{"title":"Hagiography","authors":"B. Neil","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.20","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.20","url":null,"abstract":"The selection of various biblical tropes adopted in early Christian hagiography depended greatly upon its subjects, whether bishops, monks, nuns, martyrs, or confessors. In reading the lives of these model Christians, early Christian hagiography reflected the mind and values of its society. What mattered most to Late Antique hagiographers was how the personal sanctity of their subjects reflected their continuity with biblical times, in a correspondence of type and antitype. From Moses to Elijah to Christ or John the Baptist, from Antony to Augustine to Maximus the Confessor, hagiographical narratives—deeply rooted in Scripture—made both their subjects and their devotees part of a seamless continuum of holiness. To this end, hagiographers interwove themes and topoi from a range of texts calculated to edify, from the lives of Hellenistic philosophers to the Hebrew Scriptures; from classical narratives of exile and loss to the letters of the Apostle Paul, celebrating suffering and persecution for the sake of the Gospel; from the canonical Gospels to the apocrypha. This multi-layering produced a rich vibration beneath the surface of the text, giving off a complex series of signals to which every early Christian was alert.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115018595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Marcion and his Critics","authors":"H. C. Ward","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.24","url":null,"abstract":"Marcion of Sinope was active in Rome in the middle of the second century ce. Marcion’s views on Scripture and hermeneutics led to a separation from the Church in Rome and the creation of a concurrent Marcionite community. This chapter examines Marcion’s legacy within subsequent early Christian biblical interpretation, seen most clearly in his role as an early practitioner of philological reading techniques to interpret Scripture. This chapter considers Marcion’s conception of the diversity of two gods—the Creator and the unknown God—in light of contemporary philosophy, and it suggests that Marcion’s literary-critical methods were deployed to confirm this philosophical understanding of deity. After an analysis of Marcion’s philology, seen in both his hermeneutical stance towards the Jewish Scriptures and his editorial work on the New Testament, this chapter concludes by arguing that writers like Tertullian and Epiphanius rejected Marcion’s philosophical conclusions while coming to terms with the validity of the methods of philology for biblical interpretation.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"357 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132906197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Byzantine Reception","authors":"M. Cunningham","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.44","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.44","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter presents an overview of the Byzantine reception of patristic methods of biblical exegesis, focusing on the period between approximately the sixth and the fourteenth centuries. Byzantine exegetes accepted the threefold method of interpretation, as defined by Origen, but were flexible with regard to how Scripture should be read in particular liturgical or didactic settings. The chapter explores four separate contexts of Byzantine biblical exegesis, including (1) liturgical celebration; (2) commentaries and theological treatises; (3) lay piety; and (4) monastic life, asking whether these demanded different hermeneutical approaches. Above all, the chapter demonstrates that patristic influence remained strong throughout the Byzantine period, with medieval exegetes regarding the fathers as authoritative in their interpretation of the Old and New Testaments for contemporary Christian audiences.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125736264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scripture and a Christian Empire","authors":"Michael J. Hollerich","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.30","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.30","url":null,"abstract":"The chapter examines the role of scriptural interpretation in both rationalizing and criticizing the rise of a Christian empire. Special attention is given to Eusebius of Caesarea and his grand vision of the providential union of Church and empire, key biblical elements of which are the discrediting of apocalyptic, the historical fulfilment of prophecy, and the supersession of Judaism. A ‘Eusebius consensus’ became widespread, even on the empire’s periphery, as shown in Syriac authors like Aphrahat and Ephrem. Augustine of Hippo created an alternative version that criticized key aspects of the consensus but retained the assumption of a religio-political establishment. Even the conspicuous dissent of Donatism is shown to have been reluctant to imagine a clean break with the empire. The last section of the chapter considers how the fourth-century legitimization of military service was justified on biblical grounds.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130350646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scripture and Asceticism","authors":"E. Clark","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.31","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.31","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter surveys some interpretative techniques employed by early Christian writers to encourage ascetic renunciation, especially renunciation of marriage and reproduction. These authors, gearing their messages to different audiences, sought to mine passages from both the Old Testament and the New to advance their cause. By use of different exegetical techniques (e.g. intertextual exegesis; appeal to ‘the difference in times’; ‘close reading’), they wrested ascetic meaning from often-recalcitrant scriptural passages. The chapter concludes with some examples of ascetic exegesis from Syrian authors.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"129 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115631534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Early Christian Visual Art as Biblical Interpretation","authors":"R. Jensen","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.21","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.21","url":null,"abstract":"Comparing textual and visual interpretations of biblical narratives is complicated insofar as the two modes address distinct intellectual activities: reading and viewing. Although early Christian art often presents scenes and characters from Scripture, it represents much more than literal illustration of its source texts. Art necessarily amplifies details, provides expanded context, and places the figures within a larger compositional framework, all of which guide viewers’ interpretation of familiar stories. Images often even diverge from the narratives in significant ways and are juxtaposed in order to point to an overarching, theological meaning. Thus, while early Christian biblical art is essentially exegetical, it operates through visual perception rather than verbal exposition. Images also interact directly with their surroundings in ways that written words do not. They appear on tombs, in churches and shrines, and on liturgical objects and common domestic vessels, thus introducing visual references to Scripture into liturgy, devotional practices, and daily activities, enriching and elaborating their significance. This chapter offers an introduction to the distinct and complex ways that early Christian art represents a form of non-verbal commentary on Scripture and takes a close look at a particularly relevant example: the depiction of Abraham’s offering of Isaac.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124238747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Questions and Responses","authors":"Lorenzo Perrone","doi":"10.1016/b978-012088470-4/50017-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012088470-4/50017-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128803248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Divine Discourse","authors":"F. Young","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.4","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter focuses on the relationship of the Word of God inscribed in Scripture and Word of God incarnate in Christ, both being expressions of God’s revelation and constitutive of the divine oikonomia, and both involving God’s self-accommodation to creaturely limitations. The development of the Christological meaning of Scripture as a whole is traced from second-century debates about the continuing validity of the Jewish Scriptures to the holistic reading of Scripture in the light of the Rule of Faith, and from allegorical reading to the search for Scripture’s dianoia. Thus it becomes clear that God’s entire purpose and strategy is revealed in Scripture’s testimony to Christ.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126302889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Christians and Pagans","authors":"J. Cook","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.23","url":null,"abstract":"Before pagan philosophers such as Celsus became interested in Christianity, few pagan authors apparently read any of the Septuagint, if the existent evidence is reliable. Lucian of Samosata was aware of Christian traditions and texts, but probably had not read any of the New Testament. His accusation that Christianity was not based on careful proof reappeared frequently in the critics who followed him such as Galen and Celsus. Porphyry, considered by the Christians to be their most dangerous critic, wrote a denunciation of their faith that still reverberates in biblical studies. Hierocles admired Apollonius of Tyana but not Jesus. Julian, called the Apostate, had read much of the LXX and NT and attacked Christian texts using literary and philosophical methods. Macarius’ anonymous pagan philosopher read the NT closely, but his criticisms were not profound.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"62 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126305404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exodus","authors":"M. Graves","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.35","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.35","url":null,"abstract":"Christian writers of the second and third centuries adopted the figurative interpretation of the Exodus presupposed by the New Testament, adding new figural readings and articulating a theology of the Exodus as spiritual salvation. Tertullian in particular follows the lead of 1 Corinthians 10 and connects Israel’s crossing the sea to baptism. Origen creates a coherent allegorical interpretation of the entire Exodus story by filling out details in the rest of the narrative in keeping with the theme of Christian salvation. Later authors who devote significant exegetical attention to the Exodus include Gregory of Nyssa, Ephrem the Syrian, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Augustine of Hippo. Key points of discussion include the Passover, baptism through the sea, and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. By the fourth century, a standard Christian reading of the Exodus appears in a wide variety of sources, depicting Israel’s exodus from Egypt as a figural representation of salvation from the devil and sin, towards virtue and communion with God.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132604399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}