictions
concerning ultimate power, noting that the statement is broad enough to include
virtually everything that calls itsell rel igious, as well as some human activities
that may not be so designated but in lact may be. )oachim Wach has supplied a
carelul and uselul dehnition ol that sl ippery category, "rel igious experience,"
calIing it a response to what i s perceived as ultimate power, i nvolving the whole
person, characterized by a peculiar intensity, and issuing in appropriate ac-
tion. ' " l have added to Wach`s description only the term "power," which Van
der Leeuw has, correctly l think, located at the heart ol rel igious activity.
II
Lach phrase deserves lurther, though necessarily briel, parsing.
1he hrst element is that ol response. 1o the person having the experience, it is
not something sell-generated but is evoked by a reality greater and more powerlul
than the physical or psychic sell. ' 1he power to which one responds is not one
that can be controlled but one that exercises control. lt does not belong to the
ordinary run ol things but appears as extraordinary and compelling. ' ` 1he re-
sponse, lurthermore, involves the whole person. lt is not merely a matter ol ideas
the mind), nor is it merely a matter ol volition the will) or simply a matter ol leel-
ing the emotions), although each ol these is in various ways somatically impli-
cated i n the response. '' 1he body in question, lurthermore, can be communal as
well as individual. religious experience is not necessarily a private allair. ' ` 1he
second element is "peculiar intensity," which points to the sense ol realness, en-
ergy, and urgency in the experience. Such urgency is not necessarily a matter ol
violent or externally visible reaction and can be entirely peacelul and quiet. one
thinks ol Llijah`s "still small voice" in contrast to Sinai`s spectacular kratophany.
1he i ntensity ol the experience, however, makes it qualitatively distinct and exis-
tentially demanding. ther experiences do not compare. '
1he most signihcant elements in Wach`s description may be the phrases
"perceived to be" and " issuing i n appropriate action." 1he hrst phrase points
to the inevitably hermeneutical character ol all rel igious response. lt i s deeply
subj ective or, perhaps better, intersubjective. 1he ultimate power to which one
responds is not the same lor everyone, it is a matter ol "being perceived" as ul-
timate. Notice how this small phrase opens the way to a more neutral analysis
ol rel igious phenomena. 1he issue is not whose ultimate is truly ultimate, the
issue i s the way a response to something as ultimate gives rise to certai n behav-
iors. Keligious experience therelore always involves an element ol i nterpreta-
tion, not simply alter the event but i n the experiencing itsell. lerception itsell
i s a lunction ol the social-symbolic construction ol reality. ' ' l can "see" some-
thing powerlul as the work ol the Holy Spirit only because my symbolic world
contai ns a Holy Spirit that allows such sight. Another might "see" the same
power i n quite a dillerent lashion. Kel igious experiences rely on a symbolic
shape to real ity, but they can also reshape the symbolic world. New things, alter
all, do happen, and they sometimes happen with sulhcient lorce to require a
complete reconstruction ol a lractured symbolic universe.
Ior the present study, Wach`s hnal phrase i s most signihcant. "issuing in ap-
propriate action" connects rel igious experiences with the rel igious practice and
the organization ol lile around ultimate power that we term religion. lower
tends to organize existence, ultimate power tends to organize all ol existence.
nce more, we observe how studiously nonjudgmental the term "appropriate"
is in Wach`s description. he means "appropriate to the nature ol the power to
which one responds." Moses and Siddhartha located the power to which they
responded quite di llerently, and the organization ol li le that lollowed lrom
each experience was also di stinct, but what is signihcant is that in each case the
organization lollowed appropriately lrom that experience ol power. 1his is im-
portant precisely because it is lrom the organization ol li lethe way time and
space is divided between sacred and prolane, lor example, or the way certain
practices purport to mediate a share i n the ultimate power' that we are able
to make guesses concerning the location and character ol the power that orga-
nizes it. 1o be rel igious is not simply to think certain things but above all to act
in certai n ways, and these actions tend to lall into distinct patterns.
1o take the "organization ol li le around what is perceived as) ultimate
power" as a shorthand working dehnition ol a rel igion, then, means as well to
have a hexible way ol analyzing human behavior across a broad range ol cul-
tures. ln looking at a rel igion, ancient or modern, we do not need to have im-
mediate access to the "lounding experience" or the "ultimate power," but can
learn some things about them lrom the way in which lile has been organized,
especially in the allocation ol time and space and i n the logic ol community
practices. We can, in other words, work lrom the organization ol li le to experi-
ences and convictions. ut it is ohen not necessary even to raise the question ol
lounding experiences and convictions, since the organization ol lile itsell ade-
quately represents the way in which power is deployed throughout the system. ' '
ln lact, rel igious behavior need not regard itsell as "rel igion" in order to be
analyzed as such. 1he rise ol National Socialism under the leadership ol Adoll
Hitler i n twentieth-century Cermany had obvious pseudorel igious traits. Less
blatantly, twentieth-century Communismespecially in the Soviet Union and
Chinahad distinct rel igious dimensions, even while its olhcial ideology es-
poused atheism and lormally rejected rel igion as the opiate ol the people. '
ln
the twenty-hrst-century Western world, patterns ol addiction among individu-
als can easily be described i n terms ol Wach`s description. the addictive sub-
stance serves as that which lunctionally "is perceived to be ultimate" and
organizes time and space around itsell with ruthless elhciency.
'
' Contempo-
rary group activity involving collegiate or prolessional sportsone thinks ol the
World Cup competition in soccerlends itsell to religious analysis. the patterns
ol activity especially among certain lans can only be called rel igious i n their
"peculiar intensity" and their perceived "ultimacy" lor those i nvolved.
''
Clossolalia, or "speaking i n tongues," provides a good illustration ol the
ric
her and more uselul analysis that religious studies can provide. 1he New
1estament touches on the phenomenon in three places. i n the longer ending ol
Mark, "new tongues" are one ol the powers given to )esus` witnesses Mark
20 Beginning a New Conversation
i. iy). At lentecost, Luke describes those hlled with the Holy Spirit as speak-
ing in "other tongues" Acts z.q). And laul devotes considerable attention to
"tongues" as a gilt ol the Holy Spirit in i Cor iz~iq. Withi n the di scourse ol
Christian theology, only three questions were addressed concerning tongues,
with no real resolution reached on any ol them. Iirst, the nature ol the phe-
nomenon. did people speak in real loreign languages or did they babble No
resolution was possible because the textual evidence could be read either way,
and contemporary emic evidence provided by tongue speakers) was unreli-
able. ` Second, the origin ol the phenomenon. was it di rectly inspired by the
Holy Spirit and therelore inexpl icable i n human terms, or was it a manilesta-
tion ol psychopathology' 1hird, the worth ol the phenomenon. was it the
"sign ol bel ievers" that marked genuine Christianity as claimed by lentecostal
traditions), or was it an unlortunate "enthusiasm" that led to heresy and schism
as its critics clai med)` ecause the conversation about this one rel igious
phenomenon was reduced to claim and counterclaim, l ittle headway could be
made on actually understanding the rel igious signihcance ol glossolalia.
Kel igious studies, in contrast, is able to bring a variety ol cross-cultural, social-
scientihc, and l iterary perspectives to bear on the same phenomenon, not in or-
der to ask "i s this good or bad," or " is it lrom Cod or the psyche," or "should we
do it or not," but simply in the quest lor understanding glossolalia as a human
rel igious activity. Linguists observing contemporary expressions ol glossolalia,
lor example, have been unable to verily a single instance ol the lolkloric claim
that tongues are languages that others translate in the assembly, and can show,
to the contrary, that glossolalia is a lorm ol "language-like" ordered babbling that
is mimetic in naturetongue speakers learn and imitate the phonic patterns ol
their leaders. lsychologists, similarly, are able to state that glossolalia is not a
sign ol psychopathology, but is, especially in its initial expressions, olten posi-
tively correlated with psychological dissociation and leelings ol emotional liber-
ation. ' Sociologists studying contemporary lentecostal groups are able to
identily the way in which glossolalists strongly identily with leaders and can
therelore sometimes join sectarian lactions within a community. Iinally, an-
thropologists are able to show how, in communities in which spirit possession is
part ol the symbolic world, the claim to ecstatic experience can subvert olhcial
structures ol authority and even establ ish competing centers ol inhuence. '
1hese insights, in turn, can be brought to bear on examples ol ecstatic utter-
ance in diverse rel igious traditions, whether in the shamanism lound among
several aboriginal populations, or the ecstatic lorms ol prophecy lound among
the "sons ol the prophets" in ancient lsrael , or the mantic shouts ol the priests
ol Cybele, or the utterances ol the lythian racle at Oelphi . `" 1he point ol
Beginning a New Conversation 21
such comparison is not to reduce one expression to another, or to deny the va-
lidity ol one or all ol them, but rather, by means ol correlation and comparison,
to come to a better grasp ol what glossolalia is and how it acts. Such study sedu-
lously avoids either a supernatural istic or naturalistic reduction. lt does not seek
to explain by means ol appeal to Cod or to some subconscious and therelore
not lully human) impulse. lt simply seeks to understand the phenomenon itsell
more lully and, in the process, to come also to a better understanding ol why
laul,
while regarding it as a gilt ol the Holy Spirit, nevertheless saw it as a prob-
lem
atic aspect ol community l i le, requiring carelul governance. `'
NLW KNWLLOCL
Changed theoretical perspectives have both encouraged and prohted lrom
an unparalleled hood ol new knowledge about the ancient Mediterranean world
that researchers have made available over the past century. Much ol this new
knowledge has been stimulated by archaeological discoveries. 1he dramatic
discoveries in the Middle Lastabove all, the uncovering ol the )ewish com-
munity and library at Wadi _umran beginning in iqy) and ol the Cnostic li-
brary at Nag-Hammadi in iqhad the ellect ol reshaping the understanding
ol hrst-century )udaism and ol early Christianity. ` Less generally publ icized~
because less di rectly related to the question ol Christian uniquenessbut ol
equal importance are the astonishing archaeological discoveries carried out over
the past two centuries across the entire sweep ol the ancient empire, that give us
new knowledge about Creco-Koman rel igion. Irom the border city ol Oura-
Luropos in present-day Syria all the way to the seaside city ol ath in present-
day Lngland,`` archaeological digs have revealed an unprecedented volume ol
real knowledge ol the past. Sites include lalestinian cities ol obvious interest to
Christian origins, such as the city ol Sepphoris in Cal ileea place where ele-
ments ol Creek culture abound, only a lew miles lrom )esus` boyhood home ol
Nazarethand Caesarea Maritime, which Herod made into a great Hellenistic
port and where, according to Acts zq.y, laul was imprisoned lor two years. `'
1hey include as well cities in ancient Asia Minor, such as Sardis and Lphesus,
cities i n Achaia, such as Corinth, and in ltaly, the amazingly well-preserved evi-
dence ol everyday l i le in the buried cities ol lompeii and Herculaneum. ``
'ut ol such archaeological excavations have come not only countless cul-
tural artilactslrom the most elaborate mosaics to the most modest lamps,
|rom carved sarcophagi to stunning statuesbut also the remains ol buildings
and city plans, so that the imagination ol the setting and ol some ol the accou-
trements ol ancient lile i s abetted by the mnemonics ol material evidence. A
22 Beginning a New Conversation
si ngle overwhelmi ng realization comes over anyone who has surveyed this evi-
dence, and that is how impossible it would have been lor either )ew or Chris-
tian to completely avoid contact with Creco-Koman rel igion, so publ ic were its
temples and shrines, so pervasive were its markers and emblems, so common
were the depictions ol its myths.
ln addition to all these material remainsthe stones and statues, temples
and housesarchaeologists have also made available thousands ol inscriptions
that inlorm us not only about the doings ol kings and rulers but also about how
ordi nary people ate and drank and bathed together in public. Long belore the
di scoveries at _umran and Nag-Hammadi , archaeologists uncovered thou-
sands ol papyri at xyrhynchus in Lgypt, scraps ol writing that sometimes con-
tained rel igious textsincluding variants ol Cospel sayingsbut that also testily
to everyday domestic, commercial, educational, and pol itical activity in the
imperial province ol Lgypt. `
Iour examples illustrate the way archaeological discoveries have had a sig-
ni hcant impact on the subject ol rel igion in the ancient Mediterranean world.
Among the most spectacular discoveries were those made by Yale and Irench
archaeologists between 1928 and 1937 at Oura-Luropos, a Hellenistic city
lounded ca. 300 CL, taken lrom the larthians by the Komans early in the
third century CL, and destroyed by the larthians in 256 CL. As its history sug-
gests, the city`s location on a plateau lacing the Luphrates Kiver made it ol
strategic importance lor competing empires. etween 1931 and 1933, archaeolo-
gists uncovered three buildings situated along the wall ol the city lacing west
that were remarkably similar in architecturethey all were basically Koman
housesand lunction, since each was a place ol worship. Near to each other
were a Christian house church and a )ewish synagogue, while lurther down the
street was a Mithraeum. Lach meeting place, moreover, was richly decorated
with lrescoes. `' 1he decorations in the synagogue were most startl ing, because
they were the most dramatic instance yet discovered ol the use ol pictorial im-
ages i n a place ol )ewish worship, and even more because, under close exami-
nation, the depictions ol Moses as leader ol the people portrayed him in
iconographic terms as a mystagogue. ` Oura-Luropos provides a sense not only
ol the way in which )udaism and Christianity developed together in the context
ol Creco-Koman practice, but also ol the way in which )udaism could portray
itsell in terms ol a Creco-Koman mystery.
Lxcavations at Sardis have shown how grand and elaborate the )ewish syna-
gogue was in that city, providing a visual demonstration ol the disparity in size
and prestige between )udaism and nascent Christianity.`' 1he many )ewish in-
scriptions some in Hebrew but most in Creek) lound there and at other sites
have
also proven instructive, indicating, frst, the way in which wealthy Jews
adopted the Greco-Roman practices of public display through inscriptions,4o
and, second, showing how Jewish women held important positions in the syna
gogue, some even bearing the designation "head of synagogue" (archisynago
goS).4' When wealthy Jewish women could be benefactors of the Jewish
community and therefore hold such an offcial position, they occupied a place
roughly equivalent to that held by Gentile women who served as priestesses in
the imperial cult throughout Asia Minor.42 The inscriptions tend to support the
family resemblance among synagogues, house churches, and other Greco
Roman associations, and they suggest as well that the popular view that Jewish
women would automatically have found Christianity appealing because of its
more egalitarian ethos needs to be reexamined in light of such evidence.43
A vast number of inscriptions from Asia Minor have also shed more light on
emperor worship itself They reveal that the religious honor paid to the emperor
and the imperial family was not a cult imposed by Roman megalomaniacs on
resistant provinces, but was instead a popular expression of civic boosterism,
with cities of a region competing with each other for the privilege of housing the
cultus. Ephesus, for example, took great pride-revealed in its coinage-in being
"Twice Neokoros," the keeper of the temple of the great goddess Artemis and
keeper of the cult of the emperor.44 The same inscriptions show how deeply en
meshed religious associations-those dedicated to emperor worship and others
were in the networks of society, so that membership and offcial status in such
cults refected social standing within the larger society.45 The abundance of
such inscriptions also suggests how hazardous it might be-simply at the level of
social exclusion-for certain groups to reject membership or participation in the
activities of such cults.
Finally, both monumental inscriptions and papyri have revealed a form of
correspondence carried out between sovereigns and the delegates assigned
to represent them in provinces or territories (see Dio Cassius, Roman History,
53
- 15 - 4). Sometimes called "royal correspondence" and sometimes mandata
principis (instructions of the ruler) letters,46 they contain two kinds of content
that at frst do not seem to ft logically together and make sense only when the
function of the delegate as the ruler's personal representative is kept in mind.
On one side, the letters provide specifc instructions (mandates) concerning
what the sovereign wishes would be accomplished. When these were posted or
inscribed or read aloud, they authorized the activity of the delegate. But on the
other side, some examples of these letters contain moral exhortation concerning
the character of the delegate.47 These exhortations thus also provided the popu
l ace with a sense of the moral standards that the sovereign expected in the
delegate and therelore a standard to which they could hold the delegate ac-
countable.' 1he same combination ol elements appears i n laul`s Iirst Letter
to 1imothy and hi s Letter to 1itus.'' ecause the elements were lound in Hel-
lenistic correspondence lor several hundred years belore laul , there is no rea-
son to see his "lastoral Letters" as an inner-Christian development due to the
passage ol time and the growth ol institution. `" 1hese letters can be accounted
lor on the basis ol a common practice ol correspondence among those in analo-
gous social relationships.
Archaeology, i n short, has provided a lresh set ol lacts on the ground that
both enables and requires the reexamination ol ancient l iterary evidence. ln
the case ol the discoveries at _umran, the extensive writings ol this sectarian
group stimulated a renewed reading ol all ancient )ewish literature and led to
new theories about diversity i n hrst-century )udaism. ln the case ol the discov-
eries at Nag-Hammadi, the collection ol Coptic compositions called the "Cnos-
tic Library" similarly led to a lresh reading ol both canonical and apocryphal
Christian l iterature and led to the development ol new positions concerning
the hi storical )esus and diversity in the early Christian movement. ln the same
lashion, the acquisition ol new knowledge about the Creco-Koman world
through archaeology has encouraged a reconsideration ol l iterature previously
available to scholars but now read with new interest and the potential lor new
insight. ` '
Scholars ol rel igion read Creek and Koman novels, ` lor example, with a new
appreciation lor what they can tell us about rel igious attitudes and practices.
ooks X~Xl ol Apuleius` Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass) has long been ap-
preciated as our most important source lor the experience ol i nitiation i nto a
Mystery cult. `` ut once the notion ol "religion" is extended to encompass more
than "Mysteries," the novel becomes a source lor equally important aspects ol
ancient rel igiosity. it provides a sharp portrayal ol the practice ol magic, lor ex-
ample lll . zi~zS), and contains a vivid portrait ol the wandering prophets ol the
goddess Cybele Vlll. zq~zy). ther novels are being examined not lor their
plot and characterization, but lor the way they depict social realities and rel i-
gious sensibilities. H. ). Cadbury once remarked that Chariton ol Aphrodisias`
novel, Chaereas and Callirhoe, contained more similarities to the idiom and
ideas ol the Acts of the Apostles than did any other ancient text. `' Cadbury`s in-
sight has invited more systematic comparison among the canonical Acts and
Hellenistic novels and even more among Christian Apocryphal Acts ol the
Apostles and ancient Komances. ` `
ther literature is read with new i nterest i n l ight ol archaeology. Herodotus`
History has long becn admired as a rich il not always reliable source lor rel i-
gious exoterica, but he also provides inlormation ol a rel igious character even
when that is not necessarily hi s intention, as when he shows how pivotal the
oracle at Oelphi was lor the political l i le ol Creece. ` Similarly, ll iny the Ll-
der`s Historia Naturalis, Strabo`s Geogrphy, and especially lausanius` Descrip
tion of Greece hnd new pertinence lor the study ol Creco-Koman rel igion to
the extent that they can be correlated with or corrected by) new knowledge
derived lrom archaeology. `'
A hne example ol the manner i n which new archaeological knowledge and
new theoretical perspectives on rel igion throw l ight on extant l iterature is the
rhetorician Ael ius Aristides, whose Sacred Tales provides vivid hrsthand wit-
ness to the rel igious sensibilities connected at least in hi s case) to the quest lor
heal ing lrom the god Asclepius that was ollered at shrines located in Lpi-
daurus and lergamum. ` Archaeology has revealed the complexity and size ol
these ancient sites dedicated to healing as well as the many inscriptions that
attest to the heal i ngs that took place through medical regimens and the inter-
ventions ol the god. `' Aristides` Sacred Tales provides students ol rel igion with
genuine emic di scourse corresponding to the realia exposed through excava-
tion, ohering evidence ol a sickly man`s passionate devotion to the healing
powers ol the god. " ll religion is the organization ol l i le around the percep-
tion ol ultimate power, then Ael ius Aristides i s an invaluable witness to
Creco-Koman rel igion.
Scholars have also begun to pay more serious attention to the moral philoso-
phers ol the early empire, especially since what Martha Nussbaum calls their
"therapy ol desire" hts withi n a lramework that is, in many respects, distinctly
religious. ' 1he rel igious character ol the traditions associated with lythagoras
and Lpicurus, which originated belore the period under study but continued to
exist and exert inhuence, is patent. 1he several Lives ol lythagoras trace his ori-
gin to the gods, and Lpicurus was worshipped by his lollower Colotes even
during his li letime. Oisciples ol each sage memorized their sayings as a guide
to purihcation or as a prophylactic against lear,` and committed themselves to
lorms ol lriendship so intense that they required a l i le together in community.
ln the case ol the lythagoreans, the common l i le included shared meals and
shared possessions and a period ol probation lor the assessing ol candidates. '
lhilostratus` Life of Apollonius ofTyana and Heraclitus` Letters both bear wit-
ness to the conviction that such philosophers participated in and revealed to
other humans something ol the divine. `
lhilosophers in the Cynic-Stoic tradition were more circumspect in their
language and more individualistic i n their outlook than were the Lpicureans
and lythagoreans. ut i n hgures such as Oio Chrysostom, Seneca, Marcus
Aurel ius, and, above all, in that "grand old man," the exiled slave Lpictetus, we
hnd philosophy as the commitment to a way ol l i le, indeed as a vocation to live
a l i le worthy ol Cod in service to other humans. Commitment to philosophy
demanded more than the wearing ol a beard and a long cloak, certainly more
than the knowledge ol logic, cosmology, and ethics. lt required a genuine con-
version ol l i le, a rejection ol vice and the cultivation ol virtue, a turning lrom
sickness to health. ' Lven the satirist Lucian ol Sam os at a, whose lavorite targets
included the laux philosophers who lailed to l ive up to such expressed ideals
hi s portrayals ol daytime publ ic virtue lol lowed by nighttime private vice have
a startlingly contemporary tonetestihes in his admiring treatment ol the no-
ble philosophers Oemonax and Nigrinus how much he himsell shared those
same ideals.
Keading Creco-Koman moralists i n li ght ol new categories provided by reli-
gious studies is a splendid example ol how the convergence ol new evidence,
changing theory, and the rereading ol old evidence has opened up new possi-
bil ities lor understanding Creco-Koman culture and its ways ol being rel igious.
1he result is to make pagan religion lar more compl icated. Si milar study over
the past decades has also served to make hrst-century )udaism and nascent
Christianity more complex than they were lormerly thought to be. 1he conver-
sation concerning the way or ways in which the religion ol Creeks and Komans,
)ews, and Christians intersected or i nteracted can no longer be reduced to a
single lactor like the Mysteries) or a single dynamic such as dependence), nor
can it proceed on the assumption that interactions took place among three
monol ithic, highly dehned, and distinct entities.
CHALLLNClNC LO KLCNS1KUC1lNS
1ake, lor example, the theory ol early Christian development elaborated by
the History ol Keligions School and lound most lully expressed in the work ol
Wilhelm ousset and Kudoll ultmann. ' lt was based on a premise that Helle-
nistic and )ewish cultures could be separated i nto distinct geographical spheres.
)udaism in lalestine was therelore untouched by Creco-Koman culture except
as a lorce to be resisted. nly in the Oiaspora could )ews like lhilo seriously
engage Hellenistic ways, and the intensity ol lhilo`s engagement with Creek
culture was regarded as exceptional .'"
n the basis ol this assumption, earliest Christianity in lalestine )ewish Chris-
tianity) must be dehned entirely by ")ewish" that is, rabbinic and apocalyptic)
rather than "Creek"categories. ln lalestine, consequently, )esus could not
have been called "Lord" (kyrios) since that designation would be available only
where Hellenistic cults operated. '' 1he Christology ol the )ewish community
in lalestine must therelore have htted traditional messianic expectations and
been centered on the apocalyptic expectation ol )esus` return.' 1he designa-
tion ol )esus as Lord (kyrios) must have arisen i n the Oiaspora, where Chris-
tians would lor the hrst time have encountered Creco-Koman Mystery religions,
such as that devoted to Serapis, in which the god was designated as kyrios. 73
lt is i n the Oiaspora, then, that the ")esus Movement" became a "Christ cult,"
under the direct i nhuence ol Creco-Koman Mysteries. Specihcally, the dra-
matic transition took place when the missionaries mentioned in Acts . iy
came to Antioch to proclaim )esus lor the hrst time di rectly to the Creeks Acts
ii. izi).'' Since laul became a Christian in this Hellenistic environment
Acts . i), it was lurther i nlerred lrom his di scourse about baptism and
meals that he inherited this Hellenistic lorm ol Christianity, with his theology
ol righteousness by laith standing i n uneasy tension with the "sacramental "
character ol a Christianity already translormed i nto something ol a Mystery
cult.'` Christianity therelore developed i n three discrete stages. lalestinian,
Hellenistic, and lauline.
1here were problems with this i nhuential hypothesis lrom the start. lt was
based on laulty assumptions concerning the evidence in the New 1estament
sources. scholars were overly optimistic that the Cospels and the hrst part ol
Acts laithlully reported specihcally lalestinian perspectives, and they disre-
garded epistolary writers arguably as early as laul )ames and the author ol the
Letter to the Hebrews).' More telli ngly, the l i nguistic lacts that lormed the
basis ol the argument were other than the scholars thought. 1here was no
need lor Creek-speaking )ews to have contact with a Mystery cult to designate
)esus as kyrios. 1he Creek translation ol the Hebrew scripture known as the
Septuagint LXX) had already translated the name Yahweh as kyrios. 1hose
convinced that )esus was powerlully al ive and sharing i n Cod`s reign would
need no contact with a Mystery to connect the title kyrios with )esus, they had
only to read the LXX version ol lsalm iio. i. "1he Lord (ho kyrios) said to my
lord (kyrio), sit at my right hand until l make your enemies a lootstool lor my
le
et."''
Lven more embarrassing was evidence lor the lact that )ewish, Aramaic-
speaking Christians had already designated )esus as "Lord," through the prayer
marana tha "Come, Lord"). laul quotes this prayer in hi s letter to the Creek-
speaking bel ievers in the church at Corinth ca. 54 CL), in the lull expectation
that they would recognize this Aramaic prayer as well as its implicationsthat
)esus is the risen one capable ol returning i n power (1 Cor 16: 22). ut since
Aramaic was not normally spoken in the Creek diaspora but was a local dialect
ol Hebrew lound i n lalestine, it lollows that the prayer quoted by laul was a
piece ol the tradition that was transmitted lrom the lalestinian church to hi m
and that he in turn had shared i t with the Corinthians. Again, there is no need
to invoke a Creco-Koman Mystery cult to explain the usage.
Oespite these obvious haws, the argument enj oyed considerable lavor and
inhuence, because it appeared to provide a way ol making sense ol the available
data. 1he biggest blow to the reconstruction came lrom the acquisition ol new
knowledge concerning the relations ol )udaism and Hellenism i n the hrst cen-
tury, knowledge suggesting that the neat al ignment ol geography and culture
was lar too simple. 1he same archaeological impetus that is reshaping the un-
derstanding ol Creco-Koman rel igion and revealing its unsuspected complex-
ity has also impelled the reconsideration ol hrst-century )udaism and made
clearer not only that it was equally complex, but that it was also equally a sharer
in Hellenistic culture. 1he pioneering work ol scholars l ike Saul Liebermann
showed that the categories separating lalestinian and Oiaspora )udaism were
artihci al, and the i mpressive compilation ol this knowledge by Martin Hengel
has won near universal recognition among scholars'
Monumental and l iterary evidence al ike shows that )udaism had been nego-
tiating its identity with Hellenism i n lalestine as well as i n the Oiaspora since
the conquests ol Alexander the Creat d. 323 CL), so that by the time the New
1estament compositions were written, )ews had been i n contact with and in
various ways had adapted and assimilated to the dominant culture lor a period
longer than the entire history ol the United States. )ews i n lalestine, lurther-
more, had dealings with Koman administrators and soldiers lor well over a
hundred years. " 1he Creek language, and with it Creek rhetorical, pol itical ,
and philosophical ideals, had touched )ewish l i le in prolound ways. 1he quint-
essential expression ol )ewish lore, the 1almud, is composed in Aramaic yet is
studded with Creek loan words, a number ol the midrashic middoth rules lor
interpretation) hnd antecedent in Creek rhetoric, and the lorm ol the sayings ol
the Kabbis resemble the Creek chreia. 81 lalestine was the home not only ol
great rabbinic scholars but also ol Creek-speaking rhetoricians and philoso-
phers.
1he most obvious example ol early )ewish engagement with Creek culture
is the translation ol the Hebrew scriptures called the Septuagint LXX), car-
ried out some 250 years belore the bi rth ol )esus. ` Accordi ng to the legend ol
the mi raculous translationaccordi ng to which all 70 ol the translators, work-
ing separately, produced identical versionsthe work was carried out under
the sponsorship ol ltolemy ll lhi ladelphus (285-247 CL) as an act ol be-
nehcence lor )ews i n the Oiaspora, who no longer spoke their ancestral lan-
guage. ' ut the translators were )ewish scholars lrom lalestine, whom the
ki
ng
brought to Lgypt to accompl ish the task. 1he translators, i n other words,
were lalestinian )ews who knew Creek as well as they knew Hebrew and were
therelore capable ol carrying out thi s delicate and sacred task. 1hat such a
translation was required is testi mony to the thoroughly Hellenized condition
ol the perhaps) mi ll ions ol )ews l iving, mostly by choice and prelerence, out-
side lalestineà larger number than those dwel l i ng in lalestinebut testi-
hes as well to the thorough devotion they had to the scriptures ol their
people.
1he Septuagint, in turn, became the basis ol an extensive apologetic l itera-
ture composed by )ews who sought to explain themselves in the terms ol
Creco-Koman culture and, in the process, became still more Hellenized. lhilo
ol Alexandria and the author ol the Wisdom ol Solomon were intensely de-
voted to the one Cod ol lsrael and were equally loyal to their own people. ln-
deed, they had nothing but contempt lor the idolatry ol their pagan neighbors.
Yet, even in the compositions that delended their Cod and their customs
against Centile slanders, they reveal their proloundly Hellenistic sensibilities.
)ews l ike Lzekiel the 1ragedian and lseudo-lhocyl ides even employed distinc-
tive Hellenistic l iterary lorms with such sophistication and subtlety that the
)ewish authorship ol their work is not easily apparent. ' 1he heroic takes ol re-
sistance to Creek culture and rel igion, related by the books ol the Maccabees,
are written i n Creek and reveal the inhuence ol Hellenistic historiography and
in the case ol 4 Maccabees) popular moral philosophy. Lven the proloundly
conservative wisdom ol the lalestinian )ewish sage en Sira, composed in He-
brew, was translated by the sage`s grandson into Creek, lor a Oiaspora )udaism
hungry lor )ewish wisdom lrom the homeland but unable to read it in the origi-
nal language Sirach, prologue).
1he synagogue paintings at Oura-Luropos demonstrate that lhilo was by no
means the only )ew who could think ol lsrael `s rel igion at least metaphorically
in terms ol the Lleusinian Mysteries, or who could conceive ol Moses as both a
philosopher and as a mystagogue who i nitiated adepts i nto the Mysteries
contained in Cod`s law.' ln lact, a pseudonymous )ewish work in honor ol
Abraham and Mosesand perhaps ascribing to them something very much
like divine honorwas penned under the name ol rpheus, the traditional
p
atron ol the Creek Mysteries.'
1he most paradoxical example ol Hellenistic inhuence i n lalestinian )uda-
ism is perhaps the _umran community. No )ewish group was more deeply
dedicated to the Hebrew text ol scripture and to the use ol classical Hebrew in
its modes ol scriptural interpretation and in its composition ol new sectarian
l iterature.'' Nor was any )ewish group more emphatic i n its rej ection not only
ol the despised Centiles, but also ol any )ews who associated i n the slightest
manner with Centiles.'

No )ewish sect could, on the surlace, appear more
straightlorwardly anti-Hellenistic. Yet, _umran`s system ol probation and excom-
munication, and its way ol l i le organized around an absolute community ol
possessions, appears to owe more to Creek utopian models than to any prece-
dent lound i n 1orah.'` When )osephus describes Moses as a philosopher
(Against Apion 2. 168, 281), when he al igns the )ewish sects i n lalestine with
Creek philosophical traditions (Jewish War 2. 119-166), and when i n particular
he compares the Lssenes to the lythagoreans (Jewish War 2. 119-161, Antiquities
15. 371), he does not do violence to the reality, but testihes to the complex ways
in which )ewish and Creek cultures interacted.
Hellenistic )udaism i n the hrst century, both withi n and outside lalestine,
is ol exceptional i mportance to any analysis ol the relations between Creco-
Koman rel igion and early Christianity, in two ways. Iirst, it serves as a reminder
ol how complex and subtle were the modes ol cultural and rel igious cross-
lertilization i n the period ol the early empire. Lven lor this most highly dehned
and resi stant tradition, there was a variety ol ways i n which the domi nant
Hellenistic culture was negotiated, so that lor some )ews, totally loyal to their
heritage, it was perlectly natural to think ol their own religion as a lorm ol
philosophy and as the best ol Mysteries.
Second, it cautions us against using )udaism as an alternative to "Creco-
Koman" when examining the possible connections between pagani sm and
Christianity. lnsisting that Christianity derives lrom )udaism does not by itsell
answer the question ol how Creco-Koman rel igious sensibi lities may have been
among the elements ol the symbol ic world that Christians recatalyzed in li ght
ol their own experience.
l have suggested that new perspectives and new knowledge have combined
to create the possibil ity ol examining the question ol Christianity and Creco-
Koman rel igion with lresh eyes. Lven these introductory comments indicate,
however, that the examination has not become easier. the more we have learned
about Creco-Koman, )ewish, and early Christian traditions, the more internally
complex each appears, and the relations among them seem correspondingly
complex. lt is not at all clear whether any way ol organizing the data i s uselul.
Beginning a New Conversation 31
1he next stage ol my argument presses that question, by showing in greater
detail some ol the range ol rel igious responses within Creco-Koman culture,
belore proposing that a typology ol ways ol being rel igious might be the most
neutral and helplul approach not only to paganism but to ancient )udaism and
Christianity as well .''
3
-
A PRELIMINARY PROFILE OF
GRECO- ROMAN RLIGION
1he more we learn about the ancient Mediterranean world, the more com-
plex and sprawl ing the topic ol Creco-Koman religion appears. I 1his prel i mi-
nary prohle attempts to provide some sense ol the range ol religious experiences,
convictions, and practices in the early Koman Lmpire. l make no ellort to
distinguish, lor example, what is originally Creek and what is natively Koman
in this religious world, or to develop stages ol religion that unlold in evolution-
ary sequence or i n response to spiritual crises. ` Kather, l locus on the variety ol
religious phenomena observable across the empire and throughout the period
when Christianity emerged.' l begin with the aspects ol religion that are most
visible and obvious, hoping that my broad generalizations will gain some depth
and nuance lrom subsequent chapters. Lven this prel iminary discussion makes
no pretense ol comprehensiveness. My selection ol topics and the way l discuss
them i s very much determined by the sort ol conversation l want to develop
between Creco-Koman rel igion and Christianity.
CLNLKAL ILA1UKLS
l begin with a lai rly sale set ol observations about Creco-Koman threskeia or
religio in the centuries immediately belore and during Christianity`s develop-
ment. Iirst, it was pervasive, touching peoples` l ives in multiple ways that even
the most pious ol present-day Christiansunless they were Koman Catholics
ol a certain agewould hnd astonishing. ` Signs ol divine presence met a per-
son on every side. Corresponding gestures ol respect and gratitude to the
indigitamenta-the gods who were associated or even identihed with every
place and activityaccompanied every daily activity. planting and harvesting,
A Preliminary Profle of Greco-Roman Religion
33
preparing meals, practicing cralts and trades, embarking on j ourneys, entering
houses or shrines or battle. 1he promise ol votive oherings to such gods and
sh
ort prayers such as "il Cod wills it" lound in )udaism only where inhuenced
by Hellenistic pietywere olten on the lips. Kel igion lor Creeks and Komans
was not something done only with a part ol one`s time, space, and attention. lt
demanded attention in virtually every time and space, because every time and
space was potentially an opening to a divine presence and power.
Creco-Koman rel igion was, therelore, not simply personal and private but
had a genuinely public character. Understandings ol rel igion as essentially indi-
vidualistic and personal are Western and recentas are the notions ol privacy
and individualism themselves. Creeks and Komans l ived l ives that were public
in every sense ol the word. 1o be isolated and alone was lor them the worst ol
lates, and lull humanity was always a matter ol "being with" others, whether
lamily, lriends, lellow citizens, or personal slaves.' Keligion was correspond-
ingly woven into the social labric lrom top to bottom, rather than, as so olten in
contemporary Christian and post-Christian countries, relegated to i nterior dis-
positions and an occasional and relatively anonymous Sunday worship service.
lublic time and publ ic space al ike were rel igiously organized. 1he calendars
determined by priestly study were posted publicly to alert the populace concern-
ing which days ol a month were Fasti, and therelore available lor markets and lor
publ ic assembl ies, and which were Nefasti, dedicated to the lestival ol a god and
therelore sacred in character making them dangerous lor secular activities). ' " A
given month was punctuated by the lestivals that created pauses in prolane ac-
tivity and enabled communion among gods and humans through rest, ritual,
and publ ic leasting. II 1emples and shrines were omnipresent and served multi-
ple lunctions. they were sanctuaries lor the pursued and prosecuted, and they
served as repositories ol wealth and administrative archives. ' 1he gold ol Ath-
ens was placed at Athena`s leet in the larthenon, and the shrine ol Apollo at
Oelphi hnanced wars against the lersians. ' As places where publ ic sacrihces
were
perlormed, temples could also serve as the source ol meat lor households. ' '
1he link between the domestic and the civic can be shown by the piety that at-
tached itsell to the lamily hearththe hre was never extinguishedand that
con
nected to the cult ol the Vestal Virgins, who oversaw the sacred and indistin-
]
uishable hame that protected the entire Koman oikoumene. l 5
Holidays and lestivals were, li ke periodic athletic contests, celebrations ol
and with the gods. latron deities were invoked not only at the meals ol rel igious
associations (thiasoi) expl icitly devoted to their cults, but were also greeted en-
thusiastically at the common meals ol collegia and trade associations, lunerary
societies, and philosophical schools, whose drinking parties (symposia) under
34
A Preliminary Prfle of Greco-Roman Religion
the aegis ol Oionysius acchus) inspired the table talk, both solemn and silly,
that was recorded across the more than 500 years separating llato and llutarch,
and that in many ways was the real gilt ol such gathering and drinking. ' lt was
also in the name ol the gods that such groups collected lunds lrom members
and held them in common lor the support and mutual beneht ol members. ''
ecause rel igion was publ ic, it was also necessarily political in character. Mat-
ters ol religion were also matters ol state. Membership in colleges ol priests came
about through election or selection by political bodies and olhcers, and the
priestly works ol determining sacred days, organizing the leitourgia ol the great
lestivals, carrying out sacrihces, and, above all, ensuring through the auspices
that circumstances were lavorable lor the initiation ol any great venture, such as
going to war, were matters ol critical importance lor the political order. ' "
1he
selection ol whom held such olhces was therelore also a matter ol political con-
cern, and serving as Augur or lontilex was a signihcant item in the cursus hono
rum. Such positions were eagerly sought and gladly administered, lor they placed
men and, i n the case ol the Vestals, women) so elected into positions ol enor-
mous prestige and real power. ' ' 1he same was true in the provinces as in the
city. holding priestly olhces both ellected and expressed political power."
1he proper regulation ol rel igion was considered essential lor the stabil ity
and salety ol the stateand this conviction was as strong during both the Ke-
publ ic and the lrincipate. Although Kome was generally hospitable to new
cults, il lor any reason a practice was regarded as inimical to the establ ished
order, it could be suppressed, not only lor the good ol the state but also, since
they went together, lor the health ol rel igion. 1he eastern cult image a black
stone) ol the Creat Mother was welcomed because the Sybil declared that her
presence would secure Kome`s salety. ' 1he cult ol Oionysius, i n contrast, was
repressed because it was perceived as threatening traditional order. llutarch`s
most serious charge against the Lpicureans was that their denial ol the gods
that is, the denial ol the presence and power ol the gods to ensure the popu-
lace`s well-being) was expressed by a deliberate withdrawal lrom active partici-
pation i n the l i le ol the polis. 23 1he Lpicureans saw this as a legitimate search
lor a quiet li le. ' llutarch, and with hi m the rest ol the philosophical tradition,
saw such withdrawal as a threat to the security ol the civilized order. ` 1he
charge ol atheism made against both )ews and Christians, l ikewise, was con-
nected to the charge ol amixia lailure to mingle, or participate), which was
tantamount to misanthropia hatred ol humanity).
1he public-pol itical character ol Creco-Koman rel igion can be misunder-
stood in three ways il approached lrom the perspective ol a developed Christi-
anity. Ii rst, the entire system ol lestivals and auguries and sacrihces might be
35
dismissed as relatively otiose because they are not di scussed extensively in our
extant rel igious l iterature. 1he opposite, however, is the case. what extant liter-
ary
and archaeological evidence points us to is the realm o| that which need
not
be di scussed because it belongs to the realm ol "what goes without saying"
because it is so customary, so deeply entrenched in the culture. 1he inscrip-
tional evidence pertinent to rel igious associations makes clear how socially en-
meshed and interconnected were priestly and pol itical olhces
Second, one could assume that the publ ic and political character ol religion
made it an "olhcial " rather than a popular rel igion, an activity reserved lor the
elite rather than the masses. ut although it is true that elements ol class entered
into matters like priestly elections, it is also the case that the round ol lestivals
and sacrihces were "popular" precisely in the sense ol inviting the participation
ol the populace as a whole. 1he evidence does not suggest any sense ol alien-
ation lrom public rel igion, probably because, lrom the start, it was so consistently
in line with domestic piety and so constantly reinlorced a social cohesion that
transcended lines ol class and wealth. 1his may be the place to mention that
neither was there a sharp line drawn on the basis ol gender. While many reli-
gious responsibilities were assigned to males, there is abundant evidence lor the
activity ol lemales in cultic settings, both in Creece and Kome. 1he lul l extent
ol their activity is, to be sure, obscured by the androcentric bias ol the sources.'
1hird, it is important not to assume a dichotomy between lormal religion and
rel igious sincerity. 1he ollering ol incense to the image ol an emperor was no
less personal or meaninglul lor the Komans than voting in an election i n which
one`s own candidate cannot win lor those l iving i n a democratic society. `
l have spoken ol Creco-Koman rel igion during the late Kepubl ic and early
lrincipate as pervasive, publ ic, and political. lt was also pious and pragmatic.
1he publ ic rel igion ol the people was an expression ol tc|asthe hlial dispo-
sition ol reverence and rcspect lor one`s ancestors the lares both ol the hearth
and ol the oikoumene), lor the laws, and lor those who admi nistered the laws
in the city-stateand was intimately, indeed inextricably, l inked to reverence
and respcct toward the gods. `' Creco-Koman religion in this period was also
practical more than it was theoretical . lt was not a matter ol theology but ol
properly negotiating the relationship among humans and gods, and i n such
negotiations, pragmatism was all-important. ` ll the proper conditions lor sac-
ri
hcc were not met, the sacrihce was postponed or repeated until perlormed
correctly. `` ll the name ol a god governing some place or activity was not
known, then "whatever god might be here" was i nvoked. `' Keli gion was very
much a matter ol what worked in the everyday world inhabited by gods and
hu
mans.
1he leature ol Creco-Koman rel igion that enabled both a remarkable diver-
sity ol expression and an impressive social cohesion is that it was polytheistic,
the rel igious system ol all ancient peoples except the )ews and in a more am-
biguous lashion) the Christians. `` lolytheism conceives ol the divine dynamist
virtus "power") as personal but also as di llused through an elaborate extended
lamily ol gods, whose respective inhuence was exercised over the diverse do-
mains ol natural and human lile. Much in the manner that Mediterranean
culture ran on a complex system ol patronage and honor that enabled inter-
course between the lower and higher elements ol society, so did the gods pro-
vide benehts to those who honored them. ` 1hus, there was a multipl ication ol
minor deities (indigimenta) who controlled every sort ol human activity wak-
ing, sleeping, eating, planting, sailing), thus also, the intensely practical char-
acter ol pietythe point was to honor the god who actually exercises power in a
particular real m, thus, hnal ly, the capacity ol polytheism to provide social
cohesionit corresponds precisely to Creco-Koman social arrangements and
dynamics, extending to the gods the same combination ol hierarchical struc-
ture yet interdependent activity lound among humans.
1he realm ol the gods did not simply mirror the world ol humans. 1he mem-
brane separating the human and the divine was permeable, with tralhc moving
in both di rections. Nowhere i s this more consistently or impressively displayed
than in vid`s Metamorphoses, a Latin rendering ol shared Creco-Koman myths
that portrays gods and humans in a constant change and exchange ol lorms. `'
1he gods can make themselves immediately present in human lorm, as when
Zeus and Hermes visit the aged lhrygian couple aucis and lhilemon. ` Hu-
mans can also enter into the extended divine lamily through extraordinary
wisdom or valor, translormed like the prototypical hero Herakles into a "son ol
god" through ascension or apotheosi s. `'
lolytheism is, in this sense, a generous and capacious rel igious system. 1here
is always room lor another member ol the extended divine lamily. 1he early
Christian proclamation ol )esus as a son ol god in power through resurrection
lrom the dead Kom 1: 4) would not have sounded nearly so strange to Centiles
as it di d to )ews. Ior Centiles, however, the designation would also not have
carried with it any claim to uniqueness. 1hey could and did) question, lurther-
more, whether a human who died the way )esus didabandoned by lol lowers,
wracked with learcould be considered worthy ol a place among the
immortals.'"
ll humans could in principle and sometimes in practiceas olten occurred
with emperors and even imperial lavorites'' be elevated to the status ol the
divine, so could the gods worshipped by other peoples be included i n the im-
37
perial pantheon. Kome adopted and extended the practice ol rel igious syncre-
tism i nitiated by the Hellenistic empi re.' Syncretism involved the recognition
ol gods who operated under di llerent names but with similar Iunctions, as well
as the adoption ol loreign deities in subordinate positions. 1he most obvious
case i s the Koman adoption ol virtually the entire Creek lympic lami ly
Zeus = )upiter, Hera = )uno, Hermes = Mercury, etc.), but the same instinct
enabled more complex adaptations and accommodations. lt was, i n lact, part
ol Kome`s political genius to allow conquered peoples not only to continue to
worship their native gods but also to j oin in the worship ol the gods who truly
ran the world.'`
lolytheism`s intrinsic permeabil ity and expansiveness made the emperor
cult not only i ntelli gible but logical. ll divinity is revealed through ellective
presence and power, then those who exercise imperial rule over the entire oik
oumene are truly theoi phenomenoi "visible gods").'' Kome itsell was relatively
slow to accede to the worship ol l iving rulers, but under the inhuence ol the
Creek provinces, where obeisance to rulers had begun already in the time ol
Alexander,'` the lrincipate gradually overcame its republican scruplesthe
Consul was elected by the Senate, but the Princeps exercised rule dynastically~
and adopted the practice, which in Asian provinces eventually included the
entire i mperial lamily.
lt is polytheism that enables the complex i nterconnections ol sacred time
and space withi n the li le ol the people. ecause there are many gods, there are
also many temples and shrines, each with its statue symbol izing the divine pres-
ence, each with its altar where the sacrihce ol animals serves to honor the deity
and provide koinonia "lellowship") lor the worshippers who share in the meat
ol the sacrihce.' And since every household also had its lares and penates, simi-
larly recognized and honored by portions ol grain and lruit that lormed the in-
dividual lamily`s lood,'' the entire oikoumene was bound together by a cuisine
ol sacrihce that simultaneously Iound humans to the gods and humans to each
other. ecause there are many gods, l ikewise, time itsell was divided i nto days
that were fasti or nefasti, depending on the obligation to sacrihce and celebrate
in
honor ol some deity or another.'
lolytheism as a rel igious system had both positive and negative aspects. losi-
tiv
ely, it maximized the diversity ol divine presenceany spot or time could
become sacred through encounter with a god or even through the sacrihce to a
godwhile also di husing the burden ol theodicy throughout the entire system.
ne god or goddess may take ollense and bear a grudge against a human, but
just as i n human patronage, there is always another god or goddess to whom
one can turn lor help.'' 1he very anthropomorphism that made the gods so
available to humans, an extension ol society`s own system ol patronage and
honor, however, had the negative aspect ol revealing the gods to be as petty,
corruptible, and even immoral as humans themselves. 1he myths that the Ko-
mans took over lrom Hesiod, Homer, and the 1ragedians exposed the lympian
gods in particular as driven by unseemly passions.
Some thoughtlul Centiles tended to view the lympians much as the rit-
ish do the equally lractious and embarrassing royal lamilyhelplul and even
necessary as societal glue but not much use lor actual governance. Connected
to this perception were two responses that in many ways were interconnected.
Some sober-minded moral ists l ike Cornutus, Heraclitus, and llutarch strove to
save the ancient traditions ol the Creeks and a morally responsible piety by
rendering the sometimes scandalous stories ol the lympian gods as allegories
containing prolound moral and spiritual truths. 1he development ol allegori-
cal interpretation enabled young people to read and learn lrom the classic texts
that shaped their world, while understanding that what they were really about
was not lust and adultery and rage, but the desire lor wisdom and virtue. `" oth
)ews and Christians would, in turn, learn lrom such hermeneutical precedents
and turn the same interpretive techniques to their own deeply problematic
scriptures. ` '
A second response was t o imagine a stronger, more unitary, and di recting
divine power superior to the many gods on display in the world. When viewed
positively, such a governing power could be construed as providence (pro
noia} . 5 2 Some writers were conhdent that such divine providence worked lor
the reward ol the good and the punishment ol the wicked, giving polytheism a
level ol moral discourse that was otherwise only a minor element. `` 1he lan-
guage used in discussions ol providence, sometimes associated with the per-
sonal name ol Zeus or Dios, comes remarkably close to a lunctional and in
some cases even a rehective monotheism or, i n some cases, pantheism). `' Oe-
lenders ol providence laced the same challenges as did the delenders ol Cod`s
justice within monotheistic systems, namely, the evidence to the contrary sug-
gesting that the evil go unpunished and that the good do not prosper. `` When
the writer`s outlook was more grim, or the circumstances more dire, the li mits
imposed on gods and humans al ike could be designated as moir "Limit") or
heimarmene "Iate"), an inexorable and relentless boundary against which
there could be no appeal. ` ll circumstances were particularly capricious, the
controlling divine lorce could also be personihed as Tyche or Fortuna "Chance"
or "Iortune"). `'
oth allegorical interprctation and the search lor an ordering principle supe-
rior to the anthropomorphic gods, however, remained within the lramework
39
and depended on the normative status ol polytheism. 1hey did not represent a
rejection but rather a rehnement ol the religious system that pervaded Creco-
Koman culture and gave it dehnition. 1hat system, in all its manilestations, was
about negotiating the divine dynamis in a manner benehcial to humans and to
the social order.
SlLCl IlC KLLlClUS lHLNMLNA
1he assumption that the divine dynamis was accessible to humans lor their
beneht was operative not only in the ordinary round ol domestic and civic ob-
servance but also i n manilestations ol piety that sometimes demanded great
ellort and the di slocation ol everyday l i le. Iive examples are ol particular perti-
nence to a comparison with early Christianity. prophecy, healing, i nitiation
into Mysteries, pilgrimages, and magic.
P R OP HE CY
lrophecy is sometimes thought to be a distinctive leature ol "bibl ical " reli-
gion, but it is widely attested i n other traditions and is a conspicuous leature ol
Creco-Koman rel igion. ` 1he lundamental element in prophecy is communi-
cation lrom gods to humans, which may but need not and olten does not) in-
volve prediction ol the luture. ln this root sense, prophecy and revelation are
closely al igned. ln Creco-Koman rel igion, prophecy took several lorms. Most
common and routine were the various ki nds ol divination that accompanied
the initiation ol important actions, lrom sacrihces to war. 1his sort ol technical
prophecy or augury) studied celestial and animal phenomena in order to deter-
mine divine lavor ol a specihc undertaking. `' Such auspices were the work ol
priests appointed to the task and were taken with great seriousness. Ior ex-
ample, il an animal brought to sacrihce did not signily its agreement to being
slaughtered by shaking its head up and down when sprinkled with water, then
the sacrihce must be postponed. ' ll the study ol sacrihcial entrails yielded evi-
dence that was not positive, human plans must be delerred. Similarly, meteo-
rological events were taken as signs and portents indicating divine pleasure or
displeasure at a plan ol action. `
More highly esteemed by someincluding llatowere lorms ol prophecy
callcd mantic lrom mania = lrenzy, madness), which was understood as thc
physical possession ol the human psyche by the divine pneuma to create an al-
te
red and heightened state called enthusiasmos, which enabled the possessed to
see and speak beyond normal human capacity.' 1he orgiastic ravings ol the
goddess Cybele`s eunuch priests as described by Apuleius may be an example ol
such mantic prophecyin their case apparently generated by rituals ol dance
and sell-hagellation. ` Much quieter and routine were the oracles del ivered by
the god Apollo at Oelphi , where a woman seated on a tripod above a decl ivity
in the earth, lrom which arose vapors, enunciated strange messages that re-
quired decipherment by the shrine`s prolessional prophetai. 66
Also associated with the god Apollo were the Sibylsthe most lamous ol
whom spoke lrom a cave in Cumaewhose declarations were written i n the Sib
ylline Books.67 Her pronouncements were taken with great seriousness. the intro-
duction ol the cult ol the Creat Mother (Magna Mater=Cybele) lrom Asia into
Kome came about because ol a crisis i n the war with Carthage and i n response
to a prophecy in her books, conhrmed by the oracle at Oelphi. 1he connec-
tion ol this lorm ol prophecy with Apollo was conhrmed by the placement ol
the Sibylline Books in the 1emple ol Apollo on the lalatine in 12 CL. '
ln hi s work, On the Obsolescence of Oracles early second century CL),
llutarchhimsell a priest ol Apollo at Oelphireports a conversation with
lriends in which deep puzzlement and dismay are expressed because Oelphi
no longer seems to speak oracles.'" 1he dialogue ollers a variety ol scientihc
and theological explanations lor the cessation ol oracles. ut the sense ol dis-
may at the stoppage testihes to the premise that llutarch shared with the less
sophisticated, namely, that i n one way or another the divine pneuma could
seize hold ol humans and use them to communicate truths not otherwise avail-
able to them. Creece`s early history could be told, and, in lact, was told by
Herodotus, at least partly in terms ol the seriousness with which the Oelphic
oracles were taken in matters both private and publ ic. '' Here is an example ol
li le organi zed around what is perceived as transcendent power. people traveled
to the shrine, heard the divine message, and then l ived their l ives in response to
what they heard, sometimes even engaging in war in obedience to what they
considered the god was telling them. 1his is serious revelatory rel igion.
H EAL I NG
1he divine dynamis could also break through i n acts ol heal ing. 1here are
occasional stories ol curative or exorcistic powers worked by an emperor like
Vespasian or a philosopher l ike Apollonius ol1yana as demonstrations ol power
operative in theioi andres "divine men").' l more religious importance, how-
ever, were the shrines ol heal ing (asclepeia) dedicated to the god Asclepius,
which combined the arts ol medicine with the worship ol the god, especially
through divine visitations during sleep in the temple precincts incubation),
suppl iants were led to physical restoration. '` 1he cult began in Creece, and
sanctuaries were lound at Lpidaurus, Cos, and lergamum. 1he extant inscrip-
tions lrom Lpidaurus dating lrom the lourth century CL) bear eloquent tes-
timony to a rel igious sensibil ity that regarded the entire elaborate process ol
medical and divine therapy as the work ol the god in response to the laith ol
those who came with broken l imbs and l ives. '' Iollowers returned to their
homes, leaving behind i n the sanctuary votive ollerings in the lorm ol casts ol
healed l i mbs and organs, as well as testimoniesin the lorm ol vivid vignettes
to the wonders worked by the god. ln response to a severe plague in their city
in 293 CL), the Komans vowed in 292 to construct a temple to Asclepius
alter consulting the Sibylline ooks. An embassy was sent to Lpidaurus, and
according to custom lor such new loundings, a huge sacred snake was brought
to Kome, when it swam to the 1iber lsland, the omen indicated that the new
Asclepium should be built on that spot. 1he temple was erected in 291 CL,
and i ts presence was credited with stopping the plague.'`
MYS TER I E S
1he topic ol "Mystery rel igions,` a s we have seen, dominated earlier discus-
sions ol Creco-Koman rel igion see Chapter i).' 1he Mysteries are indeed ol
importance, but not more so than the other aspects ol Centile rel igion l am
describing. Iive clarihcations are helplul lrom the start. i) the Mysteries are
not distinct "rel igions" in the modern sense that they provided alternatives to
the overarching Creco-Koman rel igious world, rather, they htted perlectly
within that world, being di stinguished mainly by the requi rement ol i nitiation
lor participation in the cult, (2) they were not "secret" in the sense that they
were clandestine, but only i n the sense that the details ol i nitiation were re-
stricted to the i nitiated, (3) they were not recent innovations, some Mysteries
l ike that ol Lleusis and that dedicated to Oionysius) were leatures ol Creek re-
ligion lrom antiquity, (4) a claim associated with at least some Mysteries is
comlort concerning the alterl i le lor those initiated,'' (5) the popularity ol the
Mysteries has much to do with a love ol association and a desire lor status en-
hancement through multiple initiations.'
lart ol the lascination ol the Mysteries is their elusiveness. We know remark-
ably l ittle about them. 1he practice ol the disciplina arcanamaintaining se-
crecy about what was revealed through initiationwas so strict that it became
proverbial lor keeping silence.'' lnlormation about the Mysteries that comes
lrom Christian critics needs to be carelully assessed lor bias. ur lullest inlor-
mation concerns the ancient rituals at Lleusis devoted to the goddess Oemeter,
which celebrated the pattern ol the death and renewal ol the earth. ' 1he Lle-
usinian Mysteries remained resolutely and exclusively local in character, and
their prestige was so great that even emperors traveled to the sacred place in
order to be among the initiates. ut even i n the case ol Lleusis, the precise
elements ol the ritual and myth remain obscure, although they were enacted in
the presence ol thousands. `
Mysteries progressively became part ol Koman rel igion at least partly as a
lunction ol syncretism, gods originally native to Lgypt and Syria were brought
more lullyand not always without strugglewithin the rel igious l i le ol the
empire. Now cults devoted to Cybele and Attis, lsis and siris Serapis), and
Mithras hnd a larger space within the expansive world ol Creco-Koman poly-
theism. As stated earlier, Cybele was lormally i nvited to Kome under the title ol
Magna Mater in 204 CL. Adjacent temples dedicated to lsis and Serapis were
constructed in Kome around 43 CL. ' 1he lersian cult ol Mithras arrived in
Kome in the late hrst century CL and expanded rapidly through the empire. `
ur best source lor the religious sensibility connected to the Mysteries comes
lrom Apuleius` picaresque novel, Metamorphoses. 86 lt tell s how the dabbling
i n magic ol a young man named Lucius caused the goddess 1yche "Iortune"
or "Chance") to change hi m into an ass. Wearing the lorm ol that animal, Lu-
cius passes lrom one stage ol al ienation and degradation to another, ending up
as a participant i n a sexual sideshow. ut one night on the beach at Cenchrae
the port lor the city ol Corinth), he has a vision ol the goddess lsis. ' She re-
veals hersell to hi m as queen ol the gods and supreme authority, capable ol re-
storing hi m to hi s humanity in exchange lor hi s devotion. Lucius is promptly
initiated into her Mystery,' hnding in it participation in divine power, the res-
toration ol his human lorm, and a hope lor immortal ity. More than that, he
gains greater success in his career as a lawyer. 1he novel makes clear that i nitia-
tions i nto the Mysteries were multiple, lor alter a period ol time, Lucius was
initiated as well i nto the cult ol siris, the consort ol lsis"
P I L GRI MAGE
lmplicit i n the practices just described i s the theme ol rel igious pilgrimage,
although it is not made thematic i n the sources.'' ln polytheism, the divine
power i s distributed and most ohen local. 1he gods ol one household could not
simply be exchanged with those ol another household, they needed to be hon-
ored at one`s own hearth and table. ne could pray to Minerva that is, Athena)
anywhere as patroness ol crahs, but to oller her sacrihce one had to go to her
temple on the Aventine hi ll. ne could presumably seek guidance lrom Apollo
anywhere, but to receive an oracle lrom Apollo, it was necessary to make the
dilhcult trek to Oelphi . Similarly, the healing power ol the god Asclepius was
exercised in a specihc lashion in the temples dedicated to him i n specihc
places. ln order to be initiated into the cult ol Oemeter in Lleusis, one was re-
43
quired to travel to Athens, gather below the Acropolis in the Eleusinion, and
th
en move with a great throng ol people in solemn procession to Lleusis itsell.
1he willingness to disrupt one`s li le to go to the place ol power reveals both re-
ligion`s abil ity to "organize l i le around itsell" and how Creco-Koman rel igion
in all these manilestations truly was about access to a divine power that could
beneht humans i n specihc ways.
lt is i mportant to note that these modes ol accessibil ity to divine power were
not, either in theory or practice, mutually exclusive. Oevotion to Asclepius or
Apollo was by no means incompatible with initiation into the Mystery ol lsis
and siris. 1here is evidence not only lor multiple initiations within cults but
lor pious people seeking i nitiation in multiple Mysteries.' larticipation in
Mysteries, lurthermore, i n no manner blocked lull participation in the ordinary
round ol civic leasts and lestivals in honor ol the gods nor did it rel ieve devotees
ol the obl igation ol honoring the lares and penates ol their own household. 1he
point i n all Creco-Koman religion was not correct doctrine and certainly not
exclusive devotion. 1he point was the experience ol power, and in that respect,
Creco-Koman polytheism was a generous, cooperative, and noncompetitive re-
ligious system.
MAGI C
lrecisely because access to transcendent power lor human beneht was the
point ol Creco-Koman rel igion, it is necessary to at least acknowledge here the
dilhcult issue ol magic. Oiscussions ol magic in the ancient as well as the con-
temporary world are compl icated becausc ol the social dynamics i nvolved.'`
1he charge ol magic olten serves a maj ority tradition to marginalize and dis-
credit a tradition that, when viewed lrom within, considers itsell as authentically
"rel igious" as the regnant tradition. ln antiquity, the charge ol being a magician
(magos) was lrequently combined with that ol being a charlatan (goes) and is
lound i n the polemic ol opposing groups.'' Nevertheless, magic was practiced
in the Creco-Koman world, vigorously and olten.'` lts lorms were various, but
they all shared the use ol powerlul objects such as amulets) and the casting ol
spells using the names ol gods).' 1here is some validity to the classic distinc-
tion between rel igion and magic as the dillerence between being acted on by
divine powers and seeking to control divine powers the di llerence between
prayer and a spell). 1he more closely we examine all the lorms ol Creco-Koman
rel igion, however, with its constant concern lor access to power that benehts
humans in the here and now, the hazier that distinction becomes.'' ln this
sense, magic in the Creco-Koman world may be viewed as an extreme maniles-
tation ol a pervasive rel igious orientation.
4
WAYS I BLlNC KLLlClUS
ll this catalog ol religious phenomena in the Creco-Koman world coul d be
extended almost indehnitelyand it couldthe question grows more pressing.
is there any meaninglul way ol organizing the data that threaten to overwhelm
us l have already suggested that analysis according to time periods or stages ol
development is not helplul . the mix ol perceptions and practices is so complex
that it is impossible to mark clearly dehned epochs correlated to social or pol iti-
cal lactors, nor are there clear l i nes ol i nternal development.' l have also stated
that imposing categories drawn lrom )udaism or Christianity is inappropriate.
we hnd no clash ol theologies, no demands lor exclusive loyalty, no competi-
tion lor status as a uniquely true or uniquely ehective manilestation ol the
divine.
ln this book, l oller lor consideration another way ol giving some shape to
and making some sense ol the constant metamorphoses that make up Creco-
Koman threskeia, namely, distinct ways ol being rel igious. My locus is not only
on the lorms ol religion but even more on the lorms ol rel igious sensibil ity. ln
my view, this approach not only clarihes aspects ol Creco-Koman rel igion but
makes possible a more meaninglul set ol comparisons to ancient )udaism and
Christianity. 1hese modes ol rel igiosity involve distinct perceptions concern-
ing divine power and corresponding responses to such perceptions. ut belore
l sketch the lour options that l have discerned there may, indeed, be more),
l must make one more preliminary point as vigorously as possible, namely, that
despite the pervasively publ ic character ol Creco-Koman rel igion, by no means
was everyone then, any more than people are now, equally rel igious. My lour
options comprise only those who are in some sense truly rel igious in their dis-
positions, not all ancient Creeks and Komans are included.
1here was, i n lact, a wide range ol rel igious attitudes among the Centiles
speaking Creek and Latin. At one extreme were people whose concentration
on rel igious practice was so intense, and whose credul ity concerning the numi-
nous was so marked, that they were considered by the more moderate to be
superstitious. 1he term deisidaimonia can mean either "intensely rel igious" in
the good sense) or "superstitious" in the bad sense).'' 1he positive or negative
nuance depended on the perspective ol the speaker. 1heophrastus provides a
vivid depiction ol the superstitious person. his "cowardice about divinity" drives
him to a concern lor purity and lor rel igious initiations so exaggerated that to-
day he would earn the clinical term "obsessive-compulsive. "' " Superstitious
characters also populate Lucian ol Samosata`s satires. they are willing to bel ieve
any nonsense il it is sulhciently amazing. ' "' 1houghtlul observers l ike llutarch
45
considered superstition a vice rather than a virtue, because it was a rel igiosity
driven by ignorance and lear. ' " He declares superstition to be worse than athe-
ism, lor i l it is bad to deny the gods, it is even worse to think about them badly.
1he credulous were the sort ol people who were taken advantage ol by those
at
the opposite extreme. the cynical manipulators ol popular laith, who preyed
upon the superstitious lor their own lame and lortune. Lucian describes the
philosophical charlatan lroteus leregrinus, who used his publ ic virtue as cam-
ouhage lor private vice and was willing to do anything, even associate with de-
spised Christians, in his quest lor notoriety. ' "` leregrinus ends his l i le in a
dramatic gesture ol sell-immolation belore his lollowers, but Lucian regards it
only as hnal evidence ol his lust lor vainglory. '"' Lven more vivid is Lucian`s
satire ol Alexander ol Abonoteichus, a reli gious hi m-ham artist who bilked the
local populace ol laphlagonia by his i nvention ol a new oracle culthnding an
egg in the mud, rigging a lake serpent out ol a sock, taking advantage ol dark
rooms lor ellect. ' "` 1he number ol rel igious sideshow operators then, as now,
probably corresponded to the number ol those willing to be gulled.
Creco-Koman society also had critics ol rel igion as it was commonly carried
out. Some philosophers condemned the immoral ity lound i n rel igious myths
the "poets"), and others, most notably the Lpicureans, based their whole man-
ner ol l i le on a rejection ol the publ ic round ol reli gious ritual, which they re-
garded as superstitious, root and stem. ' " Not surprisingly, the satirist Lucian ol
Samosata portrays the Lpicureans as di stinctively immune to the rel igious
lrauds purveyed by charlatans. ' "' He also depicts his ideal philosopher, Oemo-
nax, as a critic ol traditional religious practices. ' "
"
lt is, to be sure, always dilh-
cult to assess satirists ol rel igion, whether recent or ancient. are they, l ike Mark
1wai n, personally disappointed at rel igion, writing as angry lovers, or are they,
like H. L. Mencken, simply disgusted at human lolly, writing lrom a stance ol
intellectual superiority
An even more devastating challenge to Creco-Koman rel igion may have
been posed not by those who critiqued it but by those who simply ignored it.
lnscriptrons tell us a great deal about rel igious associations, and art i nlorms us
about sacrihces and lestivals. ut extant gralhti is also as coarsely and irrever-
ently prolane as that lound on contemporary walls. ' "' Comic dramatists lrom
Aristophanes to llautus wrote plays ol considerable popular appeal that used
religion, when they do, mostly as an incidental backdrop to prolane in every
sense ol the term) human activity. ' ' " And while many ol the extant Creco-
Koman novels~written between the hrst century CL and lourth century CL
testily to the sort ol pervasive rel igiosity described in this chapter they are
replete with visions, sacrihces, prayers, oracles, and even elements ol magic,
such as necromancy), letronius` Satyrika shows us characters seemingly de-
void ol any impulses beyond those having to do with pleasure and sell-
preservation.
I I I
When l turn i n succeeding chapters to the "ways ol bei ng rel igious" in the
Creco-Koman world, then, l trust that readers will share my assumption that
the writers whom l isolate lor analysis represent a tiny sample ol the actual reli-
gious world ol the ancient Mediterranean. 1hey are special i n three critical
ways. Ii rst, they are sulhciently passionate about the subject ol rel igion to de-
vote time and energy to engage it in their writing. Second, they are sulhciently
wealthy or well born to have enj oyed a certai n level ol education to enable
them to produce religious l iterature. 1hird, their works have, lor whatever rea-
sons, either survived through Christian transmission or have been recovered
through discovery, while many othersrepresenting perhaps other varieties ol
religious sensibil ityremain unknown to us. With these cautions i n mind,
then, l propose the lour "ways" or "types" ol rel igiosity that l consider well at-
tested in the l iterature. 1hey are distinguished by distinct perceptions concern-
ing power and by corresponding responses to those perceptions.
THE WAY OF PARTI C I PATI ON I N DI VI NE B E N E FI TS
1hi s type encompasses virtually all the rel igious perceptions and practices
l have described up to this point. lts emphasis is on the negotiation ol divine
power i n the present li le, even when it has one eye on the luture. 1he divine
dynamis is conceived as available to humans i n the empirical world. revealing
through prophecy, healing through revelation, providing security and status
through Mysteries, enabl ing and providing lor the daily successes ol individuals,
households, cities, and empires. 1he role ol sacrihce and prayer is to open the
channel lor the how ol such power. Attention to the moral agency ol the wor-
shipper may get some small attention, but in the extant sources it does not hold
a central place. ll this type were asked what salvation meant, the instinctive re-
sponse would be in terms ol salety and success. 1he extreme version ol this
type, as l have suggested, is lound i n the practice ol magic. A splendid example
ol this mode ol rel igious sensibil ity is the rhetorician Ael ius Aristides, whom l
will consider in the next chapter.
THE WAY O F MORAL TRANS F ORMATI ON
1he main examples ol this type ol rel igious sensibility are the moral philoso-
phers. ln Chapter 2, l explained how the categories ol rel igious studies enable
us to see the rel igious character ol the l i le lound in some philosophical schools.
Among Iythagoreansand, to a lesser degree, among Lpicureanswe hnd
A Preliminary Profle of Greco-Roman Religion
47
lounders who have divine status ascribed to them, community ol possessions,
notions ol purity, stages ol admission and probation as i n the i nitiations ol
\ysteries), and the practice ol mutual correction. ' ' Lven philosophers in the
Cynic-Stoic tradition, though individualistic, olten considered philosophy in
terms ol a way ol l i le rather than a set ol ideas and recognized certain marks ol
identity long beard, robe, stah, leather purse, sandals, itinerancy) and social
role critic, gadhy, prophet, scout) . ' ' ` lt i s among philosophers that we hnd con-
version i n two senses. turning lrom vice to virtue, and turning lrom one school
to
another. ' '' 1herelore, it is also i n philosophy that we hnd competition lor
adherents, as well as polemic di rected against adherents ol competing schools,
il philosophers agreed on the goal, they disagreed on which school best achieved
the goal . ' ' ` ln short, a great deal ol what is regarded as true rel igion among
many Christians is lound among Creco-Koman philosophers.
My locus in this discussion is not on those rel igious lorms but on a distinct
rel igious sensibil ity. ln moral ists such as Oio ol lrusa or Lpictetus, we do not
hnd a dismissal ol popular piety ol the sort ascribed to Oemonax. ut neither
do we hnd any particular attention given to those manilestations ol divine dy
namis outside moral agencythe proportions are the opposite ol those in 1ype
A. 1hey concentrate instead on the mandate implicit in being called by Cod
to l ive a li le worthy ol Cod. their way is to imitate the divine agency in the
world by the translormation ol their l i le through moral ehort, thus extending
divine blessings to others. 1he divine power i s present i mmanently through
their own activity i n the world. ln this way ol being rel igious, salvation il the
term should ever arise) is understood not in terms ol participating in the bene-
hts ol security and success. lndeed, risk and adversity is lrequently a part ol the
philosopher`s countercultural stance. ' ' Kather, salvation is understood i n terms
ol the triumph ol the human spiritor, i n Stoic terminology, ol the divine
ncumaover ignorance and moral inertia. 1he philosophers` pattern ol li le
was just as real and lrequently more concentrated than that ol those seeking
oracles or healing, their piety was as real and ohen more i ntense~indeed, the
philosophical l i le was a process ol healing lrom vice. ' ' ' ut the arena ol divine
activity was, lor them, moral translormation. 1o apply one ol their lavorite meta-
phors, theirs was an athletic lorm ol religion. ' ' ln Chapter 5, l will analyze Lpic-
tetus as the best Creco-Koman example ol this way ol being religious.
THE WAY OF TRANS C E NDI NG THE WORL D
1he hrst two types are the easiest to locate, once contemporary categories ol
analysis enable us to see some philosophers as intensely rel i gious even il they
do not use specihcally rel igious language. 1he third type i s clear enough
conceptually, but by its very nature is more dilhcult to pin down. lt is especially
hard to detect as a precise mode ol rel igiosity belore the rise ol Christianity
because it came to lull howering late. lts roots within Hellenism, however, are
both deep and ancient.
lt derives lrom the rphic tradition rpheus is the ancient singer who gives
access to the underworld) and lrom the tradition`s permutations within the
lythagorean and llatonic worldviews, and it can be associated with certain as-
pects ol the Mysteries as well . rpheus was early al igned with the god Oionysius,
whose myth tells ol his dismemberment, the scattering ol hi s body parts, and
his reassembl inga myth that supports an unhappy start to existence and a
perilous path to rescue. ' '' 1his type can perhaps best be located by means ol
contrast to the hrst mode 1ype A), which is lundamentally positive i n its ap-
preciation ol the divine presence and power in the world, and to the second
mode 1ype ), which is basically positive concerning the power to change hu-
man behavior i n a manner worthy ol the divine. ln this third way, the world
and human existence are viewed more negatively, in terms ol illusion and en-
trapment. 1he body is a tomb. Salvation is to be lound not in the power made
available through worldly systems, nor through moral endeavor, but by purihca-
tion lrom the body and its worldly entanglements through a process revealed to
elect people, leading to the eventual l iberation ol the soul, which alone is worth
saving.
' " 1he human spirit is related through knowledge to a realm that tran-
scends the empirical world ol deception and corruption and seeks union with
the realm that is the soul `s true home. 1he earliest lull expression ol this sensi-
bil ity within the Creco-Koman worldat least as is known to us and is extant
is the Hermetic literature, above all the tractate Poimandres, which is the subject
ol analysis in Chapter 6.
THE WAY O F STAB I L I Z I NG THE WORLD
l n some ways, this type i s di lhcult to distinguish adequately lrom 1ype A,
with which it has much in common. lt could be regarded, in lact, as the "supply-
side" ol religiousness 1ype A participation in divine benehts). l think here ol
all the keepers ol shrines and temples (neokori), all ministers and mystagogues
ol cults, all prophets who translated oracles and examined entrails and Sibyl-
line utterances, all therapists who aided the god Asclepius i n his heal ing work,
all "l iturgists" who organized and lacil itated the lestivals, all priests who carried
out sacrihces, all Vestal Virgins whose presence and dedication ensured the
permanence ol the city. Irom one perspective, these are all "keepers ol the
hame" that enable the divine benehts to how in all the religious phenomena
identihed as 1ype A. ' ' Irom another perspective, while some such roles are
49
inherited, others are chosen and elected and therelore draw certain kinds ol
peopleor people with certain kinds ol perceptionsto them. 1his, l am sug-
g
esting, is the rel igious sensibil ity ol the emperor Augustus, who as pontifex re-
lormed and restored traditional rel igion precisely to restore and stabilize the
em
pire. ' Such a religious sensibil ity is conscious ol the pol itical dimensions ol
religion i n the lullest sensethat rel igion can be the glue or solvent ol society
and chooses to cultivate rel igion`s stabil izing lunctions through what can be
termed, i n a neutral rather than negative sense, priestcralt. 1his, l am suggest-
ing, i s the part ol the many-sided llutarch that is less concerned with moral
development than with the continued success ol the cult at Oelphi , where he
serves as priest ol Apollo, the same part that led him to attack Lpicureanism
most vigorously because its atheism threatened the stabil ity ol the social order,
which depended on the recognition and service ol the gods.
1hese are the types ol rel igiosity that l thi nk can be lound in the conlusing
welter ol Creco-Koman religion and that enable meaninglul comparison with
Christianity in the hrst centuries ol its development. ln order to make such com-
parison more responsible, it is necessary to develop more lully the examples l
have selected to represent each ol the types. Ael ius Aristides, Lpictetus, Poiman
dres, and llutarch.
4
-
RELIGION AS PARTICIPATION IN DIVINE
BENEFITS: AELIUS ARISTIDES
My prel iminary prohle ol Creco-Koman rel igion provides a lramework lor
the closer analysis ol the lour types ol rel igiosity our sources suggest. l have sug-
gested that these ways ol being rel igious are distinguished on the basis ol their
perceptions concerning the divine dynamis power). how access to it is attained
and what its ellects on humans are. 1he panoply ol rel igious phenomena dis-
played in the previous chapter are all expressions ol Kel igiousness A, participa-
tion in divine benehts. sacrihces and prayers, prophecy and healings, Mysteries
and pilgri mages are not in competition but are complementary. the point ol
them all is making divine benehts available to humans. 1his mode ol rel igios-
ity is optimistic about the empirical world as the arena ol divine activity. lt is
intensely pragmatic about the benehts the gods oller. salvation involves security
and success in this mortal l i le. ll assurance concerning an aherl ile can be ol-
lered by a Mystery, so much the better, but initiation into a cult is in any case
worthwhile lor the status elevation and social network it makes available.
No better representative ol Kel igiousness A can be imagined than the second-
century rhetorician Ael ius Aristides iiyiSo CL). He shows us how a powerlul
polytheistic piety could hourish throughout the period ol Christianity`s early
development. Ael ius Aristides was born around the time lgnatius ol Antioch
laced martyrdom, saw his rhetorical career develop i n the same period that
)ustin Martyr was teaching, and died while lrenaeus was bishop ol Lyons. He
also shows that this way ol being rel igious was lound as much among the
wealthy, well educated, and well traveled as it was among the poor, the igno-
rant, or the isolated. he was so wealthy that he never needed to take lees lor his
speaking, and he l ived on a number ol estates, hi s education was the best his
era ol|ered, including training both i n rhetoric and philosophy, and despite
Religion as Participation in Divine Benefts
his many illnesses, he traveled extensively in Lgypt, Asia Mi nor, Creece, and
ltaly. Most ol all, Aristides shows how the many lorms ol Creco-Koman rel igion
could be embraced by a single individual with sincerity, enthusiasm, and even
lervor.
ALLlUS AKl S1l OLS ANO 1HL SLCNO SlHl S1lC
Aristides was a well-known publ ic hgure, part ol a cultural phenomenon
generally known as "the Second Sophistic. "
|
As with virtually every other his-
torical category, scholars debate the precise dimensions and character ol the
phenomenon that was hrst named i n the early third century by Ilavius lhilo-
stratus (170-205) i n his Lives of Sophists (Bioi Sophiston = VS), but certai n
aspects ol the movement are clear. Ior lhi lostratus, the term relerred to
the continuation ol a rhetorical tradition that went back to classical Athens.
while noteworthy rhetoricians l ike Corgias entered i nto serious philosophical
debate, there were other Athenian orators, notably, Aeschines born in 389
CL and the rival ol Oemosthenes), who special i zed in easy rhetorical display
and taught this skill to students. lhilostratus considered the "Second Sophis-
tic" to be the continuation during the time ol the Koman imperium ol the
Creek tradition ol epideictic rhetoric, with a specihc emphasis on a public dis-
play ol ex tempore huency.
1he term "Sophist" (sophistes) was, even in ancient times, controverted. ` Ior
some who considered themselves philosophers, "Sophists" were not seekers ol
wisdom (sophia) but were charlatans who were willing to argue any side lor a
lee.' lndeed, even lor some included among lhilostratus` list ol Sophists, nota-
bly, Oio ol lrusa, sophistes was a term ol reproach to be used polemically
against lalse teachers. ` Ior lhilostratus, however, and lor many present-day
scholars, the term appl ies to publ ic i ntellectuals in the Creek-speaking cities ol
Creece and Asia Mi nor who kept al ive the ancient ideal ol paideia through
their devotion to public speaking. 1hey were prohcient in epideictic oratory, to
be sure, able to di scourse with a moment`s notice on matters great or small, and
they gathered lees and awards lor such publ ic displays that served both to enter-
tain and instruct. Such displays were more than a source ol revenue, they were
also competitive exercises that advanced the philotimia "ambition"/"love ol
honor") ol the rhetoricians. ln addition to declaiming at lestivals and competi-
tions, Sophists were educators. 1hey drew students to themselves and shared
with their disciples their vast knowledge ol classical texts and ol rhetorical tech-
nique. Sophists could also play a genuinely publ ic role as mediators in disputes
between cities or i n representing cities to the emperor.
ln hi s treatment ol Aelius Aristides, lhilostratus touches on the "poor health
lrom boyhood" that the biographer understood to be a "palsy ol the muscles,"
but emphasized that "he did not lai l to work hard" (VS, 581) and locuses on the
strengths and weaknesses ol his oratory n the negative side, lhilostratus
notes that Aristides was not naturally talented i n extempore eloquence, did not
olten address crowdsnot being able to control his irritation at a crowd`s lailure
to applaudand did not travel as widely as other speakers (VS, 583). He ac-
knowledges that some ol Aristides` rhetorical ehorts can be criticized, stating
that in some passages the orator "driveled somewhat and has lallen into allecta-
tion" ( VS, 585). n the positive side, lhilostratus admits that even though
Aristides did not come naturally to extempore di scourse, he practiced it and
could be ellective at it ( VS, 583)' Most ol all, though, he praises the orator`s
learning and diligence. "He strove alter extreme accuracy, and turned hi s at-
tention to the ancient writers" (VS, 582). lndeed, he is reported as telling the
emperor that "l am one ol those who do not vomit their speeches but try to
make them perlect" (VS, 583). lhilostratus praises "the man`s erudition, lorce,
and power ol characterization, and it i s by these that he ought to be esti-
mated," and concludes, "Aristides was ol all the sophists most deeply versed in
his art, and his strength lay i n the elaborate cogitation ol a theme" (VS, 585). He
also praises the rhetorician lor his role i n gaining imperial help in rebuilding the
city ol Smyrna when it had been destroyed by earthquake. "1o say that Aristides
lounded Smyrna is no mere boastlul eulogy but most just and true" ( VS, 582).
ln addition to lhilostratus` Lives, a variety ol inscriptions and l iterary works-
in particular, the multilarious writings ol Lucian ol Samosata and the Ortions
ol Oio ol lrusatestily to the activity and l iterary production ol the Sophists.
A substantial number ol Ael ius Aristides` Ortions have survived i n a large
number ol manuscripts, testilying to the high esteem in which he was held as a
model ol excellence in rhetoric by later practitioners, both pagan and Chris-
tian. 1he Lnglish translation ol his complete works includes 53 orations, six ol
them hi s Sacred Tales. An appendix to this edition, however, li sts as lost some
40 orations that are mentioned by Aristides, as well as an additional 26 dis-
courses mentioned by other ancient authors" Aristides also mentions letters
and two commentaries one ol them containing 300,000 l i nes ol commentary
on his dreams) . ' " Oespite his i llnesses, the evidence suggests that he was a pro-
ductive and respected public intellectual within the intensely competitive world
ol the Second Sophistic.
Aristides` extant orations provide ample support lor the respect accorded him
in antiquity, although one ol hi s most admired qual itiesthe purity ol hi s dic-
tion and the perlection ol his cadencescannot be as appreciated by us as it
53
was by his linguistically competent contemporaries. His "lanathenaic ration"
(Oration, i) is one among a glittering collection ol orations i n praise ol cities
see iyzz) and regions ) and is an exceptional display ol sustained epideictic
rhetoric. His three orations i n response to llato zq) are remarkable both lor
their close and critical reading ol the philosopher and lor their impassioned
delense ol the rhetorical art against the slanders ol the great Athenian. His abil-
ity to declaim convincingly on either side ol an issue is demonstrated in the
"set-piece" orations devoted to ancient hi storical situations in the history ol
Creece i). A sense ol gracelul spontaneity undoubtedly the lruit ol carelul
preparation) is communicated by hi s orations on the occasion ol birthdays and
lunerals oz).
1he orations composed i n delense ol his own practice as an orator (Orations,
zS, , q) reveal not only an expected level ol philotimia with respect to him-
sell but also an almost reverential sense ol the i mportance ol the art to which
he had committed his skills. lndeed, he uses the language ol the Mysteries
when speaking ol " initiation" into the art ol oratory q). Iinally, a signihcant
number ol his orations are devoted and dedicated to) the gods yq) , reveal-
ing, even apart lrom the Sacred Tales, a distinct rel igious sensibil ity. elore
considering that rel igious devotion more closely, it is helplul to provide a sketch
ol Aristides` li le, as it can be reconstructed lrom the Lives of the Sophists and
his own orations.
A SKL1CH I AKl S1l OLS` LlIL
Ael ius Aristides was born i n the town ol Hadriani in Mysia i n iiy CL. ' ' His
lather was a priest ol Zeus and a citizen ol the city ol Smyrna. 1he lamily
gained Koman citizenship i n iz. At Smyrna, Aristides was educated i n gram-
mar and rhetoric, and he studied philosophy in Athens. When he was zq years
old he took a tour ol Lgypt, visiting Alexandria and sailing up the Nile. He lell
sick lor the hrst time and sailed back to Smyrna. n this occasion he turned to
the god Serapis as a savior lrom his illness (Ortion, q).
lllness would dominate most ol the rest ol his l i le. At age z he undertook an
expedition to Kome but lell ill while still on his estate and then grew progres-
sively worse on a wintertime j ourney that seemed i ntermi nable, lorcing hi m
hnally to return by means ol a horrihc sea voyage to the warm springs outside
Smyrna. lt was during this period Oecember iq) that he received his hrst rev-
elation lrom the healing god Asclepius, to whom he would dedicate the rest ol
his l i le and career. ln iq CL, when he was zS, he lelt himsell summoned by
the god to stay at the Asclepium in lergamum. He remained there lor two lull
54
years with a group ol lellow devotees who were also, to varying degrees, i ntel-
lectuals. Ouring this period, he experienced revelatory dreams and pursued the
therapies recommended by the god. y no means were hi s studies neglected,
during this period he wrote two ol hi s orations i n response to llato (Orations,
2 and q), an appreciation ol his student Apellas (30), and a lengthy delense ol
the sell-praise he had employed in an earlier speech (28).
At the age ol 30 he began more active writing and lecturing, convinced that
his rhetorical career was sponsored and di rected by the god Asclepius. we can
date several major di scourses between iqy and iz (Ortions, 24, 32, 3, and q3).
In i, he was ol strong enough health to travel lrequently between hi s several
estates, Smyrna, and lergamum. Ouring this time, his ellorts were largely di-
rected to resisting several ellorts to assign him an olhcial role in society. He
engaged in legal maneuvers to reject hi s election as a high priest ol Asia i n iqy,
to serve as tax collector in Smyrna in 152, and to act as keeper ol the peace in
the province ol Asia in i. He was granted immunity lrom holding olhce and
lor the next iz years iqi) lully resumed hi s rhetorical career, lecturing in
Creece Athens and Corinth) and in Kome. He accepted students, although he
relused to accept lees lor hi s instruction (3. 98-99). And despite developing a
case ol smallpox in i at the age ol q8), he continued to make public appear-
ances and del iver orations through iy, hi s career reaching its apex with hi s
speech that year at the age ol 9) belore the emperor Marcus Aurel ius in
Smyrna. 1he next year iyy), Smyrna was destroyed by earthquake, and Aris-
tides was instrumental in securing i mperial assistance lor the restoration ol the
city (Orations, 18-21). 1hese ehorts appeared to end his active career, and he
retired to his estate in Mysia, dying at the age ol 3 in iSo.
Lven this outl ine ol Aristides` li le makes clear the critical role played by
three lactors. hi s recurrent and complex physical ailments, hi s consuming de-
votion to the god Asclepius, and his exalted sense ol calling as an orator. Weigh-
ing these lactors is dilhcult, and quite diherent evaluations can result. C. A.
ehr, who has studied Aristides as closely as anyone, regards him as a deeply
neurotic and vain person and hi s rel igious devotion as an aspect ol his personal-
ity disorder. ehr relers to the orator`s companions at the Asclepium at lerga-
mum as a "cultivated circle ol neurasthenics" and to hi s dreams as "the
psychopathology ol io dreams", ehr lurther suggests that an "unlortunate re-
sult ol this period ol Aristides`| li le was the notion that hi s l iterary career was
due to Asclepius` grace," with the result that "hi s recovery was impeded. " ehr
calls Aristides` rejection ol publ ic service the manilestation ol a personal ity
"too insecure to commit himsell to any obl igation. " Alter his spell ol smallpox
in i, "hi s neurotic predispositions marred the rest ol his li le," and ol the lol-
55
lowing io years ehr notes that Aristides "still made publ ic appearances, but his
physical complaints and hi s rel igious hxation resumed. "'
Similar characterizations ol Aristides as a "hypochondriac` and hi s religious
behavior as "neurotic" are easy to hnd` 1hey can be countered, to be sure, by
other evaluations that are more positive toward his rel igious experienccs and
convictions, and a more mature understanding ol chronic i llnessits complex
causes and even more complex psychosomatic corollaries~ought at least to cau-
tion us against lacilely applying the terms "neurotic" and " hypochondriac" to
an ancient hgure who seemed to have been amicted by chronic physical dis-
tress. '' lt is also possible to ask whether Aristides` li le ol "sickness and salvation"
might have helped rather than "impeded" his vocation as orator. Certainly,
lhilostratus considers Aristides` physical troubles as insignihcant compared
with his accompl ishments and regards Aristides` art as more learned and pro-
lound because not dissipated in lrequent public declamation. He relers to the
Sacred Tales only i n literary terms, never suggesting that Aristides was odd or
unusual because ol his rel igious convictions. ' `
l t is not, however, the health or "authenticity" ol Aristides` rel igion that i s ol
interest to my investigation, but rather the way in which it reveals a distinct
"way ol being rel igious" i n the Creco-Koman world, a way that l sketched in
broad terms i n the prel iminary prohle but now can examine i n the astonish-
ingly rich and revealing writings ol one ol antiquity`s most educated and articu-
late speakers.
lAK1lCl lA1lN lN OlVlNL LNLIl1S
l begin with the evidence provided by Aristides` orations apart lrom the six
that are distinguished as The Sacred Tales, not only to make the point that there
was no gap between what the orator wrote lor public consumption and what he
composed lor his personal rehection, but also because his orations exhibit so
clearly the characteristics ol what l have called Kel igiousness A. Virtually all
the phenomena described i n the previous chapter are attested to in his orations.
His world is one ol cities and gods i n complex i nteraction . z), he speaks
olten ol lestivals i. qi) and ol temples z. q). in hi s ekphrsis ol the city ol
Smyrna, he describes a visitor moving lrom temple to temple throughout the
city iy. ioii, iS.), and elsewhere he relers to the treasure that is stored in tem-
ples . io). He mentions "priests and prophets" in the same breath . iz, . qy,
. i). )ust as there are temples everywhere, so also are there gods everywhere
q. iS) to whom humans give honor i . S), not least by prayer . zq, zq. iy,
z. ioSio, o. i, o.zS), the Cynics are reviled because they do not bel ieve in
the gods (3. 671-672), just as they do nothing to build the character ol cities. He
says, "1hey have never spoken, discovered, or written a lruitlul word, they have
never added adornment to national lestivals, never honored the gods, never
given advice to the cities, never consoled those i n griel, never cared lor deco-
rum in their speech" (3- 672).
Aristides pays particular attention to all ol the manilestations ol revelation or
prophecy, including oracles (Ortions, 1. 399; 2 34-45; 2. 46-49; 2.78; 2. 82; 3. 617;
28. 103), especially those associated with the god Apollo (1. 399; 2. 86-88; 27. 5;
28. 14-15; 40. u) and above all those deriving lrom the shrine at Oelphi (1. 191;
3. 3u-324; 28. 14-1 5, 28. 81; 45.7), omens (29. 12), and the practice ol haruspices
(2. 165). Undoubtedly because ol hi s personal experience, revelations ol the gods
through dreams are given special importance (45.7). He knows ol, and has a
personal i nterest i n, the healing shrine at Lpidaurus (2. 83; 2. 253; 38. 21; 39. 5). He
speaks ol the Mysteries with some lrequency, paying particular respect to the
most ancient rites at Lleusis (1. 330; 1 . 334; 1 . 336-373; 23-25), where one is ac-
corded, he says, "lai rer hopes about death" (22. 10). His own devotion to Ascle-
pius he construes i n terms ol a Mystery (23- 16), and oratory itsell he considers a
lorm ol Mystery into which one is initiated (28. 135; 32-7). He is perlectly at home
in the context ol emperor worship. He speaks ol prayers to the gods lor the em-
peror as well as prayers to the emperor (26. 102); he says that the emperors "act
under the guidance ol the will ol the gods" (20.1) and relers easily to "the gods and
you" emperors| (19. 6) and "divine rulers" (19. 11), who share in divinity (27.35-37).
Aristides honors all the Creek gods and heroes i n his orations. loseidon
(Orations, 3- 276; 3- 290; 17. 16; 46. 4), Hera (26. 14-105), Hermes (28. 103), Hera-
cles (3- 191-192 with lan| , 3- 276 with loseidon| , 3. 327; 34. 59-60; 40. 12; 38. 26).
He devotes orations to Athena (1. 404; 26. 14-105; 28. 2; 37.2), Aphrodite (33. 20),
Oionysus (17. 5-6; 24.52; 29.4; 29. 30), and rpheus (3- 254), Athena (37), Heracles
(40) and Oionysus (41). ln Aristides` world, there is no competition among all
these gods and goddesses, they are all to be honored, lor they all seek the good
ol humans. 1hey do this especially through acts ol saving or healing the verb
sozein carries both connotations). the gods in general and Heracles in particu-
lar are said to bring healing (2.62-65; 40. 12).
Nevertheless, Aristides singles out three gods i n particular lor lrequent and
particular attention. He mentions Zeus olten (Orations, 1. 190; 1 . 322; 4.19; 18. 1;
24-42; 26. 14-105; 28- 45-50; 28. 109) as an individual god and devotes an entire
oration (43) to hi m, but as in the works ol other Creco-Koman authors, Zeus
can also stand lor the powers ol the gods as a whole "Zeus and you other gods",
23- 57). lt is Zeus understood in this sense that is the subject ol those lew state-
ments ol Aristides that approach the theological . Cod, he declares, is the mea-
57
sure ol all things z. z) and creates everything z. y, joo, q.yi). He gives
power to humans and to the other gods qy). All things are to be attributed to
Zeus . ioq). "Lverything everywhere is hlled with Zeus, and he is present ev-
erywhere at every deed" q. z). Aristides is radiantly optimistic about the di-
vine order. 1here is no evil among the gods, he declares, and all the acts ol Cod
are good q. ). He sees "the providence ol one ol the gods" at work i n every-
thing i. i, i. zz) and several times uses the phrase "some god has arranged all
this" see y. io, i. ). Hi s sense ol providence is personal and immediate, espe-
cially when "some god" is Asclepius, as we shall soon see.
1he second god singled out by Aristides is Serapis. He relers to both Serapis
and Asclepius as "savior gods" (Orations, . zz, zy.). We remember that
when he became ill as a young man i n Lgypt, Aristides turned to Serapis lor
heal ing, and all ol Ortion q is dedicated to this "savior god. " As in the case ol
Zeus, Aristides can ascribe to this single god attributes ol "the divine" in the
largest sense. "1he deeds ol Serapis are those by which the l i le ol mankind is
saved and administered" q. iiy), "1hus he passes through every aspect ol our
lives and no place has been lelt untouched by this god" q. i). Aristides` piety is
given splendid expression in his statement concerning the benehts given by
Serapis. "Let it be lelt to the Lgyptian priests and writers to say and to know who,
indeed, the god is and what is hi s nature. ut our praise would be sulhcient lor
the present il we should tell ol the number and nature ol the benehts he has
shown to have given to mankind" q. i). Ior Aristides generally, what mattered
about the gods was that they were the source ol benehts i. ii), and what made
Serapis especially deserving ol praise was that he brought Aristides salely to
Smyrna q. ).
Scholarly attention to Aristides` personal devotion to the healing god Ascle-
pius is sometimes restricted to the Sacred Tales, but in lact the orator`s extraor-
dinary love lor this god is expressed in many ol hi s other orations as well see,
lor example, Orations, z.y, i. , zo.q, zi. i, zj, zj, z. io, zy.z). Ascle-
pius, he says, heals and thereby assists Zeus q.zy) . Aristides speaks ol Asclepius
in terms ol a Mystery zS. i), relers to his sacred games o. z), connects him to
prophecy through descent lrom Apollo o.z, qz. q), and declares that the god
possesses all power qz. ) and saves mankind . ii, . iq). Speaking ol lerga-
mum, Aristides says, "the god came lrom Lpidaurus and lell in love with this
spot" . , see also z). Most striking is the way i n which Aristides speaks ol
his own experience ol the god Asclepius. ln his response to llato, "ln Oelense ol
ratory," he declares, "1ruly, just as the seers, initiated into the service ol the gods
who have given their name to their specialty, l have knowledge lrom the gods
themselves. 1hrough their aid, contrary to the likelihood ol the circumstances,
l am al ive, having escaped at di llerent times through various kinds ol consola-
tion and advice on the part ol the god" (2. 67). ln his speech "Concerning Con-
cord," he says,
And neither membership in a chorus, nor the companionship ol a voyage, nor
having the same teachers is so great a circumstance, as the gain and proht in
having been lellow pilgrims at the 1emple ol Asclepius and having been initi-
ated into the highest ol rites under the lairest and most perlect 1orch-earer
and Mystagogue, and under him to whom every law ol necessity yields. I my-
sell am one ol those who, under the god`s protection, have lived not twice, but
many, various lives, and who on this account regard their disease as prohtable,
and who in addition have won approval, in place ol which l would not choose
all the lelicity ol mankind. (Ortion, 23- 16)
ln his "ration Kegarding Asclepius," Aristides again speaks ol the many
l ives he has had because ol the gih ol this god. "Some say that they were resur-
rected when they were dead . . . . W|e have received this beneht not only once,
but it is not even easy to say how olten" (Oration, 42.6). He is relerring, it is
clear, to the many recoveries lrom illness that he attributes to the god. Ascle-
pius is, then, Aristides` patron (3302), who gives him benehts (33. 17; 42. 5) . He is,
lor Aristides, "the most gracious and generous ol the gods" (39. 5), who has ele-
vated the orator to lriendship with the emperor (42. 14) and to whom the orator
makes sacrihce and ollers incense and daily orations (42.2). lndeed, the best gilt
that the god gave Aristides, the one that means the most to this orator most
dedicated to his art, is the gilt ol oratory itsell (42. 12). Asclepius is his patron
specihcally with regard to oratory (28. 156). 1he god proposes the subject ol the
orator`s discourse (38. 2) and even guides him in his speech (38. 42). ln sum, even
without the Sacred Tales-to which Aristides makes relerence i n Ortion 42. 4-
we would know a great deal about the i ntensity ol the orator`s love lor the god
Asclepius and the reasons lor his devotion.
1HL SACRED TALES
1he six orations that make up Aristides` Sacred Tales (ST) provide rare access
to a hrsthand account ol ancient religious experience. ' 1hey do not, however,
make lor easy reading. lresent-day readers conlront three distinct dilhculties.
1he hrst i s that the l iterary shape ol the Tales is complex, shihing the reader
lrom point to point i n the author`s li le without much by way ol guidance. 1he
date ol hnal composition is late in the orator`s l i le (170-171), and the starting
point seems to have been a diary that Aristides had composed some lour years
59
ea
rl ier, tracing his experience day by day lrom )anuary 4 to Iebruary 1 5, 166
(S
T 1 . 5-57) Irom that point on, the author relates hi s memories ol hi s experi-
ences with the god without any chronological consistency. Lacking any clear
narrative or thematic logic, readers can easily lose i nterest. ' '
1he second di lhculty is hi storical and cultural. 1he Sacred Tales assume the
conditions ol a world loreign to readers living in hrst-world conditions. a world
in which severe weather was a threat more than an inconvenience, and in
which, even lor the wealthy, those traveling by sea were laced with the constant
danger ol storm and shipwreck, while those traveling by land were laced with
the rigors ol dangerous weather and unrel iable lodging. I S 1he Tales also sup-
pose a world ol sickness and healing at temples dedicated to the god Asclepius
in places such as Lpidaurus and lergamum, where doctors could also be myst-
agogues and prescriptions revealed through dreams could compete or cooper-
ate with those dictated by doctors. oth the range ol symptoms and the variety
ol regimens can seem alien to readers who are lamiliar only with twenty-hrst-
century medical practice. '' Iinally, the conhdence that dreams, when properly
interpreted, are genuinely revelatory i s one shared widely in antiquity, giving
rise to the science ol oneirocriticism. "
1he third dilhculty is the extravagance ol Aelius Aristides` language concern-
ing every subj ecthis travels, his sicknesses, his regimens' but above all
concerning his own glory. He is not exceptional among ancients in his phi
lotimia, but we do not olten hnd in other ancient sources such naked expres-
sions ol what we would today consider vanity. Jhe same heightened, perhaps
exaggerated, sensibil ity appl ies as well to his language about his religious expe-
rience. 1he evidence ol his work supports the claim that Aristides was, indeed,
exceptional in his talent, but hi s constant preoccupation with his exceptional
excellence is culturally loreign to present-day readers.
Central to the Sacred Tales is the recounting ol Aristides` dreams, which olten
included revelatory visions. He was once rebuked lor not having written them
down (2. 1) but then makes clear that he had made notes ol them all along (2.2);
these notes were perhaps the basis ol his extended commentaries on the dreams
no longer extant) and "1he ook ol Oreams" to which he makes relerence
(2. 8). Short accounts ol dreams run through the Tales (1.7; 1. 9; 1 . 56; 3- 3; po;
pI; 30 23; 30 25; 5. 8; 5. 11; 5. 20), but ol particular signihcance are those involving
a divine vision (1. 8; 1 .76; 1 .78; 4. 56; 4. 58-60; 5. 22-24; 5. 31; 5. 44). 1he pattern
seems to have begun with his hrst major illness, when he had a dream vision ol
Isis and Serapis (3- 45-46) and attributed to them his sale arrival in Serapis,
where he subsequently ollered them sacrihce (3- 49). n another occasion, he
also had a dream vision involving Athena (2.41).
60 Religion as Participation in Divine Benefts
Most i mportant were the experiences he had ol hi s "savior god," Asclepius.
His hrst dream vision ol the god also occurred i n the period ol his hrst serious
illness, leading him to cry out while still i n his dream, "Creat is Asclepius' 1he
order is accompl i shed' " z.y), subsequently, Asclepius appeared to him regularly
lor example, i. iy, i. , i.yi, z. i, z.iS as Apollo| ). larticularly impressive is Aris-
tides` description ol one such vision. "Ior there was a seeming, as it were, to
touch hi m and to perceive that he himsell had come, and to be between sleep
and waking, and to wish to look up and to be i n anguish that he might depart
too soon, and to strain the ears and to hear some things as i n a dream, some as
in a waking state. Hair stood straight, and there were tears with joy, and the
pride ol one`s heart was inollensive. And what man could describe these things
in words ll any man has been initiated, he knows and understands" z. z).
Aristides took these visions with the greatest seriousness. He considered them
to be prophetic i n character z. iy, . i). 1hrough the dreams, the god delivered
oracles q. , q. q) and gave commands i.yz, q. ioS) that Aristides sought to obey
see i. , . qoqi).
1he contents ol these dreams were various. ln some, Aristides communed
with great men ol the past, i ncluding llato and Alexander the Creat q. z,
q. qS). ln others, he received praise lrom the emperor, who expressed pleasure at
Aristides bei ng at once morally good and a good orator i.q). ln some, he com-
posed hymns to the gods, above all Asclepius .q, q. q), and even experienced a
sense ol identity with his god q. i). He learned things about hi s illness i. )
and received directly lrom Asclepius di rections on how to treat it z. zzy). ln
sti ll other dreams, he gained ideas concerning oratorical themes i. i, i. y,
q.qi, . i). Asclepius, in lact, took a direct hand i n sponsoring and di recting
Aristides` career as a Sophist. ln one dream vision, the god commands Aristides
not to abandon oratory because ol his illness q. iq) but rather to speak q. z).
"l thought l was giving an oratorical display and spoke among certai n people,
and in the midst ol the speech with which l contended, l called on the god in
this way, `Lord Asclepius, il in lact l excel i n oratory and excel much, grant me
health and cause the envious to burst' ` l happened to have seen these things in
the dream, and when it was day, l took up some book and read it. ln it l lound
what l had said" q. ).
With respect both to hi s health and to hi s oratory, then, Asclepius was Aris-
tides` "Lord". indeed, the two lorms ol "salvation" were inextricably mi xed, the
god, he declared, was the source both ol obedience and ol oratory z. Sz), and in
many ways, the best part ol Aristides` experience was the way he enjoyed "com-
munion i n dreams" with the god q. ii, q. z). He speaks ol the "contentment and
sell-sulhciency" that came on him when he obeyed the god and how "there
arose a leeling ol comlort, and sometimes everything which pained me went
com
pletely away" q. S).
In the Sacred Tales, there are really only two characters, Aristides and Ascle-
pius. 1he doctors serve as loils who prescribe remedies . ) and perlorm proce-
dures z. qy), make lalse predictions concerning Aristides` demise z. ), lail to
understand his illness z. ), and express doubt concerning the god`s prescrip-
tions z. q). 1he orator must decide whether to obey the god or the doctors
i.), but since the god`s advice is always better than that ol the doctors or hi s
lriends z.yzy), the doctors ultimately join Aristides` lretlul lriends i. ) in
yielding to the god i. y) and serving as witnesses to the Asclepius` prescience
and power i.y, z. zo, z. i). Aristides is gratelul when relatives and acquain-
tances recover lrom their ailments i.yz, i .yS), but when the daughter ol a loster
sister lalls ill and dies in the orator`s absence, he declares, "1his did not take
place without some divine agency" . izi), and when still another loster niece
dies, he notes only that "some one ol the gods guided me, whoever the god was"
. zy). It i s not that Aristides is totally sell-preoccupied, he does extend himsell
to help others i.yqy, i.yS). ut ultimately, it is what the god has done lor hi m
that sustains hi s i nterest.
How, then, does Aristides conceive ol the benehts given by his patron god
What constitutes "salvation" He naturally attributes the most obvious sort ol
rescues to Asclepius. it was the god who saved hi m lrom shipwreck z. iq) and
the storm q. ). Lvery lorm ol ease in his symptoms i s also ascribed to the di-
rections ol the god lor example, . iq). Alter bathing i n obedience to Asclepius`
command, Aristides relates, "When I came out, all my skin had a rosy hue and
there was a lightness throughout my body. 1here was also much shouting lrom
those present and those coming up, shouting that celebrated phrase, `Creat is
Asclepius' ` " z. zi, see also z. q). Aristides clearly did not, however, experience
the sort ol instantaneous " healing" that i s the staple ol the testimonies lound at
Lpidaurus. His ailments recurred throughout hi s l i le, albeit with times ol sig-
nihcant respite. 1he salvation wrought by Asclepius in the orator was not the
cessation ol troubles but the power to endure and even surmount them. "Il some-
one should take these things into account and consider with how many and
what sort ol sullerings and with what necessary result lor these he bore me to
the sea and rivers and wells, and commanded me to contend with the winter,
he will say that it is all truly beyond mi racles, and he will see more clearly the
power and the providence ol the god, and will rejoice with me lor the honor
which I had, and would not be more grieved because ol my sickness" z. ).
Aristides` abil ity to endure, to overcome his symptoms, became the greatest
prool ol the god`s power and providence. And the best gih ol all was that
Asclepius enabled Aristides to continue hi s work as an orator, despite hi s physi-
cal alhictions. 1his was, in his eyes, an ongoing miracle. He remarks that the
god`s prescription to continue hi s oratory "was l ike an order to hy, the prac-
tice ol oratory lor one who could not breathe" (ST, q. iy), yet because he trusted
the god, the strength to speak kept coming q. zz). n one occasion, i n agony
with a toothache, he began by the god`s order to del iver his speech and lound in
the course ol its del ivery that the toothache had disappeared q. o). He says,
"1he continual activity ol the god is marvelous" . S).
1he experience ol this power was lor Aristides l ike initiation i nto a Mystery
(ST, q.yS), and it stirred in hi m all his ambition lor the art ol which he had
despaired q. qy). He was l iving i n ellect a new l i le because ol the god`s interven-
tion and continuing assistance. "1hus l had my li le up to this time lrom the
gods, and alter this, l was given a new li le lrom the gods, and, as it were, this
kind ol exchange occurred" q. i). He was able to travel q. S), j oin i n debate
q. iyiS, . qo), and even engage in extempore speaking . qi), all with the god`s
assistance q.zq). 1he point is made simply when he rejoices in the lact that he
could declaim even lrom his bed i. q). 1he greatest gih ol Asclepius, hi s great-
est heal ing, was to enable Aristides to pursue hi s art . ), and the orator`s grati-
tude was expressed by attributing all that was good in his art to the god z. ii,
q. i). "Lverything ol mine," he says, "was a gilt ol the god" q. ), "he saved me
by means worth more than the act ol bei ng saved" q.z). And again, "Ouring
all this time he was my savior and gave me one day alter another, or rather,
even now is my savior" z. y). Writing i n the autumn ol iyo, he states, "lt also
happened, during this time, that my physical condition was the most comlort-
able and at its brightest since l was hrst sick . . . and nothing ol my accustomed
oratorical practice was neglected, so that all congratulated me, both privately
and publ icly. ln so lar as even i n this time l happened to lal l ill lor some days,
the god cured me most miraculously and i n his usual way" . qS).
1he Sacred Tales, then, are a kind ol aretalogy i n praise ol the god, ` a wit-
ness to the god`s "power and providence," revealed not only in these words but
also in all the powerlul rhetoric ol one ol the greatest ol the Sophists, through
a witness who is, i n the orator`s view, all the more remarkable because the
power ol the god i s demonstrated through the weakest ol instruments, a sickly
man whose every breath and word can come not through himsell but through
the power ol the god to whom he has handed over his li le.
Ael ius Aristides may be exceptional i n hi s learning and hi s eloquence, and he
may be exceptional i n the degree ol hi s devotionhe embodies my dehnition
ol religion as the organization ol li le around an experience ol perceived ulti-
mate powerbut he is not exceptional in his way ol being rel igious. ' He is,
indeed, the perlect representative ol Creco-Koman Kel igiousness A. He per-
ceives the divine dynamis at work in the world and available to humans through
a range ol rel igious practices. 1he point ol such accessibil ity to dynamis, lur-
thermore, is participation in benehts lrom the gods. Salvation means success
and security in the pursuits ol this mortal l i le.
Hi s way ol being rel igious is given even sharper dehnition by means ol con-
trast to the other types l have identihed. Aristides reveals absolutely no pessi-
mism concerning the empirical world nor any desire to escape lrom the world
through a shedding ol the bodydespite his chronically ill condition. He does
not show any i nterest, beyond the minimum demanded ol any rhetorician in
the Creco-Koman world, i n religion as the stabil izer ol the world. lndeed, he
expends great ellorts to avoid serving i n the rel igious and civic olhces ollered to
him (ST, 4.71-87).
Iinally, in all ol his extant speeches, l can count only the merest handlul ol
places where he even touches on moral behavior (Ortions, 2. 201; 16. 31; 24- 48--
50; 29.7; 29. 14). 25 ln the Sacred Tales, his lullest statement concerning morality
is sell-congratulatory. he is not pulled up by his accompl ishments ( 5. 37). ln an-
other place, he hears the god say "that it was htting that my mi nd be changed
lrom its present condition," but he means by this, "having been changed, asso-
ciate with the god, and by its association be superior to man`s estate." And Aris-
tides i nterprets the dream as pertaining "to oratory and divine communion"
(4. 52). We hnd i n him virtually no trace ol religion as moral translormation,
such as we will hnd so splendidly displayed in the next chapter by Lpictetus.
5
-
RLIGION AS MORL
TRNSFORATION: EPICTETUS
1he maj ority ol those considering themselves rel igious in the Creco-Koman
world no doubt exhibited the sort ol religious sensibil ity demonstrated so well
by Ael ius Aristides, though probably with less lervor and certainly with less
rhetorical polish. 1hey thought ol the divine dynamis as distributed throughout
the empirical world and available through multiple practices, lrom prayer and
sacrihce to divination and heal ing. 1he gods were the source ol benehts in
which their worshipers participated. the salvation they ollered was mainly suc-
cess and security i n everyday l i le.
ln this chapter, l consider the way ol bei ng rel igious that l have designated as
Kel igiousness . rel igion as moral translormation. 1his sensibil ity is no less
optimistic than Kel igiousness A, the divine dynamis is similarly perceived as
accessible and active on behall ol humans. ln this type, however, the most im-
portant activity ol the divine power is perceived as immanent within human
moral endeavor, and "salvation" is less a matter ol divine rescue lrom human
lailure and disaster than the abil ity ol humans to endure such circumstances in
a manner worthy ol the gods.
1wo questions immediately present themselves concerning the claim that this
is a distinct lorm ol rel igious sensibility. 1he hrst is whether we are really speak-
ing about religionam l not merely describing moral disposition ll religion is to
mean anything specihc, ought not it be restricted to divine myths and sacred ritu-
als Convincing prool depends on the examination ol specihc cases, but lor now
l remind the reader ol my broad dehnition in Chapter 2, where l dehned religion
as a way ol lile organized around experiences and convictions concerning ulti-
mate power. A "way ollile" can be rel igious in character even il "the gods" are not
explicitly invoked. As a happy lagniappe, however, the example l discuss not only
Religion as Moral Transformation
employs religious language but does so with specihc re|erence to mora| endeavor.
\
)
dehnition arises |rom rather than imposes on the evidence.
1he second question is whether we should simply call this "philosophical
religion." Certai nly, many whose main concern was moral i nstruction and lor-
mation were philosophers. ut I hesitate to use the expression, because it sug-
gests an intellectual rehnement ol popular rel igion, a reinterpretation ol crude
m
)
ths and rituals into i ntellectually acceptable lorm, a rel igion ol ideas rather
than ol practices. ' Such intellectual distancing, however, is not the dominant
trait ol Kel igiousness as I understand it. In addition, as I suggested in Chapter 3,
those bearing the label ol "philosopher" in the Creco-Koman world displayed a
variety ol rel igious attitudes and practices. Lven within a single philosophical
tradition, such as Stoicism, the rel igious disposition ol individual philosophers
could vary considerably. What is said about Lpictetus in this chapter also could
be said, i n varying degrees, ol his teacher, Musonius Kulus, his contemporary,
Oio Chrysostom, and his later admirer, Marcus Aurel ius. ` ut it would be dil-
hcult to make the case that Seneca the Younger, who shares virtually every
other school tenet and moral preoccupation, had the same i ntensity ol religious
sensibil ity as Lpictetus.'
No more than the piety ol Ael ius Aristides represents that ol all second-
century Sophists, then, does the distinctive piety ol Lpictetus represent all hrst-
century philosophers. 1he value ol each author is heuristic. they so clearly
demonstrate distinctive ways ol being rel igious that they provide a measure lor
less dramatic cases. Lach author also dehes the easy reduction ol rel igious sen-
sibil ity to social condition. Ael ius Aristides enj ed every social privilege and
the best possible education yet had a rel igious sensibil ity that was indistinguish-
able i n character lrom the masses who crowded lestivals and shrines. Asclepius
was his savior because the god enabled Aristides to practice oratory despite
chronic illness. Lpictetus was socially disadvantaged in every respect and shared
with Aristides both a chronic physical disabil ity and religious lervor, yet it is
dilhcult, perhaps impossible, to imagine hi m j oining the rhetorician at the As-
clepium to seek healing. 1o discover why, it is necessary to examine the l i le and
words ol one ol history`s truly admirable human beings.
1HL LIIL I LIICJL1US
1he lew certai n lacts ol the philosopher`s l i le are drawn lrom a handlul ol
inscriptions, testimonies by admiring ancient authors, and the Discourses taken
down by his pupi l, Ilavius Arrian. ` Il the dates 50-120 CL are roughly accurate,
then Lpictetus was an exact contemporary o| the biographer Ilutarch and the
66 Religion as Morl Transfonnation
historian 1acitus, he would have been a boy when laul wrote Komans, a teen-
ager when laul was executed i n Kome under Nero, and rounding into hi s lavor-
ite sell-designation as "old man" when lgnatius ol Antioch advanced lrom Syria
to Kome as a prisoner ol Christ.
Lpictetus was born in the city ol Hierapol is i n the province ol lhrygia in
Asia Minor, a territory well known lor its reli gious lervor. it was the home ol the
enthusiastic cult ol the mother-goddess Cybele and ol the equally enthusiastic
second-century Christian movement called Montanism. We know nothing ol
his lather. His mother was a slave, and he hi msell was a slave lor at least a time,
owned by Lpaphroditus, a lreedman and secretary ol the emperor Nero (Dis
courses, 1. 26. 12; 4. 1. 150). He was to some degree physically di sabled, relerring to
himsell as "lame" (chalos; see 1 . 16. 20; 30 20. 5). Whether his disabil ity was genetic
or a result ol a beating is not clear. 1he late second-century philosopher Celsus
thought it resulted lrom abuse, and rigen agreed lrobably in recognition ol
his natural mental abilities, Lpictetus was allowed to study i n Kome with "the
Koman Socrates," Musonius Kulus, whose lragmentary writings testily to his
reputation as a moral teacher who was both strict and humane.
lt is notoriously di lhcult with any author to move lrom l i le circumstances to
moral preoccupations. How much did hi s physical disabil ity matter to Lpicte-
tus Lnough, it seems, lor him to characterize hi msell in one ol his most elo-
quent passages as "a lame old man l ike me" (Discourses, 1. 16. 20).
9
How severely
was he marked by his background as a slave 1he lact that the word "lreedom"
occurs over 130 times in his extant discourses, and that genuine lreedom is con-
sidered possible even in conditions ol human servitude, may be suggestive. As
lor the i nhuence ol his teacher, it is unmistakable. Lpictetus relers olten to
"Kulus" see 1. 1. 2; 1. 9. 29; 3- 6. 10; 3- 15. 14) and says ol his teacher that "he spoke in
such a way that each ol us as we sat there lancied someone had gone to Kulus
and told hi m ol our laults, so ellective was hi s grasp ol what men actually do, so
vividly did he set belore each man`s eyes his particular weaknesses" (30 230 29).
1he education Lpictetus gained while sitting with others in Musonius Kulus`
classroom could not compare to the wide-ranging education acquired by the
rhetorician Ael ius Aristides. 1he main lare was undoubtedly the reading ol
Chrysippus ca. 280-206 CL), the great systematizer ol Stoic logic, physics,
and especially) ethics in over 705 works. ' " Lpictetus makes relerence to Homer,
llato, Xenophon, and the great tragedians, and he has a handbook acquain-
tance with the teachings ol rival philosophical schools. How much ol this came
lrom direct contact and how much was mediated by the reading ol Chrysippus
is impossible to determine. At some point, Lpictetus assumed a role as philo-
sophical teacher i n hi s own right. He was sulhciently well known to have been
Religion as Moral Transfonnation
included in the expulsion ol philosophers lrom Kome by the emperor Oomi-
tian S or z CL). ln exile, he establ ished his own school i n the city ol Nicopo-
lis in Lpirus opposite Actium), where he spent the remainder ol his li le teaching
young men destined, lor the most part, to take on roles in the civil order ol the
empire. He traveled only a bit to lympia and Athens) and l ived with great
personal simpl icity, having in hi s room at Kome only a cot, a mat, and a single
lamp, i n addition to his Lares shrine to the household gods). He apparently mar-
ried only late in l i le to help raise a child who was threatened with exposure.
Although his l i le was conhned i n several ways, Lpictetus` inhuence spread
beyond his classroom. ln the opening chapter ol his Meditations, Marcus Aure-
lius iziiSo) thanks his own teacher Kusticus lor having i ntroduced him to the
Discourses ol Lpictetus i. S) and quotes the philosopher several times q. qi,
ii. y, ii. S, ii. , q. q. z). Lucian ol Somasata izozoo) had hi s ideal philos-
opher Oemonax j oke about Lpictetus` lailure to marry until late in li le (Demo
nax, ) but expressed his own admiration lor "that marvelous old man" in the
Ignornt Book Collector i). 1ogether with his philosophical opponent Celsus,
the Christian teacher rigen praises Lpictetus` moral character (Against Cel
sus, y. q) as wel l as the accessible character ol hi s teaching. "lt is easy indeed to
observe that llato is lound only in the hands ol those who proless to be l iterary
men, while Lpictetus is admired by persons ol ordinary capacity, who have a
desire to be benehted, and who perceive the improvement wich may be de-
rived lrom his writings" . z).
lt was through the ellorts ol his student Ilavius Arrian ca. Siq) that
Lpictetus` teachings continued alter hi s death to l ive on in a world larger than
his classroom, indeed, Arrian made the world Lpictetus` classroom. Arrian was
probably typical ol Lpictetus` students in that he went into i mperial service, but
untypical in that, besides serving as a governor ol Cappadocia under Hadrian
and repelling the Alan invasion in iq, he became a man ol letters, producing
such substantial historical accounts as the Anabasis of Alexander and the In
dica. He made hi s teacher`s words available to the larger world through two
works. 1he Encheiridion that is, "Handbook") is something ol an epitome ol
Lpictetus` teaching. lt consists ol paragraphs ol varying length and received
such a welcome among Christian readers that it went through several adapta-
tions. ' '
1he Encheiridion captures Lpictetus` doctrines, but it does not contain
his distinctive voice and personal ity. 1hese are revealed vividly in Arrian`s sec-
ond production, the Discourses (diatribai), which originally consisted ol eight
books, only lour ol which are extant.
1hese lor the most part) short talks did not lorm the substance ol Lpictetus`
students` work. As his constant relerences make clear, their curriculum ol study
68 Religion as Moral Transfonnation
undoubtedly locused on the writings ol Chrysippus. 1he Discourses or Dia
tribes), i n all li kel ihood, represented something ol a "daily homily" del ivered by
the master to the assembled students. 1hey are neither systematic nor utterly
random. their themes were probably set by the readings, by actual incidents, or
by lavorite themes such as "providence"). ln them, Lpictetus appears as an
unlorgettable and eminently quotable teacher. 1he Discourses olten take the
lorm ol hctive dialogues between the teacher and an imagined interlocutor
such as one ol his students), i n which the teacher uses a variety ol glittering
styl istic turns. apostrophe, rhetorical questions, quick retorts, vituperation, cita-
tion ol classical writings, and lessons drawn lrom examples such as Heracles,
Socrates, and Oiogenes. ' y no means are the diatribes lree-lorm ramblings.
Most ol them work through an argument with considerable consistency and
control . ' ` So distinctive are these diatribes that two questions arise. is the l iter-
ary lorm itsell Lpictetus` invention, and is it his voice that we hear or Arrian`s
1here are enough other contemporary and near-contemporary writings that
display the same rhetorical tropesnotably, the diatribes ol 1heon and the
Christian letters ol laul and )amesto support the conclusion that Lpictetus was
working with stock items and modes ol argumentation. Ii 1he same observation
reduces considerably the possibil ity ol Lpictetus` dependence on Christian writ-
ers or ol Christians on him. ' ` As lor the second question, although it is theoreti-
cally conceivable that a writer ol the Second Sophistic could have executed such
a spectacular exercise in prsopopoiia "writing in character"), ' Arrian declares
in his letter ol introduction to Lucius Cellius that he did not himsell compose the
Discoures but that "whatever l heard him say l used to write down, word lor
word, as best l could, endeavoring to preserve it as a memorial lor my own luture
use, ol his way ol thinking and the lrankness ol his speech." 1aking into account
as well the marked dillerence between these talks and Arrian`s published writ-
ings, it is probable that we truly do hear in these Discoures "the actual words ol
an extraordinarily gihed teacher upon scores, not to say hundreds ol occasions,
conversing with visitors, reproving, exhorting, encouraging his pupils. "' '
1HL S1lC 1LACHLK
Lpictetus was i ntensely loyal to the Stoicism he had learned lrom Musonius
Kulus and was clearly capable ol handling the technical issues that were stock
in trade lor the prolessional philosopher see, lor example, Discoures, i.y, i. iy, z. iz,
z. z). ' He was, indeed, a partisan ol Stoic teaching, and he willingly engaged in
the polemics typical ol interschool rivalry. Discourse z. zo, lor example, is com-
pletely dedicated to the rej ection ol what he considered the harmlul teachings
ol the Academics and the Lpicureans, and his criticisms recur i n other places.
the Academics are condemned lor their skeptical suspension ol judgment i. .)
and lor the Sophistical arguments employed by lyrrho i.zy.z), the Lpi
_
ureans
are scorned because their withdrawal lrom society and pol itical involvement
b
etrays the social character ol humans i. z. iio) and is the consequence ol cor-
rupt judgment and behavior .y. izS) . ''
Lpictetus also embraces without question the optimistic Stoic view ol nature
and god, which i n Stoic physics tend to merge. " Stoicism holds that the world
is material but is at the same time the manilestation ol divine rational ity. the
passive element ol matter (hyle) and the active principle ol god (theos) totally
interpenetrate. At the level ol empirical observation, these components appear
as the lour traditional elements that had lormed the basis ol pre-Socratic cos-
mological theories. earth, water, air, hre. l these, earth and water are passive,
while air and hre are active, lorming the spirit (pneuma) that pervades and
shapes all things. Spirit, i n turn, is the vehicle ol reason (logos) that governs~
and is i mmanent withinthe entire cosmos.
1he Stoic universe is, in ellect, a l iving being, and the best ol all possible
worlds, because it is the embodiment ol reason. 1he cosmos, moreover, goes
through cycles ol regeneration, with each cycle ending in a great conhagration
(ekpyrosis) that gives birth, i n turn, to another perlect world identical to the
present one see Discoures, z. i . iS, . i. q, . i. i). Cod (theos) is equated with
the immanent principle ol reason governing the world, and
ince the world is

itsell i n some sense divine, it is providentially guided. all that is and that hap-
pens bears the signs ol rational design. What makes human beings distinctive
within the cosmos is the gilt ol rational ity, i n ellect a participation in the divine
nature, which enables humans to discern rightly the patterns ol the world and
lollow them appropriately. ln Stoicism, then, to act "according to nature" (kata
physin) is implicitly to "lollow god."
Such is the lramework ol physics within which Lpictetus works, which he
everywhere presupposes, and which he inluses with a distinctive piety. Hi s
mai n concern, however, is not wi th logic or physics but with ethics, wi th many
ol his discourses dealing with specihc moral topics. ' lmitating the traditional
threelold distributions ol subjects, i n lact, he organizes the training ol his
young students around three areas ol practice (Discourses, . z. iz). the manage-
ment ol desires and aversions, never desiring the unattainable and never seek-
ing to hee the unavoidable control ol passions), the management ol choices,
learning what is appropriate to do i n li le`s circumstances and responsibil ities
social duties), and control over one`s assent, so that error and impulse are avoided.
lt is at this stage that epistemology and logic gain their point, helping one to
Religion as Morl Transfonation
determine what is real and what is not, humans are easily seduced and lright-
ened by "appearances" and need practice in discerning see, lor example, Dis
course 1. 1, "n 1hings that are under our Control and not under our Control ").
Human lreedom consists precisely and exclusively in control over one`s "moral
purpose."
1he key element i n his pedagogy is "practice" or "training" (askesis; see Dis
courses, 2. 9. 13); philosophy is distorted when treated as a matter ol learning
theory rather than as a matter ol moral translormation. He asks his students,
"ls it anything but cruel lor me to leave you unrelormed" and remi nds them ol
the remarkable conversion (metabole) ol lolemo (30 1. 10-14). 23 Lpictetus argues
in 2. 19 "1o 1hose who take up the 1eachings ol the lhilosophers only to talk
about 1hem") that having opinions, even learned ones, is not what being a
Stoic is about, rather, it is the lormation ol a more authentic lreedom that they
should seek see 4. 1). Many ol Lpictetus` talks challenge his students to close
the gap between book learning and true virtue. 1hey say that progress should
be i n virtue, but they persist in measuring it by the amount ol Chrysippus they
have read (1. 4. 19). ut an excessive study ol argumentation can actually lead
away lrom the pursuit ol virtue and toward vanity and enslavement (1. 8. 4-10).
Lven greater vanity is learning philosophical opinions in order to impress oth-
ers at banquets (1. 26' 9)' Knowing Chrysippus, in truth, is valuable only insolar
as it helps them understand the law ol nature and l ive according to it (1. 17. 13).
Since learning that does not lead to action is useless (1. 29. 35 and 55-57; 3- 24. 110),
the lalse philosopher can be recognized by the way in which his words are con-
tradicted by his actions (2. 9. 13-21; 4. 8. 8-12).
Moral translormation is arduous work. lt demands not simply understanding
but also training (Discourses, 1 . 12) and constant attentiveness (4. 12). Why e-
cause moral translormation requires the change ol habits. "What reinlorce-
ment, then, is it possible to hnd with which to oppose habit Why, the contrary
habit" (1. 27.4). 1his i s muscular philosophy, as much a matter ol the body as ol
the mind. Lpictetus makes thorough use ol the two great metaphors ol ancient
moral philosophy. athletics and medicine. Hi s students are l ike athletes prepar-
ing lor the lympics, and he is their coach (1. 18. 21-23); they are l ike sick people
and he is the physician (2. 14- 21) : 24 "Men, the lecture hall ol the philosopher is a
hospital, you ought not to walk out ol it in pleasure, but in pain. Ior you are not
well when you come, one man has a dislocated shoulder, another an abscess,
another a hstula, another a headache. And am l to sit down and recite to you
dainty l ittle notions and clever l ittle mottoes, so that you will go out with words
ol praise on your l ips, one man carrying away his shoulder j ust as it was when
he came in, another his head in the same state, another his hstula, another hi s
Religion as Moral Transfonation
abscess" . z. oz) . Aelius Aristides sought healing lrom the savior god As-
clepius at the temples dedicated to that god and regarded salvation as the abil ity
to sustai n his career ol epideictic oratory. Lpictetus asks hi s students to seek
healing lrom their moral illness their vices) in the hospital that is the philo-
sophical schoolroom (scholeia), to engage i n a process ol conversion that re-
quired the continuous therapy ol honest sell-examination and mutual lrankness
ol speech. What we see here, however, is not rel igion versus philosophy but
rather two distinct modes ol rel igious sensibil ity, as we discover when we exam-
ine Lpictetus` remarkable use ol reli gious language. `
KLLICIN AS MKAL 1KANSIKMA1IN
Consistent with his Stoic convictions, Lpictetus considered honoring the gods
worshiped in Creco-Koman culture as among the public duties (ta kathekonta)
required ol citizenship i n a "state made up ol gods and men" (Discourses,
z. i. z, . zq. iz). He has a shrine lor hi s ancestral gods (lares; i. iS. i), appreci-
ates the logic involved i n emperor worship q. i. o), ' and knows ol the priest-
hood ol Augustus i. i. z). He speaks olten ol lestivals i. iz.zi), such as the
Saturnalia i. z. S) , temples i. q. i), including those ol Asclepius z. iz. iy) in
which people sleep as they seek healing z. i. iy), altars i. q. i), and statues ol
gods, such as Zeus and Athena z. S. izo, z. z. z). He relers to such common
rel igious practices as sacrihces i. q. z), including those carricd out belore sail-
ing or planting . zi. iz), prayers i. i. i) and hymns i. i. izi, q. i. io), and
thanks di rected to the gods i. iz. z, i. i. , i. i. z) . ' He speaks knowledgably
about priests and prophets z. zo. zy) and the various lorms ol prophecy i. zq. ),
including oracles z. zo. zy) especially that at Oelphi (Encheiridion, z)and
the various lorms ol divination (Discourses, i. iy. iSi), including the examina-
tions ol entrails .y. iz) and the observation ol the movements ol birds . i. y).
He is aware ol the Mysteries at Lleusis . zi. i) with its various mi nisters . zi. i),
and he understands the signihcance ol i nitiation i nto the Mysteries q. i . io).
His Discourses reler as well to incantations . zq. S) and omens . zq. S), to
Iortune q. q. qo), the Iates i. iz. z), Hades z. i. iS, . i. i), the Iuries and
Avengers z. i. iy), and evil demons q. q. S). Lpictetus shows some awareness ol
)ews and their preoccupations i. ii. izi, i. zz. q) and perhaps even knows about
Christians z. . zozz, q.y. ). What is most remarkable about this catalog is that
with respect to none ol these rel igious phenomena does the philosopher ex-
press either intellectual dismissal or moral disapproval.
1he names he uses lor the divine are similarly conventional. When speaking
emphatically, he uses "by Zeus" and "by the gods" interchangeably (Discourses,
i.y. iz, i. o. ). `" Likewise, he relers ohen to "the gods" lor example, i. i.y), `' in-
cluding Kore, lluto, and Oemeter z. zo. ), Hera . i. q), lan and the Nymphs
. z. ii), Hermes . zo. iz), Apollo . i. i), and Athena and Asclepius q. S. z). He
can reler more broadly to the divine by speaking ol "Zeus and the rest ol the
gods" i. zy. i, i. i.y) or ol "the divine" (to theion; i. ii. i). Iar and away Zeus is his
lavorite designation lor the divine power i. i. io),` Zeus is "maker, lather, guard-
ian" i. .y), "rain-bringer, lruit-giver, lather ol men and gods" i. i. iz), "savior,
rain-bringer, lruit-giver" i. zz. i), and the "god ol lathers, god ol kindred"
. ii. i). As olten as he uses the name Zeus, he employs the designation "god"
(ho theos; see i. i. iS). `` Lquivalent expressions are "the Civer" qqy) and "An-
other" (allos), used especially in contexts suggesting Cod`s oversight ol human
actions i. i. z). `' Lpictetus combines the sense ol the singular and the plural in
hi s characterization ol Cod when he states that Zeus communes with hi msell
and is at peace with himsell (PH) . 1wo usages that rehect Lpictetus` Stoic
convictions are his use ol lrovidence (pronoia) as the expression ol Cod`s pres-
ence and power throughout all the cosmosthere is no evil i n the universe
(Encheiridion, zy, Discourses, i. io. io) `` and his personihcation ol Nature (phy
sis; i. . zozz, i. i. iq), so that,he can speak ol "the will ol nature" i. iy.iy) or "the
law ol nature and ol god" i. z. i), he declares that "everything is hlled with
gods and divine powers (daimonia; . i. i).
Lpictetus` distinctive rel igious preoccupations begin to emerge more clearly
when we consider the way in which he characterizes Cod (ho theos), humans
(anthropoi), and the relations between them. As we might expect, Cod i s char-
acterized in terms ol intell igence, knowledge, and right reason (Discourses,
z. S. i), Cod is the ruler z. iy.z) who governs the universe z. i. , q.y.y), over-
seeing all . ii. i) as a witness .zo.q). Cod`s rule is exercised by his will i. z. z,
z. iy.zz, q. q. z, q.y.zo), which can hi nder z. i . z, q. i. ) but is itsell unhindered
q. i. S)the sole exception, lascinatingly, is the human moral purpose. not
even Zeus can dislodge a human lrom his moral purpose . . io).
Cod is more than pure i ntell igence, though, he is also to be equated with
goodness (Discourses, z. S. i), a goodness that is expressed in a remarkable
range ol statements concerning his positive and personal relationship with re-
gard to the cosmos and above all with humans. "the law ol god i s most good
and most just" i. z. i). Cod is not "lather ol men" . zq. i) i n a weak symbolic
sense, but in the sense that he actually made humans z. . , z. S. i, z. S. zi,
q. i. ioS), as he made all things q.y. ), and has made them to be happy . zq. i).
Cod cares lor each person i.zy. iz, . zq. i). Cod i s a giver ol gilts z. z. z),`
who provides what we need to l ive with i ntegrity z. i. ii). Cod has given
humans a part ol himsell i. iy.zyzS). `' Lpictetus says that other creatures are
73
Cod`s work but that "1hey are not ol primary importance, nor portions ol di-
vinity. ut you are a being ol primary importance, you are a lragment ol god.
you have withi n you a part ol him" z. S. ii). Cod sets humans lree i. i. ),
watches over them as a lather .zq. ), guides them z.y. ii, . zi. iz), pr
vides
them with signals ol his will i. z. z), gives them orders and di rections i. z. o)
through his law z. i. zS, q. . iz) and by assigning each one hi s place (Encheirid
ion, zz).
Humans, in turn, are characterized in extravagant terms. 1hey are not inle-
rior to the gods (Discourses, i. iz. z), are lriends to the gods z. iy. z, . zq. o,
q. . ), l ike the gods i. zz. zi), have lellowship with Zeus z. i. zy), and are equal
to the gods i. iz. zy). "You have a power (dynamis) equal (isos) to Zeus" i. iq. iz).
1here i s a kinship ol gods and men i. . i, i. . zzz), whereby men are ollspring
ol Zeus i. i. q) and a brother has Zeus lor a lather i. i. ). Lpictetus says, "ur
souls are so bound up with god, as being parts and portions ol his being, does
not god perceive their every motion as a motion ol that which is his own and
ol one body with himseh" i. iq. ). 1hus the designation "son ol god" is
rightly appl ied to Herakles z. S. zS), Sarpedon i. zy. S), Oiogenes, and Heraclitus
(Encheiridion, i) and to all who l ive in authentic communion with the god
whose being they share (Discourses, i. . , z. iy. ). "Act according to nature
[kata physin]. Whose His in whom l am [to ekeinou en ho eimi]" i. i . ). Yet it
is possible not to l ive in this lashion. "Why, then, are you ignorant ol your own
kinship Why do you not know the source lrom which you have sprung Will
you not bear i n mind, whenever you eat, who you are that eat, and whom you
are nourishing Whenever you indulge in intercourse with women, who are
you that do this Whenever you mix in society, whenever you take physical ex-
ercise, whenever you converse, do you not know that you are nourishing god,
exercising god You are bearing god about with you, poor wretch, and know i t
not' " z. S. iii).
1he task ol human lreedom is the proper alignment ol the moral purpose
with the god withi n. When Lpictetus locuses on this side ol things, his lan-
guage about Cod tends to be less immanent. Humans are to "show piety towards
the gods" (Encheiridion, i) and to honor the divine (Discourses, . zo. zz). 1hey
are to give thanks to Cod qy, q. q. iS, q.y. , q. ), to "remember god"
z. iS. z, qqy), and to cal l on Cod lor help z. iS. z). 1hi s is done, however,
through the exercise ol mental and moral dispositions. Mentally, humans are to
understand the dictate "know thysell" inscribed at Oelphi . iS, Irag. i) in
terms ol their kinship with Cod and to understand the divine administration ol
the cosmos z. io. , . S) as Cod`s providence. As lriends ol Cod, they are to be
"ol one mind" with Cod z. i. z). "Now the philosophers say that the hrst thing
74
we must learn is this. that there is a god, and that he provides lor the universe,
and that it is impossible lor a man to conceal lrom Hi m not merely his actions,
but even his purposes and thoughts. Next we must learn what the gods are l ike,
lor whatever their character is discovered to be, the man who is going to please
and obey them must endeavor as best he can to resemble them. ll the deity is
laithlul, he also must be laithlul , il lree, he also must be lree, il benehcent, he
also must be benehcent, il high-minded, he also must be high-minded, and so
lorth, therelore, in everything he says and does, he must act as an imitator ol
god" z. iq. iii).
Humans are, therelore, to be intent on Cod (Discourses, . zq. iiq), to look to
Cod z. i. qz, z. i. q, z. i. z), and to lollow Cod. "1o lollow the gods i s man`s
end" i. zo. i, see i. o. ). 1his involves making one`s will as much as possible
l ike the will ol Zeus q. i. So) as Cod works in the world, to yield to Cod
what Cod has given q. i. iyz), namely, everything qqo). lt i s to render obedi-
ence to Cod . zq. , . zq. iio, q. iz. iiiz, . i. y, q. . io) i n every circumstance. to
be happy because ol Cod .zq.), to die l ike a god, and to bear disease l ike a
god z. S. zS). Lpictetus cries out to a student who sought to be "secure and un-
shaken" not only when awake but also when asleep and drunk and melancholy-
mad. "Man you are a god, so great are the designs you cherish' " z. iy. ). 1hose
who reluse to lollow Cod in this manner by living i n sell-i nduced ignorance
and vice "complain against" Cod i. z. iy, z. iz. iz, . zq. ) and "hght against god"
(theomachein; . zq. zi, . zq.zq, q. i. ioi). 1hey have lailed in their task ol being
"beautilul and pure i n the sight ol god" z. iS. i), ol being "servants and lol low-
ers ol god" q.y. zo, q. S. o) in the manner ol Oiogenes, who was a "Servant ol
Zeus" . zq. ). 1hey have missed the distinctive human vocation ol bearing
witness to Cod i n the world i. z. qo, . zq. iiz, . zq. iiq).
1hat Lpictetus merges moral translormation and rel igious piety is clear
enough, but two hnal passages provide emphasis. 1he hrst occurs i n Encheirid
ion, z. Lpictetus addresses one who seeks advice lrom a diviner. He does not
question that divination can reveal circumstances, but he insists that whatever
the circumstances, the philosopher already knows how to exercise his moral
purpose. "Ior il the diviner lorewarns you that the omens ol sacrihce have been
unlavorable, it is clear that death is portended, or the inj ury ol some member ol
your body, or exile, yet reason requires that even at this risk you are to stand by
your lriend, and share the danger with your country. Wherelore, give heed to
the greater diviner, the lythian Apollo, who cast out ol his temple the man who
had not helped his lriend when he was being murdered." And just as Ael ius
Aristides could speak ol his healing therapies in terms ol i nitiation into the
Mysteries, so can Lpictetus use the same language lor a commitment to moral
75
translormation. He compares students who come to the task ol philosophy
"without the help ol the gods" and who simply learn opinions without pptting
them i nto practice to those " impious people" who "vulgarize the Mysteries" at
Lleusis by parodying them without attention to what the sacred rites demand
]
i. iiq). "Nay, but a man ought to come to philosophy| also with a sacrihce,
and with prayers, and aher a prel iminary purihcation, and with his mind pre-
disposed to the idea that he will be approaching holy rites, and holy rites ol
great antiquity. nly thus do the Mysteries become helplul [ophelima] , only
thus do we arrive at the impression that all these things were establ ished by
men ol old time lor the purpose ol education [epi paideia] and lor amendment
ol our l i le [epanorthosei tou biou]" . zi. iqi).
1HL lHILSlHLK AS CO`S MLSSLNCLK
ne ol the best known ol Lpictetus` Discourses is "n the Calling ol the
Cynic" . zz), a splendid example ol a protreptic discourse urging students to
the highest ideals ol the philosophical li le. ` ecause he was addressing stu-
dents all too willing to take the easy path ol merely verbal learning and thereby
seek the status ol being called philosophers, Lpictetus locuses on the demands
and hardships ol this lile. Irom hi s other discourses it is clear that he does not
expect such a radical commitment lrom his studentsor even totally lrom
himsellbut he sets belore hi s students and hi msell the ideal as the standard by
which their mutual progress is to be measured.
ecoming a Cynic, he insists, is a matter not ol externalsol dress or style ol
speechbut ol a li lelong commitment to virtue, to the translormation ol the
sell. 1he true Cynic, indeed, must be called by Cod (Discourses, . zz.zS)`' and
must keep his own governing principle (hegemon ikon) pure z. izz). 1he
Cynic does not serve the sell but is, rather, sent as a scout (kataskopos) lrom Cod
to humans, a witness who will speak the truth no matter what the cost .zz.zqz).
In lulhlling this lunction, the philosopher imitates Oiogenes and Socrates. 1he
hrst mode ol witnessing is through speech. the one who sees clearly must speak
clearly to others, and Lpictetus provides a sample ol a "Socratic speech" pro-
vided by the "messenger and scout" to the crowds . zz. zqq).
Witness is not, however, simply a matter ol speech. 1he Cynic must be able
to oller hi s own li le as an example lrom which others can learn (Discourses,
. zz. qq). His li le is like a moral lympics, in which the athletic struggle to
live according to reason is constant . zz. oz). 1o so present onesell to the
world is a deeply dangerous proposition, so capable are humans ol sell-deception.
It is necessary to know onesell and to be in accord with the deity . zz. i).
Religion as Morl Trnsfonation
ecause it i s so demanding, i n turn, the calli ng ol the Cynic i s lonely and
demands sell-sulhciency. 1he Cynic does not have lriends . zz.z) or
lamily . zz. Syy). lnstead, he takes on all ol humanity as the lamily that he
serves . zz.yySz). 1hi s i s, i n truth, the best ol all political i nvolvements
. zz. SS).
Lpictetus acknowledges that such a witness requires certai n natural endow-
ments, such as a ht body that enables hi m to endure dilhcult ci rcumstances
with radi ant health (Discourses, . zz. SS) and a wit and charm that enable
his challenge to be heard as attractive rather than repulsive . zz. oz).
1hese are, however, accidentals. 1he essence ol such witness is the phi loso-
pher`s purity ol intention and constant application to the truth . zz. q),
which makes ol hi m a general , a commander ol other humans who i s able to
di rect the l ives ol others without meddl i ng . zz. y) because he is con-
cerned not with his own gain or reputation but solely with moral purpose
. zz. iooio).
Lpictetus hi msell did not go about in the manner ol the ideal Cynic, a wan-
derer without lriends or lamily. He eventually) married and adopted a child.
And he strayed at hi s post in the classroom, teaching generations ol young stu-
dents. ut his words were spread abroad, as was the example ol his simple and
sincere li le, inspiring readers who come upon them thousands ol years aher his
death to seek to adopt as he did the ideal ol being a scout and messenger sent by
Zeus to humans lor their wellare. 1hat this ideal was one he sought to l ive out
is clear lrom the words he uses i n several passages about himsell. He lrequently
invokes the "Hymn ol Cleanthes," whose words summarize a l i le ol obedience
to Cod. "Lead thou me on 0 Zeus and Oestiny" (Discourses, z. z. qz).'" His
concludi ng words "n lrovidence" i.i) are memorable.
Are these the only works ol providence in us? Nay, what language is adequate
to praise them all or bring them home to our minds as they deserve? Why, il
we had any sense, ought we be doing anything else, publicly and privately,
than hymning and praising the Oeity, and rehearsing His benehts? ught we
not, as we dig and plough and eat, to sing the hymn ol praise to god? "Creat
is Cod, that he hath lurnished us these instruments wherewith we shall till
the earth. Creat is Cod, that He hath given us hands, and power to swallow,
and a belly, and power to grow unconsciously, and to breathe while asleep."
Jhis is what we ought to sing on every occasion, and above all to sing the
greatest and divinest hymn, that Cod hath given us the laculty to compre-
hend these things and to lollow the path ol reason. What then? Since most ol
you have become blind, ought there not to be someone to lulhll this olhce lor
you, and in behall ol a|| sing the hymn ol praise to god? Why, what else can
I, a |ame o|d man, do but sing hymns to god? Il, indeed, I were a nightinga|e,
I shou|d be singing as a nightinga|e, il a swan, as a swan. ut as it is, I am a
rationa| being, therelore, I must be singing hymns ol praise to god. Jhis is my
task, I do it, and wil| not desert this post, so |ong as it may be given to me to
h|| it, I enjoin you to join me in the same song. (Discourses, 1. 16. 15-21)
77
Lqually i mpressive are these obviously personal) words in hi s discourse "n
1hose Who Leave School ecause ol lllness".
As lor me, I wou|d lain that death overtook me occupied with nothing but my
own mora| purpose, trying to make it tranqui|, unhampered, unconstrained,
lree. 1his is what I wish to be engaged in when death hnds me, so that I may
be ab|e to say to Cod, "Have I in any respect transgressed thy commands?
Have I in any respect misused the resources that thou gavest me, or used my
senses to no purpose, or my preconceptions? Have I ever lound any lau|t with
thee? Have I b|amed thy governance at a||? I le| | sick, when it was thy w| ||, so
did other men, but I wi||ingly. I became poor, it being thy wi l|, but with joy.
I have held no olhce, because thou did not wi|| it, and I never set my heart
upon olhce. Hast thou ever seen me lor that reason great|y dejected? Have
I not e.er come belore Jhee with a radiant countenance, ready lor any in-
junctions or orders that Jhou mightest give? And now it is Jhy wi|l that I
|eave this lestiva|, I go, I am lull ol gratitude to 1hee that thou hast deemed
me worthy to take part in this lestiva| with Jhee, and to see 1hy works, and
to understand thy governance." e this my thought, this my writing, this my
reading, when death comes upon me. (Discourses, 3- 5.7-11)
Ael ius Aristides and Lpictetus have provided us with clear and strong i mpres-
sions ol the hrst two ways ol being rel igious in the Creco-Koman world. 1hey
have, indeed, much in common. oth are optimistic concerning the presence
and power ol the divine withi n the empirical world and are conhdent that the
divine dynamis is available to humans lor their beneht. oth consider salvation
as a matter ol health and i ntegrity in the present l i le. 1hey di ller mainly in the
perceptions concerning the location ol the divine dynamis and its mode ol
operation. Ior Ke| igiousness A, the power is external to humans and touches
them through lorms ol rel igious mediation. Kel igiousness , as exempl ihed in
LpicIetus, neither denies nor scorns that lorm ol power but is lar more con-
cerned with the divine dynamis as immanent within human activity and ex-
pressed through moral translormation.
Neither Aristides nor Lpictetus, I suggest, would understand or appreciate a
lorm ol religiosity that sought sa|vation through escape lrom the world, out ol
Religion as Moral Transformation
the conviction that the divine dynamis was not to be lound either in the cosmos
or in human consciousness. lndeed, Lpictetus gives voice to such a sensibil ity
through one ol his hctive interlocutors. "Lpictetus, we can no longer endure to
be imprisoned with this paltry body . . . . Are we not in a manner akin to god,
and have we not come lrom Him Suller us to go back whence we came, suller
us at last to be lreed lrom these letters that are lastened to us and weight us
down", he answers, "Men, wait upon Cod . . . . Stay, nor be so unrational as to
depart" (Discourses, i. . iziy). ln the next chapter, we shall encounter such an
"escape lrom the world" rel igiosity in lul l-blown lorm in the Poimandres.
6
-
RELIGION AS TRNSCENDING THE
WORD: POIMNDRS
1he lorms ol rel i giosity represented respectively by Aelius Aristides and
Lpictetus are robustly positive toward the visible world as the arena lor divine
dynamis power). 1he orator Aristides celebrated his participation i n divine
benehts through prophecy oracles, dreams), sacrihces, and healing. While not
disdaining such external manilestations ol the divine, the philosopher Lpicte-
tus locused on the immanence ol the divine dynamis, whose work was the
moral translormation ol humans. Ior both, the bodyeven when beset with
illness as it was lor both authorswas also evaluated positively. lor Aristides, the
power ol Asclepius was most manilest in the god`s intervention in sustaining
the rhetorician`s body through its manilold troubles, lor Lpictetus, his body was
the instrument ol moral relormation. Lach saw hi s body as the instrument lor
bearing witness to the ellective presence ol the divine dynamis in the world.
Not all in the Creco-Koman world were so positive in their outlook toward
the empirical worldabove all the body. ln this chapter, l consider the evi-
dence lor a third mode ol rel igiosity that l call "the way ol transcending the
world," although it might with equal j ustice be designated as "the way ol es-
cape lrom the world. " Ior this outlook, the body is a much more lundamental
problem than i n either Kel igiousness A or , because a sharp distinction is
drawn between what is material and what is immaterial. the realm ol the divine
is the realm ol spirit the immortal) rather than ol matter the mortal). Humans
are construed i n terms ol an immortal spirit the soul, psyche) that is trapped,
or at least burdened, by a mortal body.
ln contrast to the hrst two types ol rel igious sensibil ity, lor which embodied
and mortal existence is simply a given, then, this third sort ol reli giosity regards
human existence as at once tragic and exalted. lt is tragic because something
79
80 Religion as Transcending the World
inhnitely worthwhile that participates in the divine is trapped in the body and
is in peril ol being destroyed by the body`s downward tropism. lt is exalted be-
cause that most precious psyche does participate i n the divine and can hnd its
way back to its source in the realm ol immortal spirit. 1he authentic sell i s to be
identihed not with the empirical body that acts in the world but with an inner
spirit that seeks release lrom its material encasement. Salvation, in this perspec-
tive, is not understood i n terms ol security and success in worldly endeavors as
in 1ype A) or i n terms ol the translormation ol habits lrom vice to virtue as in
1ype ) but consists i n the immortal soul `s release lrom its mortal prison.
1his more complex understanding ol the human situation requires, i n turn, a
mythological underpinning distinct lrom the stories ol the gods that did service
lor Keligiousness A or even the philosophical reinterpretation ol those tales that
served the cause ol moral translormation i n Kel igiousness . 1his third way ol
being reli gious pays considerable attention to the mythic accounts that answer
the lundamental questions ol cosmology where did we come lrom), eschatology
where are we going), and ethics what is the path back home). And since the
authentic sell`s lundamental "problem" is its imprisonment in the body, the way
toward l iberation logically involves modes ol purihcation lrom the body.
Poimandres, an anonymous revelatory compositionprobably lrom the mid-
second centuryholds hrst position i n a collection ol writings called the Her-
metic l iterature. lt is the lullest and best representative ol this way ol being
rel igious i n the Creco-Koman world and, li ke Aristides and Lpictetus, has been
chosen precisely because ol its exemplary character. elore examining Poiman
dres, however, it is helplul to trace some ol the obscure roots ol this religious
sensibil ity, as wel l as the character ol the Hermetic l iterature.
LAKLY 1KACLS
We catch gl impses ol this rel igious sensibil ityor, more precisely, elements
ol this sensibil ityi n three phenomena, each ol which presents distinct and
dilhcult critical issues. rphism, the Cult ol Oionysius, and lythagoreanism.
Scholars are divided concerning the dehnition and dating ol each ol the phe-
nomena and the possible interconnections among them. l touch on each here
only to identily the problems and to isolate those elements in each that jus-
tily seeing it as a possible source lor the sensibil ity we see so well lormed in
Poimandres.
1. rphism draws its name lrom rpheus, a pre-Homeric poet and lyre
player who, accordi ng to legend, descended into the underworld to recover his
wile, Lurydice, but lost her because he disobeyed the instruction ol lersephone
Religion as Transcending the World
not to look back, another myth concerning rpheus had hi m torn to pieces ei-
ther by women ol 1hrace or by lemale devotees ol Oionysius. ' Critical ques-
tions concern the degree to which "rphism" represented a coherent view ol
lile, much less an organized Mystery cult, and how much it may have inhu-
enced other, related, movements. 1he questions are dilhcult because ol the
extremely lragmentary and variegated character ol the evidenceboth archae-
ological and l iterary. No one today subscribes to the sort ol "lan-rphism" that
encompasses all the Mysteries, including Christianity. Scholars tend rather to
locate themselves between a strong synthetic view, which emphasizes points ol
continuity and argues lor a di stinct rphic rel igion, and the opposing analytic
tendency, which tends to deny any essential content to the term "rphism. "`
Without trying to solve problems over which generations ol special i sts have
toiled,' it is possible to note some leatures that are commonly associated with
rphism and have some pertinence lor the rel igious sensibil ity lound in
Poimandres: (1) the production ol rphic l iterature such as the Rhapsodies)
enabled the relatively lew people who were literate access to an authoritative
version ol rel igious truth distinct lrom the ritual and speech ol publ ic civic per-
lormance, (2) the myths related in such l iterature claimed an antiquity greater
than that ol Homer and Hesiod and represented a darker representation ol
theogony, ) rphism had a concern lor the luture li le, including teaching
concerning rewards and punishments due souls, q) speaking ol the soul (psyche),
it is the essential sell that can pass, through metempsychosis, through multiple
bodily lorms, with an upward or downward movement, and ) a primary rel i-
gious concern is the purihcation ol the soul through the observance ol certain
practices, such as vegetarianism.
2. rphism has some connections to the cult ol Oionysus, though these are
dilhcult to determine precisely. ` 1he worship ol Oionysus i s ancient and is best
known as a lorm ol a yearly public lestival that was the occasion lor the perlor-
mance ol dithyrambs and then drama see Luripides` Bacchai). 6 1he god Oio-
nysus is associated with lrenzy and ecstasy, a breaking ol psychic and social
roles, and is ohen seen in contrast to the supposedly more rational Apollo Also
ancient is the development ol a cult ol Oionysus that was less publ ic than the
civic lestivals and involved initiation. 1he communal drinking ol wineto the
state ol intoxicationwas always a key element i n the Oionysiac rites. Music,
poe|ry, and dance also drew participants beyond the conhnes ol normal social
restraint to a sense ol participation in a higher state. Oespite the presence ol
sexual symbol ism, it is less clear how much sexual activity beyond ordinary
constrai nts was involved in initiation, although the term Bacchanalia carried
that popular connotation.'
Lven withi n the context ol polytheism, Oionysus is a protean hgure, identi-
hed and merged with a variety ol other deities, both in art and myth. 1hus,
Oionysus can be brought i nto close conjunction with gods as disparate as
Hermes and Artemis. ' " Similarly, traditions concerning Oionysus i ntersect
those dealing with rpheus. oth, lor example, are said to have made journeys
to the underworld. rpheus to seek hi s wile, Lurydice, Oionysus to bring back
his mother, Semele. oth are associated with stories ol dismemberment. ln the
story ol Oionysus Zagreus, the other gods are j ealous ol this son ol Zeus and
Oemeter and arrange to have hi m torn to pieces, the goddess lallas Athena
saves his heart and lrom it Zeus creates Oionysus. rpheus, in turn, is said to
have been torn apart by the Maenads lemale devotees ol Oionysus) when he
paid homage to Apollo in prelerence over Oionysus. ' ' ln connection with these
tales, both Oionysus and rpheus are associated with hopes lor a blessed luture
lile
oth ol them ancient and in large measure obscure, the rphic and Oiony-
siac traditions suggest a "way ol being rel igious" among Creeks and Komans
that sought something more than the benehts made available by the gods in
ordinary li le, that saw something tragic in human l i mitations, that sought some
lorm ol l iberation lrom those limits through ecstasy or other lorms ol purihca-
tion, and that ollered "a walk on the sacred way" aher death to those lew whose
initiation gave them some sort ol experiential loretaste, through knowledge, ol
that luture hope. ' `
3. ln contrast t o the mythic hgures ol rpheus and Oionysus one human,
one divine), lythagoras is a genuinely historical hgure ca. Sooo CL)
although lollowers assigned hi m a divine l i neagewho was born i n Creece,
traveled to Lgypt, and lounded a school in Crotona present-day ltaly, ca. z) . ''
He is renowned as a mathematician whose theories lor example, "all is num-
ber") had a prolound inhuence on llato and others. lt was the "way ol li le"
(bios) establ ished by lythagoras, however, that most inhuenced later pol itical
thinking and showed traces ol elements we have seen also in rphism and the
cult ol Oionysus.
'
`
uilding on the premise that "lriends hold all things in common," lythago-
ras establ ished a community that was lar more structured than the "schools"
that were to meet i n the Academy or the lorch. ' A genuine community ol pos-
sessions enabled the maintenance ol hrm community boundaries both lor ad-
mission and dismissal. Stages ol initiation into lull membership were not unl ike
levels ol initiation into the Mysteries, and like the Mysteries demanded the ob-
servance ol silence. '' 1he teachings ol the master served not as topics lor
examination but as revelatory pronouncements that guided practice i n a truly
ascetical li le, with rules lor diet, sex, clothing, and things sale or unsale to
touch. '
1he key tenet holding everything else together was the conviction that the
essential sell was the soul (psyche) and that this soul moved through successive
existences metempsychosis) either upward away lrom entanglement with mat-
ter) or downward into greater entanglement) . '' 1his tenet explains lythagoras`
reverence lor all l iving beings who had soulsall l iving beings were, in this
se
nse, "lriends"and the number ol commands concerning the soul `s purihca-
tion. 1he lythagorean tradition does not invoke a myth ol origins or ol even-
tual luture bl iss, but the "rel igious" character ol this philosophy is evident in
two ways. it organizes all ol li le, and this organization depends on the apodictic
instructions ol a hgure regarded as divine.
ln the Dialogues ol llato ca. qzyqy CL), there are a number ol passages
that support the position that these traces ol a rel igious sensibil ity were well
known i n classical Athens and that the version we hnd in Poimandres represents
not a new and late creation so much as the luller development ol trends already
present among some Creeks and Komans lor centuries. ln a passage that clearly
alludes to the lythagorean tradition, llato has Socrates say, "l have heard a phi-
losopher say that at this moment we are actually dead, and that the body [soma]
is our tomb [sera]," belore relating an elaborate set ol metaphors about "the soul
ol the ignorant" and the importance ol l iving temperately (Gorgias, qC). ' ln
The Republic, one ol Socrates` i nterlocutors Adeimantus) interjects i nto a dis-
cussion ol justice the "strangest words about justice" that come lrom wandering
priests and prophets who peddle "sacrihces and incantations that| have accu-
mulated a treasure ol power lrom the gods" with the promise ol expiating mis-
deeds qO). 1hese wandering mi nisters "produce a bushel ol books ol
Musaeus and rpheus" that they use in their rituals lor remission ol sins and
"purihcations lor deeds ol inj ustice" both lor the l iving and the dead, to "del iver
us
lrom evils in that other worl d" qLA).
In a discussion on the nature ol the soul in Cratylus, llato has Socrates al-
lude agai n to the position that the body is the tomb ol the soul, "their notion
being that the soul is buried i n the present li le. " He ascribes the view to the
"rphic poets" who held that "the soul is undergoing punishment lor some-
th
ing, they think it has the body as an enclosure to keep it sale, as a prison, and
as the name itsell denotes, the sale [soma] lor the soul , until the penalty is paid"
qooC). ` And in the Laws, Ilato has the Athenian Stranger speak ol tradition
concerning people in the past who relused to perlorm animal sacrihces but
who instead perlormed only "bloodless sacrihces" ol meal and grain, a practice
consistent with their having been lorbidden "so much as to eat an ox". "lrom
hesh they abstained as though it were unholy to eat it or to stain with blood the
altars ol the gods, instead ol that, those ol us men who then existed l ived what
is called as `rphic Lile` [orphikoi bioi] , keeping wholly to inanimate lood, and
contrariwise, abstaining wholly lrom things animate" ySzC). '
1hat llato is not unsympathetic to the rphic-lythagorean perspective is
suggested by two passages in the Phaedo, a dialogue devoted to Socrates` last
moments with his lollowers and subtitled "n the Soul." Lxplaining why sui-
cide is lorbidden, Socrates alludes to "a doctrine that is taught i n secret about
this matter, that we men are i n a kind ol prison, and must not set ourselves lree
or run away" z). More lully, he discourses on how the philosopher "would
not devote himsell to the body, but would so lar as he was able, turn away lrom
the body and concern himsell with the soul " qL), a course he subsequently
elaborates. "And while we live, we shall, l think, be nearest knowledge when we
avoid, so lar as possible, intercourse and communion with the body, except
what is absolutely necessary, and are not hlled with its nature, and keep our-
selves pure lrom it until Cod hi msell sets us lree. And in this way, lreeing our-
selves lrom the loolishness ol the body and being pure, we shall, l think, be
with the pure and shall know ol ourselves all that is pureand that is, perhaps
the truth. Ior it cannot be that the impure attai n the pure" yA). `
1hese traces ol rphic-lythagorean perspectives in the great philosopher
llato not only conhrm the antiquity ol such traditions but also anticipate ele-
ments we meet again in the Hermetic l iterature. a view ol the soul as superior
to and entrapped by the body, a commitment to the "purihcation" ol the soul
through ascetical practices, the hope that this "essential sell" has a luture lile,
a grounding ol such perceptions in revelatory books, a distinction between the
path lollowed by the many and the knowledge given to the lew, and the com-
patibil ity ol this "way ol l i le" with the love ol wisdom, or "phi losophy."
1HL HLKML1IC Ll1LKA1UKL
1he Hermetica is a complex collection ol materials ol Lgyptian provenance
associated with the revealer god Hermeswho was already by the third century
CL merged with the Lgyptian god 1hothwhich consists ol "unlearned"
writings ol a theurgic character largely dealing with magic and astrology) dat-
ing lrom the third century CL and ol "learned" writings ol a revelatory char-
acter deriving lrom second- and third-century Alexandria. lt is the second
kind ol literature associated with the "1hrice-Createst Hermes" (Hermes Tris
megistos) that has primarily won the attention ol scholars, and it is within th
is
collection that we hnd Poimandres. Apart lrom some scattered testimonies
in
pat
ristic and pagan writers, the material comes to us in three lorms. i) the Cor
p
us
Hermeticum itsell, made up ol iy tracts written in Creek, z) the Latin
tractate Asclepius, which was once attributed to Apuleius, and ) some o ex-
tracts lrom the sixth-century CL Anthologium Graecum ol Stobaeusincluding
a lengthy segment ol the tractate Kore Kosmou "eye ol the universe"). '
1he Hermetica take a number ol l iterary lorms. Poimandres is a hrst-person
account ol a revelation received lrom "the Mind ol the Sovereignty" (ho tes
authentias nous) to an unnamed recipient. ther books include discourses
som
etimes dialoguesdirected to individuals, such as lrom Hermes to Ascle-
pius and 1at ll, lV, Xll , Xlll, lV, Asclepius) and lrom Mind to Hermes Xl),
letters lrom Asclepius to King Ammon XVl, XVll), and general discourses as-
cribed to Hermes lll, Vl, Vll, Vlll, lX, X, XVlll) . 1he tractates share a perva-
sive rel igious mood, the motil ol revelation, and a high level ol abstractiontheir
language is rarely concrete or specihcwhich has the ellect ol making them
seem to hoat in a ti meless sphere. Scholars have been able, nevertheless, to
detect both Lgyptian and Creek cultural inhuences. ' ln some tractates~
including Poimandres-it is also possible to suggest a certai n superhcial level ol
acquai ntance with the biblical creation story. `" 1here is not, however, any rea-
son to suppose contact with Christianity. ` ' 1he Hermetica is a manilestation ol
genuinely Centile religion.
esides being generically diverse, the writings in the Corpus Hermeticum are
impossible to lully harmonize in their outlook. ` Scholars typically distinguish
between tractates that are monistic the divine is immanent, spirit pervades all)
and those that are dualistic the divine and world are distinguished, spirit and
body are opposed), with the hrst group also considered more "optimistic" and
the second more "pessimistic." Although this broad distinction has some merit
there are tractates that clearly represent extreme positionsit is more accurate
to say that most ol the tractates are to some extent "mixed" in their teaching,
with elements both ol monism and dualism. `` ln truth, the tractates di ller most
in what might be called their mythological elements cosmogony and eschatol-
ogy) and agree most in their exhortations what humans are to do to be saved).
1he point can be demonstrated through a rapid comparison between monistic
and dual istic tractates, such a review also helps provide a lramework lor a closer
examination ol Poimandres.
L 1he monistic tractates tend to spend the most time developing cosmology,
paying particular attention to the planets lll, lV, Xl) that are connected to the
in
huence ol destiny or late (heimarmene; Xll . i. , XVl. i, Asclepius, z and z).
ln various ways, these tractates declare that "all things are one" (Asclepius, za),
that "god is the source ol all" XI. iiiz), that "all things are lull ol god" XI. i. a),
and that evil is accidental XIVy). Nevertheless, these tractates also recognize a
dual ity in humans (Asclepius, yb). n one side, the soul is immortal VIIIa,
Asclepius, z) and immutable XI. i. qa). 1he soul is hlled with Mi nd and Mi nd
with Cod XI. i. qb). "1he soul is in the body, Mi nd is in soul , Cod is in Mind"
XlI. i. ib). 1he good and the real are not material XIII. ). Mind, in turn, is o|
the very substance ol Cod XII. i. i) and participates i n the good (Asclepius, ia).
Mind can overcome Oestiny XII. i. , XVI).
n the other side is the body, which is material, mutable XI. i. qa), and mor-
tal XIIIq). It is a source ol disorder VIII. ) that can subj ect the mind to itsel|
XII. i. ii). Lvil is inherent in the body (Asclepius, zz), is at the least a burden on
the soul (Asclepius, ), and can drive the soul astray XVI), leading it down-
ward away lrom its true home XVI . S, Asclepius, z). 1he soul is a traveler
that can move upward or downward, away lrom its true place with the divine or
away lrom it through successive existences (Asclepius, iza). Salvation ol the soul
comes through knowledge (gnosis; XIV.i) that is available only to the lew
IX. i. qb, XIII. , Asclepius, io. i. zz). lhilosophy is knowledge ol Cod (Asclepius,
izb), including the way lor the soul to return to its |ully divine condition (Ascle
pius, u), and provides humans with a choice XII. i.y).
1he imperative embedded in these tractates is simply to leave the body
XIIIo), to quit the body in order to j oin the gods XII. i. iz), and to be restored to
divinity (Asclepius, u). Humans are, therelore, to regard the body as alien (Ascle
pius, ua) and to avoid allowing their soul to be shut up in the body XI. z.zia).
1hey must scorn the body (Asclepius, a) and the body`s desires (Asclepius, ua)
and put the body aside (Asclepius, zz). 1hey are to experience the rebirth that
comes through gnosis XII I), which demands ol them that they "stop the work-
ing o| their| bodily senses, and then deity will be born in you" XIII.y). 1hey
approach Cod by leaping clear ol what is corporeal XI. z. zob), which means
avoiding hesh loods (Asclepius, qib). 1hey are to contemplate Cod i n thought
XII. z. zob), because to worship Cod in this manner is to be lree lrom evil
XII. z. zb).
z. When we turn to those tractates usually designated as dualistic and pessi-
mistic, we hnd, perhaps surprisingly, some statements o| a positive character,
such as that Cod made all thi ngs IV. i), Cod lacks nothing VI), Cod sup-
plies all things and is the cause o| all things good VIa), and even matter par-
ticipates in good VI. z). ut these statements tend to get lost withi n negative
evaluations o| the world. "the world i s a mass ol evil , even as Cod is a mass
o|
good" VI. qa). Neither men nor "gods" are good, only Cod is good ll. iqi).
Little actual cosmology appears in these tractates, however, their |ocus is on
the human problem and how to solve it, rather than on an explanation o|
causes. 1hat problem is the divided character ol humans, in which body and
soul stand in opposition to each other lla, ll. S). Cod is the source ol mind
an
d
truth ll. i), and the mind withi n humans is spirit, l ight, mind, truth, and
good ll. izab). 1he pious soul is divine X. ia), and the mind is divine X.z).
|rom the side ol the soul , then, humans bear the image ol Cod lVz). 1he
spirit pertains to Cod or even is Cod ll . q).
utside the realm ol spirit, in contrast, and specihcally i n the realm ol mat-
ter, all is evil VIa). And since the body is made up ol the lour elements Il. u),
they are hlled wi th perturbation VI . ia), and good cannot be lound i n pertur-
bation VIa). 1he material body has no room lor the good, "hemmed in and
gripped as such a body is by evilby pains and griels, desires and angry pas-
sions, delusions and loolish thoughts" Vl. b). lnsolar as a human being is mat-
ter, he is mortal, and man is evil insolar as he is mortal X. iz). 1he soul , then,
is burdened by the body ll. , X. S) and is imprisoned by the body Vllib). ln-
deed, as the physical body grows, so does evil grow X. ib), and it is impossible
in this world lor things to be lree ol evil Vl. a).
1he soul is able to migrate either upward toward Cod or downward toward
evil material ity X.yS). As the true essence ol the human being comes lrom
Cod, so can it return to Cod X. zqz). What is required is "Mi nd" (nous) and
the decision to l ive at the level ol Mind, which means to l ive out the knowledge
ol one`s true identity. Not all humans have "Mi nd" IV. ), there are those with-
out the knowledge (gnosis; Vl. ) that is the virtue ol souls and is incorporeal
X. io). 1hose without such knowledge tend toward ignorance and vice
lV). ut those who share in Mind have gnosis lVq), the knowledge ol
Cod that is salvation X. iq).
1here is a choice available to humans, then, to ascend to their true home or
to descend into deeper al ienation lV). 1hey can choose to be mortal or im-
mortal lV. ). 1hey can begin to make progress toward Cod lVS). 1hey do
this by scorning the body lV), hating the body IV. ), suppressing the senses
X. ), and lorsaking the lamil iar things ol the senses even when they are
needed (lV. , Vl. ). 1hey seek a guide to the house ol knowledge VlIa), un-
derstanding that lreedom lrom the body is ascent to Cod X. i), and that the
knowledge ol Cod is knowledge ol the beautilul Vl. ). 1his turning lrom body
to soul Mi nd/Knowledge) is a kind ol conversion. Keaders are told that they
can "hnd the bright light which is pure lrom darkness, there none are drunken,
but all are sober, and they look up and see with the heart Him whose will is that
with the heart alone should He be seen" VlIa). 1o do this, however, they
must turn lrom the body. "Iirst you must tear oll this garment which you
wearthi s cloak ol darkness, this web ol ignorance, this prop ol evi l, this bond
ol corruption, this living death, this conscious corpse, this tomb you carry
about with you, this robber in the house, this enemy who hates the thi ngs you
seek alter, and grudges you the things which you desire" VlIb).
POIMANDRES
1he tractate draws its title lrom the name ol the revealer, even though the
precise meaning ol that name remains obscure. `' 1he phrase ho tes authentias
nous "1he Mind ol the Sovereignty") lollows the declaration "l am loiman-
dres" z), in apposition and in ellect providing an interpretation ol the strange
word. `` Whatever the meaning ol hi s name, loimandres is clearly the revealer
ol the hrst Cod and is even equated with Cod ), even though he speaks at
times as though he was not and iz) as he discloses saving gnosis to the un-
named prophet. Aher the opening vision i), loimandres guides the prophet
through a revelation consisting ol a cosmogony qii), an anthropology izz),
and an eschatology zqz). 1he myth recital is periodically broken by dialogue
between loimandres and the prophet. nce having received the revelation,
the prophet is commissioned to a career ol preaching to others, a thumbnail
sketch ol which is provided zyz). A hymn ol thanksgiving closes the book
oz).
1he tractate deservedly heads up the Corpus Hermeticum because ol its dis-
tinctive character. (i) it takes the lorm ol a personal rel igious experience, involv-
ing both visions and auditions, z) it provides a narrative lramework lor the
relentlessly didactic tractates that lollow, with a lull cosmogony, anthropology,
and eschatology, ) it contains elements ol specihcally rel igious practice preach-
ing, conversion, prayer), and q) it provides the basis lor a community ol the elect
gathered by such an experience. ln sum, Poimandres provides the mythic structure
that helps make sense ol the sometimes contradictory declarations lound in the
other hermetic tractates. ll the consensus ol scholars concerning Poimandres'
second-century CL date is correct, then it presents us with a religious composition
roughly contemporary with Aelius Aristides and Lpictetus.`
1he myth ol origins must answer two questions ol existential importance. the
hrst is how a realm ol pure li ght and goodness could have degenerated into a
world ol light-resis|ant matter, the second is how humans can at once be dehned
by the darkness ol matter yet retain some element ol light within them. 1he
Poimandres myth solves these in typical lashion by interposing stages between
the pure state ol li ght and the lallen state ol material ity. 1he myth thus re-
counts three not entirely compatible moments in the coming to be ol the em-
pi rical world. ln the hrst q), darkness devolves lrom the l i ght and becomes
a
wet and smoky substance lrom which emerge inarticulate cries, a respond-
ing word comes lorth lrom the l ight and organizes the chaos i nto elements ol
hre and air, water and earth. ln the second yS), a vision ol the l ight itsell
discloses an i nhnity ol powers, which organize themselves i nto a kosmos; here
a briel role is played by the personihed boule "wi l l ") ol Cod. ln the third, a
Demiurge is produced lrom the Iather, and hi s creative action brings about
the celestial spheres that serve as the admi nistrators ol destiny (heimarmene;
q-iia).
1hc origins ol humanity are similarly complex. When material things had
been separated out so that they were devoid ol reason iob), Mi nd the maker
brought lorth lrom this mindless material all the animals devoid ol reason and
then made an archetypal Human (anthropos) as a "being l ike to himsell," "his
own ohspring," and "the l ikeness ol the Iather" iz), placing this archetypal
Human over all mi ndless creatures. ut now it gets compl icated. 1he Human
is given by each ol the planetary spheres a share ol their nature ib) and then
begins his tragic lall. Like Narcissus, he sees a rehection ol hi msell in the
mindless matter and wills to dwell there, and materiality, once it had the Hu-
man i n its grasp, "wrapped hi m in her clasp, and they were mingled i n one, lor
they were in love with one another" iq) . At this point, loimandres draws the
critical anthropological lesson lrom the myth. "1hat is why man, unl ike all
other l iving creatures upon earth, is twolold. He i s mortal by reason ol his body,
he is i mmortal by reason ol the Man ol eternal substance. He is immortal, and
has all things i n his power, yet he suhers the lot ol a mortal , being subject to
Destiny. He is exalted above the structure ol the heavens, yet he is born a slave
ol Oestiny, he is bisexual, as hi s Iather is bisexual, and sleepless, as hi s Iather
is sleepless, yet he is mastered by carnal desire and obl ivion" i).
1here lollows a section dealing with the Seven Iirst Men iiy), which may
have been ol importance to the author, but whose signihcance is unclear, apart
lrom serving to separate archetypal origins even lurther lrom present-day hu-
mans. The present human condition begins when "the bond which held all
things together was loosed, by Cod`s design" and humans were divided i nto two
se
xes. Cod commands them to increase and multiply but then adds, "Let the
man who has mind i n him recognize that he is immortal, and that the cause ol
death is carnal desire" iS). 1he seductive power ol material ity, which drew
Mind in the hrst place away lrom its place ol origin and i nto entrapment, we
ar
e to understand, hnds its most potent expression in the sexual desire between
men and women.
Religion as Trnscending the World
loimandres draws out the implications. "He who has recognized hi msell has
entered i nto that Cood which is above all being, but he who, being led astray by
carnal desire, has set his allection on the body, continues wandering in the
darkness ol the sense-world, sullering the lot ol death" i). 1he reason why
carnal people are lost is obvious. they have chosen to dwell in the primordial
slime. ut what does "recognize himsell" mean lt means recognizing that one
is lrom Light and Lile and that knowing this, "you will go back into Lile and
Light" zi), a lorm ol knowledge that comes to the holy and pure and good but
not to all men zz). Such insight demands a li le ol asceticism. "elore they give
up the body to the death that is proper to it, they loathe the bodily senses,
knowing what manner ol work the senses do. Nay, rather l mysell, even Mind,
will not suller the workings ol the body by which they are assailed to take ellect,
l will keep guard at the gates, and bar the entrance ol the base and evil work-
ings ol the senses, cutting oh all thought ol them" zz). Such purihcation de-
mands as well keeping away lrom those who l ive according to the demands o|
the senses z).
Lschatology is the hnal part ol the revelation. loimandres explains how the
material body will itsel l be changed alter death, and the bodily senses will go
back to their source in matter zq). 1hen "the human mounts upward through
the structure ol the heavens," and as the soul passes through the seven plane-
tary zones, it progressively sheds the aspects ol material ity that obscure the
light. i) sensual desire, z) evil cunning, ) deceitlul lust, q) domineering ar-
rogance, ) unholy daring and rash audacity, ) strivings alter wealth, and y)
lalsehood that seeks to harm z). 1he soul then ascends to the eighth sphere,
where it joins the others already waiting there i n singing hymns to the Iather.
`^nd being made l i ke to those with whom he dwells, he hears the powers, who
are above the substance ol the eighth sphere, singing praise to Cod with a voice
that is theirs alone. And therealter, each i n his turn, they mount upward to the
Iather, they give themselves to the powers, and becoming powers themselves,
they enter into Cod. 1his i s the good, this is the consummation, lor those who
have got gnosis" za).
Having disclosed the threelold truth ol lrom whence humans came, where
they are going, and how they can get there, loimandres commissions the prophet
to make himsell a guide to those who are worthy to receive the gilt, "so that
mankind may through you be saved by Cod" zb). eing hlled with power,
"and having been taught the nature ol all that is, and seen the supreme vision,"
the seer begins preaching to others "the beauty ol piety and the knowledge o|
Cod" in terms that are classic lor rel igious conversion. "Hearken ye lolk, men
born
ol earth, who have given yourselves up to drunkenness and sleep in your
ignorance ol Cod, awake to soberness, cease to be sodden with strong drink and
lulled i n sleep devoid ol reason" zS). `' And when some gathcr around him, he
tells them, "Kepent, ye who have journeyed with error, and joined company
with ignorance, and rid yoursell ol darkness, and lay hold on light, partake ol
immortality, lorsaking corruption" z). Some rej ected his call, but others "be-
sou
ght me that they might be taught" and the seer became "a guide to mankind,
teaching them the doctrine, and how in what wise they might be saved" z). `
1he tractate concludes with the seer declaring that having "become god-
inspi red, l attained to the abode ol truth," and composing a hymn ol praise
to Cod 31). `' He then prays "that l may never lal l away lrom that knowledge ol
1hee which matches with our being" and that he might "enl ighten those ol my
race who are i n ignorance, my brothers and thy sons" (32).
ln Poimandres-to say nothing ol the rest ol the Hermetic l iteraturewe have
the perlect expression ol Kel igiousness C. the divine dynamis is not lound in
the material processes ol the world but only in the realm ol immortal spirit and
light. Salvation i s rescuing the spark ol l ight that has lallen i nto a bodily prison
and returning it, through asceticism and death itsell, to the realm lrom which
it hrst came. lt is triumph through escape. 1his perspective privileges the soul
and despises the body. lts moral ity is one ol purihcation, and its call i s to the
|ew among humans who can respond to its ascetical demands.
We can, at the end ol this chapter, briehy review the three types ol rel igious
sensibility by imagining Aristides, Lpictetus, and the author ol Poimandres at a
temple ol Asclepius. Aristides would have enthusiastically sung a hymn ol praise
to his savior god lor the healing ol his body and would have gladly ollered a sac-
rihce to his divine benelactor. Lpictetus, in turn, could have participated in the
ritual out ol a sense ol duty to the gods and would in no lashion have despised
the act ol worship, but he would have been lar more concerned with the moral
dispositions he brought to the bearing ol his illness and would, indeed, have
been tempted to make ol Asclepius a type ol the philosopher-physician who
tra
nslormed the sickness ol vice into the moral health ol virtue.
1he author of Poimandres, hnally, would also have thought in terms ol dis-
ease and health see Asclepius, zza) but much more radically. the disease was
the body itsell, and health was lreeing the soul lrom the body`s prison. Hc
would, l think, have regarded Aristides` sacrihce as only another lorm ol bodily
i
mprisonment and would have thought Lpictetus` internal ization lar lrom sul-
hciently radical (Asclepius, 37-38). He may have stood at a distance, ollering
silent prayer, seeking to keep hi s pure thoughts about the divine unallected by
the sound ol songs and the smell ol incense, convinced that "such gilts as these
are unht lor him, lor he is hlled with all thi ngs that exist, and lacks nothi ng,"
and remembering the instruction, "Let us adore hi m rather with thanksgiving,
lor words ol praise are the only ollering that he accepts" (Asclepius, qia).
7
-
RELIGION AS STABILIZING THE
WORD: PLUTARCH
1he lourth way ol being rel igious in the Creco-Koman world is in some ways
the most dilhcult to assess, partly because ol the deep-seated bias that many
Christian scholars bring to it, partly because ol the paucity ol sources lor a
"sensibility"people who lollow this path do not necessarily express their rel i-
gious impulses i n l iteratureand partly because i n many respects it is comple-
mentary to Kel igiousness A "larticipation in Oivine enehts"). l approach my
characterization ol this sensibility by considering the three dilhculties in reverse
order.
1. ln my preliminary prohle ol Creco-Koman religion see Chapter ), l sur-
veyed all the ways in which the divine dynamis was available, not only in the ordi-
nary round ol domestic and public observance in lestivals, sacrihces, meals, and
prayers), but also in the specihc manilestations ol prophecy, healing, the Myster-
ies, and pilgrimage. 1hrongs ol people participated in such religious practices.
Among them were the many in the Creco-Koman world who made such practices
possible, such access to the divine dynamis available. 1hey are the ones who orga-
nized and lunded the lestivals, prepared and carried out the sacrihces, cleaned
and guarded the temples, and provided expertise lor divination and prophecy, they
are the ones who stalled the shrines at Lpidaurus and lergamum, Oelphi and
Oodonna, they ollered their services to the oversight ol rel igious calendars and
leasts, they served as Vestal Virgins and on the board ol lontills. ln short, though
lewer in number than those who sought beneht lrom power made available
through the rituals, there were many whose concern was to support and organize
those sources ol power. 1hey represent, in a sense, the "supply side" ol Keligious-
ness A. ' 1hey are not necessarily easy to see because they "hide in plai n sight"
within the ritual, or they work behind the scenes to make the ritual possible.
93
9
Religion as Stabilizing the World
2. ne reason why such highly visible and active enablers ol religious ritual
remain relatively hidden lrom present-day observers is that their religious iden-
tity so perlectly meshes with the publ ic character ol so much Creco-Koman
observance. We do not hnd them writing revelatory l iterature urging people to
turn lrom visible ritual, such as in the Hermetica, nor do we hnd them urging a
moral expression ol the divine presence, such as in Lpictetus. We might, in-
deed, hnd them writing hymns and prayers to be perlormed in honor ol the
gods i n the manner ol Aristides, but lacking hi s distinctive personal ity, they
would be less likely to attach their name to such ellorts. Ior the most part,
then, we do not hnd the expression ol this rel igious sensibil ity in the lorm ol
l iterature. lnstead, we are required to construct what the sensibil ity must have
been lrom the rich inscriptional evidence lor the participation ol individuals,
associations, and rulers ol every sort as the patrons ol civic rel igion. Such ar-
chaeologically recovered inscriptions not only give us some ol our best inlor-
mation concerning what actually happened in ritual, they also show how
countless people expressed their piety by making ritual possible.
3- A hnal obstacle to appreciating this lourth type ol rel igiosity is the deep-
seated bias ol some Christian theology toward all expressions ol rel igion that
are lormal, publ ic, institutional, and sacramental. ` lnsolar as certai n lorms o|
Christianity dehned themselves in contrast to what was called )ewish legalism
"outward rel igion") in lavor ol the inwardness ol laith, and insolar as these
same lorms have rejected such elements even within Christianity as a distor-
tion ol authentic laith,' it is di lhcult lor scholars shaped by such traditions to
grant that the lorm ol Creco-Koman rel i giosity that hnds expression precisely
in cultic acts and ritual perlormance might be "sincere" or "authentic." 1he
heartlelt devotion ol the ailing Aristides, yes, the noble resignation ol the crip-
pled Lpictetus, yes, the longing lor escape lrom the body by the author o|
Poimandres, yes. all these can be readily appreciated as authentic in conviction
and experience. ut empathy does not extend to the man who seeks a seat in
the College ol Augurs, the mother who places her daughter i n nomi nation
lor the Vestal Virgins, the wealthy patron who sponsors the lanathenaic lesti-
val , or the emperor who builds the Ar Pacis. Yet, the contrast between outer
observance and i nterior disposition has never been a legitimate one. Not only is
there as l ittle l ikel ihood ol assessing the "sincerity" ol a mystic as there is that ol
the patron ol a lestival, there is every reason to suppose that such patronage
expresses a distinctive way ol being rel igious. lt is the task ol this chapter, in
lact, to attempt a sympathetic reading ol the evidence.
1he i mpulses ol this sensibil ity are at once public and conservative. public in
that it supports and enables many diverse lorms ol rel igious observance inso|ar
95
as they express the identity ol the city-state and empire, conservative in that it
regards such observances as critical lor the preservation ol the city-state and
empire. 1he hrst three lorms ol rel igious sensibil ity though| in terms ol indi-
vidual body, either as the arena ol divine power 1ype A and 1ype ) or as the
prison lrom which the authentic sell must be saved 1ype C). 1he type we
consider now thinks in terms ol the social body and the way in which the di-
vine dynamis i s needed lor its stabil ity and success. 1he salvation not ol the
individual but ol society is the point ol rel igion. ln the most positive sense ol
each term, we can even designate this "priestcralt as statecralt," lor the two
aspects are clearly related. cult i n service ol the city/empire, and the city/
empire as the locus lor divine benehcence. 1his lorm ol rel i giousness accepts
completely the ancient premise that rel igion is the glue ol society, so that the
regular, decent, and appropriate honor paid to all the gods can be regarded not
only as the highest lorm ol piety but also as the most noble and altruistic ex-
pression ol citizenship.
ln this chapter, l devote some attention to the way in which the publ ic char-
acter ol Creco-Koman rel igion combined piety and politics and then consider
the ancient writer who comes closest to giving l iterary expression to this sensi-
bil ity, llutarch ol Chaeronea. llutarch, as we shall see, is lar too complex a
hgure to be a simple representative ol anything, but as a rough contemporary ol
the other rel igious hgures we have analyzed, his voice is a necessary addition to
the mix.
MAIN1AININC 1HL Cl1 I COS ANO MLN
1he intricate i nterconnections ol religion and politics can be traced to the
origins ol Creek rel igion. 1he worship ol specihc divine powers probably origi-
nated at the local level , among households and clans, and it probably seemed
equally natural that the male leaders ol such social groups were responsible lor
carrying out the rituals i n honor ol the local deities. ln such lashion, the sacri-
hcial community both expresses and is a model lor the social grouping. ` 1hose
who exercise rule i n the lamily and clan also lead in worship.
With the hrm establ ishment ol the Creek city-state, the cult continues to
express the pol itical reality. )ust as many lamil ies and clans are represented in the
city, so i s there a lamily ol gods that the city as such must worshi p. And as
the sense ol the city as a di stinct entity develops, so does there grow the need to
ensure that all the gods ol the city are honored. Necessarily, then, ritual tasks
need to be articulated in the same manner that other social roles are. 1he city
as a whole becomes the sacrihcial community. ut the pol itical unity ol the
Creek polis dissolves neither the plural ity ol the gods nor the relative autonomy
ol its lree citizens. 1he notion ol leitouTgia, or publ ic service, appl ied equally to
the service ol the state and ol the gods' they went togetherand depended
both on the pressure ol social expectation (noblesse oblige) and the perception
ol citizens that the good ol the polis could require extraordinary service, because
the continuing prosperity ol the citizen and the citi zen`s lamily or clan de-
pended on the security ol the polis.
1he city`s claim to exercise a monopoly on cults was, moreover, constantly
countered by the capacity ol rel igious experience to escape central ized control .
As important as the Mysteries at Lleusis were to Athens, they stayed under the
authority ol two lami l ies, the Lumolpidari , who supplied the Hierophant, and
the Kerykes, who suppl ied 1orchbearers and Heralds. Cult Associations, such
as those connected with Oionysus, also lound ritual expression and lorms ol
social i nteraction outside the city-organized lestivals. Some local cult centers,
lurthermore, took on signihcance larger than an individual city. 1hus we see
an lonian Amphictyony gathered around the cult ol loseidon and, more signih-
cant still , the lylean Amphictyony organized in the sixth century CL around
the Oemeter sanctuary at 1hermopolae and the shrine ol Apollo at Oelphi .
Keligious worship lorged political all iance and a sense ol Creek civil ization
that was larger than the lamily, clan, and even city.'
oth the inclusion ol many gods within the worship ol a city and the exten-
sion ol the worship ol specihc gods outside the control ol specihc cities tended
to enlarge the rel igious imagination ol those who were citizens ol cities i n two
ways. hrst, giving honor to all the gods neglecting none ol them) was ol su-
preme i mportance, lor all the gods were part ol the same extended lami ly that
corresponded to the extended lamily that was the city, second, the worship ol
all the gods served the stabil ity ol the city and indeed ol the world. ecause
"the worl d" worth inhabiting lor the Creeks was increasingly the world ol the
polis, and since the survival and prosperity ol the polis depended directly on the
benehcence ol the gods, rel igious devotion to the gods through the publ ic cult,
in the strictest sense ol the term, was world maintenance. 1hose who made such
worship possible had the right to consider themselves the best and most purely
religious ol all citizens, lor they sought not only private beneht but the good ol
the whole.
Ouring the Kepubl ic, Kome had a complex set ol priesthoods that were simi-
larly enmeshed i n the political lile ol the city. ' " Ior Koman males who were
patrician and wealthy, a li le ol service to the city was expected and also well
rewarded. With skill and good lortune, a young man even a "new man" like
Cicero) could pass through the stages ol the CUTSUS honoTum to ever more
97
important magistracies. _uaestor, Aedile, lraetor, Consul . ' ' Advancement in
the pol itical order could be helped considerably by membership in one ol the
priestly colleges. belore taking on any ol his other roles, )ulius Caesar was
elected to the College ol lontills. ' With the exceptions to be noted later, all
priests were patrician men, although over time some plebeians were included.
lriests were chosen lrom withi n the already existing membership or were
elected. ' `
1he College ol lontills eventually numbered 1 6 and oversaw the widest
range ol Koman reli gious observances as well as giving advice to the Senate on
rel igious decisions. ' ' 1he College ol Augurs also numbered 16. lt discerned the
approval or disapproval ol the gods lor pol itical and mil itary acts and also ad-
vised the Senate. ' ` Similarly involved with prophecy, the Quindecemviri (15-16
members) had charge ol the Sibylline ooks and supervised loreign cults in the
city. ' 1here were also the Fetiales, consisting ol zo members, who were respon-
sible lor the religious aspects ol Kome`s dealings with outsiders, including trea-
ties and the making ol war. '' Less sweeping responsibilities were exercised by
other priesthoods. 1he Frtres Arvales Arval rotherhood, numbering iz) was
an ancient pre-republ ican priesthood that had charge ol the cult ol Oea Oi a, '
and the Potii and Pinarii members ol two lamil ies) managed the cult ol Hercu-
les. 1he Luperci two groups, number unknown) managed the lestival called
Lupercalia. 1
9
1he Salian priests zq in number) perlormed rituals throughout
the city i n March and ctoberthe start and end ol the war season. 1he Sep
temviri Epulones took over lrom the lontills the organization ol ritual leasts lor
the gods. "
ln addition to these administrative boards ol priests, whose decisions and
advice ohen helped shape the pol itical li le ol the city, there were a variety ol
individual priesthoods that were marked by exclusion lrom politics, such as the
Rex Sacrrum, who was prohibited lrom a pol itical career, and the Flamens,
priests ol specihc named gods. ' 1he most sacred was the Flamen Dialis, cho-
sen by the head ol the College ol lontills, the Pontifex Maximus. He was se-
lected to a li letime ol servicewith his wilein the cult ol )upiter. He wore
special clothes and was so surrounded by taboos that a senatorial career was
virtually impossible. Also appointed lor li le were the Flamen Martialis and
the Flamen Quirinales, who perlormed similar cult observances in honor ol
Mars and _uirinus. 1he Mi nor Flamines 1z) were drawn lrom the plebeians
and managed the cult ol i ndividual deities. Iemale representation in this com-
plex web ol priesthoods was restricted with the exception ol the Flaminica
Dialis-the wile ol the priest ol )upiter) to the symbolic lunctions ol Virgins.
1he six Vestal Virgins were chosen lrom patrician candidates between the ages
ol six and io and served a term ol o years, aher which they could return to
normal l i le, they guarded the sacred hearth ol Vesta and took part in other
rituals. ` A group ol plebeian women were designated as Sal ian Virgins num-
ber not known) and j oined in worship with the lontilex Maximus in an annual
sacrihce. '
1he i mpression given by all these lorms ol priesthood is threelold. hrst,
many Komans could be involved over ioo at this upper level) in the adminis-
tration ol the cults, second, the Koman love lor organization is rehected in the
"Colleges" that served both to run rel igion and critical aspects ol the l i le ol
the city, third, the play ol political power was real but dillused and i ntercon-
nected, j ust as was the play ol rel igious power. lt is easy to understand how
those who sought a consolidation ol political power would seek also to control
such priesthoods. 1hus, )ulius Caesar, who was elected to the College ol lon-
tills in yq CL, and was made Pontifex Maximus in CL, also made hi msell
the head ol the College ol Augurs on becoming dictator in q CL. `
1he pol itical signihcance ol the rel igious priesthoods is indicated as well by
the way in which Caesar Augustus gathered all the important ones to himsell
as impertor.26 ln the Res Gestae, publ ished when he was y, Augustus high-
lights the contributions he made to the rel igious l i le ol Kome. ' He had served
as Senator lor qo years but had also been Pontifex Maximus, head ol the Col-
lege ol Augurs, a member ol the Quindecemviri Sibylline ooks) and the Arval
rotherhood, and one ol the Titii Sodales identity unknown) and ol the Fe
tiales y). He had, i n other words, combined i n hi msell every important olhce
ol religious oversight. Irom those positions, he built and restored temples i-
zo) in the city, on his own land zi), and throughout Asia z), he was prayed lor
by the colleges ol priests and the people, even having his name inserted into
the hymn ol the Sal ian lriests io), he carried out sacrihces ii) and con-
structed the magnihcent Ar Pacis Altar ol leace), most i mpressive, with the
Quindecemviri, he i naugurated in iy CL the Secular Cames, which had the
exact opposite rel igious signihcance than the same words would mean in present-
day parlance. lt is easy to regard Augustus` gathering ol religious olhces as a cyni-
cal manipulation ol the state`s power, and it is naturally impossible to assess his
internal dispositions. ut lrom the perspective ol Kel igiousness O, it could also
be regarded as a supreme act ol piety through which the emperor helped secure
the Koman world by maintaining devotion to all the traditional Koman gods.
In lact, however, Augustus` concentration ol rel igious authority in himsel|
through the traditional Colleges ol lriests) could have had only minimal real
ellect on the rel igious li|e ol the empire as a whole, which continued to hourish
independently in all the complex ways that it had belore. ' 1here were multiple
99
temples and cults and priesthoods in every city, all ol them supported by local
patronageoccasionally supplemented by emperorsand all ol them with local
deities to worship as well as those honored throughout the empire as a whole. `"
Lach province ol the empire, i n turn, had its own rich ecology ol rel igious prac-
tice and custom, ollering multiple opportunities lor citizens to exercise civic
virtue and rel igious piety simultaneously through participation in local and re-
gional priesthoods. `' Iar more important lor the political cohesion ol the em-
pire than Augustus` assumption ol multiple priesthoods was the development ol
the imperial cult. Iirst the emperors and then the imperial lamilies were em-
braced by religious associations across the entire empire, as close as Sparta and as
lar away as Caul. `
1HL MANY-SlOLO ILU1AKCH
l the individuals we have considered, llutarch is by lar the most complex
and, ultimately, inhuential. He was born into a wealthy and well-connected
lamily i n the town ol Chaeronea in oeotia east central Creece) in q/q CL. ``
Hi s lather, Autobulus, was himsell a biographer and philosopher. `' llutarch
had two brothers, Lamprias and 1imon. `` llutarch studied mathematics and
philosophy in Athens in y under Ammonius ol Lamptrae, a llatonist with
a strong Aristotelian bent. He traveled extensively in Creece, Lgypt, and Asia
Minor, gathering a vast amount ol learning wherever he went. He lectured
publ icly in Kome on Ilatonic lhilosophy and enj oyed Koman citizenship. ln-
deed, he was granted the largely honorihc) title ol Lx-Consul by the emperor
1raj an. lt is less li kely that he was made governor ol Creece by Hadrian, but he
did take the role ol chiel magistrate i n hi s hometown ol Chaeronea and hlled a
number ol other local magistracies. ln , he was appointed priest lor l i le at the
ancient shrine ol Apollo at Oelphi . While holding that position, and becoming
the lather ol lour sons, he also taught philosophy in the school he had estab-
li shed in his home. He died around 120 CL. His nephew, Sextus, was a lriend
and an i mportant inhuence on Marcus Aurel ius. `
llutarch enj oyed a long and distinguished career as a writer. Many ol his
works have been lost, but what remains is substantial and impressive. `' 1he
lectures, dialogues, essays, and collections ol anecdotes are gathered together
under the general rubric ol Moralia. Hi s Parllel Lives of Greeks and Romans
contains o biographies, q in the lorm ol comparative matches e.g. , Oemos-
thenes and Cicero, Alexander and )ulius Caesar) and lour standing alone.
1here is a material connection between the two bodies ol writing, since Ilutarch
used some ol the Moralia to stockpile the raw material used also in the Lives. 38
100 Religion as Stabilizing the World
llutarch deserves attention on hve basic counts. (1) his writings are l iterarily
diverse and have had a great impact on Western culture, both as a source lor
Shakespearean drama and as a theorist ol education,`' (2) hi s works contain a
simply astonishing amount ol specihc lore about antiquity that remains ol hrst
importance to students ol Creek and Koman Culture,' (3) he i s a signihcant
hgure in the development ol llatonism, blending a devotion to llato`s vision ol
real ity with a thoroughgoing use ol Aristotelian logic and ethics,'' q) he is a
persuasive and olten charming moral teacher, whose dissection ol vices and
virtues remains ol enduring value lor their psychological insight,' ) he is an
astute student ol rel igion, bringing a philosophical disposition to the traditional
practices ol Creco-Koman piety.
lt is this last aspect that makes llutarch ol interest to my investigation ol the
ways ol being rel igious in the Creco-Koman world. ut where exactly does he
ht withi n these discrete rel igious sensibil ities He does not ht comlortably
within Keligiousness A. although he was probably initiated into the Oionysian
Mysteries (Isis and Osiris, 35) and was a priest ol Apollo at Oelphi , there is l ittle
evidence anywhere in his writings ol the sort ol personal devotion to a deity
exhibited by Aristides. More signihcant, he never speaks ol reli gious observance
in terms ol a personal participation in divine benehts. His is also clearly not the
sort ol sensibil ity we have seen in Kel igiousness C. Oespite his alhrmation ol a
llatonic vision ol the soul and its alterl i le, nothing in his writings suggests a
desire to withdraw lrom the complexities ol worldly l i le in the body or a detesta-
tion ol social engagement.
Ooes llutarch, then, ht withi n Kel igiousness , the way ol moral translorma-
tion, so wonderlully displayed by the philosopher Lpictetus ne might be
tempted to so categorize one ol antiquity`s great moralists, and there is no doubt
that the author ol Prgress in Virtue considered such moral translormation im-
portant. What is striking in all ol his moral treatises, however, is their lack ol
rel igious discourse. although he subscribes to the llatonic ideal ol "i mitating
god" through the moral li le,'` he lacks altogether the conviction that the virtu-
ous lile is a lorm ol witnessing to Cod or that the philosopher has the divine
vocation ol healing other humans through moral instruction. And il he lacks
the rel igious sell-preoccupation ol an Aristides that expresses itsell in a simulta-
neously anxious and blisslul devotion centered on Asclepius, he equally lacks
the deeply personal awareness ol living within divine providence that we hnd
in some ol Lpictetus` most moving passages. 1here is, in lact, very little ol "sell"
in any sense that emerges lrom llutarch`s writings, lor an author so prol ihc, we
know remarkably l ittle about hi s interior l i le. ll Aristides and Lpictetus are rel i-
giously "warm," then llutarch is dehnitely "cool."
Religion as Stabilizing the World 101
1he process ol elimination suggests that llutarch does not ht easily in the
other categories, but there are also positive reasons lor picking him to represent
1ype O. religion as stabilizing the world. Iirst, he is a lul l participant in the
accepted social , political, and religious lorms. Unl ike Aristides, he accepts rather
than reluses the responsibil ity ol exercising civic magistracies. He not only
serves as a priest ol Apollo at Oelphi but shows a remarkable level ol commit-
ment to the administration ol the shrine, expending considerable ellort and
unquestionably personal lunds) to improve the site and return it to its lormer
prestige.'' He is an advocate lor the cult over which he has been assigned super-
vision. Second, he is a student ol rel i gion as such, particularly in its social di-
mension, among the authors we have reviewed, he comes closest to a concern
lor the way rel igion allects the well-being ol the social order rather than the
beneht it brings to an individual.'` 1hird, a substantial number ol his rel igious
compositions are based on specihc aspects ol cult, his "philosophical religion"
is not one that replaces bodily gesture with ideas but rather seeks to think
rightly about bodily gesture.
lIL1 ANO 1HL lKLSLKVA1IN I CIVILIZA1IN
ecause my treatment ol llutarch`s olten lengthy religious writings is necessar-
ily briel, I begin this discussion with an overview that can help guide the reader
through the subsequent discussion ol specihc texts. ln good Aristotelian lashion,
llutarch locates the ideal ol genuine religious virtue between the extremes ol
two religious vices. 1he virtue is "piety" (eusebeia), which involves both an ap-
propriate employment ol religious rituals and a philosophically appropriate way
ol thinking about the gods. 1he extreme on one side is "superstition" (deisidaimo
nia), which consists ol an obsessive and learlul observance ol religious rituals,
and thinking wrongly even wickedly) about the gods. 1he extreme on the other
side is "atheism" (atheotes), which dismisses the traditional gods with i ntellec-
tual contempt and withdraws lrom participation in traditional cult.
S UPERS TI TI ON
l the two vices, llutarch regards superstition a s the worse. He takes up the
subject expl icitly i n his relatively briel work, On Superstition (peri deisidaimo
nia$), which takes the lorm ol a straightlorward lecture Mor. , iqLiyiI).' He
begins with a comparison and contrast between superstition and atheism. oth
express " ignorance and blindness with regard to the gods," and both are the sort
ol error that have real consequences lor li le. Atheism is lound mostly i n "hard-
ened characters" while superstition hourishes among "tender characters" (On
Superstition, 1). The atheist's rejection of the existence of the gods leads to a
kind of indifference (apatheia); the superstitious person, in contrast, is driven
from start to fnish by fear;47 while the atheist denies that the gods exist, the
superstitious person thinks they exist and "are the cause of pain and injury."
What is wrong here is that properly understood, the gods-or the providence
that works through them-is benefcent and moral. Plutarch nicely summa
rizes: "Whence it follows that atheism is falsifed reason, and superstition is an
emotion (pathos) engendered by false reason" (2).
Superstitious fear is, in fact, the most impotent and helpless of all fears: "he
who fears the gods fears all things, earth and sea, air and sky, darkness and
light, sound and silence, and a dream" (3). Because such fear-we would say
anxiety-is so pervasive and all-encompassing, it affects every aspect of the per
son's life, including religious observances themselves-the shrines to which
people fee for sanctuary, the altars where slaves seek refuge, are the very things
that terrify them the most (4) . The superstitious person not only does harm to
himself; by regarding the gods as the cause of his every calamity, he thinks
wrongly about them: "For he puts the responsibility for his lot upon no man nor
upon Fortune nor upon occasion nor upon himself, but lays the responsibility
for everything upon God, and says that from that source a heaven-sent stream
of mischief has come upon him with full force" (7).
In two passages, Plutarch describes the extreme observances superstition
engenders. It is not simply a matter of carrying out ordinary ritual with an atti
tude of fear; new and bizarre practices are cultivated. The superstitious listen
to "conjurers and imposters" who encourage "magical purifcations," such as
"smearing oneself with mud, wallowing in flth, immersions, casting oneself
down with face to the ground, disgraceful besieging of the gods, and uncouth
prostrations" (3). Plutarch also refers to "magic charms and spells, rushing about
and beating of drums, impure purifcations and dirty sanctifcations, barbarous
and outlandish penances and mortifcations at the shrines" (12). The adjective
"barbarous" (barbaroi) in this last description is revealing: a reason why super
stitious fear is destructive is that it leads to practices that are not Greek-that is,
not part of the civilized order, which for Plutarch is coextensive with the "city of
gods and men."
That this is genuinely on his mind can be seen also in the frst description I
quoted, which is introduced by a quotation from Euripides, "Greeks from bar
barians fnding evil ways" (The Trojan Women, 764) : the religious practices
foisted on the superstitious threaten the integrity of Greek religion and there
fore of Greek culture. Plutarch goes on to observe in the same passage that the
superstitious, rather than singing to the gods in the manner taught by Greek
tradition, "by distorting and sullying one's own tongue with strange names and
barbarous phrases . . . disgrace and transgress the god-given ancestral dignity of
our religion" (On Superstition, 3). And later, after providing sev
eral examples of
how true Greek piety combines the supplication and honor of the gods together
with robust and responsible action, even that of war, he gives a counterexample
from a barbarian people: "But the Jews, because it was the Sabbath day, sat in
their places immoveable, while the enemy were planting ladders against the
walls and capturing the defenses, and they did not get up, but remained there,
fast bound in the toils of superstition as in one great net" (8).48
The fnal social consequence of superstition is that it actually encourages
atheism in others. Indeed, says Plutarch, the superstitious person "by prefer
ence would be an atheist, but is too weak to hold the opinion about the gods he
wishes to hold" (On Superstition, 11). Instead, driven by fear of the gods, the
superstitious person acts in such an offensive fashion as to give religion itself a
bad name: "All these [superstitious activities] give occasion to some to say that
it were better that there should be no gods at all than gods who accept with
pleasure such forms of worship, and are so overbearing, so petty, and so easily
offended" (12). Plutarch thinks it is as unholy (anosion) to have a mean opinion
of the gods as to speak meanly about them (11) and says, "Hence it occurs to me
to wonder at those who say that atheism is impiety [asebeia] and do not say the
same thing about superstition" (10). In short, superstition is not simply an indi
vidual spiritual pathology; it has deleterious social consequences.
Superstition is a concern also in one of Plutarch's longest works on the topic
of religion, Isis and Osiris (Mor., 351C-384C), dedicated to Clea, a woman who
served with him as a priestess at Delphi, who had been consecrated by her
mother and father to the holy rites of Isis (Isis and Osiris, 35).49 The treatise
contains a wealth of information about the specifcs of the cult, but it is as an
occasion for Plutarch's thought on true religion that I fnd it valuable for this
study. In light of the connection between superstition and barbarism that he
drew in On Superstition, we can understand why the cult of the Egyptian god
Osiris (the consort of Isis) might have presented a particul arly daunting diff
culty for Plutarch. On one side, the cult had gained widespread acceptance in
the Greco-Roman world, not least because of the identifcation, already in
Herodotus, of Osiris with the Greek god Dionysus, 50 and the acceptance of him
by the Romans under the title of Serapis, but also because of the popularity of
the goddess Isis. On the other side, the myths associated with Osiris were con
voluted, self-contradictory, and not morally attractive. Plutarch was required to
tread carefully as he led his admired female colleague to a "phil osophical" ap
preciation of the cult to which she had been dedicated.
He begins by asserting hi s two basic principles. hrst, all good thi ngs come
lrom the gods, including knowledge ol them 1); and second, seeking the truth
about the gods is itsell a longing lor the divine (2) . llutarch does not, however,
separate what we would call a "theological " path lrom the highly specihc ac-
tions ol the cult. Key to his argument, indeed, is a concentration on "the things
done" (ta dromena) in the cult more than on the myths associated with the ac-
tions. His strategy i s simple. He seeks to assimilate the cult ol siris to the native
Creek cult ol Oionysus, `' he develops a theory ol how cult actions are them-
selves revelatory, and he advocates the allegorical interpretation ol the myths as
well as the ceremonies). 1he ellect is to move this barbarian cult away lrom su-
perstition and closer to the true piety ol the Creeks.
Iirst, l ike Herodotus, he asserts that siris is " identical with Oionysus" and
argues this on the basis ol similarity in ceremonies i n the two cults. ` the ac-
chic procession, the wearing ol the skins ol animals, the shoutings, and the
movements that are reminiscent ol those i n acchic lrenzy ). At the mythic
level as well , what i s said about siris remi nds llutarch ol Oionysus, "the cre-
ative and lostering spirit" qo). And he lurther aligns ceremonies associated with
lsis with those observed by the Creeks ).
Second, llutarch locuses Clea`s attention not on the extravagant tales ol
siris but on the rituals. 1hey are obscure, but lsis can reveal their wisdom to
those who bear in their souls the sacred writings about the gods "clear ol all
superstition or pedantry" ). He shows hrst how the observances ol the Lgyp-
tian priests, who were themselves wise ), were the source ol wisdom. Iroperly
understood, "nothing that is irrational or labulous or prompted by superstition,
as some bel ieve, has ever been given a place in their rites, but in them are some
things that have practical and moral values, and others that are not without
their share i n the rehnements ol history or natural science" S). 1he ceremonies
are one ol the ways siris liberated the Lgyptians lrom barbarism. he gave
them agriculture, laws, and worship i). lndeed, llutarch asserts that lrovi-
dence has arranged it so that "there have arisen among di llerent peoples, in
accordance with their customs, dillerent honors and appellations lor gods| .
1hus men make use ol consecrated symbols, some employing symbols that are
obscure, but others that are clearer, in guiding the intelligence toward things
divine, though not without a certain hazard" y).
What is the hazard "1hat some go completely astray and become engulled
in superstition, and others, while they hy lrom superstition as lrom a quagmire,
on the other hand lall, unwittingly as it were, over a precipice into atheism"
y). He repeatedly asserts that the role ol the rituals is to teach moral ity lor
those who understand them properly zo, zy, y, qq). ut how is proper under-
standing given Hermeneutics is the third part ol llutarch`s strategy.
He tells Clea, "you must not think that any ol these tales actually happened in
the manner in which they are related" ii). He declares that as a guide in rel igious
Mysteries, we must adopt the "reasoning that comes lrom philosophy" (logos ek
philosophias) in considering "each one ol the things that are said and done" (le
gomena kai dromena) S). 1his means, in ellect, the vigorous application ol al-
legorical interpretation both to myths and rituals, a task that llutarch pursues
vigorously throughout the treatise, turning the ollenses and obscurities ol a bar-
barous religion into prolound moral lessons and natural science. He assures Clea,
"ll, then, you listen to the stories about the gods in this way, accepting them lrom
those who interpret the story reverently and philosophically [hosios kai philoso
phos] , and il you always perlorm and observe the established rites ol worship, and
believe that no sacrihce that you can oller, no deed that you may do, will be more
likely to hnd lavor with the gods than your beliel in their true nature, you may
avoid superstition which is no less an evil than atheism" ii).
ATH E I S M
ne way in which atheism is superior to superstition is that it does not blame
the gods, when evil happens, the atheist looks to other causes (On Superstition,
y). ut llutarch nevertheless regards atheism as much a vice as its opposite.
atheism is a lorm ol impiety (asebeia; io), a bad j udgment with regard to the
divine that leads to a sort ol indillerence ). lt is a sad lack ol sight ), a lorm ol
blindness that prevents the sight ol the gods and, as a result, leads to an incapac-
ity to appreciate the good ) and to a harsh mockery ol rel igious ritual. "the
atheist on these occasions gives way to insane and sardonic laughter at such cer-
emonies, and remarks made to his cronies that people must cherish a vain and
silly conceit to think that these rites are perlormed in honor ol the gods" ).
Still , llutarch thinks it worse to think badly about the gods than to deny them
and, as we saw above, actually blames superstition lor atheism. "Ior thus it is that
some persons, in trying to escape superstition, rush into a rough and hardened
atheism, thus overleaping true religion which lies between" (en meso keimenen
ten eusebeian) iq).
Lgregious atheism in the Creco-Koman world was best exemplihed by the
Lpicureans. llutarch`s anti-Lpicurean treatises provide hi m with the opportu-
nity to expand these ideas lurther. His short essay "ls `Live Unknown` a Wise
lrecept" Mor. , iizSiioL) takes up the Lpicurean maxim lathe biosas
and, in hi s usual polemic mode, shows the sell-contradictions i nherent in the
proposition. `` Among these contradictions is the lact that the philosopher who
coined the maxim did so i n order to be lamous i). llutarch also exploits the
common perception ol the Lpicureans` tight community as an opportunity to
escape detection ol their vice. He declares that l iving privately is hne il one
wants to engage i n secret and shamelul pleasures and contrasts this with his
own ideal ol li le. "ut take one who in natural philosophy extols Cod and j us-
tice and providence, in ethics law and society and participation in public al-
lairs, and in political li le the upright and not the util itarian act, what need has
he to live unknown" q). We notice the combination ol rel igious piety, moral
probity, and political engagement, all ol which are, in llutarch`s view, rej ected
by atheists.
llutarch wrote several other anti-Lpicurean works that are lost, but the two
substantial extant compositions, Against Colotes Mor. , iioyOiizy) and A
Pleasant Life Impossible Mor., ioSCiioyC), show that he continued to press
the same themes with respect to the topic ol atheism. Against Colotes is i n the
lorm ol a lecture del ivered by llutarch and is lar harsher in tone. A Pleasant
Life Impossible is in the lorm ol a dialogue that took place alter his lecture,
principally involving his students Aristodemus and 1heon.
nce more, llutarch dehnes atheism as a kind ol indillerence toward the
gods. Although atheism eliminates superstitious lear, "it allows no j oy and de-
l ight to come to us lrom the gods . . . . We expect nothing lrom them either
good or evi l " (Pleasant Life, zo). llutarch also, however, charges the Lpicureans
with the most bizarre lorm ol religious hypocrisy. they reject the gods ol the
city but construct a pseudo-rel igion around their own lounder (Pleasant Life,
i, iS, Colotes, iy). An even greater hypocrisy is their willingness to enj oy the
benehts ol Creek civil ization, without paying their dues (Colotes, ). llutarch
directly connects the Lpicurean relusal ol publ ic service"shunning olhce
and political activity and the lriendship ol kings" (Pleasant Life, i)with their
denial ol the gods, lor the two are inextricably l i nked. "ll oracles and divination
and divine providence and the allection and love ol parent lor child and pol iti-
cal activity and leadership and holding olhce are honorable and ol good report,
so surely those who say there is no need to save Creece, but rather eat and drink
so as to gratily the belly without harming it, are bound to suher in repute and to
be regarded as bad men" (Pleasant Life, i, see also C% tes, z).
llutarch charges that the Lpicurean teaching that the names ol the gods cor-
responded to nothing has real and grievous consequences. "When you tear
lrom the gods the appellations attached to them and by that si ngle act annihi-
late all sacrihces, mysteries, processions and lestivals . . . these views allect mat-
ters ol the highest and gravest import, and error in them involves real ity, not a
set ol vocables or the conjunction ol meanings or the accepted usage ol words"
(Colotes, 22). 1he "matters ol gravest import" llutarch has i n mind are the ways
in which religious ritual grounds the civili zation ol the Creek- olis. "No praise
accordingly can ever do j ustice to the men who dealt with these brutish leelings
ol animalsi . e. , barbarians| by establ ishing laws and with them states and
governments and a system ol legislation. ut who are the men who nullily
these things, overthrowing the state and utterly abol ishing the laws ls it not
those who withdraw themselves and their disciples lrom participation in the
state" i). Ior llutarch, the worship ol the gods is the essential element in the
consti|ution ol the state. "ln your travels you may come upon cities without
walls, writing, king, houses or property, doing without currency, having no no-
tion ol a theatre or gymnasium, but a city without holy places and gods, without
any observance ol prayers, oaths, oracles, sacrihces lor blessings received or rites
to avoid evils, no traveler has ever seen or will ever see. No, l think a city might
rather be lormed without the ground it stands on than a government, once you
remove all religion lrom under it, get itsell establ ished or once establ ished sur-
vive" i). ll superstition has as its social consequence a reversion to barbarism
even withi n the structure ol civilization, atheism has as its inevitable result the
collapse ol civilization itsell.
P I E TY
lerhaps something ol llutarch`s own rel igious sensibil ity is revealed in his
statement ol del ight in rel igious ritual. "No visit del ights us more than a visit to
a temple, no occasion than a holy day, no act or spectacle than what we see and
what we do ourselves in matters that involve the gods, whether we celebrate a
ritual or take part in a choral dance or attend a sacrihce or ceremony ol initia-
tion." Here, he states, true pleasure is to be lound. "when it is a least held on the
occasion ol some sacred rite or sacrihce, and when they believe that their
thoughts come closest to Cod as they do hi m honour and reverence, it brings
pleasure and sweetness ol a lar superior kind" (Pleasant Life, 2i).
llutarch`s lile as a priest and philosopher at the shrine ol Apollo at Oelphi
enabled hi m to combine a dedication to the ritual dimension ol rel igion to-
gether with an i nterpretation ol it in l ight ol the highest conceptions ol the di-
vine. Lach ol the rel igious compositions written lrom the context ol Oelphi in
addition to Isis and Osiris) shows this combination as well as a l ingering desire
to delend traditional rel igion against the atheistic challenge ol Lpicureanism.
His dialogue On the Delay of the Divine Vengeance Mor. , qSS),`' lor
example, takes place in the colonnade at the shrine, llutarch engages three
interlocutors in a discussion ol the objections hurled against divine providence
by a certai n "Lpicurus," who had leh just belore the conversation began and
whose attack had apparently locused on the delay i n the j udgment ol the wicked.
llutarch delends providence against the charge ol delay and at the end ol the
dialogue presents a mythic account ol luture lile in which people hnd their ap-
propriate destiny.
Hi s dialogue on The E at Delphi Mor. , SqOqC) takes its start lrom one
ol the inscriptions that greeted visitors to the oracle, together with such other-
wise well-known ones as "know thysell" and "nothing too much. " 1he actual
inscription was EI and was sulhciently mysterious to give rise to multiple pos-
sibilities, lrom the banal the god used the hlth letter ol the Creek alphabet to
certily the number ol sages or the importance ol the number hve i n mathemat-
ics) to the subl ime the letters lorm the singular verb "thou art" and address the
god as eternal). More important than any ol the specihc answers is llutarch`s
conviction that "the god is no less a philosopher than a prophet" z) and that
even the minutiae ol the shrine`s ritual can yield prolound meaning.
ln his dialogue The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse Mor. ,
qO~qoO), llutarch places in the mouths ol a group ol Oelphi habitus~
some ol them lunctioning as guides who explain the lurnishings ol the site
statues, i nscriptions) to visitors z)a conversation concerning what appears to
be a sig

ol decline i n the shrine, which was, despite llutarch`s earnest ehorts,
not in its time ol greatest glory. ln llutarch`s time, more ordinary people sought
straightlorward guidance lor their l ives, in the old days, kings and rulers came
on matters ol great i mport. Correspondingly, oracles lormerly were del ivered in
the lorm ol hexameters, whereas in llutarch`s day they were spoken i n simple
prose. 1here is some urgency to the issue, caused by the presence ol a mathe-
matician named othus, who was "changing his allegiance in the direction ol
Lpicureanism" and was willing to mock the oracle as a purely human phenom-
enon ). llutarch saw this as mi l itating against "conhdence i n the oracle, since
people assume one ol two things. either that the prophetic priestess does not
come near the region in which is the godhead, or else that the spirit has been
completely quenched and her powers have lorsaken her" iy). His instinct is
"not to show hostil ity towards the god, nor do away with his providence and di-
vine powers together with his prophetic gilt, but we must seek lor explanations
ol such matters as seem to stand i n the way, and not rel inquish the reverent
laith [eusebeia] ol our lathers" iS). Hi s di scourse, then, is at once a delense ol
Cod`s providence, the shrine`s power, and true piety`s capacity to avoid the ex-
tremes ol atheism and superstition o).
llutarch laces a similar issue in the dialogue The Obsolescence of Oracles
Mor. , qoLqSL), namely, the lact that so many oracles across Creece have
ceased to lunction ). 1hough less obviously, the shadow ol atheism also lalls
across this topic. "Lpicureans, because ol their admirable nature-studies, have
an arrogant contempt, as they themselves aver, lor all such things as oracles"
q). And once more, llutarch`s argument, though convoluted, comes down to
a delense ol divine providence. He wants to avoid the conclusion that i l a natu-
ral cause can be lound, then there must be no divine cause S). 1herelore, he
argues that just as i n the case ol poetry versus prose in which the god was seen
to adapt to the human capacities ol the prophetess, so in the case ol lewer pro-
phetic shrines the answer must be sought in divine accommodation. the rela-
tive depopulation ol Creece i n their day means that lewer oracles are required
to meet the people`s needs S). llutarch holds in his theory ol inspiration as in
other religious matters lor two causes, human and divine qS). 1o assert only
the human is to lall into atheism, to assert only the divine is to lall into supersti-
tion. liety asserts both, and philosophy seeks how the two work together.
Like the other hgures l have chosen to represent the ways ol being rel igious in
the Creco-Koman world, llutarch is unusual. lt i s unlikely that other priests at
Oelphi wrote i n delense ol divine providence or attacked the Lpicureans. llu-
tarch was a philosopher as well as a priest. Yet l think his writings support my
decision to place hi m among all those anonymous priests and patrons ol the
cult that l described in the hrst part ol this chapter, as displaying a distinctive
mode ol religiosity. Hi s interest is less personal than it is social, even pol itical.
His appreciation lor the cult is less what it can do lor hi m than what i t does lor
the city-state, hi s sense ol the benehts given by reli gion is not controlled by the
healing ol the individual body but by the stabilization ol the civilized world.
1he divine dynamis is lound above all in the ways providence di rects, through
countless secondary causes, the complex world ol gods and men.
How would llutarch have viewed the other hgures l have described, were he
to encounter them We can easily i magine that he would appreciate Ael ius
Aristides` robust alhrmation ol the Creek way ol l i le within the Koman order~
llutarch also was pleased at the Koman peace (Orcles at Delphi, zS) and
would have taken delight i n the manner in which Aristides wove together the
destiny ol the gods and ol Athens in his Panathenaic Ortion. He would, how-
ever, have been uneasy at Aristides` rej ection ol civic responsibilities. And the
intense personal piety ol Aristides would have worried llutarch. 1he orator,
aher all, was one ol those who "wallowed in the mud" and did other extrava-
gant things in response to Asclepius` command. llutarch could well have con-
sidered Aristides to walk uneasily on the border between authentic piety and
superstition.
Although not a Stoic or even an admirer ol Stoicism, llutarch would have
been willing to applaud Lpictetus` embrace ol the traditional rel igious prac-
tices as well as hi s attack on the Lpicureans lor weakening the state by their
atheism. Himsell a teacher ol morals, he would have appreciated Lpictetus`
commitment to his students` progress in virtue. He would also, perhaps, have
lound Lpictetus slightly too intense in his assertions about the kinship ol gods
and men, sl ightly too sell-involved in his understanding ol providence.
Ior the author ol Poimandres, l think that llutarch would have l ittle sympa-
thy. 1his might surprise us il we look only at reli gious ideas, lor as a llatonist,
llutarch also could assert the value ol the soul over the body and picture a lu-
ture li le lor the soul. His antipathy, however, would be directed to the world-
renouncing tendencies ol those whose piety was Hermetic. lnsolar as Hermetic
ascetics despised all bodily lorms, even that ol publ ic worship, they would be,
in llutarch`s eyes, l ittle better than the Lpicureans, who also, lrom a perspec-
tive ol a claimed higher knowledge, withdrew lrom participation in the civic
cults and thereby enj oyed the lruits ol civil i zation without paying the costs ol
actual engagement.
8
-
WAYS OF BEING J EWISH IN THE
GRCO- ROMN WORD
My i nterest in this study is the comparison between the ways ol being reli-
gious i n the Creco-Koman world and the ways ol being Christian between the
hrst and lourth centuries. lt is nevertheless both natural and necessary to de-
vote some attention to )udaism in the same period ol time, lor at least three
reasons. Iirst, Christianity arose as a )ewish sect in the mid-hrst century and
lrom the beginning interpreted itsell with expl icit relerence to the symbol ic
world ol 1orah that it shared with )udaism, the things that made )udaism dis-
tinct within the Creco-Koman world are also the thi ngs that, to a lesser degree,
made Christianity distinct.
Second, although )udaism could be viewed lrom one perspective as the cult ol
an extended lamily "the Children ol lsrael ") and lrom another perspective as a
national religion, I it could and was) also viewed by )ews and Centiles alike as a
Mystery cult and a philosophy among others in the Creco-Koman world. )udaism
makes lor an excellent point ol comparison to the ways nascent Christianity could
be perceived by others and the ways it perceived itsell within the same context.
1hird, across the hrst lour centuries ol the Common Lra, )udaism`s i nternal
development took a turn exactly opposite to that ol its intimate rival. as Christi-
anity over time came to resemble more lully the broad range ol Centile reli-
gions, )udaism pulled back lrom its cultural entanglement with Hellenism and
asserted its ancestral Hebrew traditions even more sharply.
)UOAl SM lN 1HL CKLC-KMAN WKLO
y the time Christianity appeared, the majority ol )ews had lor hundreds ol
years l ived outside lalestine in the Oiaspora. ` We know less about the )ews
III
112 Ways of Being Jewish in the Greco-Roman World
scattered through the territories east ol the empire~descendents ol those exiled
due to Assyrian and then abylonian conquestexcept as can be inlerred lrom
the continuing production ol l iterature in Aramaic among them.' About the
)ews living in North Alrica Cyrene, Lgypt), Syria, Asia Minor, Creece, and lt-
aly, in contrast, we know considerably more, because ol the extensive )ewish
l iterature composed in Creek, the considerable inscriptional evidence, and ob-
servations made about the )ews by outsiders. `
Ior pagan observers who knew nothing about the roots ol the Ioudaioi i n
lalestine~their astounding sanctuary in the city ol )erusalem, their ancient
scriptures i n the Hebrew language, their traditions ol prophecy and kingship~
the )ews would have appeared much l ike other cul tic associations lrom the Last
that had made their way into the Creco-Koman world. Creeks and Komans had
welcomed lrom Lgypt the cults ol lsis and Serapis, and lrom lhrygia the cult ol
the Creat Mother, Cybele. 1he association (synagoge) ol the )ews resembled
in many respects those ol other rel igions. they were hnanced by wealthy pa-
trons, they had a similar organizational structure, and they had instruments lor
the assistance ol members in need 1heir actual rel igious practices, however,
marked them oll as distinct among other cults. 1hey did not, lor example, meet
to oller sacrihce or celebrate cultic meals i n honor ol their deity, their meetings
were devoted to the reading and study ol scriptures and the prayers and hymns
that lormed responses to those readings. Similarly, the rules binding them to
practices ol purity in diet a
_
d association were not temporary and in service ol
making sacrihce, but were permanent and lormed an all-pervasive way ol l i le.'
With more contact with the )ewish associations, the pagan observer would
become aware ol other di herences. )ews would welcome i nterested pagans to
their assemblies but would not themselves attend any lorm ol worship except their
own. lndeed, they insisted that there was only one true Cod and that the tem-
ples and statues that drew the devotion ol their neighbors were a lorm ol lalse
worship, ol idols or demons. ' " 1hey were conspicuous lor their absence lrom
the civic lestivals through which the populace expressed its thanks to its patron
deities and lor their recognition ol only one day as nefastus, namely, their Sab-
bath, which they dedicated to worship and rest lrom all other activities.
II
1he )ews` deni al ol all other gods but thei r own, together wi th the claim that
their god was invisible and incapable ol being represented by any material
lormeven at their magnihcent temple in )erusalem, which was one ol the
world`s architectural marvels' 'led easily to their being perceived as a species
ol superstition or atheism. Like the Lpicureans, they were sometimes resented
lor their participation in the benehts ol the city-state without paying their rel i-
gious dues. ' ` Kather than contribute to the leitourgia ol the city-state, )ews paid
Ways of Being Jewish in the Greco-Roman World
a yearly temple tax to their laraway shrine in lalestine and thought ol that arid
co
untry as the homeland to which they would, when able, make pilgrimage to
the home ol the "l iving Cod."'' lndeed, so intense was their sense ol identihca-
tion with their ancestral land that )ews relerred to non-)ews as "the nations" or
"gentiles", ta ethne), a designation that makes sense only lrom the perspective
ol a people that considers itsell unique. ' `
l t was precisely that combination i n the )ews ol their similarity t o and diller-
ence lrom the Centiles that led to a mixed response ol attraction and repulsion
among outsiders. ' Some were attracted to the strong sense ol identity held by
the )ews, their demanding moral ity, and their "rational worship." Some Cen-
tiles joined this exclusive cult, which demanded not only eschewing all other
lorms ol worship but, lor males, undergoing as well the physical ordeal ol cir-
cumcision, and, lor all converts, adopting the i mpressive array ol ritual obser-
vances that marked this cult as a "people. "'' ther admiring Centiles were not,
lor one reason or another, able to make such a total commitment, but as "Cod-
Iearers" participated as they were able in the worship ol the "the Lord," whom
they conlessed with their new associates to be "the ne Cod. "'
ther Centiles were repulsed by the )ewish claims to uniqueness and supe-
riority and above all by their presence in Creco-Koman culture as benehciaries
but not contributors. '' Such resentment was exacerbated by the olhcial privi-
leges accorded the )ews by the empire. Kome was, to be sure, generous in its
recognition ol loreign cults," but the legitimation ol )udaism must be seen as
extraordinary precisely because ol its separatist impulses. Nevertheless, at least
partly because "the )ewish nation" had become all ies ol Kome during the Mac-
cabean revolt against Antiochus lV Lpiphanes, and partly because it served
Kome`s purposes to keep the province ol lalestine with its notoriously restive
population as quiescent as possible, )udaism in the imperial di spersion enj oyed
approval as well as protection lor its adherents to practice the Sabbath obser-
vance, to convene i nternal courts, to avoid mil itary service, and to pay temple
taxes to )erusalem. ' Kesentment lound its outlet in local riots, especially in the
inlamously unstable population ol Hellenistic Alexandria, and the production
ol anti-)ewish l iterature, which elaborated a variety ol charges, all ol which
boiled down to the unlorgivable ohenses ol misanthropia "hatred ol human-
ity") and amixia "lailure to mingle"). )ewish separation had legal protection
but not universal popular approval.
lagan perceptions ol the )ews were understandably superhcial and only par-
tially accurate. )ewish li le and identity in the hrst centuries ol the Common
Lra were more complex and dilhcult than Centile observers could imagine.
)ews presented to outsiders a remarkably united lront and did, in lact, share
many identity markers. ` 1he ways in which )ews distinguished themselves
lrom each other during the same period were less obvious to outsiders but were
as important as the things they held in common. ln order to understand )uda-
ism in this era more accurately, it is necessary to consider insider as well as
outsider perceptions and the lorms ol )ewish l i le in lalestine as well as in the
Oiaspora.
A UNl1LO ANO OlVl OLO lLlLL
1he single greatest lactor di stinguishing )ews lrom Centiles was monothe-
ism. )ews considered "the Lord their Cod" not only as the supreme deity but
also as the only legiti mate claimant to the title ol Cod. ' 1his monotheism was
a hard-won accompl ishment within lsrael and was as j ealously guarded as the
)ewish Cod was said to be jealous lor honor to be ascribed to him alone. ` lt was
not a matter merely ol conlession but ol cult, )ews would not acknowledge
through prayer or vow or sacrihce any power in the world except that exercised
by the Lord, whom they regarded as the source and goal ol all existing things.
All other so-called gods were considered by )ews to be idols, mere projections ol
human desire. '
Corresponding to the conviction that there was one Cod went the sense o|
being an elect people, chosen by the Lord ol heaven and earth among all "the
nations" as a place lor his glory (doxa), that is, as a manilestation ol the divine
dynamis that the Lord alone exercises as creator ol all that is. 1he Lord`s
choice ol the )ews was enacted by covenant (berith), the binding treaty that obli-
gated the Lord to be laithlul and compassionate toward this people and that ob-
ligated )ews to serve and obey only the Lord.' 1he requirements ol covenantal
obedience, in turn, were spelled out by the positive and negative laws (mitzvoth)
that regulated the religious relations between Cod and people and the social
relations among the people.
All ol these convictions lound expression in the set ol sacred writings that
most sharply distinguished )ews lrom Creeks and Komans. 1he term Torh
meant hrst ol all the hve books ol Moses, which could claim an antiquity greater
even than Homer, then the looser collection called "the prophets" (nebiim); and
hnally a still less determinate set ol compositions called simply "the writings"
(ketubim}. 3o Although the 1aNaK was not yet during this period lormally can-
onized, it was sulhciently coherent and widely read and preached) to stand as
the main shaping lactor in the symbolic world called )udaism. ` ' 1hese compo-
sitions provided the identity-lorming narrative ol the people, lrom the remote
ancestor Abraham, through the liberator and lawgiver Moses and the dynasty-
establ ishing Oavid, to the Lxile and restoration. the story spoke ol a people that
ohen lailed its Cod but ol a Cod that never lailed the people.
1orah also contained the lul l range ol the mitzvoth requi rcd ol the people,
with no distinction drawn, at the level ol obl igation, between such moral com-
mands as "love your neighbor as yoursell" Lev i. iS) and such ritual commands
as "keep holy the Sabbath day" Lx zo. Sii). 1he scope ol the commandments
was by no means merely i ndividual. 1orah regulated every social interaction
|rom birth to death, providing guidance lor practices ol planting, commerce,
and even war, with an eye always toward the "holiness" the distinctive charac-
terol this people dedicated to the Lord. ` Since 1orah revealed the will ol the
one who created the universe and gave lorm to every creature, pious )ews un-
derstood the commandments ol 1orah to represent as well the highest lorm ol
wisdom (chokmah), so that the observance and study ol the commandments
alike honored their Cod. ``
1here is no reason to suppose that )ews in general had higher rates ol l iteracy
than did the Centiles, but the persistent and public exposition ol the sacred
writings in synagogue worship and study made the stories, commandments,
and wisdom ol 1orah widely known among them. 1he translation ol 1orah into
Creek i n third-century CL Alexandria the Septuagint, LXX), together with
the extensive l iterature generated by )ews based on that translation, as well as
on the Hebrew version,` suggest that 1orah both lormed the basis ol the sym-
bol ic world that drew )ews throughout the world together and was the arena lor
contention among them.
Some ol the dillerences among )ews were the inevitable result ol the same
basic tradition developing over centuries in two distinct geographical, l inguistic,
and cultural settings. 1he dillerences should not be exaggerated. 1he evidence
suggests that )ews in the Oiaspora maintained close ties with the homeland and
had great loyalty to it. `` And the inhuence ol Creek culture and Koman rule was
as important in lalestine as it was in the Creco-Koman Oiaspora. ` 1he diller-
ences are a matter ol degree or intensity and, above al l , the way i n which reli-
gious symbols were or were not connected with specihc social and political
institutions.
l have already stated that )ews in the Creco-Koman Oiaspora experienced
lrom outsiders a mixed response ol attraction and repulsion. Such ambivalence
matched the experience ol )ews lrom withi n, lor they, too, were pulled between
the poles ol attraction and separation with respect to the dominant culture. As-
similation expressed itsell in degrees ol accommodation. change ol language,
change ol name, and acquisition ol Creek paideia i n addition to instruction in
1orah. `' 1he Septuagint translation ol 1orah lacil itated assimilation by putting
scripture in Creek terms and inviting i nterpretation lrom a Creek perspective. `
lt is no surprise to hnd Hellenized )ews usi ng allegory to interpret the some-
times scandalous and olten obscure scriptures i n the same manner that their
pagan contemporaries interpreted Homer and Hesiod and the myths ol lsis and
siris. `' Keading scripture "philosophically" among Alexandrian )ews meant,
as it did lor llutarch, avoiding a superstitious l iteralism.' Some apparently took
assimilation to the extreme ol abandoning ritual practices li ke circumcision,
but our chiel example ol a )ewish allegorist, lhilo ol Alexandria, rejected such
a radical spiritualization ol the tradition.''
)ews i n cities l ike Alexandria and Antioch also lelt the pull ol separation lrom
the circumambient culture because ol the imperative declared by the Lord to
"be holy as l am holy" Lev i. z). We cannot know how many ol the prescribed
ritual laws meant to express the distinct character ol the Lord`s people were
actually observed by )ews in the Creco-Koman Oiaspora, but certain important
observances lor example, circumcision, Sabbath, and certai n dietary practices)
were sulhciently obvious as to draw the attention ol outsiders.' ther practices,
such as making pilgrimage to )erusalem lor the great leasts and paying a yearly
tax to the temple, also marked the )ews oh lrom their neighbors, whose leito
urgia was al most invariably local.
)ews i n the Creco-Koman Oiaspora could legitimately consider themselves
"aliens and exiles," even il they or their grandparents had wi llingly chosen to
l ive outside lalestine and they had no real desire to return.'` 1hey inevitably
l ived in the tension experienced by any distinctive minority population within
a dominant culture. 1he apologetic l iterature that Oiaspora )ews generated in
response to anti-Semitic attacks perlectly expressed their ambivalence. n the
surlace, the stream ol histories, pleas, encomia, and wisdom writings had the
lunction ol delending )ews against the charges made against them, especially
that ol misanthropia;44 quite the contrary, )ews argued. their law and their l ives
demonstrated philanthropia, the highest lorm ol love lor humanity.'` Such
apologetic works also had the less obvious lunction ol dehning )ews to them-
selves i n the language ol outsiders. laradoxically, the ehort to make onesell
intelligible~and acceptable~to others involves a subtle reshaping ol identity
according to the categories ol the outsiders.' 1hus, it was natural in that context
lor )ews to cast their tradition in terms ol a Mystery religion or philosophy.''
1he biggest advantage to )ews in the Creco-Koman Oiaspora was that they
were able to exercise their traditions lreely without relerence to the specihc and
local social structures and institutions ol lalestine. 1hey were irreducibly a
mi nority and could never hope to change the bruta facta ol Creek culture and
Koman Lmpire, they were lree, indeed, to regard both as lundamentally bene-
hcial to them as wel l as to others.' 1he lact that )ews appeared to others and
to a great extent acted l ike another Creco-Koman associationwith, to be sure,
some distinctive leatureswas entirely to the beneht ol their religious hourish-
ing. )ews i n the Oiaspora could engage Hellenistic culture positively without
lear ol compromising or even corrupting ancestral places and practices. 1he
dillerence between llutarch and lhilo ol Alexandria is that both read llato,
but only lhilo also read 1orah. His reading ol 1orah, however, could be as al-
legorical as llutarch`s reading ol the siris myth, because the demands ol piety
were not dehned by lalestinian conditions.
Ior )ews living in lalestine, in contrast, the tensions were all the more severe
because ol the l ink between rel igious symbols and specihc social and pol itical
institutions. l leave aside here the long-standing internal rilt between )ews and
Samaritansboth committed to 1orah but with rival temples and versions ol
their history'' and locus only on the tensions created by Creco-Koman culture
in lalestine. 1he threat ol an aggressive Hellenistic culture, with its attractive
lorm ol civilization, its syncretistic religious impulseand intrusive Koman
ruleand its willingness to exercise its unquestionable power either indirectly
through )ewish puppets or directly through harsh prelects, was all the greater
because the story ol )ews on the land alter the Lxile was one ol severe retrench-
ment and resistance to loreigners. `"
Among lervent post-Lxilic )ews, the rebuilt temple was more than a symbol,
it was an actual structure whose purity needed to be maintained. ` ' 1he expec-
tation ol a king in the line ol Oavid was not a spiritual lantasy but a pol itical
agenda based upon a historical precedent. ` 1he agricultural and economic
laws ol 1orah were not simply demonstrations ol Cod`s justice, they were in-
tended to be the actual law ol the land. `` lndeed, just as the people were called
to be holy, so also was the land to be holy Lev iS. zqi. z, zo. zz).
1he lalestinian )ewish sources reveal not a united lront ol resistance but
rather a broad range ol responses. some )ews eagerly accepted both Creek ways
and the Koman imperium, hnding no absolute contradiction between their rel i-
gious convictions and such cultural and political accommodations. `' ln the
eyes ol some others, however, assimilated )ews were no longer )ews at allany
stage ol assimilation was a step too lar. Oillerences among )ews in lalestine
tended to become divisions based on ideological positions concerning the de-
mands ol hol inessas well as the social realities to which hol i ness was particu-
larly attached. 1he )ewish sects described by )osephus in terms ol philosophical
schools were also, inevitably, divided on the basis ol their pol itical stances. `` ll
we are to identily the sectarians at _umran with at least one branch ol those
)osephus calls Lssenesas it seems we shouldthe discovery ol their own
llB Ways of Being Jewish in the Greco-Roman World
compositions at Wadi _umran in iqy revealed them to be violently antagonis-
tic not only toward the Kittim the Centiles) but also toward their lellow )ews
whom they regarded as corrupted by contact with the Centiles, above all the
"wicked priests" in )erusalem who had desecrated the temple, but also the
moderate lharisees who chose to l ive among the general populace. ` 1he Lss-
enes identihed their own community as the l iving temple that purihed the land
and were willing to hght to the death i n battle against Kome. `'
1he party ol the Zealots, whose presence became visible during the )ewish
war against Kome yyo), ` was even more extreme in its posture ol pol itical
resistance, seeking to drive the Komans out and to establ ish a )ewish king. 1he
)ewish historian )osephus, who was a )ewish general in the war against Kome
but went over to the Koman side, regarded the Zealots as charlatansthat is, as
lalse philosophers and deceivers`'but would undoubtedly il we had any writ-
ten sources lrom the Zealots) have been excoriated i n turn by those who con-
sidered themselves the most "j ealous" ol all )ews lor the rule ol Cod. At the
other political extreme was the party ol the Sadducees, who associated them-
selves with the temple, whose membership was closely connected to the high-
priestly lami lies, and who sought accommodation with Hellenism and Koman
rule.
1he lharisees, who earlier had been pol itically involved but by the hrst cen-
tury appeared primarily as a "school " devoted to the observancc ol ritual purity,
developed a less violent response toward Creco-Koman real ities. ' 1heir devo-
tion to 1orah led them to lorm associations pledged to the strict observance ol
the laws, and they expressed contempt lor the "sinners" who did not share their
degree ol commitment to purity, but they neither lought against the Komans
nor withdrew physically lrom society. lnstead, they used the intricate midrashic
abilities ol the Scribes to determine how the ancient laws could be appl ied in a
changed cultural context.` ecause ol their relative detachment lrom tradi-
tional symbols other than 1orah the land, the king, the temple) and because ol
their hexible interpretive approach, the lharisees were able to survive the con-
hict with Kome and the destruction ol the temple yo CL)when all those
symbols were lostas the dominant expression ol )udaism, the chiel rival to
Christianity`s claim to the heritage ol lsrael . '
1he essential point toward which my exposition has been moving is this. it is
impossible to understand )udaism between zoo CL and zoo CL apart lrom
Creco-Koman culture. 1he conclusion is most obvious with regard to the
Oiaspora, where the very claim to distinctiveness by )ews is clothed in the lan-
guage and symbols ol the Creek worl d. ut it is equally unavoidable with
respect to lalestinian )udaism, where the lormation ol )ewish sects stands as
evidence ol the need to negotiate Creek culture and Koman rule, as well as
deep disagreement concerning the terms and l imits ol negotiation. 1he ques-
tion that i s ol most i nterest to my study, however, is whether the ways ol being
rel igious that l have detected among Centiles in the early empire hnd any ex-
pression among )ews as well .
WAYS I Ll NC KLLlClUS AS )LWS
1o answer that questionor at least to approach an answer to itmeans locus-
ing on )ewish rel igious experiences and practices. 1his does not mean bracket-
ing the "pol itical" as though it were not pertinent. lndeed, one ol the basic
points ol continuity between )ewish and Centile rel igion is that it was never
something simply private but always had public and political dimensions. ut
having acknowledged the role that the political di mension played in dividing
)ews i n the early empire, it is legitimate to shilt locus to specihc practices, to
test whether aspects ol similarity or di ssimilarity between )ew and Centile are
more obvious.
We naturally expect some elements ol continuity, lor the number ol religious
practices available to humans is hnite. We can also anticipate elements ol dis-
continuity, lor )ews truly were diherent and were perceived to be dillerent than
their Centile neighbors. 1he most intriguing possibil ity is that )ews i n this pe-
riod were in some i mportant ways rel igiously dillerent also lrom )ews i n earlier
times precisely because ol the need to dehne themselves withi n the context
ol Creco-Koman culture. Since my examination ol Creco-Koman reli gion has
yielded the categories ol analysis, it is lair to approach the extant evidence lor
)udaism and ask to what extent those categories ht, especially in the turbulent
period ol the hrst two centuries ol the Common Lra.
R E L I GI ON AS PARTI C I PATI ON I N DI V I NE B E N E F I TS
ln Creco-Koman rel igion, as l showed i n Chapter 3, this type ol religious-
ness is characterized by its attention to the divine dynamis as it is manilested in
the empirical world and is made accessible to humans through the practices ol
piety, with an emphasis on this-worldly benehts to the individuals who partici-
pate i n such practices. lt is expressed most publ icly through the designation ol
days (Fasti and Nefasti) and through the lestivals, sacrihces, prayers, and hymns
in petition and praise directed to the many gods at multiple altars, shrines, and
temples. larticipation in divine benehts is expressed as well in the specihc
practices associated with prophecy and healing, the Mysteries and religious
pilgrimage. Oo we hnd this rel igious sensibility in the )udaism ol the period
We can begin by considering the relatively novel institution ol the synagogue
that appeared alter the Lxile throughout the Oiaspora and lalestineeven in
the precincts ol the )erusalem templeand marks the )ews as distinctive in
several ways.` 1he term relers hrst not to a sacred place but to the association
ol people, whether i n a separate building also so designated or in a private
dwelling. Irom the outside, as l have suggested, such voluntary associations
resembled those ol pagans i n worship ol their many gods. Ior )ews, however,
synagogue worship expressed devotion only to the one Cod ol lsrael . 1he op-
tional names used lor the gathering placehouse ol the assembly, house ol
prayer, or house ol studyindicated, lurthermore, that the worship ol the syna-
gogue did not involve any animal sacrihce but only the "spiritual sacrihce"
shaped by the reading, study, and proclamation ol 1orah. ' 1o the extent that
synagogue worship was dedicated to " instruction i n the laws," it tended to j us-
tily the claim ol )ews that theirs was truly a philosophical rel igion. Irom the
extant evidence, it i s dilhcult to say how much participants i n synagogue wor-
ship did so as a means ol participating in divine benehts and how much as an
act ol obedience to divine precept.
Until its destruction i n the war against Kome i n 70 CL, the )ewish temple
in )erusalem, rebuilt by Herod the Creat, gathered to itsell the practices that
enable both a comparison and contrast to pagan temples and shrines. ther
temple claimants within the tradition ollsrael the Samaritan shrine at She chem
and the Lgyptian temple ol the )ews at Leontopolis) had l ittle prestige by com-
parison. ' Oue to the program ol centralizing the )ewish cult that began with
the Oeuteronomic relorm ol the sixth century CL, all the sacrihcial activities
that in paganism were distributed across hundreds il not thousands ol temples
were concentrated lor )ews i nto one great sacrihcial center devoted to the one
Cod ol the )ews.'
1he Letter of Aristeas describes the maj esty ol the temple cult, i nvolving
hundreds ol priests at a time and at times ol the great leasts) thousands ol
sacrihcial animals. '' 1he huge precincts ol the temple provided space lor great
throngs ol worshipers, prayer, religious instruction, and the monetary services
common and necessary) lor temples i n antiquity.' ln addition to the Sabbath
observance, lurthermore, 1orah prescribed lor lestivals in honor ol the Lord
by all the people. '` 1hese ancient leasts, rooted i n agricultural cycles but given
historical valence through the narratives ol 1orah, were occasions lor pilgrim-
age to )erusalem.'' )osephus tells ol the massive population ol the city during
the times ol pilgri mage, when rel igious lervor and nationalistic lanaticism
al ike gained intensity lrom such numbers sharing the same sacred time and
space. '`
Ways of Being Tewish in the Greco-Roman World 121
1he )erusalem temple, i n short, concentrated in itsell a remarkable amount
ol the religious practice that was in paganism distributed i n many places as-
signed to many gods. the one temple made a mute but not unpersuasive argu-
ment lor uniquely representing the rel igion ol the one Cod. 1he place ol the
temple i n popular )ewish imagination can be estimated by the response to its
destruction in the war against Kome. As l have stated, the other sects ol )uda-
ism that had hourished belore 70 disappeared alter the war, including the Sad-
ducees who were so intimately l i nked to the temple. ut the temple survived
in the rel igious imagination and the practice ol )ews without signihcant inter-
ruption and without the inconvenience ol killing animals.
1he remnant lorm ol )udaism alter 70 symbol ized by the "Council at
Yamnia") was shaped by the religious convictions and scribal practices ol the
lharisees, whose commitment to purity and tithes could be carried out even in
the absence ol a physical sanctuary. Lspecially aher the climactic and bloody col-
lapse ol )ewish expectations ol independence in the ar Kochba revolt i CL),
these lharisaic sensibilities spread through what was now primarily a diasporic
religion, to lorm classical or 1almudic )udaism. 1he Talmud of the Land of Is
rel and the Babylonian Talmud, however, each grew out ol commentary on the
loundational text ol the Mishnah, a compilation ol )ewish law that reached writ-
ten lorm under )udah ha Nasi circa 200 CL, the Mishnah creates an imaginative
universe in which the study ol the laws ol sacrihce prescribed lor the temple in
)erusalem is equivalent, lor the pious )ew, to making those sacrihces.''
ln Creco-Koman rel igion, prophecy played a publ ic and highly visible role
through practices ol divination auspices, haruspices) and oracles. Although
)ewish religion was prophetic lrom the hrstMoses is the great prophet who
reveals Cod`s law~and the )ewish scriptures contained stories and sayings ol
prophets lrom Llij ah to Malachi ,' active and visible prophecy was not obvi-
ously a dominant leature ol )udaism as we view it in our period. Oivination is
scarcely attested, and apart lrom the major exceptions ol )ohn the aptist and
)esus, contemporary hgures identihed as prophets do not appear.' Set shrines
lor oracular consultation were now absent lrom the land. Yet the prophetic
impulse remained powerlul in two ways.
Iirst, the i nterpretation ol prophecy lrom the past as the legitimation lor
aspirations ol the present and luture) was a leature ol break-oll communities
such as the Lssenes and the Christianseach group interpreted the ancient
prophecies with relerence to themselvesand probably gave support as well to
the variety ol messianic hgures that generated popular support in the turbulent
years ol the hrst and early second century. ' Iollowers ol revolutionaries and
messiahs who promised an end to Koman rule and a restoration ol eretz Isrel
as a land dedicated exclusively to the Lord can legitimately be classihed as
those whose rel igious sensibil ity is "participation in divine benehts" through
enacted prophecy.
Second, )ews during this same period exercised a more covert lorm ol
prophecy through the production ol l iterature. ln lalestine, )ews resistant to
Koman rule and Hellenistic culture contemporized prophecy through a
hi ghly coded and allusive l iterature that has come to be called apocalyptic. `
egi nni ng with the ook ol Oaniel, composed during the persecution ol
laithlul )ews under Antiochus lV Lpiphanes i n the second century CL, and
conti nui ng through the hrst century CL, pious )ews wrote i n the name ol
ancient heroes messages ol consolation to those experiencing oppression or
marginal i zation because ol Hellenistic culture and Koman rule. ' eneath its
complex symbol ism ol numbers, animals, and cosmic beings, such l iterature
carried a straightlorward i nterpretation ol historythe Cod ol lsrael , despite
appearances, was in charge and would i ntervene on behall ol hi s peopleand
a simple religious message. hold last until that i ntervention occurs. ` Creek-
speaking )ews employed another sort ol pseudo-epigraphical prophecy, by ex-
panding the Sibylline Books in a manner that retained the tone ol "pagan"
prophecy but also managed to communicate distinctively )ewish convictions
and interpretation ol history.
As we saw in Chapter 3 and i n the case study ol Ael ius Aristides, heal ing was
a prominent element in Creco-Koman rel igion. 1he capacity to heal another
lrom a physical ailment or to drive out a harmlul demon revealed the one with
this power as a theios aner, deserving ol honor as a revealer ol the divine dyna
mis. And the multiple shrines dedicated to the healing god Asclepius drew
thousands ol the amicted to their healing baths and dream i nterpretations.
What is perhaps most surprising is the paucity ol evidence lor the practice ol
healing as a rel igious phenomenon in )udaism during the same period. 1here
are scattered relerences to charismatic hgures through whom healing and exor-
cism occurred,' to be sure, but what is lacking is the i nstitutional commitment
to the healing ol physical amictions i n association with Cod. ln contrast to the
priests at the Asclepeia, lor example, who would prescribe therapies intended to
rel ieve symptoms, one ol the lunctions ol )ewish priests was to ensure the well-
being the holiness) ol the community as a whole by quarantining certain
lorms ol threatening disorder, such as leprosy.
We can ask hnally about the Mysteries, which were such a prominent leature
ol Creco-Koman religious practice and language. Answering the question
about whether there is any trace ol the Mysteries in the )udaism ol the early
empire is, however, exceptionally dilhcult and a matter ol scholarly debate. '
Ways of Being Jewish in the Greco-Roman World 123
1he evidence comes primarily lrom the Oiaspora, where )ewish exposure to
Creco-Koman rel igion would have been most intense. Using the extensive
"Mystery" language employed especiallybut not exclusivelyby lhilo, and
connecting such language to the iconographic evidence provided by the exca-
vated third-century CL synagogue at Oura Luropos, an argument has been
made that there was a distinct "Hellenistic )udaism" whose language and
practicesand rel igious perceptionsrepresented a )ewish lorm ol Mystery re-
ligion.' 1his position is probably too extreme, but it is clear that even )ewish
writers ol the Oiaspora who explicitly rejected the pagan Mysteries could and
did use Mystery symbol ism to speak ol )udaism, and the lact that an rphic
composition can salely be attributed to a )ewish author suggests that the degree
ol assimilation to the dominant culture could in some cases be extreme. ''
R E L I GI ON AS MORAL TRANS F ORMATI O N
1he second lorm ol rel igious sensibil ity in Creco-Koman rel igion also lo-
cused on the divine dynamis as active in the empirical world, but it placed its
emphasis not on the display ol that power outside human agency but on the
way i n which human agency can be translormed through it. Oid the same sen-
sibil ity appear among )ews ol this era ln one sense, the conviction that the
religious covenant with the Lord demanded the keeping ol commandments,
both ritual and moral, was common to )ews lrom antiquity, lor the prohibition
ol adultery, murder, stealing, lying, and coveting were already to be lound in
the ancient "1en Words" del ivered to the people by Moses. Moral instruction,
lurthermore, is at the heart both ol both the prophets and the proverbs.' )ews,
in short, did not need to be i nstructed by Centiles in morality or moral dis-
course, these were essential and inseparable elements ol the covenant. A )ew
could not be said to have lully observed Yom Kippur, lor example, simply by
carrying out the external procedures lor sacrihce described i n Leviticus 16. 1he
response ol repentance withi n the heart was necessary.'` 1he hrst answer to the
question, then, is "yes, this sensibil ity i s everywhere there are )ews."
Another way ol phrasing the question is to ask whether exposure to Creco-
Koman religion and philosophy had a marked ellect on the way i n which this
moral sensibility was expressed by )ews. 1he most obvious new thing within
)udaism i n the hrst century was the development ol sects that )osephus not only
designates as "schools" (haireseis) but then describes i n terms lamil iar in Creek
philosophy, in his recital ol their convictions and practices. A reader lamil iar
with Creek philosophical schools, lurthermore, would recognize that )osephus
shades his portrait ol the Lssenes in the direction ol the lythagoreans, the
lharisees ol the Stoics, and the Sadducees ol the Lpicureans.''
12
4
1he similarity between the Lssenes and lythagoreans is particularly strik-
ing. both had clear ranks withi n the community as well as stages ol probation
and the possibil ity ol excommunication, both practiced a strict sharing ol pos-
sessions, both were dedicated to purity through diet and the avoidance ol pol-
lutants, and both had convictions concerning luture li le.'` 1he Therpeutae
described by lhilo also shared some ol these characteristics.' Less is known
about the organizational aspects ol the lharisaic chaburah, and still less about
the Sadducees.'' Nevertheless, two hrm assertions can be made about these
)ewish parties. hrst, they are unattested belore )ewish contact with Hellenism
and therelore represent a new "way ol being )ewish" in the Creco-Koman con-
text,' second, evidence lor the herce polemic used by these )ewish groups
against their rivals locates them within the social world ol Creco-Koman
philosophy.''
)ewish wisdom l iterature also lelt the ellect ol contact with Hellenism. 1he
degree to which _oheleth bears the marks ol Lpicureanism can be debated,
but therc is no mi staking the inhuence ol llatonism on Wisdom ol Solomon. '""
1he Creek version ol The Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs weaves wisdom and
apocalyptic themes into a narrative elaboration ol the )oseph story but are most
striking lor the way i n which each testament elaborates a standard Creek virtue
or vice, employing the topoi al ready standard in Aristotle. ' "' A similar meshing
ol )ewish story and Creco-Koman moral discourse is 4 Maccabees, an enco-
mium on the virtue ol courage exempl ihed by the seven martyred brothers and
their mother. '" 1he Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides, in turn, not only borrows
the name ol a renowned Creek writer but so camouhages the )ewish character
ol its teaching i n Creek lorm than it could and did) pass lor centuries as a
Centile rather than )ewish composition. ' "`
Most i mpressive, to be sure, are the extensive writings ol lhilo ol Alexan-
dria. ' "' lhilo, like llutarch, is a sulhciently complex hgure to elude simple
classihcation. I have already mentioned hi m twice in this chapter, and he will
appear agai n under other categories. ne ol the most signihcant aspects ol his
work, however, is the way i n which he interprets the biblical narrative and laws
in terms ol Creek philosophy and, in particular, Creek moral discourse. ' "`
Noteworthy here is the lact that he is not content simply to "save the text" lrom
its absurd or ollensive character by providing, in the manner ol the Stoic allego-
rizers ol Homer, a transposition ol the story, through allegory, into a moral les-
son. ' " He is committed as well to demonstrating the prolound moral character
ol the )ewish laws and does so by expounding them as guides to the cultivation
ol vi rtuethat is, to moral translormation. ' "'
1he comparison with llutarch is not entirely lancilul. lhilo anticipates the
Creco-Koman philosopher-priest by shaping the biographies ol biblical heroes
into exempla ol moral virtues. Abraham, )acob, lsaac, and )oseph are nomoi
empsychoi: even belore Moses reveals the law on Mt. Sinai, they embody
through their character the virtues that observance ol the law will make ex-
plicit.
' " Moses, in turn, is rendered by lhilo as priest and prophet, to be sure,
but also as general and philosopher. '"' ln the same manner, the titles ol lhilo`s
treatments ol discrete aspects ol the bibl ical story anticipate llutarch`s Moralia
in their development ol specihc moral themes. ' ' Iinal ly, lhilo saves hi s great-
est praise lor those )ews who so dedicate themselves to the law that they lorm
themselves into philosophical communities. ' ' '
All ol this extensive literary production, a s well a s the examples ol organi za-
tion into intentional communities, suggests that some )ews, while not i n the
least turning their backs on the traditional lorms ol observance, sought a way ol
honoring their Cod that involved moral translormation. 1hey were not content
with maintaining purity or even with keeping those remarkable command-
ments that molded )ews into a most moral people. 1hey sought as well to shape
a character in conlormity with Cod`s will at the level ol internal dispositions
and ol the curing ol the passions, and in pursuit ol this goal, they employed the
language and insights ol Creco-Koman philosophy.
R E L I GI ON AS TRANS C E NDI NG THE WORLD
1he third mode ol rel igiosity i n Creco-Koman rel igion, a s we saw exempl i-
hed in Poimandres, had a proloundly dualistic view ol real ity and sought the
divine dynamis not i n the city ol gods and men, nor in moral translormation,
but in an escape lrom the body lor the rescue ol the true sell lound in the soul .
We would not expect to hnd thi s way ol being rel igious in )udaism. 1he one
Cod creates all things and declares all things to be good Cen i. ii). 1he hu-
man body, moreover, is unequivocally part ol that goodness Cen z. ziz) . ' ' lt
may suller pollution and impurity, but these are not ontological conditions,
they can be removed through the appropriate rituals ol cleansing. ' ' ` eliel in the
resurrection ol the dead, lurthermore, embraces a luture l i le precisely lor
the bodies ol the righteous. 1he conviction that the righteous dead are " in the
hands ol the Lord" and would share a luture l i le hrst appears expl icitly in
the ook ol Oaniel, hnds expression in apocalyptic l iterature, and becomes
standard lor the dominant lorm ol )udaism aher the lall ol the temple. ' ''
ll the third type ol rel igiosity demands a cosmic dualismwith the stress on
dight lrom the world"then it is lacking in the )udaism ol the period. ut il this
type also embraces the desire and striving lor contact with the realm ol the
godswith the stress on "transcending the world"~through visions and heavenly
ascents, then there is substantial evidence lor this way ol being religious among
)ews rn the Creco-Koman world. ln the Hellenistic Oiaspora, lhilo ol Alexandria
envisages Moses` encounter with Cod as such a visionary ascent and speaks ol the
state ol mystic ecstasy in a manner that suggests he himsell had experienced it. ' ' `
1he poem ol lseudo-rpheus imagines the patriarch Abraham or perhaps
Moses) in the presence ol the divine. '
'
ln lalestinian )udaism, several lorms ol
mystical ascent are attested. At _umran, the Songs of Sabbath Sacrifce suggest
that community members participate i n heavenly worship with the angelshere,
the element ol "participation in divine benehts" also emerges~and in apoca-
lyptic writings, the motil ol revelation to a visionary who has ascended into
heaven is a staple. ' ' ' ll the tradition that extends Merkabah Mysticism all the
way back to this period is correct, then heavenly ascents were believed to have
been practiced even among the lounding hgures ol classical )udaism. ' '
ln contrast to the world-denying dualism that characterizes the Hermetic l it-
erature and the search lor personal immortal ity that marks the rphic tradition,
however, the traces ol mysticism in )udaism alhrm the maj ority views ol a good
creation and the resurrection ol the bodies ol the righteous. 1he extant l itera-
ture suggests not a rejection ol the popular lorms ol religion practiced by other
)ews but a deeply personal intensihcation ol them through actual visionary ex-
periences and through the composition ol l iterature that recounts such experi-
ences. lhysical asceticism is not an all-pervasive regimen to purily the soul lrom
the body, but only a temporary preparation lor the rigors ol the ascent. ' '' 1he
insistence within the Merkabah tradition that only the most observant and
learned ol teachers can risk such experiences is tell i ng. )ewish mysticism does
not reject outward lorms but seeks the deeper real ity within them. ' "
R E L I GI ON AS STA B I L I Z I NG THE WORLD
1he lourth type ol sensibil ity i n Creco-Koman rel igion was political i n the
broadest sense. ne aspect was the wi llingness to serve both the city-state and
the gods by hnancially supporting and serving as priests in worship, while an-
other aspect was an explicit concern lor the ways i n which rel igion provided the
glue lor society. We saw these elements combined in llutarch, who enthusiasti-
cally served as a priest ol Apollo at Oelphi and who in his writings connected
genuine piety with a worship ol the gods that was consonant with Creek cul-
ture, in contrast to superstition and atheism, each ol which threatened the sta-
bil ity ol the world ol gods and men.
ln Creco-Koman rel igion, we can see a smooth and logical progression lrom
local to city and lrom city to empire, with no major adj ustment required at any
sta
ge. ecause all gods were to be worshiped in any case, the main concern was
lo
r a pol itical order that would be secured by the appropriate attention to all the
gods. And since divine power is nothing il not power displayed, then rel igious
devotion to the monarch who displays supreme power makes sense. Oiscussion
ol this sensibil ity i n )udaism i s much more complicated because ol ancient
lsrael `s di lhcult path over many centuries lrom polytheism to monotheism, be-
cause ol the precarious position ol monarchy within this hi story, and, in
lalestine, because ol the ways i n which Creek and then Koman political hege-
mony elicited diverse political and rel igious responses.
oth l iterary and archaeological evidence shows that the rel igion ol ancient
lsrael~as distinct lrom "bibl ical rel igion"~began with a lorm ol polytheism
not totally unl ike that ol its ancient Near Lastern neighbors, with the singular
devotion to Yahweh being a lorm ol henotheism that asserts the superiority ol
one god over others but does not deny the existence ol competing deities. ' '
1he evidence lurther suggests that the prescription lor a single cultic center
spelled out in Oeuteronomy was achieved slowly and imperlectly. elore the
Lxile, there were many local cult centers devoted to Yahweh or to aal or to
some other Canaanite deity, so that the arrangement ol priesthoods probably
substantially resembled that in ancient Creece, with this important exception.
the priests and prophets ol Yahweh demanded the exclusion ol the other deities
and an exclusive loyalty to Yahweh, rather than the inclusive and all-encompassing
piety lound in Creece. '
1he establ ishment ol a monarchy in lsrael helped unite a loose conledera-
tion ol tribes i nto a nation l ike other nations. King Oavid was quick to house
the sacred ark ol the covenant i n his capital city (2 Sam 6: 1-T7), and his son
Solomon built the hrst great temple i n )erusalem as a place lor Yahweh to dwell
(1 Kings 6: 1-38; 7: 1-66). 1he worship ol the one god was symbol ically l i nked to
the rule ol one ki ng. Yet the very institution ol monarchy was at hrst challenged
by the lsrael ite prophets as a betrayal ol complete commitment to the Lord
(1 Samuel 8: 1-22), and the prophets also challenged too great a rel igious reli-
ance on the temple as the symbol ol Cod`s presence )er TI-34) . 1he experi-
ence ol the Lxile, i n lact, had the paradoxical ehect ol at once deepening the
monotheism ol laithlul )ews~Yahweh is not only the "god ol lsrael " but Lord ol
all the earth and creator ol all things~and weakening the link between Yah-
weh and the symbols ol temple and king. the Lord ol all the earth can be wor-
shipped anywhere and in every circumstance. ' `
1his history set the lramework lor the contentious responses within lalestin-
ian )udaism to the threat ol Hellenistic and Koman hegemony, with )ew pitted
against )ew precisely on the issue ol how necessarily the worship ol the one
Cod was l inked to the institutions ol land, king, or temple. As noted earlier in
this chapter, the well-known sects ol the )ews were divided along political as
well as theological lines. n one side, Sadducees could embrace a relationship
with the establ ished priestly orders and j oin in the temple sessions ol the San-
hedrin. ' ' n the other side, the Lssene withdrawal to the desert to lorm a pure
people and spiritual temple is uni ntell igible except as a response to a percep-
tion that the people had been polluted by contact with loreigners and that the
temple had been prolaned by unworthy priests. ' ` 1he appearance ol messianic
movementsand the Zealots` pitched battle to the death in the temple and at
Masada' makes sense only il allegiance to Yahweh is inseparable lrom a )ew-
ish king and temple. ln lalestine, "priestcralt as statecrah" was not a theoretical
but a passionately practical issue, it had less to do with stabilizing the world as
it is than with overturning an unj ust order and making it righteous.
ln the Oiaspora, i nscriptional evidence concerning the establishment and
support ol synagogues shows that male and lemale )ews who served as archisyn
agogoi played the same role ol hnancial patrons as did the priests and priest-
esses ol pagan cults, their piety was expressed through i nstitutional support and
involvement. ' ' ln the Oiaspora synagogue as well , )ews hlled the loweranks
ol service that corresponded to the neokori ol pagan shrines. ' As with most ol
their pagan counterparts, however, these )ews remained silent concerning their
piety, apart lrom the very lew hints provided by the inscriptions.
Ior a sense ol such piety among Oiaspora )ews, lhilo ol Alexandria agai n
ohers the best evidence. l have noted the way i n whi ch lhilo anticipates the
Bioi and Moralia ol llutarch through hi s reading ol 1orah through the lens ol
Creek philosophy. He resembles llutarch also by exempl ilying withi n )udaism
the same sort ol rel igious sensibil ity. i n both we hnd no trace ol a sell-interested
religiosity, preoccupied with personal benehts or even personal perlection,
i nstead, both reveal a concern lor true piety as the basis lor an authentic civili-
zation. llutarch was active in hi s patronage ol the cult and the city through his
service as a priest and magistrate. lhilo delended hi s lellow )ews ol Alexandria
against the cruelty ol a Koman prelect, and he took part in a delegation to the
emperor Cal igula to prevent the prolaning ol the temple in )erusalem through
the installation ol the emperor`s image. Lspecially in his compositions that set
out to interpret the )ewish laws, lurthermore, lhilo makes an argument beyond
the simple delense ol )ews as philanthropic rather than misanthropic, he pro-
poses that the law established by Moses actually lorms the best politeia i magin-
able, since it conlorms in every respect to the will ol the creator Cod. ' ' He
presents in a lar more elaborate lashion the bold claim ol Artapanus that Moses
taught rpheus the rudiments ol Creek culture. ' `" )udaism not only has a
place in the civil ized order, when properly understood as eusebeia rather than
as deisidaimonia, )udaism also provides the basis on which civilization can best
be ordered.
A
pproaching )udaism lrom the perspective and using the categories ol Creco-
Koman religion has made two things clear. hrst, how dillerent )udaism truly was
in that world. Monotheism and the sense ol divine election set this people apart
distinctively, and the specihcally )ewish rituals Sabbath, circumcision, dietary
laws) made that distinctiveness visible. Adherence to a single "j ealous" Cod, more-
over, ensured that there were limits to the ability ol )ews to assimilate to Creco-
Koman culture and still remain )ews. Second, this approach to )udaism makes
clear how impressively even this most resistant ol traditions was in lact ahected
by its long involvement willing and unwill ing) with Hellenistic culture. )ews
not only wrote i n Creek but also adopted lorms ol Creek historiography, rheto-
ric, poetry, and philosophy when seeking to express their distinctive identity,
and by so doing, they made that identity just a little bit more Creek. And )ews
who eschewed the use ol Creek sometimes gave mute and unwitting testimony
to the culture they rejected, the Lssenes truly do resemble the lythagoreans
more than any lorm ol )udaism that preceded them.
lerhaps the greatest beneht ol this transitional exercise, however, has been to
provide a point ol comparison and contrast to Christianity i n its engagement
with Creco-Koman culture. We shall see that the ways Creco-Koman religion
hnds expression i n Christianity is more prolound and certainly longer lasting
than in the case ol )udaism.
9
-
THE ApPEARNCE OF CHRSTIANI TY I N
THE GRECO- ROMAN WORD
ln the middle ol the hrst century CL, a new rel igious movement made its
appearance in the Creco-Koman world. 1hose hrst designated by othersand
then designating themselvesas "Christians" sought and increasingly lound a
place in the Mediterranean worl d. ' Christianity began as one among other )ew-
ish sects. Alter the destruction ol the )erusalem temple in 70, in lact, the Mes-
sianists could be regarded as one ol the two surviving claimants, with the
lharisees, to the heritage ol lsrael . y the late second century CL, however,
Christianity was predominantly il not exclusively a Centile rel igion, and its
path ol i nteraction with Creco-Koman culture was sharply distinct lrom Ior-
mative )udaism`s.
)udaism`s encounter with Hellenism, as l suggested in the previous chapter,
was preceded by a long il tumultuous hi story and by a sharp sense ol sell-
dehnition in the years immediately preceding the rule ol Alexander, providing
it with an alternative to the seductive attractions ol Creco-Koman culture. 1he
long dall iance between )ews and Creek culture had a dehnite impact on the
ways ol being )ewish between 200 CL and 200 CL. Alter that date, however,
there can be lound lew traces ol Hellenism in the )udaism that built itsell up on
the loundation ol the Mishnah. 1he i nternal myth ol "Normative )udaism" was
so seamless, in lact, that the long period ol Hellenistic inhuence could be dis-
missed as ol l ittle i mportance, lound mainly among those who were deviant in
their )udaism. ` 1he lact that lhilo and other Hellenistic )ewish authors lound
an honored place i n subsequent Christian literature but virtually no mention in
the 1almudic tradition is reveal ing.'
1he course lollowed by Christianity is the exact opposite. lt engages Helle-
nism not aher a long period ol internal development but lrom the moment ol
The Appearnce of Christianit in the Greco-Roman World 1
3
1
its inception. Although it has its roots in )udaism, those roots are both shallow
and distributed across a diverse and divided hrst-century )udaism that was it-
sell deeply marked by Creco-Koman culture. Irom the hrst, Christianity drew
as
directly and powerlully lrom Creco-Koman culture as it did lrom )ewish
culture. 1he inhuence ol Hellenism was all the more prolound because ol the
instabi l ity inherent i n a new rel igious movement, as l show i n this chapter, the
conditions under which Christianity hrst existed made i nevitable its exten-
sive entanglement with the Creek and Koman world. At the very point in the
late second century when )udaism turned away lrom Hellenism and back to its
ancestral traditions, moreover, Christianity continued to draw lrom and con-
tribute to Creco-Koman culture, becoming ever more decisively a "Centile
rel igion."
lt is perlectly appropriate to begin with the beginning, at the moment when
this rel igious movement hrst appeared, not because that "moment ol origins"
represents a privileged moment with regard to the essence ol the rel igion, but
because the specihc circumstances attending its birth also ahect its growth
and development. ` 1he present chapter sketches the distinctive character ol the
Christian rel igionas best we can determine itin the hrst century. elore at-
tempting that description, however, it is necessary to state my position on lour
disputed issues.
Iirst, l consider the writings ol the New 1estament to be the earliest sources
available lor this analysis. Oating ol these compositions is di lhcultand inevi-
tably circularbut with some lew exceptions, all the compositions that were
canonized in the second-century disputes can salely be dated withi n the hrst 70
years alter the death ol )esus And although the development ol Christianity
lrom its starting point to the lourth century is pertinent to this study, no beneht
to this analysis is derived lrom a search lor l i nes ol development that might be
discerned behind the New 1estament compositions as they now stand.
Second, l approach earl iest and subsequent) Christianity in precisely the
same way as l did the Creco-Koman and )ewish materials as evidence lor reli-
gious experiences, convictions, and dispositions. 1his means, on one hand, that
l do not privilege Christianity by terming it "laith" in contrast to "rel igion", and,
on the other hand, l do not reduce Christian rel igiosity to some other dimension
ol lile.' lnstead, just as l treated the rel igious sensibil ity ol Aelius Aristides, Lpic-
tetus, and llutarch, so do l also empathically engage the evidence lor specih-
cally rel igious experience and behavior among early Christians.
1hird, with most contemporary scholars, l see Christianity as beginning in
diversity and reaching its most signihcant sell-dehnition i n the second rather
than the hrst century. '" ln contrast to some contemporary theories, however,
1
3
2 The Appearance of Christianit in the Greco-Roman World
l see early Christian diversity as relative rather than absolute~there were lrom
the start genuine elements ol commonality' ' and regard the process ol sell-
dehnition as involving rel igious convictions as much as pol itical interest.
Iourth, l take development within the Christian rel igion as obvious but oller
no evaluation ol that development, regarding it as neither the course ol natural
and positive growth nor as a decline lrom primitive purity. ' My interest, rather,
is in describing the types ol rel igiosity that can be discerned at each stage ol
development.
CHKl S1lANl1Y` S Il KS1 LXlANSlN
1he Acts of the Apostles is the second part ol a two-volume narrative com-
posed around S CL and, with all its l i mitations, provides the best chance ol
locating the hrst appearance and spread ol the movement associated with )esus
in terms ol geography and chronology. lts portrayal ol witnesses carrying the
good news lrom city to city, lrom )erusalem to Kome, in lulhllment ol the
prophecy ol the resurrected )esus Acts i. S) is clearly overneat and idealized.
1he author ol Acts is not only selective i n what he chooses to relate, he also
shapes the account in a manner to express his own convictions, especially con-
cerning the unity among the hrst missionaries and the continuity between )u-
daism and the church. ' ` Nevertheless, when Acts is tested against our other
earl iest evidence~above all the letters ol laulits account can be accepted as
lundamentally hi storical i n terms ol its broad scope as well as accurate i n some
ol its specihc lacts. ' ' lndeed, it i s impossible to construct a satislying account ol
laul`s l i le and correspondence without the assistance ol Acts. I 5 lt is a necessary
il inadequate source lor earliest Christian history.
When the evidence in Acts is considered together with that in the earl iest
epistolary literature, a number ol historically responsible statements can be
made about the earliest stage ol the Christ cult within the Creco-Koman world.
Iirst, the movement spread with impressive speed. within io years ol the death
ol )esus, there were communities ol believers i n )udaea, Samaria, and Syria
Acts iii), in i years, communities could be lound i n Asia Mi nor Acts iq), in
zo years, through Asia Minor and into Creece Acts iiS), and in z years, in
the capital city ol Kome Acts zS. iq) ~with ambitions to spread the movement
also to Spai n. ' Such rapidity ol expansion is the more impressive when it is re-
membered that the evidence lor the movement`s spread concerns the existence
ol ekklesiai associations, gatheri ngs, communities) and not simply the conver-
sion ol individuals. ' '
The Appearance of Christianity in the Greco-Roman World 133
1he rapid pace ol expansion was not enti rely due to enthusiastic reception ol
the message wherever it was brought. 1he earl iest missionaries experienced
harassment and persecution primarily lrom lellow )ews and incidentally lrom
Koman authorities), so that movement lrom one place to another was i mpelled
as much by rej ection as by acceptance. ' "
Christianity`s itinerant expansion be-
gan not alter a long period ol settled existence i n )erusalem but immediately
and under less than ideal circumstances. Within two decades, the nascent
movement was lorced to negotiate geographical, cultural, l inguistic, and demo-
graphic transitions. '' 1he transitions had to be accomplished, moreover, under
conditions not only ol external duress but also ol internal instabil ity. 1he most
prominent leaders ol the cult were killed within the hrst 30 years." 1he "mother
church" ol )erusalem was impoverished and in need ol assistance lrom other
communities. ' Lven when it tried, it could not oher ellective control over a
movement that had spread over such a vast area at such a rapid pace. Nor
could coherence be accompl ished through textual controlsthere was as yet
no collection ol Christian writings, and 1orah scrolls were not easily trans-
ported or deployed i n circumstances ol rapid expansion. `
All these lactors help explain the diversity ol expression and perspective in
the earl iest Christian writings. Christianity was, in the hrst generation, virtually
something new everywhere it appeared, taking its shape lrom the experience
and conviction ol the local or itinerant lounder, the conditions and response ol
those who joined the movement, and the combination ol social circumstance
and continuing experience ol communities through time. 1he diversity ol the
New 1estament writings, in short, is grounded i n the diversity ol Christianity
itsell in its hrst appearances across the Mediterranean world. 1he real surprise,
once we grasp the hi storical circumstances ol the hrst expansion, is not the de-
gree ol diversity we hnd i n the literature, but the opposite, that there is any dis-
cernible unity at all.
KLLlClUS LXlLKl LNCL ANO CNILSSlN
Iurther grounds lor nascent Christianity`s inherent instabil ity as a religious
movement can be lound i n its claims and convictions. ne ol the most striking
aspects ol the movement i n its earliest appearance is the extraordinary claims it
made lor itsell, claims that were all the more remarkable because they were so
discrepant with the actual worldly circumstances ol the smattering ol small and
persecuted communities scattered across the Mediterranean world.' 1he claims
included a sense ol mission to the entire world Acts 1 : 8; Matt 28: 19) and,
1
34
The Appearance of Christianit in the Greco-Roman World
indeed, an ascendancy over the world. ` Christians play a pivotal role lor the
luture ol the world, reconciling it to Cod z Cor 5: 19; Kom 11: 15) and anticipat-
ing the liberation ol all creation Kom S. zozz), the church, indeed, is the place
where Cod`s purpose lor the world is being revealed.
1he Christian claims to cosmic signihcance were based on other claims con-
cerning their present experience. What is important lor the present analysis is
not the physical or psychological aspects ol that experience but its claimed el-
lects, such as release lrom the cosmic lorces that controlled human existence.
believers were no longer subject to the "powers and principal ities", nor were
they captive to systems ol law that had been used by such "elements ol the uni-
verse" to hold humans in bondage lndeed, they were lree lrom the terrors ol
death that all such systems employed to subjugate humans. A central term lor
the claimed experience was, therelore, salvation (soteria), which they thought
ol not as something that would happen to them but as something that had in a
real sense already happened. they had been moved lrom a negative to a positive
condition in their own l ives. ' 1he positive condition could be described in
terms lami l iar to Creco-Koman philosophical traditions. Christians claimed
lreedom (eleutheria) and "lree-speech" (parresia), or the kind ol boldness that
enabled witness even belore hostile hearers. ` lt could also be described i n terms
ol certain states in which they lound themselvessuch as a state ol peace with
Cod and humans and a state ol joy that was compatible even with sullering~
and in terms ol dispositions, such as laith, hope, and lovedispositions that had
specihc behavioral manilestations. `'
1he earl iest Christians claimed, i n short, empowerment. Whether using
terms l ike "authority" (exousia) or "energy" (energeia) or "power" (dynamis) -or
their cognatesthe New 1estament compositions are shot through with claims
associating bel ievers with a power that manilested itsell outwardly in various
"signs and wonders," such as heal ings and prophecies, as well as i n the preach-
ing ol the good news. ` 1he power was present equally, however, in the process
ol personal translormation. `` As striking as the lrequency ol these claims to pos-
sess or be possessed by power~and its ehectsis the insistence that power is
not something longed lor or even to be striven lor, but rather is a past and pres-
ent reality. 1he states, dispositions, and translormations are experienced now
rather than simply desired. `' 1he power that brought about these capacities and
changes, moreover, was not sell-generated but came lrom another, as gilt (charis):
it came lrom the one to whom all power properly belonged, the one Cod ol ls-
rael , `` who constantly renews creation. With remarkable consistency, the New
1estament`s language about power can be correlated to its language about "the
Holy Spirit" {to pneuma to hagion),36 a phrase that at once suggests the charac-
35
ter ol the power i t has to do with capacities ol human lreedom), its origin, and
its ultimacy "Holy" = lrom Cod). And since the power they were being given
was Cod`s own dynamis, Christians claimed to represent not novelty i n a world
dedicated to antiquity, but something utterly and dehnitively new. a new lile, a
new covenant, a new creation, a new humanity
Christian claims to have experienced the divine dynamis are not themselves
unique i n the hrst-century Mediterranean world. Ael ius Aristides made claims
ol direct divine i ntervention lor saving and healing, and Lpictetus claimed the
power ol Zeus lor moral translormation. 1he lrequency, intensity, and imme-
diacy ol the claims i n the New 1estament writings are nevertheless stunning.
Such emphasis on the rel igious experience ol power is not, however, stabil i z-
ing, since both "experience" and "power" are peculiarly motile phenomena.
ut the lactor that made this new cult least stable was the very hgure around
whom the movement was organized and who was claimed to be the medium
through whom Cod poured out the Holy Spirit Acts 2: 32-33). 1his is above all
because the movement was born, grew, and took on its distinctive shape not
during )esus` li le or on the basis ol his words or actions but aher his death and
on the basis ol experiences and convictions concerning his resurrection. `
)esus ol Nazareth exercised what can appropriately be called a prophetic
ministry i n Calilee and )udaea. He summoned lollowers and taught them. `'
ut on the basis ol that activity )esus cannot be called the lounder ol the move-
ment that carried his name i n the same way that Muhammad can legitimately
be called the lounder ol lslam or Siddhartha the lounder ol uddhi sm. Hi s
ti me ol active mi nistry was at most three years in length and perhaps l ittle more
than a year.'" He did not develop a system ol law that contained a vision lor so-
ciety or that organized a community. His teaching was rather more indirect and
allusive, more a matter ol aphorism and parable than ol legal dictate.'' His
characteristic activity ol healing, moreover, was sporadic rather than system-
atic, he is better viewed as a wandering charismatic hgure than as the olhcer ol
a cult center.' Whatever his own messianic intentions, his activity came to an
abrupt and violent end when he was crucihed under Koman authority under
the titulus "King ol the )ews."'` As lor his disciples, one betrayed him Mark
14:10-11; 43-45), another denied hi m (14: 66-72), and the rest hed when he was
arrested (14: 50-51). Whatever it had been during his li le, the ")esus movement"
appcared decisively to end with his death.
1he Christ cult began, however, when his lollowers claimed to have experi-
enced )esus more powerlully aher his death than belore, indeed, to have en-
countered him and received lrom him a commission to proclaim the good
news to the nations. ecause the claim about )esus` resurrection is so central, it
1
3
6 The Appearance of Christianity in the Greco-Roman World
is important to dehne its meaning as closely as possible,'' beginning with what
it does not mean belore attempting to state what it does. lt does not mean that
)esus "l ived on" among others in some vestigial "aherl ile" constituted by the
memory ol his sayings and deeds or a sharing in his vision concerning Cod`s
rule.'` Nor does it mean that he was resuscitated, returning alter clinical death
to his empirical existence~although the realism ol some ol the Cospel narra-
tives could give that impression.' 1he earliest Christian conviction concern-
ing the resurrection seems to have a dual character. it is both something that
happened to )esus and something that happens to his lollowers, it is an event o|
the past but just as much a continuing real ity in the present. With regard to
)esus, he was exalted "to the right hand ol the Cod. " Unpacking the dense sym-
bol ism ol lsalm 110: 1, this language states that )esus, alter his death, entered
into Cod`s own li le and power. With regard to hi s lollowers, the dynamis ol the
exalted )esus is given to them through the Holy Spirit.'' laul states it succinctly.
"the last Adam )esus| has become l i le-giving spirit" (to pneuma to zoopoioun;
1 Cor 15: 45). )esus becomes the most highly mobile ol all cult centers. He is also
an inherently unstable center lor the nascent movement energized by that ex-
perience and conviction, as shown by a closer look at two ol the titles ascribed
to him.
1he title "Lord" (kyrios) was probably the earliest used by the hrst bel ievers
to express their conviction that )esus was exalted to a share in Cod`s power
(1 Cor iz. , Kom io. ).' Writing to the lhil ippian church, laul declares that
"Cod has greatly exalted him and has given him a name above every name, so
that at the name ol )esus every knee should bend, above the heavens and upon
the earth and in the depths, and every tongue should conless that )esus Christ
is Lord" lhil z. ~ii). ln the Creco-Koman world, this designation lor the di-
vine was common. we have noted how Ael ius Aristides spoke ol "Lord Serapis"
and "Lord Asclepius."' lt was, i n lact, the connection ol this title to Hellenistic
cults that led to the theory that the )esus movement only became the "Christ
cult" when it went outside lalestine and encountered Creco-Koman rel igion. `"
1he weakness ol this hypothesis l noted earlier. ` ' not only was Hellenism per-
vasive within lalestine, so that geographical expansion was not required lor the
use ol this title, but more tellingly, the title "Lord" (kyrios) was used in the LXX
to translate the proper name ol lsrael`s Cod Yahweh), as indicated by the verse
that was widely used as a prool text lor the resurrection. "1he Lord (kyrios) said
to my Lord (kyrios), Sit at my right hand until l make your enemies a lootstool
lor your leet. "` Ior religious practice in cult, in prayer), the designation "Lord"
was perlectly clear to both )ews and Centiles. an executed human being was
being proclaimed as divine. Ior religious understanding, to be sure, the title`s
The Appearance of Christianit in the Greco-Roman World 1
37
ambiguity could cause concern. Ior Centile converts, i t would be easy t o view
)esus as one among many gods so designated. Ior )ewish members, the use ol
the most holy name lor the resurrected one meant declaring "two powers in
heaven" and becoming, in the eyes ol other )ews, polytheists. `` 1he dilhculty is
wonderlully displayed by the carelul language laul uses in his hrst letter to the
Corinthians. "We know that there is no idol in the world and no Cod but one.
Ior even il there are many designated as gods either in heaven or on earthas
indeed there are many gods and many lords~lor us there i s one Cod, the Ia-
ther, lrom whom are all things and toward whom we are, and there is one Lord,
)esus Christ, through whom are all things, and we are through him" (1 Cor
8: 4-6).
1he title "Messiah" or "Christ" (Christos) is i l anything even more problem-
atic when used lor someone crucihed by the Komans and then proclai med as
sharing Cod`s power to give l i le. `' n one hand, the title demands i nterpreta-
tion lrom withi n the symbolic world ol 1orah, lor it has no signihcance in
Creco-Koman culture. n the other hand, lrom the perspective ol that world-
view, )esus is an unl ikely bearer ol the title. 1here were, to be sure, no specihc
job description lor the )ewish Messiah, expectations were various. `` ut at the
very least, a messiah was expected to make things better lor )ews, and by any
measure, )esus lailed at this. He did not establ ish a )ewish kingdom, restore the
temple, or punish the enemies ol the people. So, by any measure used by )ews,
)esus did not produce the "signs" ol a messiah (1 Cor 1: 22). Worse, because ol
the character ol hi s lile, he could be regarded as a lalse messiah, one ol the
charlatans who "seduced the people" and led them astray Luke 23= 14). 1he
Cospels report hi m as reinterpreting Moses on hi s own authority Matt 5: 17--
48), as houting the laws concerning the Sabbath Mark 2: 22-28; Luke 13= 10-17),
and as associating with tax collectors and sinners Luke 7: 34-50; 15: 1-2).
Worse still, the manner ol hi s deathcrucihxioncould be taken as conhr-
mation that he was cursed by Cod. Oeuteronomy 21: 23 declared cursed anyone
hanged upon a tree see Cal 3= 13). Ior bel ievers to proclai m )esus as "Christ
crucihed," therelore, was to present a "stumbling block" (skandalon) to lellow
)ews, as well as something loolish (moria) to lel low pagans, ` even il to those
inside the community this proclamation seemed "the power ol Cod and the
wisdom ol Cod" (1 Cor 1: 24). 1he cognitive dissonance created by the declara-
tio
n
concerning the crucihed )esus that "god has made hi m both Lord and
Christ" Acts 2: 36) was part ol the generative matrix lor the composition ol the
New 1estament and would continue to luel theological disputes withi n Chris-
tianity lor centuries. 1he earliest Christian experience and conviction, in sum,
was itsell deeply ambiguous and capable ol being led in dillerent directions.
1
3
SClAL SL11l NCS
A hnal element contributing to the instabil ity ol earliest Christianity is its
uncertai n place withi n the social world. lt began as an intentional community.
lor the most part, members were Christian not because ol the accidents ol birth
but because ol a choice to belong. `' lntentional communities are inherently
lragile and requi re the construction and maintenance ol hrm identity boundar-
ies il they are to survive. ` 1his task was especially dilhcult lor the hrst genera-
tion ol Christians because their community was not entirely grounded in either
Creco-Koman or )ewish traditions, but existed uneasily among and between
both, needing to dehne itsell against each respectively even as it inevitably and
not always consciously) drew lrom them. Since converts joined the community
as adults directly lrom )ewish and Centile backgrounds and with already
lormed religious practices, the problems created were real and dilhcult. l have
already mentioned how dillerent understandings ol "Lord" mi ght arise because
ol dillering religious backgrounds. Lven more pressing~because it threatened
koinonia "lellowship") itsellwas the issue ol 1orah observance, specihcally
with regard to participating in pagan meals and with regard to )ews and Cen-
tiles sharing the same table. `'
Christians did not invent a new lorm ol society i n order to negotiate these
tensions but adopted the most readily available model, that ol the association
(ekklesia), used throughout the Creco-Koman world lor a wide variety ol social
and rel igious groups, including Oiaspora )ews the synagogue). Christians did
not at hrst have their own separate buildings but, l i ke many ol the )ewish and
Creco-Koman associations, met in households. " lmplicit in this practice is
some lorm ol p
tronage, since the head ol a household would voluntarily make

such provision lor the community. ' Such minimal lorms ol patronage suggest
at least some degree ol economic stratihcation, and there is some evidence that
the Creco-Koman assumptions concerning patronage caused tension within
communities.
1he exercise ol authority in the earliest assembl ies was less straightlorward
than in many Creco-Koman associations. Iirst, lounders ol communities l ike
laul) and itinerant leaders l ike the "superapostles") could exercise authority
over specihc communities through their presence or letters. ` Second, within
local communities, there was no clear demarcation between the charismatic
authority exercised through the "gihs ol the spirit" and the routine administra-
tion ellected by the sort ol leadership standard lor associations. ' 1hat there
were such lorms ol local leadership even in lauline churches is clear.` 1he evi-
dence suggests that such leadership was organized based on the model ol the
39
Oiaspora synagogue, which itsell shared many leatures with Creco-Koman as-
so
ciations. lt lurther seems li kely that leaders were expected to carry out the
same sort ol routine obl igations expected ol their )ewish and Hellenistic coun-
terparts. supporting the community hnancially, providing hospital ity and travel
provisions, overseeing charity lor the needy, settl ing internal disputes. '
1wo cul tic activities ol early assemblies would easily be recognized by mem-
bers ol Creco-Koman rel igious associations. 1he hrst was baptism, the ritual ol
initiation that marked entry into the community. As an initiatory ritual, it was
notable primarily lor its simpl icity and its singularity, in the Mysteries, initia-
tions tended to be complex and multiple. ' Ior )ewish bel ievers, baptismal
washing lor males would represent an addition to the )ewish ritual ol circumci-
sion, lor Centile converts, baptism replaced circumcision Col z. iiiz)a cir-
cumstance that also could be the occasion lor conhict.' 1he second cultic
activity was the meal. Some version ol "breaking bread in houses" Acts 2: 42,
46) that laul calls the "Lord`s anquet" (kyriakon deipnon; 1 Cor 11 : 20) was
celebrated in the gathered assembly, probably on the day ol resurrection, the
hrst day ol the week (1 Cor 16: 2; see Kev 1: 10).
11
1he rituals ol initiation and
meals were occasions lor enacting the presence ol the risen Lord in the assem-
bly and lor remembering the words and deeds ol )esus i n the context ol his
continuing powerlul presence.'
ther elements ol worship resembled the practices ol the )ewish synagogue.
Although pagans prayed with vigor and lrequency, the lorms ol prayer in the
New 1estament most resemble those lound in )udaism, and several short prayer
lormulae even appear in Aramaic rather than in Creek. '` Similarly, hymns
were addressed to Cod and to Christ.'' As in synagogues, practices ol reading
1orah), preaching, and teaching also took place within the context ol the as-
sembly` All these would have made the assembl ies meeting in the name ol
)esus appear closer to the synagogues lrom which at least some ol the worship-
pers had come to join this new movement. 1he practice ol ecstatic utterance
within worship, whether i n the lorm ol glossolalia or prophecy, in contrast,
would have seemed strange i n the synagogue but at least conceivable as a prac-
tice withi n Creco-Koman cults
Creco-Koman associations and synagogues ohen maintained social i nterac-
tions with other communities through personal communication and corre-
spondence.'' 1he same patterns ol koinonia can be observed among the earl ies|
Christian assembl ies. Leaders and communities alike sent delegates to other as-
semblies to represent them 1he epistolary literature ol the New 1estament
emerges lrom the same impulse to maintain connections' Iinally, exchange ol
hnancial resources undoubtedly served to cement ties between local assembl ies.
1
4
laul`s great collection ellort had as its intention a greater degree ol koinonia
among )ewish and Centile churches and served to advance the notion ol scat-
tered communities constituting a single ekklesia. 8o
No matter how extensive its expansion or impressive its networking, Christi-
anity in its hrst decades remained a negligible speck withi n the vastness ol the
Koman pol itical order. y the end ol laul `s ministry, it was sulhciently visible
and vulnerable lor Nero to blame it lor Kome`s hre. ' y the hrst decade ol the
second century, it was sulhciently active and popular to irritate a provincial
governor, but ll iny the Younger`s query to 1rajan concerning the treatment ol
Christians assumed no greater importance than the establ ishment ol a volun-
teer hre brigade. Ouring the entire period when the New 1estament composi-
tions were being written, the scattered communities had no real stake i n the
oikoumene. Not surprisingly, views ol the empire within those compositions
tend to correspond to the particular experiencepositive or negativethe com-
munity had ol the empire. `
1his all-too-rapid sketch ol Christianity in its hrst manilestation has revealed
a number

ol lactors contributing to the instabil ity ol the nascent rel igious
movement. its rapid expansion i n circumstances ol duress, its explosive claims
to experience, its powerlul yet ambiguous conlession ol a crucihed man as Lord
and Messiah, its social location as an i ntentional community drawing members
lrom both )udaism and Hellenism, as well as its political insignihcance and
vulnerabil ity.
WAYS I LlNC KLLlClUS
l have already stated my agreement with the proposition that there was diver-
sity in the earl iest Christian movement. 1here are more than trivial dillerences,
lor example, between the compositions deriving lrom "lauline" circles and the
")ohannine School ," and there are signihcant dillerences even within discrete
compositions withi n those groupings.'
Oillerences among New 1estament writings range lrom such surlace elements
as genre and lorms ol rhetoric to lundamental perspectives on critical issues. My
interest in this study is not to catalog such dillerences but to ask the same ques-
tion ol earl iest Christianity that l put to Creco-Koman rel igion and )udaism. is
it possible to discern i n this earliest period distinct "ways ol being rel igious"
My argument over the next two chapters is that two ol the lour distinct
modes ol religiosity l have detected in Creco-Koman rel igionand, in a more
complex conhguration, also in )udaismare lound within the writings ol the
New 1estament. Kel igiousness A participation in divine benehts) is unmistak-
ab
le, and Kel igiousness moral translormation) is also clearly present. 1here
is, in contrast, only the slightest hi nt in the New 1estament ol Keligiousness C
transcending/escaping the world) and no sign ol Kel igiousness O stabilizing
the world). Subsequent chapters will trace the emergence ol these lurther
types as well as the continuation and modulation) ol the hrst two.
elore developing that argument, l must close this chapter as l opened it,
with some cautionary comments. 1he reader should bear i n mi nd hrst the pe-
culiar complexity ol the New 1estament compositions. l mean by this not only
the lascinating way i n which Creco-Koman l iterary genres are lused and trans-
lormed,` but even more the way the central convictions ol this movement
bend everything around them. just as the one Cod and 1orah made Hellenistic
)udaism something distinct within the Creco-Koman world, so the New 1esta-
ment`s central concern with a crucihed and raised Christ~i n addition to its
convictions concerning the one Cod and 1orahcatalyzes Creco-Koman rel i-
gious sensibilities. Next, the search lor di llerent types ol religious sensibil ity
must necessarily remain on the surlace ol what the New 1estament composi-
tions make available, no judgments can be made about the "religious type" ol
historical individuals or ol groups. lndeed, we can be less certain about the sen-
sibilities that gave rise to the texts than about the sort ol sensibilities to which the
texts would give rise.
lt is i mportant, lurthermore, not to allow typology to become stereotyping.
My interest is i n diherences ol emphasis, the ways i n which religious people
diversely perceive the location ol the divine dynamis and its purpose, not i n plac-
ing people in closed compartments or opposing ideologies. 1o state that Ael ius
Aristides is an almost pure example ol Kel igiousness A, lor example, does not
lead to the judgment that he never longed to die, that he had no concern lor the
state, or that he was lacking i n moral virtue. 1o agree that Lpictetus perlectly
represents Keligiousness , similarly, does not imply that he lailed to participate
in the round ol lestivals and sacrihces or that he regarded piety as a completely
private rather than public concern. 1he same appl ies to the distinction among
types o| religiosity in the New 1estament. Iinding Kel igiousness A among
laul `s communities does not mean that those with that sensibil ity could not
also be morally upright or socially engaged, determining that laul and the au-
thor ol the letter to the Hebrews represent Keligiousness does not in the least
suggest that they denied or despised the outward manilestations ol the divine
power. Iinally, l remind the reader that making distinctions is not the same as
stating prelerences, the point ol this exercise is analysis rather than advocacy.
10
-
NEW TESTAMENT CHRI STIANI TY AS
PARTICI PATION I N DIVI NE BENEFI TS
Within a very short period ol time, Centiles joined the movement that had
gathered around the crucihed and raised )ewish Messiah )esus, and withi n de-
cades such Centile converts lormed a maj ority ol its members. ' Civen this in-
hux ol Centile members, and given the elements ol i nstability described i n the
previous chapter, we would expect the Christian movement to be marked in
some lashion by the Creco-Koman rel igious background ol such converts. And
since the greatest portion ol religious Centiles belonged to what l have described
as Kel igiousness A, we should not be surprised to hnd traces ol this lorm ol re-
l i giosity in earl iest Christianity.
l have dehned Kel igiousness A in terms ol "participation in divine benehts."
1his mode ol rel igiosity perceives the divine dynamis as active i n the empirical
world and accessible through rel igious practice. 1he point ol engaging such
dynamis is the beneht that accrues to the participant. the answering ol prayers
lor everyday success, the ellectiveness ol prophecy in guiding decisions, the
experience ol healing or other kinds ol "salvation," the i nitiation into a cult that
enhances one`s place i n the world and gives hope lor luture bliss. Centiles ol
such sensibil ity would logically be attracted to a new cult that compensated lor
its lack ol antiquity by its claims to powerlul experiences ol the divine.
1he major problem i n analyzing Kel igiousness A in earliest Christianity is
the indirect character ol the evidence. We have no hrsthand witness l ike Ael ius
Aristides to proclaim the benehts received through participation in the cult ol
the Messiah. ur access to this sensibil ity is primarily through laul`s letters
and the Cospel narratives. Lach lorm ol witness needs carelul handl ing. 1he
value ol laul `s letters is that they i ntroduce us to the rel igious impulses ol hi s
readers j ust as he perceives them i n the "real ti me" ol his correspondence with
New Testament Christianit as Participation in Divine Benefts 1
43
a church. 1he drawback to this correspondence is that, since laul is writing
primarily to correct his readers, his perceptions provide only a partial picture.
lart ol my task i n this chapter is to enter appreciatively into thc experiences and
convictions ol the ordinary members ol laul `s congregations. 1he value ol the
Cospel narrativesincluding Actsis that they enthusiastically communicate
the elements in the good news that ht within Kel igiousness A. 1he drawback to
these narratives is that they are not simple aretalogiesthey also are complex
compositions shaped by the evangelists lor pedagogical purposes, requiring us
to assess their witness carelully.
1HL LN1HUSlAS1lC CKl N1HlANS
laul `s readers in Corinth have olten been analyzed in terms ol a theological
position, whether a "Cnosticism" that gave certain members an exaggerated
sense ol wisdom or a "realized eschatology" that emphasized the present expe-
rience ol power to the neglect ol the message ol the cross. ` lt is perhaps just as
plausible to see them as Centile converts who enthusiastically embraced laul `s
proclamation ol the resurrection (1 Cor i.q), the reception ol the Holy Spi rit
(12: 13), and all the ways in which "the kingdom ol Cod consists i n power [dyna
mis] (4:19).4 laul reminded them, in lact, that "signs and wonders and power-
lul deeds [semeia kai terata kai dynameis] had been worked among them
(2 Cor 12: 12). We can, indeed, see them as Centile converts who embraced all
this with the attitudes characteristic ol Kel igiousness A. lor them the point ol
the dynamis was participation i n its benehts.
1his perspective helps us understand the dilhculty inherent i n laul `s treat-
ment ol the practice ol eating lood that had been ollered to idols that is, Cen-
tile gods). lt is i n this discussion that he reminds hi s readers, as l noted above,
that although there are i n heaven and on earth many called gods~and indeed
there are many gods and lordsthere was "lor them" only one Cod and one
Lord (1 Cor S. ). He says this as a reminder to his readers that "not all have
this knowledge" S. y) that he takes lor granted, namely, that "there is no idol on
earth or god except one" S. q). 1he subsequent passage shows clearly that al-
though some ol laul `s Centile converts shared this knowledge)ews would not
have needed the reminder~and could be counted on as "strong," there were
othcrs who were "weak in conscience" S. y). 1hey may have known that idols
were not real, but their knowledge was not sulhciently deep or entrenched to
enable them to eat idol oherings as though they were "nothing."
1he question that needs asking is why such Centile bel ievers would have put
themselves in the position ol eating lood ohered to idols or, even more dramatic,
1
4
New Testament Christianity as Participation in Divine Benefts
attending a meal with unbel ievers where such lood would be served as a matter
ol course (1 Cor 10: 25-30). A partial answer can be lound, to be sure, in the lacts
ol Creco-Koman social lile. il one were to have meat lor a meal, it was di lhcult
to get it apart lrom that made available at temples. ` And il one were not to "go
out ol the world" ( 5: 9), then eating with lellow Centiles at the meals ol their
associations would be dilhcult to avoidgiven the way in which networks were
lormed through such social contacts. ut we hnd the specihc answer, l think,
in the logic proper to Kel igiousness A. il allegiance to one lord brings benehts,
then allegiance to many lords must bring more benehts, il participation i n the
ritual meal ol one cult achieves a blessing, how much more blessing will come
lrom participating i n the meals ol other cults.
1he ellectiveness ol laul `s response is di lhcult to assess, lor it comes lrom a
completely dillerent religious logic, namely, that ol )ewish monotheism. lar-
ticipation in cults other than those ol the one Cod is not an added good but an
apostasy that brings on punishment (1 Cor 10: 1-13). Meals at pagan shrines in-
volves eating not what is ollered to gods but to demons, which means that those
participati ng in the meal are in communion with demons (10: 19-22). Although
laul sees a place lor lreedom with respect to eating idol lood, so long as care is
taken not to scandalize the weak (8: 9-13; 10: 23-30), he demands an absolute
separation lrom such table lellowship and that in which "the cup ol the Lord"
is shared (10: 20-21). lt is not at all clear how powerlul such arguments would be
to those whose rel igious sensibil ity was shaped not by covenant with one Cod
but by participation i n benehts lrom as many gods as possible.
1he logic ol Kel igiousness A may also explain the practices that laul con-
demns i n the Corinthians` own cult meal, the kyriakon deipnon (1 Cor 11:20).
What actually occurred at this meal is unknown. laul charges the Corinthians
with "going ahead with each one`s meal " so that some get drunk and others go
hungry (11: 21). He considers this a despising ol the assembly and ol those who
have nothing (11: 22), and he reminds them ol the tradition concerning the death
ol )esus associated with this meal (11: 23-26). He wants them to eat and drink
"worthily ol the Lord," which appears to mean discerning the body ol the com-
munity) rather than eating and drinking condemnation to themselves (11: 27--
29). lt has plausibly been suggested that a Creco-Koman understanding ol
patronage l ies behind this passage. 1hose who sponsor the meal would have
eaten hrst and others later ut specihc reli gious assumptions may also be at
work. 1he hrst is that the point ol participating in a meal in honor ol an exalted
Lord is participating i n the power ol the Lord`s presence rather than an oppor-
tunity lor moral awareness. 1he second is that such participation is precisely lor
the beneht ol the individualasking about the possible beneht to the commu-
1
45
nity as a whole demands another way ol thinking. 1he third is that social roles
in rel igious cults reinscribe the social di stinctions ol the larger society rather
than obliterate them.
1he most impressive example ol Kel igiousness A among the Corinthians ap-
pears i n laul `s lengthy discussion ol spiritual gilts (charismata) in 1 Cor 12-14.
laul and his readers share the perception that such gilts come lrom the Holy
Spirit (1 Cor 12: 4). ln his l isting ol them, laul i ncludes "powerlul deeds [dy
nameis] and "gilts ol heal ing [charismata iamatin] (12: 28), but the locus ol his
discussion in chapter 14 is on the gilts rehecting the Corinthians` rich endow-
ment "i n all speech and in all knowledge" (1: 5), namely, prophecy and speaking
in tongues (12: 30).
While all lorms ol prophecy were esteemed in Creco-Koman rel igion, there
is no doubt that the lorm most attractive to Keligiousness A would be enthusias
mos, i n which human capacities are taken over by the pneuma ol the god, and
mysteries are expressed through uni ntelli gible ravings requiring interpreta-
tion.' Here is a manilestation ol divine dynamis even more i mpressive than As-
clepius` di recting ol Ael ius Aristides` orations, lor the prophet is di rectly under
the power ol the god in an unmistakable manner, with the ordinary processes
ol human thinking and speech completely bypassed. it is the god who speaks.
Ior Centile converts to a new cult, what greater prool could there be that )esus
was indeed exalted as Lord than such a di rect inlusion ol the Holy Spirit among
humans (1 Cor 12: 3)? 1he demonstration would be all the more impressive,
given anxiety concerning the decline in traditional sites lor such prophecy. ' "
1hi s new cult del ivered what older traditions only remembered.
lt i s small wonder that some Corinthians considered speaking in tongues to
be the most highly desirable gilt ol the spirit (1 Cor 14: 22), since ecstatic speech
simultaneously revealed the presence ol the Lord and bestowed on the speaker
the status ol prophet. I I While not denying the real ity or val idity ol this gih, laul
tries to turn hi s readers` mi nds toward the question ol the appropriateness ol
its expression. ut by so doing he revealsas we shall see in the next chaptera
rel igious sensibil ity dillerent than that ol at least some ol his readers i n the Co-
rinthian congregation.
Kl1UAL lMlKlN1lNC lN lHKYClA
Iurther evidence lor Kel igiousness A among laul `s readers is lound in the
two letters addressed to churches in the territory ol lhrygia, Calatians and Co-
lossians. eyond the lact
hat Calatians is universally accepted as authentic

while the lauline authorship ol Colossians is doubted by some, there are real
1
4
6 New Testament Christianit as Participation in Divine Benefts
dillerences between the letters. laul was the lounder ol the churches in Calatia
to whom he writes Cal 1: 11; q. i~zo), yet his apostol ic authority appears to be
questioned. ' ln his passionate yet rhetorically sophisticated argument, laul
makes heavy use ol language drawn lrom 1orah` 1he church at Colossae has
been lounded by Lpaphras, ' ' one ol laul `s associates, who at the time ol com-
position is laul `s lel low prisoner Col 4:3; lhlm z). ln this letter, neither the
interpretation ol 1orah nor the question ol laul `s authority is sal ient. ' ` lnstead,
laul`s response is shaped by shared traditions Col 1: 5-7; 2: 6-7), especially
those connected to baptism and the identity ol Christ. '
1he situations addressed by the letters are, nevertheless, strikingly similar. ln
both cases, the ethnic and cultural background ol the readers is Centile rather
than )ewish~they have turned to Christ directly lrom paganism. ' ' Whether
under the inhuence ol outsiders or inside agitators, in both communities mem-
bers are seeking a lurther initiation beyond baptism. ln Calatia, some members
are having themselves circumcised, and in Colossae, there is a desire lor ci rcum-
cision as well as lor lurther visionary experiences. IS ln both situations, such am-
bition is connected to notions ol perlection or maturity. '' Iinally, there is the
suggestion that those who undergo lurther initiation are superior to those who
have received only baptism in Christ. Scholarship on these letters has tended
to locus on the identity ol laul `s "opponents," as though the issue was a diller-
ence in theology. ' ut the real question is rel igious. why would adult males seek
to undergo a painlul and even dangerous genital mutilation withi n a short time
ol an easy and painless initiation by water i nto the ekklesia gathered around the
Lord )esus
1he answer is lound in the combination ol elements that point clearly to a re-
l igious sensibil ity ol the Creco-Koman world that these Centile converts carried
with them into the messianic cult. 1hey reasoned by analogy. il the cult ol the
Messiah was an association (ekklesia) rather than a domestic cult or local cult
shrine or civic liturgy, then it can be thought ol as a Mystery~especially il it pro-
claimed as Lord a human being who had died and was raised. And il it was a
Mystery, then initiations within it would naturally be multiple. Iurther initia-
tions as into the cult ol Moses) would require an ordeal such as circumcision or
physical asceticism), to be sure, but they would also provide lore not available to
others such as 1orah) and an elevated status within the association. ` larticularly
in lhrygia, sexual mutilation would have been lamiliar as a sign ol advanced
status within a cult.' 1he quest lor "perlection" through successive initiations is
a splendid example ol Kel igiousness A among laul`s readers. `
New Testament Christianity as Participation in Divine Benefts 1
47
)LSUS AS KlNCLK I LNLIl1S
)ust as in the case ol laul `s letters, it is important to remember that our access
to Keli giousness A is limited by his personal perspective, so in the case ol New
1estament narratives, we must be aware ol another sort ol indirectness. 1he
Cospelsincluding in this category the Acts ol the Apostles as the second vol-
ume ol Luke`s Cospelare not simply aretalogies, even though they all contain
materials that would ht nicely into an aretalogy. 1he Cospels all stand at a
distance lrom what they report about )esus. they are distant in time lrom the
hgure about whom they write, being composed some qoo years alter )esus`
death. ' 1hey are distant also because what they tell about )esus has been se-
lected and shaped by the process ol transmission i n communities. 1hey are
distant as well because ol their perspective. they are all written lrom a position
ol beliel i n )esus as the resurrected Lord, and that perspective allects the entire
telling ol the story. ' Iinally, they are distant because ol the authorial purposes
at work i n the shaping ol each Cospel narrative. `
)ust as i n laul `s letters we hnd a mixture ol Kel igiousness Alound above all
in laul `s readersand Kel igiousness to be shown i n the next chapter), so also
in the Cospels do we hnd the inclusion ol elements that could be argued to
represent moral translormation the teaching lound especially in Matthew and
Luke) or transcending the world the apocalyptic sections ol Mark and Mat-
thew). Yet it is lai r to state that the dominant strain ol rel igiosity lound in all
lour Cospels is the one l have dubbed Kel igiousness A, participation i n divine
benehts. 1his is clearer when we remember that the dehning element i n each
sensibil ity is the understanding ol divine dynamis and how it i s available. ln the
Cospels, such dynamis is entirely connected to the hgure ol )esus and is avail-
able through contact with hi m.
1his reality is mitigated but not contradicted by the theme ol suhering both
lor )esus and lor hi s disciples) that pervades the Cospels, lor, as we have seen in
the case ol Ael ius Aristides, Kel igiousness A can accommodate suhering within
its sense ol the divine power at work i n the empirical realm. lt is enough here,
l think, simply to enumerate those elements in the Cospelsbeginning with
the Synopticsthat communicate to the reader that in )esus the divine dyna
mis has come among humans to their beneht. 1he obvious starting point is the
account ol )esus` birth in Matthew and Luke. `'
ln Matthew, )esus is conceived by a virgin through divine intervention~
through the power ol the Holy Spir|t Matt i.iS, zzz)and her husband has a
dream in which the angel ol the Lord instructs hi m in the matter i. zozi).
1his is the hrst ol several dreams that reveal to )oseph how to protect his lamily
1
4
8 New Testament Christianity as Participation in Divine Benefts
lrom harm z. i, i, zz). 1he supernatural character ol the birth is certihed by a
heavenly portent, the star appearing to magoi lrom the east z. i), with the por-
tent being interpreted through scriptural prophecies by the college ol priests
and scribes in )erusalem z. ~). 1he magoi honor the child as a king by pros-
tration and the ollering ol precious gihs z. ii), and then, themselves warned in
a dream, they return home z. iz). All ol these dreams and portents serve to as-
sert that )esus is not only the Messiah i.i) but the Son ol Cod i. z, z. i), the
Lmmanuel who means, indeed, "Cod with us" i. z).
Luke`s inlancy account has a similar range ol supernatural elements. ` oth
)ohn and )esus are born through divine intervention Luke i. iSi, z. i),
and both have their births prophesied by di rect revelation ol an angel i. ii~zo,
z. zy). An angel also appears to shepherds to announce the birth ol )esus as
Messiah and Lord z. ~io), and a multitude ol the heavenly host proclai ms this
birth as one that brings divine benehts. "Clory to Cod in the highest and on
earth peace to those on whom his lavor [eudokia] rests" z. iq). )esus is recog-
nized as Cod`s Messiah by the prophetic hgures Simeon and Anna z. zSS).
As a iz-year-old, )esus astounds the teachers in the temple with hi s understand-
ing and his answers z.qqy), and when his worried parents hnd hi m, he
claims that "it is necessary lor me to be about my lather`s ahairs" z.q). As in
Matthew`s version, )esus is emphatically portrayed as "Son ol Cod" z. ).
1he account ol )esus` ministry in the Synoptic Cospels makes clear that the
divine dynamis is active through hi m. his proclamation ol the good news ol
the kingdom ol Cod Mark i. i) i s enacted by deeds that reveal the divine pres-
ence. `` At his baptism, the heavens open and he i s proclaimed by a voice lrom
heaven as Cod`s Son i. ii), and at hi s transhguration, he appears in glory to
his lollowers and is again identihed by the heavenly voice as Cod`s Son . z~S).
)esus calls disciples to lollow hi m with a mere word ol command z. i~zo,
z. iq). `' He manilests his contact with the divine by his powers ol prophecy. he
loretells with minute precision the circumstances ol his death and ol his resur-
rection S. i, . i, io. ) and predicts the persecution ol his lollowers and the
lall ol the temple i. z~i), which make his as yet unlulhlled prophecy con-
cerning the end-time more convincing. `` )esus` powers as a thaumaturge also
show his divine character. He exercises the divine dynamis with respect to the
world. he calms a storm at sea q. qi) and walks to his disciples on the Sea ol
Calilee . qz). He curses a hg tree and it withers ii. iziq, zozi).
ut his acts are not random demonstrations ol power, they serve to beneht
others. 1hus, he turns a lew loaves and hsh into lood lor multitudes, leeding in
one case more than ,ooo people Mark . qqq) and in another case more
than q,ooo S. i). His exorcisms show his authority over demonic lorces but
49
also liberate humans lrom "unclean spirits" i. zizS, . izo, y. zqo, . iqz). `
He heals people with an astonishing array ol sicknesses i. zq, qoq, z. iiz,
, . ziq, . , y. iy, S. zzz, io.qz). `' He even raises people

lrom the dead q. qz). ` 1he number and nature ol these heal ings~carried
out by an individual , instantaneously, at a word ol commandis unparalleled
in extant contemporary rel igious l iterature. `' 1he benehts bestowed on those
exorcised, healed, and raised lrom the dead are obvious. physical health and
restoration to society. 1heir "salvation" is not a matter ol eternal destiny but ol
present rescue and restoration.
1he account ol )esus` passion and death in the Synoptic Cospels does not
shy away lrom any ol the lacts that made hi s execution a skandalon, but by em-
phasizing that hi s death was that ol an innocent man obedient to Cod`s will
Mark iq. zqo), they interpret the hardest part ol the )esus story lrom the
perspective ol Kel igiousness A) as ultimate evidence ol his divine benelaction.
his death is undergone will ingly "lor others" io.q) in accordance with proph-
ecy. At hi s last meal , he tells the disciples that "the Son ol Man goes as it is
written ol him" iq. zi) and gives them bread and wine interpreted as hi s body
and blood "lor many" iq.zzzq). 1he scripture text ol Zechariah i. y i s cited by
)esus concerning hi s disciples` betrayal . "You will all lall away, lor it i s written,
` l will smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.` `` ut, then, as in his
earlier three predications ol the passion, )esus concludes with a triumphant
prophecy ol his resurrection. "ut alter l am raised up, l will go belore you to
Cal ilee" iq.zy). 1he moment ol )esus` death is entirely clothed with the words
ol 1orah. Not only does )esus quote lsalm zz. i LXX zi. i), with its intimation ol
divine vindication,'" but the narrative uses the very language ol scripture to de-
pict his death.''
1he accounts ol )esus` resurrection, i n turn, serve to validate the prophecies
)esus had made concerning hi s rising again Matt zy. , Mark i. y, Luke zq.y,
zzy, qqq) and to show how the resurrected Lord bestows his power on hi s
lollowers. ln Matthew, )esus declares that "all power in heaven and on earth
has been given to me" and commissions the ii di sciples to make di sciples ol
all nations, promising, "l am with you always, until the end ol the age" Matt
zy. iSzo). ln Mark`s longer ending, )esus declares that "these signs will accom-
pany those who bel ieve. i n my name they will drive out demons, they will
speak new languages. 1hey will pick up serpents, and il they drink any deadly
thing, it will not harm them. 1hey will lay hands on the sick, and they will re-
cover" Mark i. iiS). )esus then ascends into heavenbut he continues to
conhrm the preaching ol his lollowers through accompanying signs i. izo).
ln Luke, )esus also ascends into heaven zq. i)in Creco-Koman rel igion the
supreme conhrmation ol divine statusaher declaring to hi s disciples, "e-
hold, l am sending the promise ol the Iather upon you, but stay i n the city until
you are clothed with power [dynamis] lrom on high" (24:49).42
1he li nk between )esus as bringer ol benehts and hi s lollowers as participants
i n divine benehts is made most clearly by the second volume ol Luke`s work,
the Acts ol the Apostles. lt opens with the exalted Lord Acts 1: 9-11) receiving
the Holy Spirit and then pouring it out (2: 33) on hi s gathered lollowers in spec-
tacular lashion. a strong wind and tongues ol hre accompany their speaking in
tongues (2: 1-4) in a manner intell igible to )ews gathered lrom every part ol the
Oiaspora lor the Ieast ol Weeks (2: 5-11). leter`s speech interprets the event in
terms ol the prophecy ol )oel P-5 that a prophetic spirit would be poured out
on all hesh Acts 2: 17-21), a spirit that would manilest itsell i n "wonders and
signs" (terata kai semeia; 2: 19). Making sure that the link between the prophetic
)esus and these prophetic emissaries i s not missed, leter immediately speaks ol
)esus` mi nistry as one ol "powerlul deeds and wonders and signs" (dynameis kai
terta kai semeia; 2: 22).
Irom the very beginning, then, Acts i nvites readers to view the narrative
concerning the apostles as the continuation ol the narrative about )esus. just as
)esus brought benehts through his deeds, so do these emissaries hlled with his
own prophetic spirit both participate i n and communicate the same benehts to
humans. 1hat the divine dynamis is expressed hrst ol all in terms ol prophecy is
signihcant, lor prophecy was regarded with singular reverence not only i n )uda-
ism but also in Creco-Koman rel igion. Ior Keligiousness A, prophecy is a clear
expression ol divine power and presence. )esus, the reader would have already
learned, was so powerlul a prophet that he was able to predict the circumstances
ol his own death with precision Luke 9:22, 44-45; 18: 31-33; see also 24:6-7). He
also prophesied the destiny ol his disciples Luke 21: 12-19) and the course ol
their mission to the ends ol the earth Acts 1= 7-8), both ol which prophesies will
be demonstrated as accurate by the unlolding ol Luke`s narrative.
ln his ministry, )esus was already the prophet whom Cod raised up to visit the
people Luke TI6). Now, with his resurrection and exaltation, he is even more
the prophet like Moses whom Cod raised up see Acts 3= 22; T37) precisely to ex-
tend the divine dynamis not only to )ews but also to Centiles Luke 2: 32; 3: 6;
Acts 2: 38-39; 13= 47) through those sharing his prophetic spirit. Luke shows this
prophetic succession hrst by the use ol literary characterization. leter and )ohn,
Stephen and lhil ip, arnabas and laul , all are "hlled with the Holy Spirit" (2:4;
4:8, 31; 6: 3, 5; 7: 55; 8: 29, 39; 9: 17; 13: 9) and "work signs and wonders" see 2:43;
4: 16, 22, 30; 5: 12; 6:8; 8:6, 13; 14: 3; 15: 12) as they proclaim the good news "with
b
oldness" (parresia; 2: 29; 4: 13, 29, 31; 9: 27-28; 13:46; 14: 3; 18: 26; 19:8; 26: 26;
28: 31)
Luke`s second way ol showing the continuity ol the divine dynamis at work in
)esus and i n his apostles is by describing their powerlul deeds, which mirror
those perlormed by )esus. 1hus, leter and )ohn heal a lame man at the gates ol
the temple io), a deed that leter asserts is not done "by our power [dyna
misj or piety [eusebeiaj" but by the power ol the resurrected one (3: 12-15). And
the power at work in them, Luke makes clear, is even more vividly present than
in )esus` ministry. even the apostles` shadows lalling on the ill and alhicted have
the power to heal (5: 15-16). leter alone also heals (9: 32-35) and raises someone
lrom the dead (9: 36-43). His prophetic power is so great that, when conlronted
with it, Ananias and Sapphira lal l dead ( 5: 1-11). lhilip also perlorms many exor-
cisms (6: 7), and laul heals (19: 11-12; 28: 9), exorcises (19: 13-17), and resuscitates
(20:7-12). oth leter and laul wage successlul war against the powers ol magic
that are sponsored by demons (8: 18-25; 13: 4-12; 19: 18-20).43
Luke`s third way ol demonstrating the divine dynamis at work in the pro-
phetic successors ol )esus is through the remarkable success ol their mission
despite all ellorts to stop it. Yes, the )erusalem apostles are scourged Acts 5:40),
Stephen and )ames are martyred (7: 54-60; 12:2), and laul sullers i n synagogues
(14:19); but the apostles are released by the Sanhedrin because the authorities
lear becoming theomachoi by opposing a movement lrom Cod (4: 21; 5: 39-41),
leter i s rescued lrom Herod`s prison by an angel (12: 3-17), and laul and arna-
bas are lreed lrom jail by an earthquake (16: 25-40).44 laul escapes lrom a storm
at sea and shipwreck, having prophesied accurately in the midst ol the catastro-
phe that all would be saved (27: 33-34, 44). laul is not harmed when bitten by a
viper on Malta, leading the natives ol that island to declare that "he is a god"
(28: 6).
1his is not the hrst time that Centiles have responded to the apostol ic dyna
mis in a manner consistent with Kel igiousness A. When leter visits the house
ol Cornelius, he must dehect the Centile soldier`s attempt to worship him (10: 25),
saying, "Cet up, l mysell am also a human being [anthroposj ." Lven more dra-
matically, when the lhrygian inhabitants ol Lystra witness laul and arnabas
healing a man who was lame lrom birth, they declare, "1he Cods have come
upon us in human lorm [hoi theoi homoiothentes anthropois katebesan pros
hemasj" and seek to oller sacrihce to arnabas as Zeus and laul as Hermes
(14:11-12).45 1he apostles dehect such worship, declaring themselves to be "ol
the same nature as you, human beings [homoiopatheis esmen humin anthro
poij ," and use the misunderstanding as a way ol turning the Centiles "lrom
lool ish things to the l iving Cod" iq. i). 1he "misunderstanding," however, is
one that arises naturally lrom the way in which Luke has constructed hi s narra-
tive, and although the distinction he has the apostles make is clearly an impor-
tant one lor him, it has been made necessary by hi s portrayal ol the apostles as
theoi andres.
Having made a positive case lor reading the Synoptic Cospels and Acts as
witnesses to Kel igiousness A in early Christianity, and belore turning to the
lourth Cospel, it may be helplul to consider possible objections to my analysis.
lt might be objected that l have too hattened the portrayal ol )esus in the Syn-
optics, locusing i nstead exclusively on thaumaturgic materi al. lt is true that
l have not addressed )esus the speaker in parables or )esus` mi nistry to the out-
cast. ut l ask whether these strands in the Cospels in any lashion contradict
the portrayal ol )esus as prophet and bringer ol benehts and must answer that
they clearly do not.
Another possible objection~one that l have already alluded to briehy~is
that l have distorted the powerlul theme ol )esus` suhering and the opposition
he experienced lrom demons and humans, a theme that continues in Acts with
the persecution ol the apostles. ln lact, however, the theme ol sullering is en-
tirely compatible with an emphasis on )esus as bringer ol benehts. 1hat the di-
vine savior should enter lully i nto the human condition ol suhering in order to
rescue those who experience sullering i s ultimately an extraordinary claim to
the elhcacy ol this specihc bringer ol benehts.
Another obj ection mi ght be that the Cospels and Acts contai n elements
ol the other rel igious sensibilities l have catalogued, above all Kel igiousness
rel igion as moral translormation. Aher all, )esus i s a teacher who calls lor
repentance and provides moral i nstruction.' Acts portrays the hrst beli evers,
moreover, i n terms behtting phi l osophers as well as prophets. they boldly
bear witness belore human authorities and gather themselves i nto a commu-
nity ol possessions.'' Such elements are undoubtedly present. 1he decisive
element ol Kel igiousness , however, is missing, namely, the perception ol
the divine dynamis being i mmanently present precisely i n order to ellect a
moral translormation. ln the Cospels and Acts, the emphasis clearly is on
participation in divine benehts brought about through contact with )esus and
hi s Holy Spirit. As lor the two other types ol rel igious sensibil ity i n the Cen-
tile worl d, there is no trace i n these compositions ol a hight lrom or tran-
scending ol the worldeverything is about present power that benehts humans
here and nownor i s there a trace ol rel igion as stabilizing the worldil any-
thing these compositions emphasize the destabi li zi ng ellects ol this prophetic
movement.'
"
53
1HL MAN IKM HLAVLN
1he special character ol )ohn among the Cospels has always drawn atten-
tion.'' lt is a simple matter to catalog the ways in which it di llers lrom the
Synoptics, `" but accounting lor its disti nctiveness is more di lhcult. Ior many
readers, )ohn has seemed the most "Creek" ol the Cospels. Iocusing on the
Cospel `s abstract language and lengthy discourses, some historians attributed
its Hellenistic leel to a late date. )ohn was written when Christianity had come
into contact with Creek philosophy i n the Oiaspora. ` ' ther hi storians locused
on the Cospel `s dualism and revelatory monologues and located the origin ol
)ohn`s special character in an early lorm ol Christian Cnosticism. ` More re-
cent research shows that there is no reason lor dating )ohn later or lor locating
it in the Oiaspora. its knowledge ol lalestinian lore is as good as that lound in
the Synoptics, and its dualistic symbol ism is available i n the contemporary )ew-
ish community at _umran. `` Larly Christian Cnosticism, in turn, has turned
out to be something ol a chimera. `' 1hese explanations have, then, lailed to
account lor the character ol the lourth Cospel as a whole. Civen the lact that it
is a composition ol considerable poetic lorce and theological insight, it is un-
likely that any explanation that rel ies on an aspect ol cultural background would
seem satislying. Yet, attempts at such explanation are not unworthy, lor they
enable us to see things in the Cospel that we might otherwise overlook.
lt is i n just such a spirit ol experimentation that l propose to read )ohn lrom
the perspective ol Creco-Koman Kel igiousness A. l make no pretense ol ac-
counting lor everything in )ohn, only ol seeing how much l ight is thrown on
everything by taking with lull seriousness that reli gious sensibil ity. And i n light
ol the history ol research on )ohn, it is appropriate i n this case to begin with
objections to the analysis ol the lourth Cospel as exhibiting Kel igiousness
A belore making the positive argument. 1he lourth Cospel i n no way exhibits
signs ol Kel igiousness . there is no element ol moral translormation and in-
deed l ittle moral i nstruction beyond the command to love. Lqually, )ohn has
no element ol Kel igiousness O. lar lrom seeking to stabilize the world, it advo-
cates i nstead a certai n withdrawal lrom the world, its concern is not the larger
political order but a small group ol adherents. 1he choice l ies between Kel i-
giousness A and C, and the determination rests on the character ol )ohannine
dualism.
A case can be made that the lourth Cospel represents the sensibil ity ol hee-
ing or transcending the world. As we shall see i n Chapter 14, it was certainly
read this way by second-century Christian Cnostics. ` ` Not only is the Cospel
laden with dualistic symbol ism li ght/darkness, hesh/spirit, truth/lalsehood,
1
54
death/l ile),` its plot strongly resembles that in the revelatory literature associ-
ated with Kel igiousness C. )esus is a heavenly revealer who comes lrom Cod
and returns to Cod. He descends lrom the realm ol l ight into the realm ol dark-
ness, and the darkness can neither grasp nor overcome the l ight. )esus` lengthy,
sell-relerential monologues similarly resemble those lound in texts related to
Kel igiousness C. )esus` main revelation is that he is the revealer. `' ut only the
lew accept the li ght he brings i nto the world. 1hey are rejected by the world
j ust as he was hated by the world. ut just as he goes to the Iather~returning to
the place lrom which he came~they will also lollow hi m there.
ln my analysis ol Kel igiousness C i n Creco-Koman rel igion, however, none
ol these elements, however intriguing they are singly and together, are proba-
tive. 1he distinguishing leature ol Kel igiousness C, as with the other types, is
the perception ol the divine dynamis and its purpose. ln the rphic and Her-
metic traditions, the divine dynamis i s not to be lound in the empirical world
but i n another real m. 1he physical body, indeed, is the problem. 1he authen-
tic sell, the soul , i s trapped i n material ity and can achieve salvation only by
distancing itsell lrom the hesh and ultimately returning to its source in the
li ght. 1he dualism i s clearly matter/spirit, and the split is withi n the human
person.
)ohn`s Cospel simply does not share this cosmology, psychology, and escha-
tology. 1he world is loved by Cod, indeed, )esus is sent as savior because ol
Cod`s love ol the world iy). 1he word that was lacing Cod and was Cod
"became hesh and dwelt among us" i. iq). 1here is a hesh/spirit dualism in
)ohn, but it is not a split withi n the human person. 1he "hesh" (sarx) in )ohn
stands lor the human condition as such in all its lrailty and incapacity, rather
than lor the material dimension ol humans, and "spirit" (pneuma) points to the
power ol Cod rather than to the higher portion ol the human person. ` 1he
divine visitor )esus not only "becomes hesh" but exuberantly embraces material
things i n order to translorm them, in one ol the Cospel `s more shocking state-
ments, )esus declares "unless you eat [phagete] the hesh ol the Son ol Man and
drink his blood, you do not have lile within you" . ). ln the Hermetic l itera-
ture, lurthermore, the point ol revelation concerned the hearers. they were
called to realize their true essence they were already light) and to turn away
lrom the entanglement ol matter in order to liberate the li ght lor its return
home. ln )ohn`s Cospel , in contrast, the revelatory di scourses all concern )esus`
authority to reveal. )esus` hearers were given "the power to become children ol
Cod," not through a realization ol what they already were, but by "accepting
him" and "believing in his name" i.iz). lt is laith i n )esus rather than sell-
knowledge that dehnes those "born ol Cod" i.i). lt is because they can partici-
pate in the benehts he brings as branches ol a vine, i. iio) that they can lollow
him to the Iather.
While acknowledging the elements that could support categorizing the Cos-
pel ol )ohn as Kel igiousness C, then, and while recognizing that his dualistic
symbolism was undoubtedly appropriated by second-century Christian Cnos-
tics, l now present the positive reasons why )ohn, in this aspect very much li ke
the Synoptics, should be regarded as an expression ol Kel igiousness A in early
Christianity. 1he prologue is the obvious starting point.
)ohn does not, i n the manner ol Matthew and Luke, begin with an inlancy
account hlled with portents ol greatness, instead, he begins with the origin ol
the logos in the presence ol Cod i. i). y making the logos the agent ol creation
i. ) and then become hesh i. iq), )ohn establishes that the empirical world is
indeed the place where the divine dynamis is active. 1he glory (doxa) ol the one
dwelling among them, lurthermore, i s perceptible to humans. "We saw hi s
glory, the glory as ol the Iather`s only son" i. iq). 1his doxa is to be understood,
the subsequent narrative makes clear, in l ight ol the Septuagint`s language about
Yahweh`s ehective presence among the people. `' 1he point is made, i n lact, by
the hnal phrase i n i. iq, "lull ol grace and truth" (pleres charitos kai aletheias),
which recalls the sell-designation ol Yahweh in Lxodus q. . "1he Lord, the
Lord, a mercilul and gracious Cod, slow to anger and rich i n kindness and h-
del ity."" )esus is not the revealer ol a god other than the one who creates the
world, rather, he reveals dehnitively the Cod whose presence is i n all creation
but who remains unseen )ohn i. iS). 1he point ol all this is that, lor )ohn, the
divine dynamis is not absent lrom the empirical world, rather, )esus as Cod`s
en heshed logos brings to expl icit expression the presence ol the dynamis that
was implicit in creation.
A second aspect ol )ohn`s prologue also supports seeing it as Kel igiousness
A, namely, its emphasis on the human benehts derived lrom this bringer ol
Cod`s glory. )ohn`s language suggests that those who accept )esus as Cod`s re-
vealer become participants in the benehts he brings. they "see his glory," and
he gives them "the power [exousia) to become children ol Cod [tekna theou)"
i. iz), that is, to share in some lashion in the presence and power ol "the only
Son, Cod" (monogenes theos) who reveals the Cod whom no one has seen
i. iS). ' 1he point is made again in i. iiy "Irom his lul lness [plerma) we
have all received, gih in place ol gih [charin anti charitos) ; lor the law was given
through Moses, grace and truth [charis kai aletheia) through )esus Christ.``
Lven more than the Synoptics, the narrative ol the lourth Cospel presents
)esus i n a manner instantly recognizable to Centile readers as a theios aner.63
)ohn the aptist declares that the Spirit came upon )esus and remained with
hi m and identihes hi m as the Son ol Cod i. zq). )esus immediately shows
himsell to have the spirit ol prophecy in a series ol exchanges that involve peo-
ple seeking to name hi m and ending with hi m calling them i. q). he knows
Nathaniel lrom a distance and names hi s character i. qyq). 1he passage ends
by )esus evoking the story ol )acob`s vision ol a heavenly ladder Cen zS. ioiy),
with )esus as Son ol Man identihed as the place where heaven and earth meet.
"You will see the sky opened and the angels ol Cod ascending and descending
on the Son ol Man" )ohn i. i). )esus` prophetic power is displayed throughout
the narrative in his abil ity to see into the hearts ol others and to predict the lu-
ture z.zq~z, q. iyi, qq, qS~o, . i, q, yoyi, yi, q, ii. q, izq, z, IB, ii,
zizy, ~S), leading the Samaritan woman to declare, "Sir, l can see that you
are a prophet" q. i), and the people to say, `his is truly the prophet, the one
who is to come into the world" . iq). )esus lurther establ ishes his prophetic
credentials by his cleansing ol the templeit is "my lather`s house"and an-
nouncing his abil ity to raise it i n three days il it is destroyed, a boast that the
narrator connects to )esus` body as the temple z. izi).
)ohn calls )esus` thaumaturgic actions "signs" z. i, z, q. q), lor they lorm the
evidence supporting the claim that )esus is Cod`s Son and that the divine dyna
mis or "glory") is present among humans. Some ol the signs simply demon-
strate that he is the divine presence. his multiplication ol the loaves leads the
people to proclaim him prophet and to seek to make him king . ii), his
walking to the disciples across the sea i n a high wind . izi) enables hi m to
calm his lollowers with the declaration, "lt is l. Oo not be alraid," a declaration
that in the context ol the Cospel as a whole demands being heard as a claim to
divine status.' ther signs demonstrate both the divine dynamis and the ben-
ehts brought to others. )esus provides pleasure to the company by the translor-
mation ol water to wine at a wedding z. iii),` heals an olhcial `s child who is
close to death q.qq), enables a man paralyzed lor S years to walk . i),
gives sight to a man born blind . iy), and raises his lriend Lazarus lrom the
dead ii. i~qq). 1he miracles i n )ohn`s Cospel are marked by a certain
extravagancethe wine is lar more than needed, Lazarus lar more deceased
than necessarymaking clear that the deeds are not simply the tricks ol a clever
human being but the revelation ol Cod`s own presence and power "glory").
1he last part ol )ohn`s narrative, extending lrom )esus` hnal meal with his
disciples to hi s resurrection appearances izo. i), has appropriately been
called "1he ook ol Clory," lor despite dealing with the scandal ol )esus` sul-
lering and death, )ohn convincingly portrays )esus, even in these circum-
stances, as theios aner. )esus is lully aware that this is the time ol his return to
the Iather i), he knows ol )udas` betrayal i. iio) and ol leter`s denial
57
i. S) belore they happen. He comlorts his lollowers with a lengthy hnal
discourse iq. ii. ) that promises a continuation ol the divine dynamis among
them through the Holy Spi rit i. z~zy, i. ~i) and declares hi s identity lully
in a hnal prayer lor his lollowers iy. iz). He causes those arresting him to lall
to the ground by hi s declaration, "l am" iS. S). He boldly resists the questions
ol the high priest iS. izq) and engages the Koman prelect lilate in just the
sort ol courageous dialogue ol which philosophers dreamed iS. zSS, i. ii).
When crucihed, he gives his mother i nto the care ol his beloved disciple
i. z~zy). He dies i n lull awareness ol having lulhlled the divine plan i.zS),
and saying, "lt is hnished," he hands over his spirit.' He appears aher his death
to his lol lowerspassing through locked doorsand commissions them by giv-
ing them the Holy Spirit he had promised zo. i~z). ln the epilogue to the
Cospel, )esus perlorms another wondrous signthe catch ol i hshesand
clarihes the luture destiny ol the beloved disciple and leter zi. iz).
ln this chapter, l have locused on strands ol rel igious expression in earliest
Christianity that can conhdently be seen as representing Kel igiousness A. par-
ticipation in divine benehts. laul `s Centile readers in Corinth and lhrygia and
the lour evangelists perceive the divine dynamis as active i n the world and in
their community through the presence ol the Lord )esus, manilested i n "signs
and wonders" such as healing, visions, prophecy, and ecstatic utterances. 1he
point ol such powerlul deeds was to provide them with participation i n divine
benehts both now and in the luture.
lt is no surprise that Centiles would be drawn by such benehtslrom the evi-
dence i n laul and the Cospels, the divine dynamis seems to have been active
in these communities, and in this savior, to an extraordinary degree. Nor is it a
surprise that these same Centiles would have carried over to the worship ol this
new Lord some ol the assumptions ol Creco-Koman Kel igiousness A. that wor-
ship ol one Lord did not exclude participation in the worship ol others, that
ecstatic prophecy was the most desired ol all gilts, that one i nitiation to a cult
should be lollowed by others. Nor, given the increasingly Centile character ol
Christianity, should we be surprised to hnd this mode ol rel igiosity continuing
into the next century and, indeed, through all ol Christian history to the pres-
ent day. ut belore pursuing that suggestion, l must turn to the other major
lorm ol rel igiosity in earliest Christianity. the way ol moral translormation.
11
-
NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANIT AS
MORL TRNSFORMATION
My analysis ol Lpictetus in Chapter 5 made the point that Kel igiousness
"the way ol moral translormation") had much in common with Kel igiousness
A "participation i n divine benehts), lor both sensibilities perceive the divine
dynamis as active in the empirical world and accessible to humans. 1he essen-
tial mark ol diherence is that Kel igiousness is more interested in the way that
same dynamis can translorm humans as moral agents. 1hus, Lpictetus did not
scorn or reject the round ol popular piety within the empire, did not i n any pas-
sage deny the real ity ol the gods or the elhcacy ol the rituals. Lpictetus and
Ael ius Aristides i n lact share a wide range ol rel igious language. ut nowhere
in Aristides do we see concern lor moral change as a specihcally rel igious en-
deavor, whereas precisely that concern dominates Lpictetus` teaching.
We hnd precisely the same combination ol lactors in the authors l am treat-
ing in this chapter as representing Kel igiousness in earliest Christianity. laul ,
)ames, and the author ol Hebrews al l celebrate the power ol the Lord mani-
lested i n the world. None ol them scorns as unworthy popular lorms ol prayer
and piety or the i mpressive displays ol prophecy and healing experienced in
early communities. ut each ol them, in the manner ol Creco-Koman philoso-
phers, seeks to locate the most i mportant expression ol the risen Lord`s dynamis
in the change ol moral disposition and behavior among bel ievers. n one side,
their interest is marked by the way they expl icitly connect moral categories,
such as virtue and vice, to the laithlul service ol Cod. ln their use ol such lan-
guage, we hnd constant remi nders ol Creco-Koman moral philosophers such
as Oio Chrysostom and Lpictetus. n the other side, they are lar less locused
on the individual than Creco-Koman moralists typically are, their moral con-
cern is consistently di rected to the lormation ol communities that were morally
New Testament Christianity as Moral Transformation 1
5
9
righteous. l Such focus undoubtedly owes something to the fact that each of these
writers was addressing intentional communities, but it also reveals an important
dimension of the Jewish roots of the movement: for the Israel of God, holiness is
never merely a personal matter; it is a question of the people's integrity.
PAUL AS MORAL TEACHER
The apostle Paul perfectly represents Religiousness B in earliest Christian
ity.2 He does not remove himself from participation in the divine benefts
brought by the resurrected Christ in order to propagate a "higher" form of reli
gion. He is, in fact, our most valuable witness concerning those benefts, not only
among others, but preeminently in himselP He is a personal witness to the
resurrection and is called by the risen Lord to be an apostle (1 Cor 9: 1 ; 15: 8; Gal
1: 11). He has experienced grace (1 Cor 1 5: 10; Rom 1 : 5) and has the spirit (1 Cor
7: 40). He speaks of himself in terms suggestive of a prophet like Isaiah or Jere
miah (Gal 1: 15; 2 Cor IpO).4 He practices glossolalia more vigorously than his
congregants (1 Cor 14: 18). He has mystical experiences: he has ascended to the
third heaven (2 Cor 12: 1-5),5 hears the voice of the Lord (2 Cor 12: 9), and bears
in his body the marks (stigmata) of Jesus (Gal 5: 17) . He preaches the word of
God with power (1 Thess 1 : 5) and reminds his readers of the "signs and wonders
and powerful deeds" that, despite his lack of worldly eloquence (2 Cor 10: 10),
accompanied his preaching (2 Cor 12: 12). He agrees that the kingdom of God
does not consist in words but in power (1 Cor 4: 20).
Paul does not stint in his recognition of divine dynamis active among his
readers. His own experience is not unique but is shared in varying degrees by
all in the assemblies. They have all been baptized into the death and resurrec
tion of Christ ( Rom 6: 1-11). When they eat the kyriakon deipnon ("Lord's Ban
quet"), they have participation (koinonia; "fellowship") in the body and blood
of the Lord (1 Cor 10: 16-17). They have all "been made to drink" of the same
Holy Spirit (12: 13). Paul therefore acknowledges the rich and varied gifts of the
Holy Spirit among the Corinthians (1: 6-7) : both women and men in that as
sembly pray ecstatically (11: 3-16), speak in tongues, prophesy, receive revela
tions, and perform healings (12: 27-30).
Nor is such participation in benefts totally a matter of spectacular spiritual
outbursts. Paul asserts both for himself and for his readers that their being "in
Christ" and Christ being " in them" through the power of the Holy Spirit means
that their faithful endurance of suffering-whether through external persecu
tion or through their own "weakness" -serves to manifest the divine dynamis
even more impressively. 6 As he reports the risen Lord saying to him when Paul
160 New Testament Christianit as Morl Transforation
asked to be lreed lrom the stake i n his hesh, "My grace [charis-that is, "bene-
ht"| is sulhcient lor you, lor my| power [dynamis] is brought to perlection
[teleitai] in weakness" z Cor iz. ).' ln short, as much as his readers or the lour
evangel ists, laul acknowledges and celebrates the extraordinary power let loose
among humans by the exaltation ol the crucihed Messiah )esus through which
he became "l ile-giving spirit" (to pneuma to zoopoioun; i Cor i.q).
laul `s di stinctive sensibil ity, then, is not a matter ol subtraction but addition.
He consistently addresses hi s readers as moral agents as well as receivers ol di-
vine benehts. y moral ity, l do not mean simply a l i sting ol behavioral norms~
as we have seen, these can be lound plentilully withi n Kel igiousness A. l mean
rather that laul thinks morally and i nvites hi s readers to think that way as well.
lt is dilhcult to miss the lrequency with which laul uses cognitive terms either
to introduce a topic or to rebuke his readers.' He seeks out the moral impl ica-
tions to his and their rel igious experience, based on the cause ol such experi-
ence the Holy Spirit coming lrom )esus` death and exaltation as Lord) and on
the shape ol that cause )esus` human laith and love). laul asks his readers to
cultivate the nous that is, the mind) as an instrument ol moral discernment
concerning their rel i gious benehts. 1hus, laul says that bel ievers did not re-
ceive "the spirit ol the world" but "the spirit ol Cod, so that we may understand
the things lreely given us [charismata] by Cod" i Cor z. iz). 1hat laul `s preler-
ence lor prophecy over tongues among the Corinthians is linked to the lact that
prophecy uses the nous is not, l think, surprising, lor it is the nous that enables
the speaker to discern (diakrinein) the appropriateness ol speaking in one cir-
cumstance or another. ' "
laul uses the term nous in much the same way that Aristotle di d in the Nico
machean Ethics: the nous is more than the source ol thinking, it is closer to what
we might call a "mind-set" that is, it involves a construal ol real ity that lorms
the basis lor the prudence (phrnesis) that guides specihc decisions. ' ' 1he nous,
in other words, has a lorm or content that shapes the direction ol choices. Ior
laul , the shape ol the nous is given by the crucihed and raised Messiah )esus. ln
i Cor z. i, alter remi nding hi s readers that they have a spirit lrom Cod that
enables them to understand Cod`s benehts z.iz), and asserting the unknowabil-
ity ol Cod`s mi nd"who has known the mind ol the Lord" Isa qo. i)laul
crisply asserts, "ut we have the mind ol Christ" (nous Christou).
1he "mind ol Christ" provides a lramework lor moral thinking, a construal
ol reality that helps determine specihc choices. laul wants it to become a cen-
tral determinant i n the Christian character. He tells the Komans, "Oo not
conlorm yoursell to this age, but be translormed by the renewal ol mind [nous] ,
that you may discern [dokimazein] what is the will ol Cod, what is good and
pleasing and perlect" Kom iz. z). 1his "mind" is thus portable and transposable
and works through analogical reasoning. 1he "pattern ol the messiah" (nomos
tou Christou; Cal . z), displayed narratively in the character ol )esus, ' is ap-
plied analogously to dispositions and decisions within the Christian commu-
nity. 1he most expl icit statement ol laul `s principle is lound in lhil ippians
z. i~ii. laul proposes the vertical) sell-emptying and obedience shown by )esus
toward Codnot clinging to the status that was his by right z. ii)as the sort
ol attitude his readers are to have horizontally) toward each other in the com-
munity. each should look not only to his or her own interest, but also to that ol
others z.q). 1he link between the goal and its exemplar is lound in z. . "think
[phroneite] this one thing [hen] among yourselves that is also i n Christ )esus rho
kai en Christo Iesou]. "1 3
How laul appl ies such moral thinking t o specihc situations can be lound i n
hi s responses t o hi s Corinthian and lhrygian readers whose religious sensibil ity
led them to locus on their participation in divine benehts made available
through the divine dynamis. ln his discussion ol eating lood that had been ol-
lered to idols, laul advocates lollowing one`s individual conscience i Cor S. S),
but such exousia needs to be qualihed by an awareness ol another`s condition
are they strong or weak) and the narrative ol Christ that shapes bel ievers` l ives.
ll those who are strong are heedless ol these lactors, they do wrong. "1hus,
through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brther
for whom Christ died. When you sin this way against your brothers and wound
their consciences, you are sinning against Christ" i Cor S. ii~iz, emphasis
added).
laul also warns those who are willing to eat at the shrines ol pagan gods on
the assumption that il allegiance to one lord is good, then allegiance to many
lords is better. 1hey require reminding that the exaltation ol )esus as Lord de-
mands exclusive loyaltyal l other gods are simply "so-called gods" (legomenoi
theoi; i Cor S. ), and their meals are populated by demons io.zo). When they
seek more dynamis by participating i n more cult meals, they risk incurring the
wrath ol the one true Lord. "You cannot drink the cup ol the Lord and also the
cup ol demons. You cannot partake ol the table ol the Lord and ol the table ol
demons. r are we provoking the Lord to j ealous anger Are we stronger than
he" io. zi~zz).
Similarly, those who treat the kyriakon deipnon according to the usual prac-
tices governing associationswith patrons eating hrstlaul exhorts to "discern
the body" (diakrinon to soma), a command that evokes both the need lor com-
munal awareness "the body" that is the community, see i Cor iz. iz~z and
ii. zz) and "the body" that was given lor them by )esus ii.z). laul recites the
162 New Testament Christianity as Moral Transformation
words spoken by )esus over the bread belore his arrest ii. zz) "this i s my
body that is lor you" as a narrative lragment that serves to shape a moral ity ol
mutual giving, a moral ity that is betrayed when some are hlled and others go
hungry, when "those who have nothing are shamed" ii. zz).
laul challenges those overly lascinated with the benehts ol ecstatic speech to
"stop being childish in your thinking." "ln respect to evil," he says, "be l ike in-
lants, but i n your thinking be mature" i Cor iq.zo). He wants them to exercise
the spiritual gilts i n the manner ol adults. "When l was a child, l used to talk as
a child, think as a child, reason as a child, when l became a man, l put aside
childish things" ii)this statement occurs at the end ol laul `s encomium on
agape, the disposition that "does not seek its own i nterest" i. ). ln contrast to
the "knowledge that pulls up," laul encourages the "love that builds up" the
community S. z). lt is lor this reason that he prelers prophecy to tongues, lor
while the presence ol tongues "builds up" the speaker, prophecy, using the
nous, builds up the assembly iq.q). ln short, laul encourages the Corinthians
to think i n the manner he has learned lrom the example ol )esus ii. i), by pur-
suing the moral impl ications ol their shared religious experience.
l the lhrygian Christians i n Calatia and Colossae who lollow the ritual
instinct ol their Creco-Koman past by seeking lurther initiations, laul asks to
think through the i mpl ications ol their baptism into Christ. Creater maturity
perlection) in Christianity results not lrom successive initiations but lrom
thinking through and then enacting the moral entailments ol i nitiation into
the crucihed and raised Messi ah. 1he Centile Calatians were baptized " into
Christ," had "been clothed with Christ," and were therelore "all one in Christ"-
their unity i n the Holy Spirit meant that ethnic, gender, and social distinctions
lose their abil ity to bestow status Cal . zyzS). Consequently, males seeking a
lurther i nitiation available only to them betrayed that principle ol ritual and
moral liminality and reintroduced impulses toward competition and rivalry that
are destructive ol the community . i, izi). laul insists that they had re-
ceived the Holy Spirit . q, q.), and il they l ived by that spirit, then they ought
also to "walk" and "conlorm" themselves to that l i le principle q. i, z). 1he
point ol Christian initiation is not simply the elevation ol li le through divine
dynamis but a way ol li le consonant with the source ol that power compare
Kom . iii). 1his way ol lile is marked by mutual service in love Cal . iiq),
and the measure ol that love is provided, once more, by the example ol Christ.
"ear one another`s burdens, and so lulhll the pattern ol the messiah [nomos
christou] . z).
laul`s response to those Colossians who, aher their baptism into Christ, pur-
sued lurther "perlection" or "maturity" through circumcision, asceticism, and
New Testament Christianit as Moral Transformation 16
3
visionsall instinctive to Keligiousness A as lound in Creco-Koman rel igion~
makes the role ol thinking even more explicit. 1heir maturity does not result
lrom adding on but lrom digging deeper. laul wants them to be hlled with
"recognition ol Cod`s| will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" Col
i. ). 1o what end 1hat they mi ght "walk worthily ol the Lord i n everything
pleasing, bearing lruit in every good deed and growing in the recognition ol
Cod" i. io). laul connects this growth i n knowledge and i n moral behavior
precisely with the divine dynamis in which they had become participants. "i n
al l the power [dynamis] that empowers you according to the might [kratos] ol
his glorytoward all endurance and long-suhering with joy" I: U).
laul agai n argues morally lrom their rel igious experience ol baptism, i n
which they were "buried together wi th him" and were "raised wi th hi m"
through laith Col z. iz). ll then they died with Christ z. zo) and il they were
raised with hi m . i), that ritual pattern should determine their moral behav-
ior. ' ' they should put to death all modes ol vice and "put on" the new humanity
(po-u), resisting all impulses that drive them to rivalry and competition and
instead showing toward each other the same compassion that was shown them
. iz~i). And over all these, laul says, they should put on agape, which is the
bond ol perlection (teleiotetos, or maturity).
lt is not simply that laul urges hi s readers to think through the moral impli-
cations ol their rel igious experience, it is clear that he himsell regards the most
prolound and important manilestation ol the divine dynamis to be the work ol
the Holy Spirit in the translormation ol humans as moral agents. 1he language
ol translormation through the Holy Spirit occurs with some lrequency in his
letters. ln Komans, lor example, he argues that the gilt ol the Holy Spirit not
only empowers bel ievers to lulhll the righteous requirements ol the law S. q), to
endure sullering S.iS~zq), and to pray S.z~zy) but also to direct their own moral
dispositions (phrnesis) in accord with the dispositions ol the Spirit S.q).
l noted above how laul i nvokes the "participation i n the spirit" in lhil ippi-
ans z.i when he speaks ol acting withi n the community with the mind ol Christ
z. ). eing "in Christ" z. i), however, implies an even more prolound i nternal
translormation. laul declares i n . his desire to "be lound i n hi m" and "to
know hi m and the power ol hi s resurrection and the sharing ol his sullerings by
being conlormed (symmorphizomenos) to his death, il somehow l may attain
the rcsurrection lrom the dead" (po-u). ln lhil ippians po, similarly, he
speaks ol waiting lor )esus Christ as savior lrom heaven. "He will change our
lowly body to conlorm [symmorphon] with hi s glorihed body, by the power [kata
ten energeian) that enables hi m to bring all things into subjection to himsell"
compare z. u). 1hese passages are similar to his remarkable statement in
16
4
New Testament Christianit as Moral Transforation
2 Corinthians 3= 17-18: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit ol the
Lord is, there is lreedom. All ol us, gazing with unveiled lace on the glory ol
the Lord, are being translormed [metamorphoumetha] into the same image
lrom glory to glory, as lrom the Lord who is Spirit."
l conclude this briel analysis ol laul `s rel igious sensibility by returning to
Komans 12: 1-2. l observed earlier that Komans 12: 2 exhorts laul `s readers to be
renewed in mind so that they can test what is Cod`s will, good and pleasing and
perlect. lt is important to notice as well , however, that Komans 12:1 casts this
moral behavior precisely in rel igious terms. "l urge you therelore, brothers, by
the mercies ol Cod, to oller your bodies as a living sacrihce, holy and pleasing
to Cod, your spiritual worship. " 1he two verses together point clearly to what
l have called Keli giousness . rel igion as moral translormation.
)AMLS ANO "lUKL KLLlClN"
1he Letter ol )ames may well have been written to )ewish members in the
hrst decades ol the messianic movement. ' ` Oespite the obvious dillerences be-
tween laul and )ames, they have more i n common than at hrst appearsmost
pertinently, that they are moral teachers within the symbol ic world ol 1orah. '
My argument here is that they al so share a reli gious sensibility. 1he resem-
blance is camouhaged by three lactors. hrst, laul i s generous i n speaking ol hi s
own rel igious experience, whereas we learn nothing whatsoever about the au-
thor ol )ames, second, laul `s language is more Christological, constantly cen-
tering on the good news ol the crucihed and raised Messiah, whereas )ames`s
language is more properly theological , ' ' third, laul addresses problems in local
churches that arise lrom specihc social and reli gious practices ol the Creco-
Koman world, whereas )ames writes a circular letter to many communities ad-
dressing moral i nconsistencies arising lrom the gap between the prolession ol
laith and its practice. '
)ames shares with laul the appreciation lor human participation in divine
benehts that characterizes Kel igiousness A. Hi s short letterit has only 108
versescontains a rich set ol statements concerning Cod (theos) as one whose
power and presence are at work i n the world. Cod can make "demons tremble"
(2: 19) as the "Lord ol hosts" . q). Cod can be characterized negatively as with-
out change or alteration (1: 17), untempted by evil (1: 13), and removed lrom hu-
man anger (1: 20). lositively, Cod is not si mply "l ight" but the "lather ol l i ghts"
(1: 17) whose word ol truth has "given birth" to humans as a kind ol hrst lruits ol
all creatures (1: 18), creating them, indeed, in his own image (3: 9). )ames per-
ceives Cod as constantly involved with humans, revealing hi s will in the "per-
lect law ol l iberty" z.Sii), judging humans on the basis ol hi s law z. iz, q. iz).
"1here is one lawgiver [nomothetes] and j udge [krites] who is able to save [sosai]
and destroy [apolesai]" q. iz).
Cod not only provides humans a verbal norm by which to j udge them. 1he
word ol truth is also an " implanted word" that is able to save souls )ames i. zi),
and Cod has made to dwell a spirit (pneuma) within humans q. ). Cod di rects
human allairs q. i) and declares as righteous and lriends those who show laith
in him z.z). Cod both displays and is dehned by mercy and compassion . ii).
Cod gives the crown ol li le to those who love hi m i. iz, z. ), shows special lavor
to the poor in the world z. ), hears the cries ol the oppressed . q), raises up
those who are sick . i), hears the prayers ol those who pray in laith i. )
rather than wickedly q. ), lorgives the sins ol those who conless them to each
other . i), and stands at the gate ready to appear as judge q~).
)ames conceives ol Cod as approaching humans who approach him q.S), as
raising up the lowly q. io) and entering i nto lriendship with humans z. z, q. q),
but also as a Cod who resists those whose pride and arrogance q. ) causes
them to oppress the helpless . ). lt i s )ames`s characterization ol Cod as gilt
giver that strikes the reader most. 1he author makes the point three times. ln
q. , he derives lrom the citation ol lroverbs q "Cod resists the proud but
gives a gilt [charis] to the lowly") the lesson that "Cod gives even more gilts
[meizona de didosin charin] ." )ames makes his hrst statement about Cod in i . ,
namely, that Cod "gives to al l (pasin) si mply (haplos) and without grudging (me
oneidizontos). Iinally, there is the programmatic statement in i. iy "Lvery good
and perlect gih [pasa dosis agathe kai pan dorema teleion] comes down lrom
the lather ol l ights with whom there is neither change nor alteration. " 1aken
together, the three statements assert that Cod`s giving to humans is universal,
abundant, without grudging, and constant.
)ames shows himsell as a representative ol Kel igiousness , however, by the
way in which he derives moral implications lrom such rel igious convictions and
practice. his interest is lar less i n the benehts received lrom the divine dynamis
than in the use to which they are put. oth individually and communally, he
understands Christianity i n terms ol moral translormation. l note hrst the way
that )ames, very much like laul , uses cognitive language. he wants his readers to
understand, to recognize, and not to be "empty-headed" i. zo) or "lool ish"
i.z). ' ' As laul invoked the "mind ol Christ" i Cor z. i) as the measure lor
moral di scernment, so does )ames invoke the "wisdom lrom above" ) as the
guide to one who is "wise and understanding" ).
Such discernment enables his readers to see the disparities )ames identihes
between their prolession they want to be "lriends ol Cod") and their actual
166 New Testament Christianity as Moral Transformation
practice they are "lriends ol the world", q.q). 1hus, they agree that Cod has
blessed the poor, but they cater to the very wealthy who drag them into court
z. i). 1hey claim to live by the law ol loving their neighbor, but when they
see their neighbors naked and starved, they stave them oll with pious good
wishes z. y~i). 1hey use their tongue to bless Cod but use the same tongue to
curse humans created in Cod`s image ~iz). 1hey pray to Cod but do so
wickedly because they seek to use Cod as a suppl ier ol their unworthy desires
q.i~). )ames declares that those considering themselves rel igious (threskos) but
who do not control their speech have a rel igion that is vain or loolish (toutou
mataios he threskeia), and he proceeds to dehne "pure and undehled religion
[threskeia] belore Cod" as one in which people keep themselves "unstained lrom
the world" and "visiting orphans and widows in their amiction" i.z~zy). "
1hat )ames understands rel igion to be precisely a matter ol moral practice
within the laith community is shown by his hnal admonitions in . iz~zo,
which, taken as a whole, construct a vision ol solidarity withi n the community
in contrast to the competitive and divisive behaviors he earlier condemns.
What is particularly striking is the way i n which he i ntertwines moral and reli-
gious language. 1hus, he advocates simpl icity in speech rather than elaborate
oaths, because speech stands under Cod`s j udgment . iz, compare P; q. iz).
He calls lor elders to gather at the call ol the weak lor anointing and prayer
. iiq). 1he rel igious act ol heal ing, however, takes on the shape ol moral cor-
rection, as members ol the community also are to conless their sins to each
other and pray lor each other, i n this process, the weak person`s sins will be
lorgiven and members ol the community will be healed . i~i). Iinally, the
correction ol an erring member "saves the soul lrom death" . zo) as well as
"turning lrom error" . i). 1his section ol )ames provides the positive ideal ol
Kel igiousness . the point ol participation in the benehts provided by the di-
vine dynamis is the translormation ol individuals and communities through
the employment ol such power in moral translormation. '
HLKLWS ANO MKAL LOUCA1lN
Although l think that the Letter to the Hebrews is best understood as a lorm
ol deliberative rhetoricurging readers to choose loyalty rather than apostasy
l appreciate why some scholars designate it as epideictic, lor large portions ol
the composition lorm an encomium ol the great gilt Cod gave humans in the
Messiah )esus, who is at once lully Cod and lully human, the great high priest
who has entered once and lor all into the heavenly sanctuary where he contin-
ues to make intercession lor humans. 1he cosmic drama ol the Son ol Cod`s
New Testament Christianity as Moral Transformation i,
descent i nto a lull sharing in human mortal ityincluding temptation, suller-
ing, and deathand his subsequent exaltation enthronement) at Cod`s right
hand accompl ishes a range ol benehts lor humanity. Christ has destroyed the
devil who had the power ol death and lreed those captive because ol a lear ol
death Heb z. i), he has made purihcation lor sins i.) and expiated the sins ol
the people z. iS), he has become the source ol eternal salvation to those who
obey hi m .), obtained eternal redemption . iz), brought many children to
glory z. io), and consecrated z. ii) and cleansed the conscience ol bel ievers
io.zz), i n him bel ievers have an anchor lor their souls . i).
ln three passages, the author ol Hebrews connects such alhrmations con-
cerning the beneht ol Christ`s work lor humans to their specihc experience as
an assembly. ln z. ~q, he reminds hi s readers that their "great salvation" de-
manded even more attention and commitment than the message del ivered
through angels. 1he message that began with )esus and was witnessed to by
those who heard hi m received Cod`s own testimony through "signs and won-
ders and various powerlul works" (semeiois te kai terasin kai poikilais dynamesin).
1hey also experienced various gihs ol the Holy Spirit. ln short, what )esus ac-
compl ished through his death and exaltation showed itsell as real in the spe-
cihc and concrete benehts they received. ln . q, he reminds his readers ol
how they were "enlightened" (photisthentas),23 had "tasted the heavenly gih
and become partakers [metochoi] ol the Holy Spirit," had "tasted the beautilul
word ol Cod and the powers ol the coming age." Iinally, in io. z, the au-
thor remi nds readers ol the earlier days "when they| had been enl ightened"
(photisthentes) and had endured a variety ol deprivations because ol their "con-
hdence/boldness" (parresia). As in laul and )ames, such statements show a
recognition and even approval ol the experiences and rituals through which
readers are able to participate i n divine benehts.
1he author ol Hebrews also shares with )ames and laul , however, a concern
lor growth in moral awareness and capacity, as well as a certain edge ol impa-
tience at his readers` reluctance to understand how religious experience has
moral impl ications. 1he key passage is . ii. i. Having introduced the topic ol
Christ as High lriest whose perlection came about because he learned obedi-
ence through the things he sullered (emathen aph'hon epathen ten hypokoen)
an expression that plays rhetorically on the axiom ol Creek education, mathein
pathein "to learn is to suller"), he immediately rebukes his readers lor their in-
capacity lor such learning. they are reluctant li steners, although they should be
teachers, they need teaching, they are l ike children requiring milk ol simple
instruction rather than the solid lood ol advanced learning . iii). He then
contrasts childishness and maturity in terms ol the capacity lor moral reasoni ng.
1 68 New Testament Christianity as Morl Transforation
1he mature are "those who on account ol habit [dia ten hexin] have their moral
laculties trained [aistheteria gegymnasmena] to di stinguish between a good
thing and a bad thing" . iq). '
He proposes, then, that they "move on to maturity," past the basic teaching
about the Messiah and Christian ritual and doctrine Heb . i~z). ut i n what
does maturity, or "perlection" (ten teleioteta), consist Clearly, it involves moral
di scernment. Most obviously, it involves the decision that believers remain
loyal to their commitment ol laith rather than lall awaythis exhortation takes
up a substantial portion ol the composition and is the immediate point ol .q~S.
ls such hdelity a lorm ol moral discernment Ior thi s author, it is. the character
trait ol "laith" (pistis) understood as loyalty and endurance is the "good thing"
that should be chosen instead ol apostasy. Abraham and the other patriarchs
are examples ol such laithlul perseverance ii. Szz), whereas Lsau is the coun-
terexample. someone who loses hi s patrimony because he chooses immediate
gratihcation iz. iqiy). Ior the author ol Hebrews, the "religious" reality that is
a relationship with the divine demands heroic endurance as well as exclusivity
ol loyalty. He understands "laith" in moral terms, as a lorm ol "obedient hear-
ing" that perseveres . i~q. i).
1he moral discernment appropriate to the mature includes as well the prac-
tices that build the character ol the early Christian community. 1hey are not to
neglect the assemblies out ol lear ol social ostracism Heb io. z), they are to be
lree ol avarice and share their possessions i. , i), they are to practice hospital-
ity i.z) and be mindlul ol prisoners i. ), and they are to avoid lornication and
adultery out ol honor lor marriage i.q). All ol this is an expression ol "broth-
erly love" (philadelphia; Ip), which involves a concern lor others as well as one-
sell. they are to "encourage one another" io.z) and to "rouse one another to
love and good works" io. zq).
At a deeper level, though, the author ol Hebrews considers growth in moral
maturity to involve a lorm ol translormation ol character, specihcally in i mita-
tion ol )esus. Kecall that the language ol "l earning through sullering" occurs
hrst with respect to )esus as Cod`s Son . Sio) . even though he was a son, he
learned obedience lrom the things he sullered. ln . , the author asserts that
Christ "did not glorily himsell" by becoming a priest but obeyed the one who
appointed him. ln hi s human condition, he cried out to the one able to save
hi m lrom death and was heard because ol hi s piety . y). ln terms ol human
character, then, the priesthood ol )esus was accompl ished by the disposition ol
laithlul hearing or obedience. Hi s obedience through death sealed the disposi-
tion that began with his entrance into the world. "1herelore, as he comes into
the world, he says, `You have not desired a sacrihce and ollering. Kather, you
New Testament Christianit as Moral Transformation 16
9
have made lor me a body. You did not take del ight in holocausts and oherings
lor sins. ` 1hen l said, in the scroll ol the book it stands written ol me, ` ehold,
l am here to do your will, 0 Cod` " io. ~). 1he author suggests that the hu-
man )esus progressively became Cod`s Son in his humanity through his li le ol
obedience. When the author chides his readers lor being "reluctant l isteners"
and lai li ng to move to maturity (ten teleitoteta; . i), he deliberately connects
that lailure to the manner i n which the Son became "mature" (teleiotheis; . ).
1hat this is his understanding is shown by the author`s language in the com-
position`s rhetorical climax. He presents )esus as the "pioneer and perlecter ol
laith" on whom they should "keep their eyes" Heb iz. z). 1hen he immediately
compares their "struggle against sin" to the discipline or education (paideia) ol
sons in Creco-Koman society. 1he sullerings they experience in their moral
endeavor are analogous to the discipl ine that a lather extends to the sons he loves
iz. ). 1hey should therelore regard their sullering as a process by which they
are being translormed into a "sonship` l ike that ol )esus. 1hus, the author states
briehy, "you are enduring lor the sake ol an education leis paideian hypomenete];
Cod is treating you as sons" iz. y). 1he same language lor moral education used
in . ii. i is repeated in this passage, specihcally with respect to lollowing )esus
on the path ol laith. Notice how the passage concludes. "Now all instruction
[paideia] , while it is going on, seems more a matter ol griel than ol joy. ut lor
those who have been lully trained [gegymnasmenois; compare . iq| , it yields in
the end the peacelul lruit that is righteousness" iz. ii).
ln a manner distinctively hi s own, the author ol Hebrews displays a rel igious
sensibility l ike that ol )ames and laul . n the one side, he celebrates the mani-
lestations ol the divine dynamis in the empirical realm, all the "signs and won-
ders" in which hi s readers participate. n the other side, he seeks to push them
in the di rection ol his own sensibil ity. religious commitment, lor hi m, is a mat-
ter not merely ol benehts but ol moral translormation, a matter not simply ol
worship but ol changing personal character. Iaith is more than conlession that
)esus is Cod`s Son, it entails being translormed through obedience into sons
like hi m.
1HLK IKMS I KLLlClN lN 1HL NLW 1LS1AMLN1
ln this and the previous chapter, l have sketched the lorms ol rel igious sensi-
bil ity that are clearly present i n earliest Christianity as witnessed by the New
1estament. Kel igiousness A laul `s readers, the Cospels, Acts) and Kel igious-
ness laul, )ames, Hebrews). 1he reader who has lollowed my argument to
this point will appreciate, l hope, the resemblance between Kel igiousness A in
1 70 New Testament Christianity as Moral Transforation
Christianity and my Creco-Koman example ol Ael ius Aristides, as well as the
resemblance between Kel igiousness in Christianity and my Creco-Koman
example ol Lpictetus, and will agree that the rel igious sensibil ity in each case is
substantially the same.
What about the other types ol rel igious sensibil ity 1here is no evidence lor
Kel igiousness O "religion as stabilizing the world") in the New 1estament.
1he only compositions that might be adduced in this connection are the so-
called lastoral Letters, better designated as "Letters to laul`s Oelegates" i and
z 1imothy, 1itus). Scholars who regard these letters as pseudonymous and
emphasize their di stance lrom the "authentic laul " sometimes regard them as
proloundly conservative, representing a "bourgeois piety."` ut there i s good
reason to regard all three letters as coming lrom Christianity`s hrst generation~
with laul as author i n the broad sense ol the termand even i l they come lrom
a later period, they lall lar short ol the sort ol "church order" they are sometimes
thought to be. ln any case, until the church became the i mperial religion
under Constantine, pol itical conditions were not such as to support a version ol
Christianity that was concerned with stabilizing the social order as suchin
the second to third centuries, we shall see, the scope ol concern was the stabili-
zation ol the politeia that is the church . .
1he question ol Kel igiousness C "transcending the world") is much harder.
l have already noted the elements in the lourth Cospel that have been taken to
represent a "Cnostic" outlook and have i nterpreted its dualism i n quite a di her-
ent manner. ut the New 1estament composition that most approaches a "tran-
scending the world" sensibil ity is the ook ol Kevelation. 1here are undoubtedly
some aspects ol the writing that support that suggestion. lt describes, hrst ol all,
precisely the sort ol heavenly ascent and vi si on that are so ohen lound i n the
literature ol revelation. lt has a decidedly negative view towards the circumam-
bient culture. the i mperial order is not positive but enslaves and persecutes
Cod`s servants and holy ones. Some ol the elements most characterizing this
religious sensibil ity, however, are lacking. 1here is no sense that the material
order is itsell a problem or that it is souls that must be l iberated lrom the body.
1here is no vision ol the soul `s descent into material ity or its eschatological
path back to the l ight lrom which it came. Kevelation is, in lact, robustly posi-
tive about the divine dynamis at work i n the empirical world. 1he message it
contains is simply that this divine power i s not obvious, it is now at work in
heaven and will be shortly on earth. ne must, therelore, perceive what i s hap-
pening in heaven in order to grasp "what will shortly occur" on earth Kev i. i).
lndeed, the triumph ol Cod envisaged by the seer involves the lull presence ol
the divine i n a "new heaven and new earth" zi. i). Souls do not hee material ity
and hnd a reluge in the realm ol the spirit, instead, "Cod`s dwelling is with the
human race. he will dwell with them and they will be his people, and Cod him-
sell will always be with them" zi. ). ln its own odd way, Kevelation can best be
considered an expression ol Kel igiousness A, lor it is the saints` participation in
the divine dynamis and their witnessing to the real ity ol that power in the lace
ol rejection that imbues its entire vision.
1he situation is quite diherent in second- and third-century Christianity, to
which l turn in the next lour chapters. ln that period, extending roughly lrom
the middle ol the second century to the end ol the third, we hnd the lul l emer-
gence ol three distinct sensibilities. We will hnd Kel igiousness A in the apocry-
phal Cospels and Acts. ln hgures like )ustin Martyr and lrenaeus, we will hnd
an even more complete embodiment ol Keligiousness . And we will discover
a Christian lorm ol Keligiousness C in the development ol Cnosticism. As lor
Keligiousness O, its lull realization must await Constantine, but we catch glimpses
ol the luture in the development ol sacraments, hierarchy, and church orders.
12
-
CHRISTIANITY IN THE SECOND AND
THIRD CENTURES: PARTICIPATION IN
DIVINE BENEFITS
1he period ol time between earl iest Christianityrehected in the writings
ol the New 1estamentand the establ ishment ol the once-despised cult as the
rel igion ol the empire is obviously important, lor it prepared the way lor a most
unl ikely ascendancy. lt is also maddeningly elusive. much ol what we would
like to know is unavailable lor analysis. Some things can be stated with conh-
dence, and it is helplul to state them at once in order to provide a lramework lor
the analysis ol the ways ol being Christian in this period.
Hl S1KlCAL ANO SClAL IKAMLWKK
ver the course ol these 200 years, the sort ol growth that was inlerable lrom
the New 1estament writings continued. Literary and eventually archaeologi-
cal) evidence points to the existence ol discrete Christian churches across the
Mediterranean world. Christians were lound i n signihcant numbers i n Syria,
Lgypt and North Alrica, Asia, Creece, Oalmatia, ltaly, Spai n, and Caul . ' 1he
process by which this growth occurred is not entirely clear. 1here is l ittle real
evidence lor mass conversions in response to wonder-working. And although
some exceptional lolk may have joined the movement lor intellectual reasons,
it i s doubtlul that Christianity`s intellectual appeal allected many. ` 1he most
likely reasons lor Christianity`s impressive spread are childbirthChristians
did not kill their inlants through exposure and could expect steady growth in
numbersand the sort ol attraction ol new members that occurs among asso-
ciations, ancient and modern.'
1he demographic and cultural di rection ol Christianity`s growth, i n con-
trast, is more than clear. 1he movement becomes increasingly, then dehni-
Christianit in the Second and Third Centuries
1
73
tively, Centile in this population and in its character. However important )ewish
Christianity may have been in earlier generations, it dimi nishes to the point ol
disappearance by the mid-second century. ` With the notable cxception ol )us-
tin`s Dialogue with Trypho, actual engagement with l iving )ews is replaced by
literary representation ol the )ews as outside the Christian rel igion, and a theo-
logical struggle with the interpretation ol the "ld 1estament." Not only is the
Christian movement populated by Centiles, it unsell-consciously adopts the
posture ol the "authentic lsrael " toward Centiles, even when its representations
ol "lsrael " reveal an ever-greater distance lrom actual )udaism. ' the battle be-
comes one between the complex monotheism represented by the Christians and
the polytheism ol the Creco-Koman worldcharacterized by the Christians, as
l showed in Chapter 1, as a threatening realm ol demonic powers.
As Christianity grew in numbers over these two centuries, so did it achieve a
greater degree ol organization. 1he New 1estament writings show us scattered
congregations loosely l inked through networks ol koinonia, with only a hi nt in
laul) ol the church as a body encompassing various local assemblies i n a larger
whole. 1he structure ol such local assembl ies, lurthermore, drew naturally
lrom the social institutions that lormed the starting point lor the Christian
group. the household and synagogue. Lven laul `s letters to his delegates
1imothy and 1itus provide only a thumbnail sketch ol organization that in
large measure resembles that ol the synagogue and associ ation and these
also i mitated to some extent household arrangements). Most striking, such ar-
rangements lacked any sort ol rel igious legitimation. bishops superintendents),
deacons helpers), and elders were not sacred olhces but straightlorward lunc-
tions i n service ol the community`s activities.' Already in the early second cen-
tury there were signs ol more intense communication and cooperation among
local communities and the hrst signs ol theological legitimation lor assembly
leadership. ' " y the end ol that century, communities had unilorm and theologi-
cally j ustihed authority structures, and bishops exercised joint activity through
synods. y the late third and early lourth century, Christianity had an elaborate
system ol internal governance, with the bishops ol maj or cities Alexandria, An-
tioch, Kome) exercising suzerainty over all the local churches in a region.
II
Crowth in numbers and organizational development led to other aspects ol
Christianity in the second and third centuries. Although the l iterary portrayal
ol signihcant Christian conversions among the noble and senatorial classes is
undoubtedly exaggerated, the remarkable prolileration ol literature during these
years points to levels ol wealth and l iteracy sulhcient to support extensive edu-
cational and l iterary activities within the movement. 1he New 1estament
shows how literary Christianity was lrom the start, and that l iterary habit did
1
74
Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries
not in the least diminish. lartly out ol the need to stay in touch, partly out ol
the desire to instruct and perhaps entertai n), and partly out ol a passion lor
clarilying Christian identity, Christians created a substantial body ol l iterature
i n Latin, Syriac, and above all i n Creek. letters, apocalypses, gospels, acts~
these all had precedent in the New 1estament. ut i n addition, Christians
wrote a variety ol liturgical and visionary texts, apologies and polemical trea-
tises, and scriptural i nterpretations. lt i s regrettable, to be sure, that we do not
have more archaeological evidence lor Christian activity in this period. ut we
must be gratelul lor the garrul ity ol the believers and their willingness to write
in such a variety ol lorms.
oth l iterary and organizational activities were generated at least in part by
the increased degree ol conhict within the Christian movement. 1he elements
ol diversity and even disagreement evident already i n the New 1estament writ-
ings emerge with greater lorce and seriousness over the next two centuries. 1he
second century i n particular can be seen as a period ol sell-dehnition withi n
Christianity, when the composition ol l iterature and the intervention ol eccles i -
astical leaders showed the gravity ol the issues at conhict. 1he _uartodeciman
controversy revealed divisions in l iturgical practice that generated the meeting
ol synods and an ellort by the Koman bishop to excommunicate Asian com-
munities. ' 1he Montanist movementagain emerging lrom Christians in
Asiachallenged the adequacy ol traditional teaching and teachers by its claim
to a new prophecy. ' ` Most ol all, the congeries ol teachers, schools, and writings
that are more or less adequately categorized as Cnosticism stimulated the pro-
duction and a long tradition) ol antiheretical l iterature and the massing ol ec-
clesiastical leaders i n opposition to what was perceived to be a lundamental
redehnition ol the movement. ''
1he most signihcant negative corollary ol Christianity`s growth and organi-
zation, however, was undoubtedly its heightened visibility and therelore its
greater vulnerabil ity to persecution. 1he clearer separation lrom )udaism meant
the loss ol the presumption ol legal protection. 1he new cult was exposed to
slanders concerning its practices and was li able to retal iation lor its relusal to
participate i n the imperial cult. ' ` ln the hrst century, such harassment and per-
secution that Christians sullered came primarily lrom their lellow )ews. ver
the next two centuries, persecution lrom lellow Centiles grew more common.
Sometimes the violence was local and l i mited. ' ut as the rel igion grew, so did
the systematic ehorts ol the empire to suppress it. ' ' 1he numbers ol those who
were killed because ol their commitment to Christ can be exaggerated, but
there is no question that martyrdom was a recurrently present real ity lor many
and that social constraints were a constant lactor lor all who adhered to this
1
75
conlession.
I S
Ouring these years, being a lollower ol Christ meant the very real
possibility ol sullering a violent death l ike his.
ln this chapter, l describe some ol the evidence i n second- and third-century
Christianity lor what l have designated Kel igiousness A. participation i n divine
benehts. 1his mode ol reli gious sensibil ity, which places an emphasis on the
immanence and availabil ity ol the divine dynamis, occupied a prominent posi-
tion withi n Creco-Koman rel igion, was well attested in hrst-century )udaism,
and, as l have shown, is lound i n the writings ol the New 1estament, especially
in the convictions and practices ol laul `s Centile readers in Calatia and
Corinth, i n the lour Cospels, and in the Acts ol the Apostles. elore beginning
this survey ol the same rel igious type among second- and third-century Chris-
tians, l remind the reader ol the li mits ol typology. (1) points ol emphasis do not
constitute exclusive or competing claims and (2) actual experience and the l it-
erature witnessing to rel igious experience) olten contains some small elements
ol other sensibilities. '' Nevertheless, it is striking to see how relatively pure
these lour distinct expressions ol reli gious sensibil ity appear among Christians
in this period.
1HL AlCKYlHAL AC1S I AlS1LLS
1he New 1estament Acts ol the Apostles, the second volume ol Luke-Acts,
already displayed enough elements reminiscent ol Creco-Koman novels to
make an argument lor its belonging to that genre at least superhcially plausi-
ble, although in the end, Luke-Acts is best regarded as a lorm ol apologetic his-
tory." ln the second and third centuries, Christians wrote a variety ol
lreestanding Acts disconnected lrom a Cospel narrative and devoted to the ad-
ventures ol the heroes hrst identihed i n the New 1estament writings, especially
leter, laul , )ohn, 1homas, and Andrew. ' 1hese compositions even more
closely resemble the Hellenistic novels that were written i n roughly the same
time lrame, and they establ ish a mode ol writing ol continuing popularity
withi n Christianity.
ln them, as i n the picaresque novels characteristic ol the age, we hnd the
themes ol lrequent travel by land and sea, separation and reunihcation ol
lriends and lovers, emotional inlatuation, concern lor social position, lorces
opposing the heroes and heroines, imprisonments and escape lrom prisons,
changing clothing as disguise, a high valuation ol virginity, and a lascination
with animals especially talking ones). ` l specihc interest to me is the way in
which these accounts ol apostles demonstrate the characteristic leatures ol Ke-
l igiousness A.
1here are elements in these compositions, to be sure, that could ht within
another rel igious sensibil ity. We hnd in them sections ol moral instruction, lor
example,' but they do not dominate and, more important, are not connected
to a pedagogy ol moral translormation such as we hnd in Kel igiousness , re-
sembl ing i nstead lists ol requirements lor a hrst conversion. Similarly, these
compositions emphasize the hope lor a luture l i le as superior to present plea-
sure, which would align them with Kel igiousness C, but only occasionally do
these statements approach a genuine cosmological dualism that shows con-
tempt lor material real ity as such. ` y lar the dominant rel igious sensibil ity
displayed i n the apocryphal acts i s one conhdent i n the presence and power ol
the divine i n the empirical world, an optimism concerning the victory ol the
divine dynamis over all visible opposition, even when it results i n the martyr-
dom ol the apostle. Lach ol the compositions has its distinctive interest and
emphasis, which makes even more impressive the pervasive rel igious sensibil ity
lound in them all.
1he Acts of Thomas (AT) is the most complete extant narrative devoted to the
apostles. Written in Syriac, probably in the third century, it exemplihes the apoc-
ryphal tendency to elaborate on minor New 1estament characters. 1homas
travels to lndia to bring the Cospel there, and the Acts of Thomas recounts his
words and deeds. 1he narrative centers on the struggle between two kinds ol
power. that represented by human kings and nobles as expressed through social
patterns ol kinship and marriage and that represented by the apostle ol Christ as
expressed through extraordinary acts that threaten the domestic orderabove
all by drawing wives away lrom their husbands. '
1he composition contains a number ol substantial moral exhortations that
demand not only sexual continence but the sharing ol possessions and the em-
brace ol an honest and upright li le. Such exhortations do not in themselves
suggest a rejection ol material real ity but instead a relativizing ol present goods
i n view ol the eternal and better goods to be enj oyed in heaven. ' Lven the sym-
bolism ol the "Hymn ol the learl " or "Hymn ol the Soul") lound i n the Acts of
Thomas ioS~iiz), which has been taken to represent a Cnostic outlook, can be
read withi n its l iterary context as rehecting a more orthodox point ol view. `"
1he narrative as a whole amply demonstrates a Keligiousness A sensibil ity,
which sees the divine dynamis as present and accessible in the empirical world.
leople have visions throughout the story, `' and 1homas changes lorm i n lront
ol witnesses (AT S) and makes prophecies that are lulhlled , ). He perlorms
exorcisms qqy, yyy) and a variety ol miracles,` including a posthumous
wonder worked with a secondhand relic drawn lrom his grave iyo). He raises
people lrom the dead. `` Lven the apostle`s martyrdom is a triumph. he is buried
by his lollowers in a royal sepulchre and appears to them the same day, declar-
ing, "l am not here but l have gone up and received all that l was promised"
i). 1he king who had hi m killed is converted, and the Cospel is spread
throughout the land i~iyo).
1he mood ol the narrative is captured in this exchange between the king and
1homas. Misdaeus says, "1ell me who you are and by whose power you do these
things," and 1homas answers, "l am a man l ike yoursell, and do these things
by the power ol )esus Christ" (AT iqo). 1hose who heed the apostle`s call and
become di sciples, lurthermore, share in the divine benehts. "Walk rather in
laith and meekness and holiness and hope, in which Cod rejoices, so that you
may become his kinsmen, expecting lrom him those gilts which only a lew re-
ceive" S), and "Look upon us 0 Lord, because lor your sake we have lelt our
bodily consorts and our earthly lruit, in order that we may share in that true and
lasting communion and bring lorth true lruits, whose nature is lrom above,
which no one can take lrom us, in which we abide and they abide with us" i). `'
1he Acts of Andrew (AA; secondthird centuries) has an extraordi narily tan-
gled textual history, `` but even in its shortest version bears strong resemblance
to the other apocryphal acts. nce more, the narrative centers on the conhict
between human power in the imperial authorities) and divine power at work
in Christ`s apostle). Andrew converts the brother Stratocles) and then the wile
Maxilla) ol the Koman proconsul Aegeates. Maxilla adopts a li le ol cel ibacy,
and the enraged ruler imprisons and eventually crucihes Andrew, identihed as
"the man responsible lor the present disruption ol your household" (A z).
1he charge is not unlounded, lor Andrew`s exhortations locus on the contrast
between earthly and heavenly goods , qz) and the need lor bel ievers to be
"superior to the hesh, superior to the world, superior to the powers, superior to
the authorities over whom you really are" S), with the specihc requirement to
remaining "chaste and pure, unsulli ed" qo). Such language might be under-
stood i n terms ol a cosmological dualism, but l think it is better understood in
terms ol an ethical dualism and, even more, in terms ol a contest concerning
the power to give li le. is it derived lrom biological descent and human control,
or does it come lrom the power ol Cod and hnd its perlect realization in li le
with Cod ln the Acts of Andrew, the battle is lought in the empirical realm,
and victory is achieved not by escaping the body but through bodies empow-
ered by Cod.
As lor Andrew, he is portrayed in lamiliar wonder-working terms. 1he apostle
has a vision (A i), del ivers a prophecy i), and perlorms a spectacular exor-
cism q~). 1he narrative does not di rectly report lurther miracles but has
Stratocles tell Aegeates ol Andrew, "He perlorms great mi racles and cures
which exceed human strength, as l in part can corroborate in that l was present
and saw hi m revive corpses" z). Andrew himsell reminds lollowers ol "every-
thing that happened when l was l iving among all ol you. You saw acts perlormed
through me which you yourselves cannot di sbel ieve, such signs perlormed that
perhaps even mute nature would have cried out in acclaim" qS). )ust as Max-
illa is a benelactor to her servant girl iy), Andrew is a benelactor to all, Maxilla
declares, "Here we are eating, while our benelactor, second to the Lord him-
sell, is imprisoned" zy). `
1he enraged and j ealous Aegeates i mprisons Andrew (A z), but the apos-
tle`s devoted lol lowers are able to enter and leave the pri son uni mpeded
z~o). When the proconsul hnally decides to execute Andrew, his martyr-
dom turns out to be the cl imactic episode in the battle between the i mperial
and the apostol ic dynamis. ln deliberate imitation ol )esus` passion narrative,
Andrew i s scourged i) and led to the cross z). He declares to Stratocles, "it is
htting lor a servant ol )esus to be worthy ol )esus" ). Unl ike the )esus ol the
canonical Cospels, however, Andrew greets the cross with ecstatic j oy q),
smiles, and declares that "the person who belongs to )esus and who has been
recognized by him i n the end cannot be punished" ). He demonstrates the
superior power ol Cod by preaching lrom the cross lor lour days, converting
many ~). He predicts that his death will be a lorm ol l iberation, "and alter
l iberating mysell, l will release mysell lrom all things and become united with
the one who came i nto being lor all and exists beyond all" i). Alter Andrew`s
triumphant death"When he had said these things and lurther glorihed the
Lord, he handed over his spirit" Maxilla devotes her l i le to the love ol Christ,
and her husband Aegeates commits suicide q).
1he Acts of fohn (AT) is dated to the late second century, the version l discuss
is edited lrom manuscripts reporting di llerent sections. `' l relrai n lrom com-
menting on the section that tends to draw the most attention lrom scholars-
namely, the dance song in qor the discussion ol the Christology ol the
composition, except to note that the theme ol changing appearance or lorm
metamorphoses) that we hnd especially i n SS~ is entirely consistent with the
representations ol the divine i n Creco-Koman rel igion. ` Similarly, the presen-
tation ol )esus` cross as entirely a matter ol light and glory y~S) and the ex-
plicit denial that )esus suhered on the cross"1herelore l have sullered none
ol the things which they will say ol me. that sullering which l showed to you
and to the rest in dance, l wish it to be called a mystery" ioi)ht in a composi-
tion in which the triumph ol Cod in the world is constantly stressed. 1here is
no martyrdom in AT; rather, the apostle, having maintained the cel ibacy with
which he was sealed until the end, dies peacelully ii~ii).
Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries 1
79
1he divine dynamis is powerlully active in )ohn, who experiences visions (AT
iS, ) and perlorms healings i~z), exorcisms ), and resuscitations. `' the
power ol the risen Lord i n the apostle is displayed above all in his abil ity to re-
store l i le. ln response to one such resuscitation, a young man declares, "Cod
has had mercy on me, because l have seen his power" ). 1he most dramatic
display ol )ohn`s dynamis is publ ic, i n the contest with the goddess Artemis at
her temple in Lphesus S~qy). 1he worshipers ol Artemis seek to kill )ohn, but
he says to them, "How many miraculous deeds did you see me perlorm, how
many cures And still you are hardened i n the heart and cannot see clearly"
). He challenges them, "be now converted by my Cod or l will die at the
hands ol your goddess" qo).
)ohn prays and the altar ol Artemis i s split, its oblations spilled, and its priest
killed at one stroke. 1he people ol Lphesus respond, "1here is only one Cod,
that ol )ohn, only one Cod who has compassion lor us, lor you alone are Cod,
now we have become converted, since we saw your mi raculous deeds" (AT qz).
And they destroy the rest ol the temple qq). )ohn caps his wonders by restoring
to li le, at the request ol the dead man`s relatives, the priest ol Artemis, who then
also becomes a Christian q~qy).
Here, as in other passages ol the Acts oj Tohn, the wonders ol the apostle are
what stimulate conversions to Christianity see AT , y, y). Centiles who
were accustomed to calling the gods their benelactors now consider )ohn to be
such because ol the benehts he has brought them zy). elore Iis death, )ohn
declares to those who had become beli evers, "rethren, lel low-servants, co-
heirs, and co-partners in the kingdom ol the Lord, you know the Lord, how
many powers he has given you through me, how many mi racles, what cures,
signs, gilts, teachings, rulings, times lor relaxation, services, knowledge, glories,
graces, gilts, acts ol laith, communion, which you have seen with your eyes,
were given you by him, though they cannot be seen with these eyes and cannot
be heard with these ears" io). 1he rel igious sensibil ity ol the Acts oj Tohn is
summarized perlectly in the prayer ol Orusiana hersell raised lrom the dead)
belore she in turn raises Iortunatus. "Cod ol the ages, )esus Christ, Cod ol
truth, you allowed me to see signs and wonders and granted me to partake ol
your name" Sz).
1he Acts oj Peter (Pet) was probably composed i n the late second century but
is not extant in its entirety. 1he text l discuss is a composite that is drawn lrom
disparate sources.'" 1he narrative shows laul departing Kome i~) and the
wonder-worker Simon succeeding in drawing Christians away lrom their laith
by his miracles q~), leter is sent by Cod to Kome precisely to stop Simon. "l must
go up to Kome to subdue the enemy and opponent ol the Lord and ol our
180 Christianit in the Second and Third Centuries
brethren" ( 5). With his hrst sermon y), the apostle sets up the conhict that domi-
nates the story, the contest ol power between Simon and hi msell.
Appropriate to hi s mission is the depiction ol leter as a theios aner: he heals,
perlorms exorcisms, has many visions, and raises people lrom the dead.'' leter
preaches, but he insists that "l came not only lor the sake ol convincing you
with words that he whom l preach is the Christ, but by reason ol miraculous
deeds and powers l exhort you by laith in )esus Christ" (Pet y). leter is told by
the steersman ol the ship bringing hi m to Kome, "You are either a god or a
man. ut as lar as l can see, l think that you are a servant ol Cod" (5). 1he nar-
rative emphasizes the "signs which leter did by the grace ol )esus Christ" (14)
and his "signs and wonders" (16, 26, 36). lmmediately connected to such won-
ders are conversions lrom paganism to the Christian Cod (16, 26, 28, 31, 32).
Although leter declares to the crowd, "Oo not imagine that what l do, l do by
my own power, l do it in the power ol my Lord )esus Christ who is the j udge ol
the l iving and the dead" (28), the response ol the Centile population ol Kome,
especially to his resuscitations, i s to regard hi m as divine. "Irom that hour on
they worshipped hi m l ike a god, and the sick, whom they had at home, they
brought to his leet to be cured by him" (29).
leter`s wonder-working and winning ol converts sets up the expl icit contest
ol power between himsell and Simon Magus. Simon had won his reputation by
hying in the air (Pet 4), which the narrator ascribes to magic (8). He declared
himsell the "lower ol Cod" (8, 10) and worked such "miraculous deeds" (10)
that a lollower erected a statue to him with the inscription, "1o Simon, the
young god" (10). lt appears to the people that Simon and leter work on equal
terms, when leter receives a prediction lrom a talking dog that he will have a
"hard hght with Simon the enemy ol Christ," the crowd responds, "Show us
another mi racle that we may believe in you as a servant ol the living Cod, lor
Simon too did many wonders in our presence, and on that account we lollowed
hi m" (12).
Simon himsell makes the challenge clear. "ehold, here am l, Simon. Come
down, leter, and l will prove that you bel ieved in a )ewish man and the son ol
a carpenter" (Pet 14). He sharpens the attack. "Men ol Kome, i s a god born ls
he crucihed Whoever has a master is no god" (23)' leter engages Simon in a
hrst lace-to-lace contest, in which he restores to l i le a slave whom Simon struck
dead (25), having declared, "Now l turn to you, Simon. do one ol the signs
whereby you deceived them belore and l shall lrustrate it through my Lord )e-
sus Christ" (24). 1he climactic contest comes when Simon seeks to recover his
earlier luster among the Komans by repeating his hying act (31) and a large
crowd gathers to see hi m perlorm his ascent. "Ior l ascend and will show my-
sell to this people what kind ol being l am" (32). leter prays that his hight lai l ,
and
Si mon lalls to the earth crippled, to be stoned by some ol hi s lollowers, who
then j oin leter. Simon commits suicide (32).
1he account ol leter`s martyrdom makes clear that he is a servant ol Cod
rather than a god see Pet 5) while at the same time showing by his sell-mastery
how the power at work in hi m i s superior to that exercised by the empire. Moti-
vated by rage, a lriend ol the emperor seeks leter`s arrest because his wile, com-
mitted to chastity, no longer sleeps with him (34). ln response to his lollowers`
pleas, leter leaves the city, but a vision ol )esus sends hi m back to lace crucihx-
ion in i mitation ol hi s Lord (35). When he is arrested, he declares, as did his
master, that this is all Cod`s will (36). He greets the cross gladly and requests
that he be hanged upside-down (37). His sell-mastery is displayed by his lengthy
allegorical discourse about the signihcance ol the cross and his way ol being
crucihed, and he dies peacelully i n prayer (38-39). Alter his death, he appears
in a vision to his lollower Marcellus (40), and the ehect ol his death is that Nero
is alraid to persecute Christians any lurther (41).
1he Acts oj Paul (AP) was also probably composed in the late second century
and also requires recomposition on the basis ol scattered lragments.' 1he larg-
est intact portion ol the Acts oj Paul is the Acts oj Paul and Thecla, which cir-
culated widely because ol the separate cult devoted to the lemale saint.'` 1he
remai ni ng portions apart lrom the martyrdom) consist ol a series ol travels and
adventures in various cities and a spurious letter ol laul to the Corinthians
"third Corinthians"). As in the canonical Acts, laul preaches (AP 3. 5-6)44 and
makes delenses (3- 17), although hi s speeches bear l ittle resemblance to the mis-
sionary speeches and lorensic discourses in the earlier account. As in the ca-
nonical letters, laul also writes to churches (8), although there is absolutely no
similarity between his canonical letters to the Corinthians and the one that
supposedly responds to a letter lrom the presbyters i n Corinth.
Consistent with the depiction ol the apostles in the other apocryphal acts,
laul is presented above all as a wonder-worker who is regarded as dangerously
subversive by the protectors ol the social order because his teachi ng on
chastity"blessed are the bodies ol the vi rgi ns, lor they shal l be well pleas-
ing to Cod and shall not lose the reward ol their chastity" (AP )'` is convinc-
ing women to resist the sexual demands ol their husbands. 1he crowd i s incited
to cry out, "Away with the sorcerer lor he has misled all our wives" (3- 15). laul
perlorms healings. i n Myra, healing a man with dropsy and restoring sight to
another (4); in 1yre, healing a dumb man (6); and in Lphesus, healing the run-
ning sore in an ear (7). He experiences visions in Myra (4) and in Lphesus (10). ln
1yre, laul perlorms an exorcism (6). ln Lphesus, beasts hee rather than inhict
harm on the apostle y), and i n lhi lippi, laul restores li le to a girl named
Irontina S).
lt is not a shock, then, to hnd in laul `s sermon to the Komans a recitation ol
)esus` mi nistry in terms ol his wonder-working. "he raised the dead, healed
diseases, cleansed lepers, healed the blind, made cripples whole, raised up para-
lytics, cleansed those possessed by demons" (AP io). He attributes these words
to )esus. "Why are you amazed that l raise up the dead or that l make the lame
walk or that l cleanse the lepers or that l raise up the sick or that l have healed
the paralytic and those possessed by demons or that l have divided a l ittle bread
and satished many or that l have walked upon the sea, or il l have commanded
the winds" io).
ln the section ol the Acts of Paul devoted to 1hecla, the aura ol wonder-
worker surrounds her as well . She has visions . zi, . z). 1he hre set to con-
sume her does her no harm . zz)we are to suppose it is because ol laul `s
prayer lor her . zq). Neither the l ioness . zS) nor other beasts do her any harm
i n the arena . ). When she throws hersell in the water i n order to baptize
hersell, the deadly seals do not hurt her . q). Lven when she is attached by
ropes to vicious bulls who are intended to pull her to pieces, a hre burns
through the ropes and she escapes unharmed . ). 1hecla`s hnal words to her
mother express a rel igious sensibil ity not lar removed lrom that lound in Creco-
Koman Kel igiousness A. "1heoclia my mother, can you bel ieve that the Lord
l ives in heaven Ior il you desire wealth the Lord will give it you through me,
or il you desire your child, behold l am standing beside you" . q).
ln the section ol the Acts of Paul called "1he Martyrdom ol the Holy Apostle
laul " with its own numbering system), the emphasis on triumph through
wonder-working continues. laul draws disciples even lrom the house ol the
emperor and restores latroclus, the emperor`s cupbearer, to l i le (AP i). latro-
clus announces to Nero that he now hghts on the side ol the king ol the ages,
who "destroys all kingdoms under heaven, and he alone shall remai n i n all
eternity, and there will be no kingdom which escapes him. " And others ol Nero`s
household also declare their allegiance to "the king ol the ages" z). Nero tor-
tures and imprisons them and orders all lollowers ol Christ to be executed.
When laul is brought in letters belore Nero, he conlronts the emperor boldly
with the prediction that his kingdom also will be made subject. And upon be-
ing ordered to be beheaded, laul prophesies that "l will rise agai n and appear
to you, lor l shall not be dead but al ive to my kind, Christ )esus, who will j udge
the earth" q). laul exempl ihes philosophical calm at the moment ol death,
and when hi s head is severed, milk splashes on the tunic ol the executioner ),
leading bystanders to glorily Cod. At the moment Nero receives the report o|
this wonder, laul appears to hi m. "l am not dead but al ive in my Cod" ). laul
appears as well to his lollowers and to members ol the emperor`s household who
had remained skeptical, leading them also to beliel y).
AlCKYlHAL NAKKA1lVL CSlLLS
Oespite their compositional complexity, we have seen that the lour narrative
gospels ol the New 1estament ht best within the category ol Kel igiousness A.'
)ust as the apocryphal acts move beyond their canonical prototype toward a
more perlect expression ol that sensibil ity, so do the extant apocryphal gospels.
Unlortunately, the basis lor analysis in this case is li mited. Little can be said
about the ")ewish-Christian Cospels," except that, according to the scant evi-
dence we possess, they were variations ol the Synoptic tradition especially
Matthew) and that the new elements they i ntroduce are primarily in the say-
ings material .'' And although the production ol apocryphal gospels proved at
least as popular as the composition ol apocryphal acts,' only a handlul ol such
compositions can conhdently be dated to the period ol my analysis, the second
and third centuries.
Although patristic authors make mention ol a Gospel of Peter GP),'' knowl-
edge ol its contents became available only with the discovery ol an eighth-
century manuscript in iSS~iSSy. lts date ol composition i s probably the late
second century. `" Oespite the vigorous case made recently lor an earlier date-
and a status as an independent testimony to the passionl agree with the schol-
ars who see the Gospel of Peter as an apocryphal elaboration based on the
canonical accounts. ` ' ecause our knowledge rests entirely on this truncated
narrative, it is not possible to make j udgments concerning the extent or charac-
ter ol the story preceding or, lor that matter, lollowing) it. What we have is a
narrative extending lrom a trial belore lilate to the resurrection.
Several aspects ol the lragment point to a presentation ol )esus as a theios
aner even withi n the passion narrative. 1he narrator not only relers to )esus
consistently as "the Lord" but puts the designations "son ol Cod" and "savior ol
men" i n the mouths ol opponents. ` At the time ol his crucihxion, )esus "held
his peace as il| he lelt no pain" (GP io). At the moment ol his death, he cries
out, "My power, 0 power, you have lorsaken me," and the narrative continues.
"having said this, he was taken up" i). 1he expression is sulhciently obscure
to allow it to be understood as an immediate ascension. 1he lharisees and
Scribes reler to "these exceeding great signs" that happened at )esus` death zS),
but the ones mentioned in the narrative earthquake, sun shining, zizz) are
less spectacular than those reported by Matthew.
1he most distinctive and spectacular part ol the narrative is the description
ol the resurrection. 1he guards assigned to watch the tomb see the heavens
open and two men descend lrom heaven (GP ) even as the stone that had
been sealed with seven seals ) starts itsell to roll and move sideways, allowing
the two heavenly men to enter y). 1hen the soldiers see "three men come out
lrom the sepulcher, two ol them supporting the other and a cross lol lowing
them and the heads ol the two reaching to heaven, but that ol him who was
being led reached beyond the heavens" ~qo). At this moment, voices in
heaven ask and answer alhrmatively the question ol whether the Lord had
preached to those who were asleep qi). Again the heavens open and a si ngle
man descends to enter the tomb qq), the young man ol Mark`s Cospel who sits
in the tomb and greets the women with the message "he is risen and is gone to
the place lrom which he was sent" ). All ol these touches establ ish the divin-
ity ol )esus. titles, visions, heavenly signs, and descent and ascent.
1he Prtevangelium of lames (PI) is the earliest extant "i nlancy Cospel "~
that is, narratives that are devoted entirely to the birth and childhood ol )esus ``
composed in the late second century. lt extends the gospel story back to )esus`
grandparents, )oachim and Anna, and locuses on Mary, the mother ol )esus.
1he story is propelled by the conhict between the desire lor ohspring and the
quest lor biological purity. the virginity ol Mary, which in the canonical gospel
ol Luke was a sign ol the power ol Cod, i n the Prtoevangelium i s an absolute
value to be preserved at all costs. `' As i n the apocryphal acts, devotion to Cod
is expressed through virginity. 1he gospel perlectly expresses Kel igiousness A.
the divine dynamis i s present in the world and accessible in a variety ol ways to
the devout. 1he characters, indeed, l ive in a "bible world" that has l ittle to do
with actual )udaism and everything to do with the imagination. a sanctuary is
made lor Mary in her bedroom where the "undehled daughters ol the He-
brews" serve her (PI . i), the three-year-old child dances on the steps ol the altar
i n the temple y.), she dwells i n the temple lrom that age lorward . ), and
when Mary reaches menarche at iz years old, it constitutes a national crisis re-
quiring consultation with the priests S. i).
lt is a world i n which characters have visions and receive heavenly messen-
gers on a regular basis (PI q. i, q.z, ii. iz, iq.z, zo.z). lt is a world i n which the
child Mary walks at the age ol six months .i) and receives lood i n the temple
lrom the hand ol an angel S.z). A dove comes out ol)oseph`s rod and alights on
his head . i). Zechariah is struck dumb io.z). elore the birth ol )esus, )oseph
experiences a moment ol eternity, when everything on earth stands still iS. z).
)esus` birth is accompanied by a bright l ight around the cave, with the lorm ol
the baby emerging as the l ight withdraws i.z). Salome tests Mary`s postpar-
tum virginity, and her hand is struck, but when she touches the child )esus, she
is healed zo. i~q). When Ll izabeth and )ohn are threatened, a mountai n opens
up to receive them, lor they are protected by an angel ol the Lord zz. ). Iinally,
when Zacharias is killed, hi s body disappears and all that can be lound is his
blood, turned to stone zq. ). Not only is the Prtevangelium of James lull ol
such wonders, but it shows no trace ol any other rel igious sensibil ity.
1he textual history ol the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) is complex, 55 and
it is not certain that the Creek version, the translation l here analyze, comes
lrom the second or third century. 56 l include it i n this discussion because it so
wonderlully illustrates the tendency ol the apocryphal gospels and acts toward
Kel igiousness A. 1he narrator begins by stating hi s intention to share with
Centile readers "the mighty childhood deeds ol our Lord )esus Christ, which
he did when he was born i n our land" (IGT i). 1he composition then moves
through a series ol wonders perlormed by )esus lrom the time he was hve until
he was iz years old. 1he composition ends with the story ol )esus teaching in
the temple, taken lrom Luke z. qi~z.
At hrst blush, the narrative seems to be simply an account ol )esus as enfant
terrible,57 whose reckless use ol his divine powers wreaks havoc on all around
hi m. A closer reading allows us to detect a genuine shilt in emphasis beginning
in S. i. the child who had lormerly done mostly harm now uses his powers lor
good. 1he reader is led to appreciate the childhood ol )esus as a successlul
struggle to control the divine dynamis that at hrst appears to overwhelm hi m
and to see )esus` entrance into adulthood at iz) as one in whi ch that struggle
between the good and evil uses ol power has been resolved.
Lven with this generous reading, however, the narrative`s unremitting locus
on the purely mi raculous is extraordinary. At hve years old, )esus cleanses
pooled waters with a word (IGT z. i) and, having molded pigeons lrom clay,
claps hi s hands and they hy away z. q). A playmate who disturbs the pools ol
water )esus has gathered withers at his command . z~). He strikes dead an-
other child who accidentally bumps his shoulder q. i) and strikes blind those
who complain about him . i). He also possesses more wisdom than his teacher
. i~y. q). 1hen, all those under his curse are saved S. z). )esus raises a child
lrom the dead ), heals an inj ured loot io. z), produces an unusually great har-
vest so that the poor can be led iz. i~z), helps his lather by making two uneven
beams ol wood equal in length i.z), kills a second teacher iq. z) but then re-
suscitates him i. q), heals hi s brother )ames i.z), and restores to li le a child
and a workman iy. i, iS. i).
1he religious outlook ol the composition is communicated as well by the
statements made by characters other than )esus i n response to his powerlul
186 Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries
deeds. 1he parents ol the boy whom )esus caused to wither ask )oseph, "what
kind ol child do you have, who does such things" (IGT 3. 3). ln response to his
striking people bl ind, witnesses respond, "Lvery word he speaks, whether good
or evil, was a deed and became a miracle" .z). 1he teacher lrustrated by )esus`
superior wisdom declares, "1his child i s not earth-born, he can even subdue
hre. lerhaps he was begotten even belore the creation ol the worl d" iy. z). eg-
ging )oseph to take hi m back home, the teacher declares, "What great thing he
is, a god or an angel , l do not know what l should say" iy.q). When )esus heals
the man who had cleaved his own loot, the people worship hi m and declare,
"1ruly the spirit ol Cod dwells i n this child" io. z). A second teacher grows an-
noyed with )esus and hits hi m, )esus responds by cursing the teacher, who lalls
i n a laint on the hoor. )oseph tells Mary, "Oo not let hi m go outside the door,
lor all those who provoke hi m die" (14. 3).
1he hnal two responses to )esus suggest hi s growi ng maturity. When )esus
raises a dead child to l i le, the witnesses excl ai m, "1ruly, this child was either
a god or an angel ol Cod, lor every word ol his i s an accompl ished deed" (IGT
iy.z). And when he raises a workman to l i leimmediately belore the hnal
story ol hi m teachi ng in the templethe people are amazed and say, "1his
child is lrom heaven, lor he has saved many souls lrom death, and i s able to
save them al l hi s l i le long" iS. z) . 1he Infancy Gospel of Thomas's portrayal ol
a child-god who i s able to bestow benehts or calamities at a word is an ex-
treme case. ut it clearly hts within the rel igious sensibility we have detected
i n other apocryphal narratives and with them demonstrates how rel igion as
participation i n divine benehts hourished as an expression ol second- and
third-century Christianity.
MN1ANl SM
Another manilestation ol Keli giousness A is the prophetic movement begun
by Montanus and his lemale associates lriscilla and Maximilla sometime be-
tween iy and iyy i n lhrygia, which spread to Syria, Kome, and North Alrica
belore its i nhuence was reduced. ` Ior the purposes ol this study, Montanism is
ol interest less lor its predictions ol a New )erusalem in a lhrygian town or the
i ntense asceticism it advocated in anticipation ol this eschatological event`'
than lor its insistence on the contemporary experience ol prophecy as a demon-
stration ol the presence ol the Holy Spirit. Maximilla is quoted as saying, "l am
driven away like a woll lrom the sheep. l am not a woll. l am word and spirit
and power" (Historia Ecclesiastica . i, iy)." 1he Montanist leaders claimed to
continue the prophetic tradition that ran lrom such New 1estament hgures as
Agabus, )udas, Silas, and lhilip`s daughters,' to men l ike Ammia ol lhiladel-
phia and _uadratus. y claiming to be spirit-hlled prophets, the Montanists
connected themselves experientially to one ol the prime demonstrations ol the
divine dynamis i n earliest Christianity. Since this movement was lounded in
lhrygia, where also began the Creco-Koman cult ol Cybelethe Mother-
Coddess whose prophets also engaged i n ecstatic utteranceit is natural to link
Montanism to the cultural habit ol a region. ut this would ignore its wide-
spread appeal to Christians in other areas or its valid claim to represent one ol
the New 1estament`s most important lorms ol witness to the presence ol the
l iving Cod in the world. ` 1he sad state ol the sources with respect to Montan-
ism prevents a luller analysis. ' ut we are certainly able to point to it as an ob-
vious example ol Keligiousness A within the Christianity ol the second and
third centuries, lor its clai m to participate i n the benehts ol the divine dynamis
is direct and emphatic.
MAK1YK llL1Y
l noted earlier in this chapter that persecution was increasingly a lactor lor
Christians in the second and third centuries, and in the apocryphal acts ol the
apostles, l observed that the martyrdom ol the apostle served as a demonstration
ol the divine dynamis, turning what seemed to be a crushing blow to the Chris-
tian rel igion into another stage ol its success among the Centiles. lt is clear that
the apocryphal acts are more hction than history. ut we have enough evidence
lrom other sources to support the proposition that in the age ol persecution, a
martyr piety was an important expression ol Kel igiousness A within Christianity.
We should not expect in these accounts the same sort ol extravagant claims ol
wonder-working that we hnd in the acts, ol more signihcance is the degree to
which these testimonies share the same rel igious sensibil ity.
lgnatius was a bishop ol Antioch who was executed sometime during the
reign ol 1rajan Siiy). n hi s way to Kome, bound as a prisoner, he wrote at
least) seven letters, six to congregations in Asia Minor and Kome, and the sev-
enth to lolycarp, the bishop ol Smyrna. Although his letters touch on a number
ol concernsresisting lalse teaching, recognizing the authority ol bishops,
maintaining unityhis own rel igious leeling comes through clearly. Whatever
he may have been or thought belore his arrest, as lgnatius laces almost certain
death because ol hi s beliel, hi s mind and heart lasten intently on that moment
when he will become, as he puts it, "a true disciple" Ign. Eph. i.z, lgn. Rom. q. z)
and "attain to Cod" Ign. Eph. iz.z, lgn. Magn. iq.i, lgn. Rom. S. ) or "attain to )esus
Christ" lgn. Rom. . ).`
188 Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries
ln lgnatius`s letters, we hnd the distinctive shape ol Kel igiousness A i n a cult
centered around the crucihxion and resurrection ol )esus. 1he divine dynamis is
regarded as operative in both )esus` death and eternal lile, with the manner ol
his death serving as his way to Cod. 1he power in which Christians participate
through the gilt ol the exalted one therelore draws them to the same destiny and
the same reward. lgnatius declares that his spirit is "devoted to the cross" lgn.
Eph. iS. i), and by hi s death he hopes to be "worthy to show the honor ol Cod"
lgn. Eph. zi.z). lt is therelore ol the greatest importance that the sullering and
reward ol Christ be real, rather than an appearance, as some lalse teachers
claim, lor lgnatius has l iterally staked his l i le on this reality. il his sullerings are
only an appearance, "why am l a prisoner and why do l hght the beasts," he asks
lgn. Tral. io. i). lgnatius makes the connection clear. "lor this reason also we
suller, that we may be lound disciples ol )esus Christ our only teacher" lgn.
Magn. . i). 1o embrace martyrdom, therelore, is both to bear witness to the real-
ity ol the resurrection and, at the same time, to display lor others the dynamis
that the resurrection ol )esus makes available to his lollowers.
ln his letter to the Koman Christians, lgnatius is most explicit concerning
hi s desire to imitate Christ"to set to the world towards Cod, that l may rise to
him" lgn. Rom. z. z) lor they are the ones most able either to hi nder his prog-
ress or to help hi m on his way. He wants them to help or at least not stand in his
way. Using the language ol sacrihce lamiliar to Centiles, he says, "Crants me
nothing more than that l be poured out [spondisthenai] to Cod, while an altar
[thysiasterion] i s still ready, that lorming yourselves into a chorus [ChOTS] ol
love, you may sing to the Iather in Christ )esus" z. z). He asks his readers not to
prevent hi s act ol witness. "suller me to be eaten by the beasts, through whom l
can attai n to Cod. " Using a metaphor that echoes the Lucharistic ritual, he
declares, "l am Cod`s wheat, and l am ground by the teeth ol the wild beasts
that l may be lound the pure bread ol Christ" q. i).
lndeed, he asks hi s readers to speed the process along. "Kather entice the
wild beasts that they may become my tomb, and leave no trace ol my body, that
when l lall asleep l be not burdensome to any. 1hen l shall be truly a disciple
ol )esus Christ, when the world shall not even see my body." 1his passage con-
cludes with a return to the language ol sacrihce. "eseech Christ on my behall,
that l may be lound a sacrihce [thysia] through these instruments" lgn. Rom.
q. z). lgnatius sees hi s progress toward martyrdom as "beginning to be a disci-
ple" . ) and is therelore committed to reaching the end. "suller me to lollow
the example ol the passion ol my god" (epitrepsate moi mimeten einai tou pat
hous tou theou mou; . ).
lolycarp, the bishop ol Smyrna, was martyred circa i~i. His last days
and moments are recounted in a letter lrom the church i n Smyrna to the
church i n lhilomel ium, written shortly alter the events. 1he composition
nicely illustrates the truth that proximity to an event does not preclude i nterpre-
tation, lor this report consistently shades the story in such lashion that, as much
as possible given the actual lacts, lolycarp`s death mi mics that ol )esus. 1hus,
the composition opens with the assertion that all the events happened "to show
us lrom above a martyrdom in accordance with the gospel " (Mart. Pol. i. i, see
also i. i) and "that we too might become his imitators" i.z).
lolycarp`s death put an end to a persecution in which many had died, and the
composition insists that Christians must "be very carelul to assign the power over
all to Cod" (Mart. Pol. z. i), so that the nobility shown by those killed was due to
the "grace ol Christ" enabl ing them to despise worldly tortures, since they
looked "to the good things which are preserved lor those who have endured"
z.z). 1heir combat with the wild beasts . i) was at the same time a battle with
the devil z. q).
1he depiction ol lolycarp has many ol the leatures we have seen in the apoc-
ryphal acts. He has a prel i minary vision ol the manner ol his death (Mart. Pol.
. z), and when he enters the arena to become a "partner ol Christ" (Christou
koinonos; . z), he hears a voice lrom heaven say, "e strong, lolycarp, and play
the man" (ischue kai andrizou; . i). lolycarp astounds the proconsul with his
"courage and j oy" iz. i). elore he is set on hre, he recites an extensive prayer,
one part ol which makes expl icit the theme ol participation and i mitation. "l
bless thee, that thou hast granted me thi s day and hour, that 1 may share,
among the number ol the martyrs, in the cup ol thy Christ, lor the resurrection
to everlasting l i le, both ol soul and body in the i mmortal ity ol the Holy Spirit"
iq.z).
When the hame i s lit and blazes up, witnesses "saw a great marvel " (thauma),
namely, the hame surrounding the saint l ike a great sail, so that it seemed not
as though burning hesh but "as bread that is being baked, or as gold and silver
being rehned in a lurnace" (Mart. Pol. i. z). ' And when the executioner stabs
lolycarp with a dagger, "there came out a dove, and much blood, so that the
hre was quenched, and all the crowd marveled that there was such a di herence
between the unbel ievers and the elect" i. i). 1he authorities do not want to
release the body "lest they leave the crucihed one and begin to worship this
man" iy.z), and i n lact, some ol the saint`s associates wanted "to have lellow-
ship with his holy hesh" iy. i). 1he narrator states the proper lorm ol piety. "lor
him )esus| we worship as the Son ol Cod, but the martyrs we love as di sciples
and imitators ol the Lord . . . . Crant that we too may be their companions and
lellow disciples" (koinonous kai symmathetas; iy. ).
1he accounts ol the martyrdom ol )ustin and hi s companions i CL) and
ol the North Alrican Scillitan Martyrs iSo CL) are too spare to reveal much
ol the piety ol the martyrs, but The Letter of the Christians in Vienne and Lyons
to the Churches in Asia and Phrygia is sulhciently developed to allow comment.
68
1he persecution under Marcus Aurel ius iyy) is attributed to demonic powers
(Historia Ecciesiastica . i. iq~i, . i. z~zy). 1he martyrs suller because ol their
zeal lor Christ . i. ), and their death is in i mitation ol Christ. Vettius "chose to
lay down even hi s own li le lor the delense ol the brethren, lor he was and is a
true disciple ol Christ, and he lollows the lamb wherever he goes" . i. io). ln
Sanctus, "Christ sullering i n hi m manilested great glory, overthrowing the ad-
versary and showing lor others the example that there is nothing learlul where
there is the love ol the Iather nor painlul where there is the glory ol Christ"
. i, z). lonthinus was "strengthened by zeal ol spirit through urgent desire ol
martyrdom," and in hi s sullerings "Christ might triumph . . . as though he was
Christ hi msell" . i. z~o). landina, though physically weak, endured aston-
ishing torture, lor "she had put on the great and invincible athlete, Christ" . i.qz).
1hus she showed that those who "suller lor the glory ol Christ have lorever lel-
lowship [koinonia] with the l iving Cod" . i. qi). 1here is less literary embroidery
here than i n the Martyrdom of Polycarp, but the same rel igious sensibility is
clearly at work. the divine power is manilested through the bodies ol those who
bear witness to Christ.
Another important witness close to actual events is lound in The Passion of
Perpetua and Felicitas. 1he composition locuses on the imprisonment and death
on March y, zo, ol the North Alrican women lerpetua noble-born) and the
pregnant Iel icitas a servant), who as Catechumens were condemned under
the edict ol Septimus Severus lorbidding conversions to Christianity zoz).'
1he prelace to the Passion makes clear that it was written to provide an example
to contemporary believers to show that the divine grace was active not only
among the ancients but also in present-day saints and to serve as a witness to
unbelievers as well as a beneht to bel ievers. lerpetua and Ielicitas received bap-
tism at the hands ol the priest Saturus shortly alter being imprisoned i.z). 1he
section ol the narrative that is based on lerpetua`s own account emphasizes the
series ol visions that she experiences i. , z. , z.q, . z), the vision ol Saturus q.i~),
and the resistance ol lerpetua to the pleas ol her lather z. i~z). ln the last ol her
visions while in prison, lerpetua sees hersell becoming a man and doing battle
against the devil . z). lerpetua is notable lor her constancy and lohiness ol
mind, lor standing up to the tribune . ).
1he account ol the actual martyrdom resembles those in the apocryphal acts,
with its emphasis on the j oy and bright countenance ol the martyrs and their
singing ol psalms (Passion . i). Ielicitas gave birth shortly belote her execution,
and the account compares the blood ol her martyrdom to that ol her childbirth.
she washes aher childbirth with a second baptism . i). lerpetua experiences
her sullering in the Spirit and in an ecstasy .), she encourages the others to
stand last i n the laith and to love each other . ), and she guides the hand ol her
executioner .q). 1he bloody death ol Saturus is expl icitly called a second bap-
tism . q). 1he Passion concludes with the same sentiment expressed in the
prelace. the account is meant to be exemplary, a demonstration that the new
virtues may testily to the same Holy Spirit always operating, even in the present
day . q).
A hnal witness to the martyr piety ol the second and third centuries is rigen
ol Alexandria iSq~z). Like )ustin, rigen is one ol the hgures l consider in the
next chapter as representing Keligiousness rel igion as moral translormation).
ut he also sought to achieve lull lellowship with Christ through martyrdom.
When hi s lather, Leonides, was executed under Septimus Severus in zoz, ri-
gen was dehected lrom lollowing him by the obligation ol caring lor his lather`s
lamily and catechetical school . Although he was not actually executed, rigen
died as a result ol the tortures he underwent in the persecution ol Oecius in z.
His Exhortation to Martyrdom is a protreptic discourse addressed to his lriends
Ambrose and lrotoctetus during the persecution ol Maximi n 1hrax i n z.'
1ypical ol the great scholar, the discourse is rile with scriptural citations and al-
lusions, but it also conveys some ol the personal passion ol the author lor this
subject. l touch on only a lew ol the points he makes.
rigen emphasizes hrst that the impression ol Christ`s death being a loss is
wrong, it is, rather, the source ol benehts z) greater than can be imagined i,
q, qy). With lgnatius ol Antioch, rigen regards martyrdom as a means ol be-
ing lully united with Cod ), by leaving the body, one lives with the Lord q).
Martyrdom is an expression ol the lullest love lor Cod ), in which the gih ol
onesell entirely to Cod ii) results in the lullness ol lile in return iz). Second,
these benehts are not only lor the one who dies. the martyr`s death benehts others
o), not only through example lor edihcation qi) but in the same way that
Christ`s death brought benehts to all o). 1hird, rigen regards martyrdom as a
contcstjust as the li le ol laith is a contest lor virtue )but one that involves
battl ing the demonic lorces at work in idolatry, the idolatrous state, and the
human desire lor salety iS, z, q, qo, q).
lt is this understanding ol martyrdom as a moral striving that connects it to
what l have termed Kel igiousness , yet the sense that this expression ol the
divine dynamis accomplishes benehts in the world here and now also makes it
ht within Kel igiousness A. rigen states at the end ol the lourth part ol his
exhortation, "1hus we can see what piety and the love ol Cod, which is stronger
than all other loves, can achieve against the most cruel sullerings and the sever-
est tortures. 1his love ol Cod does not tolerate the co-existence ol human weak-
ness but drives it away as an enemy alien lrom the whole soul. And this weakness
becomes powerless i n the case ol one who can say, `1he Lord is my strength and
my praise, and ` l can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me, Christ )esus,
ur Lord` " zy). laradoxically, the death that appears to the world as shamelul
is in lact a sharing in the triumph ol Christ. "We must also sense no shame
whatever at sullering what Cod`s enemies consider to be shamelul. . . . Now you
appear, as it were, in triumphal procession, taking up the cross ol )esus and lol-
lowing hi m as he goes belore you to appear belore magistrates and kings, that
by making the j ourney with you, he may give you a mouth ol wisdom" ).
1he evidence drawn lrom apocryphal gospels and acts as well as lrom the lit-
erature concerning martyrdom suggests that in the second and third centuries,
rel igion as participation in divine benehts hourished within Christianity. lt had
distinctive leatures, to be sure. it was not possible lor Christians to participate in
the regular round ol " idolatrous" publ ic worship, and their own rituals were as
yet largely undeveloped. 1he locus lor this rel igious sensibil ity therelore be-
came the holy person or saint through whom the divine dynamis worked and
access to whom yielded benehts lor others. 1he supreme holy person i s, to be
sure, )esus himsell, and the apocryphal gospels indicate how the thaumaturgic
dimension ol his human existence hnds expansion. Next are his apostles, whose
wonder-working brought the benehts ol the resurrection l i le to those they
touched and who led the growth ol the church. Iinally, those who bear witness
to Christ i n their violent death demonstrate the working ol that same resurrec-
tion power in their triumph over imperial power, demonic power, and their own
human weakness.
lt is not possible to make sociological deductions lrom lorms ol l iterature. We
cannot conclude how many or what sort ol Christians in the second and third
centuries l ived out this sort ol religious sensibil ity. ut it can be noted that
apocryphal acts and gospels were written by many hands over an extended pe-
riod ol time and lound a steady readership in many languages across many
centuries, as evidenced by their complex textual histories. And it is lurther pos-
sible to assert that the themes that are lound hctionally in the accounts ol mar-
tyrdom in the apocryphal acts are lound, il less spectacularly, in the sober acts
ol actual martyrs.
Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries 1
93
As l have done in earlier chapters, l conclude with the argument that the l it-
erature l have examined all points to the existence ol a specihc religious type,
even while l acknowledge traces ol other sensibil ities. ln the apocryphal acts,
l noted the presence ol teaching material, and in both the acts and gospels, it is
possible to detect the encratism that privileges virginity. ln all these texts, lur-
thermore, the luture lile with Cod made possible through the resurrection ol
)esus is much to be prelerred to the benehts ollered by this world. What joins
these witnesses together is not simply the lact that they all emphasize the pres-
ence ol the divine dynamis in the world and the possibil ity i n humans sharing
in the divine benehts, but the way in which the other three emphases are so
little present. 1here i s no real attention given in these writings to translorma-
tion through moral ellort, rather, the divine power is displayed i n signs and
wonders outside the sell and, i n the case ol martyrs, in enabl ing the courage to
lace a cruel death. 1he encratistic elements in these writings do not constitute
a cosmic dualism that despises material ity as such, indeed, they envisage the
body as well as the soul hnding a luture with Cod. Iinally, and most obviously,
there is nothing in these writi ngs that serves to stabilize the social order,
rather, they are wildly subversive ol the social order ol the Creco-Koman world
and i n their locus on the explosion ol the divine dynamis operative in the
world through )esus, the apostles, and the martyrs show no particular i nterest
in replacing that demonic politeia with another.
-
MORL TRNSFORMATI ON I N
SECOND- AND THIRD-CENTURY
CHRIS TIANI TY
1he second and third centuries, as we have seen, ptovide abundant testimony
lor the lorm ol religious sensibil ity l have designated Keligiousness A. in apocty-
phal gospels and acts, in the "new prophecy" ol Montanism, and in mani|esta-
tions ol martyr piety. 1his strain ol religiosity could claim to be htmly grounded
in the writings o| the New 1estament, above all in the canonical Cospels and
Acts ol the Apostles, but also in those wtiters who, like laul and )ames and the
author ol the Letter to the Hebrews, recognized the presence ol "signs and won-
ders" at work in the world through the spirit ol the resurrected one. ln that sensi-
bil ity, the experience ol martyrdomwhich in the eyes ol outsiders seemed as
lutile an exercise in witnessing as was the crucihxion ol )esusappeared as the
most powerlul sign and wonder ol all, a way ol participating in the benehts given
by the power ol )esus through imitation ol his triumph over sullering and death.
lt was not a loregone conclusion that a rel igious movement so hrmly based
on the experience ol power through the Holy Spirit, and so initially negative
toward philosophy see Kom i. zz, i Cor i. zozi, Col z. S), would display among
some ol its members the sott ol rel igious sensibil ity that l have tetmed Keli-
giousness , which locuses not on access to divine benehts externally but rather
on the way the divine dynamis works lor the moral change in persons. ln the
New 1estament, we saw in laul , )ames, and the Letter to the Hebrews just this
sort ol sensibil ity. their rel igious locus is on the use ol human reason in accord
with the "mind ol Christ" i Cor z. z), the development ol the virtuous li le
shaped by imitation ol )esus Christ, and a growing into the maturity that seeks
the beneht ol others more than the sel|. And in the second and third centuries,
we hnd an ever more expl icit "philosophical " lorm ol Christianity develop,
with a locus on moral translormation.
1
94
Moral Transfonation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity 1
95
Il KS1 S1LlS. CLLMLN1 I KML ANO
lLYCAKl I SMYKNA
1he writings attributed to Clement ol Kome and lolycarp ol Smyrna are all
the more signihcant as witnesses to this way ol being Christian because they
are so unsell-conscious i n their expression ol it. 1hey do not identily them-
selves as philosophers or make any explicit embrace ol philosophy. 1heir reli-
gious sensibil ity must be inlerred lrom the things they choose to speak ol and
the things they tend to omit, the topics they emphasize and those they slight.
1he First Letter of Clement is written lrom the church in Kome to the
church i n Corinth around CL i n response to the crisis created by some
younger men rebelling against the authority ol the establ ished elders in the
Corinthian community y, y) . ' ln his ellort to restore order to that church,
Clement reveals hi s awareness both ol being part ol a second generation, lol-
lowing the deaths ol the apostles, and ol a moral authority to exhort members ol
another community. ln carrying out the task ol mutual correctionmanilestly
a critical component in the philosophical tradition , S) Clement does not
appeal to a political ideal but instead challenges and appeals to the moral char-
acter ol hi s readers.
1wo aspects ol his composition i mmediately make us aware that Clement`s
missive is neither naive nor impulsive. ` Iirst, the letter is intensely intertextual.
he makes constant use ol scripture the LXX) as well as ol earlier Christian
writings. His choices in this respect are instructive. he tells no stories lrom the
Cospels about )esus` wonders but appeals, rather, to )esus` words ol moral in-
struction,' his main concentration, indeed, is on the character ol )esus and on
the manner in which he sullered. Among earlier Christian writers, Clement
makes explicit use ol laul `s hrst letter to the Corinthians and a number ol allu-
sions both to Hebrews and to )ames. ` 1he three moral teachers l singled out as
representing Kel igiousness i n the New 1estament are also chosen by Clem-
ent to help express his own moral convictions. Second, Clement reveals an ac-
quaintance with Creco-Koman and )ewish) moral exhortation in the way he
makes constant use ol the rhetorical topos on envy (peri phthonou) as he seeks
to restore harmony among his readers. While such homonoia "harmony")
within a community has an obvious political di mensioncompare the m-
tions ol Oio ol lrusa to Nicea and Nicomediaand can be thought ol in gen-
eral as a "stabi lizing ol the world," the Corinthian church represents only a very
small portion ol "world," and the moral dimension is dominant. lndeed, much
ol his engagement with scripture is lor the purpose ol proposing negative and
positive examples on the topic ol envy
1
9
6 Moral Transformation in Second- and Third-Century Christianit
lt is characteristic ol Kel igiousness to grant some recognition to the bene-
hts that come lrom the divine dynamis outside ol moral agency, and we hnd
such acknowledgement in 1 Clement. Humans are created in the image ol Cod
(33. 4), but in particular they have been lavored by the work ol Christ. 1hey
have been given Christ`s provision (2. 1) and Christ`s power (16. 1). Christ`s blood
was poured out lor their salvation (7.4), and salvation was accompl ished by
Christ the great high priest (36. 1-6). 1he Holy Spirit has been poured out on
them abundantly (2. 2). As a result, they have been called lrom darkness to l ight
(59.2) and have been given the power or authority. exousia) ol sovereignty (basil
eia; 61. 1). 1hey have received a share i n many great and glorious deeds (19. 2)
and have become partakers (metochoi) in great and glorious promises (34.7).
Lternal l i le is the hrst but only one ol the "blessed and wonderlul gihs ol Cod"
(dor tou theou; 35. 1), as "all glory and enlargement (pasa doxa kai platysmos)
were given" to them (p).
Oistinctively characteristic ol Kel igiousness , however, is a concentration on
moral behavior as the true measure ol religious piety. Irom the start ol his com-
position, Clement speaks in the same breath ol "prool ol virtue" and "steadlast-
ness ol laith" as a demonstration ol the Corinthians` "character" (ethos; 1. 2). ln the
manner ol Creco-Koman moralists, Clement speaks ol his readers` ehorts as an
"athletic contest" (agon; 2. 3; 7.1) to express a righteousness that consists in virtu-
ous deeds (2. 4-7; 33. 1, 8). Such moral behavior articulates the "laith which is in
Christ" (22. 1-8), by obeying the words with which Christ commanded certain
moral behaviors (2. 1; 13. 3; 46.7-8). bedience is not mechanical but a matter ol
conscience (syneidesis; 34.7; 41. 1) and a demonstration ol love toward Christ
(49. 1). 1his is the sort ol righteousness that laul taught in all the world (5.7).
1hose caught up in a l i le ol vice, then, must repent (1 Clement, 7.4-5) by
turning lrom loul deeds (28. 1) and must gai n lorgiveness and seek righteousness
(48). Sanctihcation is a translormation ol the soul (29. 1) that hnds expression i n
deeds ol holiness (30. 1). Moral virtue is the "sacrihce ol praise" to Cod ( 35. 5-12)
j ust as a humble spirit is a "sacrihce ol praise" (52. 3): note that cultic language
is used lor moral dispositions. Clement makes clear that hi s readers` characters
should be shaped by the character ol Christ himsell, above all i n his manner ol
sullering righteously (16. 1; 17). 1he imitation ol Christ is not simply a matter ol
sullering martyrdom, although leter and laul stand as model

ol enduring in
the manner ol Christ ( 5. 1-7). Kather, the imitation ol Christ is, i n all circum-
stances, to l ive with the same dispositions ol meekness and humility that Christ
displayed in his human character. As Clement begins to sum up his teaching
by li sting the moral qualities he has tried to inculcate among his Corinthians
readers (62.2-3), he states that he has written on things that beht their rel igion
Moral Transformation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity 1
97
(threskeia), things that are "most helplul" (ophelimotaton) lor a "virtuous lile"
(enareton bion) lor those who wish to guide their steps in piety (eusebos) and righ-
teousness (dikaios; z. i). Kel igion and moral behavior are mutually dehning.
1he so-called Second Letter of Clement has no epistolary character and is
not, in the view ol most scholars, written by the same author as 1 Clement. lt is,
instead, an early Christian homily lrom the second century, whose entire locus
is the moral l i le ol its hearers. 1he author begins by celebrating the benehts
won by "the great suherings )esus Christ endured lor our sake" (2 Clement, i. z).
elore their acceptance ol Christ, the author`s i ntended audience had been ig-
norant worshipers ol idols and their l i le was like death i. ). 1hey were in dark-
ness. ut through Christ, they have been called "son," and they have been
given l i ght i. q), they have recovered their sight and have been saved. "He
called us when we were not, and it was his will that out ol nothing we should
come i nto being" i. ~y). 1hey should, then, rejoice in such gilts z. i), seeing
that they were saved through mercy . i). ut lrom the start as well , the author
poses the question ol appropriate response. "What return, then, shall we make
to hi m, or what lruit shall we oller worthy ol that which he has given us" i. ),
and "What praise, then. r what reward shall we give hi m in return lor what
we have received" i. )
1he author says explicitly that he is writing an exhortation (enteuxis) to stir his
readers to repentance and salvation (2 Clement, i. i), which means turning lrom
unrighteousness to righteousness (apo tes adikias eis ten dikaiosynen; i. z, see
also i. z). Such repentance means ceasing to be a lriend to this world and be-
coming a lriend ol the world to come .z~) by "doing the will ol Christ" .y)
and "doing the will ol the Iather who called us" io. i), which means to "lollow
aher virtue, but to| give up vice as the lorerunner ol our sins, and let us hee
lrom ungodliness lest evil overtake us" io. i). ln words that echo Creco-Koman
moral discourse, the author declares, "we are contending as athletes [athloumen]
and are being trained [gymnazometha] in the contest ol the l iving Cod so that
we may gain the crown [stephanothomen] in that which is to come" zo.z). Ior
this composition, the only adequate response to the gilts given by Christ is a li le
ol virtue. "How do we conless him y doing what he says, and not disregarding
his commandments, and honoring hi m not only with our lips but `with all our
heart and all our mind` " . q). 1he author assures his readers, "ll then we do
righ|eousness belore Cod we shall enter into his kingdom and shall receive his
promises" ii.y). Although not written by the same author, 1 Clement and 2 Clem
ent share the same way ol being Christian. the gilts ol Cod in Christ hnd their
appropriate expression through the moral translormation ol those who have re-
ceived his power.
i5 Moral Transformation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
We met lolycarp ol Smyrna in the previous chapter as the recipient ol a let-
ter ol the martyr lgnatius ol Antioch and as the subject ol an encomiastic ac-
count ol hi s martyrdom in 156. His own Letter to the Philippianswhich he
wrote to accompany a copy ol lgnatius`s letters requested by that churchbears
only a trace ol the martyr piety that sullused the letters ol his episcopal col-
league see lol. Phil. 1. 1; 8. 2) but lor the most part shares the rel igious outlook
ol i and 2 Clement.
9
lolycarp, too, is a di sciple ol laul , making expl icit reler-
ence to the letters laul wrote to them, "lrom the study ol which you will be
able to build yourselves up into the laith given you" lol. Phil. 30 2), and j oining
to a hnal set ol moral exhortations the phrase "as laul teaches" (11. 2}. 1 O Hi s com-
position is, in lact, a pastiche ol allusions lrom laul , the Iirst Letter ol leter,
and the sayings ol )esus . ' '
lolycarp spends little space on participation i n benehts. He rejoices with his
readers in their laith that "bears lruit unto the Lord )esus," who sullered death lor
them and was raised up by Cod lol . Phil. 1. 2-3; 2. 1). 1hey will, lolycarp says,
share in his resurrection "il we do his will, and walk in his commandments, and
love the things he loved," which means "relraining lrom all unrighteousness"
(2.2). He writes, therelore, "concerning righteousness" (peri tes dikaiosynes; 3. 1),
and his composition stays steadily on that topic. His instructions on order in the
household or household church (4.2-3; 5.3; 6. 1) are not, as we have seen in Creco-
Koman moralists, inconsistent with this moral locus. lolycarp rej ects lalse teach-
ings concerning the incarnation, the cross, and the resurrection, ascribing them
to the inhuence ol Satan (7.1) and "the loolishness ol the crowd" (7.2).
He encourages his readers to keep their "pledge ol righteousness" lol. Phil.
8. 1) by imitating the manner ol Christ`s sulleringwithout sin, without guile-
"lor this is the example which he gave us i n hi msell" (8. 2). Such endurance i n
laith is "obeying the word ol righteousness" in the manner ol lgnatius and hi s
companions and in the manner ol laul and the other apostles (9. 1): all these
examples ran not in vain but in "laith and righteousness" (9.2). Keaders should,
in their l ives, "lollow the example ol the Lord, hrm and unchangeable i n laith,
loving the brotherhood, allectionate to one another, joined together in the truth,
lorestalling one another in the gentleness ol the Lord, despising no man" (1O.1).
SYMBLlC IlCUKL. )US1lN MAK1K
A new and critical stage ol development in this way ol being Christian oc-
curs with )ustin, whose martyrdom in 165 l mentioned in the previous chap-
ter. ' )usti n, who taught in Kome during the reign ol Antoninus lius (138-161),
deliberately and consistently casts hi msell as a philosopher and Christianity as
Moral Transfonnation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity 1
99
a lorm ol philosophy. His sell-portrayal is displayed most lully i n The Dialogue
with Trypho. 1 3 ecause ol the manner ol hi s dress, he is greeted as a philosopher
in Lphesus by the )ewish teacher 1rypho, who had hed the war in lalestine
(Dial, 1) . )ustin tells 1rypho that the practice ol philosophy i s necessary lor ev-
ery man ), that it is the most honorable possession ol humans, and that its
business is inquiry into Cod (1). Using a rhetorical ploy we recognize lrom else-
where e. g. , lhilostratus` Life of Apollonius), 1 4 )ustin describes his own philo-
sophical quest belore becoming a Christian. he tried Stoicism, Aristotel ianism,
and lythagoreanism in turn, hnding i n each something less than satislying.
Iinally, he lound i n llatonism the best expression ol Creek phi losophy, "and
l expected lorthwith to look upon Cod, lor this is the end ol llato`s philosophy"
(2; see also Apology, 2. 12).
An encounter with an old man, however, leads )ustin to understand the truths
that were unknown to llato and others (Dial, ), namely, that the soul is not by
nature immortal but is so only by Cod`s power q) and that the truest knowl-
edge is to be derived lrom the prophetic writings i n scripture y). He becomes a
Christian. "l lound this philosophy alone to be sale and prohtable. 1hus and lor
this reason l am a philosopher. Moreover l would wish that all, making a resolu-
tion simi|ar to my own, do not keep themselves away lrom the words ol the
savior" S). )ustin`s is truly the conversion lrom one philosophy to another. Chris-
tianity is seen as superior because ol its teaching on Cod and because it is based
not on "empty lables, or words without any loundation, but words hlled with the
Spirit ol Cod, and big with power, and hourishing with grace" ).
1he remaining chapters ol the Dialogue are devoted to establ ishing against
)udaism a "philosophy" that can claim priority in possession ol the prophets and
the true teaching about Codthe proper way ol reading the ancient prophe-
cies, that is, with relerence to )esus. Although prophecy is the li nchpin ol )us-
tin`s argument, it should be stressed that he pays only passing recognition to the
signs and wonders perlormed by the ancient and more recent prophets, noting
that "certain wonderlul deeds" have also been perlormed by lalse prophets to
astonish people and "glorily the spirits and demons ol error" y). lt is not proph-
ecy as a present di splay ol the power and presence ol Cod`s spirit that i s,
prophecy as a rel igious practice withi n Kel igiousness Athat interests )ustin
but the written prophecies ol the past that serve as textual pointers to the claims
being made by and lor )esus.
1hat )ustin understands Christianity to be a lorm ol philosophy is made
abundantly clear in the two extant works known as his hrst and second apologies.
ln the hrst, he addresses the imperial court as one that has philosophers among
it. "You are called philosophers and pious" (Apology, 1. 1; 1. 2). He asks ol the
200 Moral Transfonnation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
emperor that Christians be judged in the manner that other philosophers are.
many wear the garb and claim the title, but it is their works that determine
whether they are true or lalse philosophers i. q, i.y). ln the same way, Christians
should be j udged by their deeds and not merely their prolession i. S). )ustin then
opposes the philosophical rel igion ol the Christians to the pagan cults. 1he wor-
ship ol idols bears with it a lalse conception ol Cod and leads to immoral ity
among those who practice it i. ). ut Cod is to be served rationally and with a
virtuous l i le. "He accepts only those who imitate the excellencies which reside
in Him, temperance and j ustice, and philanthropy, and as many virtues as are
peculiar to a Cod who is called by no proper name" i. io).
Christians, he argues, are those who worship Cod as Cod deserves and de-
sires. 1he persecution ol Christians arises lrom the calumnies ol demons and
as pursued by the emperor almost appears to arise lrom "the lear lest all men
become righteous and you no longer have any to punish" (Apology, i . iz). ut
Christ "our teacher", i. iz, i. i) himsell taught humans to be righteous and l ive
according to the strictest norms ol moral ity. "riel and concise utterances lell
lrom hi m, lor he was no sophist, but hi s word was the power ol Cod" i. iq) . ' `
)ustin provides a series ol )esus` sayings, al l ol which serve to show that he was a
teacher ol righteousness rather than immorality i. iiy). ' And he declares that
conversion to Christianity is lundamentally a moral conversion lrom wicked-
ness to virtue, they seek to "l ive conlormably to the good precepts ol Christ, to
the end that they may become partakers with us ol the same joylul hope ol a
reward lrom Cod the ruler ol all" i. iq, see also i. zSz). 1he issue, then, is
whether people claiming to be Christians actually l ive in this manner. 1hose
who act i mmorally are, by this measure, not truly Christian.
ll true rel igion is a matter ol rational worship and moral li le, then )ustin must
logically acknowledge that such philosophical rel igion was possible even belore
the teaching ol Christ, and he does. "We have been taught that Christ is the
hrst-born ol Cod, and we have declared above that he is the Word ol whom ev-
ery race ol men were partakers, and those who l ived reasonably were Christians
even though they have been thought atheists, as, among the Creeks, Socrates and
Heracl itus and men li ke them, and among the barbarians, Abraham and Anan-
ias and Azarias and Misael, and Llias, and many others" (Apology, i. q) . ' '
ut this word is expressed most lully among Christians, ' whol ive morally
according to the words ol )esus, the Word hi msell, and whose worship, as )ustin
shows i n his description ol it (Apology, i. i, i. ~y), is behtting a Cod who
desires rational worship and also shapes Christian worshipers in moral behav-
ior. they "oller hearty prayers in common lor ourselves and lor the baptized
person, and lor all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now
that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be lound good citizens and
keepers ol the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting
salvation" i. ).
l noted above )ustin`s cautious attitude toward wonder-working. both true
and lalse prophets perlormed astonishing deeds (Apology, i.y) . '' 1he same anxi-
ety is revealed i n his acknowledgement that the wonders worked by Christ
could be regarded as those ol a magician i. o). He avoids this conclusion by
stressing the lact that the wonders )esus perlormed were not displays meant to
deceive but gestures ol help to those i n need, and that precisely the deeds he
perlormed had been loretold ol the Christ by the ancient prophecies i. qS). ut
his attitude toward miracle-working in the present is clear. he tends to ascribe
such thaumaturgy as the work ol demons operative in rivals to the Christian
message. 1hus, demons sponsor the magic perlormed by Simon and Menander
and Marcion i.z, see also i . ).
1he apologists who were )ustin`s successors and contemporaries also tended,
il with less emphasis, to understand Christianity in philosophical terms. ln his
Address to the Greeks, 1atian iioiyz) lollows the pattern ol hi s teacher )ustin,
but with a much less irenic spirit. " He is a convert to Christianity i) and claims
hrsthand knowledge ol Creek religion and philosophy, he had visited many
lands, studied rhetoric, and even studied the statues ol the gods at Kome belore
he "embraced our barbarian philosophy" ). Having had such great experi-
ence and having been driven by the desire "to discover the truth," he converted
to Christianity because ol the age and worth ol the "barbaric writings" ol scrip-
ture z). Now being instructed in these things, he wishes to "put away my lor-
mer errors and the lollies ol childhood" o).
More than that, he goes on the attack in a manner lar more vigorous and
intense than we hnd in )ustin. He claims that Creek culture as a whole is de-
rivative (Address, i). He attacks the philosophers ol the Creek tradition expl ic-
itly and by name, concentrating on two points. the ways in which the teaching
in various sects is mutually contradictory , z) and the ways in which philoso-
phers di splayed vice rather than virtue i n their personal behavior z). Creek
rel igion, i n turn, is entirely under the inhuence ol demons S, zi~zq) who
seduce people by their display ol poweras in heal ings iiS)and who lead
people i nto depravity i).
Christianity, i n contrast, is characterized in terms ol its sane teaching con-
cerning Cod, human lreedom, and luture immortality lor the soul that receives
Cod`s spirit (Address, q~y, iii, i). ecause Christianity is rooted in scripture,
and Moses is demonstrably prior to Creek culture ~qi), Christians can make
the clai m that their philosophy is older than that ol the Creeks i). ddly,
202 Morl Transformation in Seeond- and Third-Century Christianity
although 1atian shares )ustin`s notion ol the logos, he does not recognize its
presence among the righteous ol the Centiles as )ustin did. Lven odder, he
never once mentions )esus in his entire di scourse. As lor wonder-working, 1a-
tian sees it as a leature only ol demonic possession rather than an aspect ol the
Christian religion.
We also hnd no mention ol )esus` mi racles in the apologetic work To Autoly
eus, by 1heophilus ol Antioch ca. iS) . ' lndeed, we hnd agai n no explicit
mention ol )esus. lnstead, 1heophilus introduces sayings with the phrase "the
voice ol the Cospel " , q). 1he concentration ol this apologist is entirely
on teaching and behavior, the same locus we hnd in ancient moral philoso-
phy. 1heophilus also is a convert who i s drawn to Christianity by the truth ol
the ancient prophecies lound i n scripture i. iq) . ln contrast to the wild inac-
curacies to be lound in Creek myths, the prophecies can be shown to be ac-
curate z). And because Christianity is i n ehect the realization ol those
scriptural prophecies, it can claim a greater antiquity and truth than anything
i n Creek culture . z).
A substantial amount ol his apology is given to the dismissal ol Creek religion
lollowing the path ol )ustin and 1atian see Autolyeus, i. io, z. S, .yS). And
l ike 1atian, 1heophilus also attacks the contradictions (B) and lalse doctrines
. S) ol the philosophers who make lalse charges against the Christians . q).
1heophilus` positive presentation ol Christianity, in turn, locuses less on doctrine
than on morals, with his discussion ol each moral quality drawing on scriptural
support. 1hus, he treats in turn Cod and his law . ), hospitality to strangers
o), repentance i), and righteousness z)all ol these receiving support
exclusively lrom ld 1estament texts. ln his treatment ol chastity . i), he draws
lrom both ld and New 1estament passages, and in discussing the demand to
love enemies q), 1heophilus depends completely on the New 1estament.
Athenagoras` Embassy iyy) greets the co-emperors Com modus and Marcus
Aurelius as "philosophers" and is closer i n spirit to )ustin than to 1ati an, be-
cause ol the way the author draws the philosophers to the side ol Christians
against pagan rel igion. He begins by stating that the persecution ol Christians
is unjust iz) because the charges ol atheism, cannibalism, and incest made
against them are lalse ). Athenagoras shows hrst that Christians are not athe-
ists, because their teaching on the one Cod, creator ol the universe, i s more
reasonable than q), and superior to y), polytheism, even when understood in
terms ol Iather, Son, and Holy Spirit io). 1his is above all because Christians
maintai n that Cod i s distinct lrom matter while at the same time in control ol
creation ii). 1he Christian understanding ol Cod is supported by the scrip-
3
tures (9), whereas even the Creek poets and philosophers seek one Cod ( 5-6) in
prelerence to the absurdities ol the pagan cults (8, 14).
Athenagoras calls on these Creek poets and philosophers as allies i n charac-
terizing the pagan gods as recent and created by humans (Embassy, 17-19), us-
ing a lorm ol Luhemerism to declare that the gods are simply humans elevated
to a higher status (28-30). y using allegorical interpretation to save the reputa-
tion ol the gods (22-23), Creek philosophers bear witness to the scandalous
character ol their representation in myths and their complete lack ol moral
character (20-21). Athenagoras repeats the charge that the healings perlormed
at pagan shrines are the work ol demons seeking to lead humans astray (26-27).
Creek philosophers and poets are not entirely without blame, however, lor they
deny the work ol divine providence i n the world (25).
ln response to the pagan charges ol Christian immoral ity, Athenagoras ap-
peals to the Cospels, drawing extensively on the words ol )esus as lound in
Matthew`s Sermon on the Mount (Embassy, 11) and Luke`s Sermon on the
llai n (12). )esus` teaching lorbids immoral behavior and calls lor the highest
possible standard ol love. Alter connecting the immoral ity ol pagans to the im-
moral ity ol their gods, Athenagoras takes pains to contrast Christian moral ity to
pagan (34) on two specihc points that respond implicitly to the charges ol incest
and cannibalism. Christians avoid adultery (32) and practice chastity (33), and
they eschew all lorms ol cruelty and violence toward others (35). Iinally, the
teaching on the bodily resurrection serves as powerlul motivation to Christian
moral ity, lor the consideration ol luture punishment as well as luture reward
stimulates Christians to please the judge ol all (36). Keaders ol Athenagoras are
once more struck by the absence ol specihc relerence to )esus or to the benehts
he brought either through his healings or through his death and resurrection.
Christianity is a set ol doctrines and a way ol li le based on those doctrines. 1he
realm ol wondersincluding healingsis the realm ol demonic activity.
1he question might be asked whether putting on the clothing ol the philos-
opher was a matter, lor these apologists, simply ol adopting a protective color-
ation, rather than the expression ol a mode ol rel igiosity. Oid Christians pose as
philosophers in order to be better accepted in the Creco-Koman world ll we
had only the second- and third-century apologetic l iterature, we could not an-
swer the question dehnitively. lt must be remembered, however, that portraying
onesellor one`s movementin philosophical terms was not necessarily a sale
tactic. As we have seen, philosophers were subject to exile and even execution,
especially when their doctrines were perceived by imperial powers as subver-
sive ol the state. ` 1he writings ol two lurther hgures ol the second and third
20
4
Moral Transformation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
centuries demonstrate, moreover, that thinking ol Christianity in philosophical
terms was more than a matter ol external sell-presentation and that philosophy
pervaded their understanding ol Christian existence lrom within as well .
CHKl S1lANl1Y AS lHlLSlHY. CLLMLN1 I ALLXANOKlA
We know l ittle about the li le ol 1itus Ilavius Clemens ca. io~zi) apart
lrom the lact that he was born ol pagan parents, traveled widely aher his con-
version to Christianity, was well educated i n rhetoric and philosophy, and be-
came the student and then successor ol lantaenus, a Christian who had been
a Stoic philosopher, as head ol the catechetical school in Alexandria around
zoo. ' His extant writings support his reputation lor wide learning both i n Hel-
lenistic culture and i n )ewish and Christian writingsbeyond provid|ng re-
markably detailed reports concerning the Mysteries, culling philosophical and
Cnostic opinions, and adducing lengthy citations lrom scripture, he makes ex-
plicit use ol such writers as lhilo ol Alexandria and Clement ol Kome. `
1he architecture ol Clement`s three major extant works reveals something ol
his cultural conhdence and i ntellectual ambition. ln the Prtreptikos "exhor-
tation") addressed to the Centiles, he does not delend Christianity but exhorts
Creeks and Komans to join the movement and participate in |ts benehts. ln the
Paidagogos "instructor/teacher"), he sketches the lramework lor Christian
moral practice. Hi s third volume was apparently intended to be a systematic
lusion ol philosophy and laith, showing how the true "Cnostic"the Christian
who had been trained morally and was capable ol higher learningmight em-
brace the world`s culture. Clement`s ambition here exceeded his ability. the
Strmata "carpets"/"miscellanies") remains a collection ol discrete discussions
rather than a systematic argument. Some attention to each ol these works
shows why Clement represents a stage i n the development ol Kel igiousness
withi n Christianity beyond )ustin and the other apologists.
ln the Prtreptikos, Clement addresses the Centiles with the supreme conh-
dence ol having, in the Christian rel igion, the best and lul lest real|zation ol
Creek philosophy. 1he choice ol genre is itsell reveal ing, lor the protreptic
d|scourse (logos protreptikos) was widely used among philosophers to encourage
dedication to the li le ol virtue. ' With remarkable panache, he ollers a share in
its benehts to those among the nations who are still in thrall to the rel igious
rites sponsored by demons and to those whose glimpses ol truth i n poetry and
philosophy have prepared them lor a lull embrace ol the deepest philosophical
truth. 1he book opens and closes with expl icit calls to conversion i and io~ii).
1he chapters between cover much the same ground as we have seen i n the
apologists. an extensive attack on the pagan Mysteries that ascribes their power
to demons and makes the point that the morals ol the gods are rehected in the
morals ol their worshippers zq), a recitation ol philosophers on the nature ol
Cod, recognizing the superiority ol llato in this regard, and acknowledging
that some teachings among Centiles were also inspired by Cod ), an ex-
amination ol the ways in which poets also approached some ol the truth about
Cod y), and hnally, a case made that the greatest truthand the surest incen-
tive to pietyis lound in the prophetic scriptures S).
1he opening and closing ol the book the calls to conversion) are the most
original to Clement and most helplul i n locating his rel igious sensibil ity. He
l ists, lor example, the wonders worked by "the celestial Word," as "to open the
eyes ol the blind and unstop the ears ol the deal, and to lead the lame or the
erring to righteousness" but what appear at hrst to be material healings turn
out to be aspects ol moral translormation. He continues, "to put a stop to cor-
ruption, to conquer death, to reconcile disobedient children to their lather."
Clement then states, "You have, then, Cod`s promise, you have his love. be-
come partakers ol his grace. " 1he reason why Christians enj oy the benehts ol
the best philosophy i s that the Word that pervaded all things has become hu-
man. "lnasmuch as the Word was lrom the hrst, he was and is the divine source
ol all things, but inasmuch as he has now assumed the name Christ . . . this
Word, then, the Christ, the cause ol both our being at hrst lor he was i n Cod)
and now our well being, the very Word has now appeared as man . . . the au-
thor ol all blessings to us. by whom we, being taught to l ive well , are sent on our
way to l i le eternal " (Protreptikos, 1) .
1he Word who was Christ "appeared as our teacher" and "taught us to l ive
well when he appeared as our 1eacher." Using a common trope ol the philoso-
phers, Clement compares Christ the teacher to a physician who treats each
moral di sease appropriately. 1hrough Christ, "Cod is ceaselessly exhorting us
to virtue," and genuine conversion is moral translormation. "ll thou desirest
truly to see Cod, take to thysell means ol purihcation worthy ol Him, not leaves
ol laurel hllets interwoven with wool and purple, but wreathing thy brows with
righteousness, and encircl ing them with the leaves ol temperance, set thysell
earnestly to hnd Christ" (Prtreptikos, 1).
eginning in chapter 9, Clement begins his second exhortation to conver-
sion. He states that salvation is not possible except through laith in )esus. And
what does he mean by salvation "Codliness, that makes a man as lar as can be
l ike Cod, designates Cod as our suitable teacher, who alone can worthily as-
similate man to Cod. " Clement understands salvation in terms ol a righteous
way ol l i le. "Let us haste to salvation, to regeneration . . . and let us, by being
206 Moral Transfonation in Second- and Third-Centur Christianit
made good, conlormably lollow alter union, seeking aher the good Monad" as
instructed by "the choir-leader and teacher, the Word, reaching and resting in
the same truth, and crying Abba, Iather" (Prtreptikos, ). 1o have lellowship
with Cod, it is necessary to change morally. "Let us therelore repent, and pass
lrom ignorance to knowledge, lrom loolishness to wisdom, lrom l icentiousness
to sell-restraint, lrom unrighteousness to righteousness, lrom godlessness to
Cod" (10).
lt is hi s intense locus on )esusso much more prominent than in earlier
apologiststhat makes Clement`s appeal so distinctive. ln this passage, he speaks
ol the benehts won by )esus lor humans. "Ior with a celerity unsurpassed and a
benevolence to which we have ready access, the divine power, casting its radi-
ance upon the earth, hath hlled the universe with the seed ol salvation . . . . So
great a work was accompl ished i n so briel a space by the Lord, who though de-
spised as to appearance, was in reality adored, the expiator ol sin, the Savior, the
clement, the divine Word, He that is most truly manilest deity, He that is made
equal to the Lord ol the universe, because He was His Son, and the Word was in
Cod . . . assuming the character ol man, and lashioning himsell in hesh, he en-
acted the drama ol human salvation" (Protreptikos, 10). 1oward the end ol his
exhortation, Clement declares, "1his )esus, who is eternal , the one great High
lriest ol the ne Cod and ol Hi s Iather, prays lor and exhorts men" 12). Still,
Clement understands the salvation brought by Christ to be the power ol trans-
lormation in the moral sphere. He declares, "l urge you to be saved. 1his Christ
desires. ln one word, he lreely bestows li le on you. And who is He riehy learn.
1he Word ol truth, the Word ol incorruption, that regenerates man by bringing
him back to the truththe goad that urges to salvationHe who expels destruc-
tion and pursues deathHe who builds up the temple ol Cod in men. Cleanse
the temple, and pleasures and amusements abandon to the winds and the hre as
a lading hower, but wisely cultivate the lruits ol sell-command, and present thy-
sell to Cod as an ollering ol hrst-lruits, that there may be not the work alone, but
also the grace ol Cod, and both are requisite, that the lriend ol Christ may be
rendered worthy ol the kingdom, and counted worthy ol the kingdom" (11).
Clement`s philosophical understanding ol the Christian li le is obvious as
well in hi s second composition, Paidagogos "1he lnstructor"), which is de-
voted to the basic practices ol those who have lollowed the Word`s exhcrtation
and have been baptized. ook 1 ol Paidagogos might be called theoretical, in
that it takes up the identity, nature, role, and character ol the one instructing
the Word) as well as the identity and disposition ol those being i nstructed new
Christians). ook 2 then takes up in turn all the aspects ol li le that must be
cultivated philosophically in accordance with the Word. eating and drinking
(2. 1-2), behavior at leasts (2, 3-4), modes ol speech (2. 5-6), wealth (2.7. 11-12),
sleep (2. 9), and sex (2. 10). Ior each topic, Clement adduces both the teaching ol
scripture, the opinions ol the philosophers, and the sayings ol poets. y so
weaving hi s authorities together, he creates a single culture drawn lrom the
best i n )udaism and Hellenism. ln ook 3, Clement enters into even greater
detail concerning the minutest aspects ol Christian l i le in a pagan city, i nclud-
ing issues ol deportment, attendance and behavior at the publ ic baths, personal
adornment, lrugal ity, attendance at the games, and custody ol the eyes. 1he
ook concludes with the lovely "Hymn to Christ the Savior" and the hymn "1o
the Paidagogos" (3. 12). ln a manner lar more systematic and detailed than that
ol Clement ol Kome and lolycarp, who wrote almost a century earlier, Clem-
ent ol Alexandria shapes a positive vision ol how Christians might carry out
their commitment to Christ i n a manner that i s recognizable to them and to
outsiders al ike as truly philosophical.
1he Stromata is a vast compendium ol religious learning di rected to Chris-
tians whom Clement considers to have progressed through the teachi ng ol the
lnstructor to a hrmly lormed philosophical li le. Now, he turns to the shaping
ol a philosophical mind lor those able to engage it. "ut as we say that a man
can be a believer without learning, so also we assert that it is impossible lor a
man without learning to comprehend the things that are declared in the laith"
(Strmata, 1. 6). Clement is aware ol and rejects "lalsely-called" Cnostics who
distort the laith (30 1-18; 4. 4). 2
9
ut he remains committed to cultivating an au-
thentic Christian gnosis that is philosophical in character, the perlect Christian
is not one who abandons the lrame ol laith and the practice ol virtue but one
who becomes an authentic Cnostic through a deeper apprehension ol laith and
virtue through philosophical learning see 4. 21-23).
His comments at the start ol the Stromata are most uselul lor this analysis.
Clement recognizes the di lhculty ol sorting out what i n Creek philosophy is
helplul to the laith and what is not. l i ke nuts, he says, not all ol Creek philoso-
phy is edible (1. 1). Continuing the metaphor, he says a bit later, "1he Stromata
will contai n the truth mixed up i n the dogmas ol philosophy, or rather covered
over and hidden, as the edible part ol the nut in the shel l " (1 . 1). ne thing that
the Christian Cnostic must do is avoid the traditional enemy ol philosophy,
namely, sophistry (1. 3; 1. 4; 1 . 8) : "ur much-knowing Cnostic can disti nguish
sophistry lrom philosophy, the art ol decoration lrom gymnastics, cookery lrom
physics, and rhetoric lrom dialectics, and the other sects which are according
to the barbarian philosophy, lrom the truth itsell" (1. 8). Stil l , Clement argues
that all sects ol philosophy contain some element ol truth (1. 13). Oiscernment
requi res a sulhcient knowledge ol phi losophy to perceive what is uselul and
208 Moral Transformation in Second- and Third-Century Christianit
what is not. ut because Clement perceives that philosophy i s "in a sense a
work ol divine providence," the task ol di scernment must be undertaken.
He argues, hrst, that "even il philosophy were useless, il the demonstration ol
its uselessness does good, it is yet uselul", l ikewise, it sharpens the perception ol
what is true when doctrines are compared (Strmata, i. z). Learning what is good
in philosophy can help lead one to a li le ol virtue i.y) and to an appreciation ol
acting well over speaking well i. io). lndeed, among the Creeks, "belore the ad-
vent ol the Lord, philosophy was necessary to the Creeks lor righteousness, and
now it becomes conducive to piety, being a kind ol preparatory training to those
who attain to laith through demonstration . . . . lhilosophy, therelore, was a prepa-
ration, paving the way lor him who is perlected in Christ" i. ). 1his historical
role ol preparation can work also within the laith to enable the progress ol the
Christian. ")ust as the encycl ical branches ol study contribute to philosophy,
which is their mistress, so also philosophy itsell cooperates lor the acquisition ol
wisdom. Ior philosophy is the study ol wisdom, and wisdom is the knowledge ol
things human and divine, and their causes" i. ). More important lor bel ievers,
philosophy is necessary il the scripture is lully to be understood and appreciated
i. ). And when scripture is read and lully appreciated, then one comes to see
not only how Creek wisdom derived lrom the barbarian but how the wisdom ol
scripture is superior to that ol even the greatest ol Creek philosophers i. ill.).
Clement`s enthusiastic yet discriminating embrace ol Creek philosophy lays
the groundwork lor a distinctively Christian culture, i n which Cod`s revelation
and human reason are seen as mutually inlorming, mutually enriching.
1HL CHKl S1lAN lHlLSlHLK. KlCLN I ALLXNOKlA
We met rigen i n the previous chapter through his Exhortation to Martyr
dom, which expresses many ol the convictions l have associated with Kel i gious-
ness A. `" ut just as we saw i n the study ol Creco-Koman rel igion how a hgure
li ke llutarch could include in hi msell elements ol both Kel igiousness and O,
so we hnd in rigen the almost perlect expression ol Kel igiousness within
Christianity. Yes, he encourages others to martyrdom, just as he hi msell sought
it. And he celebrates the power ol Christ demonstrated in such witness and the
participation in the benehts to which it leads. ut rigen`s main interesf is al-
ways in Christianity as moral translormation. lt is impossible in a short discus-
sion to do justice to one ol the greatest hgures in Christian intellectual
historyhe was at once the hrst great scripture scholar and hrst great systematic
thcologian as well as one ol the last and greatest ol apologists`' and my treat-
ment ol rigen necessarily locuses on the way in which he exempl ihes Christi-
Moral Trnsformation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity 20
9
anity as moral translormation, continuing and making even more pervasive the
program started by )ustin and brought to such an impressive stage ol develop-
ment by Clement.`
Unl ike Clement and earlier apologists, rigen was born into a Christian
lamily. His lather, Leonides, was martyred under Severus in zoz. rigen worked
in a thoroughly pluralistic setting. He hrst taught in the catechetical school ol
Alexandria, taking over lrom Clement, and Alexandria`s great l ibrary enabled a
substantial tradition ol learning in all the branches ol philosophy. `` ne philos-
opher, known to us only as Celsus, had written, some seven years belore ri-
gen`s birth, a sustained attack on Christianity. `' 1he )ewish population in
Alexandria was large and intellectually inhuential. ln addition to producing the
Septuagint circa zo CL, Alexandrian )ews had produced the prol ihc lhilo as
well as other apologetic writings. `` Christians in Alexandria were also lamil iar
with the heretical teachers Marcion, Valentinus, and Heracleon, who hour-
ished some years belore rigen`s birth. `
Not surprisingly, we hnd rigen casting Christianity as a philosophy most
expl icitly and emphatically in his apologetic rebuttal ol the philosopher Celsus,
written circa zq. 1he lact that a Creco-Koman philosopher ol the late second
century took Christianity with sulhcient intellectual seriousness to devote an
entire work to its delamation is itsell an indication ol the rel i gion`s greater visi-
bil ity and its sell-presentation as a lorm ol philosophy. 1he issue in rigen`s
Contra Celsum is twolold. Christianity`s right to claim a place withi n Creco-
Koman culture and the legitimacy ol its claim to being the authentic lsrael ol
which scripture spoke. n one side, rigen laces a philosophical challenge in
the lorm ol a somewhat eclectic Lpicureanism (Cels, 1. 8-9)' ut because Cel-
sus has cleverly made use ol )ewish rebuttals ol Christian claims (1. 8), rigen
must also lace a )ewish lront lar more aggressive than that engaged by )ustin a
century earlier. And because in the eyes ol pagans Christianity had become not
one thing but a many-headed monster with rival claims, rigen must constantly
bear i n mi nd that the heretics also have their interpretations ol scripture . q,
. ), so that he must secure what he regards as the orthodox position in re-
sponse to the challenge ol Creek philosophy, )ewish polemic, and rival teach-
ings withi n the Christian movement. Contra Celsum i s dilhcult to read because
ol its length eight large books), because ol its apparent lack ol l inear argument,
and perhaps also because rigen needed to keep adjusting his position while
standing on shilting sands.
rigen lollows the basic l ines ol )ustin`s apologetic strategy.`' Iirst, he argues
that Christians can demonstrate the truth ol their claims through the
straightlorward lulhllment ol prophecy, with the lollowing three relutations. 1)
210 Moral Transformation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
)ewish claims to be the lsrael that receives the promises loretold i n scripture are
lalse because historical events has made their lulhllment impossible (Cels, 2. 8;
2.78); (2) the Cospel narratives show in great detail how the events ol )esus` l i le,
death, and resurrection were loretold by the prophets, whereas those that speak
ol an earthly messianic triumph point to )esus` second coming (1 . 55-56; 2. 29;
4. 1-2);38 and (3) the respective destinies ol the )ews and ol )esus` lollowers lulhll
the prophecies spoken ol by )esus. the destruction ol the temple and the spread
ol the Cospel to all nations (2. 13; 4. 22).
rigen argues that Christianity is the best realization ol what the Creek
world sought in philosophy. Like Clement, rigen is capable ol drawing lrom
the entire range ol Creek l iterature, reli gion, and philosophy, unl ike Clement,
his knowledge ol philosophy appears to be di rect and in depth. `' ln seven suc-
cessive chapters ol Contra Celsum, lor example, he leads the reader through
close analyses ol llato`s Timaeus, Apology, Laws, Phaedrus, and Epistles (6. 9-17).
More important, he consistently presents Christianity as a philosophical school
and thereby claims a place lor it in Hellenistic culture. Christians are, to be sure,
morally superior to the philosophers (Cels, 7.47), but especially as lound in llato,
Creek philosophy provides the best analogy to Christianity (3. 81).
1hus, he compares what he calls the "school ol )esus" (Cels, 7.41) to the schools
ol )ews and Creeks (4. 31) across a range ol specihc points. )esus is l i ke the
lounder ol a philosophical school (1.65), not least in the way he was betrayed and
sullered (2. 12). Christianity has sects or parties (haireses), as do other philo-
sophical schools (2. 27; 5. 61), which generate disputes among Christians i n the
way that disputes are generated among philosophical parties (6. 26).40 Christian-
ity has stages ol initiation into lull membership as do lythagorean lellowships
(3- 51). Like Creek philosophy, Christianity must struggle with lalse philoso-
phers who proless but do not practice (4.27; 4. 30) and thereby di scredit the good
name ol the school itsell Christians, like philosophers lrom other schools, some-
times resist local custom on the basis ol principle ( 5. 35). 1he Christian traditions
concerning the appearances ol )esus among his lollowers can be matched by
those handed on in other schools ( 5. 57). )esus can legitimately be compared to
Socrates (2. 41), but the speech ol )esus in the Cospels is closer to that ol Lpict-
etus than it is to the artistically lashioned dialogues ol llato (6. 2). Christian
teaching i s a lorm ol healing lor the passions in the manner that philosphy
claims to be (3.75), and the goal ol Christianity i s that humans become wise
(3- 45).41 lt is therelore consistent that Christian philosophers lollow the lead ol
Creek and )ewish philosophers l ike lhilo) and read their sacred texts "philo-
sophically" (3. 58; 3.79).42 lerhaps most lasci nating in this long l ist ol compari-
sons is the way rigen uses the analogy to philosophy to counter Celsus` charge
Moral Transformation in Second- and Third-Century Christianit 211
that Christians accept truths on laith without evidence. he responds that all
members ol philosophical schools begin with assumptions that are unproven
and must start with laith i. io).
rigen`s language about philosophy places him squarely withi n the world ol
Creco-Koman morali sts, the popular philosophers ol the Koman Lmpire whose
concern was not with theory but with therapy, whose passion was not lor episte-
mology but lor ethics.'` Ior Christians to "seek to become wise" meant less the
acquisition ol knowledge than the changing ol their di spositions and behavior.
lt meant the healing ol the passions through trai ning. Like llutarch a century
earlier, rigen saw the philosophical l i le i n terms ol a progressive translorma-
tion ol the soul .' Ior rigen, the anagogical reading ol scripture, i n turn, had
less to do with llatonic lorms and more to do with moral conversion. As llu-
tarch sought to save the dignity ol the rel igious myths concerning lsis and siris
by reading them not l iterally but "philosophically" (philosophikos), that is, inter-
preting their meaning to be about human translormation,'` so did rigen read
the scriptures handed down in the church "philosophically"that is, as con-
cerned with the translormation ol the mi nd and the conversion ol morals.
ln the middle ol a highly technical discussion with Oionysius on the nature
ol the relation between the soul and blood, lor example, rigen interrupts the
debate and exhorts the li steners. He quotes Komans iz. i, "l beseech you, there-
lore, be translormed", and adds, "Kesolve to learn that you can be translormed",
he concludes his exhortation to them with these words. "What is it l really
want 1o treat the matter i n a way that heals the souls ol my hearers."' 1his
small moment perlectly captures rigen`s entire motivation and goal lor inter-
preting scripture. As a pre-Augustinian, Hellenistic moralist, rigen was opti-
mistic concerning the human person`s capacity to be relormed by knowledge.
1ranslorming knowledge i s certainly not just inlormation, even about mystical
things. Nor is it, as the Cnostics would have it, a lorm ol sell-real ization. lt is,
rather, coming to know Cod through )esus (Cels, . S) and being translormed
into the mi nd ol Christ, since )esus is "a l iving pattern to men" z. i).
1he reading and study ol scripture, then, is a way ol advancing in such moral
spi ritual) translormation into the image ol Christ. When commenting on the
passage i n Luke`s Cospel that speaks ol the young man )esus growing strong,
being hlled with wisdom, and having the grace ol Cod upon him Luke z. qo),
rigen di rects his listeners li kewise to grow in wisdom and declares, "What is
said about )esus applies to the just. Ior it was not only lor hi msell that )esus
`progressed in wisdom and stature and grace with Cod and men, but also in
each ol those who accept progress in `wisdom and stature and grace, )esus pro-
gresses in `wisdom and stature and grace with Cod and men.` "'' ln his response
212 Moral Transfonnation in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
to Celsus, rigen emphasizes that the healings reported ol )esus in the Cospels
are continuous with the heal ing ol people`s souls i n the present (Cels, 1. 67;
2- 48). 1he good news has the power to translorm l ives (1. 63; 8. 47). lndeed, the
most stunning evidence rigen can oller lor the truth ol Christian claims is
the miracle ol moral translormation i n the pagan world. he points conhdently
to churches throughout the empire hlled with people who have turned lrom
wickedness to the teaching ol )esus and who, on that basis, l ive virtuous l ives
(1. 67; 3.78; 4 4)
1he authors l have surveyed in this chapter share an understanding ol the di-
vine dynamis as active in the translormation ol human moral behavior. ln vari-
ous ways, they recognize the benehts Cod has made available in the death and
resurrection ol )esusthey do not by any means deny the power that drew the
attention ol Kel igiousness A, the power manilest i n mi racles past and present,
or the power that continued to be demonstrated in the witness ol martyrdom.
ut their locus is on the character ol the moral l i le that is enabled by the power
ol the Holy Spirit at work withi n human lreedom.
1he di stinctive rel igious sensibil ity shared by these authors can also be lo-
cated by means ol negation. they certainly do not deny the goodness ol the
created order or material ity as Kel igiousness C does) they are not interested
i n lreeing the soul lrom its bounds, instead, they want the soul to grow i n a
wisdom manilested in righteousness. Neither do they value Christianity lor its
abil ity to stabilize the world as Kel igiousness O does). Although their moral
universe i ncludes appropriate behavior within the household, their gaze goes
no higher, their concern is no wider. ln lact, they pay l ittle attention to a dis-
tinctive politeia ol the Christian community. Like the Creco-Koman moralists
who lorm their rel igious ancestry, they locus above all on the conversion and
moral growth ol the individual.
1he category ol philosophy did not need to be attached to such writers, lor by
the time ol )ustin, they had appropriated the designation lor themselves. When
we get to Clement and rigen, we hnd a completely natural sell-understanding
ol the Christian religion in terms ol Creco-Koman philosophy. 1his way ol think-
ing about Christianity had perhaps unintended consequences. At one level, hg-
ures such as Clement and rigen continued to hnd moral behavior as the goal
ol Christian philosophy. ut since good behavior depended in that world on right
opinion orthodoxy), it was natural lor Clement and rigen also to include doc-
trine as an essential dimension ol Christian philosophy, just as the apologists be-
lore them had identihed the ways in which poets and philosophers occasionally
"taught rightly" about the one Cod.
3
Christian Kel igiousness therelore became not only the location lor piety as
moral endeavor but also the place where "theology"the articulation ol correct
doctrine concerning Codcame to be practiced. ln the luture, the degree ol
conceptual and verbal abil ity required to connect doctrine and moral ity would
make Kel igiousness the natural source lor much ol Christian intellectual li le,
with the accompanying tendency to think in terms ol dehnitions and prescrip-
tions more than in terms ol the experience ol power.
-
TRANSCENDING THE WORLD IN
CHRISTIANITY
ln Creco-Koman rel igion, the hrst two ways ol being reli gious celebrate the
presence ol the divine dynamis in the empirical world and diller only in
emphasisKel igiousness A as in Ael ius Aristides) locuses on participation in
divine benehts and Kel igiousness as in Lpictetus) locuses on moral translot-
mation. 1he third mode ol reli gious sensibil ity seeks to transcend the empirical
world, which it regards negatively as devoid ol the divine dynamis. ln Creco-
Koman rel igion, it lound mature expression in the Hermetic literature.
Kel igiousness C views salvation not in terms ol salety and success in the pres-
ent world nor in terms ol the perlection ol the human person as moral agent.
Kather, salvation is the iberation ol the human spitit lrom its material prison
and its return to the place lrom which it came. Such salvation begins with a
lorm ol "sell-realization" enabled by revelation lrom the divine realm. the spirit
realizes its true identity and that its destiny is to be elsewhereother than in
the entangling grasp ol matter.
l have so lar shown how the hrst two ways ol being religious are lound both in
the New 1estament and in the literature ol the second and third century. 1he
New 1estament ollered scant evidence lor the presence ol Kel igiousness C in
earliest Christianity. ln the second hall ol the second century, in contrast,
there is a sudden abundance ol evidence pointing to a way ol being Christian
that conlorms perlectly to the vision ol the human condition, divine revelation,
and hight lrom the world lound in Creco-Koman Hermetic literature ol the
same period. 1his third type ol rel igious sensibil ity atises in Christianity in con-
nection to the movement that is broadly and problematically characterized as
Cnosticism.
Transcending the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianity 215
1he subject is among the more complex and controversial in the study ol an-
cient rel igions. ' Among the many critical issues immediately lacing any discus-
sion or description ol Cnosticism are (1) the relation between the outsider
depictions ol those considered heretics in patristic antiheretical literature and the
elements lound in compositions produced by movement insiders, above all but
not exclusively those discovered at Nag-Hammadi, (2) the origins ol Cnosticism
is it pre-Christian, and does it draw mainly lrom )udaism or llatonism) and its
extent does it embrace all lorms ol dualism),` ) the variety ol expression lound
even within compositions everyone is willing to call Cnostic,' and q) the social
expressions ol the sensibility. was there a "Cnostic Keligion," were there distinct
communities ol Christian Cnostics, or were Christians with this sensibility mainly
lound on the margins ol communities whose commitments were more exoteric`
Iortunately, in asking about the presence ol Kel igiousness C within second-
and third-century Christianity, l am not required to answer or even extensively
discuss such questions. My i nterest is not in dehning a discrete movement but
rather in locating a religious sensibility as it may be expressed in the activities
and l iterature that have come to light. What is required ol this analysis i s simply
to show the presence and shape ol that sensibility among people ol the second
and third centuries who claimed an explicit allegiance to Christ. l am lree, then,
to make use ol both insider and outsider sources as they converge on the points
that illustrate this sensibility. l do this with more conhdence because, however
diverse the respective Cnostic systems are in detai l, they are remarkably consis-
tent with regard to their basic soteriology. lt is helplul to state at once what
l understand that soteriology to be
Keli giousness A and construe the world positively. Cod creates all things
good and directs them by his will. 1he cosmology ol 1ype C, in contrast,
makes a radical divide between the divine the realm ol spirit) and the empiri-
cal world the realm ol matter). matter came into existence by means ol cosmic
error or mischiel and has no goodness i n it. 1he anthropology ol Kel igiousness
A and conceives ol humans as drawn lrom the earth but bearing the divine
image. Humans are lree to choose. they can honor Cod through the right use
ol the worldresponding to the power ol Cod as mani lested in the world or
to the counterleit and illusory power ol demons who sponsor idolatry and
immoral ityand through righteous relations with other humans, or they can
dishonor Cod through the misuse ol lreedom called idolatry and sin. 1he an-
thropology ol 1ype C is more determi nistic, with humans hxed on one ol three
lorms. those completely dehned by matter, those able to choose between matter
and spirit, and those completely dehned by spirit.
216 Transcending the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianit
1he eschatology ol Kel igiousness A and is consistent with its cosmology
and anthropology. the end-time means the lul l realization ol the divine ben-
ehts already shared i n this li lethe resurrection ol the dead and the perlec-
tion material and moral) ol the body and soul ol the human person. Si mi larly
consistent with its cosmology and anthropology, Kel igiousness C sees the end-
time in terms ol the l iberation ol all the sparks ol l i ght now scattered i n the
darkness ol matter and their return to the eternal l i ght. nly those who re-
move themselves lrom material ity are saved, lor salvation is ol the soul alone.
y hnding its true home, the soul transcends the world in which it had no part
i n the hrst place.
ln Keligiousness A and , salvation comes to humans lrom the outside. Cod
lrees them lrom the al ienation ol sin and empowers them to a l i le ol laith, vir-
tue, and possibly martyrdom that would otherwise be beyond their natural ca-
pacities. ln Kel igiousness C, salvation comes through a lorm ol sell-realization.
the Cnostic comes to know what he or she is "by nature" and l ives according
to that real ization. 1he only "outside" element i n salvation lor the Cnostic is
the revelation ol the true state ol allai rs that comes to the elect lrom the divine
realm.
How did 1ype A or 1ype Christians ol the second and third centuries un-
derstand the hgure ol Christ Hi s role matched their construal ol the divine
dynamis and its way ol operating in the empirical world. Christ was the source
ol the benehts i n which Christians participated, with an emphasis respectively
on his wonders, his teaching, or his death and resurrection. lt was because ol
Christ that his lollowers could drive out demons and heal, because ol Christ
that they could endure sullering and death, because ol Christ that they could
be translormed lrom l ives ol vice to l ives ol virtue. Critical to all these benehts,
moreover, was the conviction that Christ shared completely i n the human con-
dition, i n order to empower and translorm it.
1he role ol Christ lor second- and third-century Christians ol 1ype C was
less dehnite. Christ is honored as a revealer ol true knowledge, to be sure, but it
is not always clear whether the revealer occupies a position superior to those
who already also share in the divine spirit and l ight. ln any case, those aspects
ol Christ most valued by 1ypes A and tend to be neglected or even denied by
1ype C. 1he Christ does not lully enter matter, the Christ does not truly die,
the Christ does not have a bodily resurrection. And his teaching tends to be less
about how to be vi rtuous in a crooked world than about how to keep onesell
lrom the empirical world altogether.
Transcending the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianit 21 7
lKLNALUS N 1HL CNS1lCS
l wi l l treat lrenaeus as an important hgure in hi s own right in the next chap-
ter. Here he provides an important outsider perspective on 1ype C Christians
ol the second century.' 1he ishop ol Lyons had predecessors and successors
as a detector and critic ol "heresies" or "parties" (haireseis) within the Christian
religion, but his great work, Detection and Overthrw of Falsely Named Gnosis
(elenchou kai anatrpes tes pseudonomou gnoseos), written circa iSo in Creek
but available to us mainly in the Latin translation commonly called Adversus
Haereses `^gainst Heresies"), is ol singular importance as a comprehensive
survey ol the teachings he regarded as troubl ing in hi s own day and as a magis-
terially argued response to those teachings. ' " 1he degree ol overlap between
descriptions ollered by lrenaeus and the content ol some compositions deriving
lrom 1ype C Christians increases our conhdence i n his contemporary knowl-
edge ol the hgures and teachi ngs he reportseven though his own authorial
bias must be taken seriously.
When we compare the writings ol lrenaeus with the hrsthand compositions,
we can better appreciate how his own perspective shaped his presentation. II ln
ellect, lrenaeus treats the various heresies as philosophical schools. he locuses
on the names ol lounders and their successors, he recites their doctrinesin this
case taking the lorm ol cosmogonic mythsand their ethics. ' 1he approach is
not unl ike that ol Oiogenes Laertius i n his Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Noth-
ing approaching such a systematic display is lound i n the 1ype C compositions.
Also distinctive to lrenaeus` account is the use ol the sort ol polemic against op-
ponents that is common in disputes among philosophical schools in the Creco-
Koman world. ' Lqually i mportant is omission. the element that is perhaps most
characteristic ol the 1ype C compositions themselves, namely, the device ol di-
vine revelation, is totally absent lrom lrenaeus` account. Iinally, lrenaeus con-
siders a wider range ol hgures and teachingssuch as Marcus, Marcion, Cerdo,
and Simonthan are available lor our analysis in any extant hrsthand composi-
tions. '' l consider here only the descriptions in lrenaeus that correspond to the
hrsthand 1ype C compositions.
ln ook i ol Adversus Haereses, lrenaeus patiently recounts the myth ol ori-
gins according to Valentinus` student ltolemy. ' ` 1he elaboration ol eons in the
lleroma divine lullness) serve to establish distance between the divine source
and what will eventually appear as the material world and to locate the source ol
the visible world in passion and error i. i. ii. . ). ' Speaking ol Achamoth, the
ollspring ol Wisdom expelled lrom the lleroma, lrenaeus reports, "Since she
218 Transcending the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
was involved with passion, and had been lelt outside and alone, she became
subject to every aspect ol manilold and diverse passion, she sullered griel, be-
cause she had not understood, lear, lest li le should leave her just as li ght had
done, uncertai nty, at all ol these, and everything i n lack ol acquai ntance
(gnosis) . . . . Shethey sayaccounts lor the genesis ol matter and essence ol
matter out ol which this world came into being" i. q. i~z). What came into be-
ing, however, was a mixture ol elements, good and bad, some arose lrom her
plunge i nto material ity, some lrom her essential participation in the divine, and
some lrom her desire to return to the lleroma. "one derived lrom her passion,
and this was matter, another derived lrom her turning back, and this was the
animate, another was what she brought lorth, and this was the spiritual" i. . i).
Corresponding to this account ol origins is the threelold designation ol hu-
mans as consisting primarily ol matter, or ol soul and therelore able to choose),
or ol spirit. 1he lates ol the material and spiritual are hxed, but the psychic
those with souls) can turn either toward matter or spirit. "1hey postulate three
species ol human beings. spirituals, animates, those consisting ol dust" (Adver
sus Haereses, i.y. ). Corresponding to this threelold distinction is the diherence
between the visible church and the spiritual church. the hrst i s an earthly
representation ol the spiritual church. "the latter, they think, is the human be-
ing that is within them, so that they have their soul lrom the craltsman, their
bodies lrom dust, their heshly elements lrom matter, and the spiritual human
being lrom their mother Achamoth" i. . ).
1he true sell that alone is worth saving is not to be equated with the
material
shell but with the spiritual core. "Now ol the three elements) that exist, the
material one, also called lelt, willthey saynecessarily perish, i n that it is un-
able to receive any breath ol incorruptibil ity. 1he animate one, also called right,
will proceed in whatever direction it has an inclination toward, in that it is inter-
mediate between the spiritual and the material. 1he spiritual has been sent so
that it might be lormed by being coupled to the animate and learning along
with it during its time ol residence in this place" (Adversus Haereses, i. . i). 1he
end will come "when every spiritual element has been lormed and perlected in
acquaintance [gnosis] i. . i). ln the meantime, the behavioral norms taught by
the visible church are meant only lor the psychic animate) whose late is yet un-
decided. 1hey do not apply to the spiritual. "1hey hold to the doctrine that they
are spiritual not by behavior, but by nature, and that they will be saved no matter
what. . . . 1he spiritual element, which they themselves claim to be, cannot re-
ceive corruption, no matter what sorts ol behavior it has to pass the time in the
company ol . . . . W| hat leads one into the lullness is not behavior but the seed
which was sent hither as an inlant and grows to maturity in this place" i. . z).
Transcending the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianit 21
9
Lschatology lollows logically lrom such premises. "When all the seeds have
grown to maturity," Achamoth and all the spiritual beings will be restored to
their place ol origin. "and the spirituals are supposed to put oll their souls, be-
come intellectual spirits, unrestrainedly and invisibly enter the lullness, and
become brides ol the angels that are with the savior." 1he psychics who have
proven righteous will reside i n a sort ol i n-between state. "the souls ol the just,
also, will gain repose in the place ol the midpoint, lor nothing animate psy-
chic) goes inside the lullness. " And when all that deserves rescuing is rescued,
then matter itsell will be destroyed. "the hre that lurks withi n the world will
hare up, catch hre, overcome all matter, be consumed along with it, and enter
into dehnitive nonexistence" (Adversus Haereses, 1 .7. 1).
ll spirit is good and eternal and matter is evil and transitory, it lollows that
the savior will participate in the material realm only ostensibly. "He became
enveloped in a body that had animate essence but was constructed in some in-
ellable way so as to be visible, touchable, and capable ol experiencing passion.
And he did not take anything materialthey saylor the material essence is
not capable ol receiving salvation" (Adversus Haereses, 1. 6. 1).
1he heavenly savior descended i nto the earthly )esus at the baptism in the
lorm ol a dove. His suhering was also only apparent. "lt was not possible lor hi m
to suller, since he was unrestrainable and invisible. ecause ol this, when the
anointed was brought belore lilate, the spirit ol the anointed that had been
deposited with him was taken away . . . . What sullered, therelore, was what
they consider to be the providential arrangement ol events" (Adversus Haereses,
1.7.2). Having sketched the basic elements ol this soteriology, Irenaeus displays
the range ol allegorical scriptural interpretation employed by the Valentinians
to support their understanding ol real ity (1. 8. 1-5). 1 7
Concerning the teaching ol asilides, ' Irenaeus mentions two points ol in-
terest to my sketch ol Keligiousness C. Iirst, asilides declares that salvation is
only ol the soul , the body is by nature corruptible (Adversus Haereses, 1. 24. 5).
1his statement agrees with the one reported by Clement ol Alexandria to the
ellect that asilides i nterpreted Abraham`s declaration in Cenesis 23: 4, "l am a
stranger in the land, and a soj ourner among you," to mean "that the elect are
alien to the world, as il they were transcendent by nature" (Strmata, 4. 165).
Second, asilides teaches that the Christ is an emissary lrom the lleroma sent
to humans to save them but was himsell incapable ol sullering. He "appeared
on earth as a man, and he perlormed deeds ol power. Hence he did not suller.
Kather, a certain Simon ol Cyrene was lorced to bear his cross lor hi m and it
was he who was ignorantly and erroneously crucihed, being translormed by the
other, so that he was taken lor )esus, while )esus, lor his part, assumed the lorm
ol Simon and stood by laughing at them. Ior because he was an incorporeal
power and was the i ntellect ol the unengendered parent, he was translormed
however he willed. And thus he ascends to the one who had sent hi m, mocking
them" (Adversus Haereses, 1. 24- 4).
lrenaeus also considers other teachers "a multitude ol Cnostics who| have
sprung up, and have shown lorth like mushrooms growing out ol the ground"
(Adversus Haereses, 1. 29. 1). 19
Among them as well we hnd elaborate mythic sce-
narios that serve to separate the all good world ol spirit the lleroma) lrom the
evil world ol matter, while still maintaining some presence ol spirit in the prison
ol matter. 1hus, the portion ol wisdom that was expelled lrom the lleroma
plunged i nto heavenly waters. "ound, therelore, by a body composed ol matter,
and greatly weighed down by it, this power) recovered it senses, and attempted
to escape lrom the waters and ascend to its mother. ut it could not do so, on
account ol the weight ol the enveloping body . . . . When it had conceived a de-
sire lor the higher li ght and had received power, it put oll this body in every re-
spect and was lreed lrom it" (1. 30. 3).
ln this mythic account, Adam and Lve were originally nonmaterial (1. 3. 6),
but their transgression led to their expulsion lrom a nonmaterial paradise i nto
the realm ol matter. "previously Adam and Lve had had nimble, shining, and as
it were spiritual bodies that had been modeled at their creation, but when they
came hither, these changed into darker, denser, and more sluggish ones." ut the
spark ol l ight within them still enabled them to realize their true nature. "1hey
came to a recollection ol themselves, and recognized that they were nak
d, and
that their bodies were made ol matter. And they recognized that they carried
death about with them. And they existed patiently, recognizing that bodies
would envelop them only lor a time" (Adversus Haereses, 1. 30. 9).
Among these Cnostics as well , the Christ is understood to descend i nto )e-
sus, and it was this Christ that did wonders, though he was not recognized in
hi s true identity even by his lollowers. lt was )esus who was crucihed while "the
anointed Christ) hi msell, along with wisdom Sophia) departed lor the incor-
ruptible realm." Alter hi s death, hi s disciples who claimed that he had a bodily
resurrection were mi staken. He was raised " in a kind ol body that they call in-
animate and spiritual " while hi s worldly parts returned to the world, but they
spoke ol "his animate body as il it were a worldly one" (Adversus Haereses,
1 . 30. 13). 1he end-time happens when )esus "receives unto himsell the souls ol
those who have become acquainted with hi m, once they have lelt their worldly
hesh . . . . 1his end will take place when the entire secretion ol the spirit ol l ight
is gathered together and caught up into the realm ol incorruptibil ity" (1. 30. 14).
Although lrenaeus is contemptuous and dismissive toward those he regards
as deviant lrom the church`s rule ol laith, he conscientiously reports their views
as he has come to know them. 1he sheer volume and variety ol inlormation he
conveys as well as the energy he expends in relutation testily to the lact that a
signihcant number ol those calling themselves Christians in the second century
saw themselves as spi rit trapped in matter, sought in Christ the revelation ol
their true identity, and longed lor a release lrom the entrapment ol heshly exis-
tence. 1he happy discovery ol compositions written by such Christians conhrms
lrenaeus` report on the most essential points and makes clear that religion as tran-
scending the world was a signihcant presence in second-century Christianity.
WKl1lNCS IKM NAC-HAMMAOl
1he di scovery at Nag-Hammadi in 1945 ol 13 codices containing 52 Coptic
translations ol originally Creek compositions espousing many ol the views
and i n some cases, bearing the same titlesidentihed by heresiologists ex-
panded and compl icated the study ol the way ol being Christian commonly
called Cnostic. lmmediately striking was the variety ol writings contained in
the volumes. i n addition to revelation-type compositions, we hnd tractates ol
the Hermetic literature that l earlier identihed as the prime representative ol
1ype C rel igion in paganism, moral di scourses in the lorm ol aphorisms, one
recognizably Creco-Koman (Sentences of Sextus), another recognizably Chris-
tian (Teachings of Silvanus); an Act of Peter that would ht perlectly in the lorms
ol the apocryphal Acts of Peter already known to us, and even a portion ol
llato`s Republic.21 Such a mlange ol compositions raises the question ol the
lunction ol the collection. was the binding together ol such disparate writings a
matter ol convenience, or was it a rel igious statement
Matching the eclectic character ol the collection is a diversity ol outlook and
expression. We nowhere hnd the neat l ines ol mythic schemata presented by
lrenaeus, instead we encounter a hodgepodge ol voices and viewpoints in any-
thing but a systematic presentation. Scholars have noted ideological dillerences
between compositions that are "Sethian" in outlook hostil ity to the creator
Cod ol the )ewish scripture and l ittle expl icit Christian content) and those that
are "Valentinian" more explicitly Christian and milder in tone). ln terms ol
expression, compositions range lrom the wildly speculative and ecstatic (Gos
pel of the Egyptians) through the richly poetic (Gospel of Truth) to the soberly
didactic (Treatise on the Resurrection). 1he Nag-Hammadi codices encompass
a greater diversity even than that lound in the New 1estament collection. We
cannot say whether anyone associated with these collections ever read all ol
them together as a collection, it is perhaps more li kely that compositions were
written and read individually, and the act ol binding them i nto volumes rein-
lorced the impression ol a unihed vision.
Another aspect ol these writings lor which heresiologists did not prepare us is
the genuine rel igious spirit that sulluses the compositions. 1he polemical aims
ol an lrenaeus or Lpiphanius perhaps deliberately) obscured the rel igious sensi-
bil ities ol the Cnostic Christians. 1heir mythic speculations therelore appeared
as intellectual sell-indulgence or mischiel, the attack on their morals made
them seem to be charlatans who deluded the gull ible lor their own gai n. When
reading the actual compositions i n the Nag-Hammadi collection, however, it is
di lhcult to deny the sense that they were written by people who were motivated
by rel igious convictions just as authentic as those held by the Christians ol
1ype A who produced apocryphal acts and gospels and the Christians ol 1ype
who wrote apologies lor the laith as a lorm ol philosophy. ln many ol these
writings, it is possible to detect the classic impulses ol mysticism. ` We hnd in
them the longing lor the absolute and eternal, driven by a sense ol despair at
being trapped by corruptible matter.
A particular advantage given to my analysis by the Nag-Hammadi writings is
the placement ol specihcally and expl icitly Christian compositions with other
writings without any Christian element but sharing a prolound cosmological
dualism and search lor salvation through revealed knowledge concerning the
sell. My argument that "ways ol being Christian" are i n continuity with
"ways
ol being rel igious" in Creco-Koman culture is given real support by the pres-
ence, cheek by jowl, ol Hermetic writings and Cnostic gospels.
ln addition to such j uxtapositions, the process ol combination and recombi-
nation among the respective writi ngs appears complex. lt is clear, lor example,
that the tractate Eugnostos the Blessed, which has no Christian element at all,
and the Sophia of Jesus Christ are l iterarily relatedprobably through the
"Christiani zation" ol the earlier text. ' _uite apart lrom the structure ol the
various myths, the sheer lact ol gathering such disparate compositions together
suggests the desire to place Christian wisdom within the context ol a larger
and less particular vision ol the world. While observing appropriate caution,
then, we are allowed to show how the "non-Christian" and "Christian" texts
manilest a deep agreement i n what l have called rel igious sensibil ity. l will
treat two such writings and then turn to others that are expl icitly Christian in
character.
1he Zostrianos and Allogenes are tractates that bear no Christian stamp and
are known even outside the circle ol inner Christian debate. ` Zostrianos re-
3
counts the spiritual ascent ol the Cnostic teacher and the revelations he receives
lrom heavenly revealers. Zostrianos is able to ascend because he "had parted
by means ol intellect, lrom the corporeal darkness within him| together with
the animate chaos and desirous lemininity within that chaos" i. io). He learns by
revelation that "the kind ol| person that gets saved is the one who seeks to un-
derstand and so to discover, the sell and the intellect" qq. i). ut such a search
is impeded by involvement with material ity. 1hus the person without enlighten-
ment "comes| down into the realm ol generation . . . becomes speechless at the
pains and inhnity ol material, and, although possessing i mmortal power, is
bound in the body`s advance . . . bound in strong letters that cut by all means ol
evil spirits" q. zq. i). 1he one so bound needs to be saved through revela-
tion ol their true condition. "eings are ordained to be in charge ol their salva-
tion . . . . 1hey are incorruptible, lor they are| patterns ol salvation, in which
each saved person) is stamped . . . and it is by being stamped that the person
receives power lrom the same one ol them and has that glory lor a helper"
q.zq~z). 1here are those, however, so locked in material ity that they cannot
escape, "and since they have become uncomprehending ol Cod, they shall per-
ish" izS. ioi).
1hrough his heavenly ascent, multiple initiations baptisms), and revelations
ol his authentic identity, Zostrianos becomes one ol the emissaries who reen-
ters the material realm in order to enlighten others. Having been empowered,
"l descended to the perceptible world and 1 put on my ignorant material image.
Although it was ignorant, 1 bestowed power upon it and went about preaching
truth unto all . . . . 1 awakened a multitude that were lost" io. qiq). 1he com-
position closes with the sermon that he preaches lar and wide. "Llevate your
divine element as being god . . . . Seek immutable unengenderedness . . . . Oo
not bathe yourselves in death, nor surrender yourselves unto ones who are
inlerior to you as though they were superior. Ilee the madness and letter ol lemi-
ninity and choose lor yourselves the salvation ol mascul i nity . . . . Save your-
selves so that your soul may be saved . . . . Many letters and chastisers are
surrounding you. Ilee in the short time that remains belore destruction over-
takes you| ehold the l ight| Ilee the darkness| Oo not let yourselves be en-
slaved unto destruction| " io. iiz. q).
1he tractate called Allogenes, or "1he Ioreigner," begi ns wi th an extended
discourse lrom the lemale deity Youel, which Allogenes records lor his son
Messos q. iy). ' He is |o guard these revelations "in great silence and great
mystery, because they are not spoken to anyone except those who are worthy,
those who are able to hear" z. zo). Allogenes prays that he might receive such
revelation . o). 1he second portion ol the tractate describes Allogenes`
22
4
Transcending the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
mystical ascent. He prepared hi msell lor a hundred years y. zy) and beheld
the divine arbelo, the savior.
'
"alter being caught up by the eternal li ght out
ol the garment that l was wearing, and taken to a holy place, no resemblance
ol which could be shown lorth in the world, then by great blessedness l beheld
all the things that l had heard about" . zS).
Allogenes is told that his blessedness resides in silence. "i l you want to stand
at rest, withdraw to real ity and you will hnd it standing at rest and still, aher the
resemblance ol what is really still and restrains all these spiritual beings) in
quietness and lack ol activity" . iS~zq). ll he remains in stillness, perlection
can be achieved "alter the pattern that resides withi n you," and that perlection
does not become dispersed in external activities . y). Allogenes therelore
l i stens, and "within me was stillness ol silence. l l istened to blessedness, through
which l understood mysell as l really am" o. izi). 1he remainder ol the
composition makes clear that the divine realm i n itsell is incomprehensible
iS). ut this by no means cancels the essential saving knowledge that has
come to Allogenes. "And when l wished to stand hrmly at rest, l withdrew to
real ity, which l lound to be standing at rest and sti ll, alter an image and a re-
semblance ol that image) which l was wearing. 1hrough a manilestation ol the
undivided and the still, l became lull ol manilestation. And) through a hrst
mani lestation ol the unrecogni zable, l understood| it at the same time that
l was uncomprehending ol it. And lrom the latter l received power, having got-
ten eternal strength lrom it" o. zqS).

1hese two examples drawn lrom the Nag-Hammadi codices bear the clear
marks ol 1ype C rel igiosity in the Creco-Koman world such as we have seen
also in the Hermetic l iterature. 1here is no optimism about the material world
and no sense that the divine dynamis is active withi n it. lnstead, salvation lrom
the ignorance and griel associated with material existence is sought lrom divine
revelation ol the true sell withi n elect humans that consists ol spirit and the
eventual l iberation ol that authentic sell lrom the captivity ol earthly existence.
1hese compositions suggest that the message concerning truth is made avail-
able to all through designated divine emissaries but that only some hear and re-
spond appropriately. thers sink lurther into the mi re by involving themselves
in worldly di stractions.
1he Apocryphon of John illustrates the way in which an expl icitly Christian
lramework could be placed around a revelation that had little il any Christian
content. ' 1he lraming story resembles the legendary elaborations typical ol
the apocryphal acts. the apostle )ohn is challenged by a lharisee concerning
the present location ol "the man you used to lollow" i. S). Although )ohn re-
sponds that "He has returned to the place lrom which he came" i. ii), the query
5
causes hi m consternation, he begins to pose a series ol questions concerning
"the savior" and hi s origin i. iyz).
ln the midst ol hi s consternation, he is visited by a revealer hgure, who ap-
pears in di llerent shapes and is not expl icitly named but who declares that he
will reveal "what exists and what has come to be and what must come to be"
(Apocryphon of John, z. i). 1he revealer, in lact, is not )esus but "the perlect
lorethought ol the entirety lleroma)," that is, arbelo see o. ii). Irom this
point lorward, the composition has no specihc relerence to )esus, the "anointed"
Christ) appears as a heavenly Aeon y. io, y. i, . z) but not as an earthly hgure,
the hrst chapters ol Cenesis, but no writings ol the New 1estament, are engaged.
nly the hnal words added to the manuscript, ")esus is the anointed Christ).
Amen" z. ), remind the reader ol the opening section and give the composi-
tion a Christian lrame.
Aher a lengthy exposition ol the cosmic progression lrom unity to plural ity in
the realm ol the lleroma (Apocryphon of John, z. zij)an exposition that
resembles lrenaeus` report on the Valentinan myth ol originsthe composition
comes to the account ol origins in Cenesis iq and interprets them in li ght ol
the preceding myth. Adam`s material body is described as an imprisonment ol
the spirit. "1hey the inimical rulers| brought him into the shadow ol death . . .
ol the ignorance ol darkness, and desire, and their counterleit spirit. 1hat is the
cave ol the remodel ing ol the body in which the brigands clothed the human
being, the bond ol lorgetlulness. And he became a mortal human being" zi. qi).
Mortal ity, in turn, is perpetuated by sexual intercourse. "And to the present day
sexual i ntercourse, which originated lrom the hrst ruler, has remained. And in
the lemale who belonged to Adam it sowed a seed ol desire. And by sexual inter-
course it raised up birth in the image ol the bodies. And it supplied them some
ol its counterleit spirit" zq.zz). Humans, moreover, were alhicted with lor-
getlulness ol their higher sell. "1hey were given the water ol lorgetlulness by the
hrst ruler, so that they might not know themselves and where they had come
lrom" z.yS).
ln response to questions lrom )ohn, the revealer makes clear that the maj or-
ity ol humans remai n locked in matter, lorgetlul and ignorant, subj ect to all
kinds ol passions, locked in the prison ol their bodies zy. iio, zy.zi~zy, zS. zii,
o. i~q). ut there are others to whom the mysteries ol salvation can be re-
vealed, to those "who belong to the immovable race, upon whom the spirit ol
l i le will descend and dwell with power. 1hey will attain salvation and become
perlect. And they will become worthy ol greatnesses . . . purihed ol every imper-
lection . . . being anxious lor nothing but incorruptibil ity, restrained by noth-
ing but the subsistent entity ol the hesh which they wear, awaiting the time
when they will be visited by those beings who take away. Such souls are wor-
thy ol eternal, incorruptible l i le and calli ng, abiding all things and enduring
all things so that they might complete the contest and inherit eternal l i le"
z. zoz. ).
1he soteriology ol the Apocryphon of John is given lull expression in the
poem that concludes the revelation lrom arbelo. 1he one who existed lrom
the beginning as "the richness ol the li ght" and "memory ol the lullness" de-
clares that arbelo enters repeatedly into the darkness and chaos ol materiality
in order to save soul s. A hrst time, "l traveled in the greatness ol the darkness
and l continued until l entered the midst ol the prison" o. iy). A second time,
"l entered the midst ol the darkness and the interior ol Hades, striving lor my
governance" o. z). And then a third time, it entered the darkness, "the midst
ol their prison which is the prison ol the body" i. iq). And i n that lorm, it
called to those who could hear, "0 Li stener, arise lrom heavy sleep . . . . lt is
l who am the lorethought ol the uncontaminated li ght. . . . Arise| Keep in
mind that you are the person who has l istened . . . and be wakelul now that
you have come) out ol heavy sleep and out ol the garment i n the interior ol
Hades" i. iozo). arbelo seals those who have heard "so that lrom hencelorth
death might not have power over that person" and returns to the perlect eternal
realm i. ziy).
1he Nag-Hammadi collection also contains compositions whose Christian
character i s unmistakable. lreeminent among them is the Gospel of Truth, a
sermon that may derive lrom Valentinus himsel| lt completely lacks

the
elaborate mythic structure that we have seen as characteristic i n the composi-
tions reviewed to this point. 1he characters in the drama are simply the Iather
the unknowable Cod), the Word or Son who makes Cod known, and people
i n the world who are the ignorant or the knowing Cnostic). 1he poetic lan-
guage ol the composition is thoroughly sullused with the diction ol scripture,
not only Cenesiswhich hgures so prominently in other textsbut New 1esta-
ment writings as wel l . `' 1he designation "Cospel " is a misnomer il one thinks
i n terms ol the canonical or apocryphal narratives, yet the composition begins
with the "proclamation (euangelion) ol truth" not so much in terms ol recount-
ing the deeds ol Christalthough these are touched onbut in terms ol the
ellect ol the "grace that was received lrom the lather ol truth" i. i) on hu-
mans. "the term `proclamation` gospel) relers to the manilestation ol hope, a
discovery lor those who are searching lor him" iy. i).
1he soteriology ol this expl icitly, even exuberantly, Christian composition,
however, hts comlortably within Kel igiousness C. 1he human condition is one
ol ignorance ol the lather, which causes agitation, lear, and error"and error
lound strength and labored at her matter in emptiness . . . preparing by means
ol the power, in beauty, a substitute lor truth" (Gospel of Truth, iy. iy). Lrror
dwells i n a kind ol log ol lorgetlulness and lear that seduces pcople into think-
ing it real iy. ). lt creates "disturbance and instabil ity and indecisiveness and
division" z. i), it generates lutile activity l ike that ol "a dream in the night"
o. i).
ln the Gospel of Truth, such lorgetlulness cannot be overcome by onesell,
rather, it requires revelation. "Acquaintance [gnosis] lrom the lather and the ap-
pearance ol his son gave them a means to comprehend" o.z). lt was )esus who
brought thi s knowledge to humans. ")esus Christ shed l i ght upon those who
were, because ol lorgetlulness, in darkness." His work is lundamentally that ol
enl ightenment. "He enlightened them and gave them a way, and the way is the
truth, about which he instructed them," and those who received his teaching
"discovered him within themthe inconceivable uncontained, the lather, who is
perlect, who created the entirety" iS.iSi). 1he recognition ol )esus, therelore,
is also a recognition ol their own true sell, lor this is the truth )esus conveys.
1he Gospel of Truth pays close attention to the death ol )esus. ecause )e-
sus revealed the truth ol the lather i n the realm ol ignorance, "error became
angry at him and persecuted him. She was constrained by him and became
inactive. He was nai led to a tree and became lruit ol the lather`s acquain-
tance [ gnosis]" iS. ziz). Although )esus was "a guide, at peace and occupied
with classrooms . . . who| came lorward and uttered the word as a teacher"
i. iyi), the worldly wise opposed and despised hi m. "1herelore the mercilul
and laithlul )esus became patient and accepted the sullerings even unto taking
up that book namely, "the l iving book ol the l iving, i. q| . inasmuch as he
knew that his death would mean li le lor many" zo. ioiq). 1hat )esus died so
others could live sounds on the surlace as though it was drawn straight lrom the
Cospels see Mark io.q).
1he i nterpretation given to this death, however, is distinctive. )esus enters
into incorruptibi lity and eternal l i le i n order to bring true sell-knowledge to the
elect. "Having entered upon the empty ways ol lear, he escaped the clutches ol
those who had been stripped naked by lorgetlulness, lor he was acquaintance
(gnosis) and completion, and read out their contents . . . . And those who would
learn, namely the l iving enrolled in the book ol the l iving, learn about them-
selvcs, recovering themselves lrom the lather and returning to him" (Gospel of
Truth, zi. iy). 1hose who are written in the book are destined lor such sell-
reali zation zi. Sz) and are called by )esus to such sell-recognition. "So that
whoever has acquaintance [gnosis] is lrom above, and il called, hears, repl ies,
and turns to the one who is calling, and goes to hi m . . . . 1hose who gain
acquaintance (gnosis) in this way know whence they have come and whither
they will go" (22. 4-13).
1he process ol return involves a locus on stabil ity rather than on activity, a
cultivation ol the spirit rather than ol matter. "lt is in unity that all will gather
themselves, and it is by acquaintance [gnosis] that all will purily themselves out
ol multipl icity into unity, consuming matter within themselves as hre, and
darkness by light, and death by li le" (Gospel ofT ruth, 25.7-22). 1he human con-
dition ol error and ignorance can be compared to the breaking ol j ars (26-7-8),
and the state ol blessedness can be described in terms ol rest and repose (41 . 3--
7). Maintaining this condition demands an attention to onesell. "Iocus your
attention upon yourselves. Oo not locus your attention upon others, that is,
ones whom you have expelled. Oo not return to eat what you have vomited
lorth . . . . Oo the will ol the lather, lor you are lrom him" (33. 11-3).
At the end ol the composition, the author praises the state ol those who have
recognized their true identity. "Such are they who have possessions lrom above,
lrom the i mmeasurable greatness, straining toward the sol itary and the perlect,
he who is a mother to them. And they will not descend into Hades, nor do they
have envy and groani ng, nor is death withi n them. Kather, they repose i n that
being who gives unto himsell repose, and i n the vicinity ol truth they are nei-
ther weary nor entangled. ut it is precisely they who are the truth" (Gospel of
Truth, 42. 1 1-25). 1he Gospel of Truth is lar more complex, subtle, and beautilul
than could ever be imagined lrom the descriptions ol Christian Cnosticism by
lrenaeus. 1he lundamental accuracy ol lrenaeus` portrayal on the central p
int
nevertheless remains. here is a way ol being Christian in which sin i s ignorance
and error, i n which salvation is revealed through knowledge ol one`s own iden-
tity, and i n which the role ol )esus is that ol revealer and teacher.
Another Valentinian composition in the Nag-Hammadi collection is the
Treatise on the Resurrection, which takes the lorm ol an expository letter lrom
a teacher to a certai n Kheginus. ` ln spirit, it is close to the Gospel of Truth and
l i ke that composition has clear relerences to New 1estament passages and lew
traces ol a " larger" Cnostic myth. `` ll it did not appear in the same compila-
tion with other more obviously Cnostic compositions, even the allusions to
"repose" or "rest" in the opening l ines (43- 29-44. 1) could be read as allusions
to the New 1estament Letter to the Hebrews rather than to the Gospel of
Truth. 34 1he tone ol the letter is pastoral rather than speculative. the author
does not approve ol those who try to become learned by solving problems they
cannot handle (43. 25) . Nevertheless, the author`s understanding ol the resur-
rection hnds a natural home in the soteriological lramework ol the Nag-
Hammadi collection.
9
1he author reminds Kheginus that humans take on hesh when coming into
the world, `` but this "bodily envelope" is not the essential sell, it is, rather, pre-
cisely what causes the essential sell`s al ienation (Treatise on the Resurrection,
47. 1-18). 1he true sell is not material but spiritual. 1he material world is but an
apparition (48. 13-16; 48. 26), and our l i le in the body is but a garment lor our
true sell. "since we are manilestly present in this world, the world is what we
wear l ike a garment|" (45. 28). Kesurrection, then, cannot be understood in
terms ol the body having a luture but must be understood i n terms ol the real-
ization ol the true sell that is the spirit withi n humans.
Christ`s resurrection is the model. He was both human and divine, "so that he
might conquer death through being son ol Cod and that through the human
son might come to pass the return to the lullness lleroma| , since lrom the be-
ginning he existed as a seed ol the truth lrom above belore there came into being
this cosmic structure in which lordships and divinities have become so numer-
ous" (Treatise on the Resurrection, 44.27-35). Christ`s resurrection, therelore, was
the real ization ol the divine element within him and the discarding ol the mate-
rial lrame. "l mean that laying aside the corruptible world, he exchanged it lor
an incorruptible eternal realm. And he raised himsell up, having `swallowed`
the visible by means ol the invisible and gave us the way to our immortality"
(45. 15-22). 1he resurrection ol Christians, then, is a matter ol being "drawn up-
ward by him as rays are drawn by the sun, restrained by nothing. 1his is the
resurrection ol the spirit, which `swallows` resurrection ol the soul along with
resurrection ol the hesh" (45. 28-46. 1).
Kesurrection is, i n lact, the sell-realization by the Cnostic ol hi s or her au-
thentic sell. "ut what is the meaning ol resurrection lt i s the uncovering at
any given time ol the elements that have arisen" (Treatise on the Resurrection,
48. 3-4). 1he author here means the spirit ol the one who has come to aware-
ness. "1he thought ol those who are saved will not perish, the i ntellect ol those
who have acquaintance [gnosis] with such an object will not perish" (46.23-25).
1he resurrection is not luture but present in the experience ol gnosis: "lt is
what stands at rest, and the revealing ol what truly exists. And it is what one re-
ceives i n exchange lor the circumstances ol this world. and a migration into
newness" (48. 33-36). 1he lul l realization ol this resurrection will happen at the
death ol the bel ievers, when "the inlerior element takes a loss" (47.22) and the
spirit is l iberated completely. "whether one who is saved wi ll, upon taking oll
his body, be immediately saved, let no one doubt this" (47. 35-36).
1he truth ol the resurrection demands concentration on what is eternal in
the sell rather than what i s transitory. "therelore do not concentrate on particu-
lars, 0 Kheginus, nor l ive according to the dictates ol the hesh . . . . Leave the
2
3
state ol dispersion and bondage, and then you already have the resurrection"
(Treatise on the Resurrection, q. i). 1he Christian practice corresponding to
such a view ol the resurrection is withdrawal lrom involvement lrom the body.
"Lveryone should practice i n many ways to gain release lrom this element the
body| so that one might not wander aimlessly but rather might recover one`s
lormer state ol being" q. oq).
Iinally, it is worth noting the way another thoroughly Christian composition
within the Nag-Hammadi collection, the Gospel of Thomas, hts within the reli-
gious sensibil ity l have been describing.` lt is undoubtedly the most analyzed
ol the compositions lound in the Coptic collection lor obvious reasons. its as-
semblage ol iiq sayings lrom )esus raises questions concerning its relationship
to previous agrpha, to the canonical Cospels, to the hypothetical sayings col-
lection _, to the hi storical )esus, and to Cnosticism. `' 1wo lacts make answer-
ing questions concerning its rel igious sensibil ity di lhcult. the lack ol a narrative
that might provide an interpretive lramework lor the sayings and the presence
ol other compositions in the same collection that can, il invoked, supply pre-
cisely that i nterpretive key. `
1he choice ol materials in the Gospel of Thomas is at least suggestive. 1here is
no account ol)esus` human deeds and no story ol)esus` passion, death, and resur-
rection. 1he book consists completely in sayings, introduced with ")esus said."
1he basic image ol )esus is that ol teacher or revealer. 1he prologue introduces
him as "the living )esus." 1he designation can point to a postresurrection appear-
ance or, in the lramework ol the Gospel of Truth and Trctate on the Resurrect
i
on,
to )esus as divine revealer at whatever point in his appearance. 1he revelations ol
)esus, lurthermore, are designated as "secret" or "obscure," indicating that they
are to be understood within the context ol an esoteric rather than an exoteric
code. Iinally, the revelatory words themselves bear the promise ol lile. "who-
ever hnds the meaning ol these sayings will not taste death" ( i| z. ioiz).
Sell-relerential statements by )esus likewise cohere with the esoteric lrame-
work lound in other Nag-Hammadi compositions. He says, "l am the l ight that
presides) over all. lt is l who am the entirety, it is lrom me that the entirety has
come, and to me that the entirety goes. Split a piece ol wood. l am there. Lilt a
stone and you will hnd me there" (Gospel of Thomas, yy| q. zzzy). )esus said,
"l stood at rest in the midst ol the world. And unto them l was shown lorth in-
carnate, l lound them all intoxicated . . . . When they shake oll their wine then
they will have a change ol heart" zS| S. zoz). With relerence to those who
do have a change ol heart, )esus says, "Whoever drinks lrom my mouth will
become l ike me, l, too, will become that person, and to that person obscure
things will be shown lorth" ioS| o. zSz).
3
1
ln a statement that resembles Matthew ii. zzy, but with a special signih-
cance to the term "repose," )esus says, "Come to me, lor my yoke is easy and my
lordship is mild, and you hll hnd repose lor yourselves" (Gospel of Thomas, o|
qS. ii). We have already seen the signihcance ol the term "repose" lor the
desired state ol the Cnostic Christian. We hnd it agai n in this passage. "His
disciples said to hi m, `Will the repose ol the dead come to pass, and when will
the new world come` He said to them, `1hat repose| which you are waiting lor
has come, but lor your part you do not recognize it" i| qz.yio).
Such statements, in turn, hnd a context in others that point to a larger mythic
scheme. "1he disciples said to )esus, `1ell us how our end will come to pass.`
)esus said, `1hen have you laid bare the beginning, so that you are seeking the
end Ior the end will be where the beginning is. lessed is the person who
stands at rest in the beginning. And that person will be acquainted with the end
and will not taste death" (Gospel of Thomas, iS| . iq). Here we see the no-
tion ol a "repose" that consists i n the gnosis ol the true sell, which makes issues
ol "beginning" and "end" i rrelevant. the Cnostic Christian already lives in the
end-time ol the authentic resurrection.
A similar lramework is demanded by this statement. ")esus said, `lt is amazing
il it was lor the spirit that hesh came into existence. And it is amazing indeed il
spirit came into existence| lor the sake ol the body. ut as lor me, l am amazed
at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this poverty" (Gospel of Thomas,
z| S. iq). 1he mythic lramework is particularly obvious i n this statement ol
)esus. "ll they say to you, `Where are you lrom` say to them, `lt is lrom the light
that we have comelrom the place where l ight, ol its own accord alone, came
into existence and stood at rest| . And it has been shown lorth in their image.`
And il they say to you, `ls it you` say, `we are its ollspring, and we are the chosen
ol the l iving lather.` ll they ask you, `What is the sign ol your lather within you,`
say, `lt is movement and repose` ` o| qi. oqz.q).
1he lew who are chosen by )esus lor such an esoteric existence (Gospel of
Thomas, z| S. iz) are to bear the l ight within themselves zq| S. ). 1hey
have brought diversity into unity, dillerence into sameness zz| y.zozq, iiq|
i. iSzq). 1hey are l ike children who are naked belore the onslaughts ol the
material world zi| . y.q), who are unalraid in their nakedness y| . zy-
z) and will be exalted even more than )ohn the aptist because ol their l ittle-
ness q| qi. io). 1hey bear the kingdom ol heaven withi n themselves |
z. i. z, yo| q. zi) and await the revelation ol what i s now hidden lrom
the eyes ol others | . iozz). Until that time ol lull disclosure, they are to
distance themselves lrom involvement with the body. ")esus said, `Wretched is
the body that depends upon a body. And wretched is the soul that depends on
2
3
these two` " ( [87] 48. 4-6); he also said, "Woe to the hesh that depends upon a
soul. Woe to the soul that depends on the hesh" ( [112] 51. 10-11).
1he dualism that privileges the soul rather than the body and requires with-
drawal lrom the body lor the good ol the soul extends as well to any engage-
ment with the world. ln two strikingly similar statements, )esus says, "Whoever
has become acquai nted with the world has lound the body, and the world is not
worthy ol the one who has lound the body" (Gospel of Thomas, [80] 47. 12); and
"Whoever has become acquainted with the world has lound a corpse, and the
world is not worthy ol the one who has lound a corpse" ( [ 56] 42.29). 1he prac-
tice ol abstention lrom worldly engagement is expl icitly commanded by )esus.
"lessed are those who are solitary and superior, lor you will hnd the kingdom,
lor since you come lrom it you shall return to it" ( [49] 41. 27-29). And agai n, he
says, "ll you do not abstain lrom the world, you will not hnd the kingdom. ll
you do not make the sabbath a sabbath you will not behold the lather" ( [27]
38. 17-19). 1he second ol these statements expl icates the hrst. keeping the Sab-
bath in the lramework ol this gospel means mai ntaining the "repose" ol naked,
childl ike identity rather than being dissipated in worldly engagement. 1he ideal
ol withdrawal is best and most briehy expressed in the saying that consists sim-
ply in the command, "e passersby" ( [42] 4. 19).
1he evidence brought lorward i n this chapter demonstrates that some Chris-
tians ol the second and third centuries were perceived by others and saw them-
selves as a distinct "way ol being Christian." ln contrast to those who celebr
ted
the benehts released by the Holy Spirit through mi racles ol healing and exor-
cism or through the miracle ol moral endurance in bodily sulleringal l ol
these lorms ol battle with demonssuch Christians emphasized inner knowl-
edge ol their origin and destiny and withdrew lrom engagement with the mate-
rial world. ln contrast also to those who saw Christianity in terms ol a philosophy
that combined right doctrine and moral translormation, these Christians based
themselves on secret revealed knowledge and treasured the "repose" that en-
abled their souls to survive the time ol i mprisonment in the body. 1hey display,
in short, precisely the characteristics ol Kel igiousness C, authentic rel igion is
not a matter ol participation in divine benehts in the world or ol the moral
translormation ol the sell, it is, rather, a triumph ol the essential sell the spirit)
over the material world that holds it captive.
oth the strong sense ol election and separatenessnot to say superiority-
that distinguished such Christians lrom the common crowd in the great
church and the characterization ol them as "heretical " have served to isolate
33
and make "other" the Cnostic Christians, `' obscuring the lact that the writers
and readers ol compositions such as the Gospel of Truth and the Gospel of
Thomas represented, in real ity, one ol three "ways ol being Christian" that l
have identihed in the second and third century. ln the next chapter, l consider
the lourth.
-
STABILIZING THE WORLD IN
CHRISTIANITY
ln Creco-Koman rel igion, the |ourth type o| rel igiousness |ound expression
especially among those who served as priests and ministers. n one hand, it
can be seen as the supply side to Kel igiousness A, with which it is in closest
agreement, rather than |ocusing on participation in the benehts given by the
divine dynamis as made avai lable i n the round o| rel igious practices, it |ocuses
on making such practices availablevia the keepers o| the temples, the hiero-
phants at the Mysteries, the patrons o| rel igious associations, the sponsors o|
civic l iturgies. 1hey make possible and per|orm the sacrihces that |orm such a
central aspect o| pagan rel igion. n the other hand, this rel igious sensibil ity
hnds expression in a theoretical concern |or the |unction o| rel i gion in society.
1hus, we |ound in llutarch not only a priest o| the god Apollo a[ Oelphi but a
passionate de|ender o| rel igion as the basis |or Creek culture, against the equal
threats o| atheism and superstition.
lt is no surprise to hnd Keli giousness O absent |rom the writings o| the New
1estament. Larliest Chri sti anity consi sted i n a loosely associated collection
o| local assembl ies that were each sociologically marginal and powerless. 1he
Christian message concening the resurrection and second coming o| )esus
was, i n addition, threatening to any notion o| a stable and enduring social or-
der. We can note, |or example, that in the New 1estament, the technical lan-
guage o| sacrihce and priesthood, such as prspherein dor "o||ering gi|ts") and
prospherein thysia "o||ering sacrihce"), is restricted to descriptions o| )ewish
and Centile practices i Cor io.iS, Heb . i, y. zy, S. , 9:9, z, z, io. i, , S, ii,
ii. q) or to the death o| )esus Kom . z, Heb io.iz, Lph . z) or is used metaphor-
ically |or Christian |aith and obedience Kom iz. i, i let z. , Heb i. i~i), |or
2
34
Stabilizing the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianity 2
35
ellort on behall ol the community Kom i. i), and lor a li le ol service to others
lhil z. iy, q. iS). 1he language is never appl ied to Christian worship.
As lor concern with the stabil ity and good order ol society through rel igious
practice, the apparent exception in the New 1estament collectionthe letters
ol laul to his delegates 1imothy and 1itusproves the point. 1he small amount
ol inlormation that can be gleaned lrom them concerning leadership in the
assembly is clearly both local rather than general and intimately connected to
the structure ol the household. lhces correspond to those lound in other Hel-
lenistic associations, including the synagogue. 1he concern is entirely with the
moral qual ities ol the leaders, we learn l ittle directly about their lunctions.
What is most surprising is that although i 1imothy .i speaks ol the household
(oikos) as the "assembly ol the l iving Cod" (ekklesia theou zontos), which could
easily be taken, as it is in other lauline letters, as a metaphorical designation ol
the assembly as the temple, nothing else i n the letter exploits that designation.
1he leaders are not identihed as priests, indeed, absolutely no theological legiti-
mation is provided lor local leadership i n assembl ies.
We would not expect the lul l emergence ol Kel igiousness O i n the second
and thi rd Christian centuri es, lor the si mple reason that Christianity was
still lar lrom being the imperial rel igion. it was still margi nal withi n society,
still without legal property, still without olhcial sanction as a cult, stilland
increasinglysubject to persecution. Nevertheless, it is possible to trace some
ol the elements making up Kel igiousness O developing during this period. ln
this chapter, l begin with a return to Clement, lgnatius, and )ustin, noting how
they begin to use sacrihcial language with respect to Christian cultic acts and
ministers. l then consider some ol the compositions known as "Church rders"
lor insight into i nstitutional and ritual development, belore turning to a contro-
versy i nvolving the celebration ol Laster that demanded coordinated ellorts
among bishops. Iinally, l consider two writers ol the period who can rightly be
thought ol in terms ol Kel igiousness O, namely, lrenaeus ol Lyons and Cyprian
ol Carthage.
Bl SHlS ANO CUL1
ln the second century, three writers provide important clues to three aspects
ol Kel igiousness O as it developed within Christianity. i) the emerging role ol
bishops with expl icit theological legitimation, (2) the liturgical role played by
bishops, and ) the use ol cultic language lor the assembly, the bishop, and the
Lucharistic prayer ol the community. l speak ol " development" on these points,
2
3
6 Stabilizing the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
because as l have suggested, the New 1estament provides no theological legiti-
mation lor such leadership, the position ol bishop in the New 1estament ap-
pears primarily as administrative and didactic, and the Creco-Koman language
ol sacrihce is not expl icitly connected to the Lucharist.
l have already analyzed 1 Clement as exempl ilying Keligiousness , and l
think that designation best hts its rel igious sensibil ity and mode ol argumenta-
tion. 1he sheer lact that Clement writes at the end ol the hrst century i n the
name ol "the church ol Cod which sojourns in Kome" to "the church ol Cod
which sojourns in Corinth," however, also says something about the author`s
sense ol church and authority. 1he sending and receiving ol emissaries be-
tween the communities also poi nts to a koinonia that was actively p\acticed
(1 Clem, . i). l special interest to the present discussion is that Clement`s
concern lor harmony in the Corinthian community is intimately li nked to a
specihc understanding ol the authority vested in bishops. 1he apostles knew
that there would be competition lor this olhce, so they appoi nted bishops and
provided lor their succession qq. iz). lt is not right, therelore, to overturn those
who hold position legitimately according to that succession qq. ). "Ior our sin
is not small, il we eject lrom the episcopate those who have blamelessly and ho
lily offered its sacrifces" qq. q, emphasis added). ' Here, Clement connects the
authority ol bishops to a liturgical role and describes that liturgical role in terms
ol sacrihce (prspherein ta dor, or ollering the gilts).
ln an earl ier passage Clement speaks about the i mportance ol observing the
proper order commanded by the Master qo. i-q). "He commanded us to cele-
brate sacrihces and services [tas te prsphoras kai leitourgias epiteleisthai] and
that it should not be thoughtlessly or disorderly, but at hxed times and hours . . .
so then those who oher their oblations [poiountes tas prsphoras] at the ap-
pointed seasons are acceptable and blessed [euprosdektoi te kai makarioi] ."
Again, we see the technical language ol sacrihce. 1o what extent is Clement ar-
guing lrom analogy to the cult ol lsrael , and to what extent is he simply appropri-
ating it lor Christian worship lt is dilhcult to say, as the lollowing sentence
indicates. "Ior to the high lriest his proper ministrations are allotted, and to the
priests the proper place has been appointed, and on Levites their proper services
have been imposed. 1he layman rho laiRos] is bound by the ordinances ol the
laity" qo. ).
1he next section clearly appears to be arguing lrom analogy to lsrael , lor
Clement speaks ol sacrihces being ohered only in )erusalem and only by the
high priest qi. z). His overall point, then, is that there should be good order in
worship. "Let each one ol us, brethren, be well pleasing to Cod in his own
rank, and have a good conscience, not transgressing the appointed rules ol his
37
ministration [tes leitourgias autou]" (41 . 1). ut Clement appears to be perlectly
comlortable with the inlerence that the bishop, as head ol the community,
plays a role in worship analogous to that ol the high priest.
lgnatius was even bolder in asserting an authority to teach churches other
than his own. Lven as he made his way as a prisoner to Kome, the bishop ol
Antioch dispatched emissaries to communities throughout Asia Mi nor and sent
them hortatory letters. 1he constant theme ol these letters is unity, and this
unity is expressed in terms ol harmony with the bishop and presbytery, while
harmony is articulated through submission to the authority ol the bishop and
presbytery.` lgnatius is the hrst to speak ol the katholike ekklesia Ign. Smyr. , 8. 2)
in terms ol assembl ies so l i nked together, in contrast to unauthorized assem-
blies. As support lor such submission to the authority ol the bishop and presby-
tery), lgnatius brings lorward a variety ol theological warrants. 1his institutional
arrangement was instituted by the will ol )esus lgn. Eph. , 30 2). He praises the
deacon Zotion, who is "subject to the bishop as to the grace ol Cod and to the
presbytery as to the law ol )esus Christ" lgn. Magn. , 2. 1). 1he converse is some-
one separated "lrom )esus Christ and lrom the bishop and the ordinances ol
the apostles" lgn. Tral. , 7. 1).
As the last statement shows, lgnatius was particularly lond ol merging the in-
stitutional leadership ol the assembly with the divine persons. Speaking ol his
lellowship with the Lphesian bishop as "not human but spiritual," he adds, "how
much more do l count you blessed who are so united with hi m as the church is
with )esus Christ and as )esus Christ is with the Iather" lgn. Eph. , 5. 2).
Agai n, "As many as belong to Cod and )esus Christthese are with the
bishop" Ign. Phil. , 30 2), and "the Lord then lorgives all who repent, il their re-
pentance lead to the unity ol Cod and the council ol the bishop" (8. 1). lndeed,
"it is clear that we must regard the bishop as the Lord himsell" lgn. Eph. , 6. 1),
because "the bishop is a type [typos] ol the lather" lgn. Trl. , 3- 1), and respect
shown the bishop is equivalent to respect paid to Cod lgn. Tral. , 3- 1-2). lgnatius
says, "Let us then be carelul not to oppose the bishop, that we may be subject to
Cod" lgn. Eph. , 5. 3). He declares, "e zealous to do all things in harmony with
Cod, with the bishop presiding in the place ol Cod and the presbyters in the
place ol the council ol the Apostles, and the deacons, who are most dear to me,
entrusted with the service ol)esus Christ, who was lrom eternity with the Iather
and was made manilest at the end ol time . . . . e united with the bishop and
with those who preside over you as an example and lesson ol immortal ity" Ign.
Magn. , 6. 1-2).
ln some passages, lgnatius employs specihcally cultic language. "Unless a
man be within the sanctuary [entos tou thysiasteriou, or place ol sacrihce| he
2
3
lacks the bread ol Cod [tou artou tou theou] , lor il the prayer ol one or two has
such might, how much more has that ol the bishop and ol the whole church"
Here, the prayer ol the community j oined to that ol the bishop is expl icitly
identihed as the place ol sacrihce. lgnatius says elsewhere, "He who is within
the sanctuary [entos tou thysiasteriou] is pure, but he who is without the sanctu-
ary is not pure, that is to say whoever does anything apart lrom the bishop and
the presbytery and the deacons is not pure in his conscience" Ign. Trl. , y.z).
1he same understanding appl ies to the Lucharist as well . "e carelul there-
lore to use one Lucharist lor there is one hesh ol our Lord )esus Christ, and
one cup lor union with his blood, one altar, as there is one bishop with the
presbytery and the deacons my lellow servants) in order that whateve| you do
you may do it according to Cod" lgn. Phil. , q. i).
ln his letter to the Smyrnaeans, lgnatius speaks ol the heretics who "abstain
lrom Lucharist and prayer, because they do not conless that the Lucharist is
the hesh ol our savior )esus Christ," and declares that it is correct, in turn, not
to associate with such people and that one should instead lollow the truth ol
the Cospel and celebrate Lucharist with those who hold to it. "See that you all
lollow the bishop, as )esu Christ lollows the Iather, and the presbytery as il it
were the apostles. And reverence the deacons as the command ol Cod. Let no
one do any ol the things pertaining to the church without the bishop. Let that
be considered a vali d Lucharist [bebaia eucharistia] which is celebrated by the
bishop, or by one whom he appoints. Wherever the bishop appears let the con-
gregation be present, j ust as wherever )esus Christ is, there is the cathol ic
church [katholike ekklesia] . lt is not lawlul [ouk exon estin] either to baptize or to
hold an àgape` without the bishop" lgn. Smyr. , y.iS.z). lgnatius provides all
three aspects ol a developing Kel igiousness O. the locus on the bishop as the
essential point ol church unity, a thoroughgoing theological rational ization lor
this central ity, and identihcation ol the bishop`s role as celebrant ol ritual with
sacrihcial overtones.
Similarly, i n )ustin Martyr`s First Apology, the description ol Christian wor-
ship locuses on the role ol the "presider over the brethren" (proestoti ton adel
phon) as the one to whom bread and wine are "ollered" (prospherein) lor hi s
blessing (1 Apol, and y). 1hat )usti n i s deliberate in using the technical
term lor sacrihce here is indicated by a passage i n hi s Dialogue with Trypho
that i nterprets Malachi i. ii"ln every place incense shall be ollered unto my
name and a pure ohering" with relerence to the Christian cult. "He then
speaks ol those Centiles, namely us, who in every place oller sacrihces [thysiai]
to him, that is the bread ol the eucharist, and also the cup ol the eucharist"
(Dial, qi).'
39
LAKLY CHUKCH KOLKS
1he very emergence ol compositions that have come to be called "church
orders"` suggests the development ol a rel igious sensibil ity locused on stabiliz-
ing the worldin this case, the world ol community practice, lulhlling the
Apostle`s desire that all things in the assembly be done "decently and i n good
order" (1 Cor 14: 40). Written anonymously, these orders present themselves as
the "teachi ng" or "tradition" ol the apostles, thus claiming lor a once volatile
movement the stabilizing inhuence ol antiquity and apostol ic authority. 1hey
occupy the position, indeed, ol "holy law" lor the Christian community i n the
second and third century, laying the loundations lor what will eventually be-
come "canon law.` My i nterest in the three compositions that can conhdently
be dated to the second and third century remains locused on the central au-
thority ol the bishop, his l iturgical role, and the conception ol Christian wor-
ship as sacrihce.
1he Didache "1eaching ol the 1welve Apostles") is generally recognized as
the earliest ol church orders, though its date and history ol composition is still
debated. ' lts hrst six chapters contai n moral instruction concerning "the two
ways" ol l i le and death, chapters 7-15 deal with community practice, and
chapter 16 concludes with an eschatological warning. Alter describing the man-
ner ol baptizing (7) and praying S), the composition turns to the Lucharistic
prayer (9-10), belore discussing the issue ol leadership over the assembly (11-13).
1he main locus is on the power and problems ol itinerant prophets (11-12), in-
cluding their support. l particular i nterest is the way the composition speaks
ol the support ol true prophets as the support ol priests. "1hou shalt take the
hrstlruit [aparche] ol the produce ol the winepress and ol the threshi ng-hoor
and ol oxen and sheep, and shall give them as hrst-lruits to the prophet, lor they
are your high priests [eisin hoi archiereis hyman]" (13- 3).
9
lmmediately alter this passage, the Didache turns to the holding ol the Lu-
charist on the Lord`s day and speaks ol it as a sacrihce. "let none who has a
quarrel with hi s lel low j oin in your meeting until they be reconciled, that your
sacrihce not be dehled [hina me koinathe he thysia hyman]" (14.2). 1o this in-
struction is attached the quotation lrom Malachi 11: 1 that was used also by )us-
tin. "Ior this is that which was spoken by the Lord, ` ln every place and time
oller me a pure sacrihce [prospherein moi thysias] , lor l am a great king, saith
the Lord, ànd my name is wonderlul among the nations` " (14.3). And i mmedi-
ately lollowing this instruction i s the command to make bishops and deacons
worthy ol the Lord, "lor they also mi nister to you the mi nistry [leitourgousi
kai autoi ten leitourgian] ol the prophets and teachers" (15. 1). 1he Didache
2
4
0 Stabilizing the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianit
legitimates the place ol local bishops by connecting it to the charismatic author-
ity ol apostles and prophets, suggests that the bishops continue the liturgical
lunction ol prophets, and expl icitly uses sacrihcial language lor the Lucharist.
1he Apostolic Tradition is an early third-century church order that is attrib-
uted to Hippolytus ol Kome ca. iyoca. z), although like the Didache, its
provenance may be Syria. ' " ln it, the complete hierarchical order is lound. mo-
narchical bishop, presbyterate, and diaconate, as well as other orders. readers,
virgins, widows, conlessors, subdeacons, and healers. ln addition to treatments
ol these olhces, the composition takes up baptism, the Lucharist, lastingall
topics lound in the Didache-as well as a variety ol i nstructions lor quotidian
aspects ol l i le. modes ol eating, l ighting ol lamps, times ol prayer, places lor
burial' ne has the sense, in reading the Apostolic Tradition, ol an ever-
increasing ordering ol the li le ol the laithlul . 1he main locus, nevertheless, is
on the bishop, whose selection and ordination is the hrst topic considered z. i~
. ) and whose authority runs through the discussion ol all other topics.
1wo i nterrelated aspects ol the bishop`s i ncreased prominence are notewor-
thy. 1he hrst is that here we hnd the bishop expl icitly designated as high
priest. ln the prayer lor the ordi nation ol the bishop, Cod is asked to gilt "thi s
your servant, whom you have chosen lor the episcopate, to leed your holy hock
and to exercise the hi gh priesthood lor you without blame, mi nistering ni ght
and day." 1his mi nistry is described in specihcally sacrihcial terms. the bi shop
i s "unceasingly to propitiate your countenance and to oller to you the holy
gilts ol your church" . q). ln addition to lorgiving sins and assigning lots, the
bishop is to "please you Cod| i n gentleness and a pure heart, ollering to you a
sweet-smelling savor" . ). Later, in the di scussion ol the bishop`s visiting the
sick, the composition states, "lor a sick person is greatly consoled when the high
priest remembers hi m" q).
1he second aspect i s that such sacerdotal language is emphatically absent in
discussions ol the presbytery and diaconate. lt is the bishop who recites the
words ol the Lucharist, declaring "we oher you the bread and cup" q. ii). lt is
the bishop who says the prayer over hrst lruits i. i). ut no sacrihcial lan-
guage appears i n the discussion ol ordination to the presbytery y. i). And in
the Sahidic version) a sharp l i ne ol demarcation is made between l iturgical and
nonliturgical orders. "ut the ordination is lor the clergy lor the sake ol the lit-
urgies, and the widow is appointed only lor the sake ol the prayer, and this be-
longs to everyone" io. ). 1he central and sacral role ol the bishop emerges
much more clearly in the Apostolic Trdition than in the Didache.
1he Didascalia Apostolorum also comes lrom the third century, composed
in Creek but available today only in an early Syriac translation and Latin lrag-
Stabilizing the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianit 21
ments. ' lt presents itsell as having been composed by a council ol the apostles
like that described i n Acts i and dispatched to all the churches prior to the geo-
graphical dispersal ol the apostles to the nations zqz). More hortatory than
canonical in tone, it touches on a variety ol aspects ol Christian l i le, including
marriage z), widows iqi), deacons and deaconesses i), orphans iy and
zz), contributions lor the poor iS), martyrs i), the resurrection zo), the pas-
chal celebration zi), and heresies z). A substantial portion ol the work, how-
ever, is devoted to the bishop qiz), and in this discussion, we hnd lurther
evidence lor the exaltation ol this position and its identihcation with a sacrih-
cial priesthood.
1he hrst chapter devoted to the subject q) insists that the bishop is to be a
man ol outstanding virtue and an example to the people. Lven il not learned, he
is to be so steeped in the tradition that he can instruct the people, reading and
expounding the scripture. 1wice in this discussion ii. and i i . ), the bishop is,
through scriptural allusion, identihed as a priest. Chapter q discusses the bish-
op`s role as judge in the church, concluding with this remarkable exhortation.
"Wherelore 0 bishop, strive to be pure in thy works. And know thy place, that
thou art set in the li keness ol Cod almighty, and holdest the place ol Cod al-
mighty, and so sit in the church and teach as having authority to judge them that
sin in the room ol Cod almighty. Ior to you bishops it is said in the Cospel.
hat which ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven` " ii.u). ecause ol
this exalted status, the bishop is to listen only to Cod and not to laypeople. "lt
behoves thee not, 0 bishop, that being the head thou shouldst obey the tail, that
is a layman, a contentious man who desires the destruction ol another, but do
thou regard only the word ol the Lord Cod" ii. i). Chapter makes clear that
laypeople have responsibil ity only lor themselves, whereas the bishop bears re-
sponsibil ity lor all, because ol the olhce ol priesthood. "As, therelore thou carri-
est the burden ol all, be watchlul, lor it is written. he Lord said unto Moses,
1hou and Aaron shall take upon you the sins ol the priesthood` " ii. iy). Chapter
y instructs laypeople to revere the bishop "as Cod aher Cod almighty, lor to the
bishop it was said through the apostles. `Lvery one that heareth you, heareth me,
and every one that rej ecteth you rejecteth me, and him that sent me` " i i . i).
lt is right that bishops should live lrom the donations made to the church,
chapter S argues, because bishops hold the same place as priests in the ld 1es-
tamcnt. "You also then to-day, 0 bishops, are priests to your people, and the
levites who minister to the tabernacle ol Cod, the holy cathol ic church, who
stand continually belore the Lord Cod" ii. z). An extensive passage lrom Num-
bers iS. iz is quoted in support ol this position. "Ior as you administer the ol-
hce ol the bishopric, so lrom the same olhce ol the bishopric ought you to be
2
Stabilizing the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianity
nourished, as the priests and Levites and ministers who serve belore Cod" i i . z).
1he equivalence is given more development in chapter 9, which declares that
the priests and Levites ol the lormer dispensation are now the "presbyters and
deacons, and the orphans and widows," and therelore ought to l ive on the lunds
donated to the church, but that the bishop occupies an even greater position.
"the Levite and High lriest is the bishop . . . . He is minister ol the word and
mediator, but to you a teacher, and your lather alter Cod, who begot you through
the water. 1his is your chiel and your leader, and he is your mighty kind. He
rules in place ol the Almighty, but let him be honored by you as Cod, lor the
bishop sits lor you in the place ol Cod almighty . . . . ll any man do aught without
the bishop, he does it i n vain, lor it shall not be accounted to him as a woik, lor
it is not htting that any man should do aught apart lrom the high priest" ii. zy).
1he Didascalia similarly justihes lorbidding direct access to the bishop~
laypeople must go through deacons to approach himby invoking the analogy ol
the ancient temple sanctuary. ln lact, justihcation is drawn as well lrom the prac-
tice ol pagan temples and priesthood ii. zS). Christians are to give the bishop
even more respect. "do you therelore esteem the bishop as the mouth ol Cod"
ii.zS), "Love the bishop as a lather, and lear him as a king, and honour hi m as
Cod" ii. q). When the church gathers lor worship, the bishop is to sit on a throne
in the midst ol the presbyters and removed lrom the laypeople ii. y). When he
says the Lucharistic prayer, it is a priestly "oblation" i i . q, i i . , i i . q).
1he evidence ol the early church orders conhrms that provided by Clement,
lgnatius, and )ustin. i n the second and third century, there was an increased
concentration on the authority ol the bishop, this position was given theologi-
cal justihcation, and just as the Lucharist was conceived ol as a sacrihce, so was
the bishop`s l iturgical and administrative role thought ol i n terms ol priesthood.
1he specihc symbol ism lor the hi erarchical language was derived lrom scrip-
ture. ut i n at least one instance the Didascalia), the practices ol pagan tem-
ples and priesthoods provide precedent. And, in lact, the actual arrangements
ol the Christian assembly resembled those ol Hellenistic cultic associations
more than they did the worship at the temple in )erusalem. 1he "sacrihce" ol
the Lucharist, alter all, was ollered in every community and not simply i n )eru-
salem, and bishops who served as "priests" did so not because ol tribal ancestry
but because ol their election by the assembly.
1HL _UAK1OLClMAN CN1KVLKSY
ln the hlth book ol his Ecclesiastical History (HE), Lusebius ol Caesarea
describes a late second-century conhicthe characterizes it as "no small
Stabilizing the World in Second- and Third-Century Christianit
23
controversy" that as much as anything else exempl ihes the steady development
ol episcopal power within a larger Christian politeia. 1he conhict was over l itur-
gical observance. the maj ority ol Christians celebrated "the Savior`s lassover"
(HE, . z. i), that is, Laster, on the Sunday lollowing iqth Nisan, the day ol )ew-
ish lassover, Christians in Asia Mi nor, however, celebrated it on the same day
as the )ewish lassover, namely, iqth Nisanthus the name "_uartodeciman"
"iqth day"). I3 1he larger issue, however, concerned the tension between local
tradition and liturgical diversity and the desire lor ecclesiastical unity, especially
in a period when communities were divided by heresies and threatened by per-
secution. Since Lusebius recounts the story in straightlorward lashion and be-
cause he is our only source ol inlormation, l will simply lollow his account. ''
Lusebius begins with the position ol those convinced that it was not right "to
hnish the last on any day save that ol the resurrection ol our savior" . z. i), that
is, Sunday. He does not elaborate theological reasons lor this conviction, but he
cites the various regional councils ol bishops that had been held and that "ex-
pressed one and same opinion and judgment, and gave the same vote" . z. q) .
the bishops ol )erusalem and Caesarea presided over a synod ol lalestinian
bishops, the bishop ol Kome, Victor, held a synod ol his bishops, and there were
lurther synods ol bishops in lontus, Caul over which lrenaeus presided), s-
rhoene and the cities in that region, ' ` and one convened by the bishop ol
Corinth, as well as "very many more" . z. ~q). Lusebius reports, lurthermore,
that the bishops i n the lalestinian region, alter settl ing their own position with
respect to the custom, sent letters to every diocese communicating their deci-
sion . z. i). Several things emerge lrom this prel iminary stage. hrst, bishops
are the spokespersons lor their communities, second, together with bishops ol
other assembl ies, they make decisions that allect all assemblies, third, not all
bishops are equalsome exercise regional and not merely local authority,
lourth, bishops concern themselves not merely with administration and doc-
trine but with correctness i n cultic observance, hlth, bishops maintain koinonia
through the exchange ol letters among dioceses.
Aher these synods had issued their j oint decision that Laster must lall on a
Sunday, the bishops in Asia, led by lolycrates ol Lphesus, persisted in stating
that "it was necessary lor them to keep the custom which had been handed
down to them ol old" (HE, . zq. i), namely, to observe the resurrection on iqth
Nisan. lolycrates also represents "many multitudes" ol bishops with hi m when
he writes a letter to Victor and the church ol Kome . zq. S). His writing specih-
cally to Victor suggests the emerging role ol Kome as the central authority
among other regional centers, a natural position, given the lact that it existed in
the imperial city and could claim a double apostolic loundation. ' lolycrates
24
makes two lundamental appeals. the Asian custom goes back to the apostle
)ohn, who "sleeps i n Lphesus," and other apostol ic leaders, including lhilip
and three ol his daughters, the custom was practiced, moreover, by all ol the
bishops and saints ol the region, including the great lolycarp ol Smyrna, " both
bishop and martyr," and the seven members ol loly crates` lamily who were bish-
ops belore him in Lphesus. All these, lolycrates avers, "kept the lourteenth day
ol the lassover according to the gospel, never swerving, but lollowing accord-
ing to the rule ol laith" . zq. zy).
1hree aspects ol hi s letter demand attention. Iirst, we learn that the bishop-
ric can be hereditaryit has passed through eight generations ol lolycrates`
lamilyin the manner ol Creco-Koman priesthoods. Second, lolycrats sees
this liturgical use as consistent with the "rule ol laith" (kanona tes pisteos), an
important claim, because it suggests that a variety ol liturgical customs can ht
within the essential creed shared by all Christians. he and his lellow bishops
are not heretics or sectarians but lollow a diherent apostolic tradition than does
Kome. 1hi rd, lolycrates makes an expl icit appeal to the precedent set by the
apostle leter when called belore the Sanhedrin i n )erusalem and told to stop
preaching i n the name ol )esus. "Ior they who have said who were greater than
l, `lt is better to obey Cod rather than men` " Acts . z) . ' '
Victor ol Kome immediately sent out letters announcing that al l the churches
in Asia and its adjacent regions were excommunicated "lrom the common unity"
(tes koines henoseos) on the grounds ol heresy (heterdoxousas; HE, . zq. ). lt
was a classic case ol political overreaching. A number ol other bishops sent Vic-
tor letters, "sharply rebuking" hi m and asking hi m to think (phronein) in terms
ol peace and unity and love toward his "neighbor" (plesion; . zq. io). Among the
letters sent to Victor was one by lrenaeus ol Lyons, who agreed with Victor`s
position regarding Laster but disagreed with his political aggression. Lusebius
says that lrenaeus exhorted Victor "suitably and at length" not "to excommuni-
cate whole churches ol Cod lor lollowing an ancient custom" . zq. ii) and
quotes extensively lrom lrenaeus` letter. lrenaeus makes the point that disagree-
ments about Laster are not recent, nor have they proven disruptive ol church
unity in the past. "all these l ived in peace with one another and the disagree-
ments in the last [diaphonia tes nesteias] conhrms our agreement in the laith
(homonoia tes pisteos)" . zq. i).
His more telling point is that none ol Victor`s predecessors as bishop ol Kome
had seen ht either to impose their liturgical custom on others or reluse com-
munion to those whose custom dillered lrom theirs. lrenaeus recounts the
specihc instance when lolycarp visited Kome in the time ol Anicetus ca. i).
"although they disagreed a l ittle about some other matters as well , they imme-
25
diately made peace, having no wish lor strile between them on this matter"
. zq. i). Neither lolycarp nor Anicetus was able to persuade the other ol the
correctness ol his own observance, but "under these circumstances they com-
municated with each other, and in the church, Anicetus yielded the celebra-
tion ol the Lucharist to lolycarp, obviously out ol respect, and they parted lrom
each other in peace, lor the peace ol the whole church was kept by those who
observed and those who did not" . zq. iy).
1he evidence l hav

drawn lrom three second-century writers, lrom church
orders ol the second and third centuries, and lrom Lusebius` account ol the
_uartodeciman controversy is insulhcient to provide a lull account ol Christi-
anity`s i nternal political development i n the centuries between the New 1esta-
ment and Constantine. lt is sulhcient, however, to establ ish that long belore
Christianity achieved its position as the imperial rel igion, bishops had emerged
as local leaders, some exercised dominance over entire regions, and some met in
councils to decide disputed issues. lt i s also sulhcient to show that episcopal
power was symbol ized in terms ol the high priesthood ol the ld 1estament and
that the celebration ol the Lucharist by bishops was characterized in terms ol
sacrihce.
1he synods and letters that were generated by the paschal controversy also
showed how bishops were deeply involved in matters ol cult and how they in-
creasingly thought ol their role in terms ol the whole church (he ekklesia he
katholike) rather than simply i n terms ol the local assembly. Such arrangements
increasingly matched and mirrored the lunctions ol priesthood withi n Creco-
Koman civic cults and Hellenistic rel igious associationsone can think ol Ael-
ius Aristides` relusal ol positions in such priestly olhces at precisely the same
period and in precisely the same location. lnsolar as Kel igiousness O represents
the "supply side" ol Kel igiousness A, that is, ensuring that the practices ol wor-
ship that give access to the divine dynamis will rel iably be available, these de-
velopments withi n the Christian episcopacy move in the same direction.
1he other dimension ol Kel igiousness O that l have identihed is lound in
individuals who expl icitly articulate their religious ideals i n terms ol what l
have called "stabilizing the world," who locus not on their own experience ol
power or on the moral translormation ol themselves or others, and who cer-
tainly do not seek to hee body and community in order to save their souls, but
who seek to establ ish genuine eusebeia in the public and shared practices ol
rel igion. ln Creco-Koman rel igion, l saw llutarch ol Chaeronea as represent-
ing this way ol being rel igious. ln the second and third Christian centuries,
such a sensibil ity is represented above all by two bishops, lrenaeus ol Lyons and
Cyprian ol Carthage.
2
4
l KLNALUS I LYNS
Lusebius knows lrenaeus best as an active participant in the _uartodeciman
controversy. He says that "Irenaeus, who deserved hi s name, making an eireni-
con in this way, gave exhortations ol this kind lor the peace ol the church and
served as its ambassador, lor i n letters he di scussed the various views on the is-
sue that had been raised, not only with Victor but with many other rulers ol
churches" (HE, . zq. iS). He makes only a briel mention ol the bishop as writer. '
ut i t is in hi s capacity as the author ol Adversus Haereses-whose descriptions
ol Cnosticism and whose polemic against them we saw in Chapter iqthat we
gain some sense ol lrenaeus` perception ol the church as a political entity that
motivated both his tireless ehorts to make peace among those whose di ller-
ences were not a threat to the essential rule ol laith and his passionate repulsion
ol the heretics whose myths he saw as lundamentally at odds with the truth ol
the Cospel . ln both cases, it is critical to recognize, lrenaeus thought ol
"church" not in terms simply ol the local assembly, or even ol those assembl ies
over which he had di rect charge, but in terms ol a worldwide society bound to-
gether by clear and visible identity markers whose preservation was necessary
lor the society to survive. ' '
ln the prelace to book i, lrenaeus identihes himsell as a "resident among the
Kelts . . . accustomed lor the most part to use a barbarous dialect" and i ncapa-
ble ol rhetoric or distinction i n style lrel. ). Unl ike llutarch, then, who wrote
specihcally as a Creek to repulse barbarous waysand who attacked both athe-
ism and superstition because in di llerent ways they led to barbarismlrenaeus
accepts Christianity as sharing i n the "barbarian" wisdom ol the )ews. lt i s part
ol his polemic, indeed, to suggest that some Cnostic speculations are simply
reconhgurations ol pagan myths (Adversus Haereses, z. iq). lrenaeus` delense is
not ol Creek culture and ol the rel igion that supported it but ol the "truth" that
is lound i n the "oracles ol Cod" distorted by the heretics when they claim to
oller something better than "that Cod who created the heaven and the earth,
and all things that are therein". "y means ol specious and plausible words, they
cunningly allure the simple-minded to inquire i nto their system, but they nev-
ertheless clumsily destroy them . . . and these simple ones are unable, even in
such a matter, to distinguish lalsehood lrom truth" lrel. i).
lrenaeus writes to his "dear lriend" undoubtedly another bishop), then, in
order to expose the lalsehoods, so that his lellow bishop, in turn, "mayest explain
them to all those with whom thou art connected, and exhort them to avoid
such an abyss ol madness and ol blasphemy against Christ" lrel z). His writ-
ing, in short, is a political act intended to persuade lellow teachers to al ign
47
themselves with his position and to in turn persuade others. 1he unspoken as-
sumption is that the "simple-minded" who are easily swayed by heresy are the
unlearned laity, while those able to learn and teach soundly are those who have
been assigned the role ol priests and teachers within Cod`s church. lrenaeus
concludes the prelace with the wish that his lriend might, "according to the
grace given thee by the Lord, prove an earnest and elhcient mi nister to others,
that men may no longer be drawn away by the plausible system ol these here-
tics" lrel ).
lt is no accident that lrenaeus identihes the rej ection ol the one creator Cod
as the central error ol the Cnostics, lrom which all else hows, or that he devotes
his entire second book to a theological argument on behall ol that one creator
Cod see z. ). His theological response to the Cnostics as he understands
them, to be sure) is i ntellectually coherent and is necessary to at least sketch in
briel, i l we are to appreciate his overal l strategy ol Christian sell-dehnition. ll
the one good Cod is the creator ol all that is in heaven and earth, then matter
is not an evil obstacle but a divine gih and the vehicle ol divine power. ll matter
is good, in turn, then bodies are good. ll bodies are good and are the arena ol
divine activity, then historythat is, bodies in motion through time and space~
can also be the stage lor divine action. Irom this premise, lrenaeus can argue
lor the lull humanity ol )esus and his physical resurrection, the unity ol revela-
tion between the ld and New 1estaments, and the luture accompl ishment ol
Cod`s kingdom i n the material world. And il all this be grantedand lre-
naeus argues that it is the plai n sense ol scripture' then material institutions
are also good and capable ol bearing the divine power. lrenaeus` theology ol
creation and incarnation supports a vision ol the church as publ ic, historical,
and thoroughly institutional. 1he source ol truth is not the individual teacher
who trades in revelation but the body ol bishops who preserve the traditions ol
the apostles.
1he diagnosis and dismissal ol lalse teachings is, in lrenaeus` view, insulh-
cient, lor heresies are l ike viruses that can recur in ever changing lorms. Ior the
church to be stable i n the lace ol the human desire lor novelty and superstition,
a sol id lramework ol sell-dehnition is required, one that is capable ol respond-
ing not only to the present but to all luture outbreaks ol heresy among the laith-
lul . lrenaeus` overall strategy, then, consists in establ ishing a tripod ol Christian
sell-dehnition. the rule ol laith creed), the collection ol scriptures canon), and
the teaching olhce ol bishops council). 1hese correspond to the specihc chal-
lenge ol Cnosticism, which ollered new and speculative myths, new revelatory
writings, and new charismatic teachers, but they also provided a resil ient lrame-
work lor negotiating later i nternal Christian disputes.
2
4
A lascinating aspect ol lrenaeus` tripod is that the three legs are not truly in-
dependent but point toward each other and depend on each other lrom the
start. Not one ol them can stand alone, and the visible church cannot rest its
identity simply on one in isolation lrom the others. 1hus, the hrst leg ol the
tripod is the rule ol laith, which lrenaeus introduces early in book i. "the
church, though di spersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends ol
the earth, has received lrom the apostles and their disciples this laith" i. io. i).
1he laith, we see immediately, is one that i s conhrmed by the apostol ic succes-
sion and the agreement ol Christians throughout the world. Aher lrenaeus
provides a sketch ol this laithunderstood as a body ol doctrine rather than as
an existential response or as a code ol ethicsin the one Cod and the incrnate
Christ, he returns to the lact ol its universal ecclesial embrace. 1he church as a
whole carelully preserves "this preaching and this laith," in perlect harmony,
"as il she possessed only one mouth". "Ior the churches which have been
planted i n Cermany do not believe or hand down anything di llerent, nor those
in Caul, nor those i n the Last, nor those in Lgypt, nor those i n Libya, nor those
which have been establ ished in the central regions ol the world. " He adds that
no "ruler ol the church" that is, bishop), "however highly gihed he may be in
point ol eloquence, teaches| doctrines dillerent lrom these lor no one is greater
than the Master), nor, on the other hand, will he who is dehcient in expression
inhict injury on the tradition" i. io. ). 1he point is that the tradition is greater
and more central than any gilt ol individual insight or expression.
Similarly, although lrenaeus does not make a lormal argument concerning
canon as such, it is clear that there is the strongest possible relationship between
the rule ol laith and the writings ol the ld and New 1estaments. He does insist
that there are, and can be, only lour Cospels . ii. i). ` And his thoroughgoing
use ol the LXX argues impl icitly that it is the source ol truth about the one cre-
ator Cod and Cod`s activity in the world. ' ut lor the other writings ol the New
1estament, his argument is more complex, showing how the rule ol laith is not
lound in the Cnostic writings and claiming that Cnostic interpretations contort
the publ ic and clear sense ol the writings that Christians as a whole embrace as
apostol ic. ` lt is entirely consistent with lrenaeus` overall perspective that he in-
sists on reading laul , lor example, in terms ol l iterary context, grammar, and
syntax, lor these are precisely what might be called the "institutional," structural
elements ol language. 1he primacy ol the traditional scriptures is secured, h-
nally, by the lact that they are the ones used by Christian teachers lrom the be-
ginning, whereas the Cnostic texts have only recently appeared.
lrenaeus similarly places his argument lrom apostol ic succession in book .
49
in the context ol an argument that the heretics lol low neither scripture nor tra-
dition . z). ln contrast to the recent appearance ol the heretics"prior to Val-
entinus, there were no Valentinians, nor did those lrom Marcion exist belore
Marcion" )the great church is able to trace its authority back to the
apostles i n unbroken sequence. Although lrenaeus claims that in principle the
succession can be traced lor all the churches, he chooses to delineate that "ol
the very great, the very ancicnt and universally known church lounded and or-
ganized at Kome by the two most glorious apostles, leter and laul " . i. z). Key
to his argument, to be sure, is the premise that the hrst bishops are successors
chosen by the apostles . . ) and the premise, which lrenaeus makes expl icit,
that il the apostles wanted to pass on secret lore they surely would have done so
to "those to whom they were committing the churches themselves" . . i). 1he
lact is the opposite. all the successors ol the apostles have taught the same
truths that are lound in the rule ol laith . i. iz). '
All ol the bishops in li ne lrom the apostles, lrenaeus asserts, also read the
same scripture. n this point, lrenaeus appeals to Clement ol Kome, " in the
third place lrom the apostles," and relers expl icitly to his letter to the Corinthi-
ans i n which he cites the tradition received lrom the apostles and makes use
ol the writings ol the ld 1estament (Adversus Haereses, . . ). Similarly, lre-
naeus invokes lolycarpwho knew the apostle )ohnas an episcopal predeces-
sor in the battle against heresy. )ust as )ohn the disciple ol the Lord hed the
bath house at the entrance ol the heretic Cerinthus, so did lolycarp address
Marcion as the "hrst-born ol Satan" . . q).
1he rule ol laith and the scripture are publ ic instruments that can be de-
ployed publicly i n a process ol community dehnition. 1hey are available to all,
not only i n the present but lrom the start ol the Christian movement. 1hey are
secured in their existence and in their meaning by the most publ ic instrument
ol all, the bishops who preserve the traditions and pass them on lrom genera-
tion to generation. Although lrenaeus does not take up l iturgical issues in Ad
versus Haereses and does not argue lor the priestly character ol the bishops
withi n their own assembl ies, everything that he ascribes to these visible leaders
as the stabil izers ol the Christian tradition conlorms perlectly to the develop-
ments l have sketched earlier i n this chapter. Irom beginning to end, lrenaeus`
argument is political in character. He does not claim that the bishops are the
hol iest ol men or that they are the most learned, still less that they have re-
ceived special revelations. He does claim that the church rests on the bishops
precisely as it rests on the apostles, as the continuing bodily institutional) pres-
ence ol the incarnate Cod.
2
CYlKlAN I CAK1HACL
1hrascius Cyprianus was born circa zoo and was trained as a rhetorician.
)erome tells us that "under the i nhuence ol the priest Caecilius, lrom whom he
received his surname, he became a Christian, and gave all his lortune to the
poor." ln his letter To Donatus, he provides a moving account ol his conver-
sion lrom the vanities ol his pagan and prolessional existence. He was quickly~
though not without some resistance among the presbyterselected bishop ol
Carthage i n zqS and was immediately lorced to deal with the Occian persecu-
tion zo), which had two distinctive leatures. it ahected the entire empire, and
it required participation in pagan sacrihce lrom all. Many Christians submit-
ted, and these lapsi "the lapsed," that is, those who submitted to giving sacri-
hce or provided certihcations i nstead) gave rise to the most serious crises ol
Cyprian`s relatively short tenure as bishop ol Carthage. When persecution was
renewed under Valerian, Cyprian was martyred outside Carthage i n zS.
Although he was a great admirer ol 1ertullian ca. iozz)according to
)erome, he never let a day go by without reading "the master"' Cyprian did
not share 1ertull ian`s hery temperament or harsh sectarianism. Although two
ol his treatises take the lorm ol apologies against paganism, the maj ority ol
them deal with pastoral issues. ` He was less a scholar ol scripture than a
compiler ol prool texts that could be used in sermons and arguments. ` ' 1wo
treatises, "n the Unity ol the Church" i) and "n the Lapsed" ), as well as
a substantial portion ol his extant letters, deal with the most pressing pastoral
issue he laced as a result ol the Oecian persecution.
His letters remind us ol those reported to have been written by lrenaeus.
Some are pastoral letters in the strict sense, through which he communicated
to the presbytery and people ol Carthage. ut apart lrom a handlul ol letters
that announce the ordination ol individuals to various ranks and a lew others
that take up matters ol practice, most provide di rection concerning the treat-
ment ol the lapsed and other points ol contention. ` Cyprian also wrote di rectly
to the lapsed (Letter, z) as well as to conlessors those who had resisted the
imperial edict, Letters, i, zq, o) and to those lacing martyrdom
7
, So), simi-
larly, conlessors and martyrs, even ol other communities, also wrote to hi m i,
z, q, q,
7
S,
7
)

1he part ol his correspondence that is ol the greatest interest lor the present
study, however, concerns the letters Cyprian wrote to other churches and
bishops, lor these show the same sort ol deliberate cultivation ol koinonia that
we observed in the synods and letters in the _uartodeciman controversy. 1hus,
because some ol the Carthaginian presbyters objected to hi s ordination as
bishop, and because Cyprian withdrew when the Oecian persecution began,
the church in Kome wrote to inquire as to the state ol allairs i n the North Alri-
can city (Letter, 2), and the Carthaginian clergy responded in delense ol their
bishop (3). 1his exchange began a long series ol letters between the two churches
(Letter, 14, 22, 28, 29, 30, 71, 73), especially between Cornel ius, the bishop ol
Kome, and Cyprian (4, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 56).
1he di lhcult problem ol reconciling the lapsedollering them repentance
persisted, especially when it was compl icated by the Koman presbyter Nova-
tian, who took a hard li ne against Cyprian`s moderate position toward the lapsi
and, joined by Cyprian`s disgruntled presbyter Novatus, began a rigorist sectar-
ian movement that excluded not only the lapsed but also those like Cyprian)
who were willing to receive the lapsed back into communion. 1hrough synods
over which he presided see Letters, 58, 61, 71) and through letters to Kome and
letters to other churches, Cyprian sought to establ ish the more moderate pos|-
tion (37, 40, 42, 51, 52, 53) Cyprian was also more moderate in his position
concerning the baptism ol heretics, a position that he also needed to delend,
not least to the Koman bishop, Stephen (54, 57, 59, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 81).
Cyprian`s constant activity over the course ol 10 years demonstrates his activist
conception ol the bishopric and his commitment to a vision ol the church that
was universal rather than simply local.
Cyprian`s sell-understanding as a bishop and ol the bishop`s place in the
churchprecisely that enunciated by lgnatius ol Antiochis revealed in his
letter ol sell-delense addressed to Ilorentius lupianos (Letter, 68). He speaks ol
the bishop as one who "rules over the church" and says that a community lack-
ing a bishop has no prelate, pastor, or governor, Christ does not have a represen-
tative, and Cod does not have a priest (Letter, 68. 5) . He claims that the martyrs
lrom their prisons "di rected letters to Cyprian the bishop, recognizing the
priest ol Cod and bearing witness to him" (68.7). He says ol sectarians, "they
are the church who are a people united to the priest, and the hock which ad-
heres to its pastor. Whence you ought to know that the bishop is i n the church
and the church is in the bishop" (68. 8). 1his is as strong an alhrmation ol the
institutional character ol the church as could be desired. Cyprian again identi-
hes the bishop in terms ol the priesthood. those in communion have peace
with Cod`s priests (68.8); it is Cod who ordains bishops as priests, and to Cod
and !is Christ, he "ceaselessly ollers| sacrihces." And quoting an unnamed
source, he concludes, "Whoso therelore does not bel ieve Christ, who maketh
the priest, shall hereaher begin to bel ieve Him who avengeth the priest" (68.9).
Cyprian`s outlook is expressed more lully in hi s treatise On the Unity of the
Church, which was written in response to the schism ol Novatian described
2
5
above). Ior Cyprian, those who lapsed lrom the laith in the persecution do not
really threaten the church as such, because theirs was an individual lall lrom
commitment. 1he great threat comes lrom those who challenge the very struc-
ture ol the laith ( Unity, iS). Cyprian assigns this kind ol challenge to Satan.
"He has invented heresies and schisms, whereby he might subvert the truth,
might divide the unity. 1hose he cannot keep in the darkness ol the old way
i. e. , paganism| , he circumvents and deceives by the error ol a new way" ).
1hey are the more dangerous because, "although they do not stand hrm with
the Cospel ol Christ and with the observation and law ol Christ, 1hey still call
themselves Christians, and walking in darkness, they think that they have the
l ight" ).
1he bond ol unity i n the church is a visible and expl icit connection to the
bishop. Christ gave authority to leter and all the apostles as the locus ol unity,
and this lunction is passed down to the bishops. "1his unity we ought hrmly to
hold and assert, especially those ol us that are bishops who preside in the
church, that we may also prove the episcopate itsell to be one and undivided . . . .
1he episcopate is one, each part ol which is held by each one lor the whole. 1he
church also is one, which is spread lar and wide into a multitude by an increase
ol lruitlulness" ( Unity, ). 1he unity and catholicity ol the church, then, are ex-
pressed, indeed embodied, in the unity and catholicity ol the episcopate. 1he
church is lound in its bishops. When Cyprian asserts, then, that "He can no
longer have Cod lor his Iather, who has not the church lor his mother" ( Unity, ),
he has just this sort ol visible, institutional, connection in mind.
Cyprian expl icitly denies that the saying ol )esus that "two or three gathered
i n my name" blesses any group ol the laithlul , il they are not in connection to
their bishop, the saying is null. "He does not divide men lrom the church, see-
ing that he himsell ordained and made the church" ( Unity, iz). Cyprian again
takes up the language ol priesthood i n this regard. "What peace, then, do the
enemies ol the brethren promise to themselves What sacrihces do those who
are rivals ol the priests think that they celebrate" i). Not even martyrdom
counts lor anything il one is cut oll lrom the visible church iq). Cyprian states
the ideal powerlully. "Cod is one, and Christ is one, and his church is one, and
the laith i s one, and the people i s joined into a substantial unity ol body by the
cement ol concord. Unity cannot be severed, nor can one body be separated by
a division ol its structure, nor torn into pieces, with its entrai ls wrenched asun-
der by laceration" z). 1he key phrase in this statement, though, is "separated
by a division ol its structure," lor it is agreement with the priesthood ol the bish-
ops that constitutes, lor Cyprian, the real concord ol the church. He compares
those who oppose the bishops with those who opposed "Moses and Aaron the
53
priest" iS). "Ooes he think that he has Christ, who acts in opposition to Christ`s
priests, who separates himsell lrom the company ol hi s clergy and people He
bears arms against the church, he contends against Cod`s appointment. An
enemy ol the altar, a rebel against Christ`s sacrihce, lor the laith laithless, lor
rel igion prolane, a disobedient servant, an impious son, a hostile brother, de-
spising the bishops, and lorsaking Cod`s priests, he dares to set up another altar,
to make another prayer with unauthorized words, to prolane the truth ol the
Lord`s ollering by lalse sacrihces" iy).
Long belore it became the imperial rel igion, Christianity appeared institution-
ally as a vast network ol associations that had developed a distinctive politeia. lts
bishops were elected by the people but drew their legitimacy lrom a narrative ol
apostolic succession that lundamentally identihed the visible community with
its leaders. ishops, lurthermore, spoke ol the church in terms ol a sanctuary in
which they lunctioned as divinely ordained priests, ollering sacrihces to Cod
through Christ. ln this chapter, l have traced the visible signs ol this develop-
ment lrom Clement and lgnatius at the start ol the second century to Cyprian
ol Carthage in the mid-third century.
1he incidental language ol sacrihce employed by the early writers is exploited
systematically by the church orders, tentatively in the Didache, more conhdently
in the Apostolic Trdition, and triumphantly in the Didascalia Apostolorum. ln
lrenaeus ol Lyons and Cyprian ol Carthage, hnally, we hnd bishops ol impor-
tant churches whose vision ol Christianity is precisely that ol an association
centered in visible, i ndeed institutional, marks ol identity. the rule ol laith and
the canon ol scripture, to be sure, but above all the bishops who embody the
tradition. Such bishops not only express such a vision ol Christianity in their
writing, what we know ol their actions and letters shows that they expended
great ehort in bringing that vision to realization.
l have identihed, in short, the same sort ol rel igious sensibil ity that was de-
tected among the priests and hierophants in Creco-Koman rel igion. lt i s a dis-
tinct "way ol being Christian," not reducible to the other strains l have described.
1he divine dynamis is located in the institution, and the point ol that power is
to maintain and sustain the institution and thus "stabilize the world. " 1he las-
cination with miracles, including the miracle ol martyrdom, is not shared here.
However much Cyprian values martyrdom and embraces it hi msell, its witness
is void i l not carried out in unity with the bishops. As lor the "signs and won-
ders" that preoccupied Christianity 1ype A, the bishops tend to view them sus-
piciously as the work ol demonic magic operative in heretics and schismatics,
and therelore not to be encouraged among the people. We hnd not a trace in
2
54
these compositions ol Christianity as Kel igiousness . this is not to say that the
bishops are not interested in the moral translormation ol their congregations, it
is si mply to observe that they seldom advert to it. Iinally, as we saw in the last
chapter, the bishops who were heresiologists set themselves explicitly against
Christianity 1ype C as it emerged in second-century Cnosticism. ishops may
or may not have been mystics themselves, but their hrst commitment was not to
personal religious experience, it was to the maintenance ol the assembly and its
sacrihce ol the Lucharist, "decently and in good order."
-
AFTER CONSTANTINE: CHRISTIANITY
AS I MPERIAL RELIGION
Lven belore Constantine changed Christianity`s historical situation, the rel i-
gion that began as a )ewish sect based on the death and resurrection ol a )ewish
Messiah showed itsell to have remarkable capacity lor survival in the lace ol
persecution, as well as the abil ity to develop rel igious sensibilities correspond-
ing to those in the dominant Creco-Koman culture. As l showed in Chapter S,
)udaism itsell, up to the middle ol the second century when its dalliance with
Hellenism ellectively ended, revealed the same adaptive tendencies.
ln the second and third centuries, some Christians had the same optimism
about experiencing the divine power i n the world as did their Creco-Koman
neighbors and celebrated such power i n signs and wonders that they attributed
to the Holy Spirit operative because ol the resurrection ol )esus. ther Chris-
tians shared the commitment ol Hellenistic and )ewish philosophers to a lile ol
moral translormation. 1hey did not scorn the power ol )esus` name invoked in
exorcisms and healings, but they regarded a li le ol virtue as the greatest mi racle.
Still other Christians hed i nvolvement with the body and the world altogether,
convinced that the divine could be lound only in a transcendent realm ol spirit.
1hey cultivated secret and saving knowledge as the way to l iberate the soul
lrom its carnal prison. Iinally, some Christians assumed the leadership role ol
bishops and, like the Creco-Koman heads ol associations around them, con-
ceived ol their role i n terms ol priesthood, locusing their attention on the stabil-
ity o| the church.
Withi n the lramework ol the analysis used in this study, Christianity was a
"Creco-Koman rel igion" virtually lrom the start and grew increasingly closer to
the lorms and expressions ol rel igion lound in the Creco-Koman environment.
Kather than a loreign and lorced imposition, the Creco-Koman character ol
Afer Constantine
Christianity was a natural development that required no external or pol itical
assistance. As the presence and i nhuence ol l iving )udaism receded, moreover,
Christianity`s only real connection to its )ewish roots was through the reading
ol scripture. 1hese sacred texts lrom ancient lsrael were being read and inter-
preted, however, as Creek writings the LXX) by people whose cultural envi-
ronment, rhetorical education, and religious expectations were entirely Centile.
1hese lour distinct types ol reli gious sensibil ityand in the second and third
century they were i mpressively distinct in their emphasiswill emerge with
Christianity itsell i nto greater visibil ity when the cult ol the Messiah )esus is
made the imperial rel igion under Constantine zyz/SS~y) and his succes-
sors, but they will also assume new shapes and enter into new combinations.
1HL CNS1AN1l NlAN LKA
l use the phrase "Constantine and hi s successors" advisedly, because the es-
tablishment ol Christianity as the imperial religion, however sudden and even
unexpected, did not happen all at once or without setback. ' Constantine`s own
rel igious motivations or intentions are ol l ittle importance. Although he was
baptized only shortly belore his death i n y, his positive attitude toward Chris-
tianity is clear already in the declaration ol rel igious tolerance known as the
Ldict ol Milan i), and his lavor toward this cult that had been violently per-
secuted by hi s immediate predecessors lound expression in publ ic declarations
and benelactions. ` ln iq, through the Synod ol Arles, he i ntervened i n the
Oonatist controversy and in i tried to settle it by i mperial edict.' ln zi he de-
clared Sunday to be a general hol iday and ordered his soldiers` shields to be en-
graved with the sign ol the cross. ` ln z he called and opened with an address
the ecumenical council at Nicaea to settle the Arian controversy and the still
unsettled date ol Laster). ln o he establ ished the new capital i n hi s name
Constantinople) at the ancient site ol yzantium and erected a magnihcent
church there in honor ol the apostles elore his death, he provided the hnan-
cial support lor the building ol the basilica ol the Holy Sepulchre in )erusalem
and many other impressive basil icas i n important cities. He ordered and hnan-
cially supported the production ol o copies ol the ible.'
Such an aggressive show ol imperial support on behall ol Christianity did
not, however, mean that everything changed overnight. A signihcant portion,
perhaps a maj ority, ol the population ol the empire probably remained pagan
lor a substantial period ol time. 1emples to the gods continued to exist, and
worship ol the gods continued to thrive. Lloquent spokespersons delended the
glories ol Creco-Koman rel igion and philosophy against the newly privileged
Afer Constantine 2
57
but still barbaric Christian interloper. 1he philosopher lorphyry ca. zqo),
who wrote Against the Christians, and Libanius ol Antioch iqq), who was
a lervent admirer ol the luture emperor )ulian, protested the tlosing ol pagan
temples. ' " 1hey did not regard themselves as representing an obsolescent but
rather a l iving and powerlul civili zation. 1he lact that the emperor )ulian oz~
) could, in his short reign, reverse the process ol Christianization and restore
pagan supremacy z~) ' ' indicates that the conditions lor such restoration
persisted through the lourth and into the hlth century. Augustine ol Hippo
became a bishop i n , only years alter )ulian`s briel restoration, and at the
end ol his li le, lacing the i nvasion ol the Saracens in North Alrica, Augustine
devoted the hrst part ol his City of God to a delense ol Christianity against claims
by pagans that the abandonment ol traditional Creco-Koman rel igion had
brought on such disasters. '
1he change brought about by Constantine was, nevertheless, lundamental,
not least i n making Christianity sale to practice publicly. lt must be remem-
bered that the imperial persecution ol Christians through the time ol Oiocle-
tian was i ncreasingly purposelul and ellective. ' 1hat Christian commitment
ends logically i n martyrdom is everywhere the assumption ol the apocryphal
Acts ol the Apostles, which recount the deaths ol leter, laul , )ohn, Andrew,
and 1homas. l second-century hgures discussed in earlier chapters, lgnatius,
lolycarp, )ustin, lerpetua and her companions all sullered martyrdom. lre-
naeus` predecessor as bishop ol Lyons was also martyred. l third-century hg-
ures, rigen`s lather sullered martyrdom, and rigen himsell was a conlessor.
Cyprian ol Carthage exchanged letters with conlessors and martyrs and was
himsell executed lor the laith. While persecutions were sporadic and touched
directly either those who were most visible because ol their position or those
who most directly conlronted the i mperial authority, it is clear that belore the
time ol Constantine, the public prolession ol Christian laith was at least
hazardous.
1he Latin rhetorician Lactantius ca. zoca. z) represents i n himsell the
pivot between the epochs. He was appointed by Oiocletian to be a teacher ol
rhetoric at Nicomedia but lost that position when the great persecution began
in o. Hi s great apology, The Divine Institutes, rehearses i n seven books virtu-
ally all the arguments made by earl ier apologists and may have been begun
when the church was still under persecution, but the work is addressed to the
emperor Constantine, "the hrst ol the Koman princes to repudiate errors and to
acknowledge the majesty ol the one and only Cod" i. i). ' ' Lactantius clearly
wants to cap the apologetic tradition in two ways. Iirst, he wants to engage the
Latin and not merely the Creek world. thus, he devotes much more attention to
Afer Constantine
Latin philosophers l i ke Seneca and Cicero than had previous apologists, and
he criticizes his Latin predecessors 1ertullian and Cyprian lor not having com-
pleted the job that they had undertaken. ' ` Second, he does not stop at criticiz-
ing the errors and l i mitations ol Creco-Koman rel igion and philosophy but
constructs an impressive argument especially i n books q) lor a Christian
culture that marries the best i n the bibl ical and Hellenistic traditions. ln an-
other work, "l the Manner i n Which lersecutors Oied," Lactantius glories in
the peace that has come on the church and recounts with considerable rel ish
the bad end that came to all the rulers who persecuted Christians, \ncluding
Oiocletian. '
Not only was the hazard ol sudden and violent death removed at one stroke,
Christians moved lrom a place ol hiding to a posture ol display, lrom a condi-
tion in which their property could be dispossessed to a condition in which
property was bestowed on them, lrom a marginal to a central social status, lrom
a status ol mockery to one ol privilege, lrom a situation in which the cross ol
Christ was the signal lor danger to themselves to a situation in which the cross
ol Christ was emblazoned on the banners that i mperial troops carried into
battle. ' ' History has known lew such prolound reversals ol lortune, and it is not
in the least surprising that the maj ority ol Christians should gladly embrace
their new status as the empire`s lavored religion. We hnd, in lact, that the lorms
ol rel igious sensibility that leap most to sight in this new situation are the ones
that most parallel the dominant expressions ol rel igion in the earlier regimes.
Kel igiousness A and O.
lAK1lCllA1lN lN BLNLIl1S
1he most visible change i n Christianity`s lortunes was in its lorms ol wor-
ship, which increasingly became leitourgia, a publ ic and civic work. 1his was
possible because publ ic spaces became available lor the open celebration ol
worship and prayer. ' ln the case ol the great basil icassuch as that ol the Holy
Sepulchre i n )erusalem and the original St. leter`s in Komethe new spaces
were vast i n comparison to the spaces in which worship had previously been
carried out, i n households or catacombs. ' 'Worship naturallyeven necessarily-
expanded to hll such new spaces. "
1he solemn seating ol the clergy described in the Didascalia Apostolorum
with the bishop on hi s throne surrounded by the presbyterynow became
more impressive when displayed in grand spaces. ' 1he separate character ol
the clergy increasingly became marked by the wearing ol distinctive garb. 1he
relatively si mple Lucharistic celebration grew more complex to suit its character
Afer Constantine 2
59
as the sacrihce ol the new imperial rel igion, eventually includingin addition
to
the lull l iturgy ol the word the Mass ol the Catechumens) and the liturgy ol
the Lucharist the Mass ol the Iaithlul)processions through the impressive
new spaces with the carrying ol books and candles, the ringing ol bells, genu-
hections, and the burning ol incense. ` 1he greater the space to hll, the longer
the time the liturgy took, requiring the development ol chants and litanies to
accompany the solemn movement ol processions. ' Sacred sites and shrines
that had once been pagan but had now been adopted by the Christians lor their
own use continued the sanctihcation ol space through the worship ol Christ
where demons had reigned. `
Sacred time also expanded i n at least two ways. Iirst, Christian lestivals be-
gan to replace the pagan sacred days as times ol special and public worship.
Constantine set the pattern with the recognition ol Sunday as a general holi-
day. ver the next several centuries, two elaborate cycles ol l iturgical leasts
began to emerge. ne was based in the story ol Christ. the earliest part ol this
cycle already in the second century) was locused on Laster, with a long Lenten
last leading to the celebration ol the death and resurrection during Holy Week.
1he i nitiation ol catechumens during the nightlong vigil preceding the least
acquired the solemnity and even the disciplina arcana ol the Hellenistic Mys-
teries. ' 1he seasonal cycle later expanded to i nclude the Advent-Christmas
segment, so that the entire year ol worship became a l iturgical rel iving ol the
story ol salvation i n Christ.
1he other cycle was based in the cult ol the saints, beginning with the mar-
tyrs and conlessors.' Ieasts dedicated to the saints celebrated the divine power
at work i n their l ives, their deaths, and their present li le with Cod, where they
could serve as helpers to those still in the body. ` 1he "sanctoral cycle" devoted
to the recognition and celebration ol Cod`s work i n humans therelore helped to
secure the conviction concerning the "communion ol saints. "`' ln its lul l devel-
opment, the veneration ol the saints, involving communal "sacrihces" that com-
memorated their deeds, pilgrimages, prayer, and individual ollerings, came to
resemble the cult ol the many individual gods i n Creco-Koman Keligiousness
A, especially when devotion was lurther expressed through statues and paint-
ings representing the saints. Like the many lesser gods ol the Creco-Koman
pantheon, so did the saints serve as protectors and patrons ol those who ap-
proached them as clients. `
Sacred ti me also expanded through the development ol the sacramental sys-
tem that marked with a sacred character the moments ol human li le lrom birth
to death. `` 1he earliest and most securely grounded in New 1estament prece-
dent were baptism and the Lucharist Lord`s Supper). `' ut just as the Mysteries
Afer Constantine
involved multiple i nitiations, so did Christianity expand its initiation process,
with a second level ol sacramental initiation called "conhrmation. "`` Iurther
i nitiation i nto the priesthoodwhich meant primarily the bishop but included
by extension the presbyterateby the third century required prel iminary stages.
doorkeeper, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, and deacon. ` 1here was also
the sacrament ol reconciliation. those who lapsed lrom communion either
through apostasy or public sin were required to undergo a lengthy and usually
publ ic process ol penance belore they could be welcomed back to lull partici-
pation in the Lucharist by the bishop. `' 1he hnal ritual acts to gaih the lul l
status ol sacraments were the anointing ol the sick also based i n the New 1es-
tament) and marriage. `
1he result ol such l iturgical expansion was that both in the cycle ol each
year and i n the cycle ol the believer`s l i le, both space and time were sanctihed.
Christians aher Constantine could publicly proless Christ i n open assembly
and publ icly process through the streets singing hymns to Christ as Cod, they
could debate Christological minutiae at the market,`' they could hnd a Chris-
tian signihcance in many holy places, in every moment ol the year, and at every
stage ol their l ives. Simply by being part ol this great and articulated commu-
nion, they participated in the divine benehts brought the world by the trium-
phant Christ.
Another dimension ol Creco-Koman Keli giousness A was the search lor con-
tact with power through media that were less structured than the lormal cult,
such as pilgrimages to healing shrines and prophetic oracles. As Christianity
gained its public place in the Constantin ian era, two loci ol spontaneous power
manilest themselves. 1he hrst was the cult ol the martyrs that sprang up almost
immediately. ll the divine power was at work in the death ol the saint, then
some ol that power might also reside in the saint`s bodily remains. We hnd,
then, the gathering ol martyrs` relics, the construction ol shrines to house such
relics, and the popular celebration ol martyrs at their graves, which could easily
be conlused or combined with the meals lor the dead (refrigeria) that were cel-
ebrated at tombs by pagans.'" ll the rel ic ol any martyr contains power, then the
cross ol Christ, the supreme martyr, must carry extraordinary power. Constan-
tine`s mother, Helena, initiated the quest lor the cross ol Christ and, when it
was lound, sponsored the cult devoted to the relic whose authenticity is assured
by its capacity to ellect heal ing.''
1he second locus ol spontaneous power was not the rel ics leh by martyrs ol
the past but the l iving presence ol holy men and women who practiced the
"white martyrdom" ol asceticism and whose bodies demonstrated the power ol
Cod to overcome the natural tendencies ol the hesh and the assaults ol de-
Afer Constantine
mons.' As Athanasius describes him in the inhuential Life of Antony, the pio-
neering anchoritethe term derives lrom anachorein, meaning "to dwell
apart" hed to the wilderness i n response to the Cospel `s call to radical disci-
pleship. '` Antony`s sol itary battle against demons through asceticism and prayer,
however, drew multitudes to hi s presence, creating a "city in the desert" and
lorcing the saint to seek ever more remote places ol solitude.'' ln many ways,
Antony set a pattern. the desert lathers and mothers who sought through asceti-
cism the sort ol witness that lormerly was available through martyrdom lound
themselves in a complex social network ol communication and exchange, in
which a constant leature was the search lor wisdom lrom those regarded as
holy.'` 1he bodies ol the saints who endured great lasting yet radiated robust
good health were perlormances ol the divine dynamis; the words ol such saints
had the power to change l ives.
1he declarations and chreia that hll the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, indeed,
are lunctionally the rough equivalent ol prophetic oracles in the Creco-Koman
world. leople traveled great distances lrom their cities in order to learn directly
lrom the l ips ol those who triumphed over the world, the hesh, and the devil and
to perhaps join their ranks.' lalladius` Lausiac History is the account ol one
bishop`s journeys to monks scattered throughout the remote regions ol the em-
pire.'' lts tales ol ascetical accompl ishment, leats ol prayer, mi racles, and visions
are organi zed according to personalities, so that the locus always remains on the
saint as the revelation ol the divine power and as an example lor imitation.' lal-
ladius` account ol the wealthy matron Melania, who visited various monks, was
imprisoned, and became the patroness ol women rel igious, is instructive, lor it
shows both how, alter Constantine, Christians were lound among the highest
social levels ol the empire and how many ol them longed lor a more radical lorm
ol discipleship than they saw available in their newly comlortable circum-
stances.'' lalladius was the pupil ol the learned archdeacon Lvagrius ol lontus
q), whose early lile in Constantinople was sophisticated and worldly, and
who l ikewise sought salvation among the monks, hrst in )erusalem and then in
the Lgyptian desert, where he gathered the sayings that lorm the basis ol his
ascetical works, the Praktikos and the Chapters on Prayer. `"
1he Itinernarium Egeriae "1ravels ol Lgeria") lrom circa qqiy is particu-
larly revealing ol Christian Kel igiousness A in the late lourth century. `' A
wealthy Christian woman lrom Spain or Caul , possibly a nun, travels with
some companions to the Holy Land lalestine) on a rel igious pilgrimage whose
entire locus is on the sacred places and whose high point is the celebration ol
the lasch in the city ol )erusalem during Holy Week. ` larticularly striking is
that at the bibl ical sites she visits are lound shrines maintained by monks who
Afer Constantine
lead the pilgrims in worship appropriate to the events associated with the
place. `` lt i s impossible not to be reminded ol lausanius` Description of Greece,
a Creco-Koman work ol the second century CL, in which a visitor lrom abroad
visits and learns the cultural and rel igious lore associated with various sites in
Creece. `' Lqually noteworthy is Lgeria`s determination to reach 1arsus ol Ci l i-
cia, not because it is the home ol laul the Apostle, but because it is the site ol
the tomb ol 1hecla, the holy woman associated with laul and the heroine ol
one portion ol the apocryphal Acts ol laul` 1he letter that Lgeria composed
lor her sisters in Spain or Caul is all the more uselul because ol its artlcssness,
it shows vividly and i n detail the elements ol Kel igiousness A as they appeared
alter Constantine. the search lor divine power is expressed through pilgrimage
because such power is associated with holy places, sacred times, and the saints.
Contact with such times, places, and relics or persons) means a participation
i n the divine dynamis resident in them.
A hnal but by no means insignihcant expression ol Christian Keli giousness A
aher Constantine is the reading and continuing composition ol apocryphal
acts and gospels. 1he complex textual history ol the compositions hrst written
in the second and thi rd centuriesand not included in the church`s olhcial
canonpoints to centuries ol vigorous use i n nonolhcial contexts. ` 1he com-
position ol still lurther legendary accounts ol the apostles, ol )esus and Mary,
and ol secondary characters l ike Nicodemus and lontius lilate shows that the
same l iterary imagination that sought outlet in the production ol romantic
novels lound an expression ol its religious sensibil ity i n apocryphal works that
hctionally expanded the bibl ical universe. `' Keaders ol narratives hlled with
signs and wondershealings, exorcisms, resuscitationscan more easily imag-
ine the continuity in the exercise ol the divine dynamis displayed in the pages
ol this expanded ible, and in the bodies ol the saints can more quickly identily
the work ol driving out demons lrom amicted humans with the work ol driving
out demons lrom pagan shrines and with battl ing demons i n the solitude ol
prayer.
S1AlLlZlNC 1HL WKLO
We have seen in Creco-Koman religion that one aspect ol Keligiousness 0 is
to serve as the supply side ol Kel igiousness A. someone must stall the temples and
shrines, someone must consult the oracle or interpret healing dreams, someone
must prepare the sacrihcial ollerings, and someone must actually perlorm the
sacrihce, above all, many people are required to support and enact the great pub-
lic liturgies that on lestival days expressed the rel igious lile and piety ol the polis.
Afer Constantine
ln much the same way, Christian Keligiousness O expressed itsell in service
to the cult that stabil ized the new Christian politeia, which was i ncreasingly also
the poiiteia ol the empire. Already in the third-century church orders, a more
complex hierarchical order could be observed. Now, as Christianity moved into
the larger spaces ol basilicas and managed the shrines ol martyrs, the same hi-
erarchical dillerentiations serve the publ ic order i n a more obvious lashion. ` ln
lact, the newly complex liturgies carried out in the basilicas as the Christian
sacrihce required precisely complex and clearly articulated clerical olhces and
lunctions. `'
1he election ol a bishop by a congregation was now an overtly political as
well as rel igious act. 1he lorce ol this observation i s clear i n light ol schisms
l ike the Oonatist controversy, when rival bishops represented political lactions
dangerous to the stabi lity ol the empire. Heresy could pose precisely the same
threat to pol itical order. Lmperors therelore had an expl icit i nterest in the ideo-
logical tendencies ol bishops, who represented, as heads ol large communities
and even the laithlul ol an entire cityas in the case ol the bishops ol Kome
and Antioch and Alexandriapotent political allies or opponents. ' ecause
the bishop occupied such a politically signihcant position, the entire clerical
order shared to some extent in the bishop`s special status. lndeed, the sequence
ol grades ol ordination internally appeared as a Christian version ol the curus
honorum in the ancient Koman Kepublic. pursuing the sequence ol ordination
meant the acquisition ol honor as well as obl igation. And, as always when re-
ligious olhces also oller social advantages, power and privilege also increased
the opportunities lor corruption in the clergy.`
1he practice ol bishops meeting i n general council, which, as we have seen,
began as early as the _uartodeciman controversy i n the late second century,'
took on an even greater signihcance lor the "stabi l ization ol the worl d" in the
new political order. ll the bishops were unanimous in their understanding,
then the church and empire could enj oy internal peace. ll they were divided,
strile was both rel igious and political. And il the bishops stood against the con-
victions o| an emperor, it could mean political revolt ol a serious kind. lt was no
wonder that Constantine involved hi msell so actively i n the calling and di rect-
ing ol such councils as that at Arles in 314 and Nicaea in 325. According to Lu-
sebius, Constantine thought ol hi msell as a "bishop ol external allai rs" with
respect to the church. lt was alter he lorbade the worship ol idols and ordered
the honoring ol martyrs and the observance ol Christian lestivals that Constan-
tine, "n the occasion ol his entertaining a company ol bishops, let lall the
expression, ` that he hi msell too was a bishop,` addressing them in my hearing in
the lollowing words. `You are bishops whose jurisdiction is within the church.
Afer Constantine
l also am a bishop, ordained by Cod to oversee whatever i s external to the
church.` And truly his measures corresponded with his words, lor he watched
over his subj ects with an episcopal care, and exhorted them as lar as in him lay
to lollow a godly li le.``` 1he stakes were high lor the Christian emperors, lor il
this monotheistic rel i gion had the capabil ity ol providing the glue ol society
even more impressively than the polytheistic system ol paganism, so could its
impressive internal organization make it a threat to the political order when it
lragmented through heresy or schism or, worse, when it stood unihed against
the will ol the emperor. What was abundantly clear alter Constantine was that
the political importance ol the bishop not only to the internal politeia ol the
church but to the politeia ol the entire oikoumene was obvious to all.
When analyzing llutarch as a prime example ol Keligiousness 0 withi n
Creco-Koman rel igion, we saw that hi s moral treatises the Moralia) gave con-
siderable attention to translormation among his readers, even though llutarch`s
larger concern was the role ol eusebeia in stabilizing the world. ln similar lash-
ion, many ol the prominent bishops ol the lourth and hlth centuries preached
sermons to their congregations that made use ol the moral topoi lound among
Hellenistic moral ists lrom Aristotle lorward. 1he pastoral sermons ol asil
o~y) and )ohn Chrysostom qyqoy) are particularly noteworthy i n this
respect. 1he reason why patristic scholars consider the two centuries aher
Constantine to be "the golden age ol patristic theology," however, is not be-
cause ol such sermons. ' lt is, rather, that the bishops ol the lourth and hlth
centuries most resemble llutarchas well as their predecessor lrenaeusin
their concern lor the ideological grounding lor the church`s i nstitutional stabil-
ity within the empire. lt was with the same energy and intellectual seriousness
with which lrenaeus repelled the varieties ol Cnosticism that his episcopal suc-
cessors appl icd to the rej ection ol subtler challenges to right bel iel and, there-
lore, to ecclesiastical unity and stabil ity.
ln a very real sense, the doctrinal disputes lrom Nicaea to Chalcedon can be
regarded as a lorm ol political theology. 1he 1ri nitarian and Christological
controversies that dominated publ ic theological discourse, that led up to and
gained impetus lrom the ecumenical councils meeting under the aegis ol the
Christian empire i n z and Si, had at stake the shape ol the Christian politeia
based on the rule ol laith and the behavioral entailments ol orthodox or hetero-
dox beliel More than that, naked pol itical ambition and rivalry both per-
sonal and civic) were lactors throughout these controversies. ' Like the emperor,
bishop-theologians sought a koinonia that embraced the entire oikoumene; l ike
the emperor, they resisted the lorms ol "popular religion," such as ecstatic
prophecy, that could prove disruptive ol the social order,'" also l ike the em-
Afer Constantine
peror, they were willing to expel and exile those whose teaching did not con-
lorm to the proper understanding or practice ol the laith' 1he bishops were
unl ike the emperor, however, in their willingness to sacrihce political harmony
to what they considered as "truth ol the Cospel."
When caught up in the details ol their lengthy argumentsthe dillerence
between homoousion and homoiousion, lor exampleit is possible to lose sight
ol the obvious social lact underlying the debates lrom every side, namely, that
the theological combatants were, lor the most part, drawn lrom the social and
cultural el ite ol the new imperial order. ' asil, Chrysostom, Cregory ol Nyssa
q), and Cregory Nazianzen zS) all had been immersed in the
same sort ol rhetorical and philosophical training as had the emperor )ulian.'`
Ambrose ol Milan Sy) had been an imperial olhcial, indeed, governor ol
Northern ltaly, belore his conversion to Christianity and becoming bishop ol
that church. Augustine was a prolessor ol rhetoric i n Milan. )erome qyqzo)
conlessed that early in his l i le he was more ol a Ciceronian than a Christian'
1he rhetorical pol ish and philosophical acumen ol the treatises and letters
themselves should remind us, to be sure, that lrom )ustin on, Christian leaders
were increasingly drawn lrom the ranks ol rhetoricians and publ ic olhcials`
1he learning brought to bear on the i nterpretation ol the Cospel story is the
learning developed within Hellenistic culture 1he theological arguments are
recognizably rhetorical arguments. 1he theological categories are undeniably
those ol Creek ontology. 1he i nterpretation ol texts is governed by the rules ol
Creek and Latin grammar. ln the theological debates carried out by bishops in
the new Christian imperium, the Creco-Koman religious sensibil ity ol llutarch
is everywhere evident.
MKAL 1KANSIKMA1lN
1wo ways ol being rel igious in the Creco-Koman world are obviously present
in Christianity aher Constantine. Kel igiousness A and O withi n Consantinian
Christianity correspond perlectly to the rel igious concerns lor participating i n
divine benehts and stabilizing the world that dominated pagan rel igion within
the empire belore Constantine. 1he two other rel igious sensibilities exposed by
my analysis are also present but requi re more subtle detection. 1he concern lor
moral translormation that is central to Kel igiousness can be lound to some
extent, l have suggested, i n the sermons del ivered by bishops to their congrega-
tions. ut to hnd the lull realization ol that rel igious sensibil itylully realized
because expressed i n a disti nctive lorm ol lilewe must look at the develop-
ment ol Christian monasticism.
Afer Constantine
l have already mentioned the monks ol the Lgyptian desert when discussing
Keligiousness A, and lor two reasons, the earliest heroes ol Christian asceticism
probably ht best withi n that category. their commitment to asceticism ex-
pressed the desire to emulate the ideal discipleship lound in martyrdom, and
they drew to them many people who craved contact with the power that was
thought to reside in such holy men and women. 1heir vocation was charis-
matic and spontaneous rather than ordered and institutional i zed. 1heir locus
was on the individual as spiritual athlete more than on the group as a commu-
nity ol practice. 1heir style included wandering and visiting more tha it did a
settled existence with others in one place. 1he mode ol expression among the
desert lathers and mothers was aphoristic. their apothegms and chreia contained
a wisdom based on li le experience tested i n the wilderness rather than on philo-
sophical analysis ol the passions or even a systematic study ol scripture.'
1wo lactors worked to reshape this ascetical tradition and move it toward a
1ype rel igious sensibil ity. 1he hrst is the composition ol monastic rules that
gave a more coherent lorm to the charismatic impulses ol ascetics. 1he earli-
est such rule was written by lachomius ol Lgypt zoq). etween iS and
z, this lormer soldier lounded his hrst monastery, and many others lol lowed.
by the time ol hi s death in q, as many as ,ooo monastic communities may
have been scattered throughout Lgypt.' lachomius` composition i s not a liter-
ary masterpiece.' lt consists mainly ol discrete rules concerning various as-
pects ol the monks` l i le, with special attention in part z) to the qual ities
desired i n the chairman or abbot) ol the community. lachomius` great contri-
bution was to conceive ol the monastic l i le not i n terms ol the solitary (monos)
athlete but in terms ol a common l i le (koinos bios) devoted to prayers and
work. " His regulations lor monks in commonincluding disciplinary mea-
sures see part )moved the ascetical l i le toward lormal institutionalization. '
lachomian monks more closely resembled Creco-Koman philosophical com-
munities, such as the lythagoreans, and their )ewish counterparts the Lss-
enes), who also inhabited the desert.
1he worlds ol monk and bishop intersected i n two ways. Iirst, a signihcant
number ol bishops were monks prior to their election to the episcopacy. ` Sec-
ond, bishops were understandably concerned about the possible excess and
disorder that monks could create. Monks were therelore the lrequent recipients
ol episcopal exhortation and instruction,' and bishops provided guidance
through the composition ol lurther monastic rules. asil the Creat, lor exam-
ple, studied the desert lathers and lounded his own monastery in Cappadocia
i n . He composed The Greater Monastic Rule (Patrlogiae Grecae, i. SS
Aer Constantine
1052) and The Lesser Rules (Patrologiae Grecae, 31. 1051-1306) in a catechetical
style that restricts itsell to basic principles, locusing particularly on what vices
monks should avoid and what virtues should be pursued. ` Augustine ol Hippo
also drew up a rule lor nuns to help shape their observance (Letter 211). 86
More elaborate were the ellorts ol )ohn Cassian (360-435), a deacon and
perhaps also a priest, who had spent years among the desert lathers and moth-
ers belore lounding a monastery in Marseilles in 415. 87 1here, i n works ol con-
siderable size and even greater inhuence, he distilled the wisdom he had
learned i n the Last. ln his Institutes, he provides a rule lor the behavior ol co-
enobites but then turns to topics essential to the monastic l i le, namely, the
battle with the passions. ln the Conferences, he places lull-blown discourses
on asceticism and prayer i n the mouths ol lamous abbas ol the desert.' Here
we have not witty aphorisms but well-considered treatises that reveal a genuine
philosophical spirit. As one reads Cassian`s spokespersons dissect the passions
that amict the ascetic in his or her path to Cod, ohen with a strong element ol
psychological analysis, one is inevitably reminded ol the analysis ol vices and
virtues among Creco-Koman moral ists.'
ln Cassian, then, we hnd the second element reshaping monasticism in the
direction ol rel igion as moral translormation, namely, the same sort ol analysis
ol virtue and vice that were the concern ol Creco-Koman moralists. lt is no
wonder that Cassian makes particularly vigorous use ol those parts ol the New
1estament concerned with the same subj ects.'' Cassian decisively makes mo-
nasticism the central expression ol Keligiousness i n Christianity. men and
women i n monasteries commit themselves to a li lelong process ol moral
translormation.
1he classic lorm ol the monastic li le in the West, however, was provided by
enedict ol Nursia`s Rule for Monks (RB), which is widely and justly recognized
as a masterpiece ol social legislation.' Written lor monks taking a vow ol stabil-
ity to remain in one monastery rather than wander, RB, 1), enedict`s Rule deli-
cately balances the elements ol a lile dedicated to work (labor) and prayer
(ora),
9
3 lt eschews the spectacular physical asceticism ol the desert. enedictine
monks are to eat, dress, and drink moderately.'' 1he chiel asceticism comes
lrom li le itsell, when humil ity and obedience are cultivated under the guidance
ol the Rule and an abbot, and is tested by the daily grind ol li le in common.'`
enedict conceived ol hi s monasteries as places lor beginners rather than lor
adepts, he expected moral translormation to take time and much ellort belore
the practice ol virtue grew delightlul. "ut, as we progress in our monastic li le
and in laith, our hearts shall be enlarged, and we shall run with unspeakable
Afer Constantine
sweetness ol love i n the way ol Cod`s commandments, so that, never
abandoni ng his rule but persevering in his teaching in the monastery until
death, we shall share by patience in the sullerings ol Christ, that we may de-
serve to be partakers also ol his kingdom. Amen."' What he aptly called his
"school ol the Lord`s service" strongly resembled the philosophical schools ol
the Creco-Koman world both i n lorm and substance. ln lorm, monks went
through stages ol probation and testing (RB, S), they lollowed a set rule and the
di rection ol a master i, z), they shared possessions ~q) and meals qi), they
slept at the same time and in a shared space zz), their shared activities ol work
and prayer were at set times ~:S, qS), they cultivated silence and contempla-
tion ), they received penalties lor disruptive behavior, including excommuni-
cation z~zS, q~q), they engaged in the practices ol reading and study.''
ln substance, the point ol all their activities was a certain "manner ol l ile"~
the term conversatio morum can be thought ol as the equivalent ol anastrophe
9
8-
which consisted i n a constant and deliberate conversion ol li le. 1he individual
reading ol the monks was not systematic and scholarly but lectio divina "holy
reading"), carried out lor personal and communal edihcation.'' 1he commu-
nal reading in the divine olhce consisted ol scripture, especially the lsalms,
together with the hortatory writings ol Ambrose, Augustine, and, above all,
Cregory the Creat qo~oq), the most important patron ol enedictine mo-
nasticism, whose Moralia on the book ol )ob carried lorward the long tradition
ol moral discourse based on the sacred text that extends back at least as lar as
lhilo. ' "" And among the works enedict particularly recommended that his
monks should read lor their growth i n the moral l i le were the Institutes and
Conferences ol )ohn Cassian (RB, y).
1KANSCLNOlNC 1HL WKLO
1he most radically world- and body-denying expression ol Christianity hour-
ished in the second and third centuries under the name ol Cnosticism. 1his
religious sensibil ity underwent the most signihcant changes aher Constantine.
ln its expl icit lorm, it moved to and beyond the margins ol Christianity, i n the
muted lorm ol mysticism, it lound a home withi n the monastic l i le.
1he Cnostic i mpulse was marginalized not only because ol the ellorts ol
the heresiologists but because it lound an outlet i n the new rel igious move-
ment called Manichaeism. ' "' Manes ca. zi~zy) ollered a powerlul version
ol ancient lersian dualism that could ht itsell to distinct exoteric traditions
such as Christianity or uddhism. ' " 1he role that Christian Cnostics as-
signed )esusthat ol announcing the presence ol divine l ight amid the dark-
Afer Constantine
ness that needed to be gathered back to its sourcewas al so assigned to )esus
and uddha, and Manes hi msell) by Manichaeism. ' "` 1he suitably edited)
dualistic laul who opposed hesh and spirit, Cod and world, was also appropri-
ated by Manichaeism. '"'
A reli gion that simultaneously ollered such a proloundly simple vision ol the
world spirit =good and matter =evil), such a syncretistic impulse all previous
rel igions could be subsumed by it), and such a concrete mode ol li le spirit is
lreed through ritual action) ' "` was deeply appeal ing to those Christians already
dualistic i n temperament and alienated lrom the hylic lorms ol the church.
Manichaeism spread rapidly, reaching Lgypt belore the end ol the third cen-
tury and reaching Kome by the beginning ol the lourth. y the late lourth cen-
tury, North Alrica had many Manichaeans, among them the luture bishop ol
Hippo. Augustine j oined the Manichees in y and broke with them com-
pletely only with his baptism i n Sy. ' "
So deeply had Augustine been attached to Manichaeism that upon hi s con-
secration as a bishop he wrote his Confessions in S~qoorecounting i n great
detail his spiritual search that passed through Manichaeismat least i n part to
reassure critics ol his complete commitment to the Catholic laith. ' "' A number
ol Augustine`s early works were polemical treatises di rected against the Man-
ichees, including his attack ca. qoo) on his lormer teacher Iaustus, whom he
now regarded as a lraud (Contr Faustum Manichaeum). 108 Augustine`s break
with Manichaeism was real and sincere but perhaps not totally successlul.
Keaders ol this most brilli ant ol Western theologians recognize in hi s persis-
tent pessimism concerning the human condition and in hi s distrust ol human
desireespecially with regard to sexual itythe l ingering ellect ol a Man-
ichaean dual ism. lartly because ol Augustine`s unsurpassed inhuence on sub-
sequent theology in the West, this same dualistic strai n continued, evident not
least in the inabil ity ol Christian theology to develop a real theology ol mar-
riage as a state ol l i le, as distinct lrom an elaborate canon law concerning "the
act ol marriage. "' "'
1he Manichaean presence continued to be lelt along the edges ol the Chris-
tian world lor centuries and lound periodic expression in outbreaks ol dualism
among those prolessing Christianity but expl icitly condemning the body as
the impediment to the salvation ol the soul. 1he laul icians were a yzantine
movement whose members were persecuted in Sq and agai n in the ni nth cen-
tury. 1he ogomils appeared in the alkans and were denounced circa yz. ' ' "
Most successlul were the various groups ol Cathari "pure ones") in medieval
Lurope. ' ' ' 1hey were condemned in rleans in iozz, but as the Albigensians
became entrenched among the nobil ity ol southern Irance, their condemnation
Afer Constantine
i n ii and iiSq was resisted by an extended period ol war between Catholic
and Albigensian lorces in the twellth and thirteenth centuries and led to the
creation ol the lnquisition in iz as an organized ellort to extirpate the virus ol
Cnosticism lrom Christianity. ' '
'
A modihed lorm ol the dualistic impulse i nherent in Keligiousness C lound
an acceptable il minor role withi n the ways ol being Christian through its do-
mestication i n monastic mysticism. nce more, the desert lathers were pivotal
i n this development. lt is important to note at once, however, that the ascetics
ol the desert were not themselves in the least dualisticcertainly not i n the
way we have seen displayed in the rphic tradition, i n the Hermetic literature,
or in Cnosticism. 1he ascetics ol the desert alhrmed the creator Cod who was
the lather ol)esus Christ, they embraced all ol scripture and had a special lond-
ness lor the lsalms.
'
' 1hey regarded their hight lrom the world, as l have
mentioned, as a participation in a white martyrdom in imitation ol Christ. '
'
'
Virginity and poverty were assumed and cultivated not as a rej ection ol Cod`s
creation but as a mortihcation ol "the hesh" as the seat ol demonic impulses
toward idolatry and selhshness. ' ' ` 1heir cultivation ol prayer, although it some-
times led to visions, di d not yield new revelations, and although the spiritual
athletes ol the wilderness were sources ol wise sayings, they were not the reveal-
ers ol cosmic secrets that reached beyond the rule ol laith.
ln the Last, Christian mysticism developed in the di stinctive lashion that
has been termed hesychastic lrom the Creek hesychios, meaning silence or
quiet). ' ' lt had deep roots i n the asceticism ol the desert lathers but merged
such asceticism with a strong dose ol Neoplatonismthe line runs lrom ri-
gen through Cregory ol Nyssa to lseudo-Oionysius' ' ' that emphasized the
apophatic approach to Cod as well as the kataphatic, and it wedded both ap-
proaches to the conviction that the ellect ol Cod`s grace in Christ was a kind
ol divinization (theosis) that could be cultivated and even increased through
the span ol mortal l i le. '
| "
Mystics sought a di rect contact with the divine, a
contact that transcended discursive prayer, and to that end, they brought the
body and its passions under control. Cel ibacy, poverty, and detachment lrom
all earthly desires were the prel i mi nary requisites lor those who sought to tran-
scend the world in mystical prayer. ' '' ut while monks sought to l iberate the
soul lrom the entanglements ol the body, their mysticism was nevertheless
shaped completely by the rule ol laith. ' '
1he truth ol the incarnation meant
that the body could never be despised as such, and among Lastern monks, the
veneration ol icons as representations ol the divine in human lorm was a be-
loved leature ol prayer. ' '
Afer Constantine
ln the West as well , mysticism thrived |or a millennium within the conhnes
o| monasticism. ' y no means were all monks mystical by inclination. As l have
indicated, the |orm and substance o| the monastic regimen in the West resem-
bled more than anything the Kel igiousness |ound in the Creco-Koman world
in philosophical schools. ut because monasteries did provide the setting |or
both work and prayer, and because |orms o| physical asceticism could be prac-
ticed there with the support o| a community, those whose rel igious sensibil ity
incl ined toward 1ype C |ound a haven in that context.
nce more, it would be a mistake to regard the emphasis on virginity and
poverty among monastic and mendicant) mystics as evidence |or an ontologi-
cal dualism that regarded the body as inherently evil. Among both male and
|emale mystics, in |act, sexual continence was connected to a mystical com-
munion with the incarnate Christ, and poverty was construed i n terms o| a
participation in Christ`s lowly humanity. ' ` lndeed, the single most consistent
element in all the medieval mystics, whether monk, eguine, or anchorite, is a
concentration on the physical suhering o| Christ. ' ' lredominantly among |e-
male mystics o| the middle ages, we also hnd the experience and expression o|
power|ul visions that contai n new revelations. ' ` Such visions undoubtedly gave
legitimacy to the leadership exercised by women in an age and church that
provided them with no visible rel igious authority.
Aher Constantine, Christianity was able to express itsel| rel i giously across the
entire spectrum o| social and political l i |e and in so doing revealed itsel| to be
a Creco-Koman rel igion, dehned, to be sure, by a commitment to one Cod and
to the crucihed and raised Messiah )esus and shaped by the symbols o| )ewish
scriptures, but, in terms o| rel igious sensibilities, di splaying the |ull range o|
options |ound among non-Christians o| their age. lndeed, during the |ourth
and h|th centuries, when Christianity still existed within the |ramework o| a
relatively vibrant Creco-Koman culture, its character as a Centile rel igion is
most clearly marked. Christians were rel igious in the same ways that their pa-
gan neighbors were rel igious.
1here is some truth, then, to the assertion o| "lagano-lapism" see Chapter 1)
that in the |ourth century, Christianity took on the appearance o| Creco-
Koman rel igion. ut it is only a partial truth, |or Christianity had never lacked
some o| the characteristics o| Creco-Koman rel igion. As l have shown, Kel i-
giousness A and Kel igiousness both are well attested in the New 1estament
writings. Kel igiousness C emerges in the second century. And Kel igiousness O
is well establ ished already in the third century, needing only the declaration o|
Afer Constantine
religious tolerance for its appearance in full splendor as the new sacrifcial
priesthood of the empire. What really changes within Christianity in the fourth
century is that the sociopolitical circumstances now allow for the full and
free expression of religious sensibilities that were already present well before
Constantine.
It is worth noting that as Greco-Roman infuence itself contracted in the
East (to become the Byzantine empire) and was overrun in the West ( by bar
barian invasion), and as the church adapted itself to such new circumstances,
above all through the development of monasticism, the four clear forms of
Greco-Roman religious expression tended to lose some of their sharp distinc
tions. Nevertheless, Christians continued to emphasize one of the four sensi
bilities. Many celebrated their participation in divine benefts and sought the
divine dynamis in traditional public ways through attendance at Mass and mak
ing confession, through pilgrimages, relics, and prayer to their patron saints.
Others committed themselves to the strenuous effort of moral transformation
by taking vows and living according to the commands of a rule and abbot. Still
others-fewest always in number-pursued direct experience of the divine
through asceticism and prayer. And most visible of all were those bishops and
other clergy who managed the institutional church as a way of stabilizing the
world.
It is also worth observing that Christians of one sensibility did not necessarily
understand or appreciate those of another-or even recognize the legitimacy of
their way of being Christian. A classic expression of the distrust of religious ex
perience by a monk-bishop is the letter written by Gregory of Nyssa (ca. S)
concerning the tendency of monks and hermits to travel on pilgrimage to the
Holy Land-just as had Egeria at roughly this period. Gregory warns of the dan
gers of such enterprises (such as the loss of modesty when traveling in mixed
groups), especially for those who have taken up "the higher life" and "the life
according to philosophy" -that is, monks and hermits. But the fundamental
problem for Gregory, who thinks in terms of moral transformation, is that seek
ing power in holy places is (at least for him) not real religion:
We confessed that the Christ who was mani fested is Very God, much before
as after our sojourn in Jerusalem. Our faith in him was not increased after
wards any more than it was diminished. Before Bethlehem we knew hi s being
made man by means of the Virgin. Before we saw his grave we bel ieved in
His resurrection from the dead. Apart from seeing the Mount of Olives, we
confessed that hi s ascension into heaven was real. We derived only this much
of proft from our traveling thither, namely that we came to know, by being
Afer Constantine
able to compare them, that our own places are far holier than those abroad. 1 26
Change of place does not affect any drawing nearer to God, but wherever you
may be, God wi l l come to you, i f the chambers of your soul be found of such
a sort that he can dwell i n you. But i f you keep your inner man ful l of wi cked
thoughts, even if you were on Golgotha, even if you were on the Mount of
Olives, even i f you stood on the memorial-rock of the resurrection, you wi ll
be as far away from receiving Christ i nto yourself, as one who has not even
begun to confess hi m. 1 27
-
EPILOGUE
1he argument ol this book is straightlorward. l propose that the long history
ol Christian "attack and apology" with respect to paganism must be abandoned
il any progress is to be made i n understanding the relationship between Creco-
Koman rel igion and Christianity. l hnd the possibil ity lor a new and better
conversation on the topic i n the distinctive perspective ol rel igious studies
rather than theology. And within rel igious studies, l adopt a modihed phenom-
enological approach that allows hi storical sources to speak as much as possible
in their own terms.
A subtler appreciation lor what constitutes "religious" enables in turn a more
nuanced understanding ol Creco-Koman religion, allowing me, lor example, to
view certain aspects ol Hellenistic philosophy as thoroughly religious in charac-
ter. My concentration, however, is not specihcally on social organization, myths,
doctrines, or even rituals, but on the ways in which actual human beings show
themselves to be rel igious. 1he analysis ol specihc hgures and texts as they speak
in their own voice is critical to this examination. l use several interchangeable
terms lor the "ways ol being rel igious," speaking ol religious sensibil ity, religious-
ness, religious perspective, and even religious temperament. l distinguish these
ways ol being rel igious i n terms ol their distinctive ways ol perceiving divine
power and its lunction.
y lar the greatest number ol reli gious phenomena i n the Creco-Koman
world lalls comlortably within Kel igiousness A. the divine power is seen to be
operative in the empirical world, it is available through a variety ol means, and
its purpose is human participation i n divine benehts. 1he perlect example ol
this religious sensibility is Ael ius Aristides, whose devotion to the healing god
2
75
Epilogue
Asclepius organized and directed his li le. A second way ol being religious in the
Creco-Koman world l have called Kel igiousness . while not denying the di-
vine power in the empirical world, this sensibil ity is interested above all i n the
way such power can enable moral translormation in persons. ln this view, salva-
tion is not success in external enterprises but perlection in virtue. Lpictetus
represents this sensibil ity because ol the way his rel igious devotion is expressed
totally through moral striving. Iar lewer Creeks and Komans were drawn to the
rphic perspective Keligiousness C), which does not see divine power present
i n the empirical world but instead seeks to save the soul through escape lrom
the material body, this rel igious sensibil ity ol transcending the world hnds its
hnest expression in the Hermetic tractate Poimandres. Iinally, l hnd i n llu-
tarch the representative ol Kel igiousness 0, which has two dimensions. on one
side, it provides the religious leadership and structures lor those seeking par-
ticipation i n benehts, on the other side, it seeks to stabilize the world by culti-
vating a piety that supports civilization.
My substantial analysis ol )udaism between 300 CL and 300 CL has real
point withi n the overall argument, not only because it allowed me to test my
analytic categories i n a rel igion that seemed to others and to its own adherents
as "other" i n that world, but also because )udaism provides a point ol compari-
son lor nascent Christianity. 1wo results ol the analysis are signihcant. Iirst,
during the time ol its lull engagement with Creco-Koman culture, )udaism
displayed the same lour modes ol rel igious sensibil ity that l detected in pagan-
ism. Second, in clear contrast to Christianity, )udaism in the late second cen-
tury abandoned its dall iance with Hellenistic culture and resolutely took its
normative shape on the basis ol its Hebrew heritage.
Larliest Christianity, in turn, reveals itsell to be not only a rel igious movement
that rapidly becomes Centile culturally and demographically but one that
increasingly reveals the same "ways ol being religious" as are evident in the Creco-
Koman world. Lvidence lrom the New 1estament writings supports the conclu-
sion that i n the hrst century, two ways ol being Christianparticipation in divine
benehts and moral translormationlound expression. ln the second and third
century, all lour ways ol being Christian manilested themselves. Christianity as
participation in divine benehts appears in apocryphal gospels and acts and in
martyr piety. Christianity as moral translormation lound expression in the se-
quence ol Christian philosophers running lrom Clement ol Kome, through )us-
tin, to rigen. Christianity as transcending the world appeared impressively in
Cnosticism. Christianity as stabilizing the world began to emerge in the priestly
language used lor worship and lor bishops and in the political theology ol contro-
versialists like lrenaeus.
Epilogue 277
Aher Constantine, Christianity i n the lourth and hlth centuries entered
lully i nto its identity as a Creco-Koman rel igion, indeed as the imperial reli-
gion. 1wo results ol its emancipation and imperial privilege are obvious. Chris-
tianity as participation in benehts expanded and expressed itsell in the same
publ ic ways as had polytheism. And Christianity as stabilizing the world lound
its home i n the increased political signihcance ol bishops, councils, and ortho-
dox teaching. ln the rhetorically trained bishop-theologians ol the lourth and
hlth centuries, Christianity embraced and expressed its Hellenistic heritage.
Christianity as moral translormation lound institutional expression in monasti-
cism, which in its mode ol l i le and in its goal s resembled the philosophical
schools ol the Creco-Koman world. nly Christianity as transcending the
world experienced a signihcant eclipse. 1he rise ol Manichaeism as a world
rel igion embracing the dualistic elements in Cnostic Christianity) meant that
a radically dualistic outlook became heretical. A modihed version ol Christian-
ity as transcending the world survived and then thrived in monastic then men-
dicant) mysticism.
My analysis ol Creco-Koman rel igion and early Christianity has a number ol
advantages that can be stated briehy.
1. lt resists the sort ol easy oversimplihcations ol Creco-Koman rel igion that
reduce it to one ol its elements the Mysteries, or the Lmperor Cult) while
ignoring the complexity ol rel igious practices and, even more, the multiple
ways ol being rel igious within Creco-Koman culture. My analysis not only
respects that diversity but enhances it by locusing on the diverse modes ol
rel igious sensibil ity that the sources reveal. y using properly rel igious cat-
egories in my analysis ol Creco-Koman sources rather than the categories
ol Christian theology, l have also enabled those sources to speak in their
own terms rather than having to respond to alien presuppositions.
2. lt avoids another common lorm ol oversimpl ihcation by the way the rela-
tionship between paganism and early Christianity is approached. Neither
paganism nor Christianity are considered as monol ithic entities, and the
question is not put i n terms ol causal ity or dependence. 1he alternatives
ol the arguments that "Christianity is entirely lree ol pagan inhuence" or
"Christianity derives lrom the Mystery Cults" are shown to be lalse simply
because they do not respect the complexity ol the data. 1he multiple com-
parisons l have made among "ways ol being rel igious" lound in pagans,
)ews, and Christians does respect that complexity and allows lor both the
similarities and the dillerences among the ancient rel igious systems to be
appreciated.
Epilogue
3- lt enables an appreciation lor the diversity within earliest Christianity that
goes beyond the obvious lact that the New 1estament compositions re-
sponded to di llerent circumstances in diherent ways, and it avoids the
problematic assumption that New 1estament compositions were engaged
in ideological theological) conhictlaul against )ames, lor example, or
Matthew against laul . y reading the New 1estament i n strictly rel i gious
termshow ultimate power and its purpose are conceivedl am able to
distinguish within earliest Christianity two di stinct lorms ol rel igious sen-
sibil ity that are there lrom the beginning and that are also lound i n the
Creco-Koman culture shared by the hrst Centile bel ievers.
4. y using categories derived lrom Creco-Koman religion to guide my read-
ing ol both )udaism and early Christianity, this approach gives a better
account ol the similarities and di llerences between these two rival claim-
ants to the heritage ol lsrael. ln the period when Christianity arose, )uda-
ism could legitimately be called a lorm ol Creco-Koman reli gion because
ol its sustained engagement with Hellenistic culture and the ways in
which its rel igious responses matched those ol pagans. ut whereas Chris-
tianity moved progressively toward the Centile world and reached its ma-
turity alter Constantine precisely as the imperial Creco-Koman rel igion,
)udaism turned away lrom its long dall iance with Hellenism and recov-
ered its distinctive Hebrew roots.
5. y analyzing Creco-Koman religion on its own termsor at least in terms
that are not derived lrom )ewish or Christian theologythis approach can
appreciate the rel igious i mpulses, convictions, experiences, and practices
ol pagans, not as weak approximations ol a truth held exclusively by )ews
and Christians, but instead as powerlul and authentic expressions ol reli-
gious truth. l do not mean doctrinal truth but, rather, true rel igious re-
sponses to what is perceived as ultimate. 1he shilt in diction may be sl ight,
lrom "Light to the Centiles," which assumes among )ews and Christians a
possession to be shared with the nations ol the world, and "Light among
Centiles," which assumes that non-)ews and non-Christians already have
a share in that possession, but the shih in perspective i s huge and makes
all the dillerence.
lMILlCA1lNS I 1HL S1UOY
1he analysis carried out on "the ways ol being Christian" in Creco-Koman
culture provides categories that have heuristic value lor the study ol other peri-
ods. Would it be possible, lor example, to think ol the lrotestant Kelormation
Epilogue 2
79
in the si xteenth centuryat least as represented by Luther and Calvinas
an ellort to reduce Christianity to a single way ol being rel igious 1hese classic
relormers certainly rejected all the lorms ol Christian expression that l have
identihed as "participation in benehts," such as devotion to the saints, rel ics,
and pilgrimages. At the same time, they repudiated the larger sacramental sys-
tem and the priesthood that supported it, which constituted the aspect ol
Christianity that "stabilized the world. " Iinally, they had l ittle use lor mysti-
cism or martyrdomsuch as were lound among the Anabaptists. At the same
time, they demolished the monasticism that had been the locus lor Kel igious-
ness moral translormation) within medieval Christianity. 1heir rej ection ol
monasticism, however, was based not on a disl ike lor that way ol being rel igious
but on their perception that the making ol rel igious vows and removal lrom
ordi nary li le inevitably corrupted that way ol being rel igious.
1he Kelormation asserted as authentically Christian precisely the way ol be-
ing rel igious lound i n monasteries but extended that ideal to all Christians. lt is
worth noting that the apostle laul, the preeminent representative ol Keligious-
ness i n the New 1estament, is the most signihcant scriptural source lor the
Kelormation`s stance ol sola fde and its understanding ol laith as an obedicnce
and trust that expressed itsell i n moral progress more than i n ritual activity or
mysticism. Closer analysis, to be sure, also reveals some ol the compl ications
inherent i n the Kelormation proj ect. Calvin`s Institutes, lor example, is cer-
tainly a lorm ol political theology. And in Lngland, the conhicts between An-
glicans and luritans can be understood at least in part as a conhict between
ways ol being rel igious even within the Kelormation, with the Angl icans assert-
ing the continuing val idity ol ritual and hierarchy and the luritans insisting on
a more radical dehnition ol Christianity i n terms ol the Word that leads to
moral translormation. Lven while acknowledging the ways in which the other
modes ol rel igiosity lound a greater or lesser place within a constantly segment-
ing lrotestantismwith denominations displaying a di zzying variety ol institu-
tional possibilitiesthe central rel igious emphasis ol the Kelormation remained
on a moral translormation based on a lauline version ol the Cospel, at least ac-
cording to the internal myth that based itsell on a comparison to a post-1ridentine
Cathol icism that remained resolutely hierarchical, sacramental, monastic, mys-
tical , and embarrassingly popular, all at the same time.
1he lour ways ol being rel igious that emerged i n the Creco-Koman context
ol earliest Christianity also have value lor identilying and assessing di llerences
withi n contemporary Christianity. Not a great deal ol ehort is required to dis-
cover examples ol all lour rel igious sensibilities, which cut across denomina-
tional l ines and even theological positions. Christianity as participation in
Epilogue
divine benehts hourishes in both lrotestantism and Cathol icism wherever
there is a locus on healings or prophecy or glossolalia or pilgrimage to the pres-
ence ol places made holy by saints, wherever miracle stories abound and claims
to divine power and possession prolilerate. Christianity as stabilizing the world
is lound in all those whose highest rel igious ambition is to be a bishop or head
ol a denomination, or even to administer a charity, as well as among those who
labor at interlaith dialogues and ecumenical organizations. Christianity as
transcending the world is lound especially today i n the "New Cnosticism" that
appears within and outside ol virtually every visible church i nstitution, among
those who think i n terms ol "spiritual ity" rather than "rel igion," who preler re-
treats and workshops with lellow seekers to weekly worship, who regard theolo-
gies and pol ities as i nhibitions to true Christianity, which is ol the spirit rather
than ol the body, who consider ancient heresiologists as wicked and ancient
Cnostics as good.
What about Kel igiousness , the way ol moral translormation lt can con-
tinue to be lound within the monastic li lewhere that existsand impressively
in some lorms ol lrotestantism that continue the central preoccupation with
the Kelormation. And across denominations, it is lound in those who espouse
"prophetic" Christianity and "Liberation 1heology," lor at heart these are con-
cerned above all with the translormation ol society and the moral improvement
ol humans. Not surprisingly, when one remembers the way in which universities
grew out ol monasteries, Keligiousness is lound among academic Christians,
whether they are theologians active within a church or students ol rel igion in
secular colleges and research centers. No less than the other types ol Christian-
ity do academic Christians sell-select on the basis ol rel igious temperament. lt is
therelore also not a surprise that academic rel igionists tend to dehne "authentic
rel igion" i n terms matching their own perceptions and commitments, that is, in
terms ol moral translormation within individuals and societies.
1hese categories also help i n grasping the mutual misunderstanding and
suspicion that exist among Christians ol di llerent rel igious sensibi lities. 1his is
not a matter ol theology, morals, or even pol ity but ol rel igious temperament.
Christians who consider spiritual ity more important than religion, and the culti-
vation ol their soul more signihcant than social i mprovement, tend to regard all
material expressions ol rel igion especially when exclusive to one tradition) as
unlortunate, underevolved, and even deeply mi sguided. 1hey think popular
lorms ol religion to be l ittle more than superstition and consider creeds and
canons and bishops as equally problematic lor what they regard as authentic
Christianityone that transcends Christianity itsell At the same time, the new
Epilogue
Cnostics are regarded with suspicion b
)
those who regard themselves as the
protectors ol community identity and have associated themselves precisely with
canon, creed, and council.
ishops, the maintainers ol tradition and good order whose rel igious lile is
dehned by the desire to stabilize the world, are, i n turn, chronically suspicious
ol all lorms ol popular rel igion that may disrupt the steady round ol sanctioned
rel igious observance. 1hey tend to look askance at glossolalia, and healings,
and prophecy, except as tested by ecclesiastical inquiry. 1hey tend to be equally
resistant to claims ol sainthood, unless val idated through a process ol ecclesias-
tical scrutiny. 1heologians and prophetic protesters are also disturbing to the
keepers ol good order, who preler catechesis to critical theology, tradition to in-
novation, and l icensed charities to random acts ol mercy. Mystics and spiritual
seekers are likewise more olten seen by bishops ol every variety) as irritants re-
quiring close institutional oversight than as creative stimulants to the renewal
ol piety. 1he suspicion is reciprocated. visionaries and healers tend to regard
bishops as agents ol repression who preler stale tradition to the lresh breath ol
the spirit. Spiritual seekers consider the keepers ol the gate as blind to authentic
rel igion, precisely because ol their concern lor institution.
1he academic representatives ol Kel igiousness pastors ol l iberal denomi-
nations, theologians in all denominations, and scholars ol religionhave l ittle
good to say about any ol the other three ways ol being Christian. lopular Chris-
tianity Keligiousness A) i s dismissed as superstition. Spiritual seekers are seen
as narcissists whose sell-involvement contributes nothing to the world. ishops
are regarded as company men whose commitment is to the preservation ol the
institution at any cost rather than to the cultivation ol morally translormed
communities. 1he mistrust i n this case is returned lrom all sides as well . bish-
ops suspect theologians and prophets ol subverting the tradition, spiritual seek-
ers think that students ol rel igion destroy the religion ol the heart with their
insistence on intelligence. And those Christians who celebrate the presence ol
the divine in healings and tongues consider seminary prolessors and university
prolessors alike as undeserving ol the name ol Christian because ol their spirit
ol critical inquiry. ne ol the most lascinating aspects ol Christianity today is
the way in which these distinct rel igious emphasesall ol which have a long and
distinguished pedigree within Christianityserve to divide Christians into mu-
tualIy hostile camps.
1he last way in which the categories l have used here may give rise to lurther
study is i n the analysis ol non-Christian rel igions. l am not competent to carry
out that analysis, but l suspect that the lour rel igious sensibilities that l have
Epilogue
lound in Creco-Koman rel igion and in Christianitynot to mention )udaism
during its Hellenistic phasemay be present in virtually all rel igions that have
developed above the tribal or temporary level. Certai nly, in the long and tense
struggle i n lslam between Suhsm and Shariàh, it is possible to hnd elements ol
the religious sensibil ities l have described. lt is even possible that the analysis
that began with the ways ol being rel igious within the Creco-Koman world may
turn out to have a much more universal applicabil ity.
A IlNAL WKO
l have studiously avoided theological di scourse in this study, precisely be-
cause l am convinced that, i n the case ol carelul comparative analysi s, the
held ol rel igious studies provides a more neutral and ultimately more uselul
lorm ol discourse. My approach throughout has been descriptive rather than
prescriptive.
ut two modest theological implications lor Christians do lollow naturally
lrom the analysis l have undertaken. 1he hrst concerns internal Christian ecu-
men ism. 1his study suggests that the deepest divisions among Christians may
not be those dehnable in terms ol theology or pol ity but may be those dehned
by distinct ways ol being rel igious. My analysis lurther suggests that there i s no
primitive, pristine lorm ol Christianity that does not bear a strong resemblance
to Creco-Koman rel igion, and that, lurther, the lour "ways ol being Christian"
i n the contemporary world all have some claim to legitimacy withi n the tradi-
tion both ol )udaism and earliest Christianity. 1he challenge to Christians to-
day is to embrace a cathol icity ol religious sensibil ity and expression rather than
to divide on the basis ol mutual suspicion ol ways ol being Christian that seem
strange.
1he second theological impl ication concerns Christian relations to other
world rel igions. My analysis has shown that the age-old tradition ol Christian
polemic against paganism, which relegates to the realm ol the demonic the re-
l igious practices ol one`s neighbors distant or near, it does not matter), serves to
obscure the true state ol allairs both within Christianity and in other rel igions.
ln Christianity, the ways ol being Christian through the ages and today are
basically the same as those lound in the hrst "world religion" engaged by Chris-
tians, the paganism ol the Koman Lmpire. Christians are more like them than
they have ever been willing to admit. Similarly, the sensibil ities displayed in
Creco-Koman rel igion, in )udaism, and in Christianity, in all l ikel ihood corre-
spond to those lound in other world rel igions. 1hey are more l ike Christians
Epilogue
than Christians have ever been willing to see. nce Christians are will ing to
grant the element ol continuityat the level ol human perception and
experiencethe better able Christians are to assess the ways i n which they truly
are dillerent and must agree to remai n dillerent. 1his, it seems to me, i s at least
a better starting point lor conversation among the rel igious people ol the world
than the one that begins in mutual ignorance and suspicion.
-
NOTES
1 . B E Y O N D A T T A C K A N D A P O L O G Y
1. Tertullian, De Praescriptione Hereticorum, 7.
2. Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), Act I.
3. L. T Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation, 2nd en\. ed.
(Mi nneapolis: Fortress, 1999).
4. See, for example, Matt 23= 1-39 (paralleled by Luke 11: 37-52; see also John 8:44-47;
12:42-43; Rev 3: 9; 2 Cor 4: 3; 1 Thess 2: 15-16). The debate concerning the possibility
that 1 Thess 2: 15-16 is an interpolation (see D. Schmidt, "I Thess 2: 13-16: Linguistic
Evidence for an Interpolation," Journal of Biblical Literature 102 [1983] : 269-279; and
J. A. Weatherly, "The Authenticity of 1 Thessalonians 2: 13-16: Additional Evidence,"
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 42 [1991] : 79-98) does not in the least af
fect the point that the passage contains early Christian polemic against unbel ieving
Jews.
5. See R. Ruether, Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism ( New
York: Seabury, 1974); R. Eckhardt, Jews and Christians: The Contemporary Meeting
( Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986); T Linafelt, ed. , A Shadow of Glory:
Reading the New Testament after the Holocaust ( New York: Routledge, 2002).
6. See L. T Johnson, "The New Testament's Anti-Jewish Slander and the Conventions
of Ancient Polemic," Journal of Biblical Literature 108 (1989): 419-441.
7. Among many other passages, Hos 8: 1-4; 13= 1-4; 14:8; Zeph 1 : 5-6; Mal 2:10; Jer 1: 16;
2: 11-13; 7: 23-26; 11: 1-13; 16: 10-13; Ezek 20: 1-8; Isa 2: 7-8; 30:22; 40: 18-20.
8. Wisdom of Solomon 14:22-28 ( Revised Standard Version).
9. For discussion of the term, which could bear both positive and negative connota
tions, see L. T. Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, ed. D. J. Harrington (Sacra Pagina
5; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical , 1992), 311-321.
10. For Paul and rhetoric, see, for example, M. M. Mitchell, Paul and the Rhetoric ofRec
onciliation ( Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991); and for Paul and philosophy,
see A. J. Malherbe, Paul and the Popular Philosopher (Mi nneapolis: Fortress, 1989).
Notes to Pages
4
-7
1 1 . For Paul 's use of witchcraf language in Galatians p and elsewhere, see J. H. Neyrey,
Paul in Other Words: A Cultural Reading of His Letters ( Louisville: Westminster/John
Knox, 1990), 181-206.
12. For the social real ities involved, see G. Theissen, The Social Setting of Pauline Chris
tianity: Essays on Corinth, trans. J. H. Schultz ( Phi ladelphi a: Fortress, 1981); and
W A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul ( New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983).
13. For discussion, see A. C. Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets: A Reconstruction
through Paul's Rhetoric (Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 1990); and E. Schussler-Fiorenza, In
Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins ( New
York: Crossroad, 1983).
14- See L. T Johnson, "Glossolalia and the Embarrassment of Experience," in Religious
Experience in Earliest Christianity (Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 1998), 105-136.
15. This theme is extensively and convincingly developed by S. Garrett, The Demise of
the Devil: Magic and the Demonic in Luke's Writings ( Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989).
16. Pagan observers of Christianity also engaged in polemi c against what they perceived
as a particularly noxious form of superstition; see R. L. Wilken, The Christians as the
Romans Saw Them ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984); and especially
J. G. Cook, The Interpretation of the New Testament in Greco-Roman Paganism
(Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity 3; Tubingen: JCB Mohr [ Paul Sie
beck] , 2000).
17. In his Address to the Greeks, Tatian (110-172 CE) is as ruthless in the condemnation of
Greek philosophy as he is of Greek religion (see 2, 19, 25, 27, 33); and Theophilus of An
tioch (115-168 CE), in his To Autolycus, has negative comments on philosophy ( IIL2-3).
But Theophilus also comments favorably on Greek philosophers (II. 4, II 38; III. 5-7)
and poets ( 1 1 . 5-7; II. 37). In his Embassy, Athenagoras (ca. 177 CE) cites the philoso
phers as agreeing with the poets' views on the gods (19). By the time of Origen (184-254
CE) and Augustine (354-430 CE), Greek philosophy, especially that of Plato, is given
an honored place as part of the preparation for the gospel . From the start, furthermore,
Christian apologists portrayed their own conversion in terms strongly reminiscent of
conversion among philosophers (Tatian, Address, 29-30; Theophilus, Autolycus, l . I4;
Justin, Discourse to the Greeks, 1; Dialogue with Trypho, 3). For general lines of ap
proach to Greek culture among the apologists, see the essays in J. Pouderon and J.
Dore, eds. , Les Apologistes chretiens et la culture grecque (Theologie Historique 105;
Paris: Beauchesne, 1998). The special consideration given the Sybil was due to the
Jewish interpolations in the Sybilline Oracles; see J. J. Collins, "The Jewish Transfor
mation of Sibylline Oracles," in Seers, Sybils and Sages in Hellenistic-Roman Judaism
(Supplements to the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 54; Leiden: Brill,
1997), 181-197. On the special status accorded the Sybil as a unique prophetic voice,
see Theophilus, Autolycus, II.9; II. 35; Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Hea
then, 2 and 4; Justin, First Apology, 20.
18. See, e.g., The Letter to Diognetus, 2; Theophilus, Autolycus 1 l . I ; Tertullian, Apology,
10; Mi nucius Fel ix, Octavius, 1 .
Notes to Pages 7-8
19. Theophilus, Autolycus, 1 . 1 (human hands); Athenagoras, Embassy, 18 (fabrications of
poets); Tertullian, Apology, 13 (machinations).
20. See, e. g. , Tatian, Address, 10; Theophilus, Autolycus, 1.9; 1. 10; 1 1 .2; Athenagoras, Em
bassy, 28-30; Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation, 2; Tertulli an, Apology, 10-11; Mi
nucius Felix, Octavius, 21; Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, 1 . 24.
21. Tatian, Address, 9, 21, and 34; Athenagoras, Embassy, 8 and 20; Justi n, Discourse, 1;
Mi nucius Fel ix, Octavius, 20; Arnobius, Against the Heathen, 1 . 24.
22. Origen, Against Celsus, VIII . 24; see also VII. 69.
23. Origen, Against Celsus, V46; see Tatian, Address, 8 and 12.
24. See Tatian, Address, 22; Theophilus, Autolycus, 11. 8; Athenagoras, Embassy, 23-24;
Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation, 3; Commodianus, The Instructions of Commo
dianus, 2-3; Augustine, City of God, 1 1 .24; X. 26; Lactantius, The Epitome of the Di
vine Institutes, 28.
25. Augustine, City of God, 1 1 . 29.
26. Mi nucius Felix, Octavius, 38.
27. Note the theory advanced concerning the power behi nd the oracles at Delphi in Plu
tarch, The Obsolescence of Oracles, 13-17 ( Mor., 417A-419B).
28. Against Celsus, VII. 69.
29. On the gods' wicked actions, see Tatian, Address, 8 and 9; Theophilus, Autolycus, 1. 9;
11. 8; Athenagoras, Embassy, 21; Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation, 2; Justi n, Dis
course, 2-3; Tertullian, Apology, 11; Mi nucius Fel ix, Octavius, 22; Arnobius, Against
the Heathen, 11. 9; IV20-37. On the effect of heari ng the myths read on the emotions
of the hearers, see Arnobius, Against the Heathen, 1 . 17-20. On the evil deeds incited
by hearing the myths, see Augustine, City of God, 1 1 . 25.
30. See Tatian, Address, 22 and 33; Justin, Discourse, 4; Tertulli an, Apology, 1 5; Augus
tine, City of God, 11. 26-27.
31. See Tertullian, Apology, 8-9; Minucius Fel ix, Octavius, 24; Arnobius, Against the
Heathen, IV18-23.
32. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation, 4.
33. See Athenagoras, Embassy, 26; Mi nucius Fel ix, Octavius, 27.
34. Justi n, First Apology, 54; Augustine, City of God, VIII. 21.
35. Tati an, Address, 18; Justi n, First Apology, 14; see al so Lactantius, The Divine Insti-
tutes, 1 . 17-18.
36. Tertullian, Apology, 22-23; Origen, Against Celsus, VIII. 61.
37. Augustine, City of God, XVIII. 18.
38. Augustine, City of God, 11. 26.
39. Tati an, Address, 19; Tertulli an, Apology, 22-23; Origen, Against Celsus, IV89; IV92.
40. See, for example, Justi n, First Apology, 57; Tertulli an, Apology, 27; Minucius Felix,
Octavius, 28; Augustine, City of God, XXI. 21.
41. The reader must be aware from the beginning that some of my positions regarding
the authorship and date of New Testament compositions are not held by the maj ority
of contemporary scholars. My ascription of 1 Timothy to Paul is not careless or acci
dental, but a principled decision, based on long study and disputation. 1 take the
288 Notes to Pages 8-11
position that Paul was the author of all the letters attributed to hi m during hi s l i fe
time but did not necessarily "write" them in the sense of individual, di rect composi
tion. Paul 's "school," which many scholars think of coming into existence after his
death, was active, I propose, during his mi nistry.
42. Justin, First Apology, 26, 56, and 57.
43. Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogic Catachesis, 1 and 8.
44. First Apology, 20, 62, and 66.
45. Origen, Against Celsus, l. 6.
46. Minucius Fel ix, Octavius, l l .
47. Augustine, Against Faustus the Manichaean, 200 4-
48. On these fgures, see E. Wind, Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance, new and enl. ed.
( New York: Barnes and Noble, 1968); and F. Copelston, A History of Philosophy,
vol. 3: Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy ( New York: Doubleday, 1963),
207-216.
49. See, e. g. , M. Luther, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520).
50. See Historia Ecclesiae Christi (1559-1574).
51. Cardinal Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici (1588-1607).
52. Isaac Casaubon, De Rebus Sacris et Ecclesiasticis Exercitationes (London, 1614), es
pecially 659-660, 684.
53. See "The Temple and the Magician," in J. Z. Smith, Map Is Not Territory: Studies in
the History of Religions (Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity, ed. J. Neusner, vol . 23;
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978), 188. Smith shows the infuence of Middleton (and then
Charles Francois Dupuis) on the American statesmen John Adams and Thomas Jef
ferson in Drudgery Divine: On the Comparison of Early Christianities and the Reli
gions of Late Antiquity (The Jordan Lectures in Comparative Rel igion 14; Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1990), 1-35.
54. See, for example, John Toland, Christianity Not Mysterious ( London, 1696); C. F.
Dupui s, Origine de tous les Cultes, ou Religion Universelle, 12 vols. ( Paris, 1795); God
frey Higgins, Anacalypsis: An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis; or, An
Inquiry into the Origin of Languages, Nations, and Religions (London, 1836); Thomas
Willi am Doane, Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions ( New York: J. w
Bouton, 1882); Edwin Johnson, Antiqua Mater: A Study in Christian Origins ( Lon
don, 1887); John Robertson, Pagan Christs: Studies in Comparative Hierlogy ( Lon
don, 1911); Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds ( New York: Harcourt,
Brace and Howe, 1920); W F. Vassall, The Origin of Christianity: A Brief Study of the
World's Early Beliefs and Their Infuence on the Christian Church ( New York: Exposi
tion Press, 1952).
55. It was frst publ ished in an expanded book-length form i n 1858, and a third edition
appeared in 1862 (Edinburgh: James Wood). A reprint from 1932 is currently available
on Amazon. com.
56. W W. Hyde, Greek Religion and Its Survivals (Boston: Marshall Jones, 1923), 44; see
also hi s Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire ( Phi ladelphi a: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1946), 68-69.
Notes to Pages 12-1
3
57. See, for example, Thomas Chubb, The True Gospel of Jesus Christ Vindicated (Lon
don, 1738); this early chapter in historical Jesus research is entertainingly evoked by
C. Allen, The Human Christ. Note that Schweitzer's classic 19Q6 reconstruction of
the quest had as its original German title Von Reimarus zu Wrede: Eine Geschichte
der Leben-Jesu-Forschung. Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768) borrowed from
the Deist perspectives of the British. See A. Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical
Jesus: A Critical Study of Its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede, 1st complete ed. by
J. Bowden (Mi nneapolis: Fortress, 2001).
58. See L. T Johnson, The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and
the Truth of the Trditional Gospels (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996).
59. Two benefts of the search are clear to everyone: the intricate l iterary relations among
the Synoptic Gospels and the character of the Gospel narratives primarily as witness
accounts and i nterpretations of Jesus rather than as historical reports on hi m.
60. C. A. Lobeck, Aglaophamus, sive de Theologiae Mysticae Graecorum Causis Libri
Tres, 2 vols. ( Konigsberg: 1829). See the helpful review of l iterature by B. M. Metzger,
"Considerations of Methodology in the Study of the Mystery Religions and Early
Christianity," Harvard Theological Review 48 (1955): 1-20.
61. F. Loisy, Les Mysteres PaiEms et Ie Mystere Chretien, 2nd ed. ( Paris: E. Nourry, 1930);
R. Reitzestei n, Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen (Leipzig: Teubner, 1910);
Reitzestein, Poimandres: Studien zur griechisch-agyptische und fruhchristliche Liter
tur (Leipzig: Teubner, 1904); C. Clemen, Primitive Christianity and Its Non-Jewish
Sources, trans. R. G. Nisbet (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1912); S. Angus, The Mystery
Religions and Christianity ( New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925).
62. E. Hatch, The Infuence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church, 2nd
ed. , ed. A. M. Fai rburn ( London: Will iams and Norgate, 1891); on the Mysteries, see
especially 283-309.
63. A. D. Nock, "Hellenistic Mysteries and Christian Sacraments," in Early Gentile Christi
anity and Its Hellenistic Backgrund (New York: Harper and Row, 1964 [1928]), 19-145.
64. Paul 's letters were challenging not least because they were the most obvious source
for Mystery language and practice in early Christianity and, si multaneously, the
clearest source for the "righteousness by faith" that for Protestant scholars defned
authentic Christianity.
65. Loisy, Les Mysteres Paiims; S. J. Case, Experience with the Supernatural in Early
Christian Times ( New York: The Century Company, 1929), 245-263; P. Gardner, The
Religious Experience of Saint Paul ( New York: G. P. Putnam and Sons, 1911), 72-99;
V D. Macchioro, Frm Orpheus to Paul: A History of Orphism ( New York: Henry
Holt and Company, 1930).
66. H. A. A. Kennedy, Saint Paul and the Mystery Religions ( London: Hodder and
Stoughton, 1913); L. Cerfaux, "Linfuence des 'mysteres' sur les epitres de S. Paul aux
Colossiens et aux
E
phesiens," in Recueil Lucien Cerfaux:
E
tudes d'exegese et d' histoire
religieuse, 3 vols. ( Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1985), 3= 279-285.
67. Thi s geographical/cultural/temporal progression was given i ts frst expression by
W. Heitmiiller, especially in "Zum Problem Paulus und Jesus," Zeitschrift fur die
Notes to Pages 1
3
-16
neuentestamentliche Wissenschaft 13 (1912): 320-337; was systematically developed
by W. Bousset, Kyrios Christos: A History of the Belief in Christ from the Beginnings
of Christianity to Irenaeus, trans. J. E. Steely ( Nashvi lle: Abingdon Press, 1970 [1926] );
and was given even greater legitimacy by R. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testa
ment, 2 vols. , trans. K. Grobel ( London: SCM Press, 1959). I discuss the analysis fur
ther in the next chapter.
68. See Paul and His Interpreters: A Critical History, trans. W. Montgomery ( London: A.
and C. Black, 1912); and The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, trans. W. Montgomery
(London: A. and C. Black, 1931).
69. Smith, Drudgery Divine, 83.
70. For a di scussion of the way in which Christian categories have distorted discussions
of Orphism, see R. G. Edmonds, Plato, Aristophanes, and the "Orphic" Gold Tablets
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 29-40.
71. It is worth noting that Roman Cathol ic scholars have, not surprisingly, been rather
more open to a positive appreciation of the Mysteries; see H. Rahner, "The Christian
Mystery and the Pagan Mysteries," in The Mysteries: Papers from the Eranos Year
books, vol . 2, ed. J. Campbell ( Boll ingen Series 30; Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer
sity Press, 1955), 337-401; O. Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship (Westmi nster,
MD: Newman, 1962).
2 . B E G I N N I N G A N E W C O N V E R S A T I O N
1. For Christian origins, see A. Y. Collins, ed. , Feminist Perspectives in Biblical Scholar
ship (Society of Biblical Literature Centennial Publications; Chico, CA: Scholars,
1985); C. Osiek and M. Y MacDonald, with J. Tulloch, eds. , A Woman's Place: House
Churches in Earliest Christianity (Mi nneapoli s: Fortress, 2006); E. Schissler
Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Ori
gins ( New York: Crossroad, 1983). For the Greco-Roman world generally, see, among
many others, E. Fantham et aI. , Women in the Classical World: Image and Text ( New
York: Oxford University Press, 1994); E. Cantarella, Bisexuality in the Ancient World,
trans. C. O'Cuilleanain ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992); A. Cameron
and A. Kuhrt, Images of Women in Antiquity, rev. ed. ( London: Routledge, 1993);
A. Richlin, ed. , Pornography and Representation in Greece and Rome ( New York:
Oxford University Press, 1992); E. C. Keuls, The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics
in Ancient Athens (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).
2. See, e. g. , J. Levenson, The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism:
Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies ( Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1993). No
one has more systematically engaged other religious traditions from the standpoint of
Judaism-and from a steadfastly rel igious studies perspective-than Jacob Neusner.
Among his hundreds of books, see only Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Con
stantine: History, Messiah, Israel, and the Initial Confrontation (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1987); Neusner et aI. , eds. , Ancient Israel, Judaism, and Christianity in
Contemporary Perpective (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2006); J. Neusner,
E. S. Frerichs, and A.-J. Levi ne, eds., Religious Writings and Religious Systems: Sys-
Notes to Pages 1617
temic Analysis of Holy Books in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Greco-Roman Reli
gions, Ancient Israel, and Judaism (Atlanta: Scholars, 1989); Neusner et aI. , eds. , The
Social World of Formative Christianity and Judaism: Essays in Tribute to Howard Clark
Kee ( Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988); J. Neusner, E. S. Frerichs, and C. McCracken
Flesher, eds. , "To See Ourselves as Other See Us": Christians, Jews, "Others" in Late
Antiquity (Chico, CA: Scholars, 1985); Neusner, ed. , Christianity, Judaism, and Other
Greco-Roman Cults: Studies for Morton Smith at Sixty (Leiden: Brill, 1975); Neusner,
ed., Religions in Antiquity: Essays in Memory of Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough (Lei
den: Brill, 1968). For a femi nist approach to formative Judaism, see A.-J. Levine, ed.,
"Women Like This": New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World
(Society of Biblical Literature, Early Judaism and Its Literature 1 ; Atlanta: Scholars,
1991). For a thoroughly social-scientifc approach, see H. Eilberg-Schartz, The Savage
in Judaism: An Anthrpology of Israelite Religion and Ancient Judaism ( Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1990).
3. For a small sampl ing of the rich analyses of the world's rel igions now regularly car
ried out in the context of rel igious studies, see G. Schopen, Bones, Stones, and Bud
dhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic
Buddhism in India (Honolulu: University of Hawai i Press, 1997); R. F. Campany, To
Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong's Traditions
of Divine Transcendents ( Berkeley: University of Cali fornia Press, 2002); H. Naka
maki, Japanese Religions at Home and Abrad: Anthrpological Perspectives ( London:
RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); P. B. Courtright, Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Begin
nings ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1985); J. A. Berling, The Syncretic Religion
of Lin Chao-en ( New York: Columbia University Press, 1980); E. Reinders, Borrwed
Gods and Foreign Bodies: Christian Missionaries Imagine Chinese Religion ( Berke
ley: University of California Press, 2004); J. B. Flueckiger, Gender and Genre in the
Folklore of Middle India ( Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1996).
4. For a sense of the distinctive culture (and distinctive tensions) i n this recent aca
demic colony, see W H. Capps, Religious Studies: The Making of a Discipline (Mi n
neapolis: Fortress, 1985); D. G. Hart, The University Gets Religion: Religious Studies
in American Higher Education ( Balti more: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999);
T Fitzgerald, The Ideology of Religious Studies ( New York: Oxford University Press,
2000); M. C. Taylor, ed. , Critical Terms for Religious Studies (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1998); D. Wiebe, The Politics of Religious Studies: The Continuing
Confict with Theology within the Academy ( New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999).
5. Compare the sharply specifc titles i n note 4 to the grand claims implicit in such
earlier works i n the discipl ine as W. B. Kristensen, The Meaning of Religion: Lectures
in the Phenomenology of Religion, trans. J. B. Carman (The Hague: Martinus Ni
jhoff, 1960); and G. Van der Leuw, Religion in Essence and Manifestation: A Study in
Phenomenology, 2 vols. ( New York: Harper and Row, 1963; 1st German ed. 1933).
6. See the carefully considered remarks by M. Jackson, "Phenomenology, Radical Em
piricism, and Anthropological Critique," in Things as They Are: New Directions in
Phenomenological Anthropology, ed. M. Jackson ( Bloomi ngton: Indiana University
Press, 1996), 1-50; and my own comments on a phenomenological approach to
Notes to Pages 1 7-18
ancient rel igious phenomena in L. T Johnson, Religious Experience in Early Christi
anity: A Missing Dimension in New Testament Studies ( Minneapol is: Fortress, 1998),
39-68.
7. J. Z. Smith, Imagining Religion from Babylon to Jonestown (Chicago Studies in the
History of Judaism; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), xiii. The categories
clearly overlap, but for a sampling of studies pertinent to Christian origins, see N. K.
Gottwald, ed. , The Bible and Libertion: Political and Social Hermeneutics (Mary
knoll, NY: Orbis, 1983); E. Schussler-Fiorenza, Bread Not Stone: The Challenge of
Feminist Biblical Interpretation, rev. ed. ( Boston: Beacon, 1995); R. S. Sugitharaj ah,
Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2002).
8. See, e. g. , E. A. Clark, History, Theory, Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn (Cam
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004); and D. B. Martin and P. C. Mi ller, eds.,
The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies ( Durham, NC: Duke University Press,
2005).
9. The theoretical framework provided by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman i nfu
ences this statement; see P. L. Berger and T Luckman, The Social Construction of
Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (Garden City, NY: Doubleday,
1967); and P. L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Reli
gion (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967).
10. J. Wach, "The Nature of Rel igious Experience," i n The Comparative Study of Reli
gions, ed. J. M. Kitagawa (Lectures on the Hi story of Religions, n. s. 4; New York:
Columbia University Press, 1958), 27-58.
1 1 . See especially G. Van der Leeuw, Religion in Essence and Manifestation: A Study in
Phenomenology, 2 vols. , trans. J. E. Turner (New York: Harper and Row, 1933), 1: 23-42.
12. The realm of experience is, inevitably, the realm of the subj ective. I emphasize in
this statement "to the person having the experience" because even when ecstatic ex
periences are derived from self-hypnosis or drugs, the individual reports the sense of
"encountering something" other than the mind's own process. We are here clearly
outside the realm of the scientifcally verifable. It goes without saying that what is
"perceived as ultimate" by one may not be perceived as such by another.
13. Language of "transcendence" is slippery and can easily lead to i nappropriate and
normative claims i n a discussion that is supposed to be strictly descriptive, but i f tran
scendence is understood functionally as "that which goes beyond" any other catego
ries available to the one experiencing it, then "that which is perceived to be ultimate"
can be called the "transcendent." It goes beyond what is simply pleasurable, beauti
ful , useful, or even good.
14. See R. Otto, The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea
of the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational, trans. J. E. Turner ( New York: Harper
and Row, 1963; 1st German ed. 1933), 8-1 1 , 136; see also Wach, The Comparative
Study of Religions, 32-35.
15. I t i s, in fact, a defciency in virtually al l theoretical di scussions of religious experience
that they tend toward individual psychology. An experience, however, can legiti-
Notes to Pages 18-20 2
93
mate1y be called communal, even when the speci fc mode of experience is inevitably
personal and diverse. Thus, even though the specifcs di ffer, it is fair to say that Elie
Wiesel, Primo Levi, and Anne Frank all "experienced the Holocaust. " Less dramati
cally, we can speak of ritual as communal experience.
16. William James observes, "It is as if there were in the human consciousness a sense of
reality, a feeling of obiective presence of what we may call 'something ther: more deep
and more general than any of the special and particular 'senses' by which the current
psychology supposes existent realities to be originally revealed," in Varieties of Reli
gious Experience ( New York: Longmans, Green, 1902; Penguin American Library,
1982), 58 (emphasis in the original). For the participant, this intensity or sense of real
ness is what gives the experience its self-evident authority, one that is ofen not obvi
ous to outsiders.
17. See C. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures ( New York: Basic Books, 1973); W B.
Kristensen, The Meaning of Religion: Lectures in the Phenomenology of Religion,
trans. J. B. Carman (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1960), 6-7; and my discussion of
the hermeneutics of religious experience in Faith's Freedom: A Classic Spirituality for
Contemporary Christians ( Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 1990), 31-59.
18. M. El iade, Patterns in Comparative Religion ( New York World, 1963), 14; E. Dur
kheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, trans. J. W. Swain ( New York:
The Free Press, 1965 [1915] ), 56 (division of time and space); Wach, The Comparative
Study of Religions, 59-143 (practices).
19. I clearly adopt a position distinct from that of }. Z. Smith, for whom the organization
(as i n ritual) is what constitutes the sense of someplace being powerful, i n To Take
Place: Toward Theory in Ritual (Chicago Studies in the Hi story of Judaism; Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1987), 105 .
20. See, e. g. , C. J. H. Hayes, Nationalism: A Religion ( New York: Macmillan, 1960); and
R. Lloyd, Revolutionary Religion: Christianity, Fascism, and Communism ( New York:
Harper and Brothers, 1938).
21. The resemblance was noted already by Sigmund Freud; see hi s "Obsessive Acts and
Rel igious Practices," in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of
Sigmund Freud, vol. 9, trans. and ed. J. Strachey ( London: Hogarth, 1959), 9: 117-127;
see also E. A. Reed, A Fall frm Grace: Religion and Addiction ( PhD diss. , The Union
Institute, 1990).
22. See J. L. Price, ed., Frm Season to Season: Sports as American Religion ( Macon, GA:
Mercer University Press, 2001).
23. T W. Harpur, "The Gift of Tongues and Interpretation," Canadian Journal ofTheol
ogy 12 (1966) : 164-171; R. H. Gundry, "Ecstatic Utterance ( NEB)," Journal of Theo
logical Studies n. s. 17 (1966): 306; C. Forbes, "Early Christian Inspired Speech and
Hellenistic Popular Rel igion," Novum Testamentum 28 (1986) : 257-270.
24. For the position that the experience comes from God and is continuous with Pente
cost, see F. D. Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit: The Pentecost Experience and
the New Testament Witness (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970); and W. G. Mac
Donald, "The Place of Tongues in Neo-Pentecostalism," in Speaking in Tongues: A
2
94
Notes to Pages 2021
Guide to Research in Glossolalia, ed. W. E. Mills (Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans,
1986), 81-93- For the position that speaking in tongues is rooted in psychopathology,
see, e. g. , M. Casaubon, A Treatise Concerning Enthusiasme as It Is an Effect of Na
ture: But Is Mistaken by Many for Either Divine Inspiration or Diabolical Possession,
2nd ed. ( London: Roger Daniel, 1656); J. Foster, Natural History of Enthusiasm, 7th
ed. (London: Hodsworth and Ball, 1834).
25. In Ronald Knox's classic work, Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion
( New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), the phenomenon is frequently associated
with features distorting of genuine Christianity (see pp. 360-366, 380, 540-559, 564);
in sharp contrast, speaking in tongues is identifed with the essence of Christianity in
y A. Obiya, The Miracle of Speaking in Tongues: Which Side Are You? ( Nigeria: Abe
daya Calvary Printers, 1987), 26-37.
26. D. Christie-Murphy, Voice from the Gods: Speaking with Tongues ( London: R. K.
Paul, 1978) 248-252; I . Stevenson, Xenoglossy: A Review and Report of a Case (Char
lottesville: University of Virgi ni a Press, 1974). See especially L. Samarin, Tongues of
Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism ( New York: Macmillan,
1972).
27. See J. P. Kildahl, "Psychological Observations," i n The Charismatic Movement, ed.
M. P. Harrington (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1975), 124-142, and The Psychology
of Speaking in Tongues ( New York: Harper and Row, 1972), 50-53; J. T Richardson,
"Psychological Interpretations of Glossolali a: A Reexamination of Research," Journal
for the Scientifc Study of Religion 12 (1973): 199-207.
28. See F. Goodman, Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-Cultural Study of Glossolalia (Chi
cago: University of Chicago Press, 1972); H. N. Maloney and A. A. Loveki n, Glossola
lia: Behavioral Science Perspectives on Speaking in Tongues ( New York: Oxford
University Press, 1985).
29. He does not mention glossolalia as such, but in Ecstatic Religion ( Baltimore: Pen
guin Books, 1971), I. M. Lewis shows how claims to spirit possession serve to assert
social power (see pp. 32, 101, 104-106, 110, 121).
30. M. El iade, Le chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l 'exstase ( Paris: Payot,
1951); L. C. May, "A Survey of Glossolalia and Related Phenomena in Non-Christian
Religions," American Anthrpologist 58 (1956): 75-96; C. G. Williams, "Ecstatic ism
in Hebrew Prophecy and Christian Glossolalia," Science Religeuses 3 (1974): 328-338;
D. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World
(Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans, 1983); J. T Bunn, "Glossolalia in Historical Perspec
tive," in Speaking in Tongues, ed. W G. Mi lls, 36-47.
31. See L. T Johnson, "Glossolalia and the Embarrassments of Experience," in Religious
Experience in Earliest Christianity (Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 1998), 105-136.
32. The literature on both discoveries is enormous, beginni ng with the more sensational
and moving toward the more scholarly. The Dead Sea Scrolls have been used to sup
port bizarre theories of Christian origins, as in R. H. Eisenman, James, the Brther of
Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls
(New York: Viking, 1997), and B. Thiering, Tesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea
Notes to Page 21
Scrolls: Unlocking the Secrets of His Life Story (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco,
1992); but have also provided the impetus to a richer understanding of Christianity's
context in Judaism, as in M. Black, The Scrolls and Christian Origins: Studies in the
Jewish Background of the New Testament (New York: Scribner, 1961), and J. C.
Vanderkam and P. Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Signifcance for
Understanding the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity (San Francisco: HarperSanFran
cisco, 2002). Likewise, the Nag-Hammadi writings led to sensational accounts-see
J. Doresse, The Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Texts: A Firsthand Account of the Ex
pedition That Shook the Foundations of Christianity ( Rochester, VT: Inner Tradi
tions, 2oo5)-and wide-ranging claims, as in E. Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels ( New
York: Vintage, 1989 [1979] ), together with more sober assessments, as in P. Perkins,
Gnosticism and the New Testament ( Mi nneapolis: Fortress, 1993), and B. A. Pearson,
Early Christianity and Gnosticism in the History of Religion (Claremont, CA: Insti
tute for Antiquity and Christianity, 2001), as well as large collaborative scholarly ex
ami nations, as in U. Bianchi, Le Origini dello Gnosticismo ( Leiden: E. J. Bri ll, 1967);
B. Layton, The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Proceedings of the International Confer
ence on Gnosticism at Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, March 28-31, 1978, 2 vols. ( Le
iden: E. J. Brill, 1980); and C. W Hendrick and R. Hodgson Jr., eds. , Nag Hammadi,
Gnosticism, and Early Christianity ( Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986).
33. See M. I . Rostovtzeff, ed. , The Excavations at Dura-Eurpos. Final Report; Con
ducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters (New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1943-1956); B. Cunli ffe, ed. , Excavations in Bath,
1950-1975 ( Bristol : CRAAGS, 1979)'
34. E. M. Myers, E. Netzer, and C. L. Meyers, Sepphoris (Winona Lake, IN: Eisen
brauns, 1992) ; R. Talgam, The Mosaics of the House of Dionysios at Sepphoris ( Jeru
salem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2003); L. I . Levine
and E. Netzer, Excavations at Maritime Caesarea, 1975, 1976, 1979, Final Report
(Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1986); A. Ra
ban and C. Holum, eds. , Caearea Maritime: A Retrospective after Two Millennia
(Leiden: E. J. Bri ll, 1996); C. T Fritsch, ed. , Studies in the History of Cae sa rea Mari
time ( Missoul a, MT: Scholars Press for the American Schools of Oriental Research,
1975)'
35. G. M. A. Hanfmann and J. C. Waldbaum, A Survey of Sardis and the Major Monu
ments outside the City Walls (Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, 1958) (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1975); F. K. YegueJ, The Bath-Gymnasium Complex at
Sardis (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986); C. M. A. Hanfmann and N.
Ramage, Sculpture fom Sardis: The Finds through 1975 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1978); G. Wiplinger, Ephesus: 100 Years of Austrian Research, trans. C.
Luxon (Vienna: Boehlau [Oesterreichen Archaeologisches Institut] , 1996); H. Koester,
ed. , Ephesos: Metropolis of Asia: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Its Archaeology, Re
ligion, and Culture (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity International, 1975); C. K. Williams II
and N. Bookidis, eds. , Corinth, the Centenary ( Princeton, NJ: American School of Clas
sical Studies at Athens, 2003); J. Murphy-O'Connor, St. Paul's Corinth: Text and
Notes to Pages 22-2
4
Archaeology, 3rd rev. and expanded ed. (Col legeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2002);
C. C. Parslow, Rediscovering Antiquity: Karl Weber and the Excavation of Hercula
naeum, Pompeii, and Stabiae (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); A.
Wallace-Haddrill, Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum ( Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1994); T Kraus, Pompeii and Herculaneum: The Living
Cities of the Dead, trans. R. E. Wolf ( New York: H. N. Abrams, 1975).
36. B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, eds. , The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, 73 vols. ( London: Egypt
Exploration Fund, 1898-).
37. See C. Hopkins, The Discovery ofDura-Europas, ed. B. Goldman ( New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press, 1979); M. Rostovtzeff, Dura-Europos and Its Art (Oxford: Clar
endon Press, 1938).
38. See E. R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 13 vols. ( New
York: Pantheon, 1953-1968).
39. In addition to the references provided above, see A. T Kraabel , "The Diaspora Syna
gogue: Archaeological and Epigraphic Evidence since Sukenik," Aufstieg und Nie
dergang der romischen Welt 11. 19. 1 (1979): 475-510; and "Paganism and Judaism: The
Sardis Evidence," in Paganisme, Judaisme, Christianisme: Melanges offerts a Marcel
Simon, ed. A. Benoit, M. Philonenko, and C. Vogel ( Paris: Boccard, 1978), 13-33.
40. See L. Kant, "Jewish Inscriptions in Greek and Lati n," Aufstieg und Niedergang der
romischen Welt, 1 1 . 20. 2 (1987) : 671-714.
41. See B. Brooten, Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue: Inscriptional Evidence
and Background Issues ( Brown Judaic Studies; Atlanta: Scholars, 1982).
42. S. Friesen, Twice Neokoros: Ephesus, Asia, and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial Fam
ily (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993).
43. See P. Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in
Ancient Mediterranean Society ( Minneapol is: Fortress, 2003). See Brooten's demonstra
tion in Women Leaders, pp. 103-137, of the lack of archaeological evidence support
ing the supposed separation of women from men in the synagogue (and, by inference,
of their exclusion from roles of authority), and her statement that "Ancient Jewish litera
ture yields no hint of a strict separation of the sexes in the synagogue" (p. 138).
44. Friesen, Twice Neokors, 50-112.
45. Harland, Associations, 89-1 12.
46. C. B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period: A Study in Greek Epig
raphy ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1934); M. Wolter, Die Pastoralbriefe als
Paulustradition (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1988).
47. Examples from Hellenistic Egypt are Tebtunis Papyrus 25 and 703; see text and dis
cussion in A. S. Hunt and J. G. Smyly, The Tebtunis Papyri (London: Oxford Univer
sity Press, 1933), 66-114
48. See also Ulpian, Duties of a Proconsul, Book 8, in The Digest of Justinian, 47. 11. 6;
Latin text edited by T Mommsen with the aid of Paul Krueger; Engli sh translation
edited by A. Watson ( Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985), 4: 784-
49. L. T Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy: A New Translation with Intro
duction and Commentary (The Anchor Bible 35A; New York: Doubleday, 2001),
137-142.
Notes to Pages 2
4
-2
5
2
97
50. As argued, for example, by M. Dibelius and H. Conzelmann, The Pastoral Epistles, ed.
H. Koester, trans. P. Buttolph and A. Yarbro ( Hermeneia; Philadelphi a: Fortress
Press, 1972), 5-7.
51. The effect of new discovery is greatest in the way it di slodges old certainties and
opens new possibilities; everything di scovered about the past has the potential to re
catalyze everything previously known (or thought to be known) about the past.
52. The translated Greek novels are avai lable in B. P. Reardon, ed., Collected Ancient
Greek Novels ( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), and the Latin i n F. A.
Todd, Some Ancient Novels: Leucippe and Clitophon, Daphnis and Chloe, The Sa
tyricon, The Golden Ass ( London: Oxford University Press, 1940).
53. Walter Burkert notes, "It is the only frst-person account of a mystery experience that
we have," in Ancient Mystery Cults (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1987), 97; and A. D. Nock calls Apuleius' account "the high-water mark of the piety
which grew out of the mystery religions" in Conversion: The Old and the New in Re
ligion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1933), 138.
54. H. J. Cadbury, The Book of Acts in History (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955), 8.
55. R. I . Pervo, Proft with Delight ( Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987); C. M. Thomas, The
Acts of Peter, Gospel Literature, and the Ancient Novel: Rewriting the Past ( New York:
Oxford University Press, 2003).
56. See 1 . 51 ; 1. 65-67; Y42-43; Y62-63; Y91; V1. 52; V1. 57; V1. 66; V1.76; VII .220; VII . 239;
and J. D. Mikalson, Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars (Chapel Hill: Uni
versity of North Carolina Press, 2003).
57. See, e.g., J. Elsner and I . Rutherford, eds., Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman and Early
Christian Antiquity: Seeing the Gods (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005); and D.
Dueck, H. Lindsay, and S. Pothecary, eds. , Strabo's Cultural Geography: The Making
of a Kolossourgia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
58. The Hieroi Logoi are found as Orations XLVII-LI I I i n P. Ael ius Aristides, The
Complete Works, vol . 2: Orations XVII-LIII, trans. C. A. Behr ( Leiden: E. J. Bri ll,
1981).
59. See R. A. Tomlinson, Epidaurs (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983); T Papadakes,
Epidauros: The Sanctuary of Asclepius, 2nd ed. (Munich: Schnell and Steiner, 1972);
H. Avalos, Illness and Health Care in the Ancient Near East: The Role of the Temple
in Greece, Mesopotamia, and Israel (Atlanta: Scholars, 1995).
60. See J. C. Stephens, The Religious Experience of Aelius Aristides: An Interdisciplinary
Approach (Ann Arbor, MI : University Microflms, 1983).
61. M. C. Nussbaum, The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics
( Princeton, NJ: Pri nceton University Press, 1994); see also A. J. Malherbe, "Hellenis
tic Moralists and the New Testament," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt
11. 26. 1 (1992): 267-333. The religious tone of some Hellenistic philosophers was noted
already in 1904 by Samuel Di ll in his classic, Roman Society from Nero to Marcus
Aurelius (New York: Meridian, 1956), where he speaks of "the philosophic theolo
gian" (384-440). For a collection of sources, see A. A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy:
Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, 2nd ed. ( Berkeley: University of Cali fornia Press, 1986);
Notes to Pages 25-27
A. J. Malherbe, Moral Exhortation: A Greco-Roman Sourcebook ( Philadelphi a: West
mi nster, 1986).
62. Such, at any rate, is the charge laid against the Epicurean Colotes by Plutarch, in
Reply to Colotes 17 ( Mor., 1117A-B). On the origin of Pythagoras, see Iamblichus, Life
of Pythagoras, 3-10.
63. See Philostratus, Life of Apollonius ofTyana, 1. 1; Epicurus, Sovereign Maxims.
64 Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 17.72-74; 18. 81; Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of
Tyana, l. 13-
65. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 1. 2; VI Il .n; The Epistles of Heraclitus, 4:
"To Hermodorus," i n The Cynic Epistles, ed. A. J. Malherbe (SBL Sources for Bibli
cal Study 12; Missoula, MT: Scholars, 1977), 191-193.
66. The theme, as we shall see in a later chapter, is pervasive in Epictetus but fnds its most
splendid expression in his discourse on the vocation of the Cynic (Discoure, 111. 22).
67. See A. J. Malherbe, "Medical Imagery i n the Pastorals," i n Texts and Testaments, ed.
W. March (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1980), 19-35.
68. Lucian of Samosata, Demonax and Nigrinus; see L. T Johnson, "II Ti mothy and the
Polemic against False Teachers: A Re-Exami nation," Journal of Religious Studies 6,
no. 2 (1978): 1-26; Nock, Conversion, 164-186.
69. See W. Bousset, Kyrios Christos: A History of the Belief in Christ from the Beginnings
of Christianity to Irenaeus, trans. J. E. Steely (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1970 [1913] );
R. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, 2 vol s. , trans. K. Grobel (New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951, 1955). For a brief introduction to this infuential move
ment, see H. Boers, "Religionsgeschichtliche Schule," in Dictionary of Biblical Inter
pretation, ed. J. H. Hayes (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999), 2: 383-387.
70. As a consequence, the frst-century Philo could be di sregarded i n the construction
of "Normative Judaism" on the basis of the "Rabbinic Tradition," the evidence for
which much postdated the frst century, in the classic study by G. F. Moore, Judaism
in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, 2 vols. ( New York: Schocken, 1927).
71. The signifcance of the title kyrios is that in Paul 's letters (the earliest datable Chris
tian l iterature), it refers to Jesus as the exalted one who shares in God's li fe and power
(see 1 Cor 12: 1-3; Rom 10:9).
72. Bousset, Kyrios Christos, 31-118; Bultmann, Theology, 1: 33-62.
73. Bousset, Kyrios Christos, 119-152; Bultmann, Theology, 1: 63-184.
74. Bousset, Kyrios Christos, 119-120.
75. See W. Heitmueller, "Zum Problem Paulus und Jesus," Zeitschrift fur Neuentesta
mentliche Wissenschaft 13 (1912): 320-337.
76. The History of Religions School was frmly committed to the methods of tradition
criticism, which basically regarded narratives as repositories of earlier traditions.
Proponents of this approach were unaware of the shift to narrative criticism that was
being inaugurated by scholars such as H. J. Cadbury, i n The Making of Luke-Acts
( New York: Macmillan, 1927), which would lead to an appreciation of how Hellenistic
the third Gospel and Acts of the Apostles actually were; see E. Pliimacher, Lukas als
hellenistischer Schrifsteller (Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments 9; Gottingen:
Notes to Pages 27-2
9
2
99
Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1972). For the early dating of James and Hebrews, see
L. T Johnson, The Letter of James: A New Translation with Introduction and Com
mentary (The Anchor Bible 37A; New York: Doubleday, 1995), 89-123; Brother of
Jesus and Friend of God: Studies in the Letter of James (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
2004), 1-23; and Hebrews: A Commentary (The New Testament Library; Louisville:
Westminster John Knox, 2006), 32-44.
n See D. M. Hay, Glory at the Right Hand: Psalm 110 in Early Christianity (Society of
Biblical Literature Monograph Series 18; Nashville: Abingdon, 1973).
78. Bousset brushes of this evidence i n Kyrios Christos, 129; for a recent rereading of
all the evidence, see L. W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest
Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans, 2003).
79. See S. Lieberman, Greek in Jewish Palestine; Hellenism in Jewish Palestine ( New
York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1994 [1942] ) ; M. Hengel , Judaism
and Hellenism: Studies in the Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Pe
riod, 2 vols. , trans. J. Bowden ( Philadelphi a: Fortress, 1974). See also the i mportant
work of H. A. Fischel, Rabbinic Literature and Greco-Roman Philosophy: A Study of
Epicurea and Rhetorica in Early Midrashic Writings ( Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973), and
Essays in Greco-Roman and Related Talmudic Literature ( New York: KTAV Publish
ing House, 1977); E. R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 13
vols. ( New York: Pantheon, 1953-1968); as well as M. Hadas and M. Smith, Heres
and Gods: Spiritual Biographies in Antiquity (New York: Harper and Row, 1965).
80. According to I Maccabees 8: 1-31, a treaty was made with Rome as early as the early
second century BCE, but Roman presence became effective with the incursion of
Pompey in 63 BCE; for the history of this period, see S. D. Cohen, From the Mac
cabees to the Mishnah ( Philadelphi a: Westminster, 1987).
81. On these points, see Lieberman, Greek in Jewish Palestine and Fischel , Rabbinic
Literature and Essays, passim.
82. See the discussion in Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism, 1: 83-106.
83. For an overview, see K. H. Jobes and M. Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (Grand
Rapids, MA: Baker Academic Books, 2000).
84. The fullest account is given by the Letter of Aristeas, in The Old Testament Pseude
pigrapha, 2 vol s. , ed. J. H. Charlesworth ( New York: Doubleday, 1985), 2: 7-34.
85. For the diffculty of determining the numbers with any precision, see V Tcherikover,
Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, trans. A. Appelbaum ( New York: Atheneum,
1970), 284-295.
86. For their use of polemic, see L. T Johnson, "The New Testament's Anti-Jewish Slan
der and the Conventions of Ancient Polemic," JBL 108 (1989): 419-441.
87. For Pseudo-Phocyl ides, see J. Bernays,
U
ber das Phokylideische Gedicht: Ein Beitrag
zur hellenistischen Litteratur (Jahresbericht des j uedische-theologischen Seminars
"Fraenckelschen Stiftung"; Berl i n: Hertz, 1856); for Ezekiel, see C. R. Holladay,
Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors II: Poets; The Epic Poets Theodotus and
Philo and Ezekiel the Tragedian (SBL Texts and Translations 30; Atlanta: Scholars,
1989), 301-529.
3
00 Notes to Pages 29
3
2
88. See D. A. DeSilva, 4 Maccabees (Sheffeld, U. K. : Sheffeld Academic Press, 1998).
89. The strongest case is made by E. R. Goodenough, By Light, Light: The Mystic Gos
pel of Hellenistic Judaism ( New Haven, CT Yale University Press, 1935). For critical
reviews of Goodenough, see A. D. Nock, Essays on Religion and the Ancient World,
2 vols. , ed. Z. Stewart (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), 2: 877-894, 895-919; for a
more positive appreciation, see M. Smith, "Goodenough's Jewish Symbols in Retro
spect," Journal of Biblical Literature 86 (1967): 53-68. See the summary of Philo's
language in Johnson, Religious Experience, 89-97; for the very early i nfuence of the
Mysteries on Judaism, see L. Cerfaux, "Infuence des Mysteres sur Ie Judaisme Alex
andrin avant Philo," Le Museon 37 (1924): 29-88.
90. For a thorough analysis of Pseudo-Orpheus, see C. R. Holladay, Fragments from Hel
lenistic Jewish Authors, vol. 4: Orphica (SBL Texts and Translations 40; Atlanta:
Scholars, 1996).
91. For an overview, see P. W Flint and J. C. Vanderkam, eds. , The Dead Sea Scrolls after
Fifty Years, 2 vols. ( Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998).
92. See, e. g. , lQS 3- 13-4. 26; 6. 24-7. 27; 5. 14-16; 8. 22-26.
93. See B. Dombrowski , "ha yachad in lQS and to koinon: An Instance of Early Greek
and Jewish Synthesis," Harvard Theological Review 59 (1966): 293-307.
94. I take note here of a study that also focuses on the issue of power in religion and that
puts Greco-Roman religion, Judaism, and Christianity into conversation, but does so in
a manner very diferent than my own, particularly in the way these traditions are treated
more or less as monol ithic entities: see D. R. Edwards, Religion and Power: Pagans, Jews,
and Christians in the Greek East ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).
3 . A P R E L I M I N A R Y P R O F I L E O F
G R E C O - R O M A N R E L I G I O N
1 . Classic studies of the Roman context include J. Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient
Rome, ed. H. T Rowell , trans. E. 0. Lorimer ( New York: Penguin, 1985 [1940) ) ; and
S. Dill, Roman Society from Ner to Marcus Aurelius ( New York: World Publ ishing
Co. , 1956 [1904) ) . More recent general treatments include M. Goodman (with
J. Sherwood), The Roman World: 44 BC-AD 180 ( New York: Routledge, 1997); P
Garnsey and R. Saller, The Roman Empire: Economy, Society, and Culture (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1987); R. MacMullen, Roman Social Relations: 50 B. c.
to A. D. 284 ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1974); F. Dupont, Daily Life in
Ancient Rome, trans. C. Woodall (Oxford: Blackwell , 1992).
2. A select list of helpful surveys: W. Burkert, Greek Religion, trans. J. Raffan (Cam
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985); D. Feeney, Literature and Religion
at Rome: Cultures, Contexts, and Beliefs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1998); R. MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire ( New Haven, CT: Yale Uni
versity Press, 1981); L. H. Marti n, Hellenistic Religions: An Introduction ( New York:
Oxford University Press, 1987); A. D. Nock, Essays on Religion in the Ancient
World, 2 vol s. , ed. Z. Stewart ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1972); R. M.
Notes to Pages
3
2-
33
Ogilvie, The Romans and Their Gods in the Age of Augustus ( New York: W. W.
Norton, 1969); R. Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire, trans. A. Nevi l l (Cam
bridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996); Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome: Religion in Ev
eryday Life from Archaic to Imperial Times, trans. A. Nevill ( New York: Routledge,
2000); A. Wardman, Religion and Statecraft among the Romans (London: Granada,
1982).
3. Feeney, Literature and Religion at Rome, 22-28, poi nts out that the i nteraction
between Greek and Roman elements was ancient, multifaceted, and subtle. For an
"evolutionary sequence" study, see, for example, G. Murray, Five Stages of Greek Re
ligion, 2nd ed. ( New York: Columbia University Press, 1925); for a "response to spiri
tual crisis" study, see H. Jonas, The Gnostic Religion: The Message of an Alien God
and the Beginnings of Christianity, 2nd ed. ( Boston: Beacon, 1963).
4. For a succinct and informed di scussion of most of the topics covered i n this chapter,
together with extensive bibliographies for each subject, see H.-J. Klauck, The Reli
gious Context of Early Christianity: A Guide to Graeco-Roman Religions, trans.
B. McNeil ( Minneapol is: Fortress, 2003).
5. The point is made particularly well by Ogilvie, The Romans and Their Gods, 8-40.
6. For the indigitamenta, see Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome, 2-3.
7. Plato, Alcibiades, 135D; Phaedo, 80D; Thaetetus, 1 51 B; Epictetus, Discourses, 1 . 1 . 17;
III. 21. 12; III . 22. 2; 2 Macc 12: 16; Acts 18: 21; James 4: 1 5.
8. Living conditions both i n the country and in the city (especially i n the crowded insu
lae) meant that people ate and slept in close quarters. The popularity of the publ ic
baths suggests that li fe with others was as much a pleasure as a necessity; see C. F.
Fagan, Bathing in Public in the Roman World (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1999).
9. In Sophocles' Phi/octetes, the abandoned man's isolation from other humans is a far
greater suffering than hi s suppurating wound. See Dupont, Daily Life in Ancient
Rome, 10-12, 57-62.
10. Ovid's Fasti is a poetic commentary on the calendar in six books (covering half the
year) and an i mportant source for Roman religion.
ll. For a selection of calendars recovered archaeologically (they were inscribed in public
places for the guidance of the populace), see M. Beard, J. North, and S. Price, Ro
man Religion, Volume 2: A Sourcebook (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1998), 60-74. The calendar for April from 6 to 9 CE has at least 10 days marked N
(nefastus) and two days marked NP (probably indicating a half day that was inauspi
cious for secular activities).
12. See the essays on this topic i n N. Marinatos and R. Hagg, Greek Sanctuaries: New
Approaches ( London: Routledge, 1993). A collection of primary evidence is usefully
g
athered by G. Stevenson, Power and Place: Temple and Identity in the Book of
Revelation ( Beihefe zur Zeitschrif fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 107;
Berl i n: Walter de Gruyter, 2001), 72-86.
13. For Athens, see W. F. Ferguson, The Treasurers of Athena (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1932); for Delphi, see Herodotus, History, 1. 14, 1 . 50, 1. 92.
Notes to Pages
33
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35
14. In ancient Greece, meat was rarely consumed apart from the communal participa
tion in the meat of sacrifce; in Rome, meat appeared more frequently in the diet of
the well-to-do and could be purchased at markets such as that in the Forum Boarium,
where a temple of Hercules was located.
1 5. See Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome, 14, 58, 74.
16. See Plato, Symposium; Xenophon, Symposium; Plutarch, Table-Talk ( Mor. , 612A-
748D). For a brilliant semiotic study of Greek cuisine, see J. Davidson, Courtesans
and Fish-Cakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens (New York: St. Marti n's,
1998). See also P. A. Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming
a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society ( Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 2003), 55-88.
17. See R. S. Ascough, "Translocal Relationships among Voluntary Associations and
Early Christianity," Journal of Early Christian Studies 5. 2 (1997) : 223-241; J. S. Klop
penborg, "Collegia and thiasoi: Issues in Function, Taxonomy and Membership," in
Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World, ed. J. S. Kloppenborg and S. G.
Wilson ( London: Routledge, 1996), 16-30'
18. See the collected essays on the topic i n M. Beard and J. North, eds. , Pagan Priests:
Religion and Power in the Ancient World ( London: Duckworth, 1990); and G. J.
Szemler, The Priests of the Roman Republic: A Study of the Interactions between
Priesthood and Magistracies ( Bruxelles: Latomus, 1972).
19. Breaki ng custom, Julius Caesar gathered several of the priestly offces to hi mself si
multaneously and was followed in this by Augustus, who was climactically elected
pontifex maximus i n 12 BCE; for discussion, see R. Gordon, "From Republic to Prin
cipate: Priesthood, Religion, and Ideology," in Beard and North, Pagan Priests, 179-198.
20. See S. J. Friesen, Twice Neokoros: Ephesus, Asia, and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial
Family ( Religions i n the Greco-Roman World 116; Leiden: Brill, 1993)'
21. The event is reported by Livy, History of Rome, 29. 10-14.
22. Ibid. , 39. 8-19
23. Plutarch, Against Colotes, 22 ( Mor. , 1 1 19F) and 27 ( Mor. , 1123A).
2+ Epicurus, Sovereign Maxims 19, 20, 21, 37, 41.
25. "Your doctrines are bad, subversive of the state, destructive of the family, not even ft
for women"; see Epictetus, Discourses, 1 1 1 .7. 21.
26. See E. Mary Smallwood, "Domitian's Attitude toward the Jews and Judaism," Classi
cal Philology 51 . 1 (1956): 1-13.
27. See S. J. Friesen, "The Cult of the Roman Emperors i n Ephesos: Temple Wardens,
City Titles, and the Interpretation of the Revelation of John," in Ephesos, Metrpolis of
Asia: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Its Archaeology, Religion, and Culture, ed. H.
Koester (Harvard Theological Studies 41; Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International,
1995), 229-250; Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations, 89-160.
28. Festivals such as the Saturnalia (in December) and the Lupercalia (in February) in
volved every level of society and, in the case of the Saturnalia, playful rituals of status
reversal ; see Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1. 24 and 1. 22-23-
29. Pri mary texts are available in R. S. Kramer, ed. , Women's Religion in the Greco
Roman World: A Sourcebook (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); see also her
monograph, Her Share of the Blessings: Women's Religions among Pagans, Jews, and
Notes to Pages
35
-
3
6
Christians ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); see also M. Parca and A. Tzane
ton, Finding Persephone: Women's Rituals in the Ancient Mediterrnean ( Bloomi ng
ton: Indi ana University Press, 2007).
30. For helpful comments on the subject of bel i ef, see Feeney, Literture and Religion
at Rome, 12-46.
31 . In de Natura Deorum, 1 . 2- 4, Ci cero states how pietas appl ies to gods and soci al struc
tures al ike: "Piety (pietas) however, l i ke the rest of the vi rtues, cannot exist i n mere
outward show and pretence; and, with piety, reverence (sanctitas) and rel igion (reli
gio) must l ikewise di sappear. And when these are gone, l i fe soon becomes a welter of
di sorder (perturbatio) and confusion (confusio); and in all probabi l ity the di sappear
ance of piety toward the gods wi l l entail the di sappearance of loyalty (fdes) and social
union (societas) among men as wel l , and of j ustice herself, the queen of all the vi r
tues. " See also de Inventione, 2. 22. 65.
32. Turcan, The Gods of Ancient Rome, 1-13.
33. Plutarch reports the tradi ti on that the sacrifcial bul l was requi red to shake his
head to si gni fy agreement wi th being sacrifced, i n The Obsolescence of Oracles,
46C (435C) . In hi s Natural History, 28. 10-11, Pli ny the Elder describes the care
taken to fl l ri tual procedures exactly. Plutarch tel l s of sacri fces repeated up to 30
ti mes to achieve a favorable si gn from the gods (Life of Coriolanus, 25 .7) and of a
general postponi ng a cri ti cal battle unti l (after 20 unsuccessful exami nation of
sacri fced vi cti ms) the si gns were favorable with the twenty-frst, encouragi ng hi m
t o engage t he battle (Life of Aemilius Paullus, 17. 1 1-12). See al so Livy, Roman His
tory, 8. 9. 1-10.
34. Aulus Gelli us, Attic Nights, 2. 28. 2.
35. For a general di scussion of polythei sm, see R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, "Polythei sm," i n
Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed. , ed. L. Jones ( New York: Thomson Gal e, 2005),
1 1 = 731 5-7319
36. For an i ntroduction, see A. Wal l ace-Hadri l l , ed. , Patronage in Ancient Society ( Lon
don: Routledge, 1990); and K. Lomas and T Cornel l , Bread and Circuses: Euergetism
and Municipal Patronage in Roman Italy ( London: Routledge, 2003). For i nscrip
tional evidence, see F. W. Danker, Benefactor: Epigraphic Study of a Graeco-Roman
and New Testament Semantic Field (St. Louis: Clayton, 1982). The practice and un
derstandi ng of prayer was an area i n which the Greeks and Romans genui nely di f
fered; see M. J. Brown, The Lord's Prayer through North African Eyes: A Window into
Early Christianity ( New York: T & T Cl ark International , 2004).
37. Written in hexameters, the 15 books of the poem begi n with the creation of the world
and end with the deifcation of Julius Caesar and the start of Augustus' reign. Despite
Ovi d's positive view of the emperor, Augustus exiled hi m (for reasons unknown)
i n 8 CE.
38. Metamorphoses, 8. 611-724; the story i s given a Chri sti an turn i n the Acts of the
Apostles 14: 1-18, when Barnabas i s mi staken for Zeus and Paul for Hermes by the
Phrygi an populace, who seek to make a sacrifce to these theoi phainomenoi among
them. See the di scussion i n L. T Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, ed. D. J . Har
ri ngton (Sacra Pagi na 5; Col legevi lle, MN: Liturgi cal , 1992), 245-252.
Notes to Pages
3
6
3
8
39. See, e. g. , the three versions of the ascension of Romulus to the realm of the gods in
Ovid, Metamorphoses, 14. 805-851; Fasti, 2. 481-59; and Livy, History of Rome, 1 . 16;
see also the account of the apotheosis of Herakles in Diodorus Siculus, Library of
History, 4. 38. 3-5 and 4
. 39. 1-2.
40. As in Origen, Against Celsus, I I . 9-11.
41 . Julius Caesar, Augustus, and Claudius were accorded posthumous divine honors; the
last was the subj ect of Seneca's scathing satire, Apocolocyntosis ("The Pumpifcation
of Claudius"). The emperor Hadrian declared his slave and lover Antinous a god
when the young man died suddenly in 130 CE, thereby incurring a certain amount of
ridicule; see Dio Cassius, Roman History, 69. 11. 2; Pausanius, Description of Greece,
8. 9-7-8.
42. The complexities of the topic of syncretism are sketched by C. Colpe, in "Syncre
tism," trans. M. J. O'Connell , Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. L. Jones ( New York:
Thomson and Gale, 1987); and F. Graf, "Syncretism," in Encyclopedia of Religion,
2nd ed. , ed. L. Jones ( New York: Thomson and Gale, 2005), 13: 8926-8938. For an
example of clumsy enforcement, see 1 Macc 1:41-57 and 2 Macc 6: 1-5.
43. In Natural History, 28. 4, Pl i ny the Elder describes a scene of Roman priests inviting
the gods of conquered peoples i nto communion with the Roman pantheon; see also
Minucius Felix, Octavius 6. 1-7. 6.
44. In his Oration 19. 6 ("A Letter to the Emperors Concerning Smyrna"), Ael ius Aris
tides turns to Marcus Aurel ius and Commodus when the city of Smyrna was de
stroyed by earthquake (January 177 CE): "There is no reproach i n writing to you in
the same fashion i n which we address the gods. Indeed, for these things we pray to
the gods, but you we beseech as most divine rulers."
45. See the essays in Subiect and Ruler: The Cult of the Ruling Power in Classical Antiq
uity, ed. A. Small (Ann Arbor, MI : Journal of Roman Archaeology, 1996).
46. Burkert, Greek Religion, 88-89; see also the essays in M. Dutienne and J.-P. Verna nt,
The Cuisine of Sacrifce among the Greeks, trans. P. Wissing (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1989).
47. See C. Dumezil, La Religion romaine archaique ( Paris: Puyot, 1966), 335-340.
48. See H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic ( Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1981).
49. Take the case of Hera's harassment of 10 because of Zeus' sexual intentions toward
her and the rescue of her effected by Hermes on Zeus' behalf; similarly, in Aechylus'
Eumenides, Apollo di rects Orestes to revenge the murder of his father, but the deed
causes the Furies (eumenides) to pursue him and bring him to trial; it requires the
decisive vote of Athena to free hi m.
50. In the Odyssey, VII L266-366, we read of "the loves of Ares and Aphrodite and how
they frst began their affai r in the house of Hephaestus," but in the Homeric Ques
tions, 69, of Heraclitus and i n Compendium of Greek Theology, 19, of Cornutus, the
union of Ares and Aphrodite is interpreted as the combination of strife and love in
harmony. Similarly, in Isis and Osiris, Plutarch warns that the Egyptian myths con
cerning Isis and Osiris ought not to be taken as l iterally true but should be inter
preted "reverently and philosophically (philosophikos)" (Mor., 355 B-D).
Notes to Pages
3
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4
0
51. The same premises and the same procedures are found in Philo of Alexandria in his
i nterpretations of Torah (as in The Allegorical Laws) and Origen of Alexandria in his
interpretation of the Old and New Testaments (as i n Homilies on Leviticus).
52. See the development of the theme of pronoia in Greco-Roman and Jewish historians
in J. T Squires, The Plan of God in Luke-Acts (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1983).
53. In all the orations of Aelius Aristides, so flled with religious passion, there are only
occasional references to moral behavior and even fewer that connect piety and mo
rality (see Oration, XIY50 and XVI . 31). This is not to suggest that the worship of the
gods lacked a sense of imperative; many extant inscriptions connected to places of
worship prescribe both ritual and moral requirements for participation i n the cult;
see the selection of texts i n MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire, 12-14, 146-
148; and E. Lupu, Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents (NGSL) ( Reli
gions i n the Graeco-Roman World 152; Leiden: Brill, 2005).
54. As i n Epictetus, Discourses, 3- 17.
55. See Plutarch, On the Delay of the Divine Vengeance ( Mor. , 548B-568).
56. See W. C. Greene, Moira: Fate, Good and Evil in Greek Thought (New York: Harper
and Row, 1963 [1944] ) ; and Pseudo-Plutarch, On Fate (Peri Heimarmene) (Mor. ,
568B-574)
57. For a display of Tyche in art with interpretive essays, see S. B. Matheson, An Obses
sion with Fortune: Tyche in Greek and Roman Art ( New Haven, CT: Yale University
Art Gallery Bulletin, 1994).
58. For a review and di scussion of the evidence, see D. E. Aune, Prphecy in Early Chris
tianity and the Mediterranean World (Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans, 1983).
59. See Cicero, de Divinatione, 1 . t-3, 1 . t8-19
60. See A. Bouche-LeClerq, Histoire de la Divination dans l 'antiquite, 4 vols. ( Paris:
Culture et Civilization, 1879), especially "Ie college des augures," 4: 262-317.
61. Burkert, Greek Religion, 56.
62. See Pli ny, Natural History, 1 1 . 190; Ovi d, Metamorphoses, XY795.
63. In hi s History, Livy repeats many reports of portents that are interpreted as divine
approval or disapproval i n the midst of human affai rs (e. g. , 1. 21. 8; 1 . 45. 4-7; 1 1. 42. 9-11);
portents also accompany extraordi nary events such as the death of Julius Caesar
(see also Suetoni us, Life of Caesar, 1 . 88) and, for that matter, the bi rth of Augustus
(Life of Augustus, 1 1 . 94. 1-7). It becomes a l iterary commonplace to report portents
accompanying the birth of persons who will be hi storically signifcant; see Plu
tarch, Life of Alexander, 2. 3-3. 9-elaborated even further by Pseudo-Calli sthenes'
Alexander Romance-and Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, 3-10; see S. I . Johnson and
P. T Struck, eds. , Mantike: Studies in Ancient Divination ( Religions in the Graeco
Roman World 1 55; Leiden: Brill, 2005).
64. See Plato, Ion, 534A-D; Phaedrus, 244A; Timaeus, 71E-72B; and Burkert, Greek Re
ligion, 109-1 18.
65. In Apuleius' Metamorphoses, VIII. 27, such eunuch priests are observed: "They would
throw their heads forward so their long hair fell down over their faces, then rotate
them so rapidly that it wheeled about in a circle . . . . [ T] hey would bite themselves
Notes to Pages 4041
savagely, and as a climax cut their arms with the sharp knives they carried. One of
them let hi mself go more ecstatically than the rest. Heaving deep sighs . . . as if flled
with the spirit of the goddess, he pretended to go stark mad. "
66. Plato, Timaeus, 72B; Herodotus, History, 8. 135. Lucan (Civil War, 5 . 86-224) describes
the oracles of the Delphi prophetess in more spectacular terms. As with Apuleius'
description of the Galli belonging to Cybele, authorial perspective must be kept in
mind. It i s di ffcult to fnd entirely neutral, much less fully developed, witnesses in
the l iterature.
67. There were a number of Sibyls, with the most famous being associated with Cumae in
Italy. The ecstatic character of her speech is attested to by Virgil , Aeneid, VI .77-102
(see also Ovid, Metamorphoses, XIV106-158); interpretation was the task of the Quin
decemviri Sacris Faciundis when commanded by the Senate (Livy, History of Rome,
5. 13. 5-6). The number of members of this prestigious college was steadily in
creased, reaching 16. The original set of books was destroyed by the burning of the
Capitol i n 83 BCE, and a new collection was gathered. See H. W. Parke, Sibyls and
Sibylline Prophecy in Classical Antiquity, ed. B. C. McGing (London: Routledge,
1988).
68. See Livy, History of Rome, 29. 10. 4-11. 8; and the reconsideration of the tradition by
H. Berneder, Magna Mater Kult und Sibyllinen. Kulttransfer und annalistische Ge
schichtsfktion (Innsbrucker Beitrage zur Kulturwissenschaft 119; Innsbruck: I nstitut
fur Sprachen und Literatur der Universitat Innsbruck, 2004).
69. See Tacitus, Annals, V1. 12.
70. Plutarch, The Obsolescence of Oracles ( Mor. , 409E-438E).
71. For the centrality of the oracle i n Greek history, see Herodotus, History, 1 . 51 ; 1. 61;
1. 67; 5. 42-43; 5. 62-63; 5. 91; 6. 52; 6 57; 6. 66; 6. 76; 6. 86; 7.220; 7- 239; 8. 114; 8. 141; and
Thucydides, History, 2.7. 55; 3. 11. 92; 4. 13. 118; 5. 1 5. 17; see also H. Bowden, Classical
Athens and the Delphic Oracle: Divination and Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2005); and (more popularly) W. J. Broad, The Oracle: The Lost Se
crets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi ( New York: Pengui n, 2006) .
72. See the account of a healing ascribed to Vespasian in Tacitus, Histories, 4. 81. On
Apollonius, see Phi lostratus, Life of Apollonius ofTyana, 11 1. 38 and 39; IV10. For the
fgure of the wandering wonder worker, see L. Bi eler, Theios Aner: Das Bild des
"gattlichen menschen" in Spitantike und Frihchristentum ( Darmstadt: Wissen
schaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1967 [1935-1936] ) ; as well as the critical assessment
by D. L. Tiede, The Charismatic Figure as Miracle Worker (Society of Biblical Litera
ture Dissertation Series 1; Mi ssoula, MT: Scholars, 1972).
73. See E. J. L Edelstein and L. Edelstei n, Asclepius: A Collection and Interpretation
of the Testimonies, 2 vols. ( Baltimore: Johns Hopki ns University Press, 1998
[1945] )
74. See W. Peek, Inschriften aus dem Askleipieion von Epidaurus ( Berl i n: Akademie
Verlag, 1969); selections in English can be found in D. R. Cartl idge and D. L.
Dungan, Documents for the Study of the Gospels ( Phi ladelphi a: Fortress, 1980),
121-1 25.
75. The story is recounted by Livy, History of Rome, 10. 47, and is rendered poetically by
Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1 5. 628-742; see K. Kerenyi , Asklepios: Archetypal Image of the
Physician's Existence, trans. R. Manheim ( Bollingen Series LXY3; New York: Pan
theon, 1959), 3-17.
76. In addition to the sources cited in the notes to Chapter 1, see Burkert, Greek Religion,
276-304; W Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1987); as well as M. W. Meyer, ed. , The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook (San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987).
77. Burkert, Greek Religion, 277-278; for this conviction concerni ng Eleusis, see Aelius
Aristides, Oration, I . 330-341.
78. There were four distinct stages of initiation at Eleusis and seven degrees of i nitiation
i n the Mithras cult; see K. Kerenyi, Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daugh
ter, trans. R. Manheim ( Bolli ngen Series 65; New York: Pantheon, 1967), 45-102; F.
Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, trans. T J. McCormack (Chicago: Open Court
Publ ishing, 1910), 152-1 58; J. Merkelbach, Mithras ( Konigsten: Verlag Anton Hein,
1984), 86-145; for the secular advantages of initiation, see Burkert, Ancient Mystery
Cults, 12-29.
79. See A. Motte, "Si lence et Secret dans les Mysteres d' Eleusis," in Les Rites des Initia
tion: Actes du College de Liege et de Louvain-Ia-Neuve, 1984, ed. J. Ries ( Louvai n-la
Neuve: Centre d' Histoire des Religions, 1986), 317-334.
80. As i n Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 5.71-72.
81. See the collection of essays in H. P. Foley, ed. , The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Trans
lation, Commentary, and Interpretive Essays ( Princeton, NJ: Pri nceton University
Press, 1994).
82. See L. J. Alderink, "The Eleusinian Mysteries in Roman Imperial Times," Aufstieg
und Niedergang der romischen Welt 1 1 . I8. 2 (1984): 1259-1379.
83- Burkert, Greek Religion, 285.
84. L. Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome ( Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1992), 211-212.
85. See R. Beck, "Mithraism si nce Franz Cumont," Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romis
chen Welt 1 1 . 17. 4 (1984): 2002-2014.
86. In Conversion: The Old and New in Religion frm Alexander the Great to Augustine of
Hippo (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1989 [1933] ), 138, A. D. Nock calls
Apuleius' account "the high-water mark of the piety that grew out of the mystery
religions." Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults, 97, notes that "it is the only frst-person
account of a mystery experience that we have."
87. Metamorphoses, X. 38; for text, translation, and commentary, see J. G. Griffths, The
Isis-Book (Metamorphoses Book XI) ( Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975).
88. Metamorphoses, XI. 5-6.
89. Ibid. , XL3-27
90. Ibid. , XL9-30.
91. See the essays in Jas Elsner and Ian Rutherford, eds. , Pilgrimage in Greco-Roman and
Early Christian Antiquity: Seeing the Gods ( New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
Notes to Pages
43
-
44
92. Apuleius of Madura claims to have undergone initiations into multiple Mysteries
(Apology, 55), and Libanius reports that the emperor Julian "consorted with daimones
in countless rites (teletai) (cited by Nock, Conversion, u5).
93. For termi nological and methodological discussion, see M. Meyer and P. Mi recki,
eds. , Ancient Magic and Ritual Power ( Religions in Greco-Roman World 129; Le
iden: Brill, 1995); D. E. Aune, "Magic and Early Christianity," Aufstieg und Nieder
gang der romischen Welt 11. 230 2 (1980): 1 57-1557.
94. So, e.g., the frst-century philosopher Apollonius of Tyana had to struggle against
charges that he was a magos both during his l i fe (see Letters, 16 and 17) and afer: see
Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Lu; Y12; Dio Cassius, Roman History,
77. 18. 4; Origen, Against Celsus, 6. 41. Such charges could have dire consequences: for
the suppression of magic, see R. MacMullen, Enemies of the Roman Order: Treason,
Unrest, and Alienation in the Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1966), 95-127.
95. See M. Dickie, Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World ( New York: Rout
ledge, 2001); and the essays in Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion, ed.
C. A. Faraone and D. Obbink ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).
96. For examples, see Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman
Worlds: A Collection of Ancient Texts, translated, annotated, and i ntroduced by
G. Luck ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985); and H. D. Betz, The
Great Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells (Chicago: Univer
sity of Chicago Press, 1986).
97. "The boundary between it and religion i s so hazy and undefnable, that it is almost
impossible to tie it down and restrict it to the narrow l i mits of some neat turn of
phrase that will hit it off and have done with it"; see J. E. Lowe, Magic in Greek and
Latin Literature (Oxford: Basil Blackwell , 1929), 1.
98. The most important thing to note for those approaching Greco-Roman religion from
the side of a developed Christianity is that all these phenomena continued to fourish
well i nto the fourth and even ffh centuries of the "Christian Era." The restoration of
"paganism" under "Julian the Apostate" (so termed by Christian martyrologies) in the
late fourth century could not have been so successful were there not a substantial
ground of receptivity. For this reason, and for the added one that I am not interested
in causal relationships, I am free to choose as my examples of Greco-Roman rel igios
ity fgures and compositions that considerably postdate the New Testament. For the
continued liveliness of "paganism," see the considered remarks of MacMullen, Pa
ganism in the Roman Empire, 62-73.
99. For the positive sense, see Dio Chrysostom, Oration, 61.9; for the negative, see
Strabo, Geography of Greece, 16. 2. 37.
100. The portrait appears in Theophrastus, Character Types, 16: the superstitious man
reacts i n fear to every phenomenon (2-9), engages i n apotropaic rituals (10), con
sults dream interpreters and prophets and diviners (u), and seeks initiation every
month (u).
101. Lucian of Samosata, The Lover of Lies, 13-16.
Notes to Pages
45-
4
6
102. See Plutarch, On Supertition, 6-7 (Mor., 1670-168E); Isis and Osiris, 11 (Mor., 3550).
103. "In a trice he made them all look like children; for he was prophet, cult leader, head
of synagogue, and everything, all by himself. He interpreted and explained some of
their books, and even composed many, and they revered him as a god, made use of
him as a lawgiver, and set him down as protector, next after that other, to be sure,
whom they still worship, the man who was crucifed in Palestine because he intro
duced this new cult into the world" (The Passing ofPeregrinus, 11).
104. The Passing of Peregrinus, 42.
105. Lucian, Alexander the False Prphet-it is based on a real cult founder who four
ished between 150 and 170 CEo
106. Epicurus, To Menoeceus, 123-124; 134; Sovereign Maxims, 1; Fragments, 24. 58; Philo
demus, On Piety, 18. Preeminent among philosophers condemning the i mmorality
of religious myths was Plato, who would ban the poets from his ideal state (Republic,
378B-E; 398A; 595B-C).
107. See Lucian of Samosata, Alexander the False Prophet, 17, 25, 43, 47, 61.
108. Luci an calls Oemonax "the best philosopher I know" and notes of hi m that he re
fused to offer sacrifce or be initiated at Eleusis (Demonax, 11), that he was critical of
Proteus Peregrinus (21) as well as of a sorcerer (23), prayer to Asclepius (27), the Mys
teries (34), and a soothsayer (37).
109. See the rich assortment of graffti cited passim i n C. A. Willi ams, Roman Homo
sexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity (New York: Oxford Uni
versity Press, 1999)'
110. Aristophanes shows a conservative rel igious attitude in his criticism of Euripides'
and Socrates' contemning of the Olympic gods (see The Clouds, Thesmophoriazu
sae), but he i mitates Euripides by reducing the gods to characters in (sometimes
bawdy) plays (see The Birds, The Frogs). But his plays also contai n elements of genu
ine piety, as in the chorus of Bacchantes in The Frogs. In the six extant comedies of
Terence, an expression of piety occurs only in The Eunuch (V8). As for Plautus, his
twenty extant comedies have only random religious elements: Jupiter and Mercury
change form ribaldly in Amphitryon, the household god recites the prologue in The
Pot of Cold (as the god Succour recites the prologue in 1. 3 of The Casket). The god
dess Fortune is mentioned in passing in Pseudolus; and in Curculio, a pimp offers
sacrifce in the temple of Asclepius to acquire good luck. The only mark of genuine
piety occurs i n The Rope ( 1 . 5; IV2).
111. The main characters in Petronius' Satyrika, Encolpius and Giton, are thoroughly
secular in outlook, regarding religious observance as a matter of low self-interest (88);
they pray only for sexual success (79, 83-85) and use the language of the Mysteries
for sexual orgy (16-18). For the most part, they see themselves as the playthings
of Fortuna (78, 95, 96, 100, 101, 128). In contrast, Trimalchio and his guests show an
ostentatious-almost superstitious-piety, covering a vulgar manner of li fe: Trimal
chio's villa displays a plaque to the Lares et Penates (29), an inscription marking his
membership in the "College of Augustus" (Le. , imperial cult [30] ), and an ostenta
tious display of dies fasti et nefasti (30). He checks his horoscope (77) and his rooster
Note to Page
47
for auspices (74). His guests give voice to the conventional prayers (61, 64) and declare
that the gods' anger results from lack of human piety (46) -the world is topsy-turvy
as though it were Saturnalia (44, 69). They tell stories of witches and magic (63).
Only the female character Ci rce expresses a genuine piety; although she eschews
divination and astrology (126), she declares her conviction that "even now the gods
are at work, as silent as thought" (127). For translation and notes, see Petronius, Sa
tyrika: A New Translation, ed. R. B. Branham and D. Kinney ( Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1996). I have already mentioned Apuleius' Metamorphoses as a
valuable source for religious practice. Other Greco-Roman novels-especially those
composed in Greek-contain a wealth of rel igious phenomena and evince a pious,
even credulous, ai r. In them we fnd revelatory dreams (Achilles Tatius, Clitiphon and
Leucippe, 1. 3; 1 1 . 1 1 ; IV2; Longus, Daphnis and Chloe, 1 .7; 2.23; Chariton of Aphrodi
sias, Chaereas and Callirhoe, IV55; Xenophon, The Ephesians, 1. 81; 2. 89; Heliodorus,
Ethiopian Tale, 8, 11; Pseudo-Call isthenes, Alexander Romance, 1. 8; I . 34), festivals for
a variety of gods and goddesses (Clitophon and Leucippe, Il. z; V2; Daphnis and
Chloe, 2. 2; Ethiopian Tale, 9. 9-10), appearances of gods and goddesses to humans
(Ephesians, 2. 52; Daphnis and Chloe, 2. 2; 2. 5-7; 2. 6-7; Alexander Romance, I. 33),
prayer (Clitiphon and Leucippe, Il L5; Ephesians, 4. 114), temples of lsis (Clitiphon and
Leucippe, V14; Ephesians, 3- 104), sacrifce to Dionysius (Daphnis and Chloe, 3- 10),
worship of individuals as gods or goddesses because of their beauty or power (Cliti
phon and Leucippe, Ill . z3; Chaereas and Callirhoe, LI4. 1; III. 2. 15-17; Ephesians, 1. 71;
1. 80; 2. 85; Ethiopian Tale, 1. 2), mantic frenzy (Clitiphon and Leucippe, Il. 3; Il. 12; IV9),
oracles (Ephesians, 1. 75; Ethiopian Tale, 2. 16; 2. 26; Alexander Romance, I. 3; 1. 15; 1. 47),
astrology (Alexander Romance, 1 . 5), magic (Clitiphon and Leucippe, IlLI8; Ephesians,
1.75; Alexander Romance, 1. 1; l. ll; 1. 43), and necromancy (Ethiopian Tale, 6. 14-15). For
English translations of all these novels, see B. P. Reardon, ed. , Collected Ancient
Greek Novels (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).
112. The tendency to regard Epicurus as divine began with the obeisance shown him
during his li fetime by Colotes (see Plutarch, Against Colotes ( Mor. , 1117 A-D) and
reached full expression in Lucretius' On the Nature of Things; see C. J. Castner, "De
Rerum Natura 5: 101-103: Lucretius' Appl ication of Empedoclean Language to Epi
curean Doctrine," Phoenix 41 (1987): 40-49. In lamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, the
founder of the school is of divine descent at birth (3-10) and demonstrates his divin
ity by thaumata (see 36, 60-61, and 136).
The Pythagoreans took their founder's dictum, "friends hold all things in common"
(see Diogenes Laertius, Life of Pythagors, 8. 10), and structured a community life in
which all possessions were shared; see lamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 6. 29-30; Por
phyry, Life of Pythagors, 20. In contrast, Epicurus cultivated friendship among his
followers but explicitly rejected a community of possessions because it suggested a
lack of trust among friends (see Sovereign Maxims, 14, 28; Frgments, 23, 34, 39, 42).
The theme of purity is restricted to the Pythagorean tradition (see lamblichus,
Life, 17.75; 35. 257). Likewise, stages of admission are found more explicitly among
the Pythagoreans ( Iambl ichus, Life, 17. 72; 18. 81); for expulsion, see 17.73-75.
Notes to Page
47
Epicurean schools are known to have existed in Naples and Herculaneum in the frst
century BCE; among the compositions recovered from Herculaneum is the tractate
"On Frank Criticism" (peri parreias) by the Epicurean teacher Philodemus, which is
dedicated entirely to the practice of correction within the philosophical school.
113- Thus the criticism found everywhere in the literature: the false philosopher is one who
professes but does not practice the life of vi rtue (see, e.g., Lucian, Hermotimus, 79; The
Dream, 11; lcarmenippus, 5; Philosopher for Sale, 20-23; Epictetus, Discoure, II. 1. 31;
II. 17 26; III. 5. 17; Julian, Oration, 7.225A; 7.223C; Dio Chrysostom, Oration, 35. 2. 3- 11).
On marks of identity, see Ael ius Aristides, To Plato, in Defense of the Four,
III . 663-668; Epictetus, Discourse, I I I . 22. 9. 50); I Y8. 5; Julian, Oration, 6. 197C;
7. 2223C; Dio Chrysostom, Oration, 35. 2. 3- 1 1; Luci an, Hermotimus, 18-19.
Adherents of phi losophy appeared in a variety of social positions: emperor ( Mar
cus Aurelius), court advisor (Seneca), senator (Cicero), schoolmaster ( Epictetus), and
wandering preacher ( Dio Chrysostom). Especially in the Cynic tradition deriving
from Diogenes and Antisthenes, the Socratic sense of social critic and gadfy was
mai ntained but with a more positive nuance: the phi losopher could be regarded as
physician ( Epictetus, Discourse, III. 22-72-73; Dio, Oration, 32. 10. 34; Luci an, Nigri
nus, 38; Demonax, 7), as general (Julian, Oration, 6. 192C), or as "herald of the gods"
(Epictetus, Discourse, II L22-70).
114. On turning from vice to virtue, see Lucian, Nigrinus, 38. In Hermotimus, Lucian
taunts the plodding seeker after wisdom in Stoicism with the proposition that it is
impossible to know which school is true unless one has tested them all, a proposition
that he proceeds to show is itself impossible of fulfllment. For the motif of passing
through schools until fnding the right one, see Phi lostratus, Life of Apollonius of
Tyana, 1 .7-8.
115. See the evidence collected in L. T Johnson, "The New Testament's Anti-Jewish
Slander and the Conventions of Ancient Polemic," Tournai of Biblical Literature 108
(1989): 419-441 ; and "Proselytism and Witness in Earliest Christianity: A Study in
Origins," in Sharing the Book: Religious Perspectives on the Rights and Wrongs of
Proselytism, ed. J. Witte Jr. and R. C. Martin ( Religion and Humans Rights 4; Mary
knoll, NY: Orbis, 1999), 145-1 57, 376-384.
116. See Epictetus, Discourse, III. 22. 54-55. Even the mild Demonax experienced rejec
tion (Demon ax, 11). Philosophers were among those who experienced exile because
of i mperial suspicion of their subversive potential; see Phi lostratus, Life of Apollonius
of Tyana, IY35. 36; VII. 4; Dio Cassius, Roman History, 52. 36. 4; and MacMullen,
Enemies of the Roman Order, 46-94.
117. For the frequent use of medical metaphors among Greco-Roman moralists, see A. J.
Malherbe, Morl Exhortation: A Greco-Roman Sourcebook ( Library of Early Christi
anity; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), passim; and M. C. Nussbaum, The Therpy
of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics ( Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer
sity Press, 1994).
118. See E. N. Gardiner, Athletics in the Ancient World (Chicago: Ares, 1980); Y C. Pftzner,
Paul and the Agon Motif Traditional Athletic Imagery in the Pauline Literture
3
12
Notes to Pages
4
8-51
( Novum Testamentum Supp. 16; Leiden: Brill, 1967); see also Malherbe, Moral Ex
hortation, 26-27, 72, 126, 142, 159.
119. For the complexities of Orphism, see Burkert, Greek Religion, 290-301; L. J. Al
derink, Creation and Salvation in Ancient Orphism (American Classical Studies 8;
Chico, CA: Scholars, 1981); W Burkert and W Wuellner, eds., Orphism and Bacchic
Mysteries: New Evidence and Old Problems of Interpretation (Berkeley: Center for
Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture, 1977); R. G. Edmunds,
Myths of the Underworld: Plato, Aristophanes, and the "Orphic" Golden Tablets
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004); S. G. Cole, "Orphic Mysteries and
Dionysiac Ritual," i n Greek Mysteries: The Archaeology and Ritual of Ancient Greek
Secret Cults, ed. M. B. Cosmopoulos ( London: Routledge, 2003), 193-217; M. L.
West, The Orphic Poems (Oxford: Clarendon, 1983). For the l i nk to Pythagoreanism,
see J. C. Thor, The Pythagorean Golden Verses, with Introduction and Commentary
( Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 123; Leiden: Brill, 1995), who points to Or
phic infuence in Golden Veres, 50-51, 55-56, 67-68.
1 20. I n the Laws, Plato refers t o those who "abstained from fesh on t he grounds that
it was i mpious to eat it or to stai n the altars of the gods with blood. It was a kind of
Orphic l i fe (bios orphikos) as it was called, that was led by those of our kind who
were al ive at that time, taking freely of all things that had no l i fe, but abstai ni ng
from all that had l i fe" (782C). I n Plato's Cratylus, 400C, Socrates says, "Some say it
[the body] is the tomb (sema) of the soul, their notion being that the soul is buried
in the present l i fe . . . but I think it most l ikely that the Orphic poets gave the name,
with the idea that the soul is undergoing punishment for something; they think it
has the body as an enclosure to keep it safe, l ike a prison . . . until the penalty i s
paid." See also Phaedo, 62B; 67B-69C; Gorgias, 493C.
121. See MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire, 42-48.
122. Augustus assumes the offce of Pontifex Maximus in 12 BCE and effectively becomes
the supreme authority of both religious and political l i fe i n the oikoumene.
4 . R E L I G I O N A S P A R T I C I P A T I O N I N
D I V I N E B E N E F I T S
1 . For discussions, see G. W. Bowersock, Greek Sophists and the Roman Empire (Ox
ford: Clarendon, 1969); G. W. Bowersock, ed. , Appraches to the Second Sophistic
(University Park: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974); T Smitz, Bildung und
Macht: Zur sozialen und politischen Funktion der zweiten Sophistik in der griechis
chen Welt der Kaizerzeit (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1997); G. A. Anderson, The Second
Sophistic: A Cultural Phenomenon in the Roman Empire (London: Routledge, 1993);
T Whitmarsh, The Second Sophistic (Greece and Rome: New Surveys in the Clas
sics 35; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)
2. For the academic debates, see Whitmarsh, The Second Sophistic, 3-22.
3. Whitmarsh, The Second Sophistic, 1 5-19; G. R. Stanton, "Sophists and Philoso
phers: Problems of Classifcation," American Tournai of Philology 94 (1973): 350-
364.
4. The orator Demosthenes calls "Sophists" those who appeal to the crowd (On the
Crown, 19. 246; 29. 13; 59. 21), and Plato's Gorgias dismisses rhetoricians because they
are more interested in persuasion and popularity than i n truth; see., e.g., 453-462.
5 See Dio, Orations, 12 5; 22 5; 24 3; 34. 3; 71. 8.
6. See Whitmarsh, The Second Sophistic, 38-39.
7. I am using the translation from the Greek of W C. Wright, Philostratus, Lives of
Sophists; Eunapius, Lives of Philosophers ( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1921).
8. On the i nscriptions, see B. Puech, Orateurs et sophiste grecs dans les inscriptions
d' epoque imperiale ( Paris: Librairie Phi losophique J. Vri n, 2002). For Luci an, see
R. B. Branham, Unruly Eloquence: Lucian and the Comedy of Traditions (Cam
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989); for Di o of Prusa, see S. C. R. Swai n,
ed. , Dio Chrysostom: Politics, Letters, and Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000).
9. For the Greek text of the orations of Aelius Aristides, see C. A. Behr and F. W. Lenz,
P. Aelii Aristidis Opera Quae Exstant Omnia, vol . 1 ( Leiden: Brill, 1976). I use
throughout this chapter P. Aelius Aristides: The Complete Works, 2 vol s. , trans. C. A.
Behr ( Leiden: Brill, 1981, 1986).
10. See Behr, Complete Works, 1: 413-426.
11. This sketch follows Behr, Complete Works, 1: 1-4; compare A. Boulanger, Aelius Aris
tide et la sophistique dans la prvince d'sie au IIe siecie de notre ere ( Paris: E. de Boc
card, 1968), 461-495.
1 2. See Behr, Complete Works, 1: 1-4; see also C. A. Behr, Aelius Aristides and the Sacred
Tales (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1968).
13. I n Aelius Aristides and the New Testament (Studia ad Corpus Hellenisticum Novi
Testamenti; Leiden: Brill, 1980), P. W. van der Horst repeats Behr's j udgments virtu
ally verbatim. See also the opinions gathered by J. C. Stephens, The Religious Experi
ence of Aelius Aristides: An Interdisciplinary Approach (PhD diss. , University of
California at Santa Barbara, 1982), 14-23.
14. Peter Brown notes, correctly, I thi nk, that "the poor man has had to bear far too
heavy a weight of odium psychologicum from modern scholars. He puzzles us; and it
is thi s puzzlement which has led so many scholars i nto precipitate psychiatric judg
ment on hi m. We obscurely resent the fact that a degree of intimacy with the divine
which would make a saint or martyr of any of us should merely serve to produce a
hypochondriacal gentleman of indomitable wi ll"; see The Making of Late Antiquity
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 41; quoted i n Stephens, The Reli
gious Experience of Aelius Aristides, 22.
1 5. Likewise the statement made by a contemporary of Aristides, the physician Galen
(129-199) in his Commentary on Plato's Timaeus (quoted by Behr, Aristides and the
Sacred Tales, 105): "I have seen many people whose body was naturally strong and
whose soul was weak, inert and useless . . . . [TJhus their sicknesses have arisen from
a sort of insomnia and apoplexy and enervation and sicknesses of the sort of epilepsy
and as to them, whose souls are naturally strong and whose bodies are weak I have
seen only a few of them. One of them was Aristides, one of the inhabitants of Mysia.
Notes to Pages 58-
59
And thi s one man belonged to the most promi nent rank of orators. Thus it happened
to him, since he was active in teaching and speaking throughout his l i fe, that his
whole body wasted away."
16. In Behr, Complete Works, they are listed as Orations, 47-52. In this section, I use the
abbreviation ST and refer to them separately as Sacred Tales, 1-6, continuing to fol
low Behr's paragraph markers.
17. Following Behr, Complete Works, the following chronological assignment of material
can be di scerned: 144 (2 5-7; 2. 50; 2. 60-70); 144-145 (3 45; 4. 14; 4 31-37); 145 (2. 8-14;
2 45-49; 2.71-76); 145-147 (3- 44; 4. 14-29; 4. 38-42); 146 (2.26-36; 2. 51
-59; 2.71-76; p-6;
4. 15); 147 (2.78-82; 3-7-13; 4. 43-56; 4. 58-62; 4. 101-102); 148 (1. 48-78; 3.6; P4-33;
4 57; 4. 13-14); 149 (2. 11-25; 3- 37-43; 3- 47-50); 152 (4. 1-8; 4 95-99); 153 (4. 10-13;
4.71-94); 153-154 (4. 63-67); after 155 (6. 1-3); 165 (2 37-45; 4 9); 166 ( 1. 5-58 [diary);
5. 1 1-25); 167 ( 5. 26-27); 170-171 (1. 1-4; 1 . 59-60; 2. 1-4; 2. 81; 3 34-37; 4. 30; 4. 68-7;
5. 38-67).
18. See L. Casson, Travel in the Ancient World ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1994).
19. See H. C. Kee, Medicine, Miracle, and Magic in New Testament Times (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1986).
20. Excerpts from Artemidorus' Oneircritica are found in G. Luck, Arcana Mundi:
Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1985), 292-298.
21. On hi s travels, see ST, 2. 1 2-14; 2. 60-61; 2. 64-69; 4. 2-7; 4. 32-37; 5. 1-10; 5 . 13-19.
A (very) partial list of his sickness symptoms includes stomach and intestinal problems
(1. 4; 1. 69; 2. 46; 2. 63; 5. 1), including biliousness (2. 39), indigestion ( 5. 11) and constipa
tion (4. 9); smallpox (2. 38); di ffculties in breathing (2. 5; P; p6; pI); lesions i n the
throat ( 5 . 9); fever (2. 44; 2. 63; p6) ; perspiration ( 1. 5); a carbuncle (1. 14); a tumor
(1. 61-62); a catarrh (2. 46); a bloody discharge (2. 63); problems with his ears (2. 57;
2. 60) i n one case causing deafness (2. 68); problems i n his arteries and infammation
(2. 57); problems with his teeth (2.63; 4. 30), his palate (1.69; 2. 46), and generally with
his head (1.69; p6).
Agai n, this list of hi s regimens i s partial: he fasts completely (1. 59) or abstai ns from
meat (3. 34-37); he dri nks wine (3. 32) or a drink contai ning philo (3.29) or wormwood
(2. 28); he purges by vomiting (1. 9; 1. 40; 1 . 50; 1. 53; 1 . 65) or using enemas (1. 59; 2. 14;
2. 43); he applies various saps and soaps (2. 10) or medicines containing salt [on hi s tu
mor) (1. 66) and smears on an egg (1 .68) or mud (2.74-75); he attaches plasters (3- 8; p)
and removes a ring (2. 27); he also has phlebotomies performed on him (2. 47-48; po),
wraps his body in wool (2. 58; 5. 9) and his neck with cassia (3.6), and gargles ( 5. 9). Of
special interest are the commands of the god concerning water and exposure to the
elements. Aristides either abstains from bathing (1. 6; 1. 24; 1. 26; 1 . 40; 1 . 45; 1 53; 1 . 54;
4. 6) or bathes extravagantly in obedience to the god: i n a river (2. 45; 2. 48); in seas and
wells (1. 59); and in winter weather outdoors (2. 21; 2. 51-53; 4. 11), including in a freezing
rain (2. 78). He is also commanded to run unshod in wi nter (1. 65; 2.7) and to go outside
half-naked (2. 80).
Notes to Pages 5965
22. It is the grandiosity of his dreams as well as his self-satisfed sense of his great worth
that make such a j udgment almost unavoidable (see, e. g. , 5. 36-37).
23- See the discussion in Stephens, The Religious Experience of Aelius
.
Aristides, 1 12-124.
24. Boulanger states it well when he speaks of Aristides' rel igious sensibil ity as "n'est que
l 'exageration de tendances communes a son epoque. Sa conception de la divinite et
du role de la providence dans Ie monde est tout a fait depourvue d'original ite. Ce
qu' il y a de plus personnel chez lui c' est peut-etre la forme speciale de sa vanite, dont
l 'exaltation affecte volontiers un caractere mystique." (Only an exaggeration of com
mon tendencies in his age. His conception of the divine and of the role of providence
in the world i s entirely without originality. What is more personal to him is perhaps
the special form of his vanity, whose exalted character achieves a mystical character.)
In Aelius Aristide, 209.
25. Caution is required, to be sure, since the entirety of hi s work is not extant; the ex
cerpts from his lost oration, Against the Dancers, found in Libanius, Oration, LXIV
(Behr, Complete Works, 416-419), suggest that the theme of that oration was at least
partially moral. By saying that the orator is not concerned with moral transformation,
I do not suggest either that he is i mmoral or that there is no link between his religious
sensibil ity and his moral character. I mean, rather, that while his extant orations sug
gest an extravagant and consistent celebration of "participation in benefts," we fnd
in them hardly any specifcally moral di scourse, and there is no sense that he regards
the divine dynamis itself as having as its specifc task the shaping of moral character.
5 . R E L I G I O N A S M O R A L T R A N S F O R M A T I O N
1 . The chapter called "In Search of Happiness: Philosophy and Religion," i n H.-J.
Klauck's The Religious Context of Early Christianity: A Guide to Greco-Roman Reli
gions, trans. B. McNeil (Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 2003), can stand for many similar
treatments. Klauck offers several justifcations for a treatment of philosophy in a book
on Greco-Roman rel igion: (1) standard handbooks include such di scussions; (2) phi
losophy was the closest thing to psychagogy in antiquity; (3) conversion was found
more i n philosophy than i n religion; (4) "philosophy served educated circles as a
guideline for a religiously based conduct of li fe"; and (5) philosophy is where the exis
tence of divinity was discussed and critiqued (332-334). Klauck's subsequent treatment
is entirely devoted to the philosophers' ideas about "theological topics"-most of
them chosen because they correspond to Christian preoccupations-with l ittle or no
attention paid to the way in which the practice of philosophy could be regarded as
rel igious or to the religious sensibilities of the respective philosophers. Similarly, W
Burkert's examination of "Philosophical Religion" in Grek Religion consists mainly of
theological ideas held by philosophers; see W. Burkert, Greek Religion, trans. J. Raffan
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985, 305-337).
2. See the discussion in Chapter 3-
3- Musonius Rufus (ca. 30-100) is little known today but was widely admired i n antiq
uity. The emperor Julian ( himself an advocate of Cynicism) mentions him in the
Note to Page 65
same breath with Socrates (Oration, 6.72), and Origen ranks Rufus with Heracles,
Odysseus, and Socrates as "models of excellence of l i fe" (Against Celsus, 3. 56). Only
fragments of his teaching are extant, but they make clear that Rufus (as Epictetus
calls hi m) had a rel igious outlook much l ike that of his student; philosophy is a mat
ter not only of theory but of practice, done in obedience to God ( Frag. 16); humans
are born with a natural incli nation to virtue because they bear the image of God
( Frag. 17); the philosopher-king who controls his passions is godli ke and worthy of
reverence ( Frag. 8). For texts and translation, see C. E. Lutz, Musonius Rufus: "The
Roman Socrates" (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1947); for discussion, see
A. C. Van Geytenbeek, Musonius Rufus and Greek Diatribe, trans. B. L. Hi j mans
(Assen: Van Gorcum, 1962).
Dio of Prusa (also called chrysostomos, that is, "golden mouth") was a famous
member of the Second Sophistic (40-112 CE). His own sense of divine calling is
found especially i n the account of his "conversion" in Orations, 13- 137 and 32. 12-21.
His Oration 12 ("Olympic Oration" or "On Man's First Conception of the Divine") is
a powerful argument for the unity of divine power, taking its start in popular religious
conceptions.
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE) was emperor from 161 to 180. He endowed four
chairs of philosophy i n Athens in 176. Hi s Meditations i n 12 books were written as a
personal notebook in a vigorous koine and were probably passed on privately by his
family; they are frst mentioned by the phi losopher Themistius i n 350. Hi s personal
piety is shown by hi s gratitude toward the gods in 1 . 17. In the other books, he i nsists
that the world reveals divine reason in all its manifestations (2. 1; 3.6; 4. 40; 5. 21 ; 6. 9;
7. 9; 8. 26; 9. 28; 10. 6; 1 1 . 20; 12. 26), and he i nterweaves, as does Epictetus, the sense of
"following nature" and "following god" (see, e. g. , 2. 3; 3. 6; 4. 23; 5 .7; 7. 67; 9. 1; 12. 28).
The ki ng tells hi mself to "keep all thy thoughts on god" (6. 7) and to "follow god"
(7. 31).
4. In his Moral Epistle, 41 ("On the God within Us"), Seneca the Younger (4 BCE-65
CE) provides a straightforward exposition of Stoic physics with l ittle personal em
phasis, as he does also in Moral Epistle, 65 ("On the First Cause"). Hi s essay "On
Consolation: To Marcia" is virtually devoid of religious language until the last para
graph, wherein he provides an odd eschatology that combines a Stoic confagration
of all things with the blessed "who have partaken of immortality" being "as seems
best to god" absorbed into the new cosmos (26. 4-6). Moral Epistle, 71 ("On the Su
preme Good") does not mention God. In the essay "On the Happy Life," Seneca
nods toward the propositions that virtue makes humans divine (16.1) and that the
gods are rulers of the universe (20. 5), but these are blips in a lengthy argument that
otherwise focuses completely on following nature (not stated as God; B) and exer
cising reason and self-control (8. 4) . Indeed, he has kind things to say about Epicurus
and his teachings (13. 1-2). Finally, in the lengthy essay "On Tranquil ity of Mi nd,"
Seneca again gives voice to the axiom that practicing virtue makes one near to being
a god (2.3) but otherwise uses no rel igious language at all. This is the more striking
in 6. 1-3, which otherwise closely resembles Epictetus (Discourses, 3- 22); but where
Epictetus refers all to God, Seneca refers nothi ng. The greatest point of contrast with
Epictetus is found in the way language is or is not used with reference to the philos
opher's own l i fe and that of his readers. At the very least, Seneca i s a "cool " medium
in this respect, while Epictetus is a "hot" medium.
5. This sketch of Epictetus' l i fe i s based squarely on that provided by W A. Oldfather,
Epictetus: The Discourses as Reported by Arrian, the Manual, and Fragments, 2 vols.
( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925), l:vii
xxxvi i . All citations from Epictetus in this chapter also draw on Oldfather's i nspired
(if now slightly archaic) translation. A new study of Epictetus is A. A. Long, Epictetus:
A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life (Oxford: Clarendon, 2002).
6. The historian Tacitus' dates are ca. 56-120; Plutarch of Chaeronea (whom 1 will
consider in Chapter 7) l ived between ca. 46 and 119. Ignatius was martyred ca. 107.
7. Celsus states, "Take Epictetus, who, when his master was twisting his leg, said smil
ing and unmoved, 'you will break my leg,' and when it was broken, he added, 'Did I
not tell you that you would break it?' " (Against Celsus, 7. 53); and Origen responds,
"He also directs us to Epictetus, whose frmness is j ustly admi red, although his say
ing when his leg was broken is not to be compared to the marvelous acts and words
of Jesus which Celsus refuses to bel ieve" (7.54).
8. For hi s strictness, see "On Sexual Conduct" ( Frag. 12), which advocates a form of
sexual morality as fully stringent as that of the frst Christians; for humaneness, see
"That Women too should Study Philosophy" ( Frag. 3), which i s notable for its insis
tence on gender equality with regard to mental and moral capacities.
9. The equanimity-even the impassivity-revealed by the beating i ncident reported by
Celsus may help account for Epictetus' wry admission that to others he often appeared
"as a statue" (Discourses, 3. 9. 12), even though he rejects that level of apatheia as an
ideal: "I ought not to be unfeeling l ike a statue, but should maintain my relations, both
natural and acquired, as a religious man, as a son, a brother, a father, a citizen" (3. 2.4).
10. See the lengthy di scussion ofChrysippus in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Phi
losophers, 7.7. 179-202.
11. See G. Boter, The Encheiridion of Epictetus and Its Three Christian Adaptations:
Transmission and Critical Edition (Philosophica Antiqua 82; Leiden: Brill, 1999). For
a study of the Manual, see K. Seddon, Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes:
Guides to Stoic Living ( London: Routledge, 2005).
12. See R. Bultmann, Der Stil der paulinischen Predigt und die kynischstoische Diatribe
( Forschungen zur Rel igion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments; Gottin
gen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1910).
13- S. K. Stowers, The Diatribe and Paul's Letter to the Romans (Society of Biblical Lit
erature Dissertation Series 57; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1981).
14. A. Oltramare, Les Origines de la diatribe rmaine ( Lausanne: Payot, 1926).
15. See the discussions of A. Bonhoffer, Epiktet und das Neue Testament ( Religionsge
schichtl iche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 10; Giessen: A. Topel mann, 1911); and D. S.
Sharp, Epictetus and the New Testament ( London: Charles H. Kelly, 1914).
16. T Whitmarsh, The Second Sophistic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
17. Oldfather, Epictetus, l: xi i i .
18. For general appreciations of Epictetus as a Stoic, see J. P. Herschbell, "The Stoicism
of Epictetus: Twentieth Century Perspectives," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romis
chen Welt 11. 36. 3= 2 (1989): 384-440; and W 0. Stephens, Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and
Happiness as Freedom ( London: Conti nuum, 2007).
19. See si mi larly Discourses, 1 5 9; 2. 2pl-22; 3.7.7-29; P4. 38.
20. For a sense of Stoic doctrines, see Diogenes Laertius' extensive treatment of Zeno
(the school 's founder) in Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 7. 1. 1-160; and for synthetic
treatments, see A. A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, 2nd
ed. (London: Duckworth, 1986); G. Reale, A History of Ancient Philosophy, vol . 4:
The Schools of the Imperial Age, ed. and trans. J. R. Catan (Albany: State University
of New York Press, 1990).
21. A sampling: "On Progress" (1. 4); "Of Family Affection" (1. 11); "Of Contentment" (1. 12);
"Of Steadfastness" (1. 29); "On Tranquillity" (2. 2); "Of Anxiety" (2. 13); "On Friendship"
(2.22); "Of Personal Adornment" (3. 1); "Of Training" (3- 12); "On Fear of Want" (p6);
"Of Freedom" (4. 1); "Of Freedom from Fear" (4.7).
22. See B. L. Hij mans, Askesis: Notes on Epictetus' Educational System (Assen: Van Gor
cum, 1959).
23. In Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 4. 16, Diogenes Laertius recounts the story of
Polemo-a notorious profigate-bursting into the school being conducted by Xeno
crates, being converted, and eventually becoming head of the Academy.
24 For athletic imagery, see also Discourses, 1. 24. 1; 1 . 29 34; 1 . 29. 39; 2. 17. 29; 2. 18. 27; 3- 1 . 5;
3+1 2; 3. 8. 1 ; 3. 10. 6; 3. 1 5. 3; 3. 21 . 3; pp; 4+30; Encheiridion, 29. For medical imagery,
see also Discourses, 2. 1 5. 15; 3- 10. 13; 3- 15. 2-4.
25. An appreciative reading of Epictetus' religious sensibil ity is found in S. Di ll, "The
Philosophic Theologian," in Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius ( New
York: Meridian, 1956), 384-440.
26. Diogenes Laertius on Zeno, in Lives, 7. 1 19-120.
27. "That is why we even worship those persons as gods; for we consider that what has
power to confer the greatest advantage is divine" (Discourses, 4. 1. 61).
28. For references to festivals, see also Discourses, 2. 14. 24; 4. 1. 104; 4. 1. 109; 4. 4. 24; 4+46.
For references to Saturnalia see also 1. 29. 31; 4. 1. 58. He twice refers to the altar of fever
in Rome-a fne example of indigitamenta (1. 19. 6; 1 . 22. 16).
29. On sacrifces, see also Discourses, 1 . 17. 18-19; 1. 19. 25; 2. 18. 13; 3. 21. 14; 3. 24. 117; 4. 6. 32.
On prayers, see also 1. 29. 37; 2. 22. 14; 3. 21. 14; 4. 6. 37; of special interest are two samples
of prayer as an expression of obedience to God, in 2. 16. 42 and P4. 95-98. For other
passages concerning thanksgiving, see 1 . 16. 6; 1 . 19. 25.
30. For his usage of "by Zeus," see Discourses, 1 . 12. 6; 1 . 17. 15; 1. 18. 1; 2. 1 .7; 2. 11.7; 2. 12. 20;
2. 20 37; 3- 1 . 29; P5. 3; 4. 5. 15; for his usage of "by the gods," see 2. 22 4; 3 l. 36; 3- 3- 17;
3- 19 3; po. 8; 4. 11. 25.
31. See al so, e. g. , Discourses, 1. 21. 1; 1 . 2. 4; 1. 6. 38; 1. 9. 11; 1 . 1 1 . 1 ; 1 . 12. 32; 1. 13- 1; 1. 20. 6.
32. See also, e. g. , Discourses, 1. 1. 24; 1. 6. 10; 1. 6. 37; 1. 12. 25; 1. 13. 3; 1. 22. 15; 1. 25. 3; 2. 22. 6.
33. See also, e. g. , Discourses, 1. 2. 1; 1. 6. 4; 1. 6. 14; 1. 6. 18; 1. 6. 40; 1. 9 4; 1. 9. 24; 1. 14. 1.
Notes to Pages
7
2-81
34 See also Discourses, 1. 25. 8; 1. 30. 1; 30 1 44; 30 13. 13; 4 1 . 103; Encheiridion, 17
35. See also Discourses, 3. 5.7-11 ; 3- 8. 6; 30 1 5. 14; Discourses totally devoted to the theme of
providence are 1. 6; 1 . 16; and 30 17.
36. See also Discourses, B 5; 4 5 35; 4. 13-24; 4. 1. 13-14.
37. Epictetus states that God "has stationed by each man's side his particular daimon
and has committed the man to his care-and that, too, a guardi an who never sleeps
and i s not to be beguiled . . . . God is within and your own daimon is within" (Dis
courses, 1 . 14. 12-14). See also 30 1 . 19; 3. 1. 37.
38. This passage is most often analyzed with respect to the Christian, especially, Pau
line, sense of vocation; see, e. g. , M. D. McGehee, Divine Appointment to Specifc
Social Functions in Four Greco-Roman Traditions: Paul, Epictetus, Cynics, and Qum
ran ( PhD diss., Brown University, 1985); and F. Watson, "Self-Suffciency and Power:
Divine and Human Agency in Epictetus and Paul ," in Divine and Human Agency in
Paul and his Cultural Environment, ed. J. M. G. Barclay and S. J. Gathercole ( Lon
don: T & T Clark, 2006), 1 17-139.
39. See also Discourses, 3. 21. 19-20: "Above all the counsel of god advising hi m to occupy
this offce (of teaching philosophy), as god counseled Socrates to take the offce of
exami ni ng and confuting men, Diogenes the offce of rebuking men in a ki ngly
manner, and Zeno that of instructing men and laying down doctrines."
40. See also Discourses, 4. 1. 131; 4+34; Encheiridion, 53. For a discussion of the content of
the hymn, see J. Thor, Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus: Text, Translation, and Commen
tary (Tiibingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005); see also Klauck, The Religious Context of
Early Christianity, 351-354-
. R E L I G I O N A S T R A N S C E N D I N G T H E W O R L D
1. For the full range of traditions concerning Orpheus, see W. K. C. Guthrie, Orpheus
and Greek Religion: A Study of the Orphic Movement ( Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni
versity Press, 1952), 25-68.
2. As, for example, in V D. Macchioro, From Orpheus to Paul: A History of Orphism
( New York: Henry Holt, 1930).
3. For an example of the former view, see Guthrie, Orpheus and Greek Religion. For an
example of the latter, see I . M. Linforth, The Arts of Orpheus (Berkeley: University of
Cali fornia Press, 1941).
4. Every serious scholar recognizes that there is "something there" and that the "some
thing" is diffcult to discern; see the crisp and helpful discussions in W Burkert,
Greek Religion, trans. J. Raffan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985),
290-301; L. J. Alderink, Creation and Salvation in Ancient Orphism (American Clas
sical Studies 8; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1981); R. G. Edwards, Myths of the Underworld:
Plato, Aristophanes, and the "Orphic" Golden Tablets (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni
versity Press, 2004).
5. See W. Burkert and W. Wuellner, eds. , Orphism and Bacchic Mysteries: New Evi
dence and Old Problems of Interpretation ( Berkeley, CA: Center for Hermeneutical
3
Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture, 1977); S. G. Cole, "Orphic Mysteries and
Dionysiac Ritual," i n Greek Mysteries: The Archaeology and Ritual of Ancient Greek
Secret Cults, ed. M. D. Cosmopoulos ( London: Routledge, 2003), 193-217.
6. Burkert, Greek Religion, 161-166.
7. Most notably by the powerful thesis developed in 1872 by F. Nietzsche, The Birth of
Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, trans. F. Golfng ( New York: Doubleday Anchor,
1956). Plutarch, who was a priest of Apollo at Delphi , stresses, in contrast, the close
all iance between Apollo and Dionysus, in The E at Delphi, 9 ( Mor. , 388E-389B).
9. Livy, History of Rome, 39. 8-19.
11. Plutarch also connects Dionysus with Osiris, whose myth also included dismember
ment, in Isis and Osiris, 35-37 ( Mor., 364E-365F). For the protean aspects of Dionysus,
see W F. Otto, Dionysus: Myth and Cult ( Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1965).
1 3. One of the 16 gold sheets associated with Orphic beliefs contains these li nes: "Who
are you? Where are you from? I am a child of earth and of starry heaven, but my race
is of heaven (alone)." See M. W Meyer, ed., The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook
(San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987), 101; on pages 102-109, Meyer also provides
samples of the Orphic Hymns; fuller collections are available in Apostolos N. Atha
nassakis, The Orphic Hymns: Text, Translation, and Notes (Greco-Roman Rel igion
Series 4; Missoula, MT: Scholars, 1977); see also M. L. West, The Orphic Poems (Ox
ford: Clarendon, 1983).
14. To assert that Pythagoras is a historical fgure does not mean that determining what
is historical about him is easy. What should we make, for example, of Diogenes Laer
tius' claim that Pythagoras was initiated into the Mysteries of Greece, Egypt, and
other countries (Lives, 8. 3)? Or that Pythagoras assigned some poems he wrote to
Orpheus (8. 6)? Our most complete sources are the Lives composed by Diogenes
Laertius and lamblichus, centuries after Pythagoras' death, and they are mani
festly flled both with legendary material and later convictions; for more recent ef
forts, see C. J. de Vogel , Pythagoras and Early Pythagoreanism: An Interpretation of
Neglected Evidence on the Philosopher Pythagoras (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1966); P.
Gorman, Pythagoras: A Life ( London: Routledge and K. Paul , 1979); K. S. Guthrie,
The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library: An Anthology of Ancient Writings Which
Relate to Pythagoras and Pythagorean Philosophy (Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes,
1987).
15. For an examination of these connections, see W. Burkert, "Craf versus Sect: The
Problem ofOrphics and Pythagoreans," in Jewish and Christian SelfDefnition, vol . 3:
SelfDefnition in the Greco-Roman World, ed. B. F. Meyer and E. P. Sanders ( Phila
delphi a: Fortress, 1982), 1-22.
16. Diogenes Laertius claims that Pythagoras coined the expression (Lives, 8. 10).
17. For these elements of common li fe, see lamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 6. 29-30;
17.73-75; 18.81; and Porphyry, Life of Pythagors, 20.
Notes to Pages 8
3
-85 3
21
18. For sexual asceticism, see Diogenes Laertius, Lives, 8. 9; for detachment from plea
sures, see 8. 18; for lustrations and vegetarianism, see 8. 13; 8. 33; for avoidance of ani
mal sacrifce, see 8. 22; for killing living beings, see 8. 13; for si mpl icity of life, see 8. 13.
19. Diogenes Laertius, Lives, 8. 14; Pythagoras is sai d to have clai med a connection to
Hermes in this fashion (8. 4), and Hermes is also said to accompany souls to the up
permost region (8. 31).
20. Although reason is immortal, everything material is mortal ( Diogenes Laertius,
Lives, 8. 30); souls have kinship with the gods and with all other "ensouled" beings
(8. 27)
21. In Republic, 600B, Plato also makes mention of a "way of li fe" associated with the
Pythagoreans, for which the philosopher i s held in honor.
22. Translation of Republic by P. Shorey ( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Har
vard University Press, 1930).
23- Translation of Cratylus by H. N. Fowler ( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA:
24. Translation of The Laws by R. G. Bury ( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA:
25. Translation of Phaedo by H. N. Fowler (Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1914). Socrates says shortly thereafer, "Does not the purifca
tion consist in this which has been mentioned long ago in our di scourse, in separat
ing, so far as possible, the soul from the body and teaching the soul the habit of
collecting and bringing itself together from all parts of the body, and living, so far as
it can, both now and hereafter, alone by itself, freed from the body as from fetters?"
(67C-D). And later, "True philosophers practice dying, and death is less terrible to
them than to any other men. Consider it this way. They are in every way hostile to the
body and they desire to have the soul apart by itself alone" (67E).
26. The most complete and best treatment of the Hermetica as a whole is A. Festugiere's
La Revelation d'Hermes Trismegiste, 4 vols. ( Paris: J. Gabalda, 1949-1954), and his
Hermetisme et mystique pai"enne ( Paris: Aubier, 1967). The best critical text is that of
A. D. Nock and A. J. Festugiere, Corpus Hermeticum, 2 vols. ( Paris: Societe d' Edition
"Les Belles Lettres," 1945); I use here-with the exception to be noted below-the
text and translation ofW. Scott, Hermetica, 4 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1936). A more
recent translation, with notes, is by B. P. Copenhaver, Hermetica (Cambridge: Cam
bridge University Press, 1992).
27. See Scott, Hermetica, 1 : 1-111.
28. One searches in vai n for the sort of social or political incidents that are strewn in the
writings of Aristides and Epictetus alike; there is nothing in these writings that grounds
them in a specifc period. Even references to religious practices are rare: statues of gods
e mentioned (XVII; Asclepius, 24b); demons are associated with statues of gods (As
clepius, 37); and lots and divination are also mentioned (Asclepius, 38), as are prophetic
inspiration, dreams, and healings (Asclepius, 23). By far the most explicit and positive
notice of religious practice is found in XII. 2. 19, which includes among the ways in
which the gods communicate with humans mantic prophecy, auspices, and harus
pices. On revelation, see Festugiere, La Revelation, 1:87; Hermetisme, 30.
Notes to Pages 85-1
29. See, e.g., C. J. Bleecker, "The Egyptian Background of Gnosticism," in The Origins
of Gnosticism, ed. U. Bianchi ( Leiden: Brill, 1967), 229-237; and especially Fes
tugiere, La Revelation, 1: 68-70.
30. This position has been advanced particularly by C. H. Dodd, in The Bible and the
Greeks ( London: Hodder and Staughton, 1935) and in The Interpretation of the Fourth
Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953).
31 . The l iterary relationship between Poimandres and the second-century Shepherd
of Hermas was advanced especially by R. Reitzenstein, Poimandres; Studien zur
griechisch-
A
gyptischen und frichristlichen Literatur ( Leipzig: Teubner, 1904).
32. Studies that seek to harmonize the writi ngs-such as J. Kroll, Die Lehre des Hermes
Trismegistos ( Miinster: Aschendorffsche, 1928)-are therefore not useful .
33. The di ffculty of categorization is revealed by the fact that two great scholars place
tractates in diferent camps; compare Festugiere, La Revelation, 2: ix; and the group
ing of W. Bousset, cited in M. Nilsson, Geschichte der griechischen Religion, 2 vols.
( Miinchen: C. H. Beck, 1950), 2: 558.
34. In addition to the studies already l isted, see E. Hanchen, "Aufbau und Theologie des
Poimandres," in his collection Gott und Mensch (Tiibingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1965),
335-377; R. A. Segal , The Poimandres as Myth: Scholarly Theory and Gnostic Mean
ing ( Religion and Reason 33; Berli n: de Gruyter, 1986); J. Bichl i , Der Poimandres:
Ein paganisiertes Evangelium (Wissenschafliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Tes
tament 2. 27; Tibingen: J. C. B. Mohr [ Paul Siebeck] , 1987); J. Holzhauser, Der "My
thos vom Menschen" im hellenistichen
A
gypten: Eine Studie zum "Poimandrs" (=H I),
zu Valentin und dem gnostischen Mythos ( Beitrage zum religions-und kirchenge
schichte des Altertums 33; Bodenheim: Athenaum, 1994); P. J. Sodergard, The Her
metic Piety of the Mind: A Semiotic and Cognitive Study of the Discourse of Hermes
Trismegistos (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2003).
35. The understanding of Poimandres as "Shepherd of Men" is possible, although not
properly a Greek word (it would be a bastard combination of poimen and aner). Some
scholars think the term has an Egyptian origin: pe eime n re, or "the knowledge of
Ra"; see Scott, Hermetica 2: 16; Dodd, Bible and the Greeks, 99.
36. The terminus post quem seems to be the development of middle Platonism with Posi
donius i n the mid-frst century CE; the terminus ante quem is the frst known citation
by Zozimus at the beginning of the fourth century. Most scholars place the Poi man
dres before the end of the second century (as in Reitzenstein, Poimandres, 36; Han
chen, "Aufbau," 377; and G. R. S. Mead, Thrice-Greatest Hermes, 2 vols. [ London:
Theosophical, 1906] , 1: 43), and Scott places it between 100 and 200 CE (Hermetica
2: 12). The boldest effort to fnd a more precise date is by C. H. Dodd; in his Bible and
the Greeks, he dates it between 130 and 140 (209), and in Interpretation of the Fourth
Gospel he narrows it further to between 125 and 130 (12).
37. On sleep and drunkenness, see G. MacRae, "Sleep and Awakening in Gnostic
Texts," i n The Origins of Gnosticism, ed. U. Bianchi ( Leiden: Brill, 1967), 54.
38. I follow the sequence found in Nock-Festugiere's text. Scott, who is given to emenda
tions, rearranges the text so that paragraphs 30-32 precede paragraphs 27-29. Scott's
version makes for more drama but lacks manuscript support.
Notes to Pages
9
1-
97
39. The hymn is lovely and includes some of the tensions we have seen in the Hermetic
teaching; the most critical lines are probably "Holy is god who wills to be known and
is known by them that are his own"; "holy art thou whose brightless nature has not
darkened"; and the conclusion, "Accept pure offeri ngs of speech from a soul and
heart upl ifted to thee, Thou of whom no words can tell , no tongue can speak, whom
silence only can declare" (31).
7 . R E L I G I O N A S S T A B I L I Z I N G T H E W O R L D
1. A sense of such behind-the-scenes support activity is provided by R. MacMullen, Pa
ganism in the Roman Empire ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981), 42-48.
2. See, e. g. , the anonymous hymns in The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook, ed. M. W.
Meyer (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987), 20-30, 101-109.
3- A classic example is the way Karl Barth distinguishes Christian "faith" from "rel i
gion"; see, e. g. , Church Dogmatics, ed. G. W. Bromiley and T F. Torrance, trans. G.
T Thomson and H. Knight (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1956), 1: 2; The Doctrine of the
Word of God, III. lp80-361.
4. Two examples: A. C. McGiffert, A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age (New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897), declares that even the latter part of the New
Testament showed "the subjection of the spirit to law and of the individual to the
institution, and thus foreshadowed the rise of Catholicism" (672); and H. Von Cam
penhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the First
Three Centuries, trans. J. Baker (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1969), says,
"In the course of these three centuries the ideal to which Christianity had originally
been committed was impaired in various ways: not only do we fnd rigidities of atti
tude, curtailment of aspiration, distortion of insight, but also i n every department
an indisputable triviali zation" (3).
5. "The sacrifcial community is a model of Greek society," and "Thus it is for religion
not just to embellish but to shape all essential forms of community"; see W. Burkert,
Grek Religion, trans. J. Raffan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), 255.
6. "The ci ty in turn is a sacrifcial community," and "city and gods are mutually depen
dent on each other"; see Burkert, Greek Religion, 256.
7. For leitourgeinlleitourgia as undertaking any publ ic work out of one's own funds, see
Xenophon, Memorabilia, 2.7. 6; Aristotle, Politics, 1291A; Athenian Constitution, 29. 5;
as undertaking such service for the gods, see Dionysius of Hal icarnassus, Roman
Antiquities, 2. 22; Aristotle, Politics, 133oA; Diodorus Siculus, History, 1. 21.
9. Ibid. , 257-258.
10. See the collection of essays in Pagan Priests: Religion and Power in the Ancient World,
ed. M. Beard and J. North ( London: Duckworth, 1990); see also H.-J. Klauck, The
Religious Context of Early Christianity: A Guide to Graeco-Roman Religions (Min
neapol is: Fortress, 2003), 30-42.
11. For a collection of primary texts pertinent to these magi stracies, see N. Lewis and
M. Reinhold, eds. , Roman Civilization: Selected Readings, vol . 1 : The Republic and
Notes to Pages
97
-
99
the Augustan Age, 3rd ed. ( New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), 90-107. For
Cicero's climb through the offces, see D. R. S. Bailey, Cicer ( New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1971), 13-34.
12. Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 1 . 13.
13- For a helpful description of the priesthoods under the Republ ic, see M. Beard,
"Priesthood in the Roman Republ ic," in Pagan Priests, 19-48.
14. See Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 2.78.
1 5. Livy, History of Rome, 1. 18. 6-10; Cicero, Laws, 12. 31.
16. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 4.72; Livy, History of Rome, 5. 1 8. 4-5.
17. Dionysius of Hal icarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 2.72. 4-9; Livy, History of Rome,
1. 24. 3-9; 1. 32.
18. For an ancient prayer of the Arval Priests found on an inscription (Corpus Inscriptio-
num Latinarum VI. 2104), see Lewis and Reinhold, Roman Civilization, 73.
19. See Plutarch, Life of Romulus, 21. 3-5.
20. Beard, "Priesthood in the Roman Republic," 20-21.
21. Cicero, Laws, 2. 8. 19-2. 9. 22.
22. Aulus Gelli us, Attic Nights, 10. 1 5. 1-25.
23. Dionysius of Hal icarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 2. 47.
24. Beard, "Priesthood i n the Roman Republ ic," 21-22.
25. Klauck, Religious Context, 32. Caesar had narrowly escaped severe political and reli
gious embarrassment from the scandal involving his wife, Pompeia, during the Bona
Dea festival (see Plutarch, Life oflulius Caesar, 9. 1-10. 6); when he became dictator, he
built a magnifcent temple to Mars (Suetonius, Life of Caesar, 40-44). He had com
mitted his will to the care of the Vestal Virgins, and after his death, the Senate "voted
Caesar all divine and human honors at once" (Suetonius, Life of Caesar, 83-85).
26. See R. Gordon, "From Republ ic to Principate: Priesthood, Rel igion and Ideology,"
in Pagan Priests, 177-198.
27. "Res Gestae Divi Augusti," Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 3-769-799; I use the
translation and paragraph markings given by Lewis and Reinhold, Roman Civiliza
tion, 561-572.
28. See M. Beard, J. North, and S. Price, Religions of Rome, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cam
bridge University Press, 1998), 1 : 186-192.
29. Indeed, as Beard, North, and Price observe, even "the traditional senatorial priest
hoods retained their prestige during the early empire, and the prestige of some was
actually increased by Augustus"; competition for priesthoods among the elite re
mained keen, but depended in greater degree on the patronage of the emperor (Reli
gions of Rome, 1: 191-192).
30. See the inscriptional evidence for cult priesthoods offered by Klauck, Religious Con
text, 31; R. MacMullen and E. N. Lane, eds., Paganism and Christianity, 100-
4
25
CE:
A Sourcebook ( Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 1992), 29-30 (healing shrines), 34-36 (cult pa
trons), and 64-73 (cult associations); see in particular the inscription describing the
management of the Artemis temple in Ephesus (38-41).
31. See, e.g., D. Frankfurter, Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance
( Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998).
Notes to Pages
99
-100
32. See especially the rich inscriptional evidence found in S. Friesen, Twice Neokoros:
Ephesus, Asia, and the Cult of the Flavian Imperial Family (Religions in the Graeco
Roman World 116; Leiden: Brill 1993), and P. A. Harland, Associations, Synagogues and
Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society (Minneapol is: For
tress, 2003), 115-136; see also the inscriptions for the establishing of the imperial cult in
Sparta and Brittany, in MacMullen and Lane, Paganism and Christianity, 74-77.
33. For details of his l i fe, see R. H. Barrow, Plutarch and His Times ( Bloomington: Indi
ana University Press, 1967).
34. His father is one of the conversation partners in several of Plutarch's symposia: see,
e.g., Table-Talk, 1.2; 1.3; 11. 8; 111.7.
35. They also appear i n his symposi a: see, e.g., Table-Talk, 1.2; 1. 3; 1. 8; 1. 9.
36. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1. 9.
37. The Lamprias Catalogue of Plutarch's works li sts 227 separate compositions; see Plu
tarch's Moralia XV: Fragments, trans. F. H. Sandbach ( Loeb Classical Library; Cam
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969).
38. See Essays on Plutarch's Lives, ed. B. Scardigli (Oxford: Clarendon, 1995); Plutarch
and the Historical Tradition, ed. P. A. Stadter (London: Routledge, 1992); Plutarch
and His Intellectual World, ed. J. Mossman ( London: Duckworth, 1997); and C. PeI
ling, Plutarch and History: Eighteen Studies ( London: Duckworth, 2002).
39. The Education of Children ( Mor. , 1-14C) (although probably spurious, it was read as
Plutarch's by those nineteenth-century educators who adopted hi s views); How the
Young Man Should Study Poetry ( Mor. , 14D-37B); On Listening to Lectures (Mor. ,
37C-48D). For infuences i n Shakespeare, see Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra,
and Julius Caesar.
40. Among the compositions that reveal Plutarch's historical interests, see The Ancient
Customs of the Spartans ( Mor. , 236F-240B); Roman Questions ( Mor. , 263D-291C);
Greek Questions ( Mor., 291D-304); Sayings of Kings and Commander (Mor. , 172B-
194E); Sayings of Romans ( Mor. , 194E-208A); Sayings of Spartans ( Mor. , 208B-
240B); Sayings of Spartan Women ( Mor. , 240C-242D). For hi s scientifc curiosity,
see Natural Phenomena (Mor. , 9UC-919); Concerning the Face Which Appears
in the Orb of the Moon ( Mor. , 920B-945E); On the Principle of Cold (Mor. , 945F-
955C) ; Whether Land or Sea Animals Are Cleverer ( Mor. , 959B-985C). Hi s Table
Talk in nine books (Mor. , 612C-748D) continues the symposium tradition reaching
back to Plato and Xenophon and ranges widely over philosophical questions.
41. See especially On the Delay of the Divine Vengeance ( Mor. , 548A-568A); Platonic
Questions ( Mor. , 999C-101 1E); On the Generation of the Soul in the Timaeus (Mor.,
1012B-103C)'
42. See, e. g. , How to Tell a Flatterer from a Friend ( Mor. , 48E-74E); How a Man May
Become Aware of His Progress in Virtue ( Mor. , 75B-86A); How to Proft by One's En
emies ( Mor. , 86B-92); On Morl Virtue ( Mor. , 440D-452D); On the Control of Anger
( Mor., 452F-464D); On Tranquility of Mind (Mor. , 464E-477F). For a collection of
essays relating Plutarch's moral essays to the New Testament, see H. D. Betz, ed. ,
Plutarch's Ethical Writings and Early Christian Literature (Studia ad Corpus Helle
nisticum Novi Testamenti ; Leiden: Brill, 1978), which is much fuller in its treatment
than H. Alqvist, Plutarch und das Neue Testament: Ein Beitrag zum Corpus Hellenis
ticum Novi Testamenti (Acts Seminarii Neotestamentici Upsaliensis 15; Uppsala:
Appelsberg Boktryckeri A.-B. , 1946).
43. See On the Delay of the Divine Vengeance, 5 ( Mor. , 55oD-E).
44. See Should an Old Man Engage in Politics? 4 and 17, in reference to management of the
Pythi an Games; and The Oracles at Delphi, 29, in reference to restoring the shrine.
45. For eforts to place Plutarch's rel igious thought i n context, see H. D. Betz, ed. , Plu
tarch's Theological Writings and Early Christianity (Studia ad Corpus Hellenisticum
Novi Testament; Leiden: Brill, 1975), and R. Hi rsch-Luipold, ed. , Gott und die Gotter
bei Plutarch: Gotterbilder-Gottesbilder-Weltbilder ( Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche
und Vorarbeiten 54; Berl i n: de Gruyter, 2005).
46. I am using the translation of F. C. Babbitt, Plutarch's Moralia VII ( Loeb Classical
Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1928).
47. The same element of fear is isolated in Theophrastus' sketch of the superstitious
person i n Character Types, 16 (see especially l ines 2-9).
48. Plutarch connects Jewish convictions to superstition also in On Stoic Self
Contradictions, 38 ( Mor. , 105IE); that he regards Jews straightforwardly as barbarians
is made clear by Table-Talk, IY5: "The Jews apparently abominate pork because bar
barians especially abhor skin diseases l ike lepra and white scale and believe that hu
man bei ngs are ravaged by such maladies through contagion. Now we observe that
every pig is covered on the under side by lepra."
49. The translation of Isis and Osiris, as well as of the other Pythian compositions dis
cussed below, is that of F. C. Babbitt, Plutarch's Moralia V ( Loeb Classical Library;
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936). Plutarch also dedicated The Brav
ery of Women to Clea (Mor. , 242E).
50. Herodotus, History, I I . 42.
51. Oddly, the same strategy is employed with regard to the Jews. In the Table-Talk entitled
"Who the God of the Jews Is" (1y6), the effort is made to assimilate the Jewish god to
Dionysus, through Adonis, agai n focusing primarily on the similarity in ritual.
52. As had Herodotus, in History, II. 48.
53- For this and the other anti-Epicurean compositions I discuss, I use the translation of
P. H. de Lacy, Plutarch's Moralia XIV ( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA:
54. I use the translation of P. H. de Lacy and B. Einarson, Plutarch's Moralia VII (Loeb
Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959).
S . WA Y S O F B E I N G J E W I S H I N T H E
G R E C O - R O M A N W O R L D
I . For huioi tau Israel, see, e. g. , Ex 3: 9; ll: l; Lev 1: 2; Num 1: 2; Deut 1: 3; V: l; Josh 3: 9; Judg
1: 1; 1 Sam 2: 28; 2 Sam 7:6; LXX Ps 76: 15; 102: 7; 104: 6. "The Land of Judaea" (he ge
Ioudaia) is a geographical designation (see Matt 2: 1; 2: 5; Luke 1 : 5; John 3=22; 4:9; Acts
2: 14), and "the Jews" are likewise "Judeans"-Le. , "those from Judaea" (Ioudaioi in 2
Kings 16: 6; 25: 24; Neh 2: 16; Isa 19: 17; Jer 24: 5).
2. Three indications of the turn away from Hellenism include the fol lowing: (1) in the
second century CE, Jews produced three translations of Torah into Greek ( by
Aqui la, Symmachus, Theodotion) as competitors to the Septuagint, which was co
opted by the Christians, but after that, nothing; (2) the founding compositions of
classical Judaism are composed in classical Hebrew (the Mishnah) and Aramaic (the
Talmudim of Babylon and the Land of Israel) ; (3) the Targumim continued the tradi
tion of translation of the Bible into Aramaic, and the next vernacular translation
(tenth century by Saadia Ben Joseph) was into Arabic.
3- Hi storical surveys of Judaism i n this period include W D. Davies and L. Finkelstein,
eds. , Cambridge History ofJudaism, vol . 1 : The Persian Period and vol . 2: The Hellenis
tic Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984 and 1989); L. L. Grabbe, Juda
ism from Cyrus to Hadrian, 2 vol s. ( Mi nneapol i s: Fortress, 1992); J. H. Hayes and
S. R. Mandel l , The Jewish People in Classical Antiquity: From Alexander to Bar
Kochba (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998); and E. M. Smallwood, The
Jews under Roman Rule from Pompey to Diocletian ( Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976).
4. See S. W. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, 2nd rev. and en\. ed. , 8
vols. ( New York: Columbia University Press, 1952-1983); J. Neusner, A History of the
Jews in Babylon, 5 vols. ( Leiden: Brill, 1965-1970).
5. For surveys on Diaspora Judaism in the West, see E. M. Smallwood, The Jews under
Roman Rule, 220-255; J. M. G. Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From
Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE-Il7 CE) (Edi nburgh: T & T Clark, 1996); and V
Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, trans. J. Applebaum ( New York:
Athenaeum, 1970); for a collection of texts, see M. H. Williams, ed. , The Jews among
Greeks and Romans: A Diasporan Sourcebook ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1998).
6. See Chapter 3.
7. On Jewish associations, see P. A. Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congrega
tions: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society ( Mi nneapol is: Fortress,
2003), especially 213-238, and S. Appelbaum, "The Organi zation of the Jewish
Communities in the Diaspora," in Jewish People in the First Century: Historical
Geography, Political History, Social, Cultural, and Religious Life and Institutions,
ed. S. Safrai and M. Stern (Compendi um rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamen
tum 1 ; Philadelphi a: Fortress, 1974), 464-503. For inscriptional evidence, see L. H.
Kant, "Jewish Inscriptions in Greek and Latin," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romis
chen Welt 1 1 . 20. 2 (1987): 671-713. On Jewish charity, see L. Frankel , "Charity and
Charitable Institutions," i n The Jewish Encyclopedia , ed. I. Si nger ( New York: Funk
and Wagnalls, 1903), 3: 667-670; G. F. Moore, Judaism in the First Three Centuries of
the Christian Era, 3 vols. (1927-1930; repr. , New York: Schocken Books, 1971), 2: 102-
179. See also G. Hamel , Poverty and Charity in Roman Palestine, First Three Centu
ries G. E. ( Near Eastern Center Studies 23; Berkeley: University of California Press,
1990).
8. The Sabbath meal and Passover Seder are fundamentally domestic celebrations
rather than meals shared by "the association" (synagoge) as such; see B. M. Bosker,
The Origins of the Seder: The Passover Rite and Early Rabbinic Judaism ( Berkeley:
3
University of Cali fornia Press, 1984). There i s, however, some inscriptional evidence
for the presence of dining areas in some synagogues (see Wi lliams, The Jews among
Greeks and Romans, 34-35)' See L. A. Hoffman, The Canonization of the Synagogue
Service ( Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979).
9. Leviticus 18 connects Israel ite sexual conduct to the purity of the land, and when the
Lord charges in Leviticus 19: 2, "Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy," the
command is followed immediately by the instructions to honor parents, keep the Sab
bath, and avoid idols (19:3-4), The fol lowing commands in 19: 5-37, furthermore,
weave together ritual and moral/social di mensions of li fe. See H. K. Harrington,
Holiness: Rabbinic Judaism and the Greco-Roman World ( London: Routledge, 2001).
10. As noted i n Chapter 1 , the LXX translation of Psal m 95: 5 rendered "the gods of the
nations are idols" as "the gods of the nations are demons [daimonia]," and Wisdom
of Solomon 1 5: 27 calls the worship of idols "the reason and source and extremity of
all evil. "
ll. As we saw earlier, Plutarch regarded the Jews' stubborn observance of the Sabbath as
an example of superstition (On Superstition, 8). See also Horace, Satires, 9. 67-70;
Seneca, Moral Epistles, 95. 47. Gentile understanding of the Sabbath was not always
precise; Suetonius quotes the emperor Augustus to the effect that the Sabbath was a
fast day (Augustus, 76. 2).
12. For the debate over the degree and uniqueness of Israel's aniconic tradition, see T N.
D. Metti nger, No Graven Image? Israel's Aniconism in Its Ancient Near Eastern Con
text (Coniectanea Biblical OT 42; Stockhol m: Almqvist and Wiskell , 1995), and T J.
Lewis, "Divine Images and Aniconism in Ancient Israel ," Journal of the American
Oriental Society ll8 (1998): 36-53. Josephus describes the original (Solomonic) tem
ple in Antiquities, 8. 63-98, and the wonders of Herod's reconstruction in Antiquities,
15. 380-420; 17.162; 20. 219-222; Jewish War, 1. 401. In Against Apion, 1. 198-199, he in
cludes a description of the temple by Hecataeus of Abdera. For the reaction of visi
tors from Galilee, see Mark 14: 1-2; Luke 21: 5; see also the description in Letter of
Aristeas, 73-107.
13. As we saw in Plutarch, the Epicurean refusal to engage the obl igations of civic piety
was understood as showing themselves parasitic on society; see Apion's charge that
the Jews' refusal to worship the common gods led to sedition i n Josephus, Against
Apion, 2. 66-70.
14. For the payment of temple tax, see Philo, Special Laws, 1.76-78; Josephus, Antiqui
ties, 18. 3ll-313; Cicero, Pro Fiacco, 28. 66-69; for pilgrimage, see Philo, Special Laws,
1. 69; Josephus, Antiquities, 20.49-50.
15 See, e.g., Deut 2: 25; 4: 6; 29: 24; LXX Ps 21: 27; 65:7; 85: 9; Isa 66: 19-20.
16. See P. Schafer, Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World (Cam
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997).
17. For the literary evidence on conversion and proselytizing, see Wi lliams, The Jews
among Greeks and Romans, 169-172; and for debate over the extent of the phenom
ena, see L. H. Feldman, Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World ( Princeton, NJ: Princ
eton University Press, 1993) and M. Goodman, Mission and Conversion: Proselytizing
in the Religious History of the Roman Empire (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994).
Notes to Pages 11
3
-11
4
18. For pertinent inscriptions, see Williams, The Jews among Creeks and Romans, 163-
168; for discussion of the category in the Acts of the Apostles, see M. Wilcox, "The
'Cod-Fearers' i n Acts-A Reconsideration," Journal for the Study of the New Testa
ment 13 (1981): 102-122; and T M. Finn, "The Cod-Fearers Reconsidered," Catholic
Biblical Quarterly 47 (1985): 75-84.
19. See Tacitus, Histories, 5. 4-5, and the charges made agai nst the Jews by Apion i n Jose
phus, Against Apion.
20. See the statements in Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 28. 4 and Mi nucius Felix, Oc
tavius, 6. 1-7. 6, as well as the premises of the pleas made by Athenagoras, Embassy,
1-2, and Tertullian, Apology, 2. 1-20.
21. Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, 305-312; for discussion of the appro
priateness of the traditional ascription of religio licita to Judaism in the empire, see
T Rajak, "Was There a Rman Charter for the Jews?" Joural of Roman Studies 74 (1984):
107-123; see also Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congrgations, 220-223.
That Rome was deeply impl icated in Judaea long before taking control under
Pompey in 63 BCE is shown by its al l i ance with the Maccabees i n their revolt
against Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 BCE (see 1 Macc 1: 10; 7: 2; 12: 3; 15: 15-24; 2
Macc 11: 34).
Because of the ever-present threat from 247 BCE to 224 CE presented by the Par
thian Empire to the East, which bested the Romans in the battle of Carrhae in 53
BCE, Syria and Palestine requi red di rect imperial control through military prefects
or procurators, rather than the senatorially appointed governors in safer provinces.
22. See the passages gathered i n Creek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, 3 vols. ,
edited wi th introductions, translations, and commentary by M. Stern ( Jerusalem:
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1976) , 1: 26, 148, 411-414; 11: 19-22, 36--
41, 88-93. Dio Chrysostom testifes to the unruly character of the Alexandrian popu
lace i n Oration, 32; and in Against Flaccus, Philo speaks of the hosti lity of the
Alexandrians toward the Jews (29) as an example of the mischief practiced by "the
lazy and unoccupied mob" (33).
23- J. Z. Smith, "Fences and Neighbors: Some Contours of Early Judaism," in Imagining
Religion: Frm Babylon to Jonestown (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982),
1-13, 135-139.
24. The Shema Israel in Deut 6:4 ("Hear 0 Israel ! The Lord is our Cod, the Lord alone")
is followed in Deut 6: 13-14 by the prohibition of idolatry: "You shall not follow other
gods, such as those of the surrounding nations, lest the wrath of the Lord, your Cod,
fare up against you and he destroy you from the face of the land; for the Lord your
Cod, who is i n your midst, is a j ealous Cod. "
25. See M. S. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background
and the Ugaritic Texts (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001); and J. H. Tigay, You
Shall Have No Other Cods: Israelite Religion in the Light of Hebrew Inscriptions (At
lanta: Scholars, 1986). See the essays in L. T Stuckenbruck and W. E. S. North, eds. ,
Early Jewish and Christian Monotheism ( London: T & T Clark, 2004).
26. See, e. g. , Pss 24: 1-2; 33= 6-9; 47: 7; 50: 9-12; 65: 5-8; 81: 10; 95:4-6; 100: 3; 102: 25-27;
104: 27-30; 107: 9, 33-38; 1ll: 5; 119: 90; 121: 2; 124: 8; 136: 5-9, 25; 145: 15; 148: 5-6.
33
0 Notes to Pages 11
4
-11
5
27. See the classic contrast between the living God and dead idols in Isa 40: 12-31; 44:6--
20; 46: 1-13; and the attack on idolatry in Wisdom of Solomon IP-15: 13; see also S. C.
Barton, ed. , Idolatry: False Worship i n the Bible, Early Judaism, and Christianity
( London: T & T Clark, 2007).
28. See especially Ex 19: 3-8 and Deut 4: 32-4.
29. On the concept of covenant, see D. R. Hi l lers, Covenant: The History of a Biblical
Idea (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969) and D. J. Elazar, Covenant
and Polity in Biblical Israel: Biblical Foundations and Jewish Expressions (New Bruns
wick, NJ: Transaction, 1995).
30. The Prologue to Si rach (ca. 132 BCE) speaks of "the law, the prophets, and the rest of
the books of our ancestors." For essays on the TaNaK, see M. J. Mulder, ed. , Mikra:
Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism
and Early Christianity (Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 2. 1;
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988).
31. Given the archaeological and literary evidence for the spread of synagogues through
out the Roman Diaspora, the statement attributed to James in Acts 15: 21 appears as
sober truth: "For Moses, for generations now, has had those who proclai m him in
every town, as he has been read in the synagogues every Sabbath." Josephus quotes
Strabo to this efect: "The Jewish people had already some into every city, and one
cannot readily fnd any place in the world which has not received this tribe and been
taken possession by it"; Antiquities, 14.7.
32. Throughout the fve books of Moses (Torah), legislation deals with the Sanctuary and
priests ( Ex 25: 1-31: 18; Lev 21: 1-33; 24:1-23; Num 35: 1-8), the keeping of feasts (Ex
34:10-16; 35: 1-3; Lev 2P-44; Num 28: 9-39; Deut 16: 1-16), and sacrifces ( Lev 1: 1-
7: 38; 16: 1-34; 27: 1-33; Num 28: 1-8). Other laws prescribe how to maintain purity in
food, sex, and other contacts, which keeps the people "holy" or separate ( Lev 11: 1-
18: 30; Deut 14: 1-21) in keeping with the clear mandate, "Be holy, for I, the Lord your
God, am holy" ( Lev 19:2). A great mass of other legislation, however, covers what
might be called "social laws," regulating a wide variety of transactions (see Ex 21: 1-
2p9; Lev 19: 1-20: 27; 25: 1-55; Num 35: 9-36: 12; Deut 14:22-15: 23; 19: 1-26: 15).
33. Sirach already identifed the Wisdom through which God created the world (24: 1-7)
with "the book of the Most High's Covenant, the law which Moses commanded us as
an inheritance for the community of Jacob " (24:22). Later Rabbinic texts in particular
stress the sapiential character of the commandments (see m. Peah, 1:1; Pirke Aboth,
p; pO; Aboth de Rabbi Nathan, 24).
34. The legend attached to the Greek translation of Hebrew scripture, carried out in Al
exandria during the reign of Ptolemy II (285-247 BCE) by Jewish scholars from Ju
daea, i s most extensively elaborated by The Letter of Aristeas. The actual texts of
scripture in both the Hebrew and Greek languages exhibit considerable fuidity.
35. Josephus speaks of "the innumerable multitude of people come down from the coun
try and even from abroad to worship God" at the great feasts (Antiquities, 17.214), a
statement supported by Acts 2: 5-11. See also the collection of texts in Williams, The
Jews among Greeks and Romans, 67-85.
33
1
36. On this, see especially M. Hengel, ludaism and Hellenism, 2 vol s. , trans. J. Bowden
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974); J. Goldstein, "Jewish Acceptance and Rejection of Hel
lenism," in lewish and Christian SelfDefnition, 1st U. S. ed. , ed. E. P. Sanders ( Phila
delphi a: Fortress, 1980), 2. 64-87.
37. Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the lews, 344-377; C. R. Holladay, "Jewish
Responses to Hellenistic Culture," i n Ethnicity in Hellenistic Egypt, ed. P. Bilde
(Studies in Hellenistic Civilization 3; Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1992), 139-
163; and "Paul and His Predecessors i n the Diaspora," in Early Christianity and Clas
sical Culture: Comparative Studies in Honor of Abraham f. Malherbe, ed. J. T
Fitzgerald, T H. Olbricht, and L. M. White (Leiden: Brill, 203), 429-460.
38. Si mply at the level of diction, the Septuagint's use of doxa for the Hebrew Kabod (see
Ex 16: 7; 24: 16), typos in Ex 25: 39, daimonia in Deut 32:17 and Ps 105: 37, and a phrase
such as philos isos tes psyches sou in Deut 13=7, all refect, and in turn give rise to, Hel
lenistic sensibilities.
39. See the comments of Aristobolos (180-145 BCE) on the Bible's way of speaking of
God i n terms of human l i mbs as signifers for divine power: "Now these passages will
fnd a proper explanation and will not contradict i n any way what we said before. I
want to urge you to accept the interpretations in their natural sense and grasp a ft
ting conception about God and not lapse into a mythical, popular way of thinking.
For what our lawgiver Moses wishes to say, he does so at many levels, using words
that appear to have other referents (I mean, to things that can be seen); yet in doing
so he actually speaks about natural conditions and structures of a higher order."
Translation of Aristobolos, Fragment, 2. 1-4, in C. R. Holladay, Fragments from Hel
lenistic lewish Authors, vol . 3= Aristobolos (Texts and Translations 39; Pseudepigrapha
13; Atlanta: Scholars, 1995), 137
40. In On the Giants, 4, Philo declares, "So if you realize that souls and demons and
angels are but di fferent names for the same underlying object, you will cast from you
that most grievous burden, the fear of demons or superstition."
41. See Philo, On the Migration of Abraham, 89-93; Embassy to Gaius, 29-212; cf Jose
phus, Against Apion, 1. 42-43.
42. See L. V Rutgers, The Hidden Heritage of Diaspora ludaism: Essays on lewish Cul
tural Identity in the Roman World ( Leuven: Peeters, 1988), and E. P. Sanders, "Purity,
Food and Offerings in the Greek-Speaking Diaspora," in lewish Law from lesus to
the Mishnah: Five Studies ( Philadelphi a: Trinity Press International, 1990), 255-308,
359-368.
43. An early Rabbinic text is written from Jerusalem to "the residents of the exile in
Babylon, and residents of the exile i n Media, and of all other exiles of Israel "; see
D. Pardee, A Handbook of Ancient Hebrew Letters (Society of Biblical Literature
Sources for Biblical Study 15; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1982), 186, 199-202. Philo can
speak of his readers as "sojourners on earth as in a foreign city" (On the Cherubim,
120; Rewards and Punishments, u5-u8).
44. In addition to 1 and 2 Maccabees and the works of Josephus (Antiquities of the lews,
lewish War), there is fragmentary evidence for an extensive body of historical literature
33
2 Notes to Pages n6lI 7
produced by Demetrius, Eupolemus, Pseudo-Eupolemus, Artapanus, Cleodemus
Malchus, Aristeas, Pseudo-Hecataeus, Thallus, and Justus of Tiberi as; on these, see
C. R. Holladay, Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors, vol. 1: Historians (Texts and
Translations 20; Pseudepigrapha 10; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1983).
The outstanding examples of pleas are Josephus, Against Apion; and Philo's Em
bassy to Gaius and Against Flaccus.
Taking the form of a speech purportedly given on the anniversary of the martyr
dom of Eleazar and the seven Maccabean brothers, together with their mother (re
ported in 2 Macc 7), 4 Maccabees is one of the most distinctive l iterary productions of
Hellenistic Judaism, combi ni ng elements of panegyric with diatribal argument in
support of the proposition that " devout reason" -in this case, exemplifed by devotion
to the Law of Moses-is demonstrated by command of the passions (1: 1, 7).
The profoundly conservative wisdom of Ben Sira was translated from Hebrew into
Greek by his grandson around 132 BCE, "for the beneft of those living abroad who
wish to acquire wisdom and are disposed to l ive their l ives accordi ng to the standards
of the law" ( Prologue to Si rach). Sapiential works originally written i n Greek include
Wisdom of Solomon and The Sentences ofPseudo-Phocylides. Elements of wisdom are
found also in Letter of Aristeas, 4 Maccabees, and The Testaments of the 12
Patriarchs.
45. See, e.g., Wisdom of Solomon 1:6; 7:23; 12: 19; Letter of Aristeas, 208; Josephus, Antiquities,
16.42; Against Apion, 2.291; Philo, On the Virtues, 51, 82, l09-n8; Decalogue, no; On
Abraham, 208; Life of Moses, 1. 198; The Special Laws, 4.72; Artapanus, Fragment, 3.
46. See the essays in J. Neusner and E. S. Frerichs, eds. , "To See Ourselves as Others
See Us": Christians, Jews, and "Others" in Late Antiquity (Chico, CA: Scholars,
1985).
47. I take up the knotty i ssue of Judai sm and the Mysteries below, but even A. D. Nock,
one of the severest critics of the position that there was an element of the Mystery in
Hellenistic Judaism, admits, "undeniably, Philo used Mystery terms for hidden theo
logical terms" (Essays on Religion and the Ancient World, 2 vols. , ed. Z. Stewart [ New
York: Oxford University Press, 1972) , 899). Josephus claims that Pythagoras learned
wisdom from Moses (Against Apion, 1. 164-165) and that all the Greek philosophers
borrowed from Hebrew wisdom (2. 281); for Judaism perceived as a philosophy by
both insiders and outsiders, see Hengel , Judaism and Hellenism, 1 . 255-261.
48. In Jewish War, Josephus goes from being a general fghting the Romans to an advo
cate for the Romans against those he regards as responsible for the war-that i s,
the Zealots-and eventually becomes capable of stati ng that God was on the side
of the Romans ( 5. 369; 5. 412). The fact that Philo appeals to Roman authority in
Against Flaccus and Embassy to Gaius shows a basic trust i n the j ustice of its
admi ni stration.
49. On the Samaritans, see J. Bowman, The Samaritan Problem, trans. A. M. Johnson
( Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1975); R. J. Coggins, Samaritans and Jews: The Origins of Sa
maritanism Reconsidered (Oxford: Blackwell, 1975); and F. Dexinger, "Limits of To 1-
erance in Judai sm: The Samaritan Example," in Jewish and Christian SelfDefnition,
333
vol . 2: Aspects ofludaism i n the Greco-Roman World, ed. E. P. Sanders ( Philadelphia:
Fortress, 1981), 88-114.
50. From 63 BCE on, the Hasmonean and Herodian kings served as cl ients of Roman
patronage. In 29 BCE, Syria became an imperial province under the direct control
of the emperor, and in 6 CE Judaea became a procuratorial province, with a series of
more-or-Iess effcient mi litary prefects, including Pontius Pilate (26-36).
Those who returned from exile faced opposition from Samaritans (Ezra 4:1-16)
and others ( Neh 3= 33-38) and rebuilt Jerusalem under severe duress ( Neh 2: 17-7: 3).
Part of the restoration involved separation from foreign populations (Neh 13: 1-3),
which entailed the dismissal of the foreign wives of many of the returnees ( Neh 13:
23-29; Ezra 9: 1-2; 10: 16-44).
51. For the post-Exilic prophets, rebuilding the temple was the priority ( Haggai 1: 1-2: 9;
Zech 4: 8-10), wi th the second order of business being the dismissal of the unclean
among the population ( Haggai 2: 10-14; Zech Ip-6; Mal 1: 1-2: 17). Ezra spurred on
the rebuilding of the temple in the return (Ezra P-13; 4:24; 5: 1-17), and Nehemiah
carried out needed reforms among priests (Neh 13: 4-13). The purifcation of the
temple by the Maccabees (2 Macc 10:1-8), in turn, was of such i mportance that it was
celebrated annually as the feast of Hanukkah.
52. The vision of Ezekiel 34: 1-31 was especially compel l i ng; see J. A. Fitzmyer, The One
Who Is to Come (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007).
53. The formal promulgation of Torah by Ezra the Scribe ( Neh 8: 1-18) was part of a pub
lic profession of covenant renewal among the returned exiles (9: 1-27) and the
enactment of specifc social legislation (9: 31-4), including the publ ic observance of
the Sabbath (lp5-22) and the banning of mixed marriages (13: 23-29).
54. Hellenism had made signifcant inroads well before Antiochus IV, with some 16 cit
ies Hellenized and the frst steps toward Jerusalem becoming a Greek polis taken
not, as we mi ght suspect, by Seleucids but by leading families of the city: "Let us
come and make a covenant with the Gentiles round about us, for since we have sepa
rated from them many evils have come upon us" (1 Macc 1: 11).
55. Josephus, Jewish War, 2. 119-166; Antiquities, 18. 11-25; for the beliefs and practices of
all the sects, see E. P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief 63 BCE-66 CE ( Phila
delphi a: Trinity Press International, 1992).
56. The identifcation of those at Qumran with the Essenes is, to be sure, debated; see
P. W Flint and J. c. Vanderkam, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years, 2 vols.
(Leiden: Brill, 1998); G. Boccaccini, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis (Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 1998); F. G. Martinez and J. T Barrera, The People of the Dead Sea Scrlls:
Their Writings, Beliefs, and Practices, trans. W G. E. Watson (Leiden: Brill, 1995).
The Qumran community's intensely dualistic ideology demands separation from
all the "sons of the pit" (CD 6. 14-7. 6), with a special animus toward the "wicked
priest" in Jerusalem who is accused of despoiling the possessions of the community
(IQpHab 8. 8-12; 11. 1-6; 12. 9-12).
The hostile characteri zation of outsiders found in sectarian passages such as lQS
2. 4-10 and 4. 9-14 are di rected not at Gentiles but at those whom the War Scroll
334
Notes to Page 118
designates as "the ungodly of the covenant" (IQM 1. 2), which would necessarily also
involve those "men who seek smooth thi ngs," such as the Pharisees, undoubtedly
regarded as overaccommodating by these separatists; see C. Vermes, The Dead Sea
Scrlls in English, 2nd ed. ( New York: Pengui n, 1975)'
57. The sectarians saw themselves as a "house of holiness" for the Lord, which offered
spiritual sacrifces of praise and study (4QFlor 1. 6; lQS 8. 6-8; 9. 3-11), guided by a
leadership of priests and Levites of the order of Zadok (IQS 1. 11-12; 6. 17-22).
The conclusion that the Essenes were willing to fght Rome to the death is based
on archaeological evidence provided by Roman coins and arrowheads of the appro
priate date at the site, as well as traces of a violent fre; see J. T Mi li k, Ten Years of
Discovery in the Wilderness ofTudaea, trans. J. Strugnell (Studies i n Biblical Theol
ogy 26; London: SCM Press, 1959), 53-56.
58. See M. Hengel , The Zealots, trans. D. Smith (Edi nburgh: T & T Clark, 1989).
59. Josephus, Life, 9. 65; Jewish War, 2. 118; 4. 385; 5. 400-402; 2. 264; 5. 433-444; 6. 288;
5. 556; 7. 255-258; 7. 260-262. Josephus begins as a general in charge of Calilean de
fenses (2. 568-584) but surrenders to the Romans (3- 384-398) and ends by exhorting
his fellow Jews to surrender ( 5. 361-420, 541-547), declaring hi s conviction with re
gard. to the more fanatical Jewish troops, "It seemed a much l ighter thing to be ru
ined by the Romans than by themselves" (4. 2).
60. For the l ittle that can be known about the Sadducees historically, see J. P. Meier, A
Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, vol . 3: Companions and Competitors
( New York: Doubleday, 2001), 389-487.
61. The progression has masterfully been demonstrated by J. Neusner, From Politics to
Piety: The Emergence of Pharisaic Judaism ( Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
1972).
62. The polemic from the side of "the pious" against those called "sinners" or "unrigh
teous" (such as we fnd in 4 Ezra 7: 17-25; 1 Enoch 12: 5; 1 5:9-10; 94: 6-11; 95:4-7; 96: 4--
8; 98: 7-16; 104= 7-13; Psalms of Solomon 2: 3-18; 4: 1-20; 8: 10-18; 14: 6-10; 1 5: 8-14)
comes from a perspective that is broadly Pharisaic. J. Jeremias has argued that the
Psalms of Solomon come from the bitter dispute between Pharisees and Sadducees;
see Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, trans. F. H. and C. H. Cave ( Phi l adelphi a: For
tress, 1969), 266.
63- On the development of Midrash, see C. Vermes, Scripture and Tradition in Judaism,
2nd rev. ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1973); C. Porten, "Midrash: Palestinian Jews and Hebrew
Bible i n the Creco-Roman Period," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt
1 1 . 19. 2 (1979): 3-42; J. Kugel , The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univer
sity Press, 1997). On the Pharisees' associations dedicated to strict observance of the
law, see J. Neusner, "The Fellowship (chaburah) in the Second Jewish Common
wealth," Harvard Theological Review 53 (1960): 125-142.
64. Although defcient in historical discrimination, two classic works contain a rich com
pendium of Rabbinic lore: C. F. Moore, Judaism in the Firt Three Centuries of the
Christian Era, 2 vols. (New York: Schocken Books, 1927); and E. E. Urbach, The Sages:
Their Concepts and Beliefs, 2 vols. , trans. I. Abrahams (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1975).
Notes to Page 120
335
65. Justly famous i s the i nscription di scovered in Jerusalem (Corpus Inscriptionum
Judaicarum II, No. 1404): "Theodotos, son of Vettenos, priest and archisynagogos,
grandson of an archisynagogos, has built the synagogue for the. reading of the law
and the teaching of the commandments and the guest house and the rooms and the
water facil ities for a lodging for those from foreign countries who need it. His fathers
and the Elders and Simonides laid the foundations." See Williams, Jews among
Greeks and Romans, 67.
On the synagogue, see the essays in J. Gutmann, ed., The Synagogue: Studies in
Origin, Archaeology, and Architecture ( New York: KTAV, 1975) and L. I . Levine, ed. ,
The Synagogue in Late Antiquity (Philadelphia: American Schools of Oriental Re
search, 1987). See also S. Fine, ed. , Sacred Realm: The Emergence of the Synagogue
in the Ancient World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
66. See L. M. White, The Social Origins of Christian Architecture, vol . 1 : Building God's
House in the Roman World: Architectural Adaptation among Pagans, Jews, and Chris
tians { Harvard Theological Studies 42; Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International,
199), 60-101.
67. See, e. g. , Josephus, Against Apion, 2. 175; Philo, Against Flaccus, 48, 116; Embassy to
Gaius, 312. The di fferent names used attest to a variety of functions: the synagogue
can be called synagoge ("gathering") or beth ha kenesset ("house of assembly"), em
phasizing the congregation; it can be called beth ha midrash ("house of study"), em
phasizing the reading and study of Torah; it can be called he prseuche ("place of
prayer"), emphasizing worship activities. See Wi lliams, Jews among Greeks and Ro
mans, 33-37.
68. See Josephus, Antiquities, 17.162; 15. 380-420; 20. 219-222; also C. T R. Hayward, The
Jewish Temple: A Non-Biblical Sourcebook ( New York: Routledge, 1996).
69. Josephus is the main source for the establishment of a temple at Leontopolis under
Onias; see Antiquities, 13. 65, 70; Jewish War, 1. 33. For the modest di mensions of the
shrine at Shechem, see R. J. Bull, "A Re-Exami nation of the Shechem Temple," The
Biblical Archaeologist 23 (196o): 110-119.
70. The Deuteronomic reform that was i nitiated under Josiah (ca. 622 BCE) had the
elimi nation of other cult sites as a key element (2 Ki ngs 22: 1-23= 25); the necessity of
Jerusalem being the one cult site is stated expl icitly by Deuteronomy 12: 1-4 and is
made the principle by which various kings are assessed (I Ki ngs 12: 25-33; 13= 33;
16: 29-32).
71. See the description in Letter of Aristeas, 83-100; J. Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of
Jesus: An Investigation into Economic and Social Conditions during the New Testa
ment Period, trans. F. H. Cave and C. H. Cave ( Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 21-26,
126-138, 147-221.
72. See especially S. Safrai , "The Temple and the Divine Service," i n The World History
o
f the Jewish People, 1st series: Ancient Times, vol . 7: The Herodian Period, ed. M. Avi
Yonah (Jewish Hi storical Publications; New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press,
1975), 284-338.
73. The biblical legislation is found in Ex 23= 14-17; Lev 23:4-22; Deut 16: 1-17.
Notes to Pages 120121
74. For the development of these ancient feasts, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, vol . 2:
Religious Institutions (New York: McGraw-Hi li, 1965), 484-501.
75. For the crowds, see Josephus, Antiquities, 17. 214, and Jeremias, Terusalem in the Time
ofTesus, 77-84; for the disruptions and riots occurring at the great pilgrimage feasts,
especially Passover, see Josephus, Antiquities, 17.213-218; 17.254; 18.29; 18.90; 20. 106;
Tewish War, 2. 40.
76. See the essays written by J. Neusner in Formative Tudaism: Religious, Historical, and
Literary Studies ( Brown Judaic Studies 37; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1982); and J. Neus
ner and W. S. Green, eds. , Origins of Tudaism: Religion, History, and Literature in
Late Antiquity ( New York: Garland, 1990).
Different di mensions of the Bar Kochba revolt are found in the essays in P.
Schafer, ed. , The Bar Kochba War Reconsidered: New Perspectives on the Second Tew
ish Revolt against Rome (Tibingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003).
n As in Pesikta Kahana 60b; bT Megillah 31b; Aboth de Rabbi Nathan 4. See J. Neus
ner, Rabbinic Tudaism: The Documentary History of Its Formative Age ( Bethesda,
MD: CDL, 1994).
78. Abraham is called nabi ' ( LXX; prphetes) in Gen 20:7, and Moses is designated as
prophet in Deut 18: 15-18 and 34: 10.
We can distinguish three kinds of prophets in the TaNaK: those who spoke i n the
name of the Lord and whose writings are included among the nebiim (Isaiah, Jere
miah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the 12 "Minor prophets") ; those whose actions i n defense
of the Lord are related narratively (in particular Elij ah and Elisha, but others, such
as Nathan, as well ) ; and those "false prophets" whose words led the people away
from an exclusive covenant with the Lord (see Deut 18: 20-22; Jer 2: 26-30; 14: 13-18).
Note that Deut 18:9 identifes such prophets with the practices of the nations. On
divination, see W. A. Beardslee, "The Casting of Lots at Qumran and in the Book of
Acts," Novum Testamentum 4 (1960): 245-252.
79. In his brief notices, Josephus refrains from identifying as a prophet either John the
Baptist (Antiquities, 18. 116-119) or Jesus (18. 63-64), although the New Testament
uses the designation for both John ( Matt 1 1 : 19; 14: 5; Mark 11: 32; Luke 1: 76; 7: 26-28;
John 1 : 21) and Jesus ( Luke 4: 24; 7:16; 24:19; John 6: 14).
80. When the beleaguered Saul could not get an answer from the Lord through the cast
ing of lots or from the prophets, he consulted "the witch of Endor," who summons
Samuel through necromancy (1 Sam 28: 4-29); the odd story suggests a much larger
phenomenon involving female prophets at local shrines (see Huldah the female Jeru
salem prophet in 2 Ki ngs 22: 14-17), as indicated as well by the insistent repetition of
warni ng against the consultation of mediums and soothsayers (Ex 22: 17; Lev 19: 26,
31; 20: 6, 27; Deut 18: 10-14).
81. See R. A. Horsley, Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time
of Tesus ( Mi nneapol is: Winston, 1985), and Tesus and the Spiral of Violence: Popular
Tewish Resistance in Roman Palestine (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1987).
For Qumran, see N. A. Dahl, "Eschatology and History in Light of the Dead Sea
Scrol ls," in The Future of Our Religious Past, ed. J. M. Robinson, trans. C. E. Carl
ston and R. P. Scharlemann ( New York: Harper and Row, 1971), 9-28; S. E. Porter
Notes to Page 122
337
and C. A. Evans, eds. , The Scrolls and the Scriptures: Qumran Fifty Years After (Jour
nal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 26; Sheffeld: Sheffeld
Academic Press, 1997); for Christianity, see D. Juel , Messianic Exegesis: Christologi
cal Interpretation of the Old Testament in Early Christianity ( Phi ladelphi a: Fortress,
1987), and L. T Johnson, Septuagintal Midrash in the Speeches of Acts ( Pere Mar
quette Lecture in Theology; Mi lwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2002).
82. Thus, irrespective of their chronological accuracy, passages in Acts demonstrate how
the Jesus movement could be located among other "messianic" efforts (see Acts 5: 33--
42; 20: 38).
83. The category "apocalyptic" covers a range of distinguishable entities: a genre of lit
erature, a construction of real ity, a vision of history-in every i nstance the term rep
resents an abstraction drawn from a complex body of l iterature. Among studies, see
J. J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to the Jewish Matrix of
Christianity, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans, 1998); C. Rowland, The Open
Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity (London: SPCK,
1982); and the detailed studies in D. Hellholm, ed. , Apocalypticism in the Mediterra
nean World and the Near East (Tibingen: J. C. B. Mohr [ Paul Siebeck] , 1983)'
84. Among works generally categorized as apocalyptic that can reasonably be dated
withi n the period of this study are 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, Apocryphon of Ezekiel, Apoca
lypse of Zephaniah, 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, 3 Baruch, Apocalypse of Abraham, Apoca
lypse of Adam, and Apocalypse of Elij ah. See the still valuable study by H. H.
Rowley, The Relevance of Apocalyptic: A Study of Jewish and Christian Apocalypses
from Daniel to Revelation, 2nd ed. ( London: Lutterworth, 1961).
85. See D. S. Russell, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, 200 BC-lOO AD
(Old Testament Library; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964).
86. See J. J. Colli ns, The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism (Society of Biblical Lit
erature Dissertation Series 13; Missoula, MT: Society of Bibl ical Literature, 1972); R.
Buitenwerf, Book IIof the Sibylline Oracles and Its Social Setting (Studia in Veteris
Testamenti Pseudepigrapha 17; Leiden: Brill, 2003)'
87. The wondrous healing of Tobit, we remember, was accomplished through an angel
rather than a religious ritual (Tobit 13= 17; U: 9-15). I mention Honi and Chanina be
low. Josephus makes mention of heali ngs and exorcisms (Antiquities, 8. 45-49; Jewish
War, 7. 185). The New Testament mentions Jewish exorcists ( Luke U: 19; Acts 19: 13--
20). The Testament of Solomon has the theme of healing through exorcism (see 1-4
and especially 18-24). Among the Qumran compositions are two extremely fragmen
tary texts that appear to involve the practice of exorcism (uQPsAp and 4Q560). On
healing traditions, see especially J. P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: The Historical Jesus
Reconsidered, vol . 2: Mentor, Message, Miracles (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 581-
5
93. For the sparse Jewish traditions on healing generally, see J. Strange, The Moral
World of/ames (PhD diss. , Emory University, 2007), 253-280.
88. In Leviticus 13= 1-59, those aficted with discoloration or growths on the skin (leprosy)
are to be quarantined; the role of the priest is not to heal but to confrm that healing
has taken place and to guide the healed person through the rituals of integration back
into the pure community (see Lev 14: 1-32). These practices appear to continue into the
4
frst century, according to the Gospel stories concerning lepers (Luke 5: 12-15; 17: 11-18).
The same stories suggest that extreme cases of "demon possession" required the sepa
ration of the aficted person from populated areas (see especially Mark 5: 1-20).
89. A balanced view of the debate is provided by M. Smith, "Goodenough's Jewish Sym
bols in Retrospect," Journal of Biblical Literature 86 (1967): 53-68.
90. E. R. Goodenough, By Light, Light: The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism ( New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1963). The materials are gathered and interpreted
by E. R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 13 vols. ( New
York: Pantheon, 1953-1968). Even before Goodenough, L. Cerfaux argued for the
widespread infuence of the Mysteries on Alexandrian Judaism, focusing especially
on Pseudo-Orpheus; see "Infuence des Mysteres sur Ie j udaisme Alexandri n avant
Phi lo," Le Museon 37 (1924): 29-88.
91. For Phi lo's use of Mystery symbol ism, see, e. g. , On Abraham, 122; On Rewards and
Punishments, 121; On the Cherubim, 42; Allegorical Interpretation, HI; 3. 100; POl-
103; Flight and Finding, 85; Sacrifces of Abel and Cain, 53-54, 62; On the Giants,
53-54; Life of Moses, 1. 158; 2. 40; On the Creation, 71; On the Virtues, 178; Posterity
and Exile of Cain, 173; On Dreams, 1 . 164; Unchangeableness of God, 61; On the Con
templative Life, 25, 28. Most striking, perhaps, is this personal statement: "I myself
was i nitiated under Moses the God-beloved into his greater mysteries, yet when I
saw the prophet Jeremiah and knew hi m to be not only himself enlightened but a
worthy mi ni ster of the holy secrets, I was not slow to become hi s disciple" (On the
Cherubim, 48).
For the extraordinarily complex redactional history of the pseudonymous work as
cribed to Orpheus ("I will speak to those to whom it is permitted; shut the doors, you
uninitiated, all of you al ike. But you, 0 Museus, child of the l ight-bearing moon"),
see C. R. Holladay, Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors, vol . 4: Orphica (Texts
and Translations 40; Pseudepigrapha 14; Atlanta: Scholars, 1996).
92. The Book of Proverbs and Si rach inculcate the keepi ng of the commandments that
articulate the covenant, with special attention to social j ustice (see, e. g. , Prov 3= 27--
28; 1 1 : 1 ; 14: 31; 1 6: 1 1 ; IT5, 1 5, 23; 18: 5; 19: 17; 20: 10; 21 : 3, 13, 26; 22: 23; 24: 1 5 , 23-24;
25: 21-22; 28:27; 29:7: 31:9, 20; Si r 3: 30; 4:1, 4, 9, 22, 27; 7:3, 10; 10: 7; 11: 12-13; 12: 3; 20;
21: 5; 29:8; 31: 11; 34: 20-22; 35: 13-14; 42: 1-4). Similarly, the prophets repeatedly address
the social ills that they see as a consequence of infdelity to the covenant (see, e.g., Isa
1: 16-17, 23; 3= 14-15; 5: 7-16, 22-24; 9: 17-19; 10: 1-4; Jer 7:8-9; 8:11; 9: 4-5; 12: 11-13; 21: 13--
18; Hos 4: 1-3; 12: 8-12; Joel 4:3; Amos 2: 6-7; 4: 1-2; 5: 12; Mic 3: 9-11; 7: 1-7).
93. See, e. g. , Hos 14: 2-10; Jer 31: 31-34; Ezek 18: 1-30; Joel 2: 16-17; Amos 5: 14-15; Jon
3: 6-10.
94. Josephus, Jewish War, 2. 119-166; Antiquities, 18. 11-22.
95. See Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism, 1. 243-247; 2. 164-167; T S. Beall, Josephus' De
scription of the Essenes Illustrted by the Dead Sea Scrlls (Society for New Testament
Studies Monograph Series 58; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); R.
Bergmeier, Die Essener-Berichte des Flavius Josephus, Quellenstudien zu den Essener
texten im Werk des iudischen Historiographen ( Kampen: Kos Pharos, 1993), 79-107.
Notes to Page 12
4 339
96. On the Contemplative Life, 13-14, 16, 18; Hypothetica, 11. 1, 4, 11, 16; Every Good Man Is
Free, n 79, 84-85.
97. See J. Neusner, Rabbinic Traditions about the Pharisees before
.
70 (Leiden: Brill,
1971); A. J. Saldari ni , Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees in Palestinian Society: A So
ciological Approach (Wilmi ngton, DE: M. Glazier, 1988); N. Hi llel, Prximity to
Power and Jewish Sectarian Groups of the Ancient Period: A Review of the Lifestyle,
Values, and Halakhah in the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Qumran, ed. R. Ludlam
( Leiden: Brill, 2006). For the link between Sadducees and Epicureans, see J. H. Neyrey,
"The Form and Background of the Polemic in 2 Peter," Journal of Biblical Litera
ture 99 (1980) : 407-431 .
98. Apart from the loose bands of prophets attested, e. g. , in 1 Sam 10: 9-12 and 19: 22-24,
there is no trace before the Hellenistic period of intentional communities of the sort
represented by the Essenes and the Pharisees; equally noteworthy, the ideal of com
munity possessions found among the Essenes is unattested in Torah and explicitly
rejected by the later Rabbinic tradition; see, e.g., Exodus Rabbah 31; Leviticus Rab
bah 34; Pirke Aboth 5. 10; Midrash Koheleth 1 . 8.
99. L. T Johnson, "The New Testament's Anti-Jewish Slander and the Conventions of
Ancient Polemic," Journal of Biblical Literature 1 08 (1989): 419-441.
100. On Qoheleth, see R. Gordis, Koheleht: The Man and His World, 3rd augmented ed.
( New York: Schocken, 1968); J. Crenshaw, "Ecclesiastes, the Book," in The Anchor
Bible Dictionary, ed. D. L. Freedman ( New York: Doubleday, 1992), 2. 271-281. On
Wisdom of Solomon, see D. Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon: A New Translation
with Intrduction and Commentary (Anchor Bible 43; New York: Doubleday, 1964).
101. Each testament i n Greek i s given the subtitle of a specifc virtue or vice exempl ifed
by the respective patriarch. Thus, the Testament of Simeon is also teri phthonou
("On Envy") and the Testament of Joseph i s also peri sophrosynes ("On Modera
tion" ) ; see M. de Jonge, ed., Testamenta XII Patriarcharum, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Brill,
1970).
102. See D. A. de Silva, 4 Maccabees (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Shef
feld: Sheffeld Academic Press, 1998).
103. It was not until the work of Jacob Bernays, aber das Phokylidesche Gedicht: Ein Bei
trag zur hellenistischen Literatur (Jahresbericht des j idisches-theologischen Semi
nars "Franckelschen Stiftung"; Berl i n: Hertz, 1856), that the composition was
decisively identifed as Jewish; see also P. van der Horst, The Sentences of Pseudo
Phocylides (Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha 4; Leiden: Brill, 1978), and
W T Wilson, The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides (Commentaries on Early Jewish
Literature; Berl i n: Walter de Gruyter, 2005).
104. See E. R. Goodenough, An Intrduction to Philo Judaeus (New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 1940); S. Sandmel, Philo of Alexandria: An Introduction ( New
York: Oxford University Press, 1979).
105. Philo is well aware of the way Gentile allegorists reinterpreted Homer in terms of
moral categories (Embassy to Gaius, 93-113; On the Decalogue, 54). Like the Py
thagoreans, he fnds the deeper meanings of numbers (On the Decalogue, 20-31),
Notes to Pages 12
4
-12
5
and using Platonic ideas, he can fnd evidence for the cosmological distinction be
tween the material and the ideal in the two creation accounts of Genesis (Allegori
cal Interpretation, 1. 31; Questions on Genesis, 1 - 4) and discover in the LXX rendering
of Exodus 25:40 as kata ton typon the ideal heavenly temple of which the earthly
is an i mitation (Questions and Answers on Exodus, 82; Allegorical Interpretation,
3. 102).
106. See, e. g. , his comments on Gen 4: 16, "And Cai n went out from the face of God,"
which raises the issue of anthropomorphism: "Let us here raise the question whether
in the books i n which Moses acts as God's interpreter we ought to take his state
ments fguratively, since the i mpression made by the word in their l iteral sense is
greatly at variance with the truth. For i f the Existent has a face . . . what ground
have we for rej ecting the impious doctrines of Epicurus, or the atheism of the Egyp
tians or the mythical plots of play and poem of which the world is full?" (On the
Posterity and Exile of Cain, 1-2). See also his interpretation of Gen 24:6-11 in Noah's
Work as a Planter, 163-173.
107. Phi lo asks why i n Gen 4: 2 Abel is named before Cai n and muses: "What, then, is
the special truth [ Moses] brings before us? Surely that in point of time vice i s senior
to virtue, but that in point of value and honor, the reverse is the case . . . for when
the l i fe of man begins, from the very cradle till the time when the age of maturity
brings the great change and quenches the fery furnace of the passions, folly, incon
tinence, injustice, fear, cowardice, and all the kindred maladies of the soul are his
inseparable companions, and each of them is fostered and increased by nurses and
tutors . . . but when the prime i s past, and the throbbing fever of the passions is
abated, as though the storm-winds had dropped, there begins in the man a late and
hard-won calm. Virtue has lulled to rest the worst enemy of the soul, that commotion
whose waves of passion follow each other in swif succession, and in that frm support
of virtue he stands secure"; On the Posterity and Exile of Cain, translation by F. H.
Colson ( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1927)'
108. See, e. g. , On Abraham, 275-276; On the Migration of Abraham, 130; in Abraham,
Philo interprets Enos as "hope" (7-16), Enoch as "repentance" (17-26), and Noah as
"repentance." His treatises on Isaac and Jacob are lost, but in his On foseph he indi
cates that Abraham signifed virtue acquired by teaching; Isaac, virtue acqui red by
nature; and Jacob, virtue acquired through practice (On foseph, 1); see J. W. Mar
tens, One God, One Law: Philo of Alexandria on the Mosaic and Greco-Roman Law
(Studies in Philo of Alexandria and Mediterranean Antiquity 2; Boston: Bri l l , 2003).
109. In his Life of Moses, Philo shows the ways i n which Moses perfectly flls the role of
lawgiver (2. 8-65), high priest (2. 66-186), and prophet (2. 187-291) but introduces
them all with the evocation of Moses as the Phi losopher-King: "The appoi nted
leader of all these was Moses, invested with his offce and kingship, not like some of
those who thrust themselves into positions of power by means of arms and engines
of war and strength of infantry, cavalry and navy, but on account of his goodness
and nobil ity of conduct and the universal benevolence he never failed to show. Fur
ther, his offce was bestowed on him by God, the lover of virtue and nobil ity, as the
reward due to him" (1. 148).
110. Note that Philo's treatise On the Virtues fol lows immediately on hi s compositions
On the Decalogue and On the Special Laws. His consideration of the vi rtues of
courage (1-50), humanity or philanthropy ( 51-174), repentance (175-186), and nobil
ity (187-227), furthermore, uses the categories of Greek moral discourse to fnd the
best expression of these virtues in the law of Moses; see P. Borgen, Philo, John, and
Paul: New Perspectives on Judaism and Early Christianity (Brown Judaic Studies 131;
Atlanta: Scholars, 1987), 17-59.
lll. Hi s treatise On the Contemplative Life is devoted to an admiring description of the
Therapeutae, while the Essenes are described in Hypothetica, 1-11, and Every Good
Man Is Free, 75-91; see J. E. Taylor, Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century
Alexandria: Philo's "Therapeutae" Reconsidered ( New York: Oxford University Press,
2003).
112. The ideal human condition was thought of not i n terms of freeing the soul from
worldly entanglements but in terms of cultivating and caring for the earth as a gar
den (Gen 2: 15-16). The consequence of sin was not involvement in the world but
rather the distortion of the relation between the world and humans (3= 14-19).
113. All the forms of personal "uncleanness" that result from contact with affiction,
death, or uncontrolled fows ( Lev 1-32) are capable of being "cleansed" through ap
propriate rituals; such uncleanness, furthermore, is fundamentally an issue of cultic
preparedness for the people as such: "Moses said to the LORD, 'The people are not
permitted to come up to Mount Sinai; for you yourself warned us, saying, "Set limits
around the mountain and keep it holy" ' " ( Exod 19: 23).
114. See especially J. D. Levenson, Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ulti
mate Victory of the God of Life ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006). For
language about the future l i fe, see Wisdom of Solomon 2: 1-3= 12. For resurrection,
see Daniel 12: 1-3. Belief in the resurrection of the righteous i s also strongly asserted
by 2 Macc 7: 1-41; 4 Macc 9: 8, 18: 23. On apocalyptic, see D. S. Russell , The Method
and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, 353-390.
115. With clear autobiographical intent, Philo says that at times the mind "is seized by a
sober intoxication, like those flled with Corybantic frenzy, and is inspired, pos
sessed with a longing far other than theirs and a nobler desire. Wafted by this to the
topnotch ark of things perceptible to mind, it seems to be on its way to the great King
himself; but amid its longing to see him, pure and untempered rays of concentrated
l ight stream forth l ike a torrent, so that by its gleams the eye of understanding is
dazzled" (On the Creation, 71). See also hi s statement concerning his interpretive
task: "Yet it is well for me to give thanks to God even for this, that though submerged
I am not sucked down into the depths, but can also open the soul 's eyes, which in my
despair of comforting hope I thought had now lost their sight, and am irradiated by
the li ght of wisdom, and am not given over to li fe-long darkness. So behold me dar
ing, not only to read the sacred messages of Moses, but also in my love of knowledge
to peer into each of them and unfold and reveal what is not known to the multitude"
(Special Laws, 3. 6).
Philo says the following of Moses: "He was named god and ki ng of the whole nation,
and entered, we are told, into the darkness where God was [ Ex 20:21] , that is, into the
7
unseen, invisible, incorporeal and archetypal essence of existing things. Thus he
beheld what is hidden from the sight of mortal nature, and, in himself and his life
displayed for all to see, he has set before us, like some well-wrought picture, a piece of
work beautiful and god-l ike, a model for all who are willing to copy it. Happy are
those who imprint, or strive to imprint, that image in their souls" (Life of Moses,
1 . 158-159).
116. In Holladay's edition (Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors, vol . 4: Orphica,
175-195), the critical passage is found both i n Recension B and C; i n the translation
by M. LaFargue, "Orphica," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols. , ed. J. H.
Charlesworth ( New York: Doubleday, 1983-1985), 2: 795-801, it is found in the "lon
ger version." The passage does not make clear whether it i s Abraham or Moses. In
Holladay's translation, the poem states that mortals do not have access to the great
king, "except a certain person, a unique fgure, by descent an offshoot of the
Chaldean race" ( B, 27-28). Lines 33-36 describe a place in the heavens and power
on the earth-but does this mean God or the patriarch? See the discussion i n Hol
laday, Fragments, 4: 186-187.
1 17. See M. Himmelfarb, Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses ( New
York: Oxford University Press, 1993). On the Songs of Sabbath Sacrifce, see C. A.
Newsom, Songs of Sabbath Sacrifce: A Critical Edition ( Harvard Semitic Studies
27; Atlanta: Scholars, 1985).
118. The pioneering works in this area are by G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysti
cism, 3rd rev. ed. ( New York: Schocken Books, 1954), and Jewish Gnosticism, Merka
bah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition ( New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, 1960). For such traditions in some form dating from the frst century, see
M. Smith, "Observations on the Hekaloth Rabbati ," in Biblical and Other Studies,
ed. A. Altmann (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963), 142-160.
119. Scholem, Major Trends, 49; M. Smith, "Observations," 154.
120. M. Smith, "Observations," 145; see also L. T Johnson, "Gnosticism in the Rabbinic
Tradition," Resonance 4 (1969): 5-17.
121. See J. Pakkala, Intolerant Monolatry in the Deuteronomistic History ( Publ ications of
the Finnish Exegetical Society 76; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999)'
The distinction between the rel igion of ancient Israel and "biblical religion" ac
knowledges that the bibl ical compositions are as much prescriptive as they are de
scriptive, and that what happened religiously "on the ground" among the people of
Israel was ofen not aligned with the perspective of the biblical authors. Not only ar
chaeology and comparative literature but also the biblical texts themselves-above all
in the space and energy spent in combating "deviance"-testify to the difference.
122. An example of such composition is the pitched battle between Elijah and the priests
of Baal in the reign of Ahab (1 Kings 18: 1-46), the "high places" against which the
bibl i cal texts i nvei gh are not only those dedicated to Canaanite gods, l i ke Baal
(2 Kings 10: 18-31) but alternate locations for worshipping Yahweh, such as Bethel
and Dan (see Deut 12: 1-3, 29-30; 1 Ki ngs 11: 4-10; 13: 33-34; 14: 21-24; 15: 14; 16: 31-33;
22:44; 2 Kings 11: 18-20; Ip6; 14: 4).
30 343
123- The lesson of the Exile was that although the glory had left the temple and the land
( Ezek 10: 1-19), repentance was still possible without the temple (18: 1-32; 33= 10-20),
and the word of the Lord continued to be present to the people outside the land
(Ezek 33= 21-22; Isa 48: 1-21); indeed, the people could be purifed outside the land and
the temple ( Ezek 36: 16-38). Such convictions corresponded to the realization that
the God of Israel was the creator of all the earth (Isa 40: 12-31; 43= 1-28) and could bring
about a new creation (65: 17-25; 66: 22-24).
124. According to Josephus, Antiquities, 20. 199, the high priest Annas was a Sadducee,
and Josephus speaks generally of Sadducees as offce-holders (Antiquities, 18. 16-17).
The Acts of the Apostles also appears to position Sadducees with the priestly class
(Acts 4:1; 5: 17). Josephus gives a glowing description of the priesthood in Life, 2;
Against Apion, 1. 188, 199, 284; 2. 105, 185-196; see also Letter of Aristeas, 92-100.
125. The worship of the Jerusalem temple has been polluted (4QpHab 1 . 1 1-14; 5. 10-14;
8.7-15; 9.9-10; 1 1 . 12). The community at Qumran is itself a holy house for Aaron
(IQS 9. 3-7; also 5. 5-7; 8 3-9), the "temple of Israei for its sins" (4QFlor 1. 1-7), which
anticipates a future purifed temple (11QTemple).
126. Josephus, Jewish War, 7. 268-406. For archaeological evidence, see Y Yadi n, Masada:
Herd's Fortress and the Zealots' Last Stand ( New York: Random House, 1966).
127. See the rich inscriptional evidence gathered by L. Kant, "Jewish Inscriptions i n
Greek and Latin," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt IL0. 2 (1987): 671-
713; and B. J. Brooten, Women Leaders in the Ancient Synagogue: Inscriptional Evi
dence and Background Issues ( Brown Judaic Studies 36; Atlanta: Scholars, 1982).
128. See J. T Burtchaell, Frm Synagogue to Church: Public Services and Offces in the
Earliest Christian Communities (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
129. This theme in some ways pervades Philo's work but is perhaps most evident in On
Joseph, of which E. R. Goodenough states, "De Josepho seems to me, then, to have
been written from frst to last with a single purpose, namely to . . . suggest that the
real source for the highest political ideal of the East, the ideal of a divinely ap
poi nted and guided ruler, had had its truest presentation i n Jewish l iterature, and
hi ghest exempl ifcation at a time when a Jew was, in contemporary language, pre
fect of Egypt"; E. R. Goodenough, The Politics of Philo Judaeus: Practice and Theory
( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1938), 62.
130. In hi s "On the Jews," Artapanus (thi rd-second century BCE) says of Moses: "As a
grown man, he was called Mousaeus by the Greeks. This Mousaeus was the teacher
of Orpheus. As a grown man he bestowed many useful benefts on mankind, for he
invented boats and devices for stone construction and the Egyptians arms and the
i mplements for drawing water and philosophy" (Fragment, 3).
9 . T H E A P P E A R A N C E O F C H R I S T I A N I T Y I N T H E
G R E C O - R O M A N W O R L D
1 . The term Christianos occurs only three times in the New Testament, and each use
suggests its origin as an outsider designation. Acts 11 :26 says that it was in the
3
4
Notes to Pages 1
3
01
3
1
Hellenistic city of Antioch, after the message had been addressed for the frst time
di rectly to "Greeks" (Hellenes), that "the disciples were called Christians." The
name identifes the movement as a cult organized around one called "the Christ";
an analogy would be the designation of members of the Unifcation Church as
"Moonies" after its founder Reverend Moon. Similarly, Acts 26: 28 has King Agrippa
accuse Paul of trying to make him "play the Christian. " When 1 Peter 4:16 speaks of
suffering "as a Christian" (hos christianos), the phrase indicates that this might be a
charge put against a believer but also a name gladly embraced.
2. It is certainly possible that Jesus had contact and confict with Pharisees (see J. P.
Meier, A Marginal Tew, vol . 2: Companions and Competitors [ New York: Doubleday,
2001] , 289-340), but the stylized form of the controversies in the Synoptic Gospels
as in Mark 2: 1-3: 6-supports the view that these controversies refect disputes be
tween early followers of Jesus and Jewish teachers afer Jesus' death; see R.
Bultmann, History of the Synoptic Tradition, rev. ed. , trans. J. Marsh ( New York:
Harper and Row, 1963), 11-68. The polemi c against Scribes and Pharisees in Matt
2P-36 reveals this social context most transparently; see S. Van Tilborg, The Tewish
Leaders in Matthew ( Leiden: Brill, 1972); and D. Garland, The Intention of Matthew
23 (Leiden: Brill, 1979).
3- The classic scholarly expression of this is found in G. F. Moore, Tudaism in the First
Centuries of the Christian Era, 2 vols. ( New York: Schocken, 1927), 1 : 1 , 1 : 59; 1= 71; 1 : 109.
The tendency to equate Judaism and Palestinian Judaism, in turn, is continued in
N. T Wright, The New Testament and the People of God (Mi nneapol is: Fortress,
1992), e.g., 151, 248, 330-331.
4. The fragmentary l iterary evidence we have for Hellenistic Judaism apart from Philo
is largely due to Eusebius of Caesarea's Praeparatio Evangelica; see C. R. Holladay,
Fragments from Hellenistic Tewish Authors, vol . 1: Historians (Texts and Translations
20; Pseudepigrapha 10; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1983). Clement of Alexandria gladly
made use of Philo i n his own i nterpretation of scripture (see Paidogogue, 1 . 5; Stro
mata, 1 . 23-260), and Gregory of Nyssa used Philo in his Life of Moses, translation,
introduction, and notes by E. Ferguson and A. J. Malherbe (Classics of Western
Spiritual ity; New York: Paul ist, 1978).
5. For my position on this point, i n sharp contrast to that expressed by Jonathan Z.
Smith (Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, Rene Girard, and Tonathan Z. Smith on Rit
ual Killing and Cultural Formation, ed. G. Hammerton-Kelly [Stanford, CA: Stan
ford University Press, 1987] , 235), see L. T Johnson, Religious Experience in Earliest
Christianity (Mi nneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 33-37.
6. There i s no defni te archaeological evidence for Chri sti anity before 180 CE; see
G. Snyder, Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life before Constantine
( Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1985). All of the outside observers of Chris
tians write in the very late frst or second century: Josephus (37-95), Tacitus ( 55-
1 17), Suetonius (75-150), Pliny the Younger (62-1 13), and Lucian of Samosata
(120-200). As for Christian apocrypha, even those who argue that the Coptic Gos
pel of Thomas contains early sayings of Jesus recognize that its date of composition
Notes to Pages 1
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2
345
is at the earliest mid-second century; see the discussion by Meier, A Marginal few,
1 : 123-139.
7. Although it is as tendentious as the works it criticizes, and although it certainly exag
gerates the early dating of some New Testament compositions-above all the
Gospels-J. A. T Robinson's Redating the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westmin
ster Press, 1976) remains a valuable corrective to the tendency to date much of the
New Testament to the second century. It is possible for all of the compositions in the
canon to have been written by 100. The most l ikely exception is 2 Peter; see L. T
Johnson, Writings of the New Testament, rev. and enl. ed. ( Mi nneapol is: Fortress,
1999), 495-505. For the disputed date of the Pastoral Letters, see L. T Johnson, The
First and Second Letters to Timothy (Anchor Bible 35A; New York: Doubleday, 2001),
55-102.
8. See, e. g. , such disparate exercises in Traditionsgeschichte as B. L. Mack, The Lost
Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco,
1993) and G. Theissen, The Religion of the Earliest Churches: Creating a Symbolic
World, trans. J. Bowden (Mi nneapolis: Fortress, 1999).
9. Agai n, this is i n contrast to J . Z. Smith; see Imagining Religion: From Babylon to
fonestown (Chicago Studies in the Hi story of Judai sm; Chicago: University of Chi
cago Press, 1982), xii. W. Wrede's Ober Aufgabe und Methode der sogennanten neu
testamentlichen Theologie (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1897) was pivotal
in the development of the religionsgeschichtlich Schule, focusing on the religious
real ities, rather than the theological concepts, to which the texts bear witness. Nev
ertheless, in Wrede's separate study of Paul , despite some attention to his "rel igious
character" (6-30), Wrede concentrates on Paul 's theology: "The religion of the
apostle is theological through and through; his theology is his religion" (Paul, trans.
E. Lummis [ Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1908] , 76). Si mi larly, O.
Pfeiderer, in Religion and Historic Faiths, trans. D. A. Huebsch ( London: T Fisher
Unwi n, 1907), insists that Paul purifes the rel igious expressions he inherits by ren
deri ng them theologically and ethically (pp. 267-269); see also W Bousset, What
Is Religion? trans. F. B. Low (London: T Fisher Unwi n, 1907), 247-249. The same
tendency continues in R. Bultmann's Theology of the New Testament, 2 vol s. , trans.
K. Grobel (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952-55); rel igion is what precedes
Paul , but "faith in the kerygma" is the basis of his theology.
10. In "Why the Church Rej ected Gnosticism," G. MacRae states the consensus suc
ci nctly: "It is as much a dogma of scholarship as its opposite used to be: orthodoxy is
not the presupposition of the church but the result of growth and development"
( fewish and Christian SelfDefnition, vol . 1 : The Shaping of Christianity in the Sec
ond and Third Centuries, ed. E. P. Sanders [ Philadelphi a: Fortress, 1980] , 127).
11. See L. T Johnson, "Koi nonia: Diversity and Unity i n Early Christianity," Theology
Digest 46 (1999): 303-313.
12. In his Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in the Church of the Firt Three Cen
turies, trans. J. Baker (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1969), 3, H. von Cam
penhausen represents a long tradition of scholarship when he states, "In the course of
Notes to Pages 1
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33
these three centuries the ideal to which Christianity had originally been committed
was impaired in various ways; not only do we fnd rigidities of attitude, curtailment of
aspiration, distortion of insight, but also in every department-an indisputable
trivialization."
13. For these points, see L. T Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, ed. D. J. Harrington
(Sacra Pagina 5; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1992), 3-11 .
1 4. See, e. g. , C. Herer, The Book of Acts i n the Setting of Hellenistic History (Wissen
schaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 49; Tibingen: J. C. B. Mohr
[ Paul Siebeck] , 1989); and M. Hengel, Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity,
trans. J. Bowden ( Phi ladelphi a: Fortress, 1980).
15. Efforts to establish a Paul i ne chronology on the basis of the letters alone always end
up relying on Acts, consciously or not; see R. Jewett, A Chronology of Paul 's Life
( Philadelphi a: Fortress, 1979); J. Murphy-O'Connor, Paul: A Critical Life (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1996).
16. In Romans (probably written from Cori nth in the wi nter of 57), Paul declares that he
had preached "from Jerusalem to Illyricum" (1 5: 19-the latter a location not men
tioned by Acts but supported by 2 Tim 4: 10) and announces his intention to evange
l ize Spain (15: 24, 28). The concentration of churches throughout Asia Mi nor is
supported as well by the Book of Revelation 1-3 and 1 Peter 1: 1.
17. Locations mentioned by Paul 's letters as having at least one "assembly" (ekklesia) in
clude Rome ( Rom 1: 7), Corinth (1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1 : 1), Thessalonika (1 Thess 1 : 1 ; 2
Thess 1 : 1), Galatia (Gal 1: 2), Ephesus ( Eph 1 : 1 ; 1 Tim 1 : 3), Phil ippi ( Phi l 1 : 1), Colossae
(Col 1 : 2), Laodicaea (Col 4: 16), Hierapolis (Col 4:13), and Crete (Tit 1 : 5).
18. With respect to persecution, the evidence i n Acts (5: 40; 6: 12-1 5; 7: 58; 8: 1-3; 9: 1-2;
12: 1-3; 13: 50; 14: 5; 16: 20-24; 17: 5-7; 18: 17; 22: 22-29) is supported by Paul 's letters ( Rom
12: 14; 1 Cor 4: 12; 2 Cor 1l: 23-27; Gal 6:2; Phil 1 : 13-17; 1 Thess 2: 14-16; 2 Thess 1: 4-6; 2
Tim 4: 16-17; Phlm 1) and other early writings ( Heb 10: 32-34; 12: 4; 13= 13; James 2: 6; 1
Pet 3= 13-17; 4: 12-17; Rev 7: 4-6; 12: 11; 13: 7).
19. If, as usually supposed (and back translation often supports), Jesus spoke in Aramaic,
his words would have had to be quickly translated i nto Greek for transmission in the
Diaspora. In terms of cultural context, the Jesus movement operated within a terri
tory that was, however Hellenized, nevertheless predominantly Jewish; withi n a mat
ter of mere years, it needed to adapt itself to a predominantly pagan environment.
The movement began among a group of Jews who had followed Jesus "from the bap
tism of John" (Acts 1 :22), but it was carried forward by those who had never known Jesus
himself-see, e.g., the role of Barnabas and Silas, not to mention Paul. The adherents of
the movement, furthermore, increasingly included more Gentiles than Jews. Finally,
the Jesus movement was essentially rural and itinerant, but the earliest communities
we know of were in cities; the transition is obvious when the imagery used by Jesus in
the Synoptic Gospels is compared with that used by Paul in his letters.
20. Before the destruction of the temple in 70, a signifcant number of Christian leaders
were violently killed. Acts tells of the stoning of Stephen (7: 54-56) and of Herod's
execution ofJames the son of Zebedee by the sword (Acts 12: 2). Josephus (Antiquities,
Notes to Pages 1
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20. 200) confrms the execution of James the brother of the Lord in 62. The New
Testament compositions foreshadow the deaths of Paul (Acts 20: 25; 2 Tim 4: 6-8) and
Peter ( John 21: 18-19).
21. The accounts of relief offered to the Jerusalem church in Acts (11: 29-30; 12: 25) and in
Paul 's letters (Gal 2: 10; 1 Cor 16: 1-4; 2 Cor 8-9; Rom 15: 25-28, 31) do not completely
agree, but they confrm that the Jerusalem church was at least temporarily
i mpoverished.
22. Luke tries to show that the Jerusalem leadership confrmed the mission to Samaria
and Antioch (Acts 8: 14-17; 1 1: 22-23), but even his report on the confict concerning
the ci rcumcision of Gentile converts (Acts 15) suggests the li mits of their oversight, a
lack of real power inti mated also by Paul in his account of his relations with Jerusa
lem (Gal 2: 9-12).
23. The di ssemination of the new writings produced by the movement through the new
technology of the codex was, in turn, of inesti mable value to an ever-expanding
mission.
24. I draw these claims from throughout the New Testament, although the greatest num
ber appear in the earliest datable writings, the letters of Paul . I note that the state
ments do not represent a "theology" that is being argued, but rather that they belong
to the category of shared rel igious assumptions-even if the writer needs to remind
readers of this shared conviction.
25. Paul tells the socially and politically insignifcant community i n Corinth, "the world
or l i fe or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ's; and
Christ i s God's" (1 Cor 3= 22), and challenges his readers: "Do you not know that the
saints will j udge the world? And if the world is to be j udged by us, are you i ncompe
tent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels?" (1 Cor 6: 2-3).
The author of 1 John declares, "This is the victory that overcomes the world, our
faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God?" (1 John 5:4-5).
26. Paul states that the community of disciples is the place where God's purpose for the
world is being disclosed: "the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created
all things; that through the church the mani fold wisdom of God mi ght now be made
known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" ( Eph 3: 9-10).
27. On "powers and principalities," see Rom 8:38; 1 Cor 2: 6-10; Eph 2: 1-10; Col 1 : 13; 1 Pet
3= 22. On "elements of the universe," see Rom 6: 15-23; 2 Cor 3= 6-18; Gal 3= 23-4: 7; Col
2: 8-23.
28. Rom 8: 14-15; Heb 2: 14-15; 1 John 4: 17-21.
29. Rom 1 : 16; 10: 10; 1 Cor 1: 18, 21; 15: 2; Eph 2: 5-8; Phi l 1 : 28; Ti t 3: 5; James 1: 21; 1 Pet 3: 21; 2
Pet 3= 15; Jude 3; Rev 12: 10.
30. For eleutheria, see Rom 6: 18-22; 1 Cor 9: 1, 19; 2 Cor 3= 17; Gal 5: 1, 13; James 1: 25; 1 Pet
2: 1. For parresia, see Acts 2: 19; 4: 13, 29, 31; 2 Cor 3= 12; Eph 3= 12; 1 Thess 2: 2; Phlm 8;
Heb 4: 16.
31. For peace, see Rom 5: 1; 14: 17; 1 Cor 7: 15; 2 Cor 13: 1 1 ; Eph 2: 17; 4: 3; Phi l 4: 7; Col 3= 15;
James 3= 18. For joy, see Acts 13: 52; Rom 5: 3; Gal 5: 22; Phi l 2: 2; 1 Pet 4: 13; 1 John 1: 4; for
Notes to Pages 1
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j oy in suffering, see 1 Thess 3: 6-9; Heb 12: 1-3; James 1: 2; 1 Pet 4: 13. For the triad of
faith ( pistis), hope (elpis), and love (agape), see 1 Cor 13: 13; 1 Thess 1: 2-3; 1 Pet 1 : 3-9.
Hope does not grieve at the death of community members (1 Thess 4: 3), faith resists
temptation (1 Pet 5:9), and love is not arrogant or rude (1 Cor 13: 5).
32. Exousia is power in the sense of authority or abil ity (see John 1: 12; 1 Cor 8: 9; 9: 4; 2 Cor
10: 8; 13: 10; 2 Thess 3: 9). Energeia is power in the sense of making thi ngs happen or
work (see 1 Cor 12: 6, 11; Gal 3: 5; 5:6; Eph pO-21; Col 1:29; 1 Thess 2: 13; Phl m 6; Heb
4: 12). Dynamis and its cognates are used most generally for power ( Rom 1:16; 15: 13, 19;
1 Cor 1 : 18; 6: 14; 2 Cor 6= 7; 13: 4; Gal 3=5; Eph po; Col 1:29; 1 Thess 1 : 5; 2 Thess 1: 11; 2
Tim 1: 7; Heb 2: 4; 2 Pet 1: 16. For "signs and wonders," see Acts 4: 30; 5: 12; 14: 3; Rom
15: 19; 2 Cor 12: 12; Heb 2+ For preaching the good news, see Rom 1: 16; 1 Cor 1: 18; 2: 4;
2 Cor 4: 7; 1 Thess 1: 5; 2 Tim 1: 8; James 1: 21.
33. Rom 12: 2; 1 Cor 2: 16; 2 Cor p8; Gal 3: 5; Eph 4: 23; Col po; 1 Pet 1: 22.
34. The word "now" (nyn) is used with great frequency. I n a single letter-Romans-Paul
states that now God's righteousness is being revealed (pI, 26), now they have been
made righteous ( 5: 9), now they have been reconciled with God (5: 11), now they are
freed from sin (6:22), now they are discharged from the law (7: 6), now there is no con
demnation for God's people (8: 1), now the Mystery of God is being revealed (16:26).
Paul says in 2 Cor 6:2, "Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of
salvation" (see also Gal 4: 9; Eph 2:2; 3: 5; Col 1: 22, 26; 2 Tim 1: 10; Heb 9: 26; 1 Pet 1: 12;
2: 25; pI; 1 John p) (emphases added).
35. See Rom 1: 4; 16: 25; 1 Cor 1: 24; 5: 4; 12: 3; 2 Cor 1: 4; 6: 7; 12: 9; 13: 4; Eph p6, 20; Phil po,
20-21; 2 Tim 1:7; Heb 5: 7; James 4:12; 1 Pet 1 : 5; 2 Pet 1: 16; Jude 24. For the language of
charis, see Rom 3: 24; 4:4; 5: 2, 15-17; 6: 1, 14; 1 1 : 5-6; 1 Cor 15: 10; 2 Cor 1: 12; 4: 15; 8: 1; Gal
1:6, 15; 5: 5; Eph 2: 5-7; p; Col 1:6; 1 Tim 1: 14; 2 Tim 2: 1; Tit 2: 11; 3:7; Heb 2:9; 10:29;
James 4:6; 1 Pet 2: 19; 3= 7; 2 Pet p8; Jude 4.
36. See, e. g. , John 20: 21-23; Luke 24:47-49; Acts 2: 1-4, 32-33, 38; 4:8; 10:44-47; 1 Thess
1: 5; 2 Tim 1:6; 1 Cor 2:12; 12: 3; Tit 3: 5; Gal 4:6; 2 Cor P7-18; Rom 8: 11; Heb 2:4; 4: 12;
6: 4; 1 Pet 1: 12; p8; 4: 6; 1 John P4; 4: 13; 5: 8; Jude 19, 20; Rev 2: 7; 4: 2; 19: 10.
37. For new li fe, see Rom 6: 4; Eph 4: 24; for new covenant, see 1 Cor 11: 25; 2 Cor P7-18;
Heb 9: 15; for new creation, see 2 Cor 5: 17-18; Gal 5: 16; for new humanity, see Eph
4: 22-24; Col 3: 9-10.
38. There is a fascinating agreement between insider and outsider sources on this point.
The Gospels are frank in reporting the dispersal of Jesus' followers at his arrest and
the need to gather them again after his resurrection (Mark 14: 50-52; 16: 1-8; Matt
26: 56; 28: 16-20; Luke 23= 31-32, 49; 24: 13-49; John 20: 19-29). In his brief notice con
cerning the great fre in Rome, Tacitus (History, 15. 44. 2-8) reports that Nero fastened
the blame on Christians, adding: "Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suf
fered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our
procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a deadly superstition, thus checked for a moment,
again broke out, not only in Judaea, the frst source of the evi l , but also in the city"
(emphasis added) .
39. See the reasonable summary concerning Jesus' mi nistry by Meier, A Marginal lew,
.: 622-626.
3
6
349
40. In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee and is executed in Jeru
salem during Passover, over a period of a year. In John, Jesus attends Passover three
times, which would enable a career of at least two and a half years; see the di scussion
in Meier, A Marginal Jew, 1 : 372-443.
41. It i s one of the secure fndi ngs of Formsgeschichte that Jesus' sayings were handed on
by oral transmission for some 30-40 years in the form of individual units rather than
as organized blocks of discourse; such "sermons" ( l ike those in Matthew 5-7) reveal
the redactional work of the evangel ists. See the classic studies of Buitmann, History
of the Synoptic Tradition; and M. Dibelius, From Tradition to Gospel, trans. B. Woolf
( New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934).
42. The designation of Jesus as charismatic by Geza Vermes i n Jesus the Jew: A Histori
an's Reading of the Gospels ( Philadelphia: Fortress, 1973) was fol lowed by M. J. Borg,
Jesus, a New Vision: Spirit, Culture, and the Life of Discipleship (San Francisco:
Harper and Row, 1987). The designation is apt if understood in terms of a li fe
responsive to inner promptings more than to external law and as engendering a pow
erful response ( both positive and negative) among others.
43. N. A. Dahl makes an argument concerning Jesus' possible fnal acquiescence in the
role of Messiah, based on the historicity of this titulus; see "The Crucifed Messiah,"
in Jesus the Christ: The Historical Origins of Christological Doctrine, ed. D. H. Juel
( Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 1991), 127-148.
A substantial number of those thinking they are doing "histories" of Jesus ignore the
character of the Gospel narratives and ascribe to him various states of messianic con
sciousness (see A. Schlatter, The History of the Christ, trans. A. J. Kostenberger [Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997 (1923)] , 125-136, 265) or intentions (see N. T Wright, Je
sus and the Victory of God [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996]; and my response, "A Historio
graphical Response to Wright's Jesus," in Jesus and the Restoration of Israel: A Critical
Assessment ofN. T Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God, ed. C. C. Newman [ Downer's
Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 1999] , 206-224). Even so methodologically aware a historian
as J. P Meier is not immune; see A Marinal Jew, 2: 298, 331, 316, 342, 349, 403, 453.
44. If one is claiming to do hi storical study of Christian origins, then it is a methodologi
cal imperative to begin analysis with the earliest primary (and frsthand) sources
dating from 50-68 CE-i ncluding the letters of Paul and other compositions that
can reasonably be assigned to the same period, such as James and Hebrews-rather
than the Gospels, dating from 70-90 CE, especially since the discourse of these let
ters speaks of the resurrection as a present reality among believers rather than as a
singular event of the past.
45. Jesus' sayings were remembered after his death, but they were selected and shaped by
convictions concerning the resurrection-this fact affects every claim to locate the
"authentic" words of Jesus. In any case, the transmission of his teachings did not in
itself constitute his "afterl i fe."
46. The i mpression of resuscitation-the resumption of empirical existence afer clinical
death-is in part a consequence of the "realism" of the Gospel accounts; there is no
way to express the "reality" of the resurrection narratively except through the use of
physical detai l. Thus, Jesus eats with his followers, speaks with them, touches them.
Notes to Pages 1
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The most "physical" of all is Luke's account, but it is important to recognize that his
empty tomb and appearance stories are part of a narrative dialectic of absence/pres
ence that reaches its climax in the Pentecost: the ascended Jesus is now present to "all
fesh" through the Holy Spirit. For this argument, see L. T Johnson, Living Jesus:
Learning the Heart of the Gospel (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1999), 12-22.
47. For this argument, see Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament, 107-122.
48. See, e. g. , Rom 1: 7; 5: 1; 6: 23; Ip4; 14: 8; 1 Cor 1: 7-8; 5: 4; 9: 1; 15: 57; 2 Cor P7-18; 4: 5;
Gal 6: 14; Eph pI ; 5: 20; Phil po; Col 2: 6; P7; 1 Thess 1: 3; 2: 19; 5: 23; 2 Thess 1: 7-8; 1
Tim 1: 12; 2 Tim 1: 8; Phlm 5; Heb 2: 3; 13: 20; James 1: 1; 2: 1; 1 Pet 1: 3; P5; 2 Pet 1: 2, 8;
2: 20; Jude 4, 17; Rev 19: 16; 22: 20.
49. See the summary of data in W. Foerster, "Kyrios" in Theological Dictionary of the
New Testament, ed. G. Kittel , trans. G. W Bromiley (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1965), P041-1054
50. See, most notably, W Bousset, Kyrios Christos: A History of the Belief in Christ from
the Beginnings of Christianity to Irenaeus, trans. J. E. Steely (Nashvi lle: Abingdon,
1970), 119-152.
51. See my observations in Chapter 2.
52. For the frequent use of Ps 110 in the New Testament, see D. M. Hay, Glory at the
Right Hand: Psalm 110 in Early Christianity (Society of Biblical Literature Mono
graph Series 18; Nashvi lle: Abingdon, 1973)' For the use of kyrios to translate Yahweh,
see LXX Gen 2: 4; P; Ex 3: 2, 3: 4; 6: 1; 8: 22; 15: 1; Ps 2: 2; 9: 1; 148: 1; Prov 1: 7; and hun
dreds of other passages.
53. A. F. Segal, Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and
Gnosticism ( Boston: Brill, 2002) .
54. For clearly titular uses of Christos, see Mark 8: 29; Matt 16: 16; Luke 9: 20; Acts 2: 36;
p8; 8: 5; 9: 22; 17= 3; 18: 5; Rom 5: 6-8; 8: 9-10; 9: 1-5; 1 Cor 10: 4-9; 11: 3; 12: 12; 2 Cor 1: 5;
2: 15; 5: 10, 17; Gal 2: 17, 20; P3, 16; Heb 3: 6; 9: 28; 1 Pet 1: 11; 5: 10; 1 John 2: 22; 5: 1.
55. For discussion of the varieties of messianism, see the essays in J. H. Charlesworth,
ed., The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity (Mi nneapol is:
Fortress, 1992).
56. In his attack on Christianity, the phi losopher Celsus puts particular stress on the
manner of Jesus' death as disproving any claim that he was worthy of the desi gnation
of Son of God; Origen, Against Celsus, 2. 21-45 .
57. For efforts to analyze the growth of Christianity in sociological terms see especially
R. MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire ( New Haven, CT Yale University
Press, 1984); and R. Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History
( Princeton, NJ: Pri nceton University Press, 1996).
58. The relationship between the survival of intentional communities and strong
boundaries is particularly well analyzed by R. M. Kantor, Commitment and Com
munity: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective (Cambridge, MA: Har
vard University Press, 1972) ; and illustrated by B. D. Zablocki, The Joyful Community:
An Account of the Bruderhof a Communal Movement Now in Its Third Generation
( Baltimore: Penguin, 1971).
Notes to Page 1
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8
59. Paul 's careful argument in 1 Cor 8-10 concerning the consumption of idol food and
eating at pagan shrines shows the di ffculties for those who chose "not to go out of
the world" (1 Cor 5: 9), and it is possible that the condemnation of Jezebel i n Revela
tion's letter to the church in Thyatira for "mislead[ ing] my people to play the harlot
and to eat food offered to idols" (Rev 2: 20) represents a response to such Pauline
practice; see C. K. Barrett, "Things Sacrifced to Idols," New Testament Studies 1 1
(1964-1965): 138-1 53
-
In Acts 1 1 : 3, Peter is challenged by the Jerusalem leadership not for baptizing the
household of Cornelius but for "entering the homes of uncircumcised people and
eating together with them," and the compromise struck by the "Jerusalem Counci l "
clearly had the goal of allowing Jews to eat with Gentile believers, by demanding of
the Gentiles a rejection of idolatry and food i mproperly prepared, as well as of sexual
immorality (Acts 1 5:29). Similarly, the fght between Paul and Cephas i n Antioch
arose because of Cephas' "withdrawing" after he had earlier followed the practice of
"eati ng together with the Gentiles" (meta ton ethnon synesthiein; Gal 2: 12).
60. See C. Osiek and D. L. Balch, Families in the New Testament World: Households and
Household Churches (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1997).
61. In Paul 's letters (written between 50 and 65 CE), he names as heads of households or
household churches, Prisca and Aquila ( Rom 16: 4-5; 1 Cor 16: 19), Gaius ( Rom 16: 23;
1 Cor 1 : 14), Stephanas (1 Cor 1 : 16; 16: 15), and Nympha (Col 4: 15); he names Chloe also
as head of a household (1 Cor 1 : 1 1) and Phoebe as his patron and a deacon in the as
sembly at Cenchrae ( Rom 16: 1-2) .
62. See especially G. Theissen, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on
Corinth, trans. J. H. Schiltz ( Phi ladelphi a: Fortress, 1982).
63. The situation of the Corinthian church is perhaps more complex than most but is
nevertheless instructive. After founding the community (Acts 18: 1-17; 1 Cor 1 : 14-17;
4: 15) and leaving it, Paul visits it at least three times (1 Cor 4: 19; 2 Cor 2: 1; 12: 13; 13= 1)
and asserts hi s authority through such visits, the sendi ng of hi s personal delegates
(1 Cor 4: 17; 16: 10-1 1 ; 2 Cor 8: 16-24), and at least three letters (see 1 Cor 4: 14-20; 5: 3;
7: 1-17; 1 1 : 13-16, 33-34; 14: 26-40; 16: 2; 2 Cor 107; 13= 10). He is al so aware of the claim
being made on this church by other leaders traveling through it (1 Cor 1 : 12; 9: 5; 2 Cor
2: 17-3= 1 ; 10:12-18; 1 1 : 4-6, 20-33; 12: 11-13)
64. Paul 's di ffculty i n providing guidance concerni ng the charismata i n speech given
by the Holy Spirit is indicated by his struggle to provide reasons for women remai n
i ng veiled while prophesyi ng or prayi ng in the assembly (1 Cor 1 1 : 3-16) and his
lengthy discussion of the spiritual gifts in 1 Cor 12-14. Hi s conclusion, that "every
thi ng should be done properly and in good order" (14: 40), fal l s considerably short
of an ordinance. And although "assistance and admi ni stration" (antilempsis,
kubernesis) are included among the spiritual gifts (12: 28; see also "being in charge"
[prohistamenosJ in Rom 12: 8), Paul does not coordinate them with the more spec
tacular displays.
65. Paul gives evidence for local leaders in Rom 12: 7-8; 1 Cor 12: 8; 16: 15-18; Gal 6: 6; Eph
4: 11; Phil 1 : 1 ; 1 Thess 5: 12-13-
Notes to Page 1
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66. When the evidence of Paul 's undisputed letters is collated wi th that provided by the
di sputed 1 Ti mothy, we see that the basic form of local leadership follows the pat
tern of that in synagogues and Greco-Roman associ ations; see J. T Burtchael l ,
From Synagogue to Church: Public Services and Offces i n the Earliest Christian
Communities (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992); and L. T Johnson,
The First and Second Letters to Timothy (Anchor Bible 35A; New York: Doubleday,
2001), 74-76.
67. Paul speaks of the Phi lippian church as having provided him with fnancial support
while he was in Thessalonica and Corinth ( Phi l 4: 15-19; 2 Cor 1l: 8-9). He refers to
the deacon Phoebe as his patron (prstatis) i n Cenchrae. His language of "refreshing
the spirit" suggests that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, local householders in
Corinth, were also fnancial supporters (1 Cor 16: 15-18); Paul also mentions hi s hopes
that Philemon, who had already "refreshed his heart," would continue to do so by
returning to Paul the runaway slave Onesimus (Phlm 7-20).
Hospitality is stated as an ideal in Heb Ip5 and 1 Pet 4: 9; it is one of the desirable
qualities in "supervisors" (episkopoi) whom we assume to be householders (1 Tim
p; Tit 1: 8); it is requested for actual travelers ( Phi l 2: 29; Col 4: 10, Phlm 22); and it is
the mechanism for a power struggle i n Johannine churches (2 John 10; 3 John 5-7).
Hospitality and the provision for further travel is asked in 1 Cor (16= 7, ll) and is the
practical point of Paul 's Letter to the Romans (15:22-16: 3).
On charity, see especially Paul 's discussion of care for widows in 1 Tim 5: 3-16,
which perfectly refects the concerns found in synagogal systems of care (see also
Acts 6: 1-6).
Paul 's caustic rebuke of the Corinthians for their suing each other over ta biotika
("everyday matters") in pagan courts (1 Cor 6: 1-6) assumes two things: (1) l ike other
synagogal associations, the Corinthians had mechanisms for settling local disputes
concerning practice; and (2) the Corinthians were using as j udges in such courts
people who had no standing-thus, the appeal to outsiders by those unsatisfed with
this arrangement.
68. Matt 28: 19; Acts 2: 38, 41; 8: 12, 36; 9: 18; 10: 48; 16: 15, 33; Rom 6: 1-1 1 ; 1 Cor 1: 15-16; 6: 9-
ll; 12: 13; Gal 3:27; Eph 4: 5; Heb 6: 1-6; 1 Pet 2: 21. For the evidence, see J. Delorme,
ed., Baptism in the New Testament: A Symposium ( Balti more: Helicon, 1964).
69. For multiple initiations at Eleusis, see L. J. Alderink, "The Eleusinian Mysteries in
Roman Imperial Times," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt 1 1 . 17. 4 (1989):
1478-1482; for Mithras, see R. Merkelbach, Mithras ( Konigstei n: Verlag Anton Hain,
1984), 86-145.
70. For the pressure in the Galatian and Colossian churches to seek circumcision as a
"perfecting" of the initiatory ritual of baptism, see L. T Johnson, "Ritual Imprinting
and the Pol itics of Perfection," in Religious Experience in Early Christianity ( Mi n
neapol is: Fortress, 1998), 69-103'
71. Evidence for common meals is sometimes di rect (Acts 2: 42, 46; [possibly 6: 2]; 20: 7;
27: 35; 1 Cor 10: 14-22; 1l: 17-34) and sometimes indirect (and assumed), as in Acts
10:9-16, 41; 1l: 3; 15: 9, 20, 29; Gal 2: 11-14; Rom 14: 1-23; Rev 2: 14, 19. For a review of the
Notes to Page 1
39 353
evidence, see J. Delorme, ed. , The Eucharist in the New Testament: A Symposium,
trans. E. M. Stewart (Balti more: Helicon, 1964).
72. The i mportance of meal practice is supported by the number of stories associating
Jesus with a last meal with his followers (Mark 14: 12-25; Matt 26: 17-29; Luke 22: 14--
38; John IP-30) his appearing to followers after his resurrection in the context of
meals (Mark 16: 14; Luke 24:13-35, 36-49; John 21: 9-14) and his multiplication of the
loaves to feed followers (Mark 6: 35-44; 8: 1-10; Matt 14: 13-21; 1 5: 31-39; Luke 9: 10-17;
John 6: 1-14), which in John becomes the occasion for a Eucharistic di scourse (John
6: 26-59)
73. On pagan prayer, see S. Pulleyn, Prayer in Greek Religion (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997).
For a fascinating analysis of how distinct Greek and Latin backgrounds affected the
understanding of a Christian prayer, see M. J. Brown, The Lord's Prayer thrugh
North African Eyes: A Window into Early Christianity ( New York: T & T Clark,
2004). On the connection between New Testament prayer and prayer in Judaism, see
especially the use of the berakah form i n Rom 1: 25; 9: 5; 2 Cor 1 : 3-7; Eph 1: 3-14; 1 Pet
1: 3-9. On Aramaic formulae i n the New Testament, see abba i n Gal 4: 6; maranatha
i n 1 Cor 16:22; and amen i n 1 Cor 14:16 and very frequently elsewhere (e. g. , Rom 1: 25;
11: 36; 15: 33)
74. Pliny reports the Christians singing hymns to Christ as to God (Letters, 10. 96.7); for
the singing of hymns generally, see 1 Cor 14: 26; Eph 5: 19; Col p6; Rev 5: 9; 14: 3; 15: 3.
For hymns involving Christ, see Phi l 2: 6-11; Col 1: 15-20; 1 Tim p6; 1 Pet 1: 22-25;
p8, 22; Rev 4: 11; 5: 9.
75. On reading, Paul tells Timothy to "attend to the prayer, reading and teachi ng" in the
church at Ephesus i n Paul 's absence (1 Tim 4: 13), and Paul 's letters were read aloud in
the assembly (2 Cor 7: 8; Col 4: 16; 1 Thess 5: 27; 2 Thess P4).
On preaching, apart from the stories concerning Jesus and Paul reading and
preaching in the synagogue ( Luke 4: 16-30; John 6:59; Acts Ip3-16) and reporting
Paul preaching at the Lord's Supper (Acts 20: 7-9), there is no specifc evidence for
preaching as part of worship, apart from the passage in 1 Tim 4: 13. Here is a case
where the synagogue practice was so well established that further mention may not
have been necessary. Two New Testament compositions that now have the form of
letters-l Peter and Hebrews-may well have originated as sermons.
On teaching, in addition to the passages where Paul speaks of hi mself as a teacher
(1 Cor 4: 17; 1 Tim 2:7; 2 Tim 1: 11 ), there is evidence for the offce of teacher in local
assemblies (Acts Ip; 1 Cor 12: 28; Rom 12: 7; Gal 6:6; Eph 4: 11; 1 Thess 5: 12; James pl.
76. See D. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World
(Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans, 1983), 36-48; and E. Fascher, Prophetes: Eine sprach
und religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung (Geissen: A. Topel mann, 1927)' There is
scattered evidence for speaking in tongues and prophecy (Mark 16: 17; Acts 2: 4; 10:46;
11: 27; 19:6; 21: 9-10; Rom 12: 6; 1 Thess 5:20; 1 Tim 4:14; Rev 19: 10) and for "prophets"
ranked with apostles and teachers (Acts Ip; 1 Cor 12: 28; Eph 2: 20; Rev 10:7), but the
most i mportant discussion is in 1 Cor 12-14, where Paul tries to sort out these gifts of
the Spirit.
354 Notes to Pages 139140
77. P. A. Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in
Ancient Mediterranean Society (Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 2003), 55-166.
78. Paul mentions as hi s personal delegates Timothy (1 Cor 4: 17; 16: 10-11; Phil 2: 19-23; 1
Thess 3= 2-6; 1 Tim 1 : 3), Titus (2 Cor 7: 7; 8: 17, 23; 12: 18; Tit 1 : 5), Tychichus (Eph 6: 21--
22; Col 4:7), Ephaphroditus ( Phi l 2: 25-30), and Phoebe ( Rom 16: 1-2). 3 John gives
evidence of a delegate ( Demetrius) sent from a leader (the Elder) to another leader in
communion with him (Gaius) . Gal 2: 12 speaks of "the men from James" in terms of a
delegation. At least some of the members of the church in Corinth sent as delegates
to Paul included Chloe (1 Cor 1 : 11), Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaichus (1 Cor
16: 17) and other unnamed representatives (2 Cor 8: 19, 23)' Acts speaks of delegates
sent out by the church in Jerusalem (8: 14; 11: 22; 15: 25, 30-33) and by the church in
Antioch (11: 29-30; 12: 25; 13= 1-3; 1 5:2). For the background and signifcance of such
delegations, see M. M. Mitchel l , "New Testament Envoys in the Context of Greco
Roman Diplomatic and Epistolary Conventions: The Case of Timothy and Titus,"
Journal of Biblical Literature III (1992): 641-662.
79. We have nine extant letters from Paul to churches (1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans,
Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Galatians) but know he
wrote more (see 1 Cor 5: 9) and that the Corinthians wrote to him (1 Cor 7:1). The
greetings in two of Paul 's letters indicate a readership wider than a si ngle assembly:
"to all those through Achaia" (2 Cor 1:2) and "to the churches throughout Galatia"
(Gal 1:2). Ephesians may well have been a circular letter (see Johnson, Writings of the
New Testament, 407-413), and letters to specifc churches could be exchanged (see
Col 4: 16). In addition, the New Testament contains two letters from the Elder (2 and
3 John); seven letters to churches in Asia from John the Seer ( Rev 1-3); a letter from
the Jerusalem church to bel ievers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia (Acts 15:23-29); two
letters from Peter-the frst of them to believers in fve areas of Asia Mi nor-and sin
gle letters from James, Jude, and the author of Hebrews.
80. Paul speaks of this collection i n Gal 2:10; 1 Cor 16: 1-4; 2 Cor 8-9; Rom 15: 25-33: see
also Acts 11: 29-30; 12: 25. For discussion, see D. Georgi, Remembering the Poor: The
History of Paul's Collection for Jerusalem ( Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992); and K. F.
Nickle, The Collection: A Study in Paul's Strategy ( London: SCM Press, 1966).
81. See Tacitus, History, 15. 44. 2-8.
82. See Pli ny, Letter, 10. 96.
83. The view of the empire is enti rely positive in Romans 13: 1-7, 1 Tim 2: 1, and 1 Peter
2: 13-1 5. Acts is so positive toward Roman rule that an (exaggerated) case can be made
that it is an apology for the empire; see P. W. Walasky, ''nd So We Came to Rome":
The Political Perspective ofSt. Luke (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph
Series 49; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973)' In contrast, the Book of
Revelation is entirely hostile to the empire because of the oppression of the sai nts
( Rev 17: 1-18:24); see L. L. Thompson, The Book of Revelation: Apocalypse and Em
pire (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).
84. Although the differences should not be exaggerated, it is accurate to say that the at
titudes expressed in "Johannine" literature (the Fourth Gospel, three letters of John,
. .
Notes to Pages 1
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355
and Revelation) are more sectarian-e. g. , concerni ng "the world" and "the Jews"
than those found in the letters of Paul . The complexity of Paul 's discussions in 1 Cor
5-1 1 is due to his insistence that the holiness of the church does not demand "going
out of the world" (1 Cor 5: 9-10). Thus, Paul sees Satan as a threat at the edges of the
community (1 Cor 5: 5; 2 Cor 11: 3; 1 Thess 2:8; 1 Tim 5: 1 5), and the frst letter of John
says that "the whole world is under the power of the evil one" ( 5: 19), so that departure
from the community means participating in the realm of evil (1 John 2: 18-19; 3: 8;
4: 1-6).
It is notoriously di ffcult to discern any consistent eschatology, e. g. , even wi thi n the
undisputed Pauline letters; the differences between Revelation and other writings
associated with the Johannine School lead to different conclusions concerning the
appropriateness of considering it together with those other compositions; see John
son, Writings of the New Testament, 579-581.
85. It is possible, for example, to make the case that Luke-Acts fts within the Greco
Roman genre of the novel, of the biography, and of the history; yet, it is also clear
that, while combi ning elements of each of those l iterary types, it does so in a distinc
tive way; see L. T Johnson, "Luke-Acts, Book of," i n The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed.
D. N. Freedman ( New York: Doubleday, 1992), 4: 403-420.
1 0 . N E W T E S T A M E N T C H R I S T I A N I T Y A S P A R T I C I P A T I O N
I N D I V I N E B E N E F I T S
1 . Among frst-generation New Testament compositions, only James and Hebrews (and
Revelation?) can with some confdence be thought of as addressed to Jewish believ
ers. Paul 's letters ( 50-66) are written to Gentile (Galatians, Phi l ippians, 1 and 2 Thes
salonians, Colossians, Ephesians) or possibly mixed communities ( Romans, 1 and 2
Corinthians). First Peter, written at the latest circa 112 and possibly much earl ier, has
only Gentiles in view. The Gospels of Matthew, John, and Luke all assume the Gen
tile mission ( Matt 20: 19; John 12: 20; Luke 2: 32; 3: 6). Acts portrays the earliest expan
sion as one that succeeds among Gentiles more than among Jews (Acts 13:44-47; 18: 6;
28: 28). The i ndependent testimony of Acts 1 5 and Gal 2: 1-10 of a frst-generation
meeting among leaders to decide the legitimacy of the Gentile mission indicates that
by the year 50 it had become suffciently i mportant to require general and not simply
local attention.
It is, in fact, extraordinarily di ffcult to say much hi storically about "Jewish Chris
tianity," so quickly is it ecl ipsed by Gentile Christianity. We are reduced to drawing
large conclusions from small fragments of Jewish Gospels (reported by Jerome), the
legend of a mi gration from Jerusalem to Pella, and a di ffcult di sentanglement of
earlier materials from the fourth-century Pseudo-Clementine l iterature. For discus
sion, see G. Liidemann, "The Successors of Pre-70 Jerusalem Christianity: A Critical
Evaluation of the Pella Tradition," in Jewish and Christian SelfDefnition, ed. E. P.
Sanders (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980), 1. 161-1n; R. A. Kraft, "In Search of 'Jewish
Christianity' and Its 'Theology': Problems of Defnition and Methodology," Recherches
Notes to Pages 1
4
2-1
45
de Science Religieuse 60 (1972) : 81-92; S. K. Riegel, "Jewish Christianity: Defnitions
and Terminology," New Testament Studies 24 (1978): 410-415; R. E. Brown, "Not Jew
ish Christianity and Gentile Christianity but Types of Jewish/Gentile Christianity,"
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 45 (1983): 74-79.
2. I remi nd the reader agai n that the line between "participation in benefts" and
"magic" is often a matter of perspective. For the way in which Jesus' thaumaturgy
could be read in terms of magic, see M. Smith, Jesus the Magician (San Francisco:
Harper and Row, 1978); for a survey of the topic in the period, see D. E. Aune,
"Magic in Early Christianity," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt I l . 2p
(1980): 1 57-1 557.
3. See especially W. Schmithals, Gnosticism in Corinth, trans. J. Steely (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1971). On "realized eschatology," see A. C. Thiselton, "Realized Es
chatology in Corinth," New Testament Studies 24 (1977-1978): 520-526; R. A. Hors
ley, '' ' How Can Some of You Say There Is No Resurrection of the Dead': Spiritual
Elitism in Corinth," Novum Testamentum 20 (1978): 23-24.
4. Although Paul can speak of "among the gentiles" with reference to outsiders (1 Cor
5: 1) and can say that "our fathers were all under the cloud" when referring to the Exo
dus (10: 1), the community at Corinth undoubtedly had substantial Gentile member
ship. After speaking of "fornicators, idolaters, and adulterers" in 6: 9-10, he adds, "as
some of you used to be" (6: 1 1). A brother who continues as an idolater needs to be
shunned ( 5: 11). Decisively, he reminds hi s readers in 12: 2, that "when [they] were
Gentiles," they were led astray by dumb idol s.
5. See P. D. Gooch, Dangerous Food: 1 Corinthians 8-10 in Its Context (Waterloo, ON:
Wilfrid Lauier University Press, 1993); and W L. Wi l l i s, Idol Meat in Corinth: The
Pauline Argument in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 (SBLDS 68; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1985).
6. See K. A. Munoz, How Not to Go out of the World: First Corinthians 14:13-25 and
the Social Foundations of Early Christian Expansion ( PhD diss. , Emory University,
2008).
7. See G. Theissen, "Soziale Integration und sakramentales Handel n: Eine Analyze
von 1 Cor XI, 17-34," Novum Testamentum 24 (1974): 290-317, found also i n The So
cial Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth, ed. and trans. J. H. Schitz
( Phi ladelphi a: Fortress, 1982).
8. P. A. Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in
Ancient Mediterranean Society (Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 2003), 25-112.
9. See Plato, Ion, 534A-D; Phaedrus, 244A; Timaeus, 71E-72B; Plutarch, The E at Del
phi, 387B, 391E; Oracles at Delphi, 397C, 399A. The language of Philo of Alexandria
conforms completely: in prophecy, the divine pneuma "seizes" humans (Questions
on Genesis, 4. 196), "falls on" them (Life of Moses, 2. 291), "possesses" them (Life of
Moses, 1 . 175), and "flls" their mi nd (Questions on Genesis, 4: 14). Philo consistently
emphasi zes the way the pneuma replaces the human mind in prophecy (Special
Laws, 4. 49; Who Is the Heir, 264-265; Questions on Genesis, 3. 9; Life of Moses, 2. 188-
192). This is how God "speaks through" the prophets (Special Laws, 1: 65). See M. J.
Weaver, Pneuma in Philo of Alexandria ( PhD diss. , Notre Dame University, 1973),
115-141.
Notes to Pages 1
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6
357
10. See Plutarch, Obsolescence ofOracies, and the discussion in Chapter 7.
11. For the status bestowed by ecstatic speech in communities that recognize prophecy,
see I. M. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion ( Balti more: Penguin, 1971); fo the possibil ity that
women prophets caused di ssension in the community, see E. Schussler-Fiorenza, In
Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New
York: Crossroad, 1983), 226-236; and A. C. Wire, The Corinthian Women Prophets: A
Reconstruction through Paul's Rhetoric (Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 1990), 116-158.
12. Galatians 1: 12; 1: 17-2: 10; 4: 12-20; 5: 2-3, 10-11; 6: 17. For an extensive argument in favor
of Colossians' authenticity, see G. E. Cannon, The Use of Traditional Materials in
Colossians ( Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1983); see also J. Murphy-O'Connor,
Paul: A Critical Life (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), 237-239. Even a notable proponent
of the letter's pseudonymity acknowledges the possibil ity that it is close enough to
Paul 's actual career to make even the signing by Paul (Col 4:18) possible; see W A.
Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul ( New Ha
ven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983), 125.
13. For Paul 's passion, see Gal 1: 1, 6, 8, 9; 4: 11; 5: 7, 12; 6: 17. For language concerning To
rah, see 2: 3, 14-19; 3= 2, 10-22; 4: 21-5:4; 5: 11, 18; 6: 12-13. For the rhetorical character,
see especially J. Smit, "Galatians: A Deliberative Speech," New Testament Studies 35
(1989): 1-26.
14. Paul calls Epaphras "one of yourselves" (Col 4:2) and makes clear that his readers had
heard the word of truth from Epaphras (1: 6-7).
15. Paul 's authority is assumed, not questioned (Col 1: 1, 23, 25; 2: 5; 4: 2-4, 8-9, 18). No
passage of Torah is cited in the letter, and apart from the single term "circumcision"
(peritome), the diction i n 2: 11-15 and 2:22 is extremely general : "Things written by
hand as teachings" (cheirgraphon tois dogmasin) and "human i nstructions and teach
ings" (entalmata kai didaskalias ton anthropon).
16. The argument in Colossians intertwines the themes of baptism (1: 12-13, 21-23; 2: 11--
15; 2: 20-3:4; 3: 9, 12) and of Christ (1: 15-20, 27-29; 2: 2-3, 6, 9; 2: 14-P; 4:2).
17. For Galatians, see 2:8, 15-16; 3:2; 4:8-9, 21; 5: 2, 4; 6: 12-13; for Colossians, see 1:21, 27;
2: 13; pI; 4: 11.
18. In Galatians 4: 21 and 5: 2-4, the desire for circumcision seems voluntary; i n 2: 3 and
6: 12, there is a note of coercion. Colossians is less expl icit. The i ssue of circumcision
is derived from Paul 's designation of baptism as "a circumcision without hands" and
the "circumcision of Christ" in 2:11, the caution against regulations deali ng with
handli ng, touching, and tasting in 2:22, and the denial of a di stinction between Jew
and Gentile i n pl.
19. Of particular i nterest in Galatians is Paul 's use of epitelein in 3= 3, for the term has
defnite connections with initiation rituals; see R. S. Ascough, "The Completion of a
Reli gious Duty: The Background of 2 Cor 8: 1-15 ," New Testament Studies 42 (1996):
584-599, especially the inscriptional evidence in pages 590-594. See also plerma in
Gal 4: 4, plerun i n 5: 14, telein in 5: 16, and anapleroun in 6: 2. In Colossians, see
teleios in 1:28 and 4: 12, teleiotes in P4, plerun in 1:9 and 2:19, plerophoria in 2:2, and
plerophorein in 4: 12.
20. Gal 4: 17; 5: 5; 6: 12-13; Col 2: 8, 16, 18, 23.
Notes to Pages 1
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47
21. For Galatians, see, e. g. , J. Tyson, "Paul 's Opponents in Galatia," Novum Testamen
tum 10 (1968): 241-254; R. Jewett, "The Agitators and the Galatian Community," New
Testament Studies 17 (1970): 198-212. For Colossians, see the several essays in F. 0.
Francis and W. A. Meeks, eds. , Confict at Colossae (Sources for Biblical Study 4;
Missoula, MT: Scholars, 1975).
22. To take only the most widely known example, initiation at Eleusis involved four
stages: the purifcation; initiation into the lesser Mysteries (at Agrae); then, i nitiation
into the greater Mysteries (at Eleusis); then, a year later, the epopteia (also at Eleusis);
see L. J. Alderink, "The Eleusinian Mysteries in Roman Imperial Times," Aufstieg
und Niedergang der romischen Welt I l . I8. 2 (1989): 1478-1482. See also the multiple
initiations of Lucius, frst into the cult of Isis (Apuleius, Metamorphoses, Xl. 23-25),
then i nto the cult of Osiris (Xl. 27), and then still a thi rd initiation (Xl. 29).
23. For status enhancement through initiation, see A. Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage,
trans. M. B. Vizedon and G. L. Caffee (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960);
V Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (The Henry Lewis Mor
gan Lectures; Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969); M. Mi l ner Jr., "Status and
Sacredness: Worship and Salvation as Forms of Status Transformation," Tournai for
the Scientifc Study of Religion 33 (1994): 99-109.
24. For the priests of Cybele as eunuchs, see Apuleius, Metamorphoses, VIIl . 24.
25. For closer analysis, see L. T Johnson, "Ritual Imprinting and the Politics of Perfection,"
in Religious Experience in Earliest Christianity (Minneapol is: Fortress, 1998), 69-104.
26. For the issue of the genre of the Gospels i n li ght of Greco-Roman narratives, see J. Z.
Smith, "Good News Is No News: Aretalogy and Gospels," in Map Is Not Territory:
Studies in the History of Religions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973), 190-
207; C. H. Talbert, What Is a Gospel? The Genre of the Canonical Gospels ( Phi ladel
phia: Fortress, 1977); R. A. Burridge, What Are the Gospels? A Comparison with
Greco-Roman Biography (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series 70;
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
27. Mark is conventionally dated ci rca 70, Matthew and Luke-Acts circa 85 and John
circa 90. Although the distance from the events they describe i s not insigni fcant,
neither is it huge. It took some 700 years for a li fe of Siddhartha to be written, after
all, and both Suetonius and Tacitus, when they wrote about Augustus, did so at a
distance of a century.
28. See my reconstruction of the settings and processes of oral tradition (with bibliogra
phy) in L. T Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation (Mi n
neapol is: Fortress, 1999), 125-1 53.
29. Despite fervent longing to the contrary, there are no materials in the Gospel tradi
tion that represent a "neutral " perspective on Jesus. The resurrection is not si mply an
event reported at the end of the narrative; it colors the narrative from begi nni ng to
end, a point I argue in Living Tesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel (San Francisco:
HarperSanFrancisco, 1999).
30. For a full consideration of the literary and rel igious di mensions of each of the Gos
pels, see Johnson, Writings of the New Testament, 1 59-257, 525-557.
Notes to Pages 1
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49 359
31. The best treatment of the infancy accounts in Matthew and Luke is provided by R. E.
Brown, Birth of the Messiah, en\ . ed. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1993)'
32. See C. H. Talbert, "Prophecies of Future Greatness: The Contribution of Greco
Roman Biographies to an Understanding of Luke 1 : 5-4: 1 5," in The Divine Helmsman,
ed. J. L. Crenshaw and S. Sandmel ( New York: KTAV, 1980), 129-141 .
33- For the following passages, I supply only the reference in Mark; the same incidents
appear in Matthew and Luke.
34. Luke precedes the call of the sons of Zebedee by a mi raculous catch of fshes (Luke
5: 1-11); Iamblichus tells a story about Pythagoras that bears some resemblance both
to Luke 5 and John 21 (Life of Pythagoras, 36).
35. In the context of contemporary Greco-Roman and Jewish religion, the prophecies
ascribed to Jesus in the Gospels are notable in four ways: (1) the concentration of the
divine spirit i n a single person rather than a cult center; (2) the complete lack of tech
nical craft accompanying his statements; (3) the sheer number of clear predictive
statements; and (4) the fact that many of these statements were "fulflled" by the time
of the readers (e.g. , the death of Jesus, his resurrection, the fal l of the temple). All
this should have had a great i mpact on a world i n which prophecy, though deeply
admired, was not experienced so vividly.
36. Although there are scattered stories attesting to the power of exorcism-see Lucian,
Lover of Lies, 16; and Philostratus, Life of Apollonius ofTyana, 3- 38-the number of
such acts attributed to Jesus is i mpressive.
37. Further healings are added by Luke 7: 1-10; IpO-17; 14: 1-4; 22: 51. Matthew 8: 5-13
and Luke po contain the additional story of the healing of a centurion's servant. On
the other side, both Luke and Matthew omit the strange healing stories in Mark 7: 31--
37 and 8: 22-26, possibly because they too much resemble the work of a magician.
38. Luke adds the raising of the widow of Nai n's son (7: 11-27), a story that bears some
resemblance to an account i n Philostratus, Life of Apollonius ofTyana, 4. 45.
39. The bulk of the wonders attributed to Pythagoras by Iamblichus concerns control
over nature, but he is said to tame a bear that hurt people (Life of Pythagoras, 60) and
to have turned away plagues (135). Tacitus (History, 4. 81) cautiously relates how Ves
pas ian "healed" a blind man and a lame man. The Talmud tells of two healings
carried out through the prayers of Chanina ben Dosa (bTBerakoth, 34b). It must be
remembered, however, that many testimonies are extant concerning the healing
performed by the god Asclepius at hi s shrines.
40. Psalm 22: 1 begins, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" but includes
lines of triumphant expectation: "I will utter praise in the vast assembly, I will fulfll
my vows before those who fear him" (22: 26); and, at the end, "And to hi m my soul
shall l ive; my descendents shall serve him. Let the coming generations be told of the
Lord that they may proclai m to a people yet to be born the j ustice he has shown"
(22: 30-32).
41. Woven into the bare facts of the account are details that are shaped directly and unmis
takably from the words of the Psalms: Mark 15: 23 =Ps 69: 21; Mark 15:24=PS 22: 18; Mark
15: 29=PS 22:7, 109: 25; Mark 15: 31 =PS 22: 8; Mark 15: 34=PS 22: 1; Mark 15= 36=PS 69: 21.
Notes to Pages 1
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42. Luke provides a fuller account of the same ascension in Acts 1: 9-11; for discussion,
see L. T Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, ed. D. J. Harrington (Sacra Pagina 5; Col
legeville, MN: Liturgical, 1992), 23-32. On ascension as the confrmation of divine
power, see, e. g. , the accounts of the ascension of Romulus in Livy, History of Rome,
1. 16; Ovid, Fasti, 2. 481-509; and Metamorphoses, 14. 805-851; and of the apotheosis of
Herakles, Diodorous Siculus, Library of History, 4. 38. 3-5; 39. 1-2.
43. On this theme, see especially S. R. Garrett, The Demise of the Devil: Magic and the
Demonic in Luke's Writings ( Mi nneapolis: Fortress, 1989).
44. On the whole range of incidents in Acts that resemble those in novels, see R. I.
Pervo, Proft with Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles (Philadel
phia: Fortress, 1987). On prison escapes and Greco-Roman parallels, see J. B. Weaver,
Plots of Epiphany: Prison-Escapes in the Acts of the Apostles (Beihefe zur Zeitschrif
ftr die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 131; Berl i n: deGruyter, 2004).
45. The entire account has the strongest resemblance to the charming story i n Ovid's
Metamorphoses, 8. 611-724, in which Zeus and Hermes are provided hospital ity in
Phrygia by Baucis and Philemon; see Johnson, Acts of the Apostles, 245-252.
46. For repentance, see Mark 1: 15; 6: 12; Matt 3: 2; 4: 17; 11: 20-21; 12: 41; Luke 10: 13; 11: 32;
13= 3, 5; 15: 7, 10; 16: 30; 17: 3; Acts 2: 38; 3= 19; 8: 22; 17: 30; 26: 20. For indisputable moral
instruction, see Matt 5: 3-48; 6: 19-34; 7= 1-6, 12-23; 10: 24-33; 18: 1-18; 22: 34-40; 25: 14--
46; Luke 6: 20-49; 10: 25-37; 12: 13-48; 147-24; 16: 1-18; 18: 1-30; 19: 11-27; 22: 24-30.
The amount is not insignifcant, but it is dwarfed by the amount of material dedi
cated to showing Jesus as bringer of benefts. The striking lack of moral instruction
in Acts should also be noted.
47. Peter and John, i n fact, echo the words of Socrates when they declare before the
Sanhedri n, "You j udge whether it is righteous before God to obey you rather than
to obey God" (Acts 4: 19); see Plato, Apology, 290: "I shall obey God rather than you,
and while 1 have l i fe and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teach
ing of phi losophy." The description of the bel ievers holding everything i n common
( panta koina), i n turn, echoes the Hellenistic language about friendship (as i n Ar
i stotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1168B; Politics, 1263A), which shapes utopian visions of
the perfect philosophical community; see Plato, Critias, 1 1oC-D; Republic, 420C-
422B; 462B-464A; Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 29-30; Porphyry, Life of Py
thagoras, 20; Josephus, Jewish War, 2. 122-127; Philo, Every Good Man Is Free, 77,
79, 84-85.
48. As 1 observed in t he previous chapter, Acts is a partial exception t o this, i n that it
represents the Roman order as providing a providential framework of security for the
Christian movement.
49. For the designation "man from heaven," see W. A. Meeks, "The Man from Heaven
in Johannine Sectarianism," Journal of Biblical Literature 91 (1972): 44-72.
50. The di fferences are enumerated in Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament,
528-532
51. See, e. g. , C. H. Dodd, The Bible and the Greeks ( London: Houghton and Stodder,
1935) and The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Notes to Pages 1
53
-1
5
6
Press, 1968); and the comments of R. E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, 2 vols.
(Anchor Bible 29A-B; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966), lvi-l ix.
52. The approach is exempl ifed most notably by R. Bultmann, The Gospel of John: A
Commentary, trans. G. Beasley-Murray, R. W N. Hoare, and J. K. Riches ( Phi ladel
phia: Westminster, 1971 [1966] ) .
53. See Brown, The Gospel according to John, xl i-xl i i , li x-Ixiv.
54. The l i mits of the approach were noted already by C. H. Kraeling, "The Fourth Gos
pel and Contemporary Rel igious Thought," Journal of Biblical Literature 49 (1930):
140-149; see also E. M. Yamauchi , Pre-Christian Gnosticism: A Survey of the Pro
posed Evidence (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1973); and the comments in Brown,
The Gospel according to John, l i i i-Iv.
55. See, e. g. , E. H. Pagels, The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis: Heracleon's Com
mentary on John ( Nashville: Abingdon, 1973).
56. For l ight (phos) and darkness (skotia), see John l:4, 5, 7, 8, 9; 3=l9, 20, 21; 5:33; 6: 17;
8: 12; 9: 5; 1l:9-1O; 12: 35-36, 46. For fesh (sarx) and spirit (pneuma), see John 1: 13-14,
32-33; 3: 5-6, 8, 34; 4: 23-24; 6: 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 63; 7= 39; 8: 15; 14: 17, 26; 16: 13; 17=2;
19:30; 20:22. For truth (aletheia) and lying (pseustes), see 1: 14, 17; 3: 21; 4: 23-24; 5: 33;
6: 33; 8: 32, 40, 44-46, 55; 14: 6, 17; 15: 26; 16: 7, 13; 17: 17, 19; 18: 37-38. For l i fe (zoe) and
death (thanatos), see 1: 4; 3= l5-16, 36; 4: 14, 36; 5: 24, 26, 29, 39-40; 6: 27, 33, 35, 40, 47--
48, 51, 53, 54, 63, 68; 8: 12, 51-52; 10: 10, 28; 1l: 4, 13, 25; 12: 25, 33, 50; 14: 6; 17: 2-3; 18: 32;
20: 31; 21: 19
57. See Bultmann, The Gospel of John, 342-358, and the Theology of the New Testament,
2 vol s. , trans. K. Grobel ( New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951, 1955), 2: 43.
58. Bultmann, The Gospel ofTohn, 62-63.
59 The use of doxa in John (as in 1: 14; 2: 11; 5: 41, 44; 7= l8; 8: 50, 54; 9: 24; 1l: 4, 40; 12: 41, 43;
17: 5 , 22, 24) resembles that in the LXX (as in Ex 16: 7, 10; 24: 16; 40: 34-35; Lev 9: 6; Ps
18:1; Isa 6:1, 3).
60. The Greek of LXX Exodus 34: 6 is kyrios ho theos oiktirmon kai eleemon, makrothy
mos kai polyeleos kai alethinos; for the argument that John alludes to this passage, see
L. J. Kuyper, "Grace and Truth: An Old Testament Description of God and Its Use
in the Johannine Gospel," Interpretation 18 (1964) : 3-19.
61. I accept the harder reading in 1: 18 (monogenes theos); for discussion, see Brown, The
Gospel According to John, 1: 17.
62. The statement poi nts to somethi ng greater, not the nul l ifcation of the frst by the
second. The gi ft that comes from Jesus Christ i s greater than the law but does not
obl iterate the fact that the law was a gi ft. The point i s that Jesus' revelation i s con
tinuous with the way God has earlier given benefts i n the empirical real m; it does
not rescue humans from the empirical real m because it i s devoid of divine
benefts.
63. See L. Bieler, Theios Aner: das Bild des "gottlichen Menschen" in Spatantike und
Frihchristentum (Wien: O. Hofels, 1935).
64. Some of the ego eimi statements take the form of metaphors (see 6: 35, 48; 8: 12; 9: 5;
10: 5, ll; 1 l : 25; 14: 6; 15: 1); others appear absolutely (4:26; 6: 20; 8: 28, 58; 18: 5-6), and
Notes to Pages 1
5
61
59
seem to echo the ego eimi of God's self-identifcation in Torah ( Exod 3= 14; Isa 41: 4;
43= 10); see D. M. Ball, "'I Am' in John's Gospel: Literary Function, Background, and
Theological Implications (Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement
Series 1 24; Sheffeld: Sheffeld Academic Press, 1996).
65. Pausanius, Description of Greece, 6. 26. 1, reports a tradition concerning a mi raculous
supply of wine made possible by the god at the feast of Dionysus.
66. The designation is Brown's (The Gospel According to John, l:cxxxvi i i-cxxxxix): "to
those who accept hi m, Jesus shows his glory by returning to the Father in the ' hour'
of his crucifxion, resurrection, and ascension. Fully glorifed, he communicates the
Spirit of l i fe."
67. John alludes to LXX Zechariah 12: 10 in 19: 37: "They shall look on hi m whom they
have pierced." The context of Zechariah suggests that John points to the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit and not si mply to Jesus' fnal breath: "I will pour out on the house of
David and on the inhabitants ofJerusalem a spirit of grace and petition, and they shall
look on hi m whom they have thrust through and shall mourn for hi m as one grieves
over a frst-born." Compare John 7: 37-39: "On the last and greatest day of the feast,
Jesus stood up and cried out, ' If anyone thirsts, let him come to me. Let hi m drink
who believes in me.' As scripture has it, 'From withi n him rivers of living water shall
fow.' Here he was referring to the Spirit, whom those that came to believe i n him
were to receive. There was as yet no spirit since Jesus had not yet been glorifed."
1 1 . N E W T E S T A M E N T C H R I S T I A N I T Y A S
M O R A L T R A N S F O R M A T I O N
1 . See especially W. A. Meeks, The Origins of Christian Morality: The First Two Centu
ries ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993).
2. Of fundamental i mportance for reading Paul in the context of Greco-Roman moral
philosophy is the work of A. J. Malherbe, as in "Hellenistic Moralists and the New
Testament," ANRW 11. 26. 1 (1992): 267-333; and Paul and the Popular Philosophers
( Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989).
The si milarities between Epictetus and Paul have long been noted and go beyond
the fact that both are in some sense slaves ( by law or by self-designation), have physical
disabilities ( Epictetus' lameness and Paul 's astheneia [Gal 4: 13] and skolops te sarki [2
Cor 12: 7] ), and employ the dialogical teaching style of the diatribe (see R. Bultmann,
Der Stil der paulinischen Predigt und die Kynischstoische Diatribe ( Forschungen zur
Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck
und Ruprecht, 1910). These similarities range across a variety of perceptions (see A.
Bonhoffer, Epiktet und das Neue Testament [ Religionsgeschichtl iche Versuche und
Vorarbeiten 10; Giessen: A. Topelmann, 1911]; and D. S. Sharp, Epictetus and the New
Testament [London: Charles H. Kelly, 1914] ), including an understanding of the phi
losopher's role as a divine vocation; see M. D. McGehee, Divine Appointment to So
cial Functions in Four Greco-Roman Trditions: Paul, Epictetus, Cynics, and Qumran
(Ann Arbor, MI: University Microflms International, 1986).
3. The recognition of Paul as a pneumatikos was one of the great breakthroughs of the
Hi story of Religions school ; see, e. g. , H. Gunkel , The Infuence of the Holy Spirit: A
View of the Apostolic Age and the Teaching of the Apostle Paul: A Biblical-Theological
Study, trans. R. A. Harrisville and P. A. Quanbeck II ( Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979
[1888] ), 3, 75, n 92; R. Reitzenstein, Hellenistic Mystery Religions: Their Basic Ideas
and Signifcance, trans. J. E. Steely ( Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1978 [1926] ), 426-500;
O. Pfeiderer, Christian Origins, trans. D. A. Huebsch ( New York: B. W Huebsch,
1906), 170-171.
4. When Paul speaks of bei ng set apart "from my mother's womb" ( Gal 1: 15), he alludes
to the call of the prophet Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you . . . .
This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, to root up and to tear down, to
destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant" (Jer 1: 5-10). He refers as well to the
call of the servant in Isaiah: "For now the Lord has spoken, who formed me as his
servant from the womb" (Isa 49: 5).
5. For the most thorough examination of 2 Cor 12: 1-10, especially in the context of
other Paul i ne religious experiences, see J. B. Wallace, Snatched into Paradise (2 Cor
inthians 12:1-10): Paul's Heavenly Journey in the Context of Eary Christian Experi
ence ( PhD diss. , Emory University, 2008).
6. See G. G. O'Collins, "Power Made Pefect in Weakness: II Cor 12: 9-10," Catholic
Biblical Quarterly 33 (1971): 528-537; A. E. Harvey, Renewal thrugh Suffering: A
Study of 2 Corinthians (Edi nburgh: T & T Clark, 1996).
7. Paul 's language of "perfection" echoes that used for the Mysteries; see Phil 1: 6; p2;
Gal 3= 3; 2 Cor 8: 6, 11; Rom 15: 28; and R. S. Ascough, "The Completion of a Reli
gious Duty: The Background of 2 Cor 8: 1-15," New Testament Studies 42 (1996):
584-599.
8. See, e. g. , the inscriptional evidence i n R. MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Em
pire ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981), 12-14, 146-148; and i n E. Lupu,
Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents ( Religions i n the Graeco-Roman
World 152; Leiden: Brill, 2005).
9. Paul uses some form of "we know" (oidamen) with reference to shared tradition in
Rom 2: 2; P9; 5: 3; 6: 9; 7: 14; 8: 22, 28; IPl; 1 Cor 8: 1, 4; 12: 2; 2 Cor 1: 7; 4: 14; 5: 1, 6, 11, 16;
Gal 2:16; 4: 13; Eph 6: 6, 9; Col 3= 24; 4:1; 1 Thess 3= 3; 4:2, 4; 5:2; 1 Tim 1:8, 9). He re
bukes the lack of such awareness with the phrase "do you not know" (ouk oidate) in
Rom 6: 16; 11: 2; 1 Cor p6; 5: 6; 6: 2, 3, 9, 1 5, 16, 19; 9: 13, 24
10. See, e. g. , Paul 's use of dokimazein ("testing") in Rom 2: 18; 12: 2; 14: 22; 1 Cor 11: 28; 2
Cor 8: 8; 13: 5; Gal 6: 4; Eph 5: 10; Phil 1: 10; 1 Thess 5: 21; and of krinein/anakrinein/di
akrinein ("j udging/discerning") in Rom 14: 13, 23; 1 Cor 2: 14, 1 5; 4:4; 5: 12; 7= 37; 10: 1 5,
25, 27; 1 1 : 1 3, 29, 31; 14:24.
11. For this argument, see L. T Johnson, "Transformation of the Mi nd and Moral Dis
cernment in Paul ," in Early Christianity and Classical Culture: Studies in Honor of
A. J. Malherbe, ed. J. T Fitzgerald, Thomas H. Olbricht, and L. White (Supplements
to Novum Testamentum 110; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 215-236.
12. On this, see especially R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus: The Narrtive Substructure of
Pauline Theology (Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 56; Chico, CA:
Scholars, 1983).
13. See in particular W. S. Kurz, "Kenotic Imitation of Paul and Christ in Phi l. 2 and 3,"
in Discipleship in the New Testament, ed. F. Segovia ( Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985),
103-126.
14. Note the use of conditional clauses in Col 2: 20 and p: the prodosis i s thei r experi
ence, and the apodosis is the moral action.
15. See L. T Johnson, "The Social World of James: Literary Analysis and Historical Re
construction," in Brother of/esus, Friend of God: Studies in the Letter of/ames (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 101-122.
16. L. T Johnson, The Letter of James: A New Translation with Introduction and Com
mentary (Anchor Bible 37A; New York: Doubleday, 1995), 58-65. A considerable
amount of the history of critical scholarship on James has consisted i n placing him in
opposition to Paul , particularly on the matter of "faith and works"; for elements of
this history, see Johnson, The Letter of James, 140-1 56.
17. More precisely, Paul tends to think through the implications of the death and exalta
tion of Jesus, whereas James, while recognizing Jesus as Lord (1: 1; 2: 1), tends to use
Jesus' sayings in hi s own teaching; see L. T Johnson and W Wachob, "The Saying of
Jesus in the Letter of James," in Brother of Jesus, Friend of God, 136-154.
18. For the fundamental agreement of Paul and James on the point ofliving out profession
through erga ("works"/"deeds"), see Johnson, The Letter of/ames, 58-65, 236-252.
19 See, e. g. , James 1 : 2, 3, 6, 7, 13, 16, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26; 2: 20; 3: 1; 4: 4, 5 , 14, 17; 5: 20.
20. James's language about "the world" (kosmos) expresses not a cosmological but an axio
logical dualism: it defnes a measurement of reality that excludes God; see L. T John
son, "Friendship with the World and Friendship with God: A Study of Discipleship in
James," i n Brther of Jesus, Friend of God, 202-220. The phrase "visiting orphans and
widows" echoes the call of the prophets to a covenantal fdelity that is expressed not
alone by cultic concern but above all by moral concern; see Amos 2:6-8; 3: 2; Hos 12:8-
9; Mic P-4; Zeph 1:9; Zech 7:8-10; Mal 3:5; Isa 3: 5, 14-15; 5: 7-10; Jer 22: 3-
21. For the way in which rel igious practice is rendered as moral practice in James 5: 12--
20, see J. R. Strange, The Morl World of James ( PhD diss. , Emory University,
2007).
22. On Hebrews as del iberative rhetoric, see L. T Johnson, Hebrews: A Commentary
(The New Testament Library; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2006), 81-85.
For a reading of Hebrews as epideictic rhetoric, see H. W. Attridge, The Epistle to
the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews ( Hermeneia; Philadel
phia: Fortress, 1989), 14.
On the Christology of Hebrews, see L. D. Hurst, "The Christology of Hebrews 1
and 2," in The Glory of Christ in the New Testament, ed. L. D. Hurst and N. T
Wright ( New York: Clarendon, 1987), 1 51-164; A. Vanhoye, Situation du Christ:
Epf
tre aux Hebreux 1 et 2 ( Lectio Divina 58; Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1969).
On Chri st as the great hi gh priest who makes i ntercessi on, see N. A. Dahl , "A
New and Living Way: The Approach to God accordi ng to Hebrews 10: 19-25 ,"
Interpretation 5 ( 1951) : 401-412; A. Cody, O. S. B. , Heavenly Sanctuary and Liturgy
in the Epistle to the Hebrews (St. Mei nrad, IN: Crai l , 1960); C. W. MacRae,
"Heavenly Temple and Eschatology i n the Letter to the Hebrews," Semeia 12
(1978): 179-199.
23. The "enl ightenment" here and in 10: 32 i n al l likelihood refers t o the experience of
baptism (see the use of baptisma in 6: 2 i mmediately preceding); see Johnson, He
brews, 160-164.
24. On this, see the discussion in J. W Thompson, The Beginnings of Christian Philoso
phy: The Epistle to the Hebrews (Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 13;
Washi ngton, DC: Cathol ic Biblical Association of America, 1982).
25. The characterization is that of M. Dibelius and H. Conzelmann, The Pastoral Epis
tles, ed. H. Koester, trans. P. Buttolph and A. Yarbro ( Hermeneia; Philadelphia: For
tress, 1972), 8.
26. See, e. g. , H. von Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power i n the
Church of the First Three Centuries, trans. J. Baker (Stanford, CA: Stanford Univer
sity Press, 1969), 107-120; and more mi ldly, M. Y MacDonald, The Pauline Churches:
A Socio-Historical Study of Institutionalization in the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline
Writings (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series; Cambridge: Cam
bridge University Press, 1988), 1 59-238. In Chapter 15, we will see how di fferent
"church orders" are from these brief circumstantial letters. On the authorship of
these letters, see L. T Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy: A New
Translation with Intrduction and Commentary (Anchor Bible 35A; New York: Dou
bleday, 2001) 81-99.
1 2 . C H R I S T I A N I T Y I N T H E S E C O N D A N D
T H I R D C E N T U R I E S
1 . For the very scanty archaeological evidence before the time of Constantine, see C. F.
Snyder, Ante Pacem: Archaeological Evidence of Church Life before Constantine, rev.
ed. ( Macon, CA: Mercer University Press, 2003). For the location of Christian com
munities in the second and third centuries, see C. Mohrmann and F. van der Meer,
Atlas of the Early Christian World, trans. and ed. M. F. Hedlund and H. H. Rowley
( London: Nelson, 1958), 3-4.
2. The point i s made emphatically and thoroughly by R. MacMullen, Christianizing
the Roman Empire (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984).
3. For studies that place an emphasis on cognitive factors in the conversion of individu
als to Christianity, see A. von Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in
the First Three Centuries, 2nd en\. ed. , trans. and ed. J. Moffatt ( New York: C. P. Put
nam, 1908); and A. D. Nock, Conversion: The Old and New in Religion from Alexan
der the Creat to Augustine of Hippo ( Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998
[1933] )'
4. A more sociologically nuanced vi ew of expansion through childbirth and soci al net
works was developed by R. Stark in The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders
History ( Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996) and found substantial
Notes to Page 1
73
archaeological support in the research of P. Harland, Associations, Synagogues, and
Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society (Mi nneapol is:
Fortress, 2003). For a successful appl ication of the theory to the earliest stages, see
K. Munoz, On How Not to Go out of the World (PhD diss. , Emory University, 2008).
5. See, e. g. , G. Ludemann, "The Successors of Pre-70 Jerusalem Christianity: A Criti
cal Evaluation of the Pella Tradition," i n Jewish and Christian SelfDefnition, vol . 1. ,
ed. E. P. Sanders ( Philadelphi a: Fortress, 1980), 161-173; G. Strecker, "On the Prob
lem of Jewish Christianity," appendix 1 in W. Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earli
est Christianity, trans. and ed. R. Kraf and G. Krodel ( Philadelphi a: Fortress, 1971
[1934] ), 241-285; J. Munck, "Jewish Christianity in Post-Apostol ic Times," New Testa
ment Studies 6 (1959-1960): 103-1 16.
6. Thus, the Epistle of Barnabas (early second century) makes a sustained argument
that "the covenant is not both theirs and ours. It is ours" (4:6-7; see also Ip), and
scripture must therefore be read i n light of Christ, not in the manner of the Jews, lest
"we should be shipwrecked by conversion to their law" (3: 6).
7. The Prtevangelium of James, e. g. , is full of "local color" that has l ittle connection
with historical real ities: it refers to "The Histories of the Twelve Tribes of Israel" (1. 1),
a "record book of the twelve tribes of the people" (30 1), and vaguely to "the great day
of the Lord" (1. 2; 2. 2); Mary dances on the steps of the altar in the Jerusalem tem
p
le
(7.3), and a council of priests is summoned to solve the problem posed by Mary's
menarche (8. 2).
Justin's Dialogue with Trypho i s an extended debate between the Christian philos
opher and "a Hebrew of the ci rcumcision [who] having escaped from the war lately
carried on there [was] spending [ his] days in Greece" (Dial, 1). The war in question
is the Bar Kochba revolt (135 CE), and the location of the debate, which ranges
widely over issues of belief and scriptural interpretation, is Ephesus. That the Try
pho of Justin's di alogue is a fctional construction is certain, but Justin has hi m
voice Jewish concerns wi th considerable plausibility; the encounter, however fc
tionalized, is certainly closer to real ity than any subsequent contact. See T J.
Horner, Listening to Trypho: Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho Reconsidered
( Leuven: Peeters, 2001); C. D. Allert, Revelation, Truth, Canon, and Interpretation:
Studies in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho (Supplements to Vigiliae Christia
nae 64; Leiden: Brill, 2002).
In his letters, Ignatius speaks of Judaism as something completely distinct from
Christianity: "It is monstrous (atopon) to talk of Jesus Christ and to practice Judaism.
For Christianity did not base its faith in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity" (Ign.
Magn. 10. 3; see also 8. 1; 9. 1); and again, "i f anyone interpret Judaism to you do not lis
ten to hi m; for it is better to hear Christianity from the circumcised than Judaism
from the uncircumcised" (Ign. Phil. 6. 1). The Martyrdom of Polycarp speaks of "Gen
tiles and Jews" (ethnon kai iudaion) as groups distinct from Christians (12. 2) and con
sistently blames the Jews for pressing the state's attack on Christians (130 1; 17.2; 18. 1).
8. For the household, see L. M White, Building God's House in the Roman World: Arhitec
tural Adaptation among Pagans, Jews, and Christians (American Schools of Oriental
75
Research; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990); and C. Osiek and D. L.
Balch, Families in the New Testament World: Households and House Churches (Lou
isville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1997). For synagogue, see J . T Burtchaell, From
Synagogue to Church: Public Services and Offces in the Earliest Christian Communi
ties (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
9. See the discussion in L. T Johnson, The First and Second Letters to Timothy: A New
Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Bible 35A; New York: Dou
bleday, 2001), 74-76, 217-225.
10. Already in First Clement (ca. 95), we fnd l ocal leadership connected to the Apostles
and to Christ i n a l i ne of succession (42), and in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch (ca.
110), there is an elaborate theological support for the hierarchy (see, e. g. , Ign. Rom.
2. 1; 4. 1-2; 5. 2; 6. 1; Ign. Magn. 2. 1; 4. 1; 7.1-2; Ign. Tral. 2. 1-3; 3- 1). The statement in Ign.
Magn. 6. 1 is one among many: "be zealous to do all thi ngs i n harmony with God,
with the bishop presiding in the place of God and the presbyters in the place of the
council of the apostles, and the deacons, who are most dear to me, entrusted with the
service of Jesus Christ, who was from eternity with the Father and was made manifest
at the end of time."
11. See the lists of bishops carefully noted by Eusebius i n Rome, Alexandria, Antioch,
and Jerusalem (Historia Ecclesiastica 4. 1. 1; 4. 4. 1; 4. 19-20; 5. 6. 1-5; 5.9; 5. 12; 5 . 22; 6. 10;
6. 21. 1-2; 6. 27; 6. 29; 6 35; 7- 2; 7. 14; 7. 28).
12. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 5- 23-25; I will discuss this further in Chapter 15.
13 Ibid. , 5. 14-18.
14. I wi ll take up this diffcult and important phenomenon in Chapter 14. For prelimi
nary discussion, see the essays in A. Marjanen, ed. , Was There a Gnostic Religion?
( Publications of the Finnish Exegetical Society 87; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ru
precht, 2005).
15. These charges, some of which continue attacks made earlier on Jews, are rebutted by
a remarkable series of Christian apologists in the second and third centuries: the au
thor of The Epistle to Diognetus; Aristides of Athens; Justin Martyr, originally from
Samaria; Tatian of Assyria; Athenagoras of Athens; Theophilus of Antioch; the North
Africans Minucius Felix and Tertullian; and Origen of Alexandria. I surveyed the use
of demonic language for paganism i n such authors in Chapter 1, and I will return to
a consideration of some of these authors when I analyze the Christian expression of
Religiousness B i n Chapter 13.
16. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 2. 25. 1-8 ( Nero, ca. 64); 3- 17-19 ( Domitian, ca. 96);
3. 32-33 (Traj an, 112).
17. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 5. 1-2 ( Marcus Aurel ius 177); 6. 1 (Septimus Severus,
193-211); 6. 28 (Maximin, ca. 235); 6. 39-42 (Decius, 250); 7.10 (Valerian, 257); 8. 1-3
(Diocletian, 303-310).
18. See especially W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A
Study of a Confict from the Maccabees to Donatus (Oxford: Blackwell, 1965).
19. As noted before, the "magical " is always present at the edges of the "participation in
divine benefts" sensibility; see H. D. Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation,
Notes to Pages 1 75-1 76
Including the Demotic Spells, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992);
and M. Meyer and R. Smith, Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power
(San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994).
20. L. T Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, ed. D. J. Harri ngton (Sacra Pagina 5; College
ville, MN: Liturgical, 1992). On the relationship between the Acts of the Apostles and
Greco-Roman novels, see R. I. Pervo, Prft with Delight (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987).
21. My discussion of these compositions uses the edition and translation as well as the
tentative dates provided by J. K. Ell iott, The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection
of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation (Oxford: Clarendon,
1993); I leave aside the Pseudo-Clementine Literature not only because its tangled
compositional history makes dating diffcult but because it does not share in an equal
degree the features I here describe. For discussion, see F. S. Jones, "The Pseudo
Clementines: A Hi story of Research," Second Century 2 (1982) : 1-33, 63-96.
22. The Greek novels can be found in translation in B. P Reardon, ed. , Collected An
cient Greek Novels ( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); for the resem
blance between such novels and the Christian Acts, see C. M. Thomas, The Acts of
Peter, Gospel Literature, and the Ancient Novel: Rewriting the Past (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2003).
23. For travel by land and sea, see Acts of Andrew (AA) 1 ; Acts of Tohn (AT) 18, 37, 56, 58,
62; Acts of Paul (AP) 1 , 2, 3- 1-3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; Acts of Peter (Pet) 5, 6, 7; Acts of
Thomas (AT) 3, 16, 68. For separation and reuni ti ng of friends and lovers, see, e. g. ,
AA 14; AP 3- 40. For emotional i nfatuation, see AA 8, 14, 23; AP 3.7.7; AT 8, 16. For
concern for social position, see, e. g. , AA 1, 1 3, 17; AT 18, 19, 36, 56, 73; AP 3- 10; 3- 13;
30 26; 3. 28; 3- 36; Pet 8, 17, 23, 30; AT 4, 18, 26, 62, 82. As regards forces opposi ng the
heroes and heroi nes, i n the novels, these would typically be parents, rulers, or brig
ands who separate the lovers; in the apocryphal acts, opposition tends to arise from
husbands who resent the desire of wives to fol low an apostle (AA 22-23, 26, 31 , 36;
AT 63-65; AP 3- 1 1-14; AT 16, 21 , 89-106, 125, 138). For i mprisonment and escape
from prison, see AA 27, 29-30, 47; AP 3- 1 8, 7, 1 1 31 ; AT 21, 107, 119, 143, 154, 1 59. For
changing clothi ng as disguise, see, e. g. , AA 28; AP 3- 40. In the Hellenistic novels,
virginity i s prized and threatened as part of the social value of the woman; i n the
apocryphal acts, it i s preserved or won as a sign of commitment to the message and
person of the apostle; see AA 13-19, 37; AT 63-73, 113; AP 3-7-9; Pet a, b, 34; AT 1 1--
13, 28, 43-44, 51-52, 126. On fasci nation with ani mals, i n AT there are bugs (60-61)
and a partridge (56); in AP, there are lions (3- 34, 7. 16); i n Pet, there are a dog (9) and
fsh (13); i n AT, there are a serpent (30-33), a colt (39-40), and wi ld asses (68-70, 74,
80-81).
24 As in AA 11, 33, 40, 42, 56-58; AT 34-36, 68; AP 3- 5-6, 3- 17; Pet 2.
25. Emphasis on hope for a future l i fe in contrast to present pleasure is especially found
in AT 12, 19-20, 36-37, 124, 139, and 160. Cosmological dualism is found perhaps
most notably in AA 38, 61.
26. Thomas appears as an apostle only in the fourth Gospel; see also narratives devoted
to fgures such as Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, Philip, Bartholomew, and Barnabas.
For AT, see A. F. J. Klijn, The Acts of Thomas: Introduction, Text, and Commentary,
Notes to Pages 1
7
61
7
8
2nd rev. ed. (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 108; Leiden: Brill, 2003); M.
LaFargue, Language and Gnosis: The Opening Scenes of the Acts of Thomas (Har
vard Dissertations in Rel igion 18; Philadelphi a: Fortress, 1985).
27. For essays on the subject, see A. -J. Levine, ed. , with M. M. Robbins, A Feminist Com
panion to the New Testament Apocrypha (New York: T & T Cl ark, 2006); see also
S. L. Davies, The Revolt of the Widows: The Social World of the Apocryphal Acts (Car
bondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980).
28. See AT 12, 28, 36, 58, 79, 83-86, 88.
29 See AT 12, 15-16, 19-20, 36-37, 124, 139, 160.
30. See R. D. Darl ing, "Notes on Divesting and Vesting in the Hymn of the Pearl," in
Reading Religions in the Ancient World: Essays Presented to Robert McQueen Grant
on His 90th Birthday, ed. D. E. Aune and R. D. Young ( Leiden: Brill, 2007). On the
Gnostic outlook, see A. A. Bevan, ed., The Hymn of the Soul: Contained in the Syriac
Acts of Thomas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1897). The Gnostic charac
ter of the Hymn, read on its own, is fundamental to the reconstruction of the Gnostic
worldview in H. Jonas, The Gnostic Religion (Boston: Beacon, 1958).
31. AT 1 , u, 27, 29, u8, 169.
32. AT 20, 52, 59, 140.
33- AT 23, 33, 53-54, 81.
34. See also the beatitudes i n AT 94, which li nk future blessing with those that are
reali zed in the present l i fe, as in "Blessed are the bodies of the sai nts, because they
were deemed worthy to become temples of God, that Christ mi ght dwell in
them. "
35. For a short introduction to the problems, see Ell iott, The Apocryphal New Testa
ment, 231-244; I am using the translation of the Acts of Andrew provided by Ell iott,
pp. 245-267. For more on the textual issues and possible l iterary interconnections,
see D. R. MacDonald, The Acts of Andrew and the Acts of Andrew and Matthias in
the City of the Cannibals (Society of Biblical Literature, Texts and Translations 33;
Atlanta: Scholars, 1990), and Christianizing Homer: The Odyssey, Plato, and the Acts
of Andrew ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1994). For other issues, see the col
lection of essays in J. N. Bremmer, The Apocryphal Acts of Andrew ( Leuven: Peeters,
2000).
36. The later Epitome of Gregory of Tours expands both the travels of the apostle and his
wondrous deeds, reporting some 27 separate wonders and expl icitly connecting them
to the process of conversion.
37. See the discussion in Ell iott, The Apocryphal New Testament, 303-310. The number
ing in Ell iott begins at 18 because the frst 17 paragraphs are not considered original.
Paragraph 18 brings John from Miletus to Ephesus for a lengthy stay (19-36). After a
long gap, the story picks up in 87-105 with a discourse on the nature of Christ and a
hymn of Christ. Then, paragraphs 37-55 report the end of John's stay in Ephesus,
paragraphs 58-61 return him to Ephesus, and the text then concludes with a recon
struction of 62-86 and 106-u5 reporting John's second stay in Ephesus. For further
discussion of these issues, see A.-J. Festugiere, Les Actes de lean et de Thomas: Tra
duction fram;aise et notes critiques (Cahiers d'Orientalisme 6; Geneve: P. Cramer,
Notes to Pages 1
7
8-18
3
1983); and E. Junot and J.-D. Kaestl i , Acta Tohannis (Corpus Christianorum Series
Apocryphorum 1-2; Turnhout: Brepols, 1983).
38. See the helpful essays in J. N. Bremmer, ed., The Apocryphal Acts ofTohn ( Kampen,
The Netherlands: Kok Pharos, 1995). On the dance song, see, e. g. , G. Si rker-Wicklaus,
Untersuchungen zu den Tohannes-Akten: untersuchungen zur Struktur, zur theologis
chen Tendenz und zum kirchengeschichtlichen Hintergrund der Acta Tohannis ( Bei
trlge zur Religionscgeschichte 2; Bonn: Wehle, 1988); P. G. Schneider, The Mystery
of the Acts of Tohn: An Interpretation of the Hymn and the Dance in Light of the Acts'
Theology ( PhD di ss. , 2006); P. J. Lallemann, The Acts ofTohn: A Two-Stage Initiation
into Johannine Gnosticism (Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 4; Leu
ven: Peeters, 1998).
39

See AT 22-24, 47, 52, 75, 80, 83
40. The frst two episodes (a, b) are found in distinct manuscripts. The main portion of
the text (1-29) is found in the Latin Vercelli manuscript, and the martyrdom (30-40)
is found in the Vercell i and a single Greek manuscript (Athos). See Ell iott, The Apoc
ryphal New Testament, 390-396.
41. For heali ngs, see Pet a, 20, 31; for the exorcism, 11; for visions, a, 5, 6, 14, 17, 20, 21, 22,
40; for resuscitations, b, 25, 27, 28.
42. For the critical issues, see El iott, The Apocryphal New Testament, 35-363; n R.
MacDonald, The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon
( Philadelphi a: Fortress, 1983); and W Rordorf, "Tradition and Composition i n the
Acts of Thecla: The State of the Question," in The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles,
ed. D. R. MacDonald (Semeia 38; Decatur, GA: Scholars, 1986), 43-52.
43. See D. R. MacDonald and A. n Scrimgeour, "Pseudo-Chrysostom's Panegyric to
Thecla: The Heroine of the Acts of Paul in Homily and Art," in The Apocryphal Acts
of the Apostles, ed. D. R. MacDonald, 151-159. See also the fourth-century witness in
Egeria: Diary of a Pilgrimage, 22-23, translated and annotated by G. E. Gingras (An
cient Christian Writers 38; New York: Newman, 1970), 86-87.
44. Paul 's opening sermon to the household of Onesiphorus in Iconium ("the word of
God about abstinence and the resurrection") consists of a series of 13 beatitudes that
bear some resemblance to those attributed to Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and
Luke but that have their own distinctive character.
45. Likewise, the pure in heart are blessed because they shall see God, those who have
kept the fesh chaste shall become a temple of God, the continent shall have God
speak with them, and those who have kept aloof from the world shall be pleasing to
God (AP 3. 5). Paul is further reported as saying, "one must fear only one God and l ive
chastely" (3. 9). See E. M. Howe, "Interpretations of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Th
ecla," i n Pauline Studies, ed. D. A. Hagner and M. J. Harris (Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 1980), 33-49.
46. By "compositional complexity" here I mean above all the inclusion of substantial
blocks of teaching material, particularly in Matthew and Luke.
47. Withi n this category are the compositions we know about only from allusions in pa
tristic writers and a handful of citations: The Gospel According to the Hebrews, The
Notes to Pages 18
3
-186
371
Gospel of the Nazareans, and The Gospel of the Ebionites; of another disposition
perhaps Gnostic-is the Gospel of the Egyptians; see the discussion in Elliott, The
Apocryphal New Testament, 3-25; and A. F. J. Klij n, "Patristic Evidence for Jewish
Christian and Aramaic Gospel Tradition," in Text and Interpretation, ed. E. Best and
R. MeL. Wilson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 169-1n Only two
narrative elements have been reported. Jerome (de Viris Illustribus, 30 2) says that the
Gospel according to the Hebrews relates a separate resurrection appearance to James,
and i n his commentary on Matthew 12: 13, Jerome states that the Gospel used by the
Nazarenes and Ebionites provides the trade of the man with the withered hand
whom Jesus heals (Ell iott, The Apocryphal New Testament, 9, 12).
48. See the discussions of these complex developments i n Elliott, The Apocryphal New
Testament, 84-122, 148-228.
49. It is, for example, l isted by Eusebius as a composition not accepted for reading in the
churches (Historia Ecclesiastica, 3. 30 2 and 6. 12).
50. The discovery of an additional papyrus fragment ( pOxy. 2949) accomplished two
things: it secured a date before the early third century, and its variants complicated
the question of the original text.
51. See R. E. Brown, "The Gospel of Peter and Canonical Gospel Authority," New Testa
ment Studies 33 (1987) : 321-343. For the gospel of Peter as independent testi mony of
the passion, see J. D. Crossan, Four Other Gospels ( Minneapol is: Fortress, 1985), and
The Cross that Spoke (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988).
52. I follow the si mpler mode of citation that uses only verse numbers. For "the Lord,"
see GP 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 18, 21, 24, 35, 50; for "Son of God," see 6, 9, 46; for "savior of
men," see 13.
53. For the later i nfancy gospels extending into the medieval period, see Ell iott, The
Apocryphal New Testament, 84-122.
54. See M. F. Foskett, A Virgin Conceived: Mary and Classical Representations of Virgin
ity ( Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002).
55. See Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament, 68-75.
56. Actually, I am reading Greek A, which bears the title The Account of Thomas the Is
raelite Concerning the Childhood of the Lord (Ell iott, The Apocryphal New Testa
ment, 75-80).
57. Ell iott, The Apocryphal New Testament, 68.
58. See F. E. Vokes, "The Opposition to Montanism from Church and State in the
Christian Empire," in Studia Patristica IX, ed. F. L. Cross (Texte und Untersuchun
gen 103; Berl i n: Akademie-Verlag, 1960), 306-315. For problems of chronology, see T
B. Barnes, "The Chronology of Montanism," Journal of Theological Studies n. s. 21
(1970): 403-408; G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville, "The Date of the Outbreak of Montan
ism," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 5 (1954): 7-15.
59. The signifcance of the movement can be esti mated from the energy used t o dispel it
and the attention given it by Eusebius in Historia Ecclesiastica, 5 . 14-21.
60. See C. Trevett, Montanism: Gender, Authority, and the New Prophecy (Cambridge:
37
9
0
61. See Acts 12: 28; 15: 32; 21:9-10. These are all explicitly designated as "prophets" by the
narrator.
62. Jerome claims that Montanus had been, before his conversion to Christianity, a
priest of Cybele (Letter, 41), and a recent monograph tries to make that connection;
see Y-E. Hi rschmann, Horrenda Secta: Untersuchungen zum frihchristlichen Mon
tanismus und seinen Verbindungen zur paganen Religion Phrygians ( Historia Einzel
schrifen 179; Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005); see also J. G. C. Anderson,
"Paganism and Christianity in the Upper Tembria Valley," in Studies in the History
and Art of the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire (Aberdeen: Aberdeen Univer
sity Press, 1906), 193-201; W. H. C. Frend, "Montanism: A Movement of Prophecy
and Regional Identity in the Early Church," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 70
(1988): 25-34
63. See D. E. Groh, "Utterance and Exegesis: Biblical Interpretation in the Montanist
Crisis," in Living Text: Essays in Honor of Ernest W Saunders, ed. D. E. Groh and
R. Jewett (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1985). The most notable ad
herent is the great North African controversialist Tertullian (155-220), who joined the
Montanists around 215 and wrote several of his severely ascetical treatises from the
sect's perspective; see J. Quasten, Patrology, 4 vols. (Westminster, MD: Christian
Classics, 1986), 2: 246-317.
64. See R. E. Hei ne, The Montanist Oracles and Testimonia ( Patristic Monograph
Series 14; Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1989); and W. Tabbernee, Mon
tanist Inscriptions and Testimonia: Epigraphic Sources Illustrating the History of
Montanism ( Patristic Monograph Series 16; Macon, GA: Mercer University Press,
1997)
65. I use the translation of Ki rsopp Lake in The Apostolic Fathers ( Loeb Classical Li
brary; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915), 1: 172-277. For Ignatius, see
C. C. Richardson, The Christianity of Ignatius of Antioch ( New York: Columbia
University Press, 1935); Y Corwin, St. Ignatius and Christianity in Antioch (New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1960).
66. I agai n use the text and translation of The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, Bishop of
Smyrna as found in Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, 2: 312-343.
67. As with Ignatius's reference to being grain in the mouth of beasts, the bread meta
phor mi ght well be a reference to the Eucharist.
68. The entire letter is preserved by Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, 5. 1. 1-5. 2. 2. For Jus
tin and his companions, see "The Martyrdom of the Holy Martyrs, Justin, Chariton,
Charites, Paeon, and Liberianus, Who Suffered at Rome," trans. M. Dods, in The
Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. , ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson ( Peabody, MA: Hen
drickson, 1994 [1885]), 1: 305-306. In addition to enunciating a version of the rule of
faith, Justin affrms his expectation: "I hope that, i f I endure these things, I shall
have hi s gifs"; and "Through prayer we can be saved on account of our Lord Jesus
Christ, even when we have been punished, because this shall become to us salvation
and confdence at the more fearful and universal j udgment-seat of our Lord and
Savior" (4).
Notes to Pages 1
9
01
95 373
For the North African Sci llitan Martyrs, see H. Musurillo, The Acts of the Chris
tian Martyrs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972), 86-89. This account comes the
closest to a transcript of the hearing, with short questions and answers; the fnal dec
laration of the seven men and fve women is "today we are martyrs in heaven; thanks
be to God."
69. For text and translation, see Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs, 106-131; it
is possible that Tertullian was the editor of the Acts (see Quasten, Patrology, 1: 181-
182). See also R. D. Butler, The New Prophecy and "New Visions": Evidence of Mon
tanism in the Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas ( Patristic Monograph Series 18;
Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2006); and J. E. Salisbury,
Perpetua's Passion: The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman ( London:
Routledge, 1997).
70. I use the translation of J. J. O'Meara, Origen: Prayer, Exhortation to Martyrdom (An
cient Christian Writers 19; New York: Newman, 1954).
1 3 . M O R A L T R A N S F O R M A T I O N I N S E C O N D - A N D
T H I R D - C E N T U R Y C H R I S T I A N I T Y
1. I follow the translation of K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, 2 vols. ( Loeb Classical
Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915), 8-121; for efforts to recon
struct the social setting, see J. S. Jeffers, Social Foundations of Early Christianity at
Rome: The Congregations behind 1 Clement and the Shepherd of Hermas ( PhD diss. ,
University of Cali fornia, Irvine, 1988); and D. G. Horrell , The Social Ethos of the
Corinthians Correspondence: Interests and Ideology frm 1 Corinthians to 1 Clement
(Edi nburgh: T & T Clark, 1996).
2. He sets out to speak of noble examples of those who contended as athletes "i n our
generation" before reciting the "contending unto death" of Peter and Paul ( 5. 1-7). He
contrasts the upstarts in Corinth, whom he addresses, to the situation when Paul
wrote, when the rivals in Cori nth were at least "partisans of apostles of hi gh reputa
tion and of a man approved by them" (47.4). See also his sketch of apostol ic succes
sion i n 43. 1-5. Speaking for "the church of God which sojourns at Rome," Clement
unself-consciously assumes the prerogative of correcting the Corinthian church:
"our attention has been somewhat delayed in turning to the question disputed among
you" (1. 1). Clement not only writes to the Corinthians but sends emissaries: "we have
sent faithful and prudent men . . . . [ TJ hey shall be witnesses between you and us"
(63- 3).
3- See L. Sanders, IHellenisme de Saint Clement de Rome et Ie Paulinisme ( Louvai n:
Studi a Hellenistic a in Bibliotheca Universitatis, 1943); and C. Breytenbach and L. L.
Welborn, eds. , Encounters with Hellenism: Studies on the First Letter of Clement
(Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchistentums 53; Leiden:
Brill, 2004).
4. He quotes "the words of the Lord Jesus" in 1302 and 46. 8 and alludes to them in
24 5
374
Notes to Pages 1
95-1
9
8
5. In 47. 1-2, Clement speaks of "the epistle of the blessed Paul the Apostle," written "to
you at the beginning of his preaching," clearly referring to the content of 1 Cor 1 : 10
(47. 3). For the use of Hebrews, see D. Hagner, The Use of the Old and New Testa
ments in Clement of Rome (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 34; Leiden: Brill,
1973), 179-237; P. Elli ngworth, "Hebrews and 1 Clement: Literary Dependence or
Common Tradition?" Biblische Zeitschrift n. s. 23 (1979): 262-269. For the use of the
Letter of James, see L. T Johnson, The Letter of James: A New Translation with Intro
duction and Commentary (Anchor Bible 37A; New York: Doubleday, 1995), 72-75.
6. On this, see L. T Johnson, "James 3= 13-4: 10 and the Topos PERI PHTHONOU,"
Novum Testamentum 25 (1983): 327-347.
7 See, e. g. , I
Clement, 4, 7, 9-12, 17-18, 31-32, 45-46, 51.
8. See the discussion in J. Quasten, Patrology, 4 vols. (Westminster, MD: Christian
Classics, 1986), 1 : 53-58.
9. I use the translation of Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, 1 : 280-301; for the question of
l iterary integrity, see P. N. Harrison, Polycarp's Two Epistles to the Philippians (Cam
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1936).
10. H. von Campenhausen, Polycarp von Smyrna und die Pastoralbriefe (Sitzungbe
richte der Heidelberger Akadamie der Wissenschafen; Heidelberg: Winter, 1951),
suggested that the si mi larities between Polycarp and the letters to Paul 's delegates (1
Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus) are to be attributed to Polycarp's authorship of them all.
For the implausibil ity of this position, see L. T Johnson, The First and Second Let
ters to Timothy: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Bible
35A; New York: Doubleday, 2001), 298-300. See also P. Hartog, Polycarp and the
New Testament: The Occasion, Rhetoric, Theme, and Unity of the Epistle to the Phi
lippians and Its Allusions to New Testament Literature (Tibi ngen: J. C. B. Mohr,
2002).
11. For allusions to Paul, see especially 30 3-5. 3; 11. 2-3. For allusions to 1 Peter, see 1.3; 2. 1;
7. 2; 8. 1 ; 10. 1-2. For references to the teachings of Jesus, see the fol lowing: "Remember
what the Lord taught when he said, 'Judge not that ye be not j udged, forgive and it
shall be forgiven unto you, be merciful that you may obtain mercy, with what mea
sure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again: and 'Blessed are the poor, and they
who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' " (2. 3).
Similarly, Polycarp tells his readers to persevere in fasting, praying to God "to lead
us not into temptation, even as the Lord said, ' the spirit is willing but the fesh is
weak' " (p).
12. For a range of studies on Justi n, see W A. Shotwell , The Biblical Exegesis of Justin
Martyr ( London: SPCK, 1965); A. J. Bellinzoni , The Sayings ofJesus in the Writings of
Justin Martyr (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 17; Leiden: Brill, 1967); P. J.
Donahue, Jewish-Christian Contrversy in the Second Century: A Study in the Dia
logue of Justin Martyr ( PhD di ss. , Yale University, 1973); D. Trakatellis, The Pre
Existence of Christ in the Writings ofJustin Martyr ( Harvard Dissertations in Rel igion
6; Missoula, MT: Scholars, 1976); D. Rokeah, Justin Martyr and the Jews (Jewish and
Christian Perspectives 5; Boston: Brill, 2002).
Notes to Pages 1
99
-20
4 375
13. For Justi n's writings, I use the translation in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vol s. ,
ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson ( Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994 [1885] ) ,
1 : 163-302.
14. In Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, the young philosopher is exposed to
rhetoric and to students of Platonism, Stoicism, Aristotel ianism, and Epicureanism,
even though he was devoted particularly to Pythagoras (1.7).
15. For the rhetorical connection between brevity and authority, see L. T Johnson,
"Taciturnity and True Rel igion (James 1: 26-27)," i n Greeks, Romans, and Christians:
Essays in Honor of Abraham f. Malherbe, ed. D. L. Balch, E. Ferguson, and W A.
Meeks (Mi nneapol is: Fortress, 1990), 329-339.
16. I n his second apology, Justin argues that Jesus can be compared to Socrates, but
only favorably, as one who "through hi s own power" found and declared the very
thi ngs about God that Socrates (as reported by Plato) said were di ffcult to fnd and
declare; and whereas no one followed Socrates i n dying for his teaching, those be
li evi ng in Christ did, "not only philosophers and scholars . . . but also artisans and
people entirely uneducated, despising both glory, and fear, and death; since he i s a
power of the inefable Father, and not the mere instrument of human reason"
(2. 10).
17. See also 2. 13: "Each man spoke well i n proportion to the share he had in the sper
matic word [logos spermatikosl, seeing what was related to it." For the concept, see
Quasten, Patrology, 1: 27-211.
18. See the concluding section of the second apology: "Our doctrines are not shameful,
accordi ng to a sober j udgment, but are indeed more lofty than all human philoso
phy" (2. 15).
19. He is less cautious in the second apology, where he claims that "our Christian men"
have exorcized by the name of Jesus numberless demoniacs throughout the world
when other exorci sts, using incantations and drugs, could not (2. 6).
20. I use the translation ofJ. E. Ryland, as found in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 2: 65-83; on
Tati an, see E. J. Hunt, Christianity in the Second Century: The Case ofTatian ( Lon
don: Routledge, 2003).
21. I use the translation of M. Dods as found i n The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 2: 89-121; on
Theophilus, see R. Rogers, Theophilus of Antioch: The Life and Thought of a Second
Century Bishop (Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2000).
22. I use the translation of B. P. Pratten i n The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 2: 129-148; see L. W.
Barnard, Athenagoras: A Study in Second Century Apologetic (Theologique Histo
rique 18; Paris: Beauchesne, 1972).
23. See R. MacMullen, Enemies of the Roman Order: Treason, Unrest, and Alienation in
the Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966).
24. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, 5. 10; Quasten, Patrology, 2: 4-36.
25. "His literary work proves that he was a man of comprehensive education extending to
philosophy, poetry, archaeology, mythology, and l iterature. He did not, it is true, al
ways go back to the original sources but in many instances used anthologies and fo
rilegia" (Quasten, Patrology, 2.6); see also S. R. C. Lilla, Clement of Alexandria: A
Notes to Pages 20
4
-20
9
Study in Christian Platonism and Gnosticism (Oxford Theological Monographs;
London: Oxford University Press, 1971).
See the expl icit use of Clement of Rome in Stromata, 1.8; 4. 17; 6. 8. He quotes
Philo explicitly in 1 . 5; see A. van den Hoek, Clement of Alexandria and His Use of
Philo in the Stromateis: An Early Christian Reshaping of a Tewish Model (Supple
ments to Vigiliae Christianae 3; Leiden: Bri ll, 1988).
26. See J. K. Brackett, An Analysis of the Literary Structure and Forms in the Protrepti
cus and Paidogogus of Clement of Alexandria ( PhD di ss. , Emory University, 1986).
27. See, e. g. , Epictetus, Discourse, 3. 22; Di o Chrysostom, Oration, 77/78; Musonius
Rufus, Fragment, 16; Maximus ofTyre, Discourse, 36. See also K. Berger, "Hellen is
tische Gattungen i m Neuen Testament," Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen
Welt I L25 . 2 (1984) : 1031-1432.
28. Clement is well aware of thei r unsystematic character. At the start of book 4, he
states, "Let these notes of ours, as we have ofen said for the sake of these that consult
them carelessly and unskillfully, be of varied character-and as the name itself indi
cates, patched together-passing constantly from one thing to another, and in the
series of discussions hinting at one thing and demonstrating another . . . . The Mis
cellanies of notes contribute, then, to the recollection and expression of truth i n the
case of him who is able to investigate with reason" (4. 2; see also 1 . 1).
29. See also Clement's rejection of the teachings of Valentin us, Marcion, and Basil ides
in Stromata, 2.8; 2. 1 1 ; 3- 1 ; 4. 12, 13; 4. 24; 5. 1 .
30. A substantial portion of book 6 of Eusebius' Historia Ecclesiastica is devoted t o the
li fe and works of Origen. Eusebius notes of his character, "For i n his practical char
acter were to be found to a truly marvelous degree the right actions of a most genuine
philosophy (for, as the saying goes, 'as was hi s speech so was his manner of l i fe' that
he displayed, and 'as his manner of life, so hi s speech' ), and it was especially for this
reason that, with the cooperation of the divine power, he brought so very many to
share hi s zeal " (6. 3.7).
31. Among a rich l iterature on Origen, see J. Danielou, Origen, trans. W. Mitchell
( New York: Sheed and Ward, 1951), for a consideration of all aspects of this protean
fgure; G. L. Prestige, "Origen: or the Claims of Rel igious I ntel l i gence," i n his
Fathers and Heretics ( London: SPCK, 1963), for Origen's i ntellectual temper; J. W.
Trigg, Origen: The Bible and Philosophy in the Third-Century Church (Atlanta:
John Knox, 1983), and K. J. Torj esen, Hermeneutical Procedure and Theological
Structure in Origen's Exegesis ( Berl i n: deGruyter, 1986), for the interplay of scrip
ture and philosophy.
32- Much of this discussion draws on my earlier study, "Origen and the Transformation
of the Mi nd," in L. T Johnson and W S. Kurtz, The Future of Catholic Biblical
Scholarship: A Constructive Conversation (Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans, 2002),
64-90.
33. The larger library in Alexandria had been damaged or destroyed in the Roman civil
war, ci rca 48 BCE. The smaller l ibrary under the patronage of Serapis continued in
existence until the temple (and probably with it the l ibrary) was destroyed by order of
Theodosius in 391; see Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, 5. 16.
5 377
34. We know this work through Origen's rebuttal, Contra Celsum. Origen quotes enough
of Celsus' work for a substantial reconstruction; see Celsus, On the True Doctrine: A
Discourse against the Christians, trans. R. J. Hoffmann ( New York: Oxford Univer
sity Press, 1987).
35. Among the writings that almost certainly come from Alexandria are Wisdom of Solo
mon; 3 Maccabees; 4 Maccabees; Letter of Aristeas; Joseph and Aseneth; The Sentences
of Pseudo-Phocylides; and the works of Aristobolos, Ezekiel the Tragedian, and
Pseudo-Orpheus, now avai lable only in fragments.
36. For Origen's frequent references to "heretics" in general and by name, see Johnson,
"Origen and the Transformation of the Mind," 66 n. 9.
37. Part of thi s apologetic strategy is to vilify pagan rel igion as demonic; the pertinent
passages from Origen are cited in Chapter 1.
38. Origen's dependence on Justin for this point is clear; see Dialogue with Trypho,
32-34.
39. He surely borrows from Clement, however, his perception of the role of philosophy
for faith, as he states in his Letter to Gregory Thaumaturgus, 1: "I wish to ask you to
extract from the philosophy of the Greeks what may serve as a course of study or a
preparation for Christianity, and from geometry and astronomy what will serve to
expl ai n the Holy Scripture."
40. He compares the heresies within Christianity to the disputing schools both within
philosophy and medicine (3- 12-13).
41. Origen regularly uses the medical imagery for moral teaching that is common among
Greco-Roman moralists (see Cels, 3. 60-62; 3.74-75; 4. 18).
42. Origen declares that the story of Adam can be interpreted allegorically i n precisely
the way that the cosmogonic myths of Hesiod are interpreted by Greek philosophers
(Cels, 4- 38), and he appeals to Plato for support (4. 39).
43. See A. J. Malherbe, "Hellenistic Moralists and the New Testament," Aufstieg und
Niedergang der romischen Welt 11. 26. 1 (1992): 267-333.
44. See Plutarch, Prgress in Virtue ( Mor. , 75A-86A).
45 Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 31 ( Mor. , 3550).
46. Dialogue of Origen with Heraclides and his Fellow-Bishops on the Father, the Son,
and the Soul, 13- 25-15. 25.
47. Homilies on Jeremiah, 14. 10. 1 .
1 4 . T R A N S C E N D I N G T H E W O R L D I N S E C O N D - A N D
1. For di scussion of Gnosticism in its broadest aspects, see K. Rudolph, Gnosis: The
Nature and History of Gnosticism, trans. R. McL. Wilson (San Francisco: HarperSan
Francisco, 1984); G. Filoramo, A History of Gnosticism, trans. A. Alcock (Cambridge:
Blackwell, 1990); K. L. King, What Is Gnosticism? (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press, 2003); B. A. Pearson, Early Christianity and Gnosticism in
the History of Religion (Occasional Papers Institute for Antiquity and Christianity 42;
Claremont, CA: Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, 2001). Especially for
Notes to Page 21
5
Gnosticism's development into Manichaeism, see H.-J. Klimkeit, Gnosis on the Silk
Road: Gnostic Texts frm Central Asia (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993)'
2. In his First Apology, 26 (ca. 165), Justin Martyr refers to a syntagma he had written
against Simon, Menander, and Marcion. Irenaeus' Adversus Haereses (ca. 180) is ac
quai nted with many Gnostic works but has best knowledge of Marcus and Ptolemy.
Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235) wrote a Refutation of All Heresies. Tertullian of Carthage
(ca. 200) wrote De Praesciptione Hereticorum and the fve books of Adverus Mar
cionem. As we saw in the previous chapters, both Clement (14-215) and Origen of
Alexandria (184-253) cited and rebutted Valentinus, Basilides, and Marcion. In addi
tion, Clement collected the teachings of a Gnostic that he publ ished as Excerpta ex
Theodoto. Epiphanius of Salamis (315-403) represents the apogee of ancient heresy
hunting, with his works Ancoratus and Panarion. Information especially about he
retical tendencies i n the East comes from Ephraem of Edessa (306-373) and Theo
doret of Cyrus (395-466).
Before the discovery at Nag-Hammadi, frsthand knowledge of Gnosticism could be
obtained mainly from the Hermetic l iterature, the "Hymn of the Pearl " in the Syriac
Gospel of Thomas, and two Coptic manuscripts from the fourth to ffth century dis
covered in 1778 and publ ished i n 1851: the Codex Askewianus, which contained the
Pistis Sophia; and the Codex Brucianus, which contained the "Two Books of Jeu"
and another, untitled composition. In 1896, C. Schmidt announced a further Coptic
fnd, the Berl i n Papyrus, which contained the Gospel of Mary, the Apocryphon of
John, the Sophia of Jesus Christ, and the fragment Act of Peter. It was kept from full
publication until shortly before the Nag-Hammadi discovery in 1945 and did not en
ter scholarly discussion. Some scholars also made heavy use of the Mandean l itera
ture. On these sources, see Rudolph, Gnosis, 25-30.
3- Under the infuence especially of W. Bousset, Hauptprbleme der Gnosis ( Forschun
gen zur Rel igion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments; Gottingen: Van
denhoeck und Ruprecht, 1907), and R. Reizenstein, Das iranische Erlosungsmysterium:
religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen ( Bonn: A. Marcus and E. Weber, 1921), the
"history of rel igions school " argued for the existence of a well-formed Gnosticism
prior to Christianity, complete with a myth of the "redeemed redeemer," and saw
Gnosticism as an element in the development of Christianity from the time of its
entry into the Greco-Roman world. See, e. g. , W Bousset, Kyrios Christos: A History
of the Belief in Christ frm the Beginnings of Christianity to Irenaeus, trans. J. E.
Steely ( Nashville: Abingdon, 1970); R. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament,
2 vol s. , trans. J. E. Steely ( New York: Scribner, 1951-1955); W Schmithals, Gnosticism
in Corinth: An Investigation of the Letters to the Corinthians, trans. J. E. Steely ( Nash
ville: Abi ngdon, 1971); B. A. Pearson, The Pneumatikos-Psychikos Terminology in I
Corinthians: A Study in the Theology of the Opponents of Paul and Its Relation to
Gnosticism (Society of Biblical Literature Dissertations 12; Missoula, MT: Scholars,
1973). For criticism of the entire approach, see E. M. Yamauchi , Pre-Christian Gnos
ticism: A Survey of the Proposed Evidences, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI : Baker, 1973);
and C. Colpe, Die religionsgeschichtliche Schule ( Forschungen zur Rel igion und
Notes to Page 21
5 379
Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht,
1961). On the vexed question of Gnostic origins and of terminology, see the essays in
U. Bianchi, ed., Le Origini della Gnosticismo, Colloquio de Messina 13-18 Aprile,
1966 (Studies i n the History of Rel igions, Supplement to Numen XII; Leiden: Brill,
1967).
As regards dualism, Marcion of Sinope, e. g. , has a profoundly dualistic view of the
world, hostility toward the Old Testament, and a Jesus who proclaims an "alien god"
and advocates a strict asceticism; only a lack of cosmic mythology-and perhaps also
hi s sectarian posture-prevents his inclusion among Gnostic teachers; see A. Har
nack, Marcion. Das Evangelium vom fremden Gott (Texte und Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur; Leipzig: J. C. Hi nrichs, 1924). Similarly,
some scholars regard the dualistic elements in the apocryphal acts as "Gnostic"; see,
e.g., J. N. Bremmer, ed. , The Apocryphal Acts of Peter: Magic, Miracles, and Gnosti
cism (Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 3; Leuven: Peeters, 1998); and P.
J. Lalleman, The Acts of John: A Two-Stage Initiation into Johannine Gnosticism
(Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 4; Leuven: Peeters, 1998).
4. The di scrimi nation between various streams in the Gnostic writi ngs is the focus of
The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Proceedings of the International Conference on Gnos
ticism at Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, March 28-31, 1978, 2 vol s. , ed. B. Layton
(Studies in the History of Rel igions; Supplements to Numen 41; Leiden: Brill,
1978).
5. The extreme position at one end is held by H. Jonas, The Gnostic Religion (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1958), who argues for a coherent rel igion that fnds expression within
diverse exoteric traditions. More recently, see A. H. B. Logan, The Gnostics: Identify
ing an Early Christian Cult (London: T & T Clark, 2006). At the other end is
M. Williams, Rethinking "Gnosticism": An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious
Category ( Pri nceton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), who wants to abandon
even the concept and i n its stead speak of different i nterpretive strategies. Much
earlier, see M. Smith, "The Hi story of the Term Gnostikos," i n The Rediscovery of
Gnosticism, 2: 796-807.
6. A soteriology, or theory of salvation, necessarily involves at least three other elements:
(1) a cosmology, or understanding of the world in its origi n, nature, and destiny; (2) an
anthropology, or understanding of humanity in its origin, nature, and destiny; and
(3) an eschatology, or theory of the end-time: what gets saved and what does not?
7. In laying out the Type C soteriology in the abstract without reference to specifc
texts, I recognize the danger of distorting the analysis of specifc passages. Because of
the complexity of the material to be analyzed, however, such a working grid has
more advantages than disadvantages.
8. The lowest class of humans can be designated as "feshly" (sarkikoi) or "earthly"
(choikoi) or "material" (hylikoi), the last roughly equivalent to "mud-people." Such
are regarded as lacking a divine spark altogether. The highest class of humans can be
called "spi ritual" (pneumatikoi) or "perfect" (teleioi) or "elect" (eklektoi): they are es
sentially divine but fnd themselves trapped in material real ity. The third class of
Notes to Page 21 7
humans is usually called psychikoi ("psychic" or "ani mate"); they have the possibil ity
of turning in one di rection or another. Reconciling freedom and determinism in the
case of the psychic is not easy; see Rudolph, Gnosis, 78-82.
9. Neither the date of Irenaeus' bi rth nor the date or manner of his death is known, al
though his claim to have been in contact with Polycarp of Smyrna ( Eusebius, Histo
ria Ecclesiastica, 50 20. 5-7) and his becoming bishop of Lyons circa 180 (Historia
Ecclesiastica, 5. 4. 2) make the dates 140-200 plausible.
10. In book I , Irenaeus describes the Gnostic schools, beginning with Valenti nus, before
turning to Simon Magus (whom he makes the source of Gnosticism) and his succes
sors. Book 2 argues against Valentinus and Marcion on the basis of reason. Book 3
unfolds Irenaeus' framework for orthodoxy, based on the rule of faith, the canon of
scripture, and the apostol ic succession. In book 4, he refutes his opponents on the
basis of the sayings of Jesus i n the canonical Gospels. In book 5, he defends the
bodily resurrection of Jesus and the righteous, developing his interpretation of scrip
ture as a divine pedagogy on the basis of the Pauline pri nciple of recapitulation of all
things i n Christ. Throughout, he vigorously engages the scriptural i nterpretations of
the heretics and ofers his own interpretation based on the grammar, syntax, and nar
rative logic of the texts.
u. See G. Vallee, A Study in Anti-Gnostic Polemic: Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epipha
nius (Studies in Christianity and Judaism I; Waterloo, ON: Canadian Corporation for
Studies in Rel igion by Wilfrid University Press, 1981); and especially F. Wisse, "The
Nag Hammadi Library and the Heresiologists," Vigiliae Christianae 25 (1971):
205-223.
12. Thus, I renaeus begins with Valentinus and his student Ptolemy (I. Pref 1-2; l. u. I-4);
then he treats Marcus (1. 13. 6-7) and his disciples (1. 13. 6-7) with their theories (1. 14--
22); next he deals with Simon Magus (1. 23- 1-4) and his di sciples Menander (1. 23. 5)
and with Saturninus (1. 24. 1-2) and Basilides (1. 24. 3-4). In quick succession, he treats
Carpocrates (1. 25), Cerinthus (1. 26. 1), the Ebionites (1. 26.2), the Nicolaitans (1. 26. 3),
Cerdo (1. 27. 1), Marcion (1. 27. 2-4), Tatian and the Encratites (1. 28), "other Gnostics"
(1. 29), the Ophites and Sethians (1. 30), and fnally the Cainites (1. 31).
13. At the level of theory, he charges them wi th contradictions and disagreements (Adver
sus Haereses 1. 11. 1), of intellectual distortions (1. 9. 4), of derivativeness-they are simply
rehashing pagan myths (2. 14. 1-9)-and of deceiving themselves ( 1. 11. 1). Most memo
rably, he practices a form of reductio ad absurdum by comparing the naming of enti
ties in the Pleroma to seeds in a melon (1. 11 .4). At the level of morals, he makes the
usual charges of unseemly behavior (1. 6. 3; l . lB) but adds the charge of worki ng with
demons (I. IB) and of practicing magic (1. 13 4-5; 1. 23- 1; 1. 23. 4-5; 1. 24. 5; 1. 25. 3).
14. Onl y recently has Irenaeus' offhand reference to the Cainites' teaching on Judas,
based on "a fctitious history of this kind, which they style The Gospel of Judas" (Ad
versus Haereses, 1 . 31 . 1), found unexpected confrmation in the di scovery and publica
tion (with great fanfare) of a Coptic manuscript ftting this description; see R. Kasser,
M. Meyer, and G. Wurst, eds. , The Gospel ofJudas: From Codex Tchacos ( Washing
ton, DC: National Geographic, 2006).
Notes to Pages 21 7-221
15. For Valentinus, see A. M. McGuire, Valentinus and the "Gnostike Hairesis": An Inves
tigation of Valentin us's Position in the History of Gnosticism ( PhD diss. , Yale Univer
sity, 1983). Among the few things known about Ptolemy is that he wrote an Epistle to
Flora that seeks to fnd a middle ground between those who ascribe the law of Moses
entirely to God and those ( like Marcion and some Sethian Gnostics) who attribute
the entire law to the devi l. He does this by attributing some portions to God, some to
Moses, and some to the human scribes. The letter is contained i n Epiphanius of Sa
lamis' Panarion 33- 3. 1-33. 7. 10, and an English translation is found in B. Layton, The
Gnostic Scriptures (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1987), 308-31 5.
1 6. I am using t he translation provided by Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 281-302.
17. See E. Pagels, The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters ( Philadel
phia: Fortress, 1975), and The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis: Heracleon's Com
mentary on John (Society of Bibl ical Literature Monograph Series 17; Nashville:
Abingdon, 1973).
18. Only fragments remain of the teachi ng of this philosopher who was active i n Alexan
dria between 132 and 135. I use here the translation of Irenaeus 1. 24-3-7 and the note
worthy fragments provided by Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 417-443.
19. I use the translation of Irenaeus 1. 30. 1-1. 31. 1 given by Layton, Gnostic Scriptures,
173-181.
20. For the story of the discovery and description of contents, see Rudolph, Gnosis, 34--
52; and especially J. M. Robinson, "Introduction," in The Nag Hammadi Library in
English, translated by Members of the Coptic Gnostic Library Proj ect of the Institute
for Antiquity and Christianity, J. M. Robinson, Di rector (San Francisco: Harper and
Row, 1977), 1-25.
21. The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth and the section of the Asclepius are recogniz
able as Hermetic because the revealer Hermes Trismegistos i s named in each (VI,
58. 3; and VI, 66. 25), and the Prayer of Thanksgiving appears i n the codex between
them. Throughout the rest of the chapter, all references to the Nag Hammadi writ
ings follows the protocol of the Nag-Hammadi Library in English (NHLE), even
when I use Layton's translation-he follows the same system. The composition is lo
cated frst by its sequence in a specifc codex. Thus, the Discourse on the Eighth and
Ninth is the sixth composition in codex 6, (VI, 6) and is followed by the other two
compositions (VI, 7; and VI, 8). Internal references use the section and line indica
tions of the NHLE. Thus, the Discourse runs from VI 52, 1, to VI 63, 32.
The Sentences of Sextus is a strongly ascetical moral instruction that is known
from versions outside the Nag-Hammadi l ibrary; see F. Wisse, "The Sentences of
Sextus (XII 1)," in NHLE, 454-459, as well as The Sentences of Sextus, ed. and trans.
R. A. Edwards and R. A. Wild (Texts and Translations: Early Christian Literature
Series 5; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1981); and H. Chadwick, The Sentences of Sextus: A
Contribution to the History of Early Christian Ethics (Texts and Translations: Contri
butions to Biblical and Patristic Literature 5; Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1959). The Teaching of Silvanus, in contrast, is not known outside the Nag
Hammadi collection. Its presence there, in fact, is striking because of the thoroughly
4
orthodox tone of the composition in all aspects. See "The Teachi ngs of Silvanus (VII
4)," edited by F. Wisse, introduced and translated by M. L. Peel and J. Zandee, in
NHLE, 346-361 .
Given the complex compositional hi story of the apocryphal Acts of Peter, it is
not surprising to fnd a si ngle narrative i ncident appearing in isolation. See "The
Act of Peter" ( Bruce Codex 8502, 4), i ntroduced and translated by J . BrashIer and
D. M. Parrott, i n NHLE, 475-477. Thi s fragment i s not to be confused wi th an
other composition, The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, also i n the collection
of codi ces but havi ng a di sti nctly Gnostic coloration. See "The Acts of Peter and
the Twelve Apostles" (VI, 1)," i ntroduced and translated by D. M. Parrott and R.
McL. Wilson, i n NHLE, 265-27. See also "Plato, Republ ic 588B-589B (VI 5),"
i ntroduced and translated by J. BrashIer, edited by D. M. Parrott, in NHLE,
29-291 .
22. Because Valenti ni an Gnosticism i s more fami l iar, recent attention has focused on
the more obscure "Sethian" writings; see A. F. J. Klijn, Seth in Jewish, Christian,
and Gnostic Literature ( Novum Testamentum Supplements 46; Leiden: Bri ll, 1977);
see also B. Pearson, "The Figure of Seth in Gnostic Literature," and F. Wisse,
"Stalking Those Elusive Sethians," i n The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, 2: 472-54,
and 2: 563-576.
23. Scholars have noted in particular the strong resemblances between the revelatory
l iterature at Nag-Hammadi and Jewish Merkabah mystici sm: see, e. g. , G. G.
Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and the Talmudic Tradition ( New
York: Jewish Theological Seminary of New York, 1960); I . Gruenwald, Frm Apocalyp
ticism to Gnosticism: Studies in Apocalypticism, Merkavah Mysticism, and Gnosticism
(Beitrage zur Erforschung des Alten Testamens und des antiken Judentums 14; Frank
fort an Main: P. Lang, 1988); and N. Deutsch, The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism,
Mandaeism, and Merkabah Mysticism (Jewish Studies 13; Leiden: Brill, 1995);
24. The synoptic di splay of the two compositions shows how the additional elements i n
the Sophia provide a Christian framework for an earlier revelational writing; see
"Eugnostos the Blessed ( III, 3 and V, 1) and The Sophia ofJesus Christ ( III, 4 and BG
853, 3)," introduced and translated by D. M. Parrott, i n NHLE, 206-228.
25. Porphyry of Tyre (223-305) was a di sciple and admi rer of Plotinus (25-27), the
great philosopher i n the Platoni c tradition, and wrote a Life of Plot in us i n which he
notes (chapter 16) the phi losopher's opposition to Gnostics who appealed to revela
tions from "Zoroaster, of Zostrianos, of Ni kotheos, of the Foreigner, of Messos, and
other such fgures," and wrote as well a treatise called Against the Gnostics (which
now appears as Plotinus, Ennead, 1 1 . 9). One of Plot i n us' di sciples wrote a 4o-chapter
refutation of The Book of Zostrianos, says Porphyry, and Porphyry hi mself under
took an attack on the Book of Zoroaster. See Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 182-184.
26. I am using the translation provided by Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 125-140.
27. The name (and title) Allogenes is also rendered as "The Foreigner," as in the transla
tion I use from Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 144-148.
28. Barbelo is a major fgure in Sethian myth, appearing in Zostrianos, 14- 6; 36. 14; 36. 20;
37. 20; 53. 10; 62. 21; 63.7; 83. 9; 87. 10; 91. 19; 118. 10; 119. 23; 122. 1 ; 124. 11; 129. 11; Allogenes,
Notes to Pages 22
4
-2
3
0
51 . 13; 530 28; 56. 27; 58. 21; 59. 3; 59. 6; Three Steles of Seth, 121. 21; Melchizedek, 5. 27;
16. 26; Marsanes, 4. 11; 8. 28; 43- 21; Trimorphic Protennoia, 38. 9; and Apocryphon of
John, 4' 36; 5. 13; 5. 19; 5. 25; 5. 26; 5. 31.
29. I use the translation in Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 28-51.
30. Speaking of the Valentinians, Irenaeus says, "they have arrived at such a pitch of au
dacity, as to entitle their recent writing ' the Gospel of Truth,' though it agrees in
nothing with the Gospels of the Apostles, so that they really have no Gospel which is
not full of blasphemies" (Adversus Haereses, 3- 11. 9). See also Layton, Gnostic Scrip
tures, 25-252, whose translation of the Gospel of Truth (253-264) I use.
31. See J. A. Williams, The Interpretation of Texts and Traditions in the Gospel of Truth
( PhD diss. , Yale University, 1983).
32. Translation i n Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 320-324.
33. There is an explicit reference to the transfguration story (Mark 9: 1-8/) i n 48. 6 as
well as allusions to 1 Cor 15: 53-54 (45 . 28-46. 1; 48' 38), 2 Cor 5:4 (45. 28-46. 1), and Rom
8: 29 (46. 25).
34 Compare the use of katapausis in Heb PI, 18; 4: 1, 3, 5, 10, 11; and see O. Hofus,
Katapausis: Die Vorstellung yom endzeitlichen Ruheort im Hebrierbrief (Wissen
schaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 11; Tibingen: Mohr, 1970); and
J. H. Wray, Rest as a Theological Metaphor in the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Gos
pel of Truth; Early Christian Homiletics of Rest (Society of Biblical Literature Dis
sertation Series 166; Atlanta: Scholars, 1998).
35. We recognize the strong Platonic element here, but the idea that human souls were
preexistent is found also in Origen, On Firt Principles, 8. 1-4, and although explicitly
eschewed by Gregory of Nyssa in On the Making of Man, 28. 1-29. 11, is suggested by
his language in On Virginity, 12.
36. I use the translation as found in Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 380-399. I also employ
the double numbering system, putti ng the number of the saying i n square brackets
followed by the section and line number assigned in the codices.
37. On the relationship of the Gospel of Thomas to the agrapha, see J. Jeremias, The
Unknown Sayings ofTesus, trans. R. Fuller ( New York: Macmillan, 1957).
The position that the Gospel of Thomas served, with Q, as an independent source
for traditions about Jesus earlier than did the Synoptic Gospels was advanced early
and vigorously by H. Koester and was taken up especially by questers for the histori
cal Jesus, above all S. J. Patterson, The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus (Sonoma, CA:
Polebridge, 1993); R. Funk, and J. D. Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a
Mediterranean Jewish Peasant (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991). For the
view that the Gospel of Thomas is dependent on the canonical traditions, see
W. Schrage, Das Verhiltnis des Thomas-Evangeliums zur synoptischen Tradition und
zu den koptischen Evangelienibersetzungen (Zeitschrift fir die neuentestamentliche
Wissenschaf 29; Berl i n: Topelmann, 1964); and C. M. Tuckett, "Q and Thomas:
Evidence of a Primitive 'Wisdom Gospel ' ? A Response to H. Koester," Ephemeridea
Theologicae Lovaninenses 67 (1991): 346-360.
On the relationship between Q and the Gospel of Thomas, see, e.g., J. Kloppen
burg et al. , Q-Thomas Reader (Sonoma, CA: Polebridge, 1990); B. Mack, The Lost
Notes to Pages 2
3
02
39
Gospel: The Book ofQ and Christian Origins ( San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco,
1993)
For the most enthusiastic argument that the Nag Hammadi writi ngs give access to
the "real Jesus," see M. Franzmann, Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Writings (Edi nburgh:
T & T Clark, 1996); for the position that the Gnostic gospels are dependent on the
New Testament compositions, see C. M Tuckett, Nag Hammadi and the Gospel Tra
dition, ed. J. Riches (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1986).
For the position that the Gospel of Thomas is best understood as standing within a
broader stream of Christian asceticism, see R. Valantasis, The Gospel of Thomas
( London: Routledge, 1997).
38. L. T Johnson, "Does a Theology of the Canonical Gospels Make Sense?" i n The
Nature of New Testament Theology: Essays in Honor of Robert Morgan, ed. C. Row
land and C. Tuckett (Oxford: Blackwell , 2006), 93-108.
39. On this, see D. Brakke, "Self-Differentiation among Christian Groups: The Gnos
tics and Their Opponents," in The Cambridge History of Christianity, vol . 1: Origins
to Constantine, ed. M. M. Mitchell and F. M. Young (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni
versity Press, 2006), 245-260.
1 5 . S T A B I L I Z I N G T H E W O R L D I N S E C O N D - A N D
1. I use the translation of 1 Clement provided by K. Lake in The Apostolic Fathers, 2 vols.
( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915), 1: 8-121.
2. For emi ssaries to and from Ignatius and the churches of Asia, see Ign. Phil. , 10. 2; Ign.
Eph. , 1. 2-3; 2. 1; Ign. Smyr., 9. 3; Ign. Poly. , 7. 1-2; 8. 1.
3. Ign. Eph. , 4- 1-2; Ign. Magn. , 6. 1-2; Ign. Tral. , 2. 2; Ign. Smyr., 8. 1 (harmony wi th the
bishop and presbytery); Ign. Eph. , 2.2; 5. 3; 20.2; Ign. Magn. , 2. 1; 4. 1; 8. 2; Ign. Tral. , 2. 1;
13. 1; I gn. Phil. , 2. 1 ; I gn. Poly. , 6. 1 (submission to the authority of the bishop and
presbytery).
4. In the preceding passage as wel l , Justin speaks of the Eucharist i n terms of sacrifce:
" 'nd the offering of fne four, sirs,' I said, 'which was prescribed to be presented
(prospherein) on behalf of those purifed from leprosy,' was a type of the bread of the
Eucharist, the celebration of which our Lord Jesus Christ prescribed" (Dial, 41).
5. For the place of these compositions i n the development of the liturgy, see G. Dix,
The Shape of the Liturgy, with additional notes by P. Marshall ( New York: Seabury,
1982), especi ally 103-1 56; for thei r role in the development of Chri sti an l aw, see
L. T Johnson, "Law in Early Christianity," i n Christianity and Law: An Introduc
tion, ed. J. Witte and F. S. Alexander (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008), 53-69; for their role in developing orders of clergy, see A. Faivre, "Naissance
d'une hi erarchie: Les premieres etapes du cursus clerical," Theologie Historique 40
(1977) : 47-67.
6. See M. Metzger, Les Constitutions Apostoliques: Introduction, texte critique, traduc
tion et notes (Sources Chretiennes 320; Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1978).
Notes to Pages 2
3
92
4
6
7. The manuscript contai ni ng the composition was discovered in the Patriarchal Li
brary of Jerusalem at Constantinople i n 1875. For full di scussion and an early dating
(ca. 90), see J.-P. Audet, La Didache: Instructions des Apotres. ( Paris: J. Gabalda,
1958).
8. For a recent close reading of the composition, see J. H. Neyrey, Give God the Glory:
Ancient Prayer and Worship in Cultural Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
2007), 206-230; see also A. Milavec, The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and
Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2003); and C. N. Jefford, ed., The Di
dache in Context: Essays on Its Text, History, and Transmission (Supplements to No
vum Testamentum 77; Leiden: Brill, 1995).
9. I am using the translation of Lake in The Apostolic Fathers, 1: 308-333.
10. For a full discussion, see P. F. Bradshaw, M. E. Johnson, and L. E. Phillips, The Ap
ostolic Trdition: A Commentary ( Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002). I use their
translation.
11. For example, gifts of heali ng (14), newcomers (15), crafs and professions (16. 1-17), oil
lamps at community supper (29C 1-16), supper of widows (30A 1-2), times of prayer
(35 . 1-2), places of burial (40. 1-2), sign of the cross (42. 1-4), and the offering of various
foods: oil ( 5. 1-2), cheese and ol ives (6. 1-4), and fruits (32. 1-3). For an argument con
cerning the variety of foods used i n early Christian meals, see A. McGowan, Ascetic
Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (Oxford Early Christian
Studies; Oxford: Clarendon, 1999).
12. I use the translation and numbering provided by R. H. Connolly, Didascalia Apos
tolorum. The Syriac Version Translated and Accompanied by the Verona Latin Frg
ments (Oxford: Clarendon, 1929); see also A. Voobus, The Didascalia Apostolorum in
Syriac (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 401-402, 407-408; Louvai n:
Secretariat de CorpusSCO, 1979).
13. See F. Brightman, "The Quartodeciman Question," Journal of Theological Studies 25
(1923-1924) : 254-270; C. Dugmore, '' Note on the Quartodecimans," Studia Patris
tica 4 (1961): 411-442; C. Mohrmann, "Le Confit Pascal au lIe Siecle-Note
Philologique," Vigiliae Christianae 16 (1962) : 154-171.
14. I use K. Lake's translation of Historia Ecclesiastica (HE), 2 vols. (Loeb Classical Li
brary; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930), 1 : 52-513.
1 5. Osrhoene is the ancient designation for the area of upper Mesopotamia that includes
the i mportant ecclesial center of Edessa.
16. For the complex process by which the Roman church claimed for itself and was rec
ognized by others as having primacy, see E. Giles, Documents Illustrting Papal Au
thority, AD 96-454 (London: SPCK, 1952).
17. The declaration attributed to Peter i n Acts 4:29 and 5: 19 is itself an allusion to So
crates' statement before hi s j udges, in Plato, Apology, 290.
18. Eusebius, HE, 5. 26. 1, mentions letters and "publ ished treatises" as well as a work
against the Greeks, entitled Concerning Knowledge; the Demonstration of the Apos
tolic Preaching; and a collection of di scourses: "Such is the extent of our knowledge
of the works of Irenaeus. "
Notes to Pages 2
4
6250
19. See O. O' Donovan and J. L. O' Donovan, eds. , From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Source
book in Christian Political Thought, 100-1625 (Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans,
1999)
20. See G. Wingren, Man and the Incarnation: A Study in the Biblical Theology of Ire
naeus ( Philadelphi a: Muhlenberg, 1959); and J. T Nielsen, Adam and Christ in the
Theology of Irenaeus of Lyons: An Examination of the Function of the Adam-Christ
Typology in the Adversus Haereses of Irenaeus (Van Gorcum's Theologische Biblio
teek 40; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1968).
21. Irenaeus compares the dismemberment and rearrangement of scripture by the Gnos
tics to the disfguring of a beautiful mosaic of a king, in which the stones have been
rearranged into the poorly executed image of a dog or fox (Adversus Haereses, 1. 8. 1).
22. The footnote to thi s l i ne i n The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vol s. , ed. A. Roberts and
J . Donaldson ( Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994 [1886] ), 1: 331, refers this character
i zation to the churches in Palestine.
23. Irenaeus defends the fourfold character of the Gospels-four pillars breathing out
immortal ity on every side-on the basis of the four zones of the world and the four
principal winds, but above all on the four creatures around the throne in Revelation
4:7. The fourfold Gospel, in turn, supports Irenaeus' reading of sacred history in
terms of four covenants: that with Adam, that with Noah, that with Moses, and that
with Christ, "which sums up all things i n itself by means of the Gospel" ( 30 11. 8).
24. Irenaeus makes vigorous use of the Pentateuch (with only a few references to Leviti
cus), the historical books, the Psalms, and the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Amos, Hosea, Jonah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zechariah, and Malachi). He has
no references to Nahum, Zephaniah, Ruth, Judith, Chronicles, or the Books of the
Maccabees.
25. The only books from the New Testament collection that Irenaeus does not quote
for quite understandable reasons (they are so tiny and situation specifc)-are 3 John
and Phi lemon. Otherwise the entire New Testament canon is robustly represented.
26. Irenaeus devotes considerable attention to the distortions of language in Gnostic in
terpretations (see Adversus Haereses, 1. 14-18; 2. 10; 2. 24) and just as much attention to
the proper way of reading scripture (2. 25-27; 3.7-10; 30 18).
27. See G. G. Blum, Tradition und Sukzession: Studien zum Normbegriff des Apostolis
chen von Paulus bis Irenaeus (Arbeiten zur Geschichte und Theologie des Luther
turs 9; Berl i n: Lutherisches Verlagshaus, 1963).
28. Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, 67; for Cyprian's li fe and works, see J. Quasten, Patrol
ogy, 4 vols. (Westmi nster, MD: Christian Classics, 1986), 2: 340-383.
29. Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, 53-
30. I follow the numbering and translation found in "Cyprian," translated by E. Walli s,
in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 5: 263-595. Treatise 5, "To Demetrianus," defends Chris
tians against attack, and Treatise 6, "On the Vanity of Idols," goes on the attack. For
pastoral issues, see "On the Dress of Virgins" (2), "On the Lord's Prayer" (4), "On the
Mortality" (7), "On Works and Alms" (8), "On Patience" (9), and "On Jealousy and
Envy" (10).
Notes to Pages 2502
5
6
31. See his "Three Books of Testimonies against the Jews" (12) and "Exhortation to Mar
tyrdom" (11), which is a similar compilation of scriptural topoi.
32. On ordination, see Cyprian, Letters, 32, 33, 34. On matters of practice, see 7, 11, 35,
55, 65, 82. On the "l apsed," see 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13. On other points of contention, see 6,
8, 17, 23, 24, 27, 31, 36, 39
i . A F T E R C O N S T A N T I N E
1. For the stages of progression, see R. L. Fox, Pagans and Christians ( New York: Knopf,
1987); J. Pel ikan, The Excellent Empire: The Fall of Rome and the Triumph of the
Church (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1987); R. MacMullen, Christianizing
the Roman Empire, A.D. 100-400 ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984),
86-101.
2. For a sympathetic analysis of Constantine's eforts to continue a tradition of toler
ance for all religions under hi s regime, see H. Dorries, Constantine and Religious
Liberty, trans. R. Bainton ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1960). As early as
the 340s, the Christian writer Firmicius Maternus addressed a treatise to Constan
tine's sons (De Errore Profanorum Religionum), urging the destruction of paganism
by force. The ful l establ ishment of Christianity as the imperial rel igion takes place
under Theodosius I (379-395), who refuses the Senate's desi re to restore the altar
of victory, forbids sacrifces to the gods, and declares Arianism to be i llegal (see
Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, 5 . 16; and Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, 7.4,
7.17).
3. Regarding the Edict of Milan, the text of the letter from Constantine and Licinius is
found in Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica (HE), 10. 5- 2-14. Signifcant elements of the
declaration include the freedom of all religions to worship whatever deity the people
choose ( 5. 10. 8) and the restoration of property that had been confscated, not only to
individual Christians, but to "the society as a whole" ( 5. 10. 11).
Eusebius includes Constanti ne's letters ordering fnancial assistance to "certain
mi nisters of the legitimate and most holy cathol ic religion" (HE, 10. 6. 1-5) and ex
empting Christian clergy from fnancial responsibilities to the state (10.7.1-2).
4. See Eusebius, HE, 10. 5. 18-24. The 22 canons issued by the Synod of Aries are pre
served in J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio, 31 vols.
( Florence, 1759-1798), 2:463-512.
5. "He enjoined on all the subjects of the Roman empire to observe the Lord's day, as a
day of rest, and also to honor the day which precedes the Sabbath" ( Eusebius, Life of
Constantine, 4. 18). Even the soldiers in Constantine's army who remained pagan
were requi red to pray as the emperor di rected them on Sunday (4. 19-20). On the
soldiers' engraving the sign of the cross, see 4. 21.
6. Eusebius says that "to God alone, the Almighty, was the heal ing of these di fferences
an easy task; and Constantine appeared to be the only one on earth capable of being
hi s mi nister for this good end" (Life of Constantine, 3. 5). Eusebius reports how
Constantine summons the bishops (3. 6), takes his seat in the assembly of the bishops
"l ike some heavenly messenger of God" (po), and addresses the council (p2) as
well as exhorting at length the bishops about harmony at the conclusion of the coun
cil (P7-21).
7. Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 4. 58-60.
8. For the church of the Holy Sepulchre and other churches throughout Palestine, see
Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 3- 25-43; for churches in Constanti nople in honor of
the martyrs and for churches i n Nicomedia and other cities, see 3. 48-51; for the
building of the church at Heliopolis on the site of the destroyed temple of Venus,
see 3- 58. Eusebius provides a fulsome account of the emperor's church building in
his Oration in Praise of the Emperor Constantine, 9. 14-19. Eusebius speaks also of
Constantine's gifts of money to churches and to orphans and widows i n Life of Con
stantine, 4.28. Eusebius does not mention any of Constantine's benefactions in
Rome, but the Lateran Basilica is certainly his gif; see H. Brandenburg, Ancient
Churches in Rome from the Fourth to the Seventh Century (Turnhout: Brepols,
2004), 16-54.
9 Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 4. 36-37.
10. On the connection between Libanius and John Chrysostom, see Socrates, Historia
Ecclesiastica, 4. 3, followed by Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, 8. 2. On Libanius'
admiration of the emperor Juli an, see his Autobiography ( Letter I), 119-135, i n Liba
nius: Autobiography and Selected Letters, 2 vols. , trans. A. F. Norman (Loeb Classi
cal Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992). On Libanius'
protesting the closing of the temples, see especially Oration, 17 ("The Lament over
Julian") ; Oration, 20 ("To the Emperor Theodosius, after the Reconciliation"); and
Oration, 30 (UTo the Emperor Theodosius, for the Temples"), i n Libanius, Selected
Works, 2 vol s. , trans. A. F. Norman ( Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Har
vard University Press, 1987).
11. The l i fe and imperial career of the philosopher-king Julian are recounted by Socrates,
Historia Ecclesiastica, 2. 47-30 21. In p, he pays grudging respect to Julian's great
learning, stating that he desired to study with Libanius and, being prevented, never
theless obtained and learned from the great rhetorician's works. Julian's Orations dis
play both his extensive learning and his deep philosophical commitment.
12. The frst 10 of the 24 books in The City of God were composed between 413 and 426.
According to Augusti ne's Retractions, 2. 43. 2, it was after Alaric led the Visigoths in
the sack of Rome in 410 that he began contemplating his response to the charges of
pagans that the Christians were to blame. In Letters, 137 and 138, he takes up some of
the specifc charges made by Volosianus, proconsul of Africa. Augustine's detailed
knowledge of Roman religion appears to be based substantially on a source he refers
to frequently by Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BCE), Antiquitates rerum hu
mana rum et divinarum Libri XLI.
13. Diocletian was emperor from 284 to 305. Afer a long period of toleration, he began
(possibly at the urging of Galerius) the last great persecution by a purge of the army in
299. By an edict in Nicomedia in 303, he ordered the demol ition of churches, the
burning of Christian books, and the elimi nation of social and legal rights for Chris-
tians. In 304, sacrifce to the gods was imposed on all. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesias
tica, 7. 1-4, recounts various di mensions of imperial repression, including numerous
martyrdoms throughout the empire.
14. Lactantius continues, "For when that most happy day had shone upon the world, in
which the Most Hi gh God raised you to the prosperous height of power, you entered
upon a dominion which was salutary and desirable for all, with an excellent begin
ning, when, restoring justice which had been overthrown and taken away, you expi
ated the most shameful deeds of others." He then affrms that God will grant the
emperor "happiness, virtue, and length of days" and will hand the rule on to his
descendents (The Divine Institutes, 1 . 1) . A convenient translation is that of W.
Fletcher i n The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vol s. , ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson ( Pea
body, MA: Hendrickson, 1994 [1886] ) , 7: 9-223. The same volume contains the
Epitome of the Divine Institutes that Lactantius composed for his brother Pentadius
(7: 224-255)
15. For Seneca, see The Divine Institutes, 1. 5; 3- 1 5. Ci cero is discussed frequently; see,
e. g. , 1 . 5; 1. 15; 2 3; 3- 19; 3. 29. For the critique of Tertul l i an and Cypri an, see 5. 1 ;
5
+
16. For the translation of De Mortibus Persecutorum, see Fletcher in Ante-Nicene Fa-
thers, 7: 301-322. On the peace that has come to the church, Lactantius declares,
"Behold, all the adversaries are destroyed, and tranquility having been re-established
throughout the Roman empire, the late oppressed church arises agai n, and the tem
ple of God, overthrown by the hands of the wicked, is built with more glory than be
fore" (1). For his rel ish at the bad end that came to all the rulers who persecuted
Christians, see On the Manner in Which Persecutors Died, 42.
17. Constantine "commanded that his embattled forces should be preceded in their
march, not by golden i mages, as heretofore, but only by the standard of the cross";
Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 4. 21.
Although smaller communities met in households, larger Christian communities
erected substantial places of worship even before Constantine; for a gathering of the
data, see J. G. Davies, The Origin and Development of Early Christian Church Archi
tecture ( New York: Philosophical Library, 1953), 14-16.
18. At least one of the antecedent functions for the architectural form known as the ba
silica was to serve as courts of law, although some connect the building type to the
audience chambers and throne rooms of i mperial residences; see Davies, Early Chris
tian Church Architecture, 19-50.
19. For the basilicas i n Rome that got their start under Constantine, see R. Ross Hollo
way, Constantine and Rome ( New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004), 57-119;
and H. Brandenburg, Ancient Churches in Rome frm the Fourth to the Seventh Cen
tury ( Bibliotheque de Lantiquitt tardive 8; Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), 16-109.
20. The point is made well by G. Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy ( New York: Seabury
Press, 1982 [1945] ), 303-319, and by J. Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, trans. F. A. Brun
ner ( University of Notre Dame Liturgical Studies 6; Notre Dame, IN: University of
Notre Dame Press, 1959), 122-174.
Notes to Pages 2
5
8-2
59
21. The demarcation of the hierarchy is more evident, given the structure of the basilica:
the presbytery sits around the bishop, who is seated on a chair/throne on the raised
bema i n the rounded apse at the end of the long hall opposite the entrance. The lay
people fll the spaces that are lower and less defned by power; see Davies, Early
Christian Church Architecture, 36-38.
22. This was a slow development. In the fourth and ffth centuries, the clothing of the
bishop, e. g. , was basically that of the Roman nobil ity rather than a distinctive cultic
garb; see Dix, Shape of the Liturgy, 398-410.
23- The distinct elements were in the process of being joined perhaps as early as the late
second century but are fully displayed as uni fed liturgies in the fourth and ffh cen
turies; see F. C. Senn, Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical ( Minneapol is:
Fortress, 1997), 73-145; Dix, Shape of the Liturgy, 410-436; Jungmann, The Early
Liturgy, 122-151.
24. For the development of stational l iturgies i n Rome and Jerusalem, which i nvolved
lengthy processions between the churches of a city, see J. F. Baldovin, S. J. , The
Urban Character of Christian Worship: The Origin, Development, and Meaning of
Stational Liturgy (Orientali a Christiana Analecta 228; Rome: Pont. Institutum Stu
diorum Orientali um, 1987).
25. Among the churches in Rome that displaced pagan temples are Sai nts Cosmas and
Damian (sixth century, replacing a fourth-century temple to Romulus); Santa Maria
Nova (replacing the temple of Venus and Mars); Santa Maria Sopra Mi nerva (a
ffth-century replacement of the temple of Mi nerva); and, most i mpressively, the
seventh-century dedication of Santa Maria ad Martyres i n the temple called the
Pantheon.
26. Dix, Shape of the Liturgy, 335-369; Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, 253-263; L.
Bouyer, Liturgical Piety (University of Notre Dame Liturgical Studies 1; Notre Dame,
IN: Notre Dame University Press, 1954), 185-199.
27. Note the unabashed language of "the mysteries" used by Cyril ofJerusalem (315-387)
i n the fve Mystagogic Cathecheses he devoted to the ritual of i nitiation for the newly
baptized, and the instructions concerni ng the instruction of the catechumens i n the
mystical meaning of rites i n the late fourth-century (ca. 350-380) Apostolic Constitu
tions, 7. 39-44 (probably of Syrian provenance). Jungmann discusses the appropria
tion of this language in the fourth century in hi s chapter "Pagan and Christian
Mysteries," i n The Early Liturgy, 152-163. For the language of disciplina arcana, see
Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, 159, and F. van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop: The
Life and Work of a Father of the Church, trans. B. Battershaw and C. R. Lamb ( Lon
don: Sheed and Ward, 1961), 354, 359, 374
28. Bouyer, Liturgical Piety, 200-214; Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, 266-277. The late
fourth-century Apostolic Constitutions has extensive i nstructions concerning Sunday
(7.30), the celebration of feast days ( 5. 13), Holy Week ( 5. 14-20), and times of daily
prayer (7. 47).
29. Already i n the Martyrdom of Polycarp, 18, the saint's devotees gather his bones as sa
cred rel ics and meet on his "bi rthday"-the anniversary of his martyrdom-in his
honor.
39
1
30. In hi s Catechetical Lecture, 23. 9, Cyril of Jerusalem speaks of the commemoration at
the Eucharist of "those who have fallen asleep before us, frst Patriarchs, Prophets,
Apostles, Martyrs, that at their prayers and intercessions God . would receive our
petition. "
31. Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, 175-187; Bouyer, Liturgical Piety, 215-228.
32. The "Litany of the Sai nts," which invokes the prayer of the holy ones, is attested in
the East already in the third century and i n the West from the ffh century.
33. For the historical roots of the sacraments, see B. Cooke, Ministry to Word and Sacra
ments: History and Theology ( Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976).
34. See Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, 29-86; for discussion of scholarly inqui ries i nto
these rituals, see P. F. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship:
Sources and Methods for the Study of Early Liturgy ( New York: Oxford University
Press, 1992), 131-184.
35 Dix, Shape of the Liturgy, 83, 260, 339; See also A. Kavanagh, The Shape of Baptism:
The Rite of Christian Intitiation (Studies in the Reformed Rites of the Church 1; Col
legeville, MN: Liturgical, 1991).
36. These offces are attested as early as 251 in a letter of the bishop of Rome Cornelius to
Fabian of Antioch. According to Eusebius (HE, 6. 43- 1 1), the church at Rome in the
mid-third century had 46 presbyters, 7 deacons, 7 subdeacons, 42 acolytes, and 52
exorcists, lectors, and doorkeepers.
37. See Jungmann, The Early Liturgy, 240-252. The most famous example is that re
counted by Sozomen in his Historia Ecclesiastica, 7. 25. Ambrose of Milan refused to
allow Theodosius I access to his church because of his bloody deeds and "excommu
nicated hi m." Sozomen reports that "Theodosius publicly confessed his sin in the
church, and during the time set apart for penance, refrained from wearing his impe
rial ornaments, according to the usage of mourners."
38. James 5: 3-16 is the classic text supporting the anointing of the sick; see F. W. Puller,
The Anointing of the Sick in Scripture and Tradition, with Some Considerations on the
Numbering of the Sacraments, 2nd rev. ed. (London: SPCK, 1910). On marriage, see
E. Schillebeeckx, Marriage: Human Reality and Saving Mystery, trans. N. D. Smith
(New York: Sheed and Ward, 1965).
39. See the famous evocation of theological chatter among artisans and shopkeepers in
Gregory Nazianzen, First Theological Oration: Against the Eunomians, 1-2. Regard
ing singing hymns in the streets, Sozomen (HE, 8. 8) reports on the competing hymn
writing of the Arians and the orthodox under John in Constantinople: "The ortho
dox became more distinguished, and in a short time surpassed the opposing heretics
in number and processions; for they had silver crosses and lighted tapers borne be
fore them. " Such public demonstrations could also be violent. The most notorious
example is the riot of the 500 monks from Nitria in defense of Cyril against the gov
ernor of Alexandria (Socrates, HE, 7. 14).
40. Van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, 498-526. See the extensive discussion of the
cult of the martyrs in North Africa i n the time of Augustine by van der Meer,
Augustine the Bishop, 471-497; and P. R. L. Brown, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise
and Function in Latin Christianity (Chi cago: University of Chi cago Press, 1981). A
shrine to house a martyr's rel ics is known as a martyrion; see A. Graber, Martyr
ium: Recherches sur Ie culte des reliques et [ 'art chretien antique, 2 vol s. (College
de France: Fondation Schlumberger pour les etudes Byzantines; Pari s: Album,
1943)
41. The legend of the fnding of the cross by Helena, Constanti ne's mother, is provided
by Sozomen, HE, 2. 1-2. I n his Life of Constantine, 3. 42-43, Eusebius mentions
only her pious visit to Jerusalem to "render due reverence to the ground which the
Saviour's feet had trodden" and that she had a church built on the Mount of
Olives.
42. For an appreciation, see W. Harmless, S. J. , Desert Christians: An Introduction to the
Literature of Early Monasticism ( New York: Oxford University Press, 2004); and
P. Brown, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity," in his Society
and the Holy in Late Antiquity ( Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), 103-
152.
43- Athanasius, Life of Antony, 2-4
44. "And so, from then on, there were monasteries i n the mountains and the desert was
made a city by monks, who left their own people and registered themselves for the
citizenship in the heavens"; Life of Antony, 14. I use the translation by R. C. Gregg
of Life of AntonylAthanasius (Classics of Western Spiritual ity; New York: Paulist,
1980), 42-43. On the search for more remote places of solitude, see Life of Antony,
47-50.
45. Athanasius makes clear, indeed, that he intends hi s account to have an exemplary
value (Life of Antony, 93-94). For a full treatment, see D. J. Chitty, The Desert a City:
An Introduction to the Study of Egyptian and Palestinian Monasticism under the
Christian Empire (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1999).
46. See H. Waddell, The Desert Fathers (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1957
[1936) ).
47. Palladius was born circa 363 and wrote his hi story of the monks circa 429. Its odd
name comes from the fact that it is addressed to Lausus, the Royal Chamberl ai n. Pal
lad ius tells us in the prologue that when he undertook his research, he was in "the
twenty-third year of my being i n the company of the brethren and of my own solitary
li fe, my twentieth as a bishop, and the ffty-sixth year of my life as a whole." He gives
an account of male and female anchorites whom he had seen or heard about "in the
Egyptian desert and Libya, in the Thebaid and Syene . . . the Tabennesiotes, and
those i n Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Syria, and in the West, those in Rome and
Campani a, and points near by" ( Prol . , 2). See Palladius: The Lausiac History, trans
lated and annotated by R. T Meyer (Ancient Christian Writers 34; New York: New
man, 1964). A si mi lar account of the monks in Syria is provided by Theodoret of
Cyrrhus (393-466) in A History of the Monks of Syria, translated with an introduction
and notes by R. M. Price (Cistercian Studies 88; Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publica
tions, 1985).
48. Thus, the opening sections deal respectively with Isidore of Alexandria (1), Doro
theus of Thebes (2), the slave girl Potmaiaena (3), Didymyus the Blind of Alexandria
393
(4), and the slave girl Alexandra who l ived in a tomb (5). Even when the section is
more general-as in "the Monks of Nitria" (7) or "the Women's Monastery" (33)-the
focus remains on the works and deeds of individual ascetics.
49. Lausiac History, 47. Melania was a Spanish woman of wealth who was the daughter
of a consul and the wife of a man of high rank. She sold her possessions for gold and
traveled to the desert to visit the monks. She was i mprisoned by the consul of Pales
tine who sought to blackmai l her, but when she declared her social l i neage-"I am
so-and-so's daughter and so-and-so's wi fe. I am Christ's slave. Pray do not look upon
my shabby clothes, for I could make more of myself if I would. I have made this clear
to you so that you may not fall under legal charges [for imprisoning a freewoman]
without knowing the reason"-she is i mmediately released and treated with honor
(47. 4). She subsequently had a monastery built for women i n Jerusalem and served as
a fnancial patron to the church (47. 5-6).
50. An admiring portrait of Evagrius as the di sciple of two desert monks named Mac
arius, together with a substantial quotation from hi s works, i s provided by Socrates,
HE, 4. 23; for his ascetical writings, see Evagrius Ponticus: The Praktikos and Chap
ters on Prayer, translated with an introduction and notes by J. E. Bamberger, OCSO
(Cistercian Studies Series 4; Kalamazoo, MI: Cisterci an Publ ications, 1981).
51. The precise title of the fragmentary narrative is a matter of some debate; see the dis
cussion by G. E. Gingras, Egeria: Diary of a Pilgrimage (Ancient Christian Writers
38; New York: Newman, 1970), I-H.
52. Itinerarium, 28-40; Egeria's account is detailed and shows how much developed was
the liturgy of Holy Week and how much centered in the actual places where the last
days of Jesus' l i fe were thought to have occurred.
53. Thus, when they reach the summit of Mt. Sinai and the church located there, they
are greeted by a monk-priest assigned to the place and all the other monks residing
there. No one l ived at the very summit "for there is nothing there save the church
alone and the cave where the holy man Moses was. All of the proper passage from the
Book of Moses was read, the sacrifce was offered in the prescribed manner, and we
received communion" (Itinerarium, 3). Similarly, when they reach the cave of Elij ah
on Mt. Horeb, "we offered a sacrifce there, and recited a very fervent prayer, and the
proper passage was read from the Book of Kings. For this was always very much our
custom, that whenever we should come to places that I had desired to visit, the proper
passage from Scripture would be read" (Itinerarium, 4).
54. Thus, Pausanius' lengthy treatment of Delphi, i n Description of Greece, 10. 5-32, in
terweaves physical description of the site with stories associated with each aspect of
the shrine.
55. Actually, her destination was Seleucia of Isauria: "Since the shrine of St. Thecla is
located a three day journey from Tarsus, in Isauria, it was a great pleasure for me to
go there, particularly since it was so near at hand" (Itinerarium, 22). The shrine of
Thecla was located some 1, 500 feet from the city, with a church and "countless mo
nastic cells for men and women." Egeria follows the pattern of piety practiced at
the biblical sites: "Having arrived there in the name of God, a prayer was said at the
394
3
shrine and the complete Acts of Saint Thecla was read. I then gave unceasing thanks
to Christ our God, who granted to me, an unworthy woman and in no way deserving,
the fulfllment of my desires in all things" (23). One could hardly ask for a purer ex
pression of Religiousness A.
56. Thus, the Protevangelium of James was translated i nto Syriac, Ethiopic, Georgian,
Sahidic, Old Church Slavonic, Armeni an, and probably into Lati n. The Acts of
Andrew is attested by Greek and Coptic manuscripts, and the narrative deal i ng with
the martyrdom i s found i n several Byzantine Greek versions, Lati n, and Armeni an.
See J. K. Ell iott, The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Chris
tian Literature in an English Translation (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 48-49, 231-235.
Si mi lar attestation i s found i n the case of the other compositions I di scuss i n Chap
ter 12.
57. Ell iott, Apocryphal New Testament, 512-533, takes note of compositions dated be
tween the fourth and sixth centuries devoted to Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Barnabas, Xanthippe and Polyxena, James the Greater, and James the Lesser.
The second- and third-century i nfancy gospels are extended and developed in
compositions such as The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, The Arabic Infancy Gospel, Ar
undel Manuscript 404, and The History of Joseph the Carpenter (El liott, Apocryphal
New Testament, 84-122).
Stories focusing on mi nor characters include The Gospel of Gamaliel and The
Gospel of Nicodemus (or Acts of Pilate). There is, in fact, an extensive collection of
compositions dedicated to the fgure of Pontius Pilate (see Ell iott, Apocryphal New
Testament, 164-225).
58. Eusebius (HE, 6. 43. 11) tells us that the church in Rome in the mid-third century
provided resources for over 1, 500 widows and persons in distress. The Apostolic Con
stitutions has extensive instructions concerning the support of widows (8.25) and the
poor (4. 1-10).
59. In addition to its i nstructions concerning the character of the bishop (2.7), the Apos
tolic Constitutions has extensive discussions of deacons and deaconesses ( 3- 15) and
instructions for the ordination of bishops (8. 3-5), presbyters (8.16), deacons (8. 17),
deaconesses (8. 19-20), subdeacons (8. 21), readers (8. 22), confessors (8.23), virgins
(8. 24), widows (8. 25), and exorcists (8. 26). Equally interesting, it forbids laypeople to
engage in any of the activities restricted to the hierarchy (3. 10).
60. See the di scussion in van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, 79-116.
61. To take only the extraordinary career of Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria who
was the great champion of the Nicene formula, Socrates in his Historia Ecclesiastica
reports that Athanasius was threatened by Constantine (1. 27) and then banished to
Gaul by the emperor (1. 35), recalled by Constantine the younger but then banished a
second time (2. 2), restored to hi s see by Constantius (2. 23) but then sentenced to
death by the same emperor (2. 26), restored to his episcopacy by Julian (3- 4) but then
sentenced to death by the same emperor ( 3- 13), and fnally restored under Con
stans (4.13). What runs through this bizarre sequence of events is Athanasius' rabid
championing of his theological position and his own bare-knuckle approach to im-
395
posing it, coming into confict or agreement with the vacillating views of successive
emperors.
62. See A. Faivre, "Naissance d'une hierarchie: Les premieres etapes. du cursus clerical,"
Theologie Historique 40 (1977) : 47-67.
63- Such problems in the clergy, though, scarcely began with Constantine. In his treatise
On the Lapsed, 6, Cyprian of Carthage declared i n the third century that in the face
of persecution, "not a few bishops who ought to furnish both exhortation and exam
ple to others, despising their divine charge, became agents i n secular business, for
sook their throne, deserted their people, wandered about over foreign provinces,
hunted the market for gai nful merchandise, while brethren were starving in the
church. They sought to possess money in hoards, they seized estates by crafy deceits,
they i ncreased their gains by multiplying usuries. " In Rome at the same period, the
deacon Nicostratus stole church revenues and refused to give up the deposits of wid
ows and orphans (Cyprian, Letter, 50). See also the account Eusebius (HE, 7. 30) gives
of the charges made agai nst Paul , the bishop of Antioch, in a letter written by the
synod of bishops (ca. 269) that deposed hi m: "although formerly destitute and poor,
and having received no wealth from his fathers, nor made anything by trade or busi
ness, he now possesses abundant wealth through his i niquities and sacrilegious acts,
and through those things which he extorts from the brethren" (7. 30.7). See also
the charges of fraud made against Call istus of Rome by Hippolytus, Refutation of All
Heresies, 9. 6.
64. See Chapter 15
65. Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 4. 24.
66. See, e. g. , such sermons of Basil as "Against the Rich" (Patrologiae Craecae, 31. 278-
304), "Cod Not the Cause of Evil " (31. 329-354), "On Envy" (31. 371-386), "Concern
ing Anger" (31. 353-371), and "On Drunkenness" (31. 413-464). Each could be matched
by treatises on the same topoi by Creco-Roman moralists.
67. The designation i s common, as in the two volumes i n the magisterial study of patris
tic literature by Johannes Quasten, Patrlogy (Westminster, MD: Christian Classics,
1986): the third volume is subtitled The Colden Age of Creek Patristic Literature and
the fourth volume is subtitled The Colden Age of Latin Patristic Literature.
68. Taki ng only the major orthodox fgures among the Creeks, see Athanasius, The
Discourses against the Arians (PC, 26. 12-468) and Apology against the Arians (PC,
25. 595-642); Cyril of Alexandria, Treasury Concerning the Holy and Consubstantial
Trinity (PC, 75. 9-565 and 75. 657-1124), Against the Blasphemies of Nestorius (PC,
76. 9-248), On the Right Faith (PC, 76. 1133-1200), and Twelve Anathemas against
Nestorius (PC, 76. 315-385); Basil of Caesarea, Against Eunomius (PC, 29. 497-669);
Cregory of Nazianzus, Theological Orations (PC, 36); Cregory of Nyssa, Against
Eunomius (PC, 45. 237-1122), Against Apollonarians (PC, 45. 1269-1278), Against
Apollonarius (PC, 45. 1123-127), and On the Holy Spirit against the Macedonians
Who Are against the Spirit (PC, 45. 1301-1334). On the Latin side, in addition to hi s
astonishing labors in scriptural translation and interpretation, Jerome composed
Against the Luciferians (Patrologiae Latine (PL), 23- 155-182), Against Helvidius (PL,
2P83-206), Against Jovinian (PL, 23- 211-338), Against John of Jerusalem (PL, 23 355-
397), Against the Books of Rufnus (PL, 23- 397-492), Against Vigilantius (PL, 23- 339-
352), and Against the Pelagians (PL, 23, 495-590). No one matches the polemical
labors of Augustine, who composed fully 9 compositions against the Manichaeans,
21 agai nst the Donatists, 1 5 against the Pelagians, 3 against Arians, and 4 against
other heresies. For Augustine's perception of his antiheretical work as maintai ni ng
the healthy boundaries of the church, see van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, 125-
128.
69. For some of the cultural, political, and i ntensely personal rivalry that went into these
theological debates, see W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Mi nneapolis: For
tress, 1984); H. C. Kee et aI. , Christianity: A Social and Cultural History ( New York:
Macmillan, 1991); C. L. Prestige, Fathers and Heretics: Six Studies in Dogmatic Faith
with Prlogue and Epilogue ( London: SPCK, 1963)'
70. In the late fourth century, the Apostolic Constitutions, 8. 1, systematically downplays
the signifcance of the gifts that excite Rel igiousness A. In the early ffth century,
John Chrysostom confesses bewilderment concerning Paul 's statements in 1 Corin
thians 14 concerning speaking in tongues: "This whole passage is very obscure; but the
obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation,
being such as used to occur, but no longer take place" (Homilies on First Corinthians,
29, 32, 35) . Similarly, Augustine in the same period dismisses the signifcance of glos
solalia as a special dispensation of the primitive church, no longer of pertinence to
the church in his day (Augustine, Homilies on First John, 6. 10; see also On Baptism
against the Donatists, p8). For Augustine's nuanced approach to the mi raculous
generally, see van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, 527-557.
71. Thus, councils were not content with refni ng the rule of faith (creed); in their can
ons, they went into considerable detail concerning the correct i nterpretation of the
creed, together with statements of excommunication (anathema sit) for those holding
any other i nterpretation. See, e. g. , the selection provided by H. Denzi ger and
A. Schon metzer, Enchiridion Symbolorum Defnitionum et Declarationum de Rebus
Fidei et Morum, 33rd ed. ( Rome: Herder, 1964), for Nicaea (53-54), Constantinople I
(65-67), Ephesus (92-97), and Chalcedon (105-109), as well as the regional councils
at Carthage in 418 (82-84) and Toledo in 400 (75-76).
72. See J. Pel ikan, Christianity and Classical Culture: The Metamorphosis of Natural
Theology in the Christian Encounter with Hellenism ( New Haven, CT: Yale Univer
sity Press, 1993)'
For the specifcally theological aspects of these debates, see J. N. D. Kelly, Early
Christian Doctrine (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1960), 223-243; C. L. Prestige, Cod
in Patristic Thought (London: SPCK, 1912); F. M. Young, Frm Nicaea to Chalcedon: A
Guide to the Literature and Its Background ( London: SCM Press, 1983); A. Crill meier,
Christ in Christian Tradition: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451), trans. J. Bowden
(Atlanta: John Knox, 1975); L. Ayres, Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Apprach to Fourth
Century Trinitarian Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
73. Despite the assertions of Socrates, HE, 4. 26 and 6. 3, l ittle evidence supports the
position that Basil, Chrysostom, and other bishops were students of the great Liban-
397
ius; see P. Petit, Les Etudiants de Libanius ( Paris: Nouvelles
E
ditions Latines, 1957),
40-41.
74. Jerome, Letter, 22. 30.
75. I n North Africa, both Tertullian (160-225) and Cyprian (d. 258) had a rhetorical
education before their conversion and brought their skills in argumentation to
theology.
76. Rejecting the notion of the "hellenization of Christianity," Robert Louis Wilcken
argues that "a more apt expression would be the Christianization of Hellenism,
though that phrase does not capture the original ity of Christian thought nor the
debt owed to Jewish ways of thinking and to the Jewish Bible. Neither does it ac
knowledge the good and right qualities of Hellenic thinking that Christians recog
ni zed as valuable, for example, moral l i fe understood in terms of the virtues. At the
same time, one observes agai n and again that Christian thinking, while working
within patterns of thought and conceptions rooted in Greco-Roman culture, trans
formed them so profoundly that in the end something quite new came into being."
See The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God (New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press, 203), xvi-xvi i .
77. See the ancient biographical sketches of the Holy and Blessed Teacher Syncletica,
the Ethiopian Moses, and Paul the Hermit, translated and annotated in Ascetic Be
havior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook, ed. V L. Wimbush (Studies in An
tiquity and Christianity; Mi nneapol i s: Fortress, 1990); as well as the collection of
source material in W. Harmless, S. J. , Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Litera
ture of Early Monasticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
78. Pachomius' l i fe and work are briefy depicted in Sozomen, HE, 3- 14; i n Palladius,
Lausiac History, 32; and more fully i n a Life of Pachomius, extant, with some varia
tions, in Greek and Coptic. For the translation of a short segment of the Coptic
version dealing with the experience of a single monk (Theodore) who associated
hi mself with Pachomius, see "Theodore's Entry into the Pachomian Movement,"
i ntroduced and translated by J. E. Goehring, in Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman
Antiquity, 349-356.
79. The rule was composed in Coptic, of whi ch only fragments survive; it i s extant in
full only in the Latin translation by Jerome (PL, 23. 61-99); for all the evidence, see
A. Veilleux, trans. , Pachomian Koinonia: The Life, Rules, and Other Writings of Saint
Pachomius and His Disciples, 2 vols. (Cistercian Studies 45 and 46; Kalamazoo, MI :
Cistercian, 1980-1981).
80. See P. H. Rousseau, Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth-Century
Egypt (Transformation of Classical Heritage 6; Berkeley: University of California Press,
1985).
81. I do not mean to suggest that coenobitism replaced other expressions of monasticism;
both in the East and the West, the tradition of wandering ascetics and of anchorites
(hermits) continued, most spectacularly, perhaps, i n the Stylites (pillar-sitters) of the
East, who saw Si meon Stylites (390-459) as their model, and in the West, in the
fourteenth-century mystics l ike Julian of Norwich and Richard Rolle of Hampole,
who were enclosed within the walls of churches.
82. For my discussion of these Jewish antecedents, see Chapter 8.
83- Of Greek-speaking bi shops of the fourth and ffth centuries, it can be confdently
asserted that 12 were monks or hermits before or during their episcopacy: Serapion of
Thmuis, Cyril of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzen, Gregory of
Nyssa, Amphilochius of Iconium, Epiphanius of Salamis, Diodore of Tarsus, Theo
dore of Mopsuestia, John Chrysostom, Milus of Ancyra, and Nestorius. Among
Latin-speaking bishops, Paulinus of Nola, Augustine of Hippo, Eucherius of Lyons,
Hilary of ArIes, Honoratus of ArIes, Salon ius of Geneva, and Salvian of Marseilles
had signifcant personal involvement with the monastic l i fe. In his letter to Dracon
tius i n 354 (PC, 25, 523-534), Athanasius asserts that many monks had already i n his
time become bishops. It should also be remembered that the two great compilers of
monastic lore ( Palladius and Theodoret) were themselves bishops who had experi
enced the monastic l i fe.
84. Athanasius wrote frequently to the monks of Egypt, and we have letters to monks
also from Serapion, Cyril, and Nilus of Ancyra. Many more were undoubtedly writ
ten. Such episcopal oversight was not always positive: Theophilus, archbishop of
Alexandria from 385 to 412, purged the monks of Nitria, especially the four "long
brothers" who were enthusiastic followers of Origen.
85. The frst is called in Latin Regulae fusius tractatae, or "Detailed Rules," and consists of
55 chapters; the second is called in Latin Regulae brevius tractatae, or "Short Rules,"
and consists of 313 short chapters. Neither version is extant in its original Greek, but
emended versions have formed the basis of monastic life in the East. Quasten, Patrol
ogy, 30 212-213.
86. The Regula ad servos Dei ( Letter 211) may also have been i ntended for the frst com
munity of men at Hippo. Augustine also composed De Opere Monachorum Liber I
("On the Work of Monks," PL, 4, 547-582) for monks in Carthage, in which he
stressed the need for monks to engage in manual labor; see Quasten, Patrology,
4' 375-376.
87. On Cassian, see O. Chadwick, John Cassian: A Study in Primitive Monasticism
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1950), and P. Rousseau, Ascetics, Author
ity, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1978).
88. He deal s with the dress of monks (Institutes of the Coenobia, book 1), as well as
assorted other rules ( book 4), but spends much more time than Pachomius on the
ordering of prayer i n the community ( books 2-3). Cassian provides extensive discus
sions of the spirit of gluttony (Institutes, book 4), fornication (6), covetousness (7),
anger (8), dejection (9), accidie (10), vainglory (11), and pride (12). Note that the se
quence goes from the most obvious physical temptations to the most subtle spiritual
ones.
89. The Conferences fall into three major parts, with 24 homilies in all; each of the ser
mons is, in turn, divided into multiple headi ngs. Thus, Abbot Nesteros' frst confer
ence on spiritual knowledge (book 14) considers the topic under 19 distinct
headings.
Notes to Page 267 399
90. The opening exchange between John Cassian and Abbot Moses in The First Con
ference of Abbot Moses is revealing. The abbot asks Cassian about the goal sought by
the monk in terms that would have ft well in the mouth of Plato's Socrates (2), and
he cleverly responds that "we endured all for the sake of the ki ngdom of heaven" (3).
The Abbot pushes the disciple to think about the connection between end and
means: in order to be in the kingdom of heaven, one must have purity of heart, and
that requires the practice of asceticism (4).
The psychological acuity found in Cassian's discussion of accidie-the afiction of
"the noon-day devi l" that combines boredom, restlessness, and depression (Insti
tutes, 1O)-is universally recognized by those who have l ived the monastic l i fe or, for
that matter, experienced a "mid-life crisis. "
91. Cassian uses the entire canon of scripture, but what is particularly i mpressive is the
way he uses texts. In his discussion of accidie in Institutes, 10, e.g., he carries out a
close reading of Paul 's frst and second letters to the Thessalonians to show how the
apostle addresses the issue and recommends the practice of working with the hands
as a remedy for boredom and restlessness (10.7-13).
92. The major critical issue concerning the Rule (ca. 530-540) is its relation to an anony
mous, much longer, monastic rule called the Regula Magistri. I follow the j udgment
(and use the translation) of J. McCann that this composition is later and makes ex
tensive use of Benedict's rule. See The Rule of Saint Benedict, edited and translated
by J. McCann (Westminster, MD: Newman, 1952), xix-xxi ; see also B. Steidle,
D. S. B. , The Rule of Benedict, with an introduction and commentary ( Beuron, Ger
many: Beuroner Kunstverlag, 1952).
93. The phrase ora et labora i s not found i n the Rule but is widely understood as defning
the distinctive way of Benedictine monasticism. The spirit of the phrase is seen in the
use of opus dei ("work of God") with reference to prayer as well as to other labors (RB,
7) and the instruction that the cellarer should "look upon all the utensils of the mon
astery and its whole property as upon the sacred vessels ofthe altar" (31). There is actu
ally more attention given by the RB to prayer (chapters 8-20, 47, 49) than to work
(32, 35, 48, 57). The more i mpressive feature of the Rule is the care taken with respect
to leadership (2, 3, 21, 31, 62-66) and correction of faults (23-30, 43-46). A distinct
humane spirit runs through all these discussions. The constitutional genius of Bene
dict i s shown by the way he balances the authority of the abbot (2), the council of
monks (3), and the rule itself (prologue).
94. Monks are to wear the clothes worn by the locals in the area they live (RB, 55), their
food is to be generous without leading to gluttony (39), and they are to be allowed a
small amount of wine each day (40). In all these issues, Benedict sets the bar low, so
that the stronger have the opportunity to do more, while the weak are not driven
away.
95. The role of humi lity and obedience are fundamental : Benedict calls monks to
"freely accept and faithfully fulfll the instructions of a loving father, that by the la
bor of obedience thou mayest return to him from whom thou hast strayed by the
sloth of disobedience" (RB, prologue). See the heart of Benedictine spiritual ity in
faa Notes to Page 268
RB, 4 ("The Tools of Good Works"), 5 ("Of Obedience"), 6 ("Of Si lence"), and 7
("Of Humi lity").
Although far more succinct than Cassian, the Rule reveals psychological insight
into the dynamics of life together, as in its repeated warning against "murmuring";
Benedict ends his instructions concerning the distribution of goods with these words:
''bove all, let not the vice of murmuring show itself in any word or sign, for any rea
son whatever. But if a brother be found guilty of it, let him undergo strict punish
ment" (34). And concerning the measure of drink, when circumstances do not allow
a ration of wine, "let the monks who dwell there bless God and not murmur. Above
all things do we give this admonition, that they abstain form murmuring" (40).
96. RB, prologue. He begins this section by stating, "therefore we must establish a
school of the Lord's service."
97. Benedict did not recommend extensive reading to his monks, although RB, 73,
recommends the thorough reading of the Old and New Testaments, the "holy catho
lic fathers," the wisdom of the desert fathers, and the earlier writers of monastic rules,
such as Basil and Cassian. Out of such simple instructions grew the monastic culture
that has aptly been called by J. LeClerq The Love of Learning and the Desire for God:
A Study of Monastic Culture (2nd rev. ed. , trans. C. Misrahi [New York: Fordham
University Press, 1974]) and that ulti mately provided the basis for the great universities
within which humane learning was not only preserved but celebrated and advanced.
By alluding i n both chapters to Acts 4: 32-35, which describes the primitive com
munity possessions in the Jerusalem church, Benedict consciously evokes the un
derstanding of the monastery as "apostol ic Christianity."
Note that degrees of excommunication involve separation from the common ta
ble, with the monk under discipline forced to eat by himself (RB, 24-25).
98. When received into the community after a period of probation, the monk promises
obedience, stability, and conversatio morum (RB, 58). The term's precise meaning is
debated since it is sometimes used as if it meant "continual conversion" (see RB,
prologue and 1). But it can also mean "manner of l ife."
For the New Testament's use of anastrphe as "manner of life" (in the moral sense),
see Gal 1: 13; Eph 4:22; 1 Tim 4:12; James 3= 13; 1 Pet 1: 15, 18; 2:12; 3= 1, 2, 16.
99. The discussion of "reading, refecting, and praying" in the fourteenth-century
anonymous mystical tractate The Cloud of Unknowing, 35, succinctly expresses the
organi c character of lectio.
100. Gregory the Great was a monk from 574 and was bishop of Rome ( 590-604). Hi s
Dialogue, 2, i s a l i fe of Benedict that portrays hi m as a prophetic fgure i n l i ne
with Moses and Eli j ah, a mystic as wel l as a monastic founder. Gregory put the
weight of the newly powerful papal offce behind the expansion of Benedictine
monachism.
Gregory's Expositio in Librum Job, sive Moralia Libri XXXV (PL, 76.749-782)
carri ed forward for medieval Chri sti anity the tradition (from Phi l o through
Ori gen and Nyssa) of readi ng scripture in a threefold manner: l iteral , moral, and
al legori cal.
101. See G. Widengren, Mani and Manichaeism, rev. ed. , trans. C. Kessler ( London:
Weienfeld and Nicholson, 1955).
102. See S. N. C. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China: A
Historical Survey (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), as well as I .
Gardner and S. N. C. Lieu, Manichaean Texts frm the Roman Empire (Cambridge:
103- In Manichaean texts, Jesus is considered under the designations "the Luminous,"
"the Messiah," and "Patibil is"; see Lieu, Manichaeism, 161-162, as well as the texts
presented by H.-J. Klimkeit in Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central
Asia (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993), 63-75 '
104. See, e. g. , Augustine, Against Faustus the Manichaean, 11. 1-8.
105. On the syncretistic impulse i n Manichaeism, see the studies i n P. Bryder, ed. , Man
ichaean Studies: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Manichaeism
( Lund Studies in African and Asian Religions 1; Lund: Lund University Press, 1988),
and P. Mi recki and J. Beduhn, eds. , The Light and the Darkness: Studies in Man
ichaeism and Its World ( Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 50; Leiden: Brill,
2001).
Jason Beduhn shows how the ritual action of eating and the "metaboli sm of salva
tion" l i nk all forms of Manichaeism, which otherwise display considerable variety at
the level of myth; see The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual ( Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000).
106. See the essays i n J. van Oort, 0. Wermeli nger, and G. Wurst, Augustine and Man
ichaeism in the West: Proceedings of the Fribourg- Utrecht International Symposium
of the International Association of Manichaean Studies (Nag Hammadi and Man
ichaean Studies 49; Leiden: Brill, 2001).
107. Augustine, Confessions, 3. 6-5. 11.
108. PL, 42. 207-518; see also On the Morls of the Catholic Church and Manichaean Mor
als, 2 books (PL, 32. 1309-1378); Concerning Two Souls (PL, 42. 93-112); Against Adim
antus, a Disciple of Mani (PL, 42. 129-172); Debate with Felix the Manichee (PL,
42. 519-522); Debate with Fortunatus the Manichee (PL, 42. m-130); On the Nature
of the Good (PL, 42. 551-572); and Against Secundinus the Manichee (PL,
42. 577-602) .
109. See P. L. Reynolds, Marriage in the Western Church: The Christianization of Mar
riage during the Patristic and Early Medieval Periods (Leiden: Brill Academic Pub
l ishers, 2001).
110. See D. Obolensky, The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo-Manichaeism (Twicken
ham: A. C. Hall, 1972 [1942] ).
111. See M. D. Lambert, The Cathars (Oxford: Blackwell , 1998), and M. Barker, The
Cathars: Dualist Heretics in the High Middle Ages ( New York: Longman, 2000).
112. On the Albigensians, see H. J. Warner, The Albigensian Heresy, 2 vols. ( New York:
Russell and Russell, 1967 [1922-1928] ). On the Albigensians and the organi zed effort
to extirpate the virus of Gnosticism from Christianity, see M. D. Costen, The Ca
thars and the Albigensian Crusades ( New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997), and M.
Notes to Page 270
Pegg, A Most Holy War: The Albigensian Crusade and the Battle for Christendom
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
113. Palladius, Lausiac History, 55. 3, reports of a woman ascetic named Silvania that "she
was most erudite and fond of l iterature, and she turned night into day going through
every writing of the ancient commentators-three mi llion lines of Origen and two
and a half million l ines of Gregory, Stephen, Pieri us, Basil, and other worthy men . . . .
Thus it was possible for her to be liberated from 'knowledge falsely so called.' "
For ascetics' reputation for knowing all of scripture, see Lausiac History, 11. 4;
32. 12; 37. 2; 47. 3; 58. 1; for the special place of the Psalms, see 22. 6-8; 26 3; 32. 6; 430 2-3;
48. 2. I n Athanasius' Letter to Marcellinus, he instructs the deacon of the city of Alex
andria in the i nterpretation of the Psalms, since that young man had undertaken to
understand the meaning of each one (PG, 27. 11-46). That the constant recitation of
the Psalms was considered normal is shown by the offhand remark of Benedict: "For
those monks show themselves very slothful in their sacred service, who in the course
of a week sing less than the psalter and the customary canticles, whereas we read that
our holy fathers strenuously ful flled in a si ngle day what I pray we lukewarm monks
may perform i n a whole week" (RB, 18).
114 See Athanasius, Life of Antony, 46, 79, 90.
115. It would be i mpossible for a Gnostic to "sin against the fesh," for the fesh was itself
the source of evil ; see Lausiac History, 11.4; 44. 2; 55. 2; for demonic temptation, see
16 3-5; 35. 8; 38. 11; 47 13; 71. 1.
116. For a survey, see B. M. McGi nn and J. Meyedorff, Christian Spirituality: Origins to
the Twelfth Century (World Spirituality 16; New York: Crossroad, 1985).
117. On Origen, see hi s Commentary on the Song of Songs and his Homilies on Numbers;
see Origen, translation and introduction by R. A. Greer (Classics of Western Spiritu
al ity; New York: Paul ist, 1979). On Gregory of Nyssa, see above all his Life of Moses;
see Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, translation, introduction, and notes by A. J.
Malherbe and E. Ferguson (Classics of Western Spiritual ity; New York: Paul ist,
1978). See Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works, trans. C. Luibheid (Classics of
Western Spirituality; New York: Paulist, 1987).
118. For the apophatic way, see Pseudo-Dionysius, The Divine Names, 1. 1-2; 5. 3-4; The
Mystical Theology, 1-3; for divinization of the human nature through Christ as the
premise to approaching God, see Pseudo-Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy, 1. 4-5;
Gregory Palamas, The Triads, 1. 3.4-23; 11. 2. 11-12; 11. 3. 8-16; and J. Gross, The Divini
zation of the Christian according to the Greek Fathers, trans. P. A. Onica (Anaheim,
CA: A. & C. Press, 2002).
119. See the classic display of the sequence in the 30 stages described by John Cli macus,
The Ladder of Divine Ascent: the frst 26 rungs of the ladder are the stages of asceti
cism; only the last three stages deal expl icitly with contemplation (stillness, prayer,
dispassion), and the fnal rung is "faith, hope, love."
120. Of particular i mportance for ensuring the orthodox character of Eastern mysti
cism was the fourth-century teacher Pseudo-Macari us and the seventh-century
theologi an Maxi mus the Confessor; for the fi rst, see Pseudo-Macarius, trans.
Notes to Pages 2702
73
G. A. Maloney (Classics of Western Spiritual ity; New York: Paul i st, 1992); and for
the second, see Maximus Confessor, trans. G. A. Berthold (Classics of Western
Spiritual ity; New York: Paul ist, 1985).
121. John of Damascus, On the Divine Images: Three Apologies against Those Who Attack
the Holy Images, trans. D. Anderson (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladi mi r's Seminary Press,
1980).
122. For a survey, see B. McGinn, The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian
Mysticism, 4 vols. (New York: Crossroad, 1992-205).
123. A select sample on sexual ity as a mystical union with the incarnate Christ: Bernard
of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 55. 1 ; 58. 1-2; 68. 1-3; 70.2-3; 72. 2-3; 83- 5-6; Hil
degard of Bi ngen, Scivias, 2. 1. 16; 2. 6; Bonaventure, The Soul's Journey into God, 4. 5;
7. 6; Catherine of Sienna, Dialogues, 12. 98; Mechtild of Magdeberg, The Flowing
Light of the Godhead, l. 3; 1. 19; 1. 23; 1. 44; 2. 2; 2. 6; Teresa of Avi la, The Interior Castle,
2. l .7; 7. 2. 1-U; Ancrene Wisse, 2; and everywhere in Holy Maidenhood; John of the
Cross, The Spiritual Canticle; Hadewij ch, Poems in Stanzas; and Clare of Assisi's
Four Letters to Blessed Agnes of Prague.
Nowhere is the emphasis on poverty as participation in Christ's humility clearer
than in the slender compositions of Francis of Assisi (Letter to Brother Leo, Canticle
of the Sun, The Admonitions, and Last Will for Clare and Her Sister) and of Clare of
Assisi (Four Letters to Blessed Agnes of Prague).
124. A small sample: Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 43- l-5; Walter Hilton,
Scale of Perfection, 1. 44; 2. 2; 2. 11; Richard Rolle of Hamphole, Meditations on the
Passion; Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, 6. 5. 6; 6.7.1-15; 6. 10. 5; Bonaventure, The
Tree of Life, 17-31; Brigitta of Sweden, Book of Revelations, 7. 4-35; Catherine of Si
enna, Dialogues, 4.135; Mechtild of Magdeberg, Flowing Light of the Godhead, 6. 24;
7. 18; and throughout Julian of Norwich's Showings.
125. Male mystics also experienced visions, but it is not characteristic of them to make
such experiences central or to make them the vehicle of their teaching, such as we
fnd in the case of Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Sienna, Teresa of Avila, Ha
dewijch, Brigitta of Sweden, and Julian of Norwich.
126. While more positive toward pilgrimages in his letter to the three women Eustathia,
Ambrosia, and Basilissa (Letter, 17), Nyssa makes the same point concerning the cor
ruption and i mmorality he witnessed in the "holy places."
127. Quasten, Patrology, 30 281-282, identifes this as Letter, 2, of the 30 added to the Nyssa
collection; the translation by W. Moore and H. A. Wilson i s found under the title
"On Pilgrimages," in A Select Librry of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the
Christian Church, 2nd series, 14 vol s. , ed. P. Schaff and H. Wace ( Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson, 1994 [1893] ), 5: 382-383.
Hebrew Bible
Genesis
1-4. 225
1: 1-31 125
2: 4. 35
0
2: 1 5-16 34
1
2: 21-25. 125
3: 1. 350
3: 14-19. 341
4: 2. 340
4: 16. 340
20: 7. 336
23:4. 219
24: 6-11 340
28: 10-17. 156
Exodus
P
. 35
3:4. 350
3: 9. 326
3: 14. 362
6: 1. 350
8: 22. 350
11: 1. 326
15
= 1 . 350
16: 7. 331. 3
61
16: 10. 361
19: 3-8. 330
19: 23. 341
:W: 8-1 1. 11
5
20: 21. 341
-
SCRI PTURE I NDEX
21: 1-23= 19. 330
22: 17. 336
23: 14-17. 335
24: 16 331. 361
25=
1-3
1: 18 33
0
25: 39. 331
25:40. 340
34
: 6 155 . 361
34:10-16 330
35: 1-3. 330
40: 34-35. 361
Leviticus
1-32. 341
1: 1-7: 38 33
0
1: 2. 326
9: 6. 3
61
11: 1-18: 30 330
13: 1-59. 337
14:1-32 337
16. 123
16: 1-34. 330
18. 328
18: 24-19: 2 117
19: 1-20: 27. 330
19: 2. 116. 328. 330
19: 3-4. 328
19: 5-37. 328
19: 18
11
5
19: 26. 336
19: 31. 336
20: 6. 336
20: 23-26 117
20: 27. 336
21: 1-33. 330
23: 1-44. 330
23: 4-22 335
24: 1-23. 330
25: 1-55. 330
27: 1-33. 330
Numbers
1: 2. 326
18: 1-32. 241
28: 1-8. 330
28: 9-39. 33
0
35: 1-8. 330
35: 9-36: 12 330
Deuteronomy
1: 3. 326
2: 25 . 328
4: 6. 328
4: 32-40 330
6: 4. 329
6: 13-14. 329
12: 1-3. 342
12: 1-4. 335
12: 29-30 34
2
13: 7. 331
14: 1-21 330
14
:22-15: 23. 330
16: 1-16. 330
4
06
Scripture Index
Hebrew Bible
22: 14-17, 336
14: 31, 338
Deuteronomy
2
5
: 24, 326
16: 11, 338
(continued)
Ezra
IT5, 338
16: 1-17, 335
3= 1-13, 333
17= 15 , 338
18: 9, 336
4: 1-16, 333
17= 23, 33
8
18: 10-14, 336
4: 24, 333
18: 5 , 338
18: 15-18, 336
5: 1-17, 333
19: 17, 338
18: 20-22, 336
9: 1-2, 333
20: 10, 338
19: 1-26: 15 , 33
0
10: 16-44, 333
21: 3, 338
21: 23
, 137
Nehemiah
21: 13, 338
29: 24, 328
2: 16, 326
21: 26, 338
31: 1, 326
2: 17-7= 3, 333
22: 23, 33
8
32= 17, 331
3= 33-38, 333
24: 1 5 , 338
34: 10, 336
8: 1-18, 333
24: 23-24, 33
8
Joshua
9: 1-27, 333
25: 21-22, 338
3: 9, 326
9: 31-40, 333
28: 27, 338
Judges
13: 4-13, 333
29: 7, 338
1: 1, 326
13= 15-22, 333
31: 9, 338
1 Samuel
13=
23-29, 333
31: 20, 338
2: 28, 326
Psalms
Isaiah
8: 1-22, 127
2: 2, 350
1: 16-17, 338
10: 9-12, 339
9: 1, 350
1: 23, 338
19: 22-24, 339
18: 1, 361
2= 7
-8, 285
28:4-29, 33
6
21: 27 ( LXX), 328
3: 5 , 364
2 Samuel
22: 1, 149, 359
3= 14-15, 338, 364
6: 1-7: 7, 127
22: 7, 359
5: 7-10, 364
7: 6, 3
26
22: 8, 359
5: 7-16, 338
1 Ki ngs
22: 18, 359
5
: 22-24, 33
8
6: 1-
38, 127
22: 26, 359
6: 1, 361
7:1-66, 127
22: 30-32, 359
6: 3, 361
11: 4-10, 34
2
6
5: 7 ( LXX), 328
9: 17-19, 338
12: 25-33, 335
69: 21, 359
10: 1-4, 338
1
3= 33, 335
76: 15 (LXX), 326
.
19: 17, 326
13= 33-34, 342
85:9 ( LXX), 328
3: 22, 285
14: 21-24, 342
96: 5, 2, 5 , 328
40: 12-31 , 33
0, 343
15: 14, 342
102= 7 ( LXX), 326
4: 13, 160
16: 29-32, 335
104: 6 ( LXX), 326
40: 18-20, 285
16: 31-33, 342
105= 37, 331
41: 4, 362
18: 1-46, 342
109: 25 , 359
43
: 1-28, 343
22: 44, 342
110, 350
43= 1, 362
2 Kings
110:1, 27, 136
44: 6-20, 33
10: 18-31, 342
148: 1, 35
46: 1-13, 33
11: 18-20, 342
Proverbs
48: 1-21 , 343
13: 16, 342
1= 7, 350
49: 5 , 363
14: 4, 342
3= 27-28, 338
65: 17-25, 343
16: 6, 326
3= 34, 165
66: 19-20, 328
22: 1-23: 25 , 335
11: 1, 338
66: 22-24, 343
Jeremi ah
1 : 5-10, 363
1: 16, 285
2: 11-13, 285
2: 26-30, 336
7: 1-34, 127
7: 8-9, 338
7: 23-26, 285
8: 11, 338
9:4-5 , 338
11: 1-13, 285
12: 11-13, 338
14: 13-18, 33
6
16: 10-13, 285
21: 13-18, 338
22: 3, 364
24: 5 , 326
3
1: 31-34, 338
Ezekiel
10: 1-19, 343
18: 1-30, 338
18: 1-32, 343
20: 1-8, 285
33
= l0-20, 343
33
= 21-22, 343
34
= 1-31, 333
3
6: 16-38, 343
Daniel
12: 1-3, 341
Hosea
4: 1-3, 338
8: 1-4, 285
12: 8-9, 364
12: 8-12, 338
13
: 1-4, 285
14:2-10, 338
14: 8, 285
Joel
2: 16-17, 338
3
= l-5 , 15
4: 3, 338
Amos
2: 6-7, 338
2: 6-8, 364
3= 2, 3
64
4: 1-2, 338
5: 12, 338
Scripture Index
5: 14-15 , 338
Jonah
3
: 6-10, 338
Micah
3= l-4, 364
3: 9-11, 338
7: 1-7, 338
Zephaniah
1: 5-6, 285
1: 9, 364
Haggai
1: 1-2: 9, 333
2: 10-14, 333
Zechariah
4: 8-10, 333
7: 8-10, 364
12: 10, 362
13
: 1-6, 333
13
: 7, 149
Malachi
1: 1-2: 17, 333
2: 10, 285
3
=
5, 364
Apocrypha
Tobit
11: 9-15 , 337
13
= l7, 337
Wisdom of Solomon
1: 6, 332
2: 1-3= l2, 341
7: 23, 332
12: 19, 33
2
13
:1-15: 13, 33
14:22-28, 2-3
15: 27, 328
Sirach
1: 1, 330, 332
no, 338
4: 1, 338
4: 4, 338
4: 9, 338
4: 22, 338
4: 27, 338
7= 3, 338
7: 10, 338
1= 7, 338
407
11: 12-13, 338
12: 3, 338
20, 338
21: 5 : 338
24: 1-7, 33
24: 22, 330
29: 8, 33
8
3
1: 11, 338
34
= 20-22, 338
35: 13-14, 338
42: 1-4, 338
1 Maccabees
1: 10, 329
1: 11, 333
1 :41-57, 304
7: 2, 329
8: 1-31 , 299
12: 3, 329
15
: 15-24, 329
2 Maccabees
6: 1-5 , 34
7: 1-41, 34
1
10: 1-8, 333
11: 34, 329
12: 16, 301
New Testament
Matthew
1: 16, 147
1: 18, 147
1: 20-21, 147
1: 22-23, 147
1: 23, 147
2: 1, 147, 326
2: 3-5 , 147
2: 5 , 326
2: 11, 147
2: 12, 147
2: 13
, 147
2: 19, 147
2: 22, 147
3
= 2, 360
4: 17, 360
5-7, 349
5: 3-48, 360
5: 17-48, 137
6: 7-8, 6
4
08
Scripture Index
New Testament
6:45-52, 148
1: 76, 336
Matthew (continued) 6: 55-5
6, 149
2: 9-10, 148
6: 19-34, 360 7: 24-3
0, 149
2: 14, 148
7: 1-6, 360 7: 31-37, 149, 359
2: 26-37, 148
7: 12-23, 360
8: 1-9, 148
2: 28-38, 148
8: 5-13, 359
8: 1-10, 353
2: 31-3
6, 148
10: 24-33, 360 8: 22-26, 149, 359
2: 32, 150, 355
ll: 19, 33
6
8: 29, 35
2: 35 , 148
ll :20-21, 3
60
8: 31, 148
2: 40, 2ll
ll: 25-27, 231 9: 1-8, 383
2: 46-47, 148
12: 13, 371 9: 2-8, 148
2: 49, 148
12:41, 360 9: 14-29, 149 3: 6, 150, 355
14: 5, 33
6 9: 31, 148 4: 16-3, 353
14: 13-21, 353
10: 33, 148 4: 24, 336
1n
l-39, 353
10: 45, 149, 227 5, 359
16: 16, 350
10: 46-52, 149 5: 1-l l, 359
18: 1-18, 360
ll: 12-14, 148 5: 12-15, 338
20: 19, 355
ll: 20-21, 148
6: 20-49, 360
22: 34-40, 360
ll: 32, 33
6 7:1-10, 359
2
P
-36, 344
1P-13, 148
7: 2-4, 6
2
P
-39, 285
14: 1-2, 328 T10, 359
2
5
: 14-46, 360
14: 10-ll, 135
Tll-27, 359
26: 17-29, 353
14: 12-25 , 353 7: 16, 150, 33
6
26: 56, 348
14: 21 , 149
7: 26-28, 33
6
27: 6, 149
14: 22-24, 149
7: 34-50, 137
2TI8-20, 149
14: 27, 149
9: 10-17, 353
28: 16-20, 348
14: 32-40, 149 9: 20, 35
0
28: 19, 133, 352 14: 43-45
, 135
9: 22, 150
Mark
14: 50-5
1, 135
9:44-45 , 150
1: 9-ll, 148
14: 5-52, 348
10: 13, 360
1: 15, 148, 360
14: 66-72, 135
10: 25-37, 3
60
1: 21-28, 149
1 5: 23, 359
ll: 19, 337
1: 29-34, 149
1 5: 24, 359
1i: 32, 360
l: 40-45, 149
15: 29, 359
ll: 37-52, 285
2: 1-12, 149
1 n1, 359
12: 13-48, 360
2: 1-r
6, 344
1n4, 359
In, 36o
2: 14, 148
15: 36, 359
13: 5 , 360
2: 16-20, 148
16: 1-8, 348
13: 10-17, 137, 359
2: 22-28, 137
16: 7, 149
14: 1-4, 359
p
-6, 149
16: 14, 353
14: 7-24, 360
4: 35-41 , 148
16: 15-18, 149
1
P
-2, 137
4: 35-42, 149
16: 17, 19-20, 353
In, 36o
5: 1-20, 149, 338
16: 19-20, 149
15: 10, 360
5:21-34, 149
Luke
16: 1-18, 360
6: 12, 360
1 : 5 , 326
16: 3, 360
6: 34-44, 148
l: ll-20, 148
17: 3, 360
6: 35-44, 353
1 : 18-19, 148
17: ll-18, 338
Scripture Index
4
0
9
18: 1-30, 360 3: 8, 361 6: 55 , 361
18: 31-33, 15 3: 1 5-16, 361 6: 56, 361
19: 11-27, 360 p6-17, 154 6: 59, 353
21: 5 , 328
P
9, 361 6: 63, 361
21: 12-19, 15 3: 20, 361 6: 64, 156
22: 14-38, 353 3: 21, 361 6: 68, 361
22: 24-30, 360 3: 22, 326 6
7
0-71, 156
22: 51, 359 B4, 3
61 7: 18, 361
2p4, 137 3: 36, 361 7: 19, 156
2Bl-32, 348 4: 9, 326 7: 34, 156
2
H9, 348 4: 14, 361 7: 37-39, 362
24: 6-7, 15 4: 17-19, 156 7: 39, 361
24: 7, 149 4: 19, 156 8: 12, 361
24: 13-49, 348, 353 4: 22, 3 8: 15 , 361
24: 19, 336 4: 23-24, 361 8: 28, 361
24: 25-27, 149 4: 26, 361 8: 32, 361
24: 44-46, 149 4: 36, 361 8: 4, 361
24: 47-49, 348 4: 44, 156 8:44-46, 361
24: 49, 150 4: 46-54, 156 8: 44-47, 285
24: 51 , 149 4: 48-5, 156 8: 5, 361
John 4: 54, 156 8: 51-52, 361
1: 1, 1 55 5: 1-9, 156 8: 54, 361
1: 4, 36
1 5: 24, 361 8: 55, 361
1: 5 , 361 5: 26, 3
61 8: 58, 361
1 : 7, 361 5: 29, 361 9: 1-7, 156
1: 8, 361 5: 33, 361 9: 5 , 361
1: 9, 3
61 s: 39-40, 361 9: 24, 361
1: 12, 154, 155, 348 5: 41, 361 10: 5, 361
1: 13, 154 5: 44, 361 10: 10, 361
1: 13-14, 361 6: 1-14, 353
10: 11 , 361
1: 14, 154, 155, 361 6: 1-15 , 156 10: 28, 361
1: 16-17, 155 6: 14, 156, 336 11: 1-44, 156
1: 17, 361 6: 15 , 156 11: 4, 156, 361
1: 18, 1 55, 361 6: 16-21, 156 1 1: 9-10, 361
1: 21, 336 6: 17, 3
61 11: 13, 361
1: 32-33, 361 6: 20, 361 11: 25 , 361
1 : 32-34, 156 6: 26-59, 353 11: 4, 361
1: 35-49, 156 6: 27, 3
61 12: 7, 156
1:47-49, 156 6: 33, 361 12: 20, 355
1: 51 , 156 6: 35, 361 12: 23, 156
2: 1, 156 6: 4, 361 12: 25 , 361
2: 1-11, 156 6:47-48, 361 12: 33, 3
61
2: 11, 361 6: 48, 361 12: 35-36, 361
2: 13-21 , 156 6: 51, 361 12: 41, 361
2: 23, 156 6: 52, 361 12: 42-43, 285
2: 24-25, 156 6: 53, 154, 361 12: 43, 361
3: 5-6, 3
61 6: 54, 361 12: 46, 361
410
New Testament
John (continued)
12: 5, 361
13= 1, 156
13: 1-20: 31, 156
13:2-30, 353
13= 3, 15
6
13: 11, 156
13= 11-30, 156
13= 21-27, 156
13= 36-38, 156, 157
14: 1-16: 33, 157
14: 6, 361
14: 17, 361
14: 26, 361
15: 1, 361
15
:1-10, 1 55
15: 26, 361
15
: 26-27, 157
16: 5-1 5 , 1 57
16: 7, 361
16: 13, 361
17=
1-26, 157
17:2, 361
17:2-3, 361
17: 5, 361
17: 17, 361
17= 19, 361
17= 22, 361
17= 24, 3
61
18: 5-6, 361
18: 5-8, 157
18: 19-24, 1 57
18: 28-38, 157
18: 32, 361
18: 37-38, 361
19: 9-11 , 1 57
19: 26-27, 157
19: 28, 157
19: 3, 3
61
19:
37, 362
20: 19-23, 157
20:19-29, 348
20:21-23, 348
20: 22, 361
20: 31, 361
21, 359
Scripture Index
21: 1-23, 157
21: 9-14, 353
21: 18-19, 347
21: 19, 361
Acts
1-11, 132
1= 7-8, 150
1: 8, 132, 133
1:9-11, 150, 360
1: 22, 346
2: 1-4, 348
2: 4, 20, 150, 353
2: 5
-11, 150, 330
2: 14, 326
2: 17-21, 15
2:19, 150, 347
2: 22, 150
2: 29, 151
2: 32-33,
135, 348
2: 33, 150
2: 36, 137, 350
2: 38, 348, 352, 360
2: 38-39, 15
2: 41, 352
2: 42, 139, 352
2:43, 150
2: 46, 139, 35
2
3= 1-10, 151
3
: 12-15, 15
1
3: 18, 350
3= 19, 3
60
3: 22, 150
4: 1 , 343
4: 8, 150, 348
4: 13, 151 , 347
4: 16, 150
4: 19, 360
4: 21, 151
4: 22, 150
4: 29, 151, 347, 385
4: 30, 150, 348
4: 31, 15
0, 151, 347
4: 32-35, 400
5: 1-11, 151
5
: 12, 150, 348
5=
15-16, 151
5: 17, 343
5: 19, 385
5: 33-42, 337
5: 39-41, 151
5: 40, 151, 34
6
6: 1-6, 352
6: 1-7, 27
6: 2, 35
2
6: 3, 15
6: 5 , 15
6: 7, 151
6: 8, 150
6: 12-15, 346
7: 37, 150
7: 54-56, 346
7: 54
-60, 151
7= 55, 150
7: 58, 346
8: 1-3, 346
8: 5 , 35
8: 6, 150
8: 12, 352
8: 13, 15
8: 14, 354
8: 14-17, 347
8: 18-25, 151
8: 22, 360
8: 29, 15
8: 36, 352
8: 39, 15
9: 1-2, 346
9: 1-9, 27
9: 17, 150
9: 18, 352
9: 22, 350
9: 27-28, 151
9: 32-35, 1 5
1
9: 36-43, 15
1
10: 1-5 , 6
10:9-16, 352
10: 25 , 151
10: 41, 352
10: 44-47, 348
10: 46, 353
10: 48, 352
11: 3, 351, 352
11: 19-21, 27
11: 22, 354
Scripture Index
411
11: 22-23, 347
17: 3, 35
1: 28, 4
11: 26, 343-344
17: 5-7, 34
6
2: 2, 363
11: 27, 353
17: 22-23, 3
2: 18,
. 363
11: 29-3
0, 347, 353, 354 17: 29, 3
P
9, 363
12: 1-3, 346
IT30, 360 P
l, 348
12: 2, 151, 346
18: 1-17, 351 P
4, 348
12: 3
-17, 1 5
1
18: 5 , 35 P
5, 234
12: 2
5, 347, 353, 354
18: 6, 355 p
6, 348
12: 28, 372
18: 12-14, 6
3: 3, 3
13: 1, 353
18: 17, 346 4: 4, 348
13: 1-3, 354
18: 21, 31
5: 1 , 347, 35
13:4-12, 15
1
18: 26, 151
5: 2, 348
13: 7, 6
19: 6, 353
5: 3, 347, 363
13: 8-1 1, 6
19: 8, 1
5
1
5: 6-8, 350
13: 9, 150
19: 11-12, 151
5: 9, 348
13: 12, 6
19: 13-17, 1 5
1
5: 11, 348
I
p3-16, 353
19: 13-20, 337 P
5-17, 348
13:44-47, 355
19:18-20, 151
6: 1, 348
1
3:46, 151
19: 23-41, 6
6: 1-11, 159, 162, 352
13: 47, 150
20
7
, 352
6: 4, 348
13: 5, 346
20: 7-9, 353
6: 9, 3
63
13: 52, 347
20: 7-12, 1 51
6: 14, 348
14, 132
20: 25, 347
6: 1 5-23, 347
14: 1-18, 303
20: 38, 337
6: 16, 363
14:
3, 1 50, 151, 348
21 :9-10, 353, 372
6: 18-22, 347
14: 5 , 346
22: 22-29, 346
6: 22, 348
14: 8-18, 6
26: 20, 3
60
6: 23, 35
14: 11-12, 151
26: 26, 151
7: 6, 348
14: 15 , 15
1
26: 28, 344
7: 12, 3
15 , 347, 355
2
B
3-34
, 15
1 7: 14, 3, 3
63
15: 2, 354
27: 35, 35
2
8: 1 , 348
15: 9, 35
2
27: 44, 15
1
8: 4, 163
15: 12, 150
28: 6, 1
5
1
8: 4-5, 163
15: 20, 352
28: 7-10, 6
8: 9-10, 35
15: 21, 33
28: 9, 151
8: 11, 348
15: 23-29, 354
28: 14, 132
8: 14-15, 347
15: 25 , 354
28: 28, 355
8: 18-24, 163
1 5: 29, 35
1, 35
2
28: 31, 151
8: 20-22, 133
Ino-
H
, 354
Romans
8: 22, 363
15: 32, 372
1 :4, 3
6, 348
8: 26-27, 163
16-18, 132
1 : 5, 159
8: 28, 363
16: 15 , 352
1: 7, 346, 350
8: 29, 383
16: 16-20, 6
1: 16, 347, 348
8: 38, 347
16: 20-24, 346
1: 18-32, 4
9: 1-5, 35
16: 25-34, 6
1: 19-20, 4
9: 3-5, 3
16: 25-40, 151
1: 22, 194
9: 5 , 353
16: 33, 35
2
1: 25 , 353
10: 9, 136, 298
412 Scripture Index
New Testament 1: 12, 351 6: 19, 363
Romans (continued) 1: 14, 351 T1, 354
10: 10, 347 1: 14-17, 351
7: 1-17, 351
11: 2, 363 1: 1 5-16, 352 T15 , 347
11: 5-6, 348 1: 16, 351 7= 37, 363
11: 1 5, 133 1: 18, 347, 348
7: 40, 1 59
11: 36, 353 1: 18-2: 5 , 4 8-10, 7
12: 1, 164, 211 , 234 1: 20-21, 194 8: 1, 363
12: 1-2, 164 1: 21, 347 8: 2, 162
12: 2, 160-161 , 164, 348, 1: 22, 137 8:4, 5, 7, 143, 363
363 1: 24, 348 8: 4-6, 137
12: 6, 353 2: 1-2, 3 8: 5 , 161
12: 7, 353 2: 4, 348 8: 5-6, 5 , 143
12: 7-8, 351 2: 6-8, 4 8: 7, 143
12: 14, 346 2: 6-10, 347 8= 7-13, 5
13= 1-7, 354 2: 12, 160, 348 8: 8-9, 161
13= 11, 363 2: 14, 3
63 8: 9, 348
13=
14, 35
0 2: 1 5 , 3
6
3 8: 9-13, 144
14: 1-2
3, 35
2 2: 16, 160, 165 , 348 8: 11-12, 161
14: 8, 350 2: 26, 194 9: 1 , 1 59, 347, 350
14: 13, 363 p
6, 3
6
3 9: 4, 348
14: 17, 347 3: 22, 347 9: 5 , 35
1
14: 22, 363 4: 3, 285 9: 13, 363
14:23, 363 4: 4, 3
63 9: 19, 347
15: 10, 348
4: 12, 346
9: 24, 363
15
: 13, 348
4: 14-20, 351 10: 1, 356
15: 16, 235 4: 1 5, 351 10:1-13, 144
15: 19, 346, 348
4: 17, 351 , 353, 354 10:4-9, 350
15: 22-16: 3, 352
4: 19, 143, 35
1
10: 14-22, 352
15=
24, 346
4: 20, 159 10: 1 5 , 363
15: 25-28, 347 5-11, 355
10: 16-17, 159
15: 25-33, 354 5: 1, 4, 356 10: 18, 234
15: 28, 346, 363 5= 3, 35
1 10: 19-21, 5
15: 31, 347 5:4, 348,
350 10: 19-22, 144
15: 33, 353 5: 5 , 355 10: 20, 7, 161
16: 1-2, 351, 354 5
: 6, 3
63 10:20-21, 144
16:4-5 , 351
5: 9, 5, 144, 351, 354 10: 21-22, 161
16: 23, 351
5
: 9-10, 355 10:22, 5
16: 25 , 348
5: 11, 356 10: 23-30, 144
16: 26, 348 5: 12, 3
63 10: 25 , 36
3
1 Corinthians 6: 1-6, 352 10: 25-30, 144
1: 2, 346 6: 2-3, 347, 363 10: 27, 363
1: 5, 145 6: 9, 363 11: 1, 162
1: 6-7, 159 6: 9-11, 352, 356 11: 2-16, 5
1: 7-8, 35
0 6: 14, 348 11: 3, 350
1: 10, 374 6: 1 5, 363 11: 3-16, 159, 351
1: 11, 351, 354 6: 16, 363 11: 13, 363
Scripture Index
4
1
3
11: 13-16, 351 16: 1-4, 347, 354 8: 11, 363
11: 17-34, 352 16: 2, 139, 351 8: 16-24, 351
11 : 20, 139, 144 16: 7, 352 8: 17, 354
11: 21, 144 16: 10-11, 351, 354 8: 19, 354
11: 22, 144, 161 , 162 16: 11, 352 8: 23, 354
11: 23-25 , 162 16: 15 , 351 10= 7, 351
11: 23-26, 144
16: 15-18, 351, 352 10: 8, 348
11: 25 , 348 16: 17, 354 10: 10, 4, 159
11: 27-29, 144 16: 19, 351 10: 12-18, 351
11: 28, 363
16: 22, 27-28, 353
11: 3, 355
11: 29, 161, 36
3 2 Corinthians 11:4-6, 351
11: 31, 363 1: 1, 346 11: 8-9, 352
11: 33-34, 351 1: 2, 354 11: 20-33, 351
12-14, 20, 145, 351, 353
1 : 3-7, 353 11: 21, 3
12: 1-3, 298 1:4, 348 11: 23-27, 346
12: 2, 356, 363 1: 5 , 350 12: 1-5 , 159
12: 3, 136, 145, 348 1: 7, 363 12: 1-10, 363
12:4, 137, 145 1: 12, 348 12: 7, 362
12: 6, 348 2: 1, 351 12: 9, 159, 160, 348
12: 8, 351 2: 15 , 350 12: 11-13, 351
12: 11, 348 2: 17-3= 1, 351 12: 12, 143, 159, 348
12: 12, 350 3: 6-18, 347 12: 13, 351
12: 12-26, 161 3= 12, 347 12: 18, 354
12: 13, 143, 159, 35
2 3= 17, 347 13: 1 , 351
12: 27-30, 159 3= 17-18, 164, 348, 350 13= 4, 348
12: 28, 145, 351 , 353 3= 18, 348 13: 5 , 363
12: 30, 145 4: 5, 350 13=
10, 159, 348, 351
13: 5 , 162, 348 4: 7, 348 13= 11, 347
13= 11 , 162
4: 14, 3
63 Galatians
13=
13, 348
4: 15 , 348 1: 1, 357
14: 4, 162
5: 1, 3
63 1: 2, 346, 354
14: 16, 353 5: 4, 383 1: 6, 348, 357
14: 18, 159 5: 6, 363 1: 8, 357
14: 20, 162
5: 10, 350 1: 9, 357
14: 20-25, 5 5: 11, 363
1: 11, 146, 159
14: 22, 145 5: 16, 363 1: 12, 357
14: 24, 363 5= 17, 350 1: 13, 400
14: 26, 353 5: 17-18, 348 1: 13-14, 3
14: 26-40, 351 5: 19, 133
1: 15 , 159, 348, 363
14: 40, 239, 351 6: 2, 348 1: 17-2: 10, 357
15: 2, 347 6= 7, 348 2: 1-10, 355
15: 4, 143 7= 7, 354 2: 3, 357
15: 8, 159 7: 8, 353 2: 8, 357
15: 10, 159 8-9, 347, 354 2: 9-12, 347
15:
45 , 136, 160 8: 1, 348 2: 10, 347, 354
15: 53-54, 383 8: 6, 363 2: 11-14, 352
15: 57, 350 8: 8, 363 2: 12, 351, 354
4
1
4
Scripture Index
New Testament 5: 18
. 357 1: 10
. 363
Galatians (continued) 5= 19-21
.
162 1: 13-17. 346
2: 14-19
. 357 5: 20-21
. 4 1: 28
. 347
2: 15-16 357 5: 22
. 347 2: 1
.
163
2: 16
. 363
6: 2
.
161
.
162
. 346 357 2: 1-1 1
.
161
2: 17
. 350 6:4. 363 2: 2
. 347
2: 20
. 350 6: 6
. 351
. 353 2: 4.
161
P
.
357 6: 12
. 357 2: 5.
161
.
163
n.
357. 363 6: 12-13. 357 2: 6-11
.
161
. 353
3: 4.
162 6: 14. 350 2: 9-1 1 136
3: 5. 348 6: 17
. 357 2: 11
.
163
3: 10-22 357 Ephesians 2: 17
.
235
3=
13.
137. 350 1: 1
. 346 2: 19-23. 354
3
: 16
. 350 1: 3-14. 353 2: 25-30 354
P
3-4
7. 347 2: 1-10
. 347 2: 29
. 352
P
7. 352 2: 2
. 348
H
-6
. 3
P
7-28
.
162 2: 2-3. 4 3:9
.
16
3
4: 4
. 357 2: 5-7. 348
3= 10
. 348
4: 6
162
.
348 353
2: 5-8
. 347 3= 10-11
.
163
4: 8-9
. 4. 357 2: 12
. 4 3= 12
. 363
4: 9
. 348 2: 17. 347
p
o. 163. 350
4: 11
. 357 2: 20
. 353
P
O-21
. 348
4: 12-20 357
P
. 348 4: 7.
347
4: 13. 362 3
63 3: 5 . 348
4: 15-19
. 352
4: 1
3-20
.
146 3
: 9-10.
347 4: 18
.
235
4: 16
.
162
3=
1 1 35
0 Colossians
4: 17
. 357 3: 12
. 347 1: 1
. 357
4: 21
. 357 3
: 16
. 348 1: 2
. 346
4:21-5: 4. 357
P
O
. 348 1: 5-7
.
146
4: 25.
162 3
: 20-21 348 1: 6
. 348
5: 1
. 347 4: 3. 347 1: 6-7. 357
5: 2
. 357 4: 5 . 352 1: 9
.
163. 357
5:2-3. 357 4: 11 351
. 353 1: 10
.
163
5:2-4. 357 4: 22
. 400 1: 11
.
163
5:4. 357 4
: 22-24.
348 1: 12-13. 357
5: 5. 348 357 4: 23. 348 1: 13. 347
5: 6
. 348 4: 24.
348 1: 15-20
. 353. 357
5: 7. 357 5: 2 234 1: 21
. 357
5= 10-11 357 5: 10
. 3
6
3 1: 21-23. 357
5: 11 357 5: 19. 353 1: 22
. 348
5: 12
. 357 5: 20
. 350 1: 23. 357
5: 1
3. 347 6: 6
. 363 1: 25 . 357
5: 1
3-14.
162 6: 9
. 36
3 1: 26
. 348
5
: 14.
357 6: 21-22
. 354 1: 27. 357
5= 15.
162 Phil ippians 1: 27-29
. 357
5: 16
. 348 357 1: 1
. 346
. 351 1: 28
. 357
5: 17.
159 1: 6
. 363 1: 29
. 348
Scripture Index
4
15
2: 2, 357 1 Thessalonians
4: 13, 353
2: 2-3, 357 1: 1 , 346
4: 14, 353
2: 5 , 357 1: 2-3, 348
5= 3-16, 352
2: 6, 350, 357 1: 3, 350
5: 15 , 355
2: 6-7, 14
6
1 : 5 , 159, 348 2 Timothy
2: 8, 4, 194, 357 1: 9, 4 1: 6, 348
2: 8-23, 347 2: 2, 347 1: 7, 348
2: 9, 357 2: 8, 355 1: 8, 348, 350
2: 11, 357 2: 13, 348 1: 10, 348
2: 11-12, 139 2: 14-16, 346 1: 11, 353
2: 11-15 , 357 2: 15-16, 285 2: 1, 348
2: 12, 163 2: 19, 350
4: 6-8, 347
2: 13, 357 3= 2-6, 354 4: 10, 346
2: 14-3= 1, 357 3= 3, 3
6
3 4: 16-17, 34
6
2: 16, 357 3: 6-9, 348 Titus
2: 18, 357 4: 2, 363 1 : 5 , 346, 354
2: 19, 357 4: 3, 348 1: 8, 352
2: 20, 163, 364 4: 4, 3
6
3 2: 11, 348
2: 20-3: 4, 357 4: 5, 4 3: 5, 347, 348
2: 22, 357 4: 13, 4 3= 7, 348
2: 23, 357 5: 2, 363 Philemon
3: 1, 163, 364 5: 12, 353 1, 346
3: 9, 357 5: 12-13, 351 5, 350
3= 9-10, 348 5: 20, 353 6, 348
3= 10, 348
5: 21 , 363 7-20, 352
3= 10-1 1, 163 5: 23, 350 8, 347
3= 11, 357 5: 27, 353 22, 352
3= 12, 357 2 Thessalonians 23, 146
3=
12-13, 163 1: 1, 346 Hebrews
3: 14, 357 1 :4-6, 346 1: 3, 167
3=
15 , 347 1 : 7-8, 35
0 2: 3, 350
3: 16, 353 1: 11, 348 2: 3-4, 167
3= 17, 350
3: 9, 348 2:4, 348
3= 24, 3
63 3= 14, 353 2: 9, 348
4: 1, 363 1 Ti mothy 2: 10, 167
4: 2, 357 1: 3, 346, 354 2: 14-15 , 347
4
:2-4, 357 1: 8, 363 2: 1 5, 167
4: 3, 146 1: 9, 363 2: 18, 167
4: 7, 354 1: 12, 350 3= 1-4: 13, 168
4: 8-9, 357 1: 14, 348 3: 6, 350
4: 10, 352 2: 1, 354 3= 11, 383
4: 11, 357 2= 7, 353 3= 18, 383
4
: 12, 357 3: 2, 352
4: 1 , 383
4: 13, 346 3= 15, 235 4: 3, 383
4: 1 5 , 351 3: 16, 353 4: 5, 3
83
4: 16, 346, 353, 354 4: 1, 8 4: 10, 383
4: 18, 357 4: 12, 400 4: 11 , 383
4
16
Scripture Index
New Testament 12: n, 169 4: 12, 165 , 166,
Hebrews (continued) 12: 14-17, 168 348
4: 12, 348 Ip, 168 4: 1 5, 165, 301
4: 16, 347 IB, 168
n-16, 391
5: 1, 234 13: 4, 168 5:4, 164, 165
5: 5, 168 13: 5, 168 5: 6, 165
n, 168, 348 Ip3, 346 5: 7-9, 165
5: 8-10, 168 Ip5-16, 234 5: n, 165
5: 9, 167, 169 Ip6, 168 5: 12, 166
5: n-13, 167 13: 20, 350 5: 12-20, 166
5: n-6: 1, 167, 169 I
p
5, 352 5: 13-14, 166
5: 14, 168, 169 James 5: 1 5 , 165
6: 1, 169
1: 1, 350, 364 5: 1 5-16, 166
6: 1-2, 168 1: 2, 348 5: 19, 166
6: 1-6, 352 1: 5 , 165 5: 20, 166
6: 2, 365
1 : 5-6, 165
1 Peter
6: 4, 348 1: 12, 165 1: 1, 346
6: 4-5 , 167 1 : 13, 164
1 : 3, 350
6: 4-8, 168 1: 17, 164, 165
1 : 3-9, 348, 353
6: 19, 167
1: 18, 164 1: 5 , 348
P
7, 234
1: 20, 164, 165
l: n, 350
8: 3, 234 1: 21, 165 , 347, 348 1: 12, 348
9: 9, 234 1: 25, 347 1: 14, 6
9: 12, 167
1: 26, 165
1: 1 5 , 400
9: 15 , 348 1: 26-27, 166 1: 18, 400
9: 23, 234
2: 1, 350, 364 1: 22, 348
9: 26, 234, 348 2: 1-6, 166 1: 22-25 , 353
9: 28, 350 2: 5, 165
2: 1, 347
10: 1, 234
2: 6, 346 2: 5, 234
10: 5, 234
2: 7-13, 166 2: 12, 400
10: 5-9, 168-169 2: 8-n, 164-165
2: 13-15 , 354
10: 8, 234 2: 12, 165
2: 19, 348
10: n, 234 2: 19, 164
2: 21, 352
10: 12, 234
2: 23, 165
2: 25 , 348
10: 22, 167 3: 1, 166, 353 3: 1, 400
10: 24, 168
P
-12, 166 3: 2, 400
10: 25 , 168 3: 9, 164 3
7
, 348
10: 29, 348 r13, 165 , 400
P
3-17, 346
10: 32-34, 346
P
5, 165
P
5 , 35
10: 32-35, 167 3: 18, 347 3: 16, 400
n: 4, 234 4: 1-3, 166 3:18, 348, 353
n: 8-22, 168 4: 3, 165 p
I, 347, 348
12: 1-3, 348 4: 4, 165 , 166 p
2, 347, 353
12: 2, 169 4: 5 , 165
4: 3-5, 6
12: 4, 346 4: 6, 165 , 348 4: 6, 348
12: 5-6, 169 4: 8, 165
4: 9, 352
12: 7, 169 4: 10, 165 4: 12-17, 34
6
Scripture Index 4
1 7
4: 13, 347, 348 5= 1, 350 2: 19, 352
4: 16, 344 5: 4-5, 347 2: 20, 351
5: 9, 348 5: 8, 348 3
=
9, 285
5: 10, 350 5: 19, 355 4: 2, 348
2 Peter 2 John 4: 7, 386
1: 2, 350 10, 352 4: n, 353
1: 8, 350 3 John 5: 9, 353
1: 16, 348 5-7, 352 7: 4-6, 346
2: 20, 350 Jude 10: 7, 353
3: 1 5, 347 3, 347
12: 10, 347
3: 18, 348 4, 348, 35
12: n, 346
1 John 17, 350 In, 346
1 : 4, 347 19, 348
14: 3, 353
2: 18-19, 355
20, 348 15: 3, 353
2: 22, 350 24, 348 17: 1-18: 24, 354
3: 2, 348
Revelation 19: 10, 348, 353
3: 8, 355 1-3, 34
6, 354 19: 16, 35
3=
24, 348 1: 1, 170 21: 1, 170
4: 1-6, 355
1: 10, 139 21: 3, 171
4: 13, 348
2: 7, 348 22: 20, 350
4: 17-21, 347
2: 14, 352
-
I NDEX OF ANCI ENT AUTHOR
Achillus Tatius
2. 34-45 , 56 7. 10, 57
Clitiphon and Leucippe
2. 46-49, 56 13- 9, 57
1. 3, 310
2. 62-65 , 56 14. 50, 305
I1. 2, 31O
2. 67, 58
16. 13, 57
I1
3, 310
275 , 57
16. 22, 57
I 1 . 11, 310
2.78, 56
16. 31, 63, 305
I 1 . 12, 31O
2. 83, 56
17-22, 53
I 1 1 . 5 , 310
2. 86-88, 56
17. 5-6, 56
I 1 LI8, 31
2. 165 , 56
17. 6, 56
I1L3, 31O
2. 201, 63
17. 10-11, 55
IY2, 31O
2. 253, 56
18-21, 54
IY9, 31O
2 379, 57
18. 1, 56
Y2, 31O
3- 12, 55
18. 6, 55
Y14, 31O
3.98-99, 54
19. 6, 56, 57, 304
Ael ius Aristides 3. 100, 57
19. 11, 56
Ortions, 52 3- 106, 55
20. 1, 56
1, 53
3- 191-192, 56
20 4, 57
1. 19, 56 3- 245, 55
21. 19, 57
1. 311, 57
3- 254, 56
22. 10, 56
1. 322, 56 3- 265-266, 57 23- 15 , 57
1. 33, 56 3- 276, 56
23- 16, 56, 57, 58
1. 330-341, 307
3- 29, 56
23- 25, 56
1. 334, 56
3. 327, 56
23. 57, 56
1. 33
6-373. 56 3 347, 55
24, 54
1. 338, 55
3- 392, 55
24. 17, 55
1. 341 , 55
3. 617, 56
24. 42, 56
1. 399, 56 3. 671-672, 56
24. 48-5, 63
1. 44, 5
6 4, 54
24. 52, 56
2, 54
4. 19, 56
26. 102, 56
2-4, 53 5-16, 53
26. 14-105, 56
26. 15, 57
26. 108-109, 55
27.2-3, 57
27. 5 , 5
6
27 35-37, 56
27 39, 57
28, 53, 54
28. 2, 56
28. 13, 57
28. 14-1 5, 56
28. 45-50, 56
28. 81, 56
28. 13, 5
6
28. 19, 56
28. 135, 5
6
28. 156, 58
29. 4, 55, 56
297, 63
29. 12, 56
29. 14, 63
29. 3, 56
30, 54
30-32, 53
30. 1, 55
3. 25 , 57
3. 26, 57
3. 28, 55
32, 54
32.7, 56
33, 53
33- 2, 58
33- 17, 58
33- 2, 56
34, 53
34. 59-60, 56
36, 53, 54
36. 1, 55
36. 14, 57
37, 56
37-46, 53
37. 2, 56
38. 2, 58
38. 21, 56
38. 26, 56
38. 42, 58
39 5 , 56, 57, 58
39. 11, 57
Index of Ancient Author
39. 14, 57
4, 56
4. 12, 56
41, 5
6
42. 2, 58
42. 4, 57, 58
42. 5 , 57, 58
42. 6, 58
42. 12, 58
42. 14, 58
43, 54
43-7-15, 57
43- 17, 57
43-
18, 55
43- 27, 57
43- 256, 57
45, 53, 57
45.7, 56
45. 1 5, 57
45
. 16-17, 57
45. 19, 57
45 33, 57
46. 4, 56
46. 36, 57
47-53, 297
Sacred Tales, 25 , 52
1, 53
1. 4, 314
1. 5, 314
1. 5-57, 59
1. 6, 314
1 .7, 59
1. 8, 59
1. 9, 59, 314
1. 14, 314
1 . 17, 59
1. 19, 60
1. 24, 314
1. 26, 314
1. 35-37, 60
1. 40, 314
1. 45, 314
1. 49, 60
1. 5, 314
1 . 53, 314
1. 54, 314
1. 56, 59, 60
1. 57, 61
1. 59, 314
1 . 61-62, 314
1. 63, 61
1. 64, 62
1. 65 , 314
1. 66, 60, 314
1. 67, 61
1. 68, 314
1. 69, 60, 314
1.71, 60
1.72, 60, 61
1.74-75, 61
1.76, 59
1.78, 59, 61
2. 1, 59
2. 2, 59
2. 5 , 314
27, 60
2. 8, 59
2. 10, 314
2. 11, 62
2. 12-14, 314
2. 13, 60
2. 14,
61, 314
2. 17, 60
2. 18, 60
2. 20, 61
2. 21, 61, 314
2. 26-27, 60
2. 27, 314
2. 28, 314
2. 32, 60
2 34, 61
2
37, 62
2. 38, 314
2 39, 61, 314
2. 41, 59
2. 43, 314
2. 44, 314
2. 45, 314
2. 46, 314
2 47, 61
2. 47-48, 314
2. 48, 314
2 49, 61
2. 51, 61
4
1
9
40 Index of Ancient Authors
Ael ius Aristides 4. 22, 62 7. 30, 390
Sacred Tales (continued) 4. 24, 62 7. 39-44, 390
2. 51-53, 314 4. 25, 60 7- 47, 390
2. 57, 314 4. 29, 60, 62 8. 1, 396
2. 58, 314 4. 30, 62, 314 8
3-5, 394
2 59, 61
4. 32-37, 3
14 8. 16, 394
2. 60, 314 4. 36, 61 8. 17, 394
2. 60-61, 314 4.
38, 60-61 8. 19-20, 394
2. 63, 314 4- 41, 60 8. 21 , 394
2. 64-69, 314 4 45, 60 8. 22, 394
2. 68, 314 4 47, 62 8. 23, 394
2. 69, 61 4. 48, 60 8. 24, 394
2.72-73, 61 4. 51, 60 8. 25, 394
2.74-75 , 3
14 4. 52, 6
3 8. 26, 394
2.78, 314 4 53, 62 Didache
2. 80, 314 4. 5
6, 59 7, 239
2. 82, 60
4. 5
8-60, 59 8, 239
P, 314 4. 69, 60
9-10, 239
3- 3> 59 4.71-87, 6
3 11-12, 239
30 4, 60 4. 108, 60 11-13, 239
3. 6, 314
5
. 1 , 3
14 I
B, 239
3- 8, 3
14 5 . 1-10, 314 14. 2, 239
3- 10, 314 5. 8, 59 14 3, 239
3. 14, 61
5
. 9, 61 , 314 15. 1, 239
3. 16, 314 5 . 11, 59, 314 Didascalia Apostolorum,
3- 20, 59 5 . 13-19, 314 258
3-
21, 59, 314 5
. 16, 60 2-3, 241
3- 23, 59 5. 19-21, 61 4-12, 241
3- 25 , 59 5 . 20, 59 4. i i
3, 241
3- 29, 314 5. 22-24, 59 4. i i . 5 , 241
3. 32, 3
14 5. 27, 61 4. i i . 11, 241
3 34-37, 314 5 . 31, 59 4
. i i . 13, 241
3- 40-41, 60 5. 3
6
, 62 6. i i . t7, 241
3
0
45-46, 59 5. 3
6-37, 3
15 7
i i . 19, 241
30 49, 59 5 37, 63 8. i i . 25 , 241-242
4.2-7, 314 5. 38, 62
9. i i . 27, 242
4+
60 5 . 40, 62 9. i i . 28, 242
4 5, 60 5 . 41, 62 9. i i 34, 242
4. 6, 3
14 5 44, 59 9. i i
3
6,
242
4.7-8, 62 5 . 48, 62 9 i i . 53-54, 242
4. 8, 62 Anonymous 9 i i
57, 242
4. 9, 314 Apostolic Constitutions 14-15 , 241
4. 11, 60, 314 27, 394 16, 241
4. 14, 60 3. 10, 394 17, 241
4. 15, 62 3. 1 5, 394 18, 241
4. 17, 62 5 . 13, 390 19, 241
4. 17-18, 62 5. 14-20, 390 20, 241
Index of Ancient Authors 41
21, 241 12: 1, 189 136: 5-9, 329
22, 241 12: 2, 366 145: 1 5 , 329
23, 241 13: 1, 366 148: 5-6, 329
24-25 , 241 14: 2, 189 Testaments of the 12
Egeria: Diary of a 15: 2, 189 Patriarchs, 124, 332,
Pilgrimage 16: 1, 189 337, 339
22-23, 37 ITl, 189 Apocryphal Acts of the
1 Enoch 17= 2, 189, 366 Apostles
12: 5 , 334 IT3, 189-190 Acts of Andrew
15: 9-10, 334 18, 390 1, 368
94: 6-11, 334 18: 1, 366 4-5, 177
95: 4-7, 334 19: 1, 189 8, 368
96:4-8, 334 The Passion of Perpetua 1 1 , 368
98: 7-16, 334 and Felicitas 13, 368
104: 7-13, 334 1. 2, 190 13-19, 368
Epistle of Barnabas 1. 3, 190 14, 368
3=
6, 366 2. 1-2, 190 17, 178, 368
4: 6-7, 366 2. 3, 190 19, 177
I
P
, 366 2. 4, 190 22-23, 368
4 Ezra 3. 2, 190 23, 368
7: 17-25 , 334 4. 1-3, 190 25 , 177-178
Joseph and Aseneth, 377 5 . 3, 190 26, In 178, 368
The Letter to Diognetus, 6. 1, 191 27, 178, 368
367 6. 3, 191 28, 368
2, 286 6. 4, 191 29-30, 178, 368
Letter of Aristeas, 120, 330, Psalms of Solomon 31 , 368
332, 377
2: 3-18, 334 33, In 368
73-107, 328 4: 1-20, 334 36, 368
83-100, 335 8: 10-18, 334 38, In 368
92-100, 343 14: 6-10, 334 40, In 368
208, 332 15: 8-14, 334 42, In 368
Life of Pachomius, 397 24: 1-2, 329 47, 368
3 Maccabees, 377 33: 6-9, 329 48, 178
4 Maccabees, 332, 377 47: 7, 329 51 , 178
9: 8, 341 50: 9-12, 329 52, 178
18: 23, 341 65: 5-8, 329 53, 178
The Martyrdom of 81: 10, 329 54, 178
Polycarp, 189-190 95:4-6, 329 55, 178
1: 1, 189 100: 3, 329 56-58, 368
1: 2, 189 102:25-27, 329 56-59, 178
2: 1, 189 104: 27-3
0, 329 61, In 178, 368
2: 2-3, 189
1OT9, 329 64, 178
2: 4, 189 107=
33-38, 329 Acts ofTohn
P
, 189 1ll : 5, 329 18, 179, 368
5: 2, 189 119: 90, 329 19, 368
6: 2, 189 121: 2, 329 19-26, 179
9: 1, 189 124: 8, 329 22-24, 37
42
Index of Ancient Authors
Apocryphal Acts of the 3. 17, 181 26, 180
Apostles 3- 18, 368 27, 370
Acts ofTohn (continued) 3. 21, 182 28, 180, 370
27, 179 3- 22, 182 29, 180
34-36, 368 3. 24, 182 30, 368
36, 368 3- 26, 368 31, 180, 370
37, 368 3- 28, 182, 368 32, 180-181
38-47, 179
3- 29, 182 34, 181, 3
68
39, 179 3- 33, 182 35 , 181
40, 179 3- 34, 182, 368 36, 180, 181
42, 179
3- 35, 182 37, 181
44, 179 3- 36, 368 38-39, 181
46-47, 179 3. 40, 368 40, 181, 370
47, 370 3- 43, 182 41, 181
52, 370 4, 181, 182, 368 Acts of Thomas
53, 179 5 , 182 3, 368, 369
56, 179, 368 6, 181, 183, 368 4, 368
57, 179 7, 181, 183, 368 6, 176
58, 368 7. 16, 368 8, 176
60-61 , 368 8, 181, 182, 368 9, 176
62, 368 9, 368 11,
3
69
63-65 , 368 10, 181, 182, 368 11-13, 368
63-73> 368 Acts of Peter
, 382 12, 368, 369
73
> 368 a,
368, 370 15-16, 369
75, 370 b, 368, 370 16, 368
76, 179 1-
3, 179 18, 368
80, 370 2, 368
19-20, 368, 369
82, 179 4, 180 20, 369
83, 370 4-5, 179 21 , 368
88-93, 178 5 , 179-180, 181, 368, 370 23, 369
94-95, 178 6, 368, 370 26, 368
97-98, 178 7, 180, 368 27, 369
101, 178 8, 180, 368 28, 368, 369
106, 179 9, 368 29, 369
113-11 5 , 178 10, 180 30-33, 368
Acts of Paul 11, 370 33, 369
1, 182, 368 12, 180 36, 369
2, 182, 368 13, 368 36-37, 368, 369
3- 1-3, 368 14, 180, 370 39-40, 368
3. 5 , 370 16, 179 43-44, 368
3. 5-6, 181, 368 17, 368, 370 46-47, 176
3-7-9, 368 20, 370 51-52, 368
3- 9, 370 21, 370 52, 369
3- 10, 368 22, 370 53-54, 369
3. 11-14, 368 23, 180, 368 58, In 369
3- 13, 368 24, 180 59, 369
3- 15 , 181 25 , 180, 370 61, 177
62, 368
68, 368
68-7, 368
74, 368
75-n, 176
79, 369
80-81, 368
81, 369
82, 368
83-86, 369
88, 369
89-106, 368
94, 3
69
17, 368
108-112, 176
118, 369
119, 368
124, 368, 3
69
125 , 368
126, 368
138, 368
139, 368, 369
140, 177, 369
143, 368
154, 368
159, 368
160, 368, 369
169, 177, 369
169-170, 177
Apocryphal Narrative
Gospels
Gospel According to the
Hebrews
, 370
Gospel of the Ebionites
, 37
1
Gospel of the Nazareans
,
371
Gospel of Peter
,
183-184
1, 371
3, 371
6, 371
8, 371
9, 371
10, 183, 371
13, 371
18, 371
19, 183
21, 371
21-22, 183
24, 371
28, 183
33, 184
35, 371
36, 184
37, 184
39-40, 184
41, 184
44, 184
46, 371
50, 371
56, 184
Infancy Gospel of Thomas
,
185-186
1, 185
2. 1, 185
2, 4, 185
3
0
2-3, 185
B, 186
4. 1, 185
5. 1, 185
5 . 2, 186
6. 1-7 4, 185
8. 2, 185
9, 185
10. 2, 185 , 186
12. 1-2, 185
130 2, 185
14. 2, 185
14- 3, 186
15
, 4, 185
16. 2, 185
17. 1, 185
17. 2, 186
17, 4, 186
18. 1, 185
18. 2, 186
Prtevangelium of lames
,
184-185, 394
1 . 1, 366
1. 2, 366
2. 2, 366
P, 366
4. 1, 184
4. 2, 184
6. 1, 184
6, 3, 184
7
3, 184, 3
66
8. 1-3, 184
8. 2, 184, 3
66
9. 1 , 184
10. 2, 184
11. 1-2, 184
14. 2, 184
19. 2, 184
20. 1-4, 184-185
20. 2, 184
24,
3, 185
Apollonius of Tyana
Letters
16, 308
17, 308
Apuleius
Apology
55 , 38
Metamorphoses
, 3
10
1 1 1 . 21-28, 24
VIII. 24, 358
VI I L24-27, 24
VIII. 27, 39-40,
305-306
X-XI, 24
X 38, 42, 307
XI. 5-6, 88, 307
XL23-25 , 358
XL2
3-27, 42, 307
XL27, 358
XL29, 358
XL29-30, 42, 307
Aristophanes
The Birds, 309
The Clouds, 309
The Frgs, 309
Thesmophoriazusae
, 309
Aristotle
Athenian Constitution
29. 5 , 323
Nicomachean Ethics
,
160
1168B, 360
Politics
1263A, 360
1291A, 323
1330A, 32;
4
Arnobius 18, 286 211, 267, 398
Against the Heathen 19, 286 On Baptism against the
l . i7-20, 287 20, 287 Donatists
1. 24, 287 20-21, 203 3- 18, 396
I I 9, 287 21, 287 On the Morals of the
1Y18-23, 287 22-23, 203 Catholic Church and
1Y20-37, 287 23-24, 287 Manichaean Morals,
Arrian 25 , 203 401
Anabasis of Alexander, 67 26, 287 On the Nature of the
Discourses. See Epictetus 26-27, 203 Good, 401
Encheiridion. See 28-30, 203, 287 Retractions
Epictetus 32, 203 2. 43- 2, 388
Indica, 67 33, 203 Augustus
Artapanus 34, 203 Res Gestae Divi Augusti,
Fragments 35 , 203 98, 324
3, 332, 343 36, 203 Aulus Gellius
Artemidorus Augustine Attic Nights
Oneirocritica, 314 Against Adimantus, a 2. 28. 2, 303
Athanasius Disciple of Mani, 401 10. 1 5 . 1-25 , 324
Apology against the Against Faustus the
Arians, 395 Manichaean, 269 Basil of Caesarea
The Discourses against the 11. 1-8, 401 Against Eunomius, 395
Arians, 395 20. 4, 9-10, 288 "Against the Rich," 395
Letter to Marcellinus, 402 Against Secundinus the "Concerni ng Anger," 395
Life of Antony, 261 Manichee, 401 "God Not the Cause of
2-4, 392 City of God, 257 Evil ," 395
14, 392 I I . 24, 287 The Greater Monastic
46, 402 1 1 . 25, 287 Rule, 266-267
47-50, 392 11. 26, 8, 287 The Lesser Rules, 267
79, 402 11 . 26-27, 287 "On Drunkenness," 395
90, 402 I I . 29, 7, 287 "On Envy," 395
93-94, 392 VIII. 21, 8, 287 Benedict of Nursia
Athenagoras X. 26, 287 Rule of Saint Benedict
Embassy XVIII . 18, 8, 287 Prologue, 267-268, 399,
1-2, 202, 329 XX1. 21, 287 400
3, 202 Concerning Two Souls, 401 1, 267, 268, 400
4, 202 Confessions, 269 2, 399
5-6, 203 3. 6-5 . 11, 401 3, 399
7, 202 Debate with Felix the 4, 400
8, 203, 287 Manichee, 401 5, 400
9, 202-203 Debate with Fortunatus 6, 268, 400
10, 202 the Manichee, 401 7, 399, 400
11, 203 Homilies on First John 8-20, 399
12, 203 6. 10, 396 9-18, 268
14, 203 Letters 18, 402
15-16, 202 137, 388 21, 399
17-19, 203 138, 388 22, 268
4
5
23, 268 IV 55 , 31O 10-11, 204
23-28, 268 Chrysostom, John 1 1 , 206
23-30, 399 Homilies on First 12, 206
24-25 , 400 Corinthians Stromata
31, 399 29, 396 1. 1, 207, 376
32, 399 32, 396 1. 2, 208
33-34, 268 35, 396 L3 , 207
34, 400 Cicero 1 . 4, 207
35, 399 de Divinatione 1 . 5 , 208, 376
39, 399 i . I-3, 305 1 . 6, 207
40, 399, 400 i . I8-19, 305 L7, 208
41, 268 de Inventione 1 . 8, 207, 376
43-46, 268, 399 2. 22. 65, 303 1 9, 208
47, 399 de Natura Deorum 1 . 10, 208
48, 268, 399 1. 2. 4, 303 1 . 13, 207
49, 399 Laws 1 . 15, 208
55, 399 2. 8. 19-2. 9. 22, 324 1 . 23-260, 344
57, 399 12. 31, 324 2. 8, 376
58, 268, 400 Pro Fiacco 2. 11, 376
62-66, 399 28. 66-69, 328 3. 1 , 376
73, 400 Clement of Alexandria 3. 1-18, 207
Excerpta ex Theodoto, 378 4. 2, 376
Cassian, John Exhortation to the 4. 4, 207
Conferences, 267 Heathen 4. 12, 376
2, 399 2, 286, 287 4. 13, 376
3, 399 3, 287 4. 17, 376
4, 399 4, 8, 286, 287 4. 21-23, 207
Institutes of the Coenobia, Paidagogos 4. 24, 376
267 1, 206 4. 165 , 219
1, 398 1 . 5 , 344 5. 1, 376
2-3, 398 2, 206 5 .71-72, 307
4, 398 2. 1-2, 207 6. 8, 376
6, 398 2. 3-4, 207 Clement of Rome
8, 398 2. 5-6, 207 1 Clement, 384
9, 398 2.7. 11-12, 207 1. 1, 373
10, 398, 399 2. 9, 207 1. 2, 196
10.7-13, 399 2. 10, 207 2. 1 , 196
11, 398 3, 207 2. 2, 196
12, 398 3- 12, 207 2. 3, 196
Celsus Protreptikos 2. 4-7, 196
On the True Doctrine: A 1, 204, 205 3- 1 , 196
Discourse against the 2-4, 205 4, 374
Christians, 377 5-6, 205 5 . 1-7, 196, 373
Chariton of Aphrodisias 7, 205 5 .7, 196
Chaereas and Callirhoe 8, 205 7, 374
i . I4 1, 31O 9, 205-206 7. 1, 196
1 I I . 2. 1 5-17, 310 10, 206 7. 4, 196
4
Clement of Rome 62. 1, 197 14, 251
I Clement (continued) 62. 2-3, 196 15 , 25
7
- 4-5 , 196 6B, 373 16, 250
9-12, 374
65 . 1, 236 17, 387
13- 2, 373 2 Clement 22, 251
IB, 196 1. 2, 197 23, 387
16. 1, 196 1 . 3, 197 24, 25, 387
17, 196 1 + 197 25, 250
17-18, 374 1 . 5, 197 26, 250
19. 2, 196 1. 6-7, 197 27, 387
22. 1-8, 196 3 1, 197 28, 251
24 5, 373 3+197 29, 251
28. 1, 196 6. 2-5, 197 30, 251
29. 1, 196 6
7, 197 31, 387
3. 1, 196 10. 1, 197 32, 387
31-32, 374 1 1 .7, 197 33, 387
33. 1, 196 13- 2, 197 34, 387
33- 4, 196 19. 1, 197 35, 387
33- 8, 196 19. 2, 197 36, 387
34-7, 196 20. 2, 197 37, 251
35. 1, 196 Cli macus, John 39, 387
35 . 5-12, 196 The Ladder of Divine 40, 251
36. 1-6, 196 Ascent, 402 41, 251
37, 195 Commodianus 42, 251
4. 1-4, 236 The Instructions of 43, 250
40. 5, 236 Commodianus 44, 251
41. 1, 196, 236-237 2-3, 287 45, 251
41. 2, 236 Cornutus 46, 251
42, 367 Compendium of Greek 47, 251
43- 1-5 , 373 Theology 48, 251
44. 1-2, 236 19, 304 49, 250
44, 3, 236 Cyprian of Carthage 50, 250, 395
44+236 "Exhortation to 51, 251
45-46, 374 Martyrdom," 386 52, 251
46.7-8, 196 Letters 53, 251
46. 8, 373 2, 251 54, 251
47. 1-2, 374 3, 251 55, 387
47- 3, 374 4, 387 56, 251
47- 4, 373 5, 387 57, 251
48, 196 6, 387 58, 251
51, 374 7, 387 59, 251
52, 3, 196 8, 387 61, 251
56, 195 9, 387 62, 387
57, 195 10, 387 68, 251
58, 195 1l , 387 68, 5, 251
59. 2, 196 12, 387 68,7, 251
61. 1, 196 13, 387 68. 8, 251
68. 9, 251
69, 251
7, 251
71, 251
72, 251
73, 251
74, 251
76, 250
78, 250
79, 250
80, 250
81, 251
82, 387
"On the Dress of Virgins,"
386
"On Jealousy and Envy,"
386
"On the Lapsed," 250
6, 395
"On the Lord's Prayer,"
386
"On the Mortal ity," 386
"On Patience," 386
"On the Unity of the
Church," 250
3, 252
5 , 252
6, 252
12, 252
13, 252
14, 252
17, 253
18, 252-253
23, 252
"On the Vani ty of Idols,"
386
"On Words and Alms,"
386
"Three Books of
Testimonies against
the Jews," 387
"To Demetrianus,"
386
Cyril of Alexander
Against the Blasphemies of
Nestorius
, 395
On the Right Faith
, 395
Treasury Concerning the
Holy and
Consubstantial
Trinity
, 395
Twelve Anathemas against
Nestorius
, 395
Cyril of Jerusalem
Catechetical Lecture
23. 9, 391
Mystagogic Catachesis
1, 9, 288
8, 9, 288
Demosthenes
On the Crown
19. 246, 313
29. 13, 313
59. 21, 313
Dio Cassius
Roman History
52. 36. 4, 311
53- 15 4, 23
69. 11. 2, 34
77- 18. 4, 308
Dio Chrysostom
Orations
,
195
12, 316
12 5, 313
13- 137, 316
22. 5, 313
24 3, 313
32, 329
32. 10. 34, 311
32. 12-21, 316
34 3, 313
35. 2. 3- 11, 311
61. 9, 38
71. 8, 313
77178, 376
Diodorus Siculus
Library of History
1. 21, 323
4. 38. 3-5, 34, 360
4. 39. 1-2, 34, 360
Diogenes Laertius
Lives of Eminent
Philosophers
,
217
4
7
4. 16, 318
7.7. 179-202, 317
7 1U-160, 318
7. 119-120, 318
8. 3, 320
8. 4, 321
8. 6, 320
8. 9, 321
8. 10, 82, 310, 320
8. 13, 321
8. 14, 321
8. 18, 321
8. 22, 321
8. 27, 321
8. 3, 321
8. 31 , 321
8. 33, 321
Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Roman Antiquities
2. 22, 323
2. 47, 324
2.72. 4-9, 324
2.78, 324
Epictetus
Discourses
Letter of Introduction, 68
u, 7
1. 1. 2, 66
1 . UO, 72
1 . U3, 71
1 . U7, 301
1. u8, 72
1. 1. 24, 318
1. 1. 32, 72
1. 2. 1, 318
1 . 2. 4, 318
1 . 4, 318
1 . 4. 19, 70
1 . 4. 31, 71
1 . 4. 32, 71
1 . 5 9, 69, 318
1. 6, 319
1. 6. 4, 318
1. 6. 10, 318
1. 6. 14, 318
1. 6. 18, 318
4
8
Epictetus
1. 17. 17. 72
2. 1 . 18.
69
Discourses (continued)
1 . 17. 18-19. 71. 318
2. 1. 26. 72
1. 6. 20-22. 72
1. 17. 27-28 72
2. 1. 31 311
1. 6. 37. 318
1. 18. 1. 318
2. 2. 318
1. 6. 38. 318
1. 18. 15. 71
2. 6. 9. 72
1. 6. 4. 318
1. 18.21-23. 7
2.7. 11 . 73
1.7. 68
1 . 19. 6. 318
2. 8. 1-3. 72
1.7. 126. 72
1. 19 9. 73
2. 8. 11 . 73
1. 8. 4-10 7
1. 19. 12. 72
2. 8. 11-
13. 73
1. 9. 1. 73
1. 19. 25 . 71. 318
2. 8. 13-20 71
1. 9. 4. 318
1 . 19. 26. 71
2. 8. 19. 72
1. 9. 6. 73
1 . 19. 29. 72
2. 8. 21
. 72
1. 9.7. 72
1. 20. 6. 318
2. 8. 28. 73. 74
1. 9. 11. 318
1. 20. 16. 74
2. 9. 13. 7
1. 9. 12-17. 78
1. 21. 1. 318
2. 9. 13-21 7
1. 9. 22-26 73
1. 22. 4. 71
2. 9. 2. 71
1. 9. 24. 318
1. 22. 15. 318
2. 10
3. 73
1. 9. 29.
66
1. 22. 16. 72. 318
2. 11.7. 318
1 . 10. 10. 72
1. 22. 21. 73
2. 12.
68
1. 11. 318
1. 23- 1-1.
69
2. 12. 12. 74
1. 11. 1. 72. 318
1. 24. 1. 318
2. 12. 17. 71
1. 11. 12-13. 71
1. 24. 5. 71
2. 12. 20. 318
1. 12
. 70. 318
1. 25 . 3. 318
2. 13. 318
1 . 12. 6. 318
1. 25. 8 71 319
2. 14. 11-
13. 73-74
1. 12. 21. 71
1. 25. 3. 73
2. 14. 21. 70
1. 12. 25 . 71
. 318
1. 26. 9. 7
2. 14.24. 318
1 . 12. 26. 73
1. 26. 12. 66
2. 1 5. 1 5. 318
1. 12. 27. 73
1. 27. 2 69
2. 15. 26. 71
1. 12. 32 71. 318
1. 27. 4. 7
2. 16. 13-15 . 72
1 . 13. 1. 318
1. 27. 8. 73
2. 16. 17. 71
LIB. 73. 318
1. 27. 13. 72
2. 16. 18. 71
1. 13 4. 73
1 . 29. 318
2. 16. 28. 73
1 . 14. 1. 318
1. 29. 13. 72
2. 16. 33. 72
1 . 14. 12. 73
1. 29. 17. 74
2. 16. 4
2 74. 318
1. 14. 12-14. 319
1. 29. 19. 7
2
2. 16. 46. 74
1. 14. 69. 73
1. 29. 29. 7
2 73
2. 17. 22. 72
1. 15 5. 73
1. 29. 31. 3
18
2. 17. 23. 72
1 . 16. 319
1. 29. 34. 318
2. 17. 26 311
1. 16. 6. 71
. 318
1. 29. 35. 7
2. 17- 29. 73. 318
1. 16.7. 72
1. 29 37. 318
2. 17- 33. 73. 74
1. 16. 14. 72
1. 29 39. 318
2. 18. 13. 318
1. 16. 15-21 75-76
1. 29. 46-5. 74
2. 18. 19. 74
1. 16. 16-21. 71
1. 29. 55-57. 7
2. 18. 27. 318
1. 16. 20. 66
l. 30. 1 . 319
2. 18. 29. 73
1. 17. 68. 72
1. 3. 5. 74
2. 19. 7
1. 17. 13. 7
l. 30. 6. 72
2. 19. 17. 71
1. 17. 15 . 318
2 1 .7. 318
2. 19. 26. 73
4
9
2. 19. 27, 73 3. 13. 8, 73 3. 24. 3, 73
2. 19. 29
, 74 3. 13- 13, 319
3-
24 5, 74
2. 20
,
68 3-
13- 15 ,
69, 71 3- 24. 12, 71
2. 20. 27, 71 3. 13. 16, 72
P
4 i6
, 72
2. 20. 33, 72 3. 15. 2-4, 318
P
4 19, 72
2. 20. 37, 318 3. 15. 3, 318 P
4 21
, 74
2. 22
, 318 3. 1 5. 14, 319
P
4 24, 74
2. 22. 4, 318 3. 17, 305 , 319
P
4
-
38, 318
2. 22. 6
, 318 3
-
19, 3, 318
P
4 60
, 73
2. 22. 14, 318 P
O 4, 72 P
4
63, 74
2. 23-
2-5 , 72
P
O 5 ,
66
P
4 65 , 74
2. 23. 21-22, 318 po. 8
, 318 P
4 89, 71
2. 23- 42
, 75 3. 20. 12, 72
P
4 95, 74
2. 25,
68 3. 20. 22
, 73
3. 24
'
95-98, 318
2. 29. 26
, 71
P
1 . 3, 318 3- 24. 110
, 70
, 74
3. 1, 318 3
. 21. 12, 71 , 73, 301 3-
24. 112
, 74
3 1. 5 , 318 3-
21. 13, 71
P
4 1 14, 74
3- 1. 10-14, 7 P
1. 13-14, 75
3. 24. 117, 318
3- 1. 16, 72 3. 21. 14, 318 3. 25 . 3, 318
3. l. l8
, 73 3. 21. 14-1 5 , 75
p6
, 318
3. 1. 19, 319 3. 21. 15, 71
4. 1
, 7, 318
3. 1. 29, 318 3-
21. 19-20
, 319 4. 1. 58, 318
3 l . 36, 318
p2
, 75, 298
, 316
, 376 4. 1. 60, 71
3-
1 . 37, 71
, 74, 319 3- 22. 2
, 301 4. 1. 61
, 318
3- 1 . 44, 319 p2. 2-8
, 75 4. 1 . 83, 72
p. I-2,
69
p2. 19-22
, 75 4. 1 . 89-90, 74
P
4, 317 P
2-44, 75
4. 1. 99, 72
3
0
3. 5 , 319 3. 22. 24-25 , 75 4. 1 . 101, 74
3. 3. 10, 72 P
245-49, 75
4. 1. 13, 319
3. 3
-
17, 318 3. 22. 5-52
, 75 4. 1 . 13-14, 319
3. 4. 12
, 318
P
2 53-61
, 75 4. 1. 14, 318
3. 5.7-1 1, n 319 P
2 54-55, 311 4. 1. 106
, 71
3. 5. 17, 311
3. 22.7, 31 1 4. 1. 108
, 72
3. 6. 10
,
66 p2. 62-66
, 76 4. 1. 19, 71
, 318
3-7-7-29
, 318
p2. 68-n 76 4. 1 . 131
, 319
H
12
, 71 3- 22.72-73, 311 4. 1. 150,
66
3.7. 19-28
,
69 P
277-82, 76 4. 1. 172
, 74
3.7. 21
, 3
2 3. 22. 83-85, 76 4 3- 9, 73
3. 8. 1
, 318 3
. 22. 86-89, 76
4. 3
. 10, 74
3. 8. 6, 319
P
2
90-92
, 75 4. 3-
12, 73
3. 9. 12, 317
P
2
' 94-96
, 75 4
+
7, 73
3. 10. 6
, 318
P
2 97-99, 75 4. 4. 18, 73
3- 10. 13, 318 3-
22. 100-19, 75
4. 4. 24, 318
3. 11. 16, 72
P
3 2
, 318 4. 4. 29, 72
3-
12
, 318 3. 23. 11, 72 4
+
3, 318
3. 13. 4, 69, 72
PP
9,
66 4
+
34, 319
3. 13.7, 72 3. 23
0
30-32, 70-71 4
+
38, 71
43
0
Epictetus
37, 34, 302
5. 24. 2-7, 244
Discourses (continued) 41 , 34, 302
5. 24. 8, 243
4- 4- 40, 71, 74
To Menoeceus 5 .24. 9, 244
4- 4- 46, 318
123-124, 39 5 . 24. 10, 244
4- 4- 47, 72, 73
134, 309 5. 24. 11, 244
4. 5. 1 5, 318
Epiphanius of Salamis 5- 24 13, 244
4. 5. 35, 319
Ancoratus, 378 5. 24. 16, 244-245
4. 5. 36, 73
Panarion, 378 5. 24. 17, 244
4. 6. 32, 318
3B 1-337 10, 381 5. 24. 18, 246
4. 6. 37, 318
Euripides 5. 25. 1 , 243
4.7, 3 18
Bacchai, 81 5. 26. 1, 385
4.7. 6, 71, 72
The Trjan Women
6. 1, 367
4.7.7, 72
764, 102
6. 3-7> 376
47 9, 73
Eusebius of Caesarea
6. 10, 367
4.7- 20, 72, 74
Historia Ecclesiastica
6. 12, 371
4. 8. 8-12, 7
2. 25. 1-8, 367
6. 21. 1-2, 367
4. 8. 29, 72 B 2, 371 6. 27, 367
4. 8. 3, 74 3. 17-19, 367
6. 28, 367
4. 11. 25 , 318
3- 23-33, 3
67
6. 29, 367
4. 12, 70 4. 1. 1, 367
6. 35, 367
4. 12. 11-12, 74 4. 4. 1, 367
6. 39-42, 367
4. 13- 24, 319 4. 19-20, 367
6. 43- 11, 391 , 394
Encheiridion 5. 1-2, 367 7. 1-4, 389
15 , 73 5. 1. 1-5. 2. 2, 372 7. 2, 367
17, 319 5. 1 . 10, 190 7. 10, 367
22, 73
5. 1 . 14-16, 19 7. 14, 367
27, 72 5. 1. 25-27, 19
7- 28, 367
29, 318 5. 1 . 29-30, 19
7- 3.7, 395
31, 73
5 . 1 . 41, 190
8. 1-3, 367
32, 71, 74 5. 1 . 42, 190
10. 5 . 2-14, 387
53, 319 5. 4. 2, 380
10. 5 . 18-24, 387
Fragments 5. 6. 1-5, 367
10. 6. 1-5, 387
1, 73
5. 9, 367
10.7. 1-2, 387
Epicurus 5. 10, 375
Life of Constantine
Fragments 5
. 10. 8, 387
3. 5 , 387
23, 310 5. 10. 11, 387
3. 6, 388
24. 58, 39 5. 12, 367
3- 1, 388
34, 310 5. 14-18, 367
3- 12, 388
39, 310 5. 14-21, 371 3- 17-21, 388
42, 310
5 . 16. 17, 186
3- 25-43, 388
Sovereign Maxims, 298 5 . 20. 5-7, 380 3- 42-43, 392
1, 309
5. 22, 367
3- 48-51, 388
14, 310 5 . 23-25, 367 3. 58, 388
19, 34, 302 5 . 23. 1, 243 4. 18, 387
20, 34, 302 5 - 2B-4, 243 4. 19-20, 387
21, 34, 302 5 . 23. 4, 243
4. 21, 387, 389
28, 310 5 . 24. 1, 243
4. 24, 263-264, 395
43
1
4- 28, 388 Hel iodorus VIl . 2a, 87
4.
36-37
>
388 Ethiopian Tale VIl .2b, 88
4.
58-60, 388 1.2, 310 VIII, 85
Ortion in Prise of the 2. 16, 310 VIIba, 86
Emperor Constantine 2. 26, 310 VIII
3, 86
9. 14-19, 388 6. 14-15 , 310 IX, 85
Prepartio Evangelica
, 8, 310 IX 1. 4b, 86
344 9.9-10, 310 X, 85
Evagrius of Pontus 11, 310 X. 6, 87
Chapters on Pryer
,
261 Heraclitus X'7-8, 87
Prktikos
, 261 The Epistles of Herclitus, X. 8, 87
25 X' 9-1O, 87
Firmicius Maternus 4, 298 X. 14, 87
De Errore Profanorum Homeric Questions X. 15b, 87
Religionum
, 387 69, 304 X. 16, 87
Hermetic literature X. 19a, 87
Galen Corpus Hermeticum X. 23, 87
Commentary on Plato's II, 8
5 X. 24-25 , 87
Timaeus
, 313-3
14 II' 4a, 87 XI , 85
Gregory the Great II' 9, 87 X1. 1. 4a, 86
Dialogue I I . 12a-b, 87 X1. 1 .6a, 8
5
2, 400 II. 13, 87 XI. 2. 11-12, 85
Expositio in Librum Job
,
II. 14-16, 86 XI. 2.20b, 86
sive Morlia Libri I I 46, 87 XI. 2. 21a, 86
XXXv 268, 400 I I. 86, 87 XII, 8
5
Gregory Nazianzen III , 8
5
XII. l. l, 86
First Theological Oration: IV, 85 XII. 1. 2, 86
Against the lVI, 86 XIl. I.
5, 85
Eunomians IV2, 87 XII. 1.7, 86
1-2, 391 IV3, 87 XII 1. 9, 86
Theological Ortions, 395
IV3-5 , 87 XI1. 1. 11, 86
Gregory of Nyssa IV4, 87 XII . 1 . l3b, 86
Against Apollonarius, 395 IV5, 87 XII. 2. 19,
3
21
Letter IV6, 87 XII. 2.20b, 86
2, 272-273, 403 IV9, 87 XII. 2. 23b, 86
Life of Moses
, 344, 402 VI , 85 XIII , 85
On the Holy Spirit against VLIa, 86, 87 XIII. l, 86
the Macedonians Vl .2a, 87 XIII 3, 86
Who Are against the V1. 3a, 87 XII1. 6, 86
Spirit
, 395
V1. 3b, 87 XIII7, 86
On the Making of Men V1. 4a, 86 XIII. 10, 86
28. 1-29. 11, 383
V1.
5, 87 XIII . 14, 86
Gregory Palamas V1. 6, 87 XlVI, 86
The Triads Vb6, 86 XIV7, 86
1 . 3- 4-23, 402 V1. 26, 86 XVI, 85
I I . 2. 1 1-12, 402 VII, 85 XV1 . 8-9, 86
I I
3
8-15, 402 VIbb, 87 XVb6, 85 , 86
43
Hermetic li terature 24, 90 16. 1-7, 385
Corpus Hermeticum 24-26, 88 29C 1-16, 385
(continued) 2
5 , 90 30A 1-2, 385
XVII , 8
5, 321 26a, 90 31. 1-5 , 240
XVIII , 8
5 26b, 90
32. 1-3, 385
Asclepius 27-29, 88 34, 240
2a, 85 28, 90-91 35. 1-2, 385
6a, 86 29, 91 40. 1-2, 385
7b, 86 30-32, 88 42. 1-4, 385
9, 86 31, 3
2
3 Refutation of All Heresies
,
10. 16. 22, 86
32, 91 378
11, 86 Herodotus 9. 6, 395
11a, 86 History Homer
12a, 86 1. 14, 301 Odyssey
12b, 86 1 . 50, 301 VIIL266-366, 304
22, 86 1. 51, 297, 306 Horace
22a, 91 1. 61, 306 Satires
23, 321 1. 6
5-67, 297 9. 67-70, 328
24b, 321 1. 67, 306
25, 86 1. 92, 301 Iamblichus
26, 85 , 86 2. 42, 326 Life of Pythagoras
29, 85 2. 48, 326
3-10, 298, 305 , 310
37, 321 5 . 42-43, 297, 306 6. 29-30, 310, 320
37-38, 91
5
. 62-63, 297, 306 17.72, 310
38, 321 5. 91, 297, 306 17.72-74, 298
41a, 92 6. 5
2, 297, 306 1773-75 , 310, 320
41b, 86 6 57, 297, 306 17
-
75, 310
Poimandres 6. 66, 297, 306 18. 81, 310, 320
1-3, 88 6.76, 297, 306 29-30, 360
2, 88 6. 86, 306 32. 257, 310
4-6, 89 7
. 220, 297, 306
3
6, 3
10, 359
4-11, 88 7- 239, 297, 306 60, 359
6, 88 8. 114, 306 60-61, 310
7-8, 89 8. 135, 306 1
35 , 359
9, 88 8. 141, 306 136, 310
9-11a, 89 Hippolytus of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
12, 88, 89 Apostolic Tradition To the Ephesians
12-23, 88 2. 1-3- 6, 240 1. 2, 187
13b, 89 3. 4, 240 1. 2-3, 384
14, 89 3
.
5 , 240 2. 1, 384
15 , 89 4. 11, 240 2. 2, 384
16-17, 89 5. 1-2, 385 30 2, 237
18, 89 6. 1-4, 385 4. 1-2, 384
19, 90 7. 1-5, 240 5. 2, 237
21, 90 10. 5 , 240 5.
3, 384
22, 90 14, 385 6. 1, 237
23, 90 15 , 385 12. 2, 187
18. 1, 188
20. 2, 384
21. 2, 188
To the Magnesians
2. 1, 237, 367, 384
4. 1, 3
67, 384
6. 1, 367
6. 1-2, 237, 384
7. 1-2, 367
8. 1 , 366
8. 2, 384
9. 1, 188, 366
10. 3, 366
14. 1, 187
To the Philadelphians
2. 1, 384
3
0 2, 237
4. 1 , 238
6. 1, 366
8. 1, 237
10. 2, 384
To Polycarp
6. 1 , 384
7. 1-2, 384
8. 1, 384
To the Romans
2. 1, 3
67
2. 2, 188
4. 1-2, 3
67
4. 2, 187, 188
5 . 2, 367
5
. 3, 187, 188
6. 1, 367
6 3, 188
8. 3, 187
To the Smyrnaeans
7. 1-8. 2, 238
8. 1, 384
8. 2, 237
9.
3, 384
To the Trallians
2. 1, 384
2. 1-3, 367
2. 2, 384
p, 237, 367
3. 1-2, 237
7. 1, 237
70 2, 237-238
10. 1, 188
1
P, 384
Irenaeus
Adverus Haereses, 378
1 , 380
I. Preb, 246
I. Pref. 1-2, 380
1. Preb, 246
I. Pref3, 246, 247
1 . 1 . 1-1. 3
. 5 , 217
1 . 4. 1-2, 218
1 . 5. 1, 218
1 . 5. 6, 218
1. 6. 1, 218, 219
1. 6. 2, 218
1. 6. 3, 380
1 .7. 1, 219
1 .7. 2, 219
1 .7 5 , 218
1. 8. 1 , 386
1 . 8. 1-5 , 219
1 . 9. 4, 380
1 . 10. 1, 248
1 . 10. 3, 248
1. 11. 1, 380
1. 11. 1-4, 380
1. 11. 4, 380
1 . 1
B, 380
1 . 13 4-5 , 380
1. 13. 6-7, 380
1 . 14-18, 386
1 . 14-22, 380
1. 23. 1, 380
1. 23.1-4, 380
1. 23 4-5, 380
1. 23- 5, 380
1. 24. 1-2, 380
1. 24. 3-4, 380
1. 24. 4, 219-220
1. 24 5 , 219, 380
1. 25, 380
1. 25
.
3, 380
1. 26. 1, 380
1. 26. 2, 380
1. 26. 3, 380
1. 27, 380
1. 27. 2-4, 380
1. 28, 380
1. 29,. 380
1. 29. 1, 220
l. 30, 380
1 . 30. 3, 220
1 . 30. 6, 220
1 .
30. 9, 220
1. 30. 13, 220
1. 30. 14, 220
1 . 31, 380
1 . 31 . 1, 380
2, 380
2 9, 247
2. 10, 386
2. 14, 246
2. 14. 1-9, 380
2. 24, 386
2. 25-27, 386
3, 380
3 1. 1-2, 249
p. 2, 249
3
0 2, 248-249
B
1, 249
3- B
, 249
B+
249
3+3, 249
3.7-10, 386
3
. 1 1 . 1-9,
248
3. 11. 8, 386
3. 1 1 . 9, 383
p8, 386
4, 380
5 , 380
433
Itinerarium Egeriae, 261
3, 393
4, 393
22, 393
23, 393-394
28-40, 393
Jerome
Against the Books of
Ru/nus, 396
Against Helvidius, 395-396
Against fohn of ferusalem,
396
434
Jerome (continued)
Against lovinian, 396
Against the Luciferians,
395
Against the Pelagians,
396
Against Vigilantius, 396
de Viris Illustribus
3- 2, 371
53, 25, 386
67, 386
Letter
22. 30, 397
41, 372
John of Damascus
On the Divine Images:
Three Apologies
against Those Who
Attack the Holy
Images, 403
Josephus
Against Apion, 329,
332
1. 42-43, 331
1. 164-165 , 332
1. 188, 343
1 . 198-199, 328
1. 199, 343
1. 284, 343
2. 66-70, 328
275 , 335
2. 105, 343
2. 168, 3
2. 185-196, 343
2. 281, 30, 332
2. 291, 332
Antiquities, 331
8' 45-49, 337
8. 63-98, 328
13- 65 , 335
13.70, 335
14.7, 33
15. 380-420, 328,
335
16, 42, 332
17. 162, 328, 335
17- 213-218, 336
17. 214, 330, 336 6. 197C, 311
17- 254, 336 7 2223C, 311
18: 11-22, 338 Justin Martyr
18. 11-25 , 333 Apology
18. 16-17, 343 1. 1, 199
18. 29, 336 1. 2, 199
18. 63-64, 336 1. 4, 200
18. 9, 336 1.7, 200, 201
18. 116-119, 336 1. 8, 200
18. 311-313, 328 1. 9, 200
20. 49-50, 328 1. 10, 200
20. 106, 336 1. 12, 200
20. 199, 343 1. 13, 200
20. 200, 346-347
1 . 14, 8, 200, 287
20. 219-222, 328, 335 1 . 15-17, 200
lewish War, 331 1. 20, 9, 286, 288
l. 33, 335
1. 26, 8, 201, 288, 378
1 . 401, 328 1. 28-29, 200
2, 4, 336 1. 30, 201
2. 118, 334
1. 46, 200
2. 119-161, 3
1. 48, 201
2. 119-166, 30, 333, 338 1 . 54, 8, 287
2. 122-127, 360 1. 56, 8, 201, 288
2. 264, 334
1. 57, 8, 287, 288
2. 568-584, 334
1. 61, 200
3- 384-398, 334 1. 62, 9, 288
4. 2, 334
1. 65 , 200-201, 238
4. 385, 334
1. 65-67, 200
5. 361-420, 334 1. 66, 9, 288
5
,
369, 332 1. 67, 238
5. 4
00-402, 334 2. 6, 375
5 . 412, 332 2. 10, 375
5 433-444, 334
2. 12, 199
5 541-547, 334 2. 13, 375
5, 556, 334
2. 15 , 375
6. 288, 334
Dialogue with Trypho, In
7. 185, 337
199
7. 255-258, 334 1, 199, 366
7- 260-262, 334
2, 199
7. 268-46, 343 3, 199, 286
Life 4-5 , 199
2, 343
6, 199
9. 65 , 334 7, 199
Julian 8, 199
Orations 9, 199
6,72, 316 32-34, 377
6. 192C, 311 41, 238, 384
435
Discourse to the Greeks 29 10 4-11. 8, 306 Philosophers for Sale
1, 286, 287 39. 8-19, 302, 320 20-23, 311
2-3, 287 Longus Lucretius
4, 287 Daphnis and Chloe On the Nature of Things,
1.7, 310 310
Lactantius 2. 2, 310
The Divine Institutes 2. 5-7, 310 Macrobius
1 . 1 , 257, 389 2. 6-7, 310 Saturnalia
1. 5, 389 2. 23, 310 1. 22-23, 302
1. 15 , 389 3. 10, 310 1. 24, 302
1 . 17-18, 287 Lucan Marcus Aurel ius
1. 24, 287 Civil War Meditations
2. 3, 389 8. 86-224, 306 1. 8, 67
3- 15 , 389 Lucian of Samosata 1. 9, 325
3- 19, 389 Alexander the False 1. 17, 316
3. 29, 389 Prophet, 45, 309 2. 1, 316
4-6, 258 17, 45, 309 2. 3, 316
5 . 1, 389 25 , 45, 309 3. 6, 316
5. 4, 389 43, 45 , 309 4. 23, 316
The Epitome of the Divine 47, 45, 309 4. 40, 316
Institutes 61, 45, 309 4. 41 , 67
28, 287 Demonax, 26, 298 4. 49. 2-6, 67
Of the Manner in Which 7, 311 5 .7, 316
Perecutors Died, 258 ll, 45, 309, 310 5 . 21, 316
1 , 389 21, 45 , 309 6.7, 316
42, 389 23, 45 , 309 6. 9, 316
Libanius 27, 45 , 309 7. 9, 316
Autobiography 34, 45, 309 70 31, 316
119, 135 37, 45, 309 7. 67, 316
Orations 55, 67 8. 26, 316
17, 388 The Dram 9. 1, 316
20, 388 ll, 311 9. 28, 316
30, 388 Hermotimus, 311 10. 6, 316
64, 315 18-19, 311 1l. 20, 316
Livy 79, 311 11. 38, 67
History of Rome Icaromenippus 11. 39, 67
1. 16, 304, 360 5 , 311 12. 26, 316
1. 18. 6-10, 324 The Ignorant Book Collector 12. 28, 316
1. 21. 8, 305 13, 67 Maximus of Tyre
1. 24. 3-9, 324 The Lover of Lies Discourses
1. 32, 324 13-16, 44, 308 36, 376
1. 45 4-7, 305 16, 359 Minucius Fel i x
2 42 9-11, 305 Nigrinus, 26, 298 Octavius
5 . 13. 5-6, 306 38, 311 1, 286
8. 9. 1-10, 303 The Passing of Peregrinus 6. 1-7. 6, 304, 329
10. 47, 307 ll, 45 , 309 ll , 9, 288
29. 10-14, 302 42, 45, 309 20, 287
43
Mi nucius Fel ix 5 . 26, 383 [7] 45. 29-31, 231
Octavius (continued) 5 . 31, 383 [77] 46. 22-27, 23
21, 287 7. 10, 225 [80] 47. 12, 232
22, 287 7. 19, 225 [87] 48. 4-6, 231-232
24, 287 9. 2, 225 [9] 48. 16-19, 231
27, 287 21. 4-13, 225 [108] 5. 28-29, 23
28, 287 24. 26-32, 225 [112] 51. 10-11, 232
38, 7, 287 25 .7-8, 225 [1l4] 51 . 18-24, 231
Musonius Rufus 25.20-26. 3, 225-226 The Gospel of Truth, 221,
Fragments 27. 1-10, 225 233, 383
3, 317 27. 21-27, 225 16. 31, 226
8, 316 28. 21-31, 225 17. 1 , 226
12, 317 30. 1-4, 225 17. 17, 226-227
16, 316, 376 3O. 11, 225 17- 36, 227
17, 316 3. 17, 226 18. 18-31, 227
3. 25, 226 18. 21-26, 227
Nag-Hammadi Library 31 . 1-4, 226 19. 17-19, 227
Act of Peter, 221, 378, 382 31. 10-20, 226 19 34, 227
The Acts of Peter and the 31. 21-37, 226 20. 10-14, 227
Twelve Apostles, 382 Asclepius, 381 21. 1-7, 227
Allogenes Discourse on the Eighth 21. 8-23, 227
45. 1-57, 223 and Ninth, 381 22. 4-13, 227-228
51. 13, 383 Eugnostos the Blessed, 221, 25 .7-22, 228
52. 20, 223 382 26.7-8, 228
53
0
28, 383 The Gospel of the 29. 1 , 227
55. 30, 223 Egyptians, 221, 371 30. 1, 227
56. 26-38, 224 The Gospel of Mary, 378 30. 23, 227
56. 27, 383 The Gospel of Thomas, 33- l1-30, 228
57- 27, 224 233, 378, 383 41. 3-7, 228
58. 21, 383 [1] 32. 10-12, 230 42. 11-25 , 228
59. 3, 383 [3] 32. 19-33. 2, 231 45. 28-46. 2, 383
59.6, 383 [ 5-6] 33. 10-22, 231 46. 25 , 383
59. 18-24, 224 [18] 36. 9-14, 231 48. 6, 383
59 37, 224 [21] 36. 33-37+ 231 48. 38 383
60. 12-19, 224 [22] 37.20-24, 231 Marsanes
60. 24-38, 224 [23] 38. 1-2, 231 4 11, 383
61-68, 224 [24] 38. 3-9, 231 8. 28, 383
Apocryphon of John, 378 [27] 38. 17-19, 232 43
0
21, 383
1. 8, 224 [28] 38. 20-29, 23 Melchizedek
1. 11, 224 [29] 38. 31-34, 231 5- 27, 383
1. 17. 26, 224-225 [37] 39. 27-29, 231 16. 26, 383
2. 16, 225 [42] 4. 19, 232 Pryer of Thanksgiving,
2. 26-13. 1 5, 225 [46] 41. 6-10, 231 381
4. 36, 383 [49] 41. 27-29, 232 Sentences of Sextus, 221,
5. 13, 383 [ 5] 41. 3-42. 4, 231 381
5 . 19, 383 [ 51] 42.7-10, 231
Sophia ofTesus Christ, 221,
5 . 25 , 383 [ 56] 42. 29, 232 382
Index of Ancient Authors 437
The Teachings of Silvanus, Origen 5. 65 , 209
221, 381 Against Celsus, 377 6. 2, 67, 210
Three Steles of Seth 1. 6, 9, 288 6. 9-17, 210
121. 21, 383 1. 8, 209 6. 26, 210
Treatise on the 1. 8-9, 209 6. 41, 308
Resurrection, 221 1. 10, 211 6. 68, 211
43- 25 , 228 1. 55-56, 210 7. 41, 210
43. 29-44. 1 , 228 1. 63, 212 7 47, 210
44. 27-35, 229 1. 65, 210 7. 53, 317
45. 15-22, 229 1. 67, 212 7 54, 67, 317
45. 28, 229 2. 8, 210 7. 61, 8, 287
45. 28-46. 1, 229 2. 9-11, 304 7. 69, 7, 287
46. 23-25 , 229 2. 12, 210 8. 24, 7, 287
47. 1-18, 229 2. 13, 210 8 47, 212
47. 22, 229 2. 16, 211 Commentary on the Song
47. 35-36, 229 2. 21-45, 350 of Songs, 402
48. 3-4, 229 2. 27, 210 Dialogue of Origen with
48. 13-16, 229 2. 29, 210 Heraclides and his
48. 26, 228 2. 41, 210 Fellow-Bishops on the
48. 33-36, 229 2. 48, 212 Father, the Son, and
49. 9-15 , 229-230 2.78, 210 the Soul
49. 30-34, 230 3- 12-13, 377
13- 25-15 . 25, 21 1, 377
Trimorphic Protennoia 3 45, 210 Exhortation to Martyrdom
38. 9, 383 3. 51, 210 2, 191
Zostrianos 3. 56, 316 3, 191
1 . 10, 223 3. 58, 210 5 , 191
14. 6, 382 3.60-62, 377 6, 191
36. 14, 382 374-75, 377 1 1 , 191
36. 20, 382 375, 210 12, 191
37. 20, 382 3.78, 211 13, 191
44. 1-5 , 223 379, 210 18, 191
45- 25-46. 13, 223 3. 81, 210 27, 192
46. 24-26, 223 4.1-2, 210 30, 191
53. 10, 382 4 4, 212 32, 191
62. 21, 382 4. 18, 377 34, 191
63-7, 382 4. 22, 210 36, 192
83. 9, 382 4. 27, 210 40, 191
87. 10, 382 4. 30, 210 41, 191
91. 19, 382 4. 31, 210 45, 191
118. 10, 382 4. 38, 377 47, 191
119. 23, 382 4. 89, 287 50, 191
122. 1, 382 4. 92, 287 Homilies on Jeremiah
124. 11, 382 5 35, 210 14. 10. 1, 211, 377
128. 10-13, 223 5 . 46, 7, 287 Homilies on Numbers, 402
129. 11, 382 5 . 54, 209 Letter to Gregory
130. 4-14, 223 5 57, 210 Thaumaturgus
130. 19-132. 4, 223 5 . 61, 210 1, 377
43
Origen (continued) Pallsanills 77
>
339, 360
On First Prinicples Description of Greece
,
25 ,
n
339, 360
8. 1-4, 383
262 84-85 , 339, 360
On Virginity 6. 26. 1, 362 Flight and Finding
12, 383
8, 9,7-8, 304 85 , 338
Ovid 10. 5-32, 393 Hypothetica
Fasti Petronils 1-11, 341
2. 481-509, 304, 360 Satyrika
, 46 11. 1, 339
Metamorphoses 16-18, 309 11. 4, 339
8. 611-724, 36, 303, 360 29, 309 11. 11 , 339
14. 106-158, 306 30, 309 11. 16, 339
14. 805-851, 304, 360 44, 310 Life of Moses
15. 628-742, 307 46, 310 1. 148, 340
15.795, 305
61, 310 1. 158, 338
63, 310 1 . 158-159, 341-342
Palladils 64, 310 1. 175, 356
Lausiac History
,
261 69, 310 1. 198, 332
Prol . , 2, 392 74, 310 2. 8-65 , 340
1 , 392
77>
309 2. 40, 338
2, 392 78, 309 2. 66-186, 340
3, 392 79, 309 2. 187-291, 340
4, 393
83-85, 309 2. 188-192, 356
5, 393 88, 309 2. 291, 356
7, 393 95, 309 Noah's Work as a
11. 4, 402 96, 309 Planter
16, 3-5 , 402 100, 309 163-173, 340
22. 6-8, 402 101, 309 On Abraham
26. 3, 402 126, 310 7-16, 340
32, 397 127, 310 17-26, 340
32. 6, 402 Philo of Alexandria 122, 338
32. 12, 402 Against Flaccus
, 33
2 208, 332
33, 393 29, 329 275-276, 340
35. 8, 402 33, 329 On the Cherubim
37. 2, 402 48, 335 42, 338
38. 11, 402 116, 335 48, 338
43- 2-3, 402 Allegorical Interpretation 120, 331
44. 2, 402 1.
3
1, 340 On the Contemplative
47, 261 3-71, 338 Life
, 34
1
47- 3, 402 3. 100, 338 13-14, 339
47+ 393 3-
101-103, 338 16, 339
47. 5-6, 393 3. 102, 340 18, 339
47. 1
3, 402 Embassy to Gaius
, 33
2 25, 338
48. 2, 402 93-113, 339 28, 338
55. 2, 402 209-212, 331 On the Creation
55
.
3, 402 312, 335
71, 338, 341
58. 1, 402 Every Good Man Is Free On the Decalogue, 341
71. 1, 402 75-91, 341 20-31 , 339
439
54, 339 Unchangeableness of God 64E, 84
llo, 332 61, 338 67A-B, 84
On Dreams Who Is the Heir 67B-69C, 312
1. 164, 338 264-265 , 356 67C0, 321
On the Giants Philodemus 67E, 321
4, 331 On Piety 800, 301
53-54, 338 18, 309 Phaedrus, 210
On Toseph, 343 Philostratus 24<0, 305, 356
1, 340 Life of Apollonius of Republic, 221
On the Migration of Tyana, 25, 199 364B-O, 83
Abraham L, 298 364E-365A, 83
89-93, 331 1 . 2, 298 378B-E, 309
130, 340 1 . 2. 1, 308 398A, 309
On the Posterity and Exile 1 .7, 375 420C-422B, 360
of Cain 1 .7-8, 3l l 462B-464A, 360
1-2, 340 1. 13, 298 585B-C, 309
173. 338 111. 38, 359 600B, 321
On the Virtues 111. 38-39, 306 Symposium, 302
1-50, 341 IY10, 306 Thaetetus
51, 332 IY35 36, 3ll 151B, 301
51-174, 341 IY45 , 359 Timaeus, 210
81, 332 Y12, 308 71E-72B, 305
109-ll8, 332 VIIl.n, 298 72B, 306
175-186, 341 Lives of the Sophists, 51 Plautus
178, 338 581, 52 Amphitryon, 309
187-227, 341 582, 52 The Casket
Questions and Answer on 583, 52 1 . 3, 309
Exodus 585, 52 Corculio, 309
82, 340 Plato The Pot of God, 309
Questions on Genesis Alcibiades Pseudolus, 309
1. 4, 340 1350, 301 The Rope, 309
3. 9, 356 Apology, 210 Pliny the Elder
4. 140, 356 290, 360, 385 Naturl History, 25
4. 196, 356 Cratylus l l . 190, 305
Rewards and Punishments 40oC, 83, 312 28 4, 304, 329
l l5-ll8, 331 Critias 28. 10-ll, 303
121, 338 lloC-O, 360 Pliny the Younger
Sacrifces of Abel and Cain Epistles, 210 Letter
53-54, 338 Gorgias 10. 96, 354
62, 338 453-462, 313 10. 96.7, 353
Special Laws, 341 493C, 83, 312 Plutarch
1. 65 , 356 Ion Against Colotes, 106,
1. 69, 328 534A-O, 305, 356 310
1.76-78, 328 Laws, 210 2, 106
3. 6, 341 782C, 83-84, 312 17, 106, 298
4- 49, 356 Phaedo 22, 34, 106-107, 302
4.72, 332 62B, 84, 312 27, 34, 302
Plutarch 67, 104 8, 103, 328
Against Colotes (continued) 68, 105 9, 105
31, 107 69, 104 10, 103, 105
33, 106 Life of Aemilius Paullus 11, 103
The Ancient Customs of 17. 11-12, 303
12, 102, 103
the Spartans,
325
Life of Alexander 14, 105
The Bravery of Women, 2. 3-3- 9, 305 On Tranquility of Mind, 325
326 Life of Coriolanus The Oracles at Delphi No
Concerning the Face 25 .7, 303 Longer Given in
Which Appears in the Life of Julius Caesar Verse, 356
Orb of the Moon,
325 9. 1-10. 6, 324 2, 108
The E at Delphi, 108,
35
6 Life of Romulus 5, 108
2, 108 21. 3-5, 324 17, 108
9, 320 Natural Phenomena,
325 18, 108
The Education of The Obsolescence of 28, 109
Children,
325 Oracles, 40, 108, 306, 29, 326
Greek Questions,
325 357 30, 108
How a Man May Become
5, 109 Platonic Questions, 325
Aware of His Progress 8, 109 Progress in Virtue, 100
in Virtue, 325, 377 13-17, 287 Roman Questions,
3
25
How to Proft by One's 45, 109 Sayings of Kings and
Enemies, 325 46C, 303 Commanders,
3
2
5
How to Tell a Flatterer 48, 109 Sayings of Romans,
3
2
5
frm a Friend, 325 On the Control of Anger, Sayings of Spartan
How the Young Man
325 Women,
325
Should Study Poetry, On the Delay of the Divine Sayings of Spartans, 325
325 Vengeance, 107, 305 , Should an Old Man
"Is 'Live Unknown' a Wise
325 Engage in Politics?
Precept," 105-106 5 , 326 4, 326
1, 106 On the Generation of the 17, 326
4, 106 Soul in the Timaeus, Table-Talk,
302, 3
2
5
Isis and Osiris, 103, 304 325
1. 2,
3
25
1, 104 On Listening to Lectures, 1 .
3, 3
2
5
2, 104 325 1 . 8, 325
3, 104 On Moral Virtue,
3
25 1 . 9, 3
25
8, 104 On Stoic Self 11. 8, 325
9, 104 Contradictions 1 1 1 .7, 325
11 , 44-45, 105, 309 38, 326 IY5 , 326
13, 104 On Superstition, 101 IY6, 326
20, 105 1, 101-102 That Epicurus Actually
27, 105 2, 102 Makes a Pleasant Life
31, 211, 377 3, 102, 102-103, 105
Impossible, 106
35, 100, 103, 104 4, 102 15 , 106
35-37, 320 5, 105 18, 106
37, 105 6, 105 19, 106
40, 104 6-7, 44-45 , 309 20, 106
44, 105 7, 102, 105 21, 107
Index of Ancient Author 41
Whether Land or Sea Pseudo-Dionysius 4QFlor
Animals Are Cleverer, Celestial Hierarchy 1. 1-7, 343
325 1. 4-5, 402 1. 6, 334
Polycarp of Smyrna The Divine Names 11QPsAp, 337
Letter to the Philippians 1 . 1-2, 402 11QTemple, 343
1 . 1 , 198 5. 3-4, 402 CD
1. 2-3, 198 The Mystical Theology 6. 14-76, 333
1 3, 374 1-3, 402
2. 1, 198, 374 Pseudo-Phocylides Rabbinic texts
2. 2, 198 Sentences of Pseudo- Aboth de Rabbi Nathan
2 3, 374 Phocylides, 124, 332, 4, 336
P, 198 377 24, 330
3- 2, 198 Pseudo-Plutarch Babylonian Talmud, 121
30 3-5 3, 374 On Fate, 305 btBerakoth
4.2-3, 198 Pythagoras 34b, 359
5. 3, 198 Golden Verses btMegillah
6. 1, 198 50-51 , 312 31b, 336
7. 1, 198 55-56, 312 Exodus Rabbah
7.2, 198, 374 67-68, 312 31, 339
8. 1, 198, 374 Leviticus Rabbah
8. 2, 198 Qumran 34, 339
9. 1 , 198 lQM Midrash Koheleth
9. 2, 198 1. 2, 334 1. 8, 339
10. 1, 198 lQpHab m. Peah
10. 1-2, 374 1. 11-14, 343 1 . 1 , 330
11. 2, 198 5. 10-14, 343 Mishnah, 121, 130
11. 2-3, 374 8,7-
15, 343 Pesikta Kahana
Porphyry 8. 8-12, 333 60b, 336
Against the Christians, 9. 9-10, 343 Pirke Aboth
257 11. 1-6, 333 3- 2, 330
Against the Gnostics, 382 11. 12, 343 pO, 33
Life of Plotinus 12. 9-12, 333 5 . 10, 339
16, 382 lQS Talmud of the Land of
Life of Pythagoras 1. 11-12, 334 Israel, 121
20, 310, 320, 360 2. 4-10, 333
Pseudo-Call isthenes P3-4 26, 300 Seneca the Younger
Alexander Romance, 305 4. 9-14, 333 Moral Epistles
1. 1, 310 5 5-7, 343 2
, 3, 316
1 3, 310 5 . 14-16, 30 30 3, 316
1 . 5 , 310 6. 17-22, 334 6. 1-3, 316
1 . 8, 310 6. 24-7.27, 30 8, 4, 316
1. 11, 310 8, 3-9, 343 13. 1-2, 316
11 5, 310 8. 6-8, 334 16. 1, 316
1. 33, 310 8. 22-26, 300 20. 5 , 316
1. 34, 310 9 3-7, 343 26, 4-6, 316
1. 43, 310 9. 3-11, 334 41, 316
1. 47, 310 4Q560, 337 65 , 316
4
Seneca the Younger History 27, 287
Moral Epistles 4. 81 , 306, 359 De Praescriptione
(continued) 5- 4-5, 329 Hereticorum, 378
71, 316 15 44 2-8, 348, 354 7, 1, 286
95 47, 328 Tatian Theophilus of Antioch
Socrates of Constantinople Address to the Greeks To Autolycus
Historia Ecclesiastica 1, 201 1. 1, 287
1. 27, 394 2, 286 1. 9, 286, 287
1. 35, 394 2-3, 201 1. 9-10, 202
2 2, 394 3, 201 1. 10, 286
2 23, 394 4-7, 201 1. 14, 202, 286
2. 26, 394 8, 7, 287 2. 1, 286
2. 47-3- 21, 388 8-9, 201 2. 2, 287
3- 1 , 388 9, 287 2 4, 286
30 4, 394 10, 287 2 5-7, 286
3. 13, 394 1 1-13, 201 2. 5-8, 202
4. 3, 388 12, 7, 287 2. 8, 287
4. 13, 394 15 , 201 2 9, 286
4.26, 396 16-18, 201 2 35 , 286
5. 16, 376, 387 18, 8, 287 2 37, 286
6. 3, 396 19, 201, 286, 287 2. 38, 286
7. 14, 391 21 , 287 3- 2-3, 286
Sozomen 21-24, 201 3- 3, 202
Historia Ecclesiastica 22, 287 3 4, 202
2. 1-2, 392 2
5 , 201, 286 3- 5-7, 286
3. 14, 397 27, 286 3-7-8, 202
4 23, 393
29-30, 286 3 9, 202
H
, 387 30, 201 3. 10, 202
7. 17, 387 3
1 , 201 3. 11 , 202
7- 25, 391 33, 286, 287 3- 12, 202
8. 2, 388 34, 287 3
- 1
3, 202
8. 8, 391
35 , 201 3. 14, 202
Strabo 36-41, 201 3
- 16-2
5 , 202
Geography of Greece
,
25
Terence 3 29, 202
16 2 37, 308 The Eunuch Theophrastus
Suetonius Y8, 309 Character Types
Lives of the Caesars Tertullian 16, 44, 308, 3
26
1. 1
3, 3
24 Adversus Marcionem, 378 Thucydides
1. 40-44, 324 Apology History
1. 83-85 , 324 2. 1-20, 329 27 55, 306
1. 88, 305 8-9, 287 3- 11. 92, 306
2.76. 2, 328 10, 286 4. 13. 118, 306
2. 94. 1-7, 305 10-11 , 287 5. 15
. 17, 306
11, 287
Tacitus 13, 287 Ulpian
Annals 15 , 287 Duties of a Prconsul
VI. i2, 306 22-23
, 8, 287 8, 296
Virgil
Aeneid
VI.77-102, 306
Xenophon
The Ephesians
1 .71, 310
1 .
75, 310
1. 80, 310
1. 81, 310
2. 52, 310
2. 85, 310
2. 89, 310
3. 104, 310
4. 114, 310
Memoabilia
2.7. 6, 3
2
3
Symposium,
302
4
3
-
I NDEX OF MODE RN AUTHOR
Alderink, L. J. , 307, 312, 319, 352,
358
Allen, C. , 289
Allert, C. D. ,
3
66
Alqvist, H. , 326
Anderson, D. , 403
Anderson, G. A. , 3
12
Anderson, J. G. C. , 372
Angus, S. , 289
Appelbaum, S. , 3
27
Ascough, R. S. , 302, 357, 36
3
Athanassakis, N. , 320
Attridge, H. W, 364
Audet, J.-P. , 385
Aune, D., 294, 305, 308, 353, 356
Avalos, H. , 297
Ayres, L. , 396
Babbitt, F. C. ,
3
26
Bailey, D. R. S., 324
Balch, D. L. ,
351, 3
67
Baldovin, J. F., 390
Ball, D. M. , 362
Bamberger, J. E. , 393
Barclay, J. M. G.,
3
27
Barker, M. , 401
Barnard, L. W, 375
Barnes, T B. , 371
Baron, S. W. ,
3
27
Barrera, J. T, 333
Barrett, C. K. , 351
Barrow, R. H. , 32
5
Barth, K. , 3
2
3
Barton, S. C. , 330
Beall, T. S. , 338
Beard, M. , 301 , 302, 323, 324
Beardslee, W A. ,
33
6
Beck, R. , 307
Beduhn, J. , 401
Behr, C. A. , 54-55, 313, 314, 31
5
Bellinzoni , A. J. , 374
Berger, K. , 376
Berger, P. L. , 292
Bergmeier, R. ,
33
8
Berling, J. A. , 291
Bernays, J. , 299, 339
Berneder, H. , 306
Berthold, G. A. , 402
Betz, H. D. , 308, 3
25-326, 3
67-368
Bevan, A. A. , 369
Bianchi , U. , 295, 379
Bieler, L. ,
306, 361
Black, M. , 295
Bleecker, C. J. , 3
22
Blum, G. G., 386
Boccacci ni , G., 333
Boers, H. , 298
Bonhtffer, A. ,
3
17, 362
Bookidis, N. , 295
Borg, M. J. , 349
44
Index of Modem Authors
Borgen, P. , 341
Bosker, B. M. , 327-328
Boter, G.,
3
17
Bouche-LeClerq, A. ,
305
Boulanger, A. ,
3
13, 315
Bousset, w, 290, 298, 299, 345, 350, 378
Bouyer, L. , 390, 391
Bowden, H. , 306
Bowersock, G. W. , 3
12
Bowman, J. , 33
2
Brackett, J. K. , 376
Bradshaw, P. F. ,
385 , 391
Brakke, D. , 384
Brandenburg, H. , 388, 389
Branham, R. B. , 310, 313
BrashIer, J. , 382
Bremmer, J. N. , 369, 370, 379
Breytenbach, C. , 373
Brightman, F. , 385
Broad, W J. , 306
Brooten, 8., 296, 343
Brown,
M. J., 303, 353
Brown, P. R. L. , 3
1
3, 391, 392
Brown, R. E. , 356, 359, 361, 362, 371
Bruner, F. D. , 293
Bryder, P. , 401
Btchl i , J. , 322
Buitenwerf, R. , 337
Bull , R. J. , 335
Bultmann, R. , 290, 298, 3
17, 344, 345, 349,
361, 362, 378
Bunn, J. T. , 294
Burkert, W. , 297, 300, 304, 305, 307, 312, 315 ,
3
19, 320, 32
3
Burridge, R. A. , 358
Burtchael l , J. T. , 343, 352, 367
Bury, R. G. ,
3
21
Butler, R. D. , 373
Cadbury, H. J. , 24, 298
Cameron, A. , 290
Campany, R. F. , 291
Campenhausen, H. von,
3
23, 345-346, 365 ,
374
Cannon, G. E. , 357
Cantarella, E. , 290
Capps, W. H. , 291
Carcopino, J. , 300
Carpenter, E. , 288
Cartlidge, D. R. ,
3
06
Casaubon, M. , 294
Case, S. J. , 289
Casel , 0. , 290
Casson, L. ,
3
14
Castner, C. J. ,
310
Cerfaux, L. , 289, 300, 338
Chadwick, H. , 381, 398
Charlesworth, J. H. , 299, 350
Chitty, D. J. , 392
Christie-Murphy, D. , 294
Chubb, Thomas, 289
Clark, E. A. , 292
Clemen, C. , 289
Cody, A. , 365
Coggins, R. J. , 33
2
Cohen, S. D. , 299
Cole, S. G.,
312, 320
Collins, A. Y. , 290
Collins, J. J. , 287, 337
Colpe, C. , 304, 378-379
Connolly, R. H. , 385
Conzelmann, H. , 297, 365
Cook, J. G. , 287
Cooke, 8. , 391
Copelston, F. , 288
Copenhaver, B. P. , 321
Cornell , T. , 303
Corwin, V. , 372
Costen, M. D. , 401
Courtright, P. B. , 291
Crenshaw, J. , 339
Crossan, J. D. , 371, 383
Cumont, F. , 307
Cunliffe, B. , 295
Dahl , N. A. , 336, 349, 3
64-36
5
Danielou, J. , 376
Danker, F. w, 303
Darling, R. D. , 369
Davidson, J. ,
3
02
Davies, J. G. , 389, 390
Davies, S. L. , 369
Davies, W D. , 327
de Jonge, M. , 339
4
5
4
6 Index of Modem Authors
de Lacy, P. H. , 326
de Vaux, R. ,
33
6
de Vogel, C. }. , 320
Delorme, }. , 352, 353
Denzinger, H. , 396
DeSi lva, D. A. , 300, 339
Deutsch, N. , 382
Dexinger, F. , 332-333
Dibelius, M. , 297, 349, 365
Dickie, M. , 308
Dill , Samuel, 297, 300, 318
Dix, G. , 384, 389, 390, 391
Doane, T W, 288
Dodd, C. H. ,
322, 360-361
Dods, M. , 375
Dombrowski , B. , 300
Donahue, P. }. , 374
Dore, }. , 287
Doresse, }. , 295
Dorries, H. , 387
Dueck, D. , 297
Dugmore, C. , 385
Dumezil, G. , 304
Dungan, D. L. , 306
Dupont, F. , 300, 301
Durkheim, E. , 293
Dutienne, M. , 304
Echardt, R. , 286
Edelstein, E. }. L. , 3
06
Edelstein, L. , 306
Edmonds, R. G. , 290, 312, 319
Edwards, D. R. , 300
Edwards, R. A. , 381
Ei lberg-Schwartz, H. , 291
Einarson, B. , 326
Eisenman, R. H. , 294
Elazar, D. }. , 330
Eliade, M. , 293, 294
Ellingworth, P. , 374
Ell iott, }. K. , 368, 369, 370, 371, 394
Elsner, }. , 297, 307
Evans, C. A. , 337
Fagan, C. F. , 301
Faivre, A. , 384, 395
Fantham, E. , 290
Faraone, C. A. , 308
Fascher, E. , 353
Feeney, D. , 301 , 303
Feldman, L. H. ,
328
Ferguson, E. , 402
Ferguson, W. F. , 301
Festugiere, A. , 321 , 322, 369-370
Filoramo, G. , 377
Fine, S. , 335
Finkelstein, L. , 327
Finn, T. M. ,
3
29
Fischel , H. A. , 299
Fitzgerald, T. , 291
Fitzmyer, }. A. , 333
Fletcher, W, 389
Flint, P. , 295 , 300, 333
Flueckiger, }. B. , 291
Foerster, W. , 350
Foley, H. P. , 307
Forbes, C. , 293
Foskett, M. F. , 371
Foster, }. , 294
Fowler, H. N. , 3
21
Fox, R. L. , 387
Francis, F. 0. , 358
Frankel , L. , 327
Frankfurter, D. , 3
24
Franzmann, M. , 384
Freeman-Grenville, G. S. P. , 371
Frend,
W H. C. , 367, 372, 396
Frerichs, E. S. , 290-291, 332
Freud, S. , 293
Friesen, S. , 296, 302, 325
Fritsch, C. T, 295
Funk, R. , 383
Gardiner, E. N. , 3
11
Gardner, I . , 401
Gardner, P. , 289
Garland, D. , 344
Garnsey, P. , 300
Garrett, S. , 287, 360
Geertz, C. , 293
Georgi, D. , 354
Giles, E. , 385
Gi ngras, G. E. , 370, 393
Goehri ng, }. E. , 397
4
7
Goldstein, J. , 33
1
Gooch, P. D. , 356
Goodenough, E. R. , 296, 299, 300, 338, 339,
343
Goodman, F. , 294
Goodman, M. , 300, 328
Gordis, R. , 339
Gordon, R. , 302, 324
Gorman, P. ,
3
20
Gottwald, N. K. , 292
Grabbe, L. L. , 327
Graber, A. , 392
Graf, F. , 304
Green, W S. , 336
Greene, W C. ,
305
Greer, R. A. , 402
Gregg, R. C. , 392
Grenfell, B. P. , 296
Griffths, J. G. , 307
Grill meier, A. , 396
Groh, D. E. , 372
Gross, J. , 402
Gruenwald, I . ,
3
82
Gundry, R. H. , 293
Gunkel , H. , 3
6
3
Guthrie, K. S. ,
3
20
Guthrie, W K. C. , 319
Gutmann, J. , 335
Hadas, M. , 299
Hagg, R., 301
Hagner, D. , 374
Hamel , G. , 327
Hanchen, E. , 3
22
Hanfmann, G. M. A. , 295
Harland, P. A. , 296, 302, 325, 3
27, 329, 354,
35
6, 366
Harmless, W, 392, 397
Harnack, A. von, 365 , 379
Harpur, T. W, 293
Harrington, H. K. , 328
Harrison, P. N. , 374
Hart; D. G. , 291
Hartog, P. , 374
Harvey, A. E. , 363
Hatch, E. , 12, 289
Hay, D. M. , 299, 350
Hayes, C. J. H. , 293
Hayes, J. H. , 327
Hays, R. B. , 364
Hayward, C. T. R. , 335
Heine, R. E. , 372
Heitmtller, W, 289-290, 298
Hellholm, D. , 337
Herer, C. , 346
Hendrick, C. W, 295
Hengel, M. , 299, 330, 332, 334, 338, 346
Herschbell , J. P. , 318
Higgins, G. , 288
Hij mans, B. L. , 318
Hi llel , N. , 339
Hi l lers, D. R. , 330
Himmelfarb, M. , 342
Hi rsch-Luipold, R. ,
3
26
Hi rschmann, v-E. , 372
Hodgson, R. , Jr. , 295
Hoek, A. van den, 376
Hoffman, L. A. ,
3
28
Hoffmann, R. J. , 377
Hofus, 0., 383
Holladay, C. R. , 299, 300, 331, 332, 338, 342,
344
Holloway, R. R. , 389
Holum, G. , 295
Holzhauser, J. ,
3
22
Hopkins, C. , 296
Horner, T J. ,
3
66
Horrell , D. G. , 373
Horsley, R. A. , 336, 356
Howe, E. M. , 370
Hunt, A. S. , 296
Hunt, E. J. , 375
Hurst, L. D. , 364
Hurtado, L. D. , 299
Hyde, W W, 288
Jackson, M. , 291
James, W, 293
Jeffers, J. S. , 373
Jefford, C. N. , 385
Jeremias, J. , 334, 335 , 33
6, 383
Jewett, R. , 346, 358
Jobes, K. H. , 299
Johnson, E. , 288
Johnson, L. T, 286, 287, 289, 291-292, 293,
294, 296, 298, 299, 300, 303, 311, 337, 339,
342, 344, 345, 346, 349, 35, 352, 354, 355,
358, 360, 363, 364, 365 , 367, 368, 374, 375,
376, 371. 384
Johnson, M. E. , 385
Johnson, S. 1 . , 305
Jonas, H. , 301 , 369, 379
Jones, F. S. , 368
Juel , D. , 337
Jungmann, J. , 389, 390, 391
Junot, E. , 370
Kaestl i , J. -D. , 370
Kant, L. H. , 296, 327, 343
Kantor, R. M. , 350
Kasser, R. , 380
Kavanagh, A. , 391
Kee, H. C. , 314, 396
Kelly, J. N. D. , 396
Kennedy, H. A. A. , 289
Kerenyi , K. , 307
Keuls, E. C. , 290
Kildahl , J. P. , 294
King, K. L. , 377
Kinney, D. , 310
Klauck, H.-J. , 301, 315 , 319, 323, 324
Klij n, A. F. J. , 368-369, 371, 382
Kli mkeit, H.-J. , 371. 401
Kloppenborg, J. S. ,
302, 383
Knox, R. , 294
Koester, H. , 295, 383
Kraabel , A. T, 296
Krael ing, C. H. , 3
61
Kraf, R. A. , 355-356
Kramer, R. S. , 302-303
Kraus, T. , 296
Kristensen, W. B. , 291, 293
Krol l , J. , 322
Kugel, J. , 334
Kuhrt, A. , 290
Kurz, W S. , 364
Kuyper, L. J. , 361
LaFargue, M. , 342, 369
Lake, K. , 372, 373> 374, 384, 385
Lallemann, P. J. , 370, 379
Lambert, M. D. , 401
Lane, E. N. , 324, 3
25
Layton, B. , 295, 379, 381 , 382, 383
LeClerq, J. , 400
Lenz, F. w, 3
1
3
Levenson, J. , 290, 341
Levine, A.-J. , 290-291,
3
69
Levine, L. 1. , 295, 335
Lewis, 1 . M. , 294, 357
Lewis, N. , 3
2
3-324
Lewis, T. J. , 328
Lieberman, S. , 299
Lieu, S. N. C. , 401
Lilla, S. R. C., 375-376
Linafelt, T, 286
Lindsay, H. , 297
Linforth, 1. M. , 319
Lloyd, R. , 293
Lobeck, C. A. , 289
Logan, A. H. B. , 379
Loisy, F. , 289
Lomas, K. , 303
Long, A. A. , 297, 3
17, 3
18
Loveki n, A. A. , 294
Lowe, J. E. ,
308
Luck, G. , 308, 314
Luckman, T. , 292
Ludemann, G. , 355, 3
66
Luibheid, C. , 402
Lupu, E. , 305 , 363
Lutz, C. E. , 3
16
Macchioro, V. D. , 289, 319
MacDonald, D. R. , 369, 370
MacDonald, M. Y., 290, 3
6
5
MacDonald, W G. , 293-294
Mack, B. L. , 345, 383-384
MacMullen, R. , 300, 30
5 , 308, 311 , 312, 323,
324, 325 , 35, 363, 365 , 375, 387
MacRae, G. , 322, 345, 365
Mal herbe, A. J. , 286, 297, 298, 311 , 312, 362,
371. 402
Maloney, G. A. , 402-403
Maloney, H. N. , 294
Mandell, S. R. , 327
Mari natos, N. , 301
Marj anen, A. , 367
4
9
Martens, J. w, 340
Martin, D. B. , 292
Martin, L. H. , 300
Martinez, F. G. , 333
Matheson, S. B. , 305
May, L. C. , 294
McCann, J. , 399
McCracken-Flesher, C. , 291
McGehee, M. D. , 3
19, 362
McGifert, A. C. , 323
McGinn, B. M. , 402, 403
McGowan, A. , 385
McGuire, A. M. , 381
Mead, G. R. S. , 3
22
Meeks, W A., 287, 357, 358, 360, 3
62
Meer, F. van der, 365 , 390, 391, 394, 396
Meier, J. P. , 334, 337, 344, 345, 348, 349
Merkelbach, J. , 307, 352
Mettinger, T N. D. , 3
28
Metzger, B. M. , 289, 384
Meyedorff, J. , 402
Meyer, M. V
.
,
307, 308, 320, 3
23, 368, 380
Meyer, R. T., 392
Meyers, C. L. , 295
Mikalson, J. D. , 297
Milavee, A. , 385
Mi li k, J. T, 334
Miller, P. C. , 292
Milner, M. , Jr. , 358
Mi recki , P. , 308, 401
Mitchell , M. M. , 286, 354
Mohrmann, C. , 365, 385
Mommsen, T, 296
Moore, G. F. , 298, 327, 334, 344
Moore, V.
,
403
Mossman, J. ,
3
2
5
Motte, A. , 307
Mulder, M. J. , 330
Munck, J. , 3
6
5
Munoz, K. A. , 356, 366
Murphy-O'Connor, J. , 295-296, 34
6, 357
Murray, G. , 301
Musurillo, H. , 373
Myers, K M. , 295
Nakamaki , H. , 291
Netzer, K, 295
Neusner, J. , 290-291, 3
27, 33
2, 334, 33
6, 339
Newsom, C. A. , 342
Neyrey, J. H. , 287, 339, 385
Nickle, K. F.
, 354
Nielsen, J. T, 386
Nietzsche, F. ,
320
Nilsson, M. , 322
Nock, A. D. , 12, 289, 297, 298, 300, 307, 308,
3
21, 332, 365
Norman, A. F. ,
388
North, J. , 301 , 302, 323, 3
24
North, W K S. ,
3
29
Nussbaum, M. C. , 25,
297, 311
Obbink, D. , 308
Obiya, Y. A. , 294
Obolensky, D. , 401
O'Colli ns, G. G. , 363
O' Donovan, J. L. , 386
O' Donovan, 0., 3
86
Ogilvie, R. M. , 300-301
Oldfather, W A. , 68, 317, 318
Oltramare, A. ,
3
17
O' Meara, J. J. , 373
Oort, J. van, 401
Osiek, C., 290, 351, 367
Otto, R. , 292
Otto, W F. , 3
20
Pagels, K, 295, 361, 381
Pakkala, J. , 34
2
Papadakes, T. , 297
Parca, M. , 303
Pardee, D. , 33
1
Parke, H. w, 306
Parrott, D. M. ,
382
Parslow, C. C. , 296
Patterson, S. J. ,
383
Pearson,
B. A. , 295, 377, 378, 382
Pegg, M. , 401-402
Peek, w, 306
Peel , M. L. ,
382
Pel ikan, J. ,
387, 396
Pel li ng, C. , 325
Perkins, P. , 295
Pervo, R. 1 . , 297, 360, 368
Petit, P. , 397
Pftzner, V. C. , 311-3
12
Pfeiderer, 0. , 345, 36
3
Phillips, L. E. , 385
Plimacher, E. , 298-299
Porten, G. , 334
Porter, S. E. , 336-337
Pothecary, S. , 297
Pouderon, J., 287
Pratten, B. P. , 375
Prestige, G. L. , 376, 396
Price, J. L. , 293
Price, R. M. , 392
Price, S. , 301, 324
Puech, B. , 313
Puller, F. W, 391
Pulleyn, S. , 353
Quasten, J. , 372, 374, 375, 386, 395
>
398, 403
Raban, A. , 295
Rahner, H. , 290
Rajak, T., 329
Ramage, N. , 295
Reale, G. ,
3
18
Reardon, B. P. , 297, 310, 368
Reed, E. A. , 293
Reinders, E. , 291
Reinhold, M. ,
3
2
3-3
24
Reitzenstei n, R. , 289, 322, 363, 378
Reynolds, P. L. , 401
Richardson, C. C., 372
Richardson, J. T., 294
Richardson, L. , 307
Richlin, A. , 290
Riegel, S. K. , 356
Robbins, M. M. , 369
Robertson, J. , 288
Robinson, J. A. T,
345
Robinson, J. M. , 381
Rogers, R. , 375
Rokeah, D. , 374
Rordorf, W, 370
Rostovtzeff, M. I. , 295 , 296
Rousseau, P. H. , 397, 398
Rowland, C. , 337
Rowley, H. H. , 337
Rudolph, K. , 371. 378, 380, 381
Ruether, R. , 286
Russell , D. S. , 337, 34
1
Rutgers, L. v,
33
1
Rutherford, I . , 297, 307
Ryland, J. E. , 375
Safrai , S. , 335
Saldarini , A. J. , 339
Salisbury, J. E. , 373
Saller, R. , 300
Samarin, L. , 294
Sandbach, F. H. , 32
5
Sanders, E. P. , 331, 333
Sanders, L. , 373
Sand mel , S. , 339
Scardigli, B. , 32
5
Schafer, P. , 328, 33
6
Schillebeeckx, E. , 391
Schlatter, A. , 349
Schmidt, C. , 378
Schmidt, D. , 286
Schmithals, W, 356, 378
Schneider, P. G. , 370
Scholem, G. , 342, 382
Schtnmetzer, A. , 396
Schopen, G. , 291
Schrage, W,
383
Schullard, H. H. , 304
Schissler-Fiorenza, E. , 287, 290, 292, 357
Schweitzer, A. , 13, 289, 290
Scott, W. , 321, 3
22
Scri mgeour, A. D. , 370
Seddon, K. , 3
17
Segal, A. F. ,
350
Segal , R. A. ,
3
22
Senn, F. C. , 390
Sharp, D. S. , 317, 362
Shorey, P. , 3
21
Shotwell , W A. , 374
Silva, M. , 299
Sirker-Wicklaus, G. , 370
Small, A. , 304
Smallwood, E. M. , 302, 3
27
Smit, J. , 357
Smi th, J. Z. , 11 , 13, 288, 290, 292, 293, 329,
344, 345 , 358
Smith, M. , 299, 300, 338, 342, 356, 379
Smith, M. S. , 329
Smith, R. , 368
Smitz, T,
3
12
Smyly, J. G., 296
Snyder, G. , 344, 365
Sodergard, P. J. , 3
22
Squires, J. T, 305
Stadter, P. A. , 325
Stanton, G. R. , 312
Stark, R. , 350, 365
Steidle, 8. , 399
Stephens, J. C., 297, 313, 315
Stephens, W 0. ,
318
Stern, M. , 3
29
Stevenson, G. , 301
Stevenson, I. , 294
Stowers, S. K. , 317
Strange, J. , 337, 364
Strecker, G. , 365
Struck, P. T, 305
Stuckenbruck, L. T, 329
Sugitharaj ah, R. S. , 292
Swai n, S. C. R., 31
3
Szemler, G. J. ,
3
02
Tabbernee, w, 372
Talbert, C. H. , 358, 359
Talgam, R. , 295
Taylor, J. E. , 341
Taylor, M. C. , 291
Tcherikover, v, 299, 327, 3
29, 331
Theissen, G. , 287, 345, 351, 356
Thiering, S. , 294-295
Thiselton, A. C. , 356
Thor, J. C. , 312, 319
Thomas, C. M. , 297, 368
Thompson, J. w, 3
65
Thompson, L. L. , 354
Tiede, D. L. ,
3
06
Tigay, J. H. , 329
Todd, F. A. , 297
Toml inson, R. A. , 297
Torj esen, K. J. , 376
Trakatellis, D. , 374
Trevett, C. , 371
Trigg, J. w, 376
Tuckett, C. M. , 383, 384
Tulloch, J. , 290
Turcan, R. , 301,
302, 303
Turner, v, 358
Tyson, J. , 358
Tzaneton, A. , 303
Urbach, E. E. , 334
Valantasis, R. , 384
Vallee, G. , 380
Van der Horst, P. w, 3
1
3, 339
Van der Leuw, G. , 17, 291, 292
Van Gennep, A. , 358
Van Geytenbeek, A. C. , 316
Van Tilborg, S. , 344
Vanderkam, J. C. , 295, 300, 333
Vanhoye, A. , 364
Vassall , W F., 288
Veilleux, A. , 397
Vermes, G., 334, 349
Verna nt, J.-P., 304
Vokes, F. E. , 371
Voobus, A. , 385
Wach, J. , 17-19, 292, 293
Wachob, w, 364
Waddell , H. , 392
Walasky, P. w, 354
Waldbaum, J. C. , 295
Wallace, J. S. , 363
Wallace-Haddrill, A. , 296, 303
Wallis, E. , 386
Wardman, A. ,
3
01
Warner, H. J., 401
Watson, F. , 319
Weatherly, J. A. , 286
Weaver, J. S., 359
Weaver, M. J. , 356
Welborn, L. L. , 373
Welles, C. S., 296
Werblowsky, R. J. Zwi , 303
Wermeli nger, 0. , 401
West, M. L. , 312, 320
White, L. M., 335, 366-367
Whitmarsh, T. , 312, 313, 317
Widengren, G. , 401
Wiebe, D. , 291
451
Wilcox, M. , 329
Wild, R. A. , 381
Wilde, 0. , 286
Wilken, R. L. , 287, 397
Williams, C. A., 309
Williams, C. G. , 294
Williams, C. K. , II, 295
Williams, J. A. , 383
Williams, M. A. , 379
Williams, M. H. , 327, 328, 329, 330, 335 , 379
Willis, W L. , 356
Wilson, H. A. , 403
Wilson, R. MeL. , 382
Wilson, W T. , 339
Wimbush, V L. , 397
Wind, E. , 288
Wingren, G. , 386
Winston, D. , 339
Wipli nger, G., 295
Wire, A. C. , 287, 357
Wi sse, F. ,
380, 381, 3
82
Wolter, M. , 296
Wray, J. H. , 383
Wrede, W, 345
Wright, N. T
.
, 344, 349
Wright, W C. , 313
Wuellner, W. , 312, 319-320
Wurst, G. , 380, 401
Yadi n, Y,
343
Yamauchi , E. M. ,
361 , 378
Yeguel , F. K. , 295
Young, F. M. , 396
Zablocki , B. D. , 350
Zandee, J. , 3
82
-
SUBJ ECT I NDEX
Abraham, 29, 1 14-1 1 5 , 125, 126, 168, 200, 219,
336, 340, 342
Academy/university, 14, 16-17, 281
Ael ius Aristides: biography, 52, 53-55 ,
3
1
3-314; dreams and experiences,
59-60; as an example of Religiousness
A, 50-51 , 63; extant orations, 52-53
;
ill nesses, 53-55 , 3
14; love for Asclepius,
57-58; optimism about the divi ne order,
57; as an orator, 51-53, 313; the Sacred
Tales, 58-62; scant di scussion of moral
behavior, 63, 31
5
; understandi ng of
salvation, 61-62
Albigensians, 269-270, 401-402
Alexander the Great, 28, 37, 60, 99, 1
30, 305
Alexandria, 1 13, 116, 173, 204, 209, 263, 3
29,
338, 376, 377
Allegory: in early Christianity, 181 , 203, 377,
400; among Gnostics, 219; in the Greco
Roman world,
38-39, 339-3
40; in Philo
of Alexandria, 116-117, 124, 339-340; in
Pl utarch, 104-105
Allogenes, 222-224, 382, 383
Ambrose of Mi lan, 265 , 268, 391
Amixia, 34, 1 13
Anchorite(s), 261
Anoi nting of the sick, 166, 260, 391
Anthropology: as a feld of study, 16, 20; in
Religiousness A, B, and C, 21 5-216
Anthropomorphism, 37-39, 340
Antioch, 12-13, 27, 116, 173, 263, 34
3-344,
347, 35
4
Antiochus IV Epiphanes, 1 13, 122, 329, 333
Antony, 261, 392
Apatheia, 102,
3
17
Aphrodite, 56, 304
Apocalyptic literature/writings, 122, 124,
125-126, 337
Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: connection
with Greco-Roman novels, 175 , 368;
after Constantine, 262; as examples of
Rel igiousness A, 176-177, 193, 262, 276;
as "Gnostic," 379; literary character of,
175; martyrdom in, 178, 181, 257; moral
exhortation in, 176, 177, 181; ways of being
religious in, 176
Apollo, 33, 40, 42-43, 49, 56, 57, 60, 72, 74, 81,
82, 96, 99, 100, 101 , 107, 126, 234, 304, 320
Apollonius of Tyana, 25 , 40, 306, 308, 31 1 ,
359, 375
Apostle(s), 1 50-1 5
2, 1 59, 239
-240, 247-249,
353, 367
Apostol ic succession, 2
36, 248-249, 252-253,
367, 373, 380
Apostolic tradition, 240, 253
Ara pacis, 94, 98
Aramaic, 27-28, 1 1 1-1 1 2, 139, 327, 346, 353
Archaeology, 21-25 , 35, 81, 94, 127, 172, 174,
453
296, 301 , 330, 334, 342, 343, 344, 365-366
Aretalogy, 62, 147
454
Subject Index
Arian controversy, 256, 387, 391
Aristophanes, 45, 309
Aristotle/Aristotelian, 99, 124, 160, 264
Artemis, 6, 23, 82, 179, 324
Ascent to heaven: in the apocryphal acts
and gospels, 180-181 , 184; in Greco
Roman religion, 149-150; in the Hermetic
literature, 87; i n Judaism, 125
-126; i n the
Nag-Hammadi literature, 222-224; i n the
New Testament, 149-150
Asceticism: characteristic of Rel igiousness
A, 162-163, 260-261; characteristic of
Religiousness C, 84, 1l0; in Christianity,
260-261, 266-267, 27-271, 272, 384,
393, 397, 399, 42; in Jewish mysticism,
126; in Montanism, 186, 372; in the Nag
Hammadi l iterature,
381-382, 384; i n
Poimandres, 90-91; i n Pythagoreanism,
82-83, 3
21
Asclepius/Asclepium, 25 , 40-41, 42-43, 48,
53-54, 56-62, 65 , 71 , 72, 79, 85 , 91-92,
100, 109,
122, 136, 145, 275-276, 359
Asia Minor, 21 , 2
3, 50-51, 66, 99, 112, 13
2,
187, 237, 243, 346, 354
Associations: Christian, 1
32, 138-14, 146,
173, 253
; Greco-Roman, 23, 33-34, 35,
45, 94, 96, 99, 112, 1
38-14, 144, 146, 161,
234-235, 242, 245, 2
55; Jewish, 112, 1 17, 235
Athanasius of Alexandria, 261 , 392, 394-395,
398, 402
Atheism, as a charge agai nst Christians and
Jews, 34, 45, 49, 101-102, I03-110, 112, 126,
200, 202, 234, 246
Athena, 33, 42, 56, 59, 71 , 72, 82, 304
Athenagoras, 202-203, 286
Athens, 1, 3, 33, 42-43, 51, 53, 54, 67, 83, 96,
99, 19, 316
Athletics/athletic i magery: in Greco
Roman rel igion, 47, 70, 75; i n the New
Testament, 168; in second- and third
century Christianity, 190, 197
Augur/augury, 34-35, 39, 97, 98
Augustine of Hippo, 9-10, 257, 265, 267, 268,
269, 388, 396, 398
Augustus, 49, 71, 98-99, 302, 303, 304, 312,
324, 328
Auspices, 34, 39, 121, 309-310, 321
Baptism, 9, 27, 139, 146, 162-163, 223, 24,
251, 259, 357
Barbarian(s), 102-107, 200-201, 208, 246, 326
Barbelo, 224-225 , 226, 382-383
Barnabas, 6, 150-151, 303
Basil the Great, 264-265 , 266-267,
396-397
Basil ica(s): construction, 256, 258, 389;
i mpact on Christianity, 2
58-259, 263,
389-390
Basil ides, 219-220, 376, 378, 380
Ben Sira (Si rach), 29, 330, 332, 33
8
Benedict of Nursia, 267-268, 399-400, 402
Benefaction: divine benefaction, 91, 149,
179; human benefaction, 23, 178, 179, 256,
388; Jesus as bringer of divine benefts,
147-152
Bishops: connection to cursus honorum, 26
3
;
connection to Jewish priesthood, 2
3
6-237,
241-242, 245 , 252-253; corruption of, 263,
395; as a demonstration of Rel igiousness
D, 245, 253-254, 276-277; i n early
Christianity, 173, 235-254, 390, 394; as
hereditary, 244; increasing authority of,
242, 263-265, 277; moral exhortation
from, 264; in the New Testament, 173; as a
political position, 263-265
Body: of Christ, 149, 1
56, 159, 161-162;
future perfection of, 193, 216; heal i ng of,
61, 79, 109; as an instrument of moral
transformation, 70, 79; as a metaphor
for community, 144, 161, 173, 252-253
; as
negative, 48, 63, 78, 79-80, 83-84, 86-88,
90-91, 94-95, 100, 125-126, 154, 170, 177,
219-220, 225-226, 229-23
2, 245, 255,
268-269, 276; in religious experience, 18
Caesarea, 21, 243
Calvin, John, 278-279
Cannibalism, as a charge against
Christianity, 202-203
Canon: Irenaeus' discussion of, 247-248; of
the New Testament, 1
31, 262, 345
; of the
TaNaK, 1l4
Carthage, 40, 250, 396, 398
Catholicism, 1 1-12, 279-280, 290
Celsus, 9, 66, 67, 209-212, 317, 350, 377
Subject Index
455
Charismatic fgures, 122, 1
35, 247
Charlatan(s), 43, 45 , 51, 118
Chreia, 28, 261, 266
Christ cult, 12-13, 27, 1
32, 135-137, 142-143,
146
Chri stology, 27, 164, 178, 260, 264
Chrysippus, 66-68, 70, 317
Church orders, 170, 239-242, 253, 263
Cicero, 96-97, 99, 257-258, 265 , 303, 311
Circumcision: in Judaism, 11
3, 116, 129, 139;
in the New Testament, 146, 162-163, 347,
357
Clement of Alexandria: attack on Gnostics,
207, 376, 378; attack on pagan mysteries,
8, 204-205; biography, 204; as an example
of Religiousness B, 204; extant writings,
204, 206, 207; interpretation of Scripture,
344; phi losophical understanding of the
Christian li fe, 206-208, 209-210, 212
Clement of Rome, 195-199, 204, 207,
235-237, 242, 249, 2
53, 276, 367, 373, 374,
376
Clergy, 239-242, 2
58-259, 262-265, 272, 395
Collegia, 33-34, 97-99, 3
06: College of
Augurs, 94, 98; College of Pontifs,
97-98
Colossae/Colossians, 145-146, 162-163, 357
Colotes, 25 , 106-107, 310
Communion of saints, 259, 261 , 262, 272,
279, 280, 391
Community of possessions: in early
Christianity, 1
5
2, 168, 176, 400; i n the
monastic life, 268, 400; among the
Pythagoreans, 25 , 46-47, 82, 124, 3
10; at
Qumran, 30, 124, 333, 339
Confessors, 240, 250, 257, 259, 394
Conscience, 161, 167, 196, 236-237
Constantine: biography, 256; di rect
involvement i n church issues, 256, 263;
impact on Christianity, 256-258, 387-388
Corinth/Corinthians, 21 , 27, 42, 54, 143-145,
195 , 243 , 286, 295-296
Cornel ius of Rome, 251, 391
Counci ls, 245, 247, 253, 264-265 , 277, 281:
ArIes, 263; Chalcedon, 264, 396; Jamnia,
121; Jerusalem Council, 241, 351; Nicaea,
256, 263, 264, 387-388, 396
Covenant: Christianity as new covenant,
135, 348, 366; with the Jews (berith), 114,
123, 330, 333-334, 336, 338, 364
Creation, 85 , 126, 134, 155, 186, 202, 220, 247,
303, 339-340
Cult of martyrs, 187-192, 259, 260, 391-392
Cursus honorum, 34, 96-97, 263
Cybele, 20, 24, 39-40, 42, 66, 112, 187, 358, 372
Cynicism, 55-56, 75-76, 311, 315-316
Cynic-Stoic tradition, 25-26, 47
Cyprian of Carthage: biography, 250; as an
example of Religiousness D, 245 , 253-254;
martyrdom of, 253, 257; on reconcil ing
the lapsed, 2
51-253, 395
David, 114-115 , 117, 127
Deacons, 173, 238, 239-242, 260, 351, 35
2,
3
67, 391, 394
Deists, 1 1-12
Delphi , 20, 25 , 33, 40, 42, 49, 56, 71 , 73, 93,
96, 99, 100, 101, 103, 107, 108, 109, 126,
234, 287, 301 , 306, 393
Demeter, 41, 42-43, 72, 82, 96
Demons/demonic: early Christians as
fghting, 151, 190, 191, 192, 200, 232, 259,
261; exorcisms of, 122, 182, 216, 262; Jesus
as fghting, 148-149; Jewish and Christian
views of gentile rel igion as, 2, 5 , 7-10, 144,
161, 173, 203-205; as slander agai nst other
Christians, 201-202, 253, 380, 402
Demosthenes,
51, 99, 313
Desert fathers and mothers, 260-261,
266-267, 270, 392, 400
Devil/Satan, 6-9, 198, 249, 2
52, 355
Dionysius (the God), 33-34, 41, 48, 81-82, 310
Disciplina arcana, 41 , 259, 390
Diversity: within Greco-Roman religion, 13,
277; within Judaism, 13; withi n the Nag
Hammadi literature, 222; withi n the New
Testament, 13, 278
Divination, 8-9, 39, 71, 74, 93, 121 , 305, 321,
336
Divine man (theios aner): in Greco-Roman
rel igion, 40-41, 122, 306; Jesus i n the
Gospel of John, 155-156; Jesus i n the
Gospel of Peter, 183; i n Judaism, 122; Peter
in the Acts of Peter, 180
Subject Index
Donatist controversy, 2
56, 263
Doorkeeper, 260, 391
Dreams, 8, 52, 54, 56, 59, 60, 147-148, 262,
310, 315 , 321
Dualism: i n the apocryphal acts, 176, 177,
193; as a characteristic of Rel igiousness C,
154; in Gnosticism and the Nag-Hammadi
l iterature, 21
5, 222, 232, 277; i n the Gospel
of John, 153-155, 170; i n the Hermetic
literature, 8
5 , 86-87; i n Judaism, 125-126;
in Manichaeism, 268-269, 277; in
monastic mysticism, 270
Dura-Europos, 21, 22, 29, 12
3, 295, 296
Easter, 242-244, 256, 259. See also
Quartodeciman controversy
Ecstasy, 81, 82, 126, 191
Ecstatic utterance,
5 , 139, 145, 157, 159,
162, 187, 264, 293, 294, 306, 357. See also
Glossolalia
Edi ct of Mi l an, 2
56, 387
Ekklesia
,
1
32, 138, 140, 146
Eleusis/Eleusinian Mysteries, 29, 41-43, 56,
71, 75, 96, 307, 352, 358
Elij ah, 18, 121, 336, 342, 393, 400
Emotional i nfatuation, 175, 368
Emperor worship/cult, 23, 35-37, 56, 71
Epaphras, 146, 357
Epictetus: appreciation for the gods, 71-73,
76-77; biography, 65-68; compared
with Ael i us Aristides, 77-78; as an
example of Rel igiousness B, 64-65 , 77,
158; extant writings, 68; the ideals of the
philosophical life, 75-77; relationship
with Stoicism, 68-69, 72; the task of
human freedom, 73-74; teaching of moral
transformation, 70-71; teaching on the
Mysteries, 71, 74-77
Epicureans, 25 , 34, 45, 46-47, 68-69,
105-106, 109-110, 112, 123, 339
Epicurus, 25 , 310, 316, 340
Epidaurus, 25, 40-41, 56, 57, 59, 61, 93
Epiphanius of Salamis, 222, 378
Eschatology: in the New Testament, 143,
154-155 , 355, 356; in Poimandres, 90;
in Rel igiousness A, B, and C, 216; i n
Religiollsness D, 219
Eucharist: as a common meal , 352-353;
formalization of, 235-236, 238-239,
2
5
8-259; understood as sacrifce, 242, 245,
254, 258-259, 384
Euhemerism, 7, 203
Excommunication: examples in Christianity,
174, 244, 268, 391, 396, 400; among
Pythagoreans, 124; at Qumran, 30, 124
Exile, 112, 1 15 , 1 17, 120, 127, 333, 343
Exorcisms. See Demons/demonic
FastilNefasti
, 33, 37, 119 See also Sacred time
Fasting: i n Aelius Aristides, 314; in
Christianity, 240, 243, 261, 374
Festivals. See Sacred time
Flavius Arrian, 65-68
Glossolalia,
5, 19-21, 145. See also Ecstatic
utterance
Gnostic/Gnosticism: as an example of
Rel igiousness C, 214-216, 232-233
; forms
afer Constantine, 268-27; Irenaeus'
response to, 247-249; myths of origins
withi n, 217-218; i n the New Testament,
170; problem of defni ng, 215, 377-378;
soteriology of, 21
5-216; understandi ng of
Jesus, 220, 268-269
God-Fearers, 1 1
3, 329
Gospels: apocryphal narrative gospels,
183
-186; as examples of Rel igiousness A,
147, 183, 192-193; New Testament gospels,
147-152
Greco-Roman novels, 24, 45-46, 175, 297,
309-310, 360, 368
Greco-Roman rel igion: Christian views of
since the Renaissance, 10, 1
3
; Christianity
as, 9, 12-13, 255-256, 271-272, 282;
diversity withi n, 13, 277; early Christian
views of, 6-8; general features of, 32-39;
Jewish views of, 2-3; New Testament
views of, 2-6; pervasive nature of, 32-33
Haruspices, 56, 121, 321
Healers, 240, 281
Healing: in Aelius Aristides, 53-63; i n
Christianity afer Constantine, 260,
262, 280, 281; in Epictetus, 71, 74-75; in
Subject Index
457
Greco-Roman religion, 25-26, 40-41,
42, 46, 52, 91, 306; in Judaism, 119-120,
122, 337; in the New Testament, 134-135 ,
142, 145, 149, 151, 156, 158, 159, 166, 359;
in Plutarch, 109; in second- and third
century Christianity, 8, 179, 180, 181-182,
185-186, 201, 23, 25, 210-212, 216, 255 ,
260, 262, 281 , 37-371 , 385
Heimarmene (fate), 38, 85, 89
Helleni sm: infuence on Christianity, 26-31,
13-131; infuence on Judaism, 26-31,
115-117, 130; place of Christianity withi n
Hellenistic culture, 210-211
Heracl itus, 2
5 , 38, 73, 200, 304
Herakles, 36, 73, 304
Hermes, 6, 36, 37, 56, 72, 82, 84, 85 , 151, 303,
304, 321, 360
Hermes Trismegistos, 10, 84-85 , 381
Hermetic li terature: anthropology of, 85-86;
choice available to humans, 87-88;
defnition of, 84-85-
See also Poimandres
History of rel igions, 12, 26-31
Holy Spirit, 20-21 , 134-13
6, 143, 146, 150,
159-160, 163, 186, 194, 212, 232
Homer, 38, 66, 81, 114, 116, 124, 339
Idolatry, 1 14; as a Christian perception of
Gentile rel igion, 4-5, 200; as a problem in
Corinth, 143-144, 161
Imitation of Christ: i n asceticism, 27-271;
i n character, 196, 198; i n martyrdom,
188-19, 196
Imperial cult. See Emperor worship/cult
Indigitamenta, 32-33, 301, 318
Infancy narratives, 148, 155, 184-186, 359,
371, 394
Initiation: i n Christianity, 139, 146, 162, 210,
259-260, 357, 390 (see also Baptism); in
the Mystery rel igions, 24, 41-42, 43, 47, 62,
71, 74
--
75 , 82, 139, 146, 259-260, 352, 358
Irenaeus: as an example of Religiousness D,
245; response to Gnostics, 247-248; role
in the Quartodeciman controversy, 244;
summary of heretical positions, 217-221;
tripod of Christian self-defnition, 247-248
Isis, 42-43, 59, 103-104, 112, 116, 211, 304,
310, 358
Jesus: as bringer of divine benefts, 147-152;
character of, 161, 196, 198; sufering of,
152, 167, 197, 198, 268, 271
Judaism, 111-129: diaspra Judaism, 111-112;
Essenes, 30, 117-118, 121, 123-124, 128,
129, 266, 333, 334, 339, 341; gentile views
of, 113, 328; interaction with Christianity,
173; Jerusalem temple, 112, 120-121, 130;
Pharisees, 118, 121, 12
3, 124, 130, 333-334,
339; the religion of ancient Israel , 127,
342; Religiousness A i n, 1 19-123, 276;
Religiousness B i n, 123, 276; responses
to Hellenism, 1 1
5-119, 130; Sabbath, 112,
113, 11 5
-116, 120, 129, 137, 23
2, 328, 333;
Sadducees, 118, 121, 123, 124, 128, 334,
343; Samaritans, 117, 332, 333; synagogue,
22-23, 112, 120; Therapeutae, 124, 341
Katholike ekklesia, 237-2
38, 245
Kingship, 127
Lapsi, 2
50-25
1
Lector, 260, 391
Leitourgia/liturgy: in Christianity, 146, 258-
259, 384, 390-391,
393; i n Greco-Roman
rel igion, 34, 96, 112-113, 116, 258, 3
2
3
Literacy, 115 , 173-174
Lord (kyrios), 26-28, 136-137
"Lord's Banquet" (kyriakon deipnon), 143-
144, 161-162
Luther, Martin, 11-12, 278-279, 288
Maccabees/Maccabean revolt, 113, 329, 333
Magic, 4, 6, 24, 42, 43, 45-46, 84, 151, 180,
201, 253-254, 308
Manichaeism, 268-269
Marcion, 201, 209, 217, 249, 379
Marcus Aurel ius, 25-26, 54, 65, 67, 99, 190,
202
Martyrdom/martyrs: before and afer
Constantine, 257-25
8; connection with
Rel igiousness A, 191-192, 193; connection
with Rel igiousness B, 191-192; of Ignatius,
187-188; martyr piety, 187-192, 260; of
Origen, 191-192; of Perpetua and Felicitas,
19-191; of Polycarp, 189; the Sci llitan
Martyrs, 190
Sub;ect Index
Meals: in the Greco-Roman world, 144; as a
problem in Corinth, 143-145
Medicine, 40, 70, 3
14
Mi racles/wonder-working: in the apocryphal
acts and gospels, 262; i n second- and
third-century Christianity, 201-202
Misanthriia, 34, 113, u6
Mithras, 9, 42, 78, 307, 35
2
Monastici sm: connection with Essenes,
266; connection with Greco-Roman
philosophy, 267, 268; connection with
Pythagoreans, 266; as an example of
Rel igiousness A, 260-261, 266; as an
example of Rel igiousness B, 265 , 266;
monastic mysticism, 27-271; monastic
rules, 266
Montani sm, 174; as an example of
Reli giousness A, 186-187
Moral phi losophy: in early Christianity, 202,
2U; as an example of Religiousness B,
46-47, 158; in the Greco-Roman world,
2
5-26, 46-47, 64-65, 70 (see also
Cynic-Stoic tradition; Stoicism); i mpact
on Judaism, 29; impact on the New
Testament, 3, 158-159, 160-161, 3
62
Moses, 19, 22, 29, 30, u4
-u
5, 121, 123, 125,
126, 128-129, 137, 146, 1 50, 155 , 201, 332,
336, 34, 341-342, 343, 381, 386, 393
Muhammad, 9, 135
Mysteries/Mystery religion: Christianity as a
Mystery religion, u, 12-13, 146, 277, 289,
290; i nitiation i n the Mystery rel igions,
24, 41-42, 43, 47, 62, 71, 74-75, 82, 139,
146, 259-260, 352, 35
8; Judaism as a
Mystery religion, 22, Ul , u6, 123, 332, 33
8;
Mystery rel igions i n the Greco-Roman
world, 24, 27, 41-42, 56, 62, 81
Mysticism: connection with the Nag
Hammadi li terature, 222, 382; monastic
mysticism, 270-271
Nag-Hammadi l iterature: di scovery of, 294,
381; diversity withi n, 222; as an example of
Rel igiousness C, 224; i mpact of discovery
of, 21, 24; introduction to and contents of,
221-222, 381
Necromancy, 45-46, 310, 336
Neoplatoni sm, 270
New Gnosticism, 280
Oikoumene, 33, 35 , 37, 140, 264, 312
Oracles: i n Ael ius Aristides, 56, 60, 79;
compared with the sayings of the desert
fathers, 261; at Delphi , 20, 25, 40, 42,
108, 287, 306; in Epictetus, 71; in Greco
Roman culture and rel igion, 121, 306; i n
Greco-Roman novels, 45-46, 309-3
10;
i n Plutarch, 108-109; i n Rel igiousness A,
260; in Religiousness D, 48, 262
Origen of Alexandria: biography, 209;
Christianity as a phi losophical school i n,
210; as an example of Rel igiousness B,
208-209, 212; interpretation of Scripture,
2U; martyrdom of, 190-191 , 208; response
to Celsus, 209-210
Orpheus/Orphism, 48, 80-84, 123, 126, 154,
270, 276, 312
Oxyrhynchus, 22
Pagano-Papism, u, 271-272
Perpetua and Feli citas, 19-191
Philanthropia, u6
Philo of Alexandria, u6, 117, 123, 124-125 ,
126, 128-129, 130, 204
Phi losophy: Christianity as, 194, 198-201 ,
203-213; and rel igion, 64-65 , 71
Pilgri mage: as a characteristic of
Religiousness A, 261; in Christianity,
260-262, 272-273; in Greco-Roman
religion, 42-43, 262; i n Judaism, u3, 120
Plato/Platonism, 10, 14, 39, 48, 60, 66, 82,
83-84, 99, 100, uo, U7, 124, 199, 205, 210,
2U, 221
Plotinus, 10, 14, 382
Plutarch: on allegory, 105; on atheism, 101-102,
105-107; biography, 99; comparison with
Aelius Aristides, Epictetus, and Poimandres,
l09-uo; critique of the Epicureans,
105-107; defense of traditional religion,
107-108; as an example of Religiousness
D, 100-101, 109; extant writings, 99; on the
ideal of genuine rel igious virtue, 101; on
Judaism, 103; on superstition, 101-105; on
"things done" in the cult, 104-105
Subject Index
459
Poimandres: anthropology of, 89-90;
commission to the prophet i n, 90-91;
comparison wi th Ael ius Aristides and
Epictetus, 91-92; eschatology of, 90; as
an example of Religiousness C, 80, 91;
introduction to, 80, 88; myths of origin,
88-89. See also Hermetic li terature
Polycarp of Smyrna: as an example of
Rel igiousness B, 198; Ignatius' letter to,
187; martyrdom of, 189-190
Prayer: in Christianity, 139, 2
58, 259, 261 ,
267-268, 270, 272, 353, 391 , 399; in Greco
Roman religion, 33, 45-46, 55-56, 71, 88,
139, 303, 318, 353; in Judaism
, 120, 136, 139,
335, 353
Priests/priesthood: Ael ius Aristides'
comments on, 35, 57; the bishop as
high priest, 240-241; as a characteristic
of Religiousness 0, 95, 109, 126-127,
234, 2
53-254, 271-272, 276; connection
between Greco-Roman priests and
Christian bishops, 244, 255; afer
Constantine, 260; Epictetus' comments
on, 71; i n Greco-Roman rel igion, 34-35,
39-40, 48-49, 96-99, 245, 253, 255, 302,
304, 305-306, 324, 358; Jesus as the great
high priest, 166-168, 196, 206, 364-36
5
;
in Judaism, 118, 122, 127-128, 330, 333,
334, 335, 337, 343
; i n the New Testament,
234-235
; Plutarch as a priest, 99, 107-108,
109, 320; Plutarch's comments on, 104; i n
second- and third-century Christianity,
236-237, 240-242, 251 , 2
5
2-2
53
Prophecy: Aelius Aristides' comments
on, 56, 57, 79; as a characteristic of
Religiousness A, 50, 93, 119, 142, 157;
as a characteristic of Rel igiousness 0,
93, 97; afer Constantine, 264-265 , 281;
Epictetus' comments on, 71; i n Greco
Roman rel igion, 39-40, 121 , 145; in
Judaism, 112, 121-122, 356; i n the New
Testament, 5, 132, 139, 145, 148, 149, 1
50,
157, 160, 162, 353; in second- and third
century Christianity, 174, 186, 194, 199,
209-210
Protestant Reformation, 11, 278-279
Pythagoras/Pythagorean ism, 82-84
Quartodeciman controversy, 174, 242-245; as
an example of Rel igiousness 0, 245;
summary of the controversy, 243
Qumran: discovery of, 118, 294; Essene
hypothesis, 1 17; as an example of
Hellenistic i nfuence on Judaism, 30;
impact of di scovery of, 21 , 24
Relics, 260-261 , 272, 279, 390. See also
Martyrdom/martyrs; Pilgrimage
Religion, defned, 17-18, 19, 64. See also
Greco-Roman rel igion; Ways of being
rel igious
Rel igion as moral transformation
(Religiousness B): in Christianity afer
Constantine, 26
5-268; defnition of,
46-47, 64-65, 158, 196, 215-216, 276; i n
Greco-Roman religion, 46-47, 64-78; i n
Judaism, 123-125; i n the New Testament,
140-141, 158-171, 194; in second- and
third-century Christianity, 194-213,
216
Religion as participation i n divine benefts
(Rel igiousness A): defnition of, 46, 50-51,
142, 175, 21
5-216, 275-276; domi nance i n
Christianity after Constantine, 258; in
Greco-Roman rel igion, 42, 46, 50-63
; i n
Judaism, 119-123; i n the New Testament,
140-141, 142-1 57; in second- and third
century Christianity, 175-193, 216
Religion as stabili zi ng the world
(Rel igiousness 0): defnition of,
48-49, 93-95, 234, 276; dominance in
Christianity after Constantine, 2
58,
262-265; in Greco-Roman rel igion,
48-49, 93-110; in Judaism, 126-129; in
the New Testament, 170, 2
34-235
; in
second- and third-century Christianity,
234-254
Religion as transcendi ng the world
(Religiousness C): i n Christianity afer
Constantine, 268-271; defnition of,
47-48, 79-80, 214-216, 276; early traces
of, 80-84; i n Greco-Roman rel igion,
47-48, 79-92; in Judaism, 125-126; in the
New Testament, 170-171; in second- and
third-century Christianity, 214-232
Subject Index
Rel igious experience: in Aelius Aristides,
135; defnition of, 17-19; in Epictetus, 135;
in the New Testament, 133-135
Rel igious studies, 14, 16-17, 20-21
Renaissance, 10-11
Resurrection: belief i n human resurrection,
125-126, 189; depicted in Christian
l iterature, 135-137, 184; Jesus' prophecy
of, 148-149; meaning of among Jesus'
followers, 135-137, 143, 188, 349-350; as
motivation for Christian moral ity, 198,
203; in the Nag-Hammadi literature,
229-23; in Reli giousness C, 216; as the
subject of argument in early Christianity,
380
Rhetoric: Aelius Aristides as a rhetorician,
25, 50-51 , 53-54, 63; in Epictetus, 68;
Greco-Roman rhetoric i n Judaism,
28, 129; Greco-Roman rhetorical
conventions, 2, 3, 12; increasing rhetorical
pol ish i n Christianity, 265; i n the New
Testament, 140, 166, 285-286, 357,
364; rhetorically trai ned bishops after
Constantine, 256, 265 , 277; the Second
Sophistic, 51-52; i n second- and thi rd
century Christianity, 195, 199, 201, 204,
246, 250, 397
Roman Republ ic and Principate, 116-117;
attitudes toward Judaism, 113; persecution
of Christianity, 8, 174-175, 190, 202;
religion under, 34, 96-99
Rule of faith (creed), 221, 244, 246-249, 253,
264, 27, 372, 380, 396
Sabbath. See Judaism
Sacraments, development of, 259-260. See
also Baptism; Eucharist
Sacrifce: i n Greco-Roman religion, 35 ,
39; in Judaism, 120; within the New
Testament, 234-235 , 236
Sadducees. See Judaism
Samaritans. See Judaism
Sacred space: Christian adoption of
pagan sites, 259; religious organi zation
of publ ic space in the Greco-Roman
world, 33, 37-38. See also Basilica(s);
Pilgrimage
Sacred time: Christian festivals, 10, 259,
262, 263-264 (see also Quartodeciman
controversy); Greco-Roman festivals, 7,
10, 33-34, 35 , 43, 48, 51, 71, 81, 93, 94, 97,
119, 302, 310, 318; Jewish festivals, 120
Sardis, 22-23
Satan. See Devil/Satan
Schools (haireseis): in Christianity, 210, 217;
in Judaism, 123
Scill itan Martyrs, 190, 373
Second Sophistic, 51-52
Septuagint (LXX): impact of, 27, 29, 11 5-116,
331; origin of, 28-29, 209; other Greek
translations, 327; specifc translation
issues, 2, 5 , 27, 155, 328, 340
Siddhartha, 19, 135, 358
Si mon Magus, 8, 180-181, 380
Sociology, 16, 20
Sophists, 51-52
Soteriology: defnition of, 379; in
Rel igiousness A and B, 215-216; i n
Rel igiousness C, 215-216, 226-227,
228-229
Spi ritual gifs, 145, 162
Stoicism, 47, 65, 66, 68-69, 71-72, 110, 123,
124, 1 99, 204, 316-317, 318
Subdeacon(s), 240, 260, 391, 394
Superstition, 44-45, 112
Symposia, 33-34
Synagogue. See Judaism
Syncretism, 304; in Greco-Roman religion,
37, 42; in Judaism, 1 17; in Manichaeism,
269, 41
Tatian, 7-8, 201-202, 286
Tertullian: biography, 397; on Greek
philosophy and rel igion, 1, 8; and
Montani sm, 372
Thecla, 181-182, 262, 370, 393-394
Theology, 16-17, 282-283
Therapeutae. See Judaism
Virginity: i n the apocryphal acts and
gospels, 175-176, 181, 184-185 , 193; in
Christian asceticism, 270, 271; in church
orders, 240; in Greco-Roman novels, 368;
required for bishops, 394
Subject Index
Ways of being rel igious: in Christianity afer
Constantine, 277; critique of one by the
other, 272-273, 279-282; i n Greco-Roman
rel igion, 275-276; i nitially defned,
44-49; in Judaism, 276; loss of sharp
di stinctions i n Chri stianity, 272; i n the
modern world, 279-282; i n the New
Testament, 276; i n second- and thi rd
century Christianity, 276; terms used for,
275. See also Rel igion

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AMONG THE GENTILES

Greco/ Roman Reliion and Christianity

ince the world is

tronage, since the head ol a household would voluntarily make

hat Calatians is universally accepted as authentic

, . ziq, . , y. iy, S. zzz, io.qz). `' He even raises people

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