JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES最新文献

{"title":"Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes: Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome by M. David Litwa (review)","authors":"Warren Campbell","doi":"10.1353/earl.2024.a923173","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2024.a923173","url":null,"abstract":"<span><span>In lieu of</span> an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:</span>\u0000<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes: Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome</em> by M. David Litwa <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Warren Campbell </li> </ul> M. David Litwa<br/> <em>Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes: Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome</em><br/> Routledge Studies in the Early Christian World<br/> New York: Routledge, 2022<br/> Pp. 244. $42.43 (Paperback) / $136.00 (Hardback). <p>Early Christian heresiology is shot through with methodological difficulties. Reading ancient authors write about their enemies is rarely straightforward, especially when the former claim that the latter made use of demons as assistants (Irenaeus, <em>Adv. haer.</em> 1.13.3). Where is the line between caricature and a more or less \"honest\" description of another's ideas? Also, what kinds of relationships might we imagine between those whose texts have endured (Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement, etc.) and their christologically invested rivals whose texts are often only preserved as quotations in these aforementioned survivors? M. David Litwa's book takes us to the heart of these methodological challenges and helps us understand the intellectual interests and theological variance between three Christian teachers from the early second century affiliated with Rome and Alexandria.</p> <p><em>Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes</em> is a commentarial monograph that investigates how the teachings of these three figures are \"remembered\" in the writings of Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, and, to a lesser degree, Epiphanius. The first chapter is a commentary on Epiphanes's <em>On Justice</em> and a highlight of the book. In his <em>Stromata</em>, Clement says that Epiphanes was the son of Carpocrates, that he died at the age of seventeen, and that he is honored as a god in the city of Same in Cephallenia (<em>Strom.</em> 3.2.5.2–3). Litwa's treatment of the veneration of the deceased teenager is illuminating, situating the birthday sacrifice and hymnic recital to Epiphanes alongside the Athenian birthday hymns for Plato attested by Proclus in the fifth century <small>c.e.</small>, as well as the new moon and yearly sacrifices to Ptolemy V as a manifestation of the divine. Litwa's engagement with the four quotations from <em>On Justice</em> reveals the complexity of Epiphanes's thinking on κοινωνία: working with gospel traditions about indiscriminate divine beneficence, sprinkling the text with Homeric and Hesiodic ideas about the Sun and personified Justice, adopting Pauline verbiage, and employing Stoic arguments from nature.</p> <p>The second chapter delves into the traditions surrounding the father, Carpocrates, and Marcellina, a Carpocratian sympathizer who migrated to Rome in the mid-160s <small>c.e.</small> The reports twist and turn through multiple sources. ","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323526","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":"The Crucified Book: Sacred Writing in the Age of Valentinus by Anne Starr Kreps (review)","authors":"Pamela Reaves","doi":"10.1353/earl.2024.a923172","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2024.a923172","url":null,"abstract":"<span><span>In lieu of</span> an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:</span>\u0000<p> <span>Reviewed by:</span> <ul> <li><!-- html_title --> <em>The Crucified Book: Sacred Writing in the Age of Valentinus</em> by Anne Starr Kreps <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Pamela Reaves </li> </ul> Anne Starr Kreps<br/> <em>The Crucified Book: Sacred Writing in the Age of Valentinus</em><br/> Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion<br/> Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022<br/> Pp. 186. $65.00. <p>In <em>The Crucified Book</em>, Anne Starr Kreps explores this distinctive image from the <em>Gospel of Truth</em> as part of the broader textual scene of the second century <small>c.e.</small> Depicting a dying Jesus cloaked in a book and the crucifixion as an act of publication, the <em>Gospel of Truth</em> expands our understanding of early Christian \"scriptural practices\" (6). Attentive to the bodily and oral dimensions of this gospel, Kreps asserts that \"the <em>Gospel of Truth</em> promoted the conception of books as living documents, permitting the generation of religious books by multiple authors as new sources of revelatory authority\" (2). She grounds her argument through a series of chapters that productively contextualize and complicate notions of sacred writing. A brief introductory chapter reminds readers of fluidity in early Christian conceptions of gospel and positions Valentinus, whom she identifies as the author of the <em>Gospel of Truth</em>, as a central, rather than peripheral, figure in this \"landscape of shifting textualities\" (12).</p> <p>In Chapter One, \"The Joyful Gospel,\" Kreps aligns the <em>Gospel of Truth</em>'s interest in continual revelation with contemporary Jewish, Christian, and Roman currents. The Gospel of John and Justin Martyr similarly envision ongoing expressions of the gospel. And Ben Sira, <em>Genesis Rabbah</em>, and Philo provide parallels for the <em>Gospel of Truth</em>'s \"book encompassed in the flesh\" (24). In its expression of a \"shape-shifting mode of revelation\" (26), the <em>Gospel of Truth</em> is thus not an \"outlier\" (18). As she considers comparable contemporary views, Kreps effectively unpacks the scriptural dimensions of the text's unusual crucifixion scenes. Jesus, she describes, is \"transformed into a scroll of knowledge of the Father, which he published through an oration of its contents\" (34); scripture thus operates visually, aurally, and authoritatively, she asserts. The publication of the book involves its ongoing reception as well as risk of corruption. Kreps explains, \"The book was 'published' as it was received on the hearts of the truly wise, who could then distribute their own versions\" (35). Corruption, a concern apparent in Roman literary culture, is mitigated, Kreps highlights, through the gospel's divine inscription on the hearts of learned followers.</p> <p>This scriptural community of followers is the focus of Chapter Two, \"The Valentinian Gospel as a Scriptura","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"130 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323624","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":"The Ideal Feminine: Gender, Regendering, and Competition in the Acts of Thecla and the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena","authors":"Lily C. Vuong","doi":"10.1353/earl.2024.a923170","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2024.a923170","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>This article offers a close literary and feminist reading of the <i>Acts of Thecla</i> (<i>A. Thecl.</i>) and the <i>Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena</i> (<i>A. Xanthipp.</i>). Although the former is ubiquitous among Christian apocrypha and feminist studies, the latter has received relatively little scholarly attention despite the fact that both stories share interest in ascetic practices and conflict with patriarchal institutions, albeit in strikingly different ways. By focusing on the views expressed and actions taken with regard to ascetic practices by the female protagonists, I argue that <i>A. Xanthipp.</i> can be read as a response to <i>A. Thecl</i>. and as evidence of the regendering of women's ascetic renunciation, but also as an indication of competing ideas and intra-Christian disputes over marriage, ascetic practices, and the role of women in late antiquity.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323620","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":"The Book of Revelation and its Eastern Commentators: Making the New Testament in the Early Christian World by Thomas Schmidt (review)","authors":"Martina Vercesi","doi":"10.1353/earl.2024.a923171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2024.a923171","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;In lieu of&lt;/span&gt; an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:&lt;/span&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt; &lt;span&gt;Reviewed by:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;!-- html_title --&gt; &lt;em&gt;The Book of Revelation and its Eastern Commentators: Making the New Testament in the Early Christian World&lt;/em&gt; by Thomas Schmidt &lt;!-- /html_title --&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; Martina Vercesi &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; Thomas Schmidt&lt;br/&gt; &lt;em&gt;The Book of Revelation and its Eastern Commentators: Making the New Testament in the Early Christian World&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021&lt;br/&gt; Pp. viii + 246. $99.99. &lt;p&gt;Schmidt opens his book with a clear, yet challenging statement: he wants to \"examine the formation of the New Testament as a Greco-Roman 'testament'\" (1). While scholarly research has focused mostly on the origin and development of the canon (especially during the earliest phases of Christianity), Schmidt argues that nobody has taken into consideration the New Testament collection from the point of view of the validity of testaments.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Schmidt begins his exploration with his choice of source to test his theory, the book of Revelation. This work is the most suitable for this analysis because of its role in giving the final seal of approval to the New Testament. Moreover, Revelation had a troubled journey and late acceptance into the New Testament corpus; the debate around the possibility of including Revelation in the canon continued in the manuscript tradition containing the commentaries. Just as Greco-Roman testaments need validation from authorities (the jurists), Revelation needs the same; in this case, church authorities are needed, and, among those, Schmidt identified that commentaries on Revelation have exerted a significant influence on this process, showing parallels \"quite similar to those of the Greco-Roman jurists in order to explain why Revelation should be considered a valid member of their New Testament corpus\" (5).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;After explanations of the key terms (text, commentary, and testament) and a description of the methodology employed, Schmidt introduces the commentaries he will use for this analysis and briefly outlines the scheme of the book, which is organized in three parts according to the testamentary standard derived from Origen's hermeneutical approach to scripture. Origen represents \"the first Christian exegete to synthesize commentarial tradition with various juristic expectations of testaments\" (32). The three testamentary standards taken into consideration are consistency, integrity, and profundity. Each of the chapters is dedicated to one of them and first includes a brief history of the use of the selected standard in the Greco-Roman world. Then Schmidt closely examines a series of examples found in the commentaries (considering all those written in the East before the fourteenth century), &lt;strong&gt;[End Page 133]&lt;/strong&gt; where Christian authors provide their reasoning about the application of a certain testamentary standard to the book of Revelation.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Chapte","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323629","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":"Let in the Light: Learning to Read St. Augustine's Confessions by James Boyd White (review)","authors":"Ian Clausen","doi":"10.1353/earl.2024.a923175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2024.a923175","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;In lieu of&lt;/span&gt; an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:&lt;/span&gt;\u0000&lt;p&gt; &lt;span&gt;Reviewed by:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;!-- html_title --&gt; &lt;em&gt;Let in the Light: Learning to Read St. Augustine's Confessions&lt;/em&gt; by James Boyd White &lt;!-- /html_title --&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; Ian Clausen &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; James Boyd White&lt;br/&gt; &lt;em&gt;Let in the Light: Learning to Read St. Augustine's &lt;span&gt;Confessions&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt; New York: Columbia University Press, 2022&lt;br/&gt; Pp. xxiii + 359. $30.00. &lt;p&gt;Not many readers encounter Augustine in his native Latin. The problem is not confined to students and lay readers; Augustine scholars, too, increasingly read Augustine only in English. One worries about what is lost in reading this way. The problem is more than a matter of substance. Style, too, disappears beneath the cloak of translation, taking away from some of the pleasure Augustine intended for his readers. Can this experience be recovered? James Boyd White thinks so. In &lt;em&gt;Let in the Light&lt;/em&gt;, he is quietly confident in the capacity of his readers to appreciate and savor what Augustine's Latin has to offer. Focusing on the &lt;em&gt;Confessions&lt;/em&gt; is an obvious choice. If anyone today is to encounter Augustine, it is likely through this work, which defies categorization and transcends its ancient context. Paying respect to the many excellent translations over the years, White commits to walking readers through the Latin of the &lt;em&gt;Confessions&lt;/em&gt;—or at least select parts of it—in an exercise in \"slow reading\" (47). His aim is, quite simply, to make possible \"an exploration of the experience this wonderful book offers its readers\" (xv).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Whether an audience exists for such an effort remains to be seen. Certainly the pandemic quarantine enlivened interest in language learning. But it is difficult to learn a language from an app, and many learning goals are likely to have petered out for lack of human contact. Latin might be different. Few learn Latin today in order to speak it. Nor is White interested in teaching readers Latin; as he confesses, he is no professional Latinist (xv). Instead, his book is about the experience the &lt;em&gt;Confessions&lt;/em&gt; creates. It is also about the experience a &lt;em&gt;work of translation&lt;/em&gt; creates, which is never a simple transfer from one language to another. \"[A] translation is by its nature its own independent work,\" he writes (43–44). True enough, if by &lt;strong&gt;[End Page 141]&lt;/strong&gt; \"independent\" we mean distinctive and contestable. Translation can impede but also enhance communication. A good translator's decisions are not arbitrary or idiosyncratic, and departing from an author's \"literal\" word may better capture that author's original meaning.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;White's tack is to walk alongside and appeal to his readers directly. A paradigmatic example of this: \"As you contemplate these various texts let me encourage you to think of them each as offering to its readers a certain experience, or set of experiences, both in the reading itse","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323528","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":"The Death of James the Just Revisited","authors":"Nicholas List","doi":"10.1353/earl.2024.a923167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2024.a923167","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>Based on the testimony of Josephus (<i>Jewish Antiquities</i> 20.197–203), most scholars place the death of James, the brother of Jesus in 62 c.e. This article breaks with this consensus, arguing that the reference to Jesus \"called Christ\" in <i>Jewish Antiquities</i> 20.200 is a later Christian interpolation. If it can be shown that the Josephan account was not originally about James, the early Christian leader, then James's death cannot be linked to the high priesthood of Ananus in 62 c.e. It also means that if any of the historical circumstances surrounding James's death can be recovered, they must be sought in the Christian narratival accounts of early antiquity. After reviewing the complex source-critical relations between the James tradition in Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria, the <i>Second Apocalypse of James</i>, and the Pseudo-Clementine <i>Recognitions</i>, and establishing the earliest independent form of the tradition, I argue that the narrative logic of the martyrdom account depends on at least two minimal historical likelihoods: 1) that James was in fact killed; and 2) that his death occurred shortly before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 c.e.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323621","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":"2022 NAPS Presidential Address: How Shaky a Foundation: The Apostolic Fathers","authors":"Clayton N. Jefford","doi":"10.1353/earl.2024.a923166","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2024.a923166","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>The advent of canonized texts in the post-Constantinian church led to the widespread assumption that specifically approved literature reflected general Christian orthodoxy. The danger that non-canonical literature posed to this process was to provide an avenue by which quasi-acceptable views could enter ecclesiastical theology via courses such as catechetical instruction and teaching from episcopal leaders. The Apostolic Fathers reflect this very process. Those who study these writings today are warned not simply to presume specific locations or dates for their use in antiquity since many such writings came to influence the growth of ecclesiastical power and ideas within contexts that have been lost to our knowledge. This paper counsels researchers not to take such literature lightly nor to presume the influence it may have had within the early patristic sphere.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323630","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":"Social Networks and the Origenist Controversy: The Case of Anastasius I of Rome, Jerome, and Paulinus of Nola","authors":"Geoffrey D. Dunn","doi":"10.1353/earl.2024.a923169","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2024.a923169","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>Attention to the complexities of social networks at the time of the first Origenist controversy at the end of the fourth century reveals that while both Jerome and Anastasius I, bishop of Rome, were anti-Origenist, they had differing attitudes towards Paulinus of Nola. Jerome was suspicious of him because of Origenist associates, while Anastasius seems to have held him in high regard. It is argued here that it is too simplistic to divide participants in this controversy into pro- and anti-Origenist camps and to expect that those within each camp all shared the same outlook and evaluation of others. Personal attitudes towards others usually are shaped by more than one issue, and different issues hold different significance for different people. In the case of Anastasius, it would appear that he was unaware of potential Origenist sympathies held by Paulinus, did not place the same importance on his network of contacts as Jerome did, and/or was more influenced by his social standing as a member of the elite than by suspicion about possible Origenist affinity.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140323636","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":"Evagrius the Cappadocian: Redating the Kephalaia gnostika","authors":"Joel Kalvesmaki","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915033","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>The three works <i>Praktikos, Gnostikos</i>, and <i>Kephalaia gnostika</i> (<i>KG</i>) are traditionally dated to the late 380s, when Evagrius Ponticus was a monk in Egypt. The trilogy is commonly seen as a unified, gradated curriculum for monks. In this article, I argue that this paradigm is deficient. Evagrius wrote the <i>KG</i> largely in the 370s, before he ever became a monk, and well before he even started the <i>Praktikos</i> and <i>Gnostikos</i>, which were written later, as a pair of companion pieces, to attempt to repackage the <i>KG</i> as part of a monastic trilogy.</p><p>Redating the <i>KG</i> to the middle years of Evagrius's life significantly changes our interpretation of his entire corpus. It reveals a layer of his writings that originally had nothing to do with monks and monasticism, but were turned to that purpose late in life. An early <i>KG</i> opens up an important and poorly documented part of Evagrius's writing career, when, in company with the Cappadocians, he had already developed a sophisticated exegesis and metaphysics, long before he became a monk.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138714446","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":"Who Accused Whom of What? The Outbreak of the \"Arian\" Controversy","authors":"Samuel Fernández","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>This article aims to reconstruct the outbreak and initial parameters of the so-called Arian crisis. To do that, it divides ancient sources into two different groups: 1) the sources that reproduce or depend on the polemical narrative of Athanasius and 2) the documents contemporary to the events, which are quoted in ancient works. Since Athanasius's narrative is one-sided and retrospective, the article reconstructs the beginning of the controversy by giving effective priority to documents contemporary to the events over accounts coming from the bishop of Alexandria. Thus, the first part of the article studies the outbreak of the dispute according to ancient sources; therefore, it reconstructs the beginning of the controversy in light of the sources coming from Athanasius, analyzes the chronology of the contemporary documents, and finally reviews the outbreak of the crisis by giving hermeneutical priority to contemporary documents. The second part studies the initial theological parameters of the debate, namely, the theologies of Alexander and Arius, and the \"Arian\" theology according to Alexander. The last part of the article addresses the ecclesiastical dimension of the controversy, that is, the nature of \"the group around Arius\" and the institutional setting of the conflict. The conclusion re-examines the outbreak of the Arian crisis.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138715141","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}