Guy G. Stroumsa analyses from various angles the complex transformation of religion in early Christianity and its social and anthropological impact.
In the Roman Empire, Christianity came into being as a radical religious movement. This new concept of religion offered dramatic social and anthropological implications and shaped medieval perceptions.
Guy G. Stroumsa examines from various angles the radical nature of some of the early Christian beliefs and their dialectical transformation in the first centuries. He looks at the attitudes of Christians to non-Christians and the growth of intolerance in late antiquity. In addition he shows the extreme character of dualist trends, the role of which can be compared to 'a revolution within the revolution'.
Survey of Contents:
Radical religion
Early Christianity as radical religion - The Christian hermeneutical revolution and its double helix - Celsus, Origen, and the nature of religion - Philosophy of the barbarians: the birth of Christian ethnology
Living with the other
Internalization and intolerance in early Christianity - Tertullian on idolatry: the limits of tolerance - Religious contacts in Byzantine Palestine - From anti-judaism to anti-semitism in early Christianity?
Shaping the person
From repentance to penance: Tertullians' de poenitentia - caro salutis cardo: shaping the person in early Christianity - Dreams and magic among pagans and Christians - Dreams and visions in early Christianity - Madness and Divinization: Simeon the Holy Fool
Radical dualism
Gnostic justice and antinomianism: Epiphanes' On Justice - Jewish and Gnostic trends among the Audians - Purification and its discontents: Mani's rejection of baptism - Mani's two souls
Envoi
Mystical Jerusalems
Barbarische Philosophie. Die religiöse Revolution des frühen Christentums. Von Guy G. Stroumsa.
Das Christentum entstand als eine radikale religiöse Bewegung im römischen Reich. Dieses neue Konzept hatte dramatische soziale und anthropologische Auswirkungen und prägte die Wahrnehmungen im Mittelalter. Aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln untersucht Guy G. Stroumsa die Radikalität einiger früher christlicher Glaubensrichtungen und ihre dialektische Umwandlung in den ersten Jahrhunderten. Er betrachtet die Einstellung von Christen gegenüber Nichtchristen und die Entwicklung der Intoleranz in der späten Antike. Darüberhinaus zeigt er den extremen Charakter der dualistischen Tendenzen, deren Rolle mit einer 'Revolution innerhalb der Revolution' verglichen werden kann.
Guy G. Stroumsa: Born 1948; 1969 B.A. at Hebrew University; 1978 Ph.D. at Harvard University, USA; since 1991 Martin Buber Professor of Comparative Religion at Hebrew University; visiting Professor at various European and American Universities.
Main audience: Scholars of New Testament and Early Christianity; corresponding institutes and libraries.
In the Roman Empire, Christianity came into being as a radical religious movement. This new concept of religion offered dramatic social and anthropological implications and shaped medieval perceptions.
Guy G. Stroumsa examines from various angles the radical nature of some of the early Christian beliefs and their dialectical transformation in the first centuries. He looks at the attitudes of Christians to non-Christians and the growth of intolerance in late antiquity. In addition he shows the extreme character of dualist trends, the role of which can be compared to 'a revolution within the revolution'.
Survey of Contents:
Radical religion
Early Christianity as radical religion - The Christian hermeneutical revolution and its double helix - Celsus, Origen, and the nature of religion - Philosophy of the barbarians: the birth of Christian ethnology
Living with the other
Internalization and intolerance in early Christianity - Tertullian on idolatry: the limits of tolerance - Religious contacts in Byzantine Palestine - From anti-judaism to anti-semitism in early Christianity?
Shaping the person
From repentance to penance: Tertullians' de poenitentia - caro salutis cardo: shaping the person in early Christianity - Dreams and magic among pagans and Christians - Dreams and visions in early Christianity - Madness and Divinization: Simeon the Holy Fool
Radical dualism
Gnostic justice and antinomianism: Epiphanes' On Justice - Jewish and Gnostic trends among the Audians - Purification and its discontents: Mani's rejection of baptism - Mani's two souls
Envoi
Mystical Jerusalems
Barbarische Philosophie. Die religiöse Revolution des frühen Christentums. Von Guy G. Stroumsa.
Das Christentum entstand als eine radikale religiöse Bewegung im römischen Reich. Dieses neue Konzept hatte dramatische soziale und anthropologische Auswirkungen und prägte die Wahrnehmungen im Mittelalter. Aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln untersucht Guy G. Stroumsa die Radikalität einiger früher christlicher Glaubensrichtungen und ihre dialektische Umwandlung in den ersten Jahrhunderten. Er betrachtet die Einstellung von Christen gegenüber Nichtchristen und die Entwicklung der Intoleranz in der späten Antike. Darüberhinaus zeigt er den extremen Charakter der dualistischen Tendenzen, deren Rolle mit einer 'Revolution innerhalb der Revolution' verglichen werden kann.
Guy G. Stroumsa: Born 1948; 1969 B.A. at Hebrew University; 1978 Ph.D. at Harvard University, USA; since 1991 Martin Buber Professor of Comparative Religion at Hebrew University; visiting Professor at various European and American Universities.
Main audience: Scholars of New Testament and Early Christianity; corresponding institutes and libraries.