Abstract:One of the ongoing conversations in scholarship on the Didache is how the text should be identified. Is the text an expression of a community or communities that are breaking out of or maintaining their traditions? A promising way forward, inspired by recent trends in ritual studies, is to explore the rituals of the Didache, particularly with the concept of ritual change. My study therefore attempts to trace one part of the process(es) of communal identity construction of the Didache by examining the way it prescribes baptism. More specifically, I will focus on three instances of characteristic diction (the verb βαπτίζω, the εἰς [τὸ] ὄνομα formula, and the preference for ὕδωρ ζῶν in Did. 7.1–4, 9.5) and compare the baptism's ritual structure with similar practices. The results of this research indicate that the Didache's baptism is an example of a ritual innovation. In this particular case, the Didache is not seeking to maintain its traditional roots; instead, its prescription concerning baptism is largely unprecedented except among the writings of Jesus-following groups.
{"title":"Tracing One Aspect of the Process(es) of Communal Identity Construction of the Didache through Baptism and Ritual Innovation","authors":"Jason N. Yuh","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0036","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:One of the ongoing conversations in scholarship on the Didache is how the text should be identified. Is the text an expression of a community or communities that are breaking out of or maintaining their traditions? A promising way forward, inspired by recent trends in ritual studies, is to explore the rituals of the Didache, particularly with the concept of ritual change. My study therefore attempts to trace one part of the process(es) of communal identity construction of the Didache by examining the way it prescribes baptism. More specifically, I will focus on three instances of characteristic diction (the verb βαπτίζω, the εἰς [τὸ] ὄνομα formula, and the preference for ὕδωρ ζῶν in Did. 7.1–4, 9.5) and compare the baptism's ritual structure with similar practices. The results of this research indicate that the Didache's baptism is an example of a ritual innovation. In this particular case, the Didache is not seeking to maintain its traditional roots; instead, its prescription concerning baptism is largely unprecedented except among the writings of Jesus-following groups.","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"475 - 503"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43023227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article reveals what may be a direct reference to Plutarch's Life of Demosthenes in the Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk', or the Epic Histories, a fifth-century Armenian history once attributed to P'awstos Buzand. I suggest that, by referencing the city of the Athenians, the author of the Epic Histories purposefully creates an intertext between his text and that of Plutarch. Previous scholarship has argued that not only did the author of the Epic Histories draw almost exclusively from Iranian epic, but also that the author was so thoroughly steeped in Iranian culture that he was in no way conversant with Greek literature. As a result, this article challenges such readings of the text, proposing that the author may have engaged directly with Plutarch's text in Greek. After first examining this reference to Plutarch, I explore possible intermediary texts that could explain the author's mention of the city of Athens, such as progymnasmata and rhetorical handbooks that were extant in Greek and Armenian at the time of the composition of the Epic Histories. Ultimately, I argue that either a direct or indirect reference to Plutarch's Life of Demosthenes must be regarded as "a latent cultural Hellenism," something that Nina Garsoïan has argued does not exist in the text. Although it is impossible to form conclusions about the entirety of the Epic Histories from one piece of evidence, because scholars have argued that there are no examples of Greek influence in the text, one such example invites a reconsideration of the text and its literary environment.
{"title":"Sheep, Dogs, Wolves, and Demosthenes: Plutarch in the Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk'","authors":"James C. Wolfe","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0040","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article reveals what may be a direct reference to Plutarch's Life of Demosthenes in the Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk', or the Epic Histories, a fifth-century Armenian history once attributed to P'awstos Buzand. I suggest that, by referencing the city of the Athenians, the author of the Epic Histories purposefully creates an intertext between his text and that of Plutarch. Previous scholarship has argued that not only did the author of the Epic Histories draw almost exclusively from Iranian epic, but also that the author was so thoroughly steeped in Iranian culture that he was in no way conversant with Greek literature. As a result, this article challenges such readings of the text, proposing that the author may have engaged directly with Plutarch's text in Greek. After first examining this reference to Plutarch, I explore possible intermediary texts that could explain the author's mention of the city of Athens, such as progymnasmata and rhetorical handbooks that were extant in Greek and Armenian at the time of the composition of the Epic Histories. Ultimately, I argue that either a direct or indirect reference to Plutarch's Life of Demosthenes must be regarded as \"a latent cultural Hellenism,\" something that Nina Garsoïan has argued does not exist in the text. Although it is impossible to form conclusions about the entirety of the Epic Histories from one piece of evidence, because scholars have argued that there are no examples of Greek influence in the text, one such example invites a reconsideration of the text and its literary environment.","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"587 - 613"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42183852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:I build on insights from performance criticism to model the interface of writing and liturgical oratory in late antique Egypt, with attention to evidence of tension in the relationship. By examining some of the textual remains of late antique oratory, I argue that, in principle, writing served as the invisible, backstage help to oratorical performance. In general, written records supplied memory aids, as a script does to a play. Oratorical performances were recorded in writing, often by stenographers, and published so as to supply scripts for others to produce derivative works by re-performing them. The role of the scriptures and the distinction between orthodoxy and heresy brought this relationship of the invisible backstage guide to the visible performer into question. Two types of writings became more visible, so to speak. For John of Paralos and Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem, the written records of heretical orations could not be re-used. In addition, the written records of the scriptures became less malleable on the part of the orator. Pseudo-Evodius of Rome, however, endorsed full discretion on the part of the homilist to produce derivative works of the scriptures.
{"title":"Using Written Records in Liturgical Oratory: Conflicting Views in Late Sixth-and Early Seventh-Century Egypt","authors":"Mary K. Farag","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0041","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:I build on insights from performance criticism to model the interface of writing and liturgical oratory in late antique Egypt, with attention to evidence of tension in the relationship. By examining some of the textual remains of late antique oratory, I argue that, in principle, writing served as the invisible, backstage help to oratorical performance. In general, written records supplied memory aids, as a script does to a play. Oratorical performances were recorded in writing, often by stenographers, and published so as to supply scripts for others to produce derivative works by re-performing them. The role of the scriptures and the distinction between orthodoxy and heresy brought this relationship of the invisible backstage guide to the visible performer into question. Two types of writings became more visible, so to speak. For John of Paralos and Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem, the written records of heretical orations could not be re-used. In addition, the written records of the scriptures became less malleable on the part of the orator. Pseudo-Evodius of Rome, however, endorsed full discretion on the part of the homilist to produce derivative works of the scriptures.","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"615 - 641"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44053808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Journal of Early Christian Studies: Journal of the North American Patristics Society","authors":"","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0042","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42897770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:Answering to the accusation of schism, the Donatists often claimed that they were not schismatics, but a true church. Augustine maintains that one of their more frequent patterns of defense was to base their argument on very few biblical sources, one of which was Song of Songs 1.6–7. The value of this claim has been the subject of a scholarly controversy because the wide use of this passage by his counterparts is not attested by sources other than his own writings. Without resolving this aporia, my paper focuses on the analysis of Augustine's patterns of refutation of the allegedly Donatist exegesis of Song 1.6–7 in his anti-Donatist writings and sermons. The aim of this exercise is to prove that the structure of Augustine's arguments is deeply embedded in the rhetorical theory of status. To be more precise, Augustine closely follows the patterns of argumentation discussed by classical rhetorical handbooks under the headings of status legales. Hence, the main part of this paper is dedicated to presenting the ways in which Cicero's detailed guidelines found in De inventione 2.116–21, concering structuring an argument within one of the status legales, called ambiguity, form the backbone of Augustine's discussions of Song 1.6–7 in his Sermon on Good Shepherds (Sermo 46.35–38).
{"title":"Augustine's Use of Status legales in the Anti-Donatist Exegesis of Song of Songs 1.6–7","authors":"R. Toczko","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0037","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Answering to the accusation of schism, the Donatists often claimed that they were not schismatics, but a true church. Augustine maintains that one of their more frequent patterns of defense was to base their argument on very few biblical sources, one of which was Song of Songs 1.6–7. The value of this claim has been the subject of a scholarly controversy because the wide use of this passage by his counterparts is not attested by sources other than his own writings. Without resolving this aporia, my paper focuses on the analysis of Augustine's patterns of refutation of the allegedly Donatist exegesis of Song 1.6–7 in his anti-Donatist writings and sermons. The aim of this exercise is to prove that the structure of Augustine's arguments is deeply embedded in the rhetorical theory of status. To be more precise, Augustine closely follows the patterns of argumentation discussed by classical rhetorical handbooks under the headings of status legales. Hence, the main part of this paper is dedicated to presenting the ways in which Cicero's detailed guidelines found in De inventione 2.116–21, concering structuring an argument within one of the status legales, called ambiguity, form the backbone of Augustine's discussions of Song 1.6–7 in his Sermon on Good Shepherds (Sermo 46.35–38).","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"505 - 532"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49613567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article considers the late antique episcopal prioritization of pragmatism over strict adherence to the rules of Christianity. The need to choose between following the scriptures and bending to more immediate concerns often arose in relation to the practice of oath-swearing, which had been forbidden by Jesus (Matt 5.33–37) but was nonetheless a regular feature of ecclesiastical affairs. To explore this dilemma, this paper focuses on the proceedings of several fifth-century church councils and the actions of Basil, bishop of Seleucia, Isauria. At an ecclesiastical meeting in 449, Basil refused to swear an oath and cited Jesus's proscription in explanation. Not only was this objection highly irregular in the context of church councils, however, but Basil himself later demanded that his episcopal colleagues take oaths at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. A closer examination of Basil's apparent vacillation on the acceptability of oath-swearing suggests that the bishop's initial objection to the practice was motivated by episcopal politics, rather than his religious principles. Even though later Roman bishops were often held up as obedient followers of God's commands, these senior clergymen regularly bowed to the necessity of oath-taking, thereby prioritizing the practical ahead of the scriptural.
{"title":"Pragmatic Necessity over Scriptural Guidelines: Basil of Seleucia and the Swearing of Oaths at Later Roman Church Councils","authors":"Michael Wuk","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0039","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article considers the late antique episcopal prioritization of pragmatism over strict adherence to the rules of Christianity. The need to choose between following the scriptures and bending to more immediate concerns often arose in relation to the practice of oath-swearing, which had been forbidden by Jesus (Matt 5.33–37) but was nonetheless a regular feature of ecclesiastical affairs. To explore this dilemma, this paper focuses on the proceedings of several fifth-century church councils and the actions of Basil, bishop of Seleucia, Isauria. At an ecclesiastical meeting in 449, Basil refused to swear an oath and cited Jesus's proscription in explanation. Not only was this objection highly irregular in the context of church councils, however, but Basil himself later demanded that his episcopal colleagues take oaths at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. A closer examination of Basil's apparent vacillation on the acceptability of oath-swearing suggests that the bishop's initial objection to the practice was motivated by episcopal politics, rather than his religious principles. Even though later Roman bishops were often held up as obedient followers of God's commands, these senior clergymen regularly bowed to the necessity of oath-taking, thereby prioritizing the practical ahead of the scriptural.","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"555 - 585"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48123991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sonorous Desert: What Deep Listening Taught Early Christian Monks—and What It Can Teach Us by Kim Haines-Eitzen (review)","authors":"Katie Kleinkopf","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0034","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"652 - 653"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49279428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Augustine on Memory by Kevin G. Grove (review)","authors":"V. Ogle","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0033","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"650 - 651"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44453408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Art, Craft, and Theology in Fourth-Century Christian Authors by Morwenna Ludlow (review)","authors":"Paul M. Blowers","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0028","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"463 - 465"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49171239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
in front of the transactions are the work of a later period, described in the last part. In Part Five, Graumann describes the edition of the final acts, the inclusion of additional documents, their dossierization, and afterlife. Conciliar acts were not widely distributed but stored, typically in Constantinople. Only a few key bits of information—often produced after the closure of the council as a final letter—were sent out. The discrepancies between the acts and the short summaries provided in such final letters could be considerable. On this point, Graumann is somewhat brief, although the relationship between the voluminous acts and the short notifications or edicts, which were sent out and shaped the official image and reception of a council for a large public, seems to be an important issue, especially as council resolutions were often controversial. Another point to keep in mind is that Graumann elaborates an ideal version of the process of producing acts by drawing on elements from many different councils. Overall, despite the bureaucratic subject matter, the book provides a vivid picture of the needs, challenges, and expectations of the actors at early church councils towards the documentation and remembrance of councils in the form of acts. Sandra Leuenberger-Wenger, University of Zurich
{"title":"Hagiography, Historiography, and Identity in Sixth-Century Gaul: Rethinking Gregory of Tours by Tamar Rotman (review)","authors":"Allen E. Jones","doi":"10.1353/earl.2022.0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2022.0032","url":null,"abstract":"in front of the transactions are the work of a later period, described in the last part. In Part Five, Graumann describes the edition of the final acts, the inclusion of additional documents, their dossierization, and afterlife. Conciliar acts were not widely distributed but stored, typically in Constantinople. Only a few key bits of information—often produced after the closure of the council as a final letter—were sent out. The discrepancies between the acts and the short summaries provided in such final letters could be considerable. On this point, Graumann is somewhat brief, although the relationship between the voluminous acts and the short notifications or edicts, which were sent out and shaped the official image and reception of a council for a large public, seems to be an important issue, especially as council resolutions were often controversial. Another point to keep in mind is that Graumann elaborates an ideal version of the process of producing acts by drawing on elements from many different councils. Overall, despite the bureaucratic subject matter, the book provides a vivid picture of the needs, challenges, and expectations of the actors at early church councils towards the documentation and remembrance of councils in the form of acts. Sandra Leuenberger-Wenger, University of Zurich","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":"471 - 473"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42543327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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