Bremmer Maidens, Magic and Martyrs in Early Christianity

Collected Essays I
1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-3-16-155438-4
Verlag: Mohr Siebeck
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 379, 519 Seiten, Format (B × H): 232 mm x 155 mm

Reihe: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

In this work, Jan N. Bremmer aims to bring together the worlds of early Christianity and those of ancient history and classical literature - worlds that still all too rarely interlock. Contextualising the life and literature of the early Christians in their Greco-Roman environment, he focusses on four areas. A first section looks at more general aspects of early Christianity: the name of the Christians, their religious and social capital, prophecy and the place of widows and upper-class women in the Christian movement. Second, the chronology and place of composition of the early apocryphal Acts of the Apostles and Pseudo-Clementines are newly determined by paying close attention to their doctrinal contents, but also, innovatively, to their onomastics and social vocabulary. The author also analyses the frequent use of magic in the Acts and explains the prominence of women by comparing the Acts to the Greek novel. Third, an investigation into the theme of the tours of hell suggests a new chronological order, shows that the Christian tours were indebted to both Greek and Jewish models, and illustrates that in the course of time the genre dropped a large part of its Jewish heritage. The fourth and final section concentrates on the most famous and intriguing report of an ancient martyrdom: the Passion of Perpetua. It pays special attention to the motivation and visions of Perpetua, which are analyzed not by taking recourse to modern theories such as psychoanalysis, but by looking to the world in which Perpetua lived, both Christian and pagan. It is only by seeing the early Christians in their ancient world that we might begin to understand them and their emerging communities.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bremmer, Jan N.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften Neues Testament: Exegese, Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte Frühes Christentum, Patristik, Christliche Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionssoziologie und -psychologie, Spiritualität, Mystik
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen Magie, Alchemie und Hermetik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Cover;1
2;Preface;8
3;Contents;16
4;Abbreviations;18
5;Section I: Aspects of Early Christianity;20
5.1;Chapter 1: Why Did Jesus’ Followers Call Themselves ‘Christians’?;22
5.1.1;1. The Importance of Christ;22
5.1.2;2. Christian and pagan adhesion to one god;24
5.1.3;3. Jesus’ followers as ‘Christians’;26
5.2;Chapter 2: The Social and Religious Capital of the Early Christians;32
5.2.1;1. Charity;35
5.2.2;2. Interconnectedness;37
5.2.3;3. Family aspects;39
5.2.4;4. Bonding and bridging;44
5.2.5;5. Religious capital;47
5.2.6;Conclusion;50
5.3;Chapter 3: Why Did Early Christianity Attract Upper-class Women?;52
5.4;Chapter 4: Pauper or Patroness: the Widow in theEarly Christian Church;62
5.4.1;1. Jesus and the first Palestine congregations;63
5.4.2;2. The Greek world;66
5.4.3;3. The Roman world;70
5.4.4;4. Syria and Egypt;73
5.4.5;5. The Christian Empire;75
5.4.6;6. Conclusions;82
5.5;Chapter 5: Peregrinus’ Christian Career;84
5.6;Chapter 6: The Domestication of Early Christian Prophecy;100
5.6.1;1. The situation in Paul’s time;100
5.6.2;2. The situation around AD 100;102
5.6.3;3. Montanism or the revival of prophecy;106
5.6.4;4. Preliminary conclusions;110
5.6.5;5. The Ascension of Isaiah and ecstatic prophecy;111
6;Section II: Studies in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostlesand the Pseudo-Clementines;116
6.1;Chapter 7: Women in the Acts of John;118
6.1.1;1. Lycomedes and Cleopatra (19–29);119
6.1.2;2. Andronicus and Drusiana (63–86);121
6.1.3;3. Old women and widows (30–7);123
6.1.4;4. Conclusion;128
6.1.5;Appendix: date and place of composition of the Acts of John;130
6.2;Chapter 8: Man, Magic, and Martyrdom in the Acts of Andrew;134
6.2.1;1. Males and females;139
6.2.2;2. Magic and exorcism;141
6.2.3;3. Martyrdom;148
6.3;Chapter 9: Aspects of the Acts of Peter: Women, Magic, Place and Date;152
6.3.1;1. Women;152
6.3.2;2. Demons and magic;159
6.3.3;3. Place of origin and date of the APt;162
6.4;Chapter 10: Magic, Martyrdom and Women’s Liberation in the Acts of Paul and Thecla;168
6.4.1;1. Paul and Thecla in Iconium;169
6.4.2;3. Paul and Thecla in Antioch;177
6.4.3;4. Composition, name, date, place of origin, author, and aims of the AP;182
6.5;Chapter 11: The Acts of Thomas: Place, Date and Women;186
6.5.1;1. Women;190
6.5.2;2. Women and the AAA;196
6.6;Chapter 12: Conversion in the Oldest Apocryphal Acts;200
6.6.1;1. The Acts of John;201
6.6.2;2. The Acts of Peter;206
6.6.3;3. The Acts of Paul;209
6.6.4;4. Conclusions and general observations;212
6.7;Chapter 13: Magic in the Apocryphal Acts;216
6.7.1;1. Realities and representations of magic;217
6.7.2;2. Exorcism;221
6.7.3;3. The confrontation between the apostle Peter and Simon Magus;227
6.7.4;4. Conclusions;235
6.8;Chapter 14: The Apocryphal Acts: Authors, Place, Time and Readership;238
6.8.1;1. Authorship, text and message;238
6.8.2;2. The chronology and place of origin of the AAA;240
6.8.3;3. Readership;244
6.9;Chapter 15: Pseudo-Clementines: Texts, Dates, Places, Authors and Magic;254
6.9.1;1. Text;254
6.9.2;2. Place and Date of the Grundschrift, Homilies and Recognitions;258
6.9.3;3. The Author of the Grundschrift;260
6.9.4;4. Magic;262
6.10;Chapter 16: Apion and Anoubion in the Homilies;270
6.10.1;1. Athenodorus;270
6.10.2;2. Annoubion;271
6.10.3;3. Appion;275
6.10.4;4. Conclusion;283
7;Section III: Apocalypses and Tours of Hell;286
7.1;Chapter 17: The Apocalypse of Peter: Greek or Jewish?;288
7.2;Chapter 18: The Apocalypse of Peter: Place, Date and Punishments;300
7.2.1;1. The Date and Place of the Apocalypse of Peter;300
7.2.2;2. Crimes and punishments;303
7.2.3;3. The nature and chronology of the tours of hell;310
7.3;Chapter 19: Christian Hell: From the Apocalypse of Peter to the Apocalypse of Paul;314
7.3.1;1. Date and place of origin;317
7.3.2;2. Old and new sins and sinners;321
7.3.3;3. Punishments;328
7.3.4;4. Conclusion;331
7.4;Chapter 20: Tours of Hell: Greek, Jewish, Roman and Early Christian;332
7.4.1;1. The Greeks;333
7.4.2;2. Palestine;336
7.4.3;3. Rome;338
7.4.4;4. Early Christianity;342
7.4.5;5. Conclusion;347
7.5;Chapter 21: Descents to Hell and Ascents to Heavenin Apocalyptic Literature;348
7.5.1;1. Descents in the classical world;349
7.5.2;2. An Enochic interlude;351
7.5.3;3. A descent in Rome;353
7.5.4;4. Descents in early Christianity;354
7.5.5;5. Ascent to heaven;357
7.5.5.1;5.1 The ascent of the soul to heaven: round trips and single journeys;357
7.5.5.2;5.2 Roundtrips to heaven in vision or ‘reality’;360
7.5.5.3;5.3 Ascent to immortal heavenly life;362
7.5.6;6. Conclusion;363
8;Section IV: The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas;366
8.1;Chapter 22: Perpetua and her Diary: Authenticity, Family and Visions;368
8.1.1;1. The Acta martyrum;369
8.1.2;2. The text of the Passion of Perpetua;372
8.1.3;3. Perpetua and her family;376
8.1.4;4. Perpetua’s visions;383
8.1.4.1;4.1 Perpetua’s Ascent to Heaven;385
8.1.4.2;4.2 Perpetua and her brother Dinocrates;392
8.1.4.3;4.3 The fight against the Egyptian;398
8.1.5;5. Conclusion;405
8.2;Chapter 23: Felicitas: The Martyrdom of a Young African Woman;406
8.3;Chapter 24: The Motivation of Martyrs: Perpetua and the Palestinians;422
8.3.1;1. The penultimate day;424
8.3.2;2. The preparations for the execution;427
8.3.3;3. The motivation of martyrs;435
8.4;Chapter 25: Passio Perpetuae 2, 16 and 17;442
8.4.1;2.1–2;442
8.4.2;2.3;450
8.4.3;16.1;451
8.4.4;16.2;454
8.4.5;17;456
8.5;Chapter 26: The Vision of Saturus in the Passio Perpetuae;458
8.5.1;1. Saturus and (the text of) his vision;458
8.5.2;2. Saturus’ welcome in heaven;461
8.5.3;3. Conversation with the clergy on earth;467
8.5.4;4. Conclusion;472
8.6;Chapter 27: Contextualising Heaven in Third-Century North Africa;474
8.6.1;1. The Passio Sanctorum Mariani et Iacobi;475
8.6.2;2. The court scene;476
8.6.3;3. The heavenly landscape;479
8.6.4;4. The fountain and the cup;481
8.6.5;5. Marian’s heaven;485
9;Acknowledgements;488
10;Index of names, places and passages;490

Über Autor(innen)

Bremmer, Jan N.
Born 1944; 1979 PhD; 1978-90 Associate Professor for ancient history at the University of Utrecht; 1990-2009 Chair of Religious Studies at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Groningen; 2019-20 Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies 'Beyond Canon,' Regensburg.