JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES最新文献

{"title":"Tatian's Diatessaron: Composition, Redaction, Recension, and Reception by James W. Barker (review)","authors":"Charles E. Hill","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915036","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>Tatian's Diatessaron: Composition, Redaction, Recension, and Reception</em> by James W. Barker <!-- /html_title --></li> <li> Charles E. Hill </li> </ul> James W. Barker <em>Tatian's Diatessaron: Composition, Redaction, Recension, and Reception</em> Oxford Early Christian Studies Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021 Pp. ix + 157. $85.00. <p>James Barker states his case for a major modification of the \"new perspective\" and a partial return to the \"old perspective\" on Diatessaronic studies. The Diatessaron, the first known harmony of the four Gospels, was composed by Tatian in Greek or in Syriac ca. 170–75 <small>c.e</small>. Its Greek legacy is almost entirely lost, save for the famous Dura fragment (if indeed this is a copy of the Diatessaron). The Syriac version has left a commentary traditionally attributed to Ephrem, some Gospel citations by Aphrahat, and an eleventh-century translation of the whole work into Arabic. The Latin and later European harmonies are headed by the sixth-century Codex Fuldensis, created by Victor, Bishop of Capua, and his scribe. Victor had discovered a manuscript containing an <em>unum ex quattuor euangelium</em>, which he determined must have been a copy of Tatian's Diatessaron. He had a new copy made, using Jerome's Vulgate for the text and equipping it with a reworked version of Eusebius's section and canon tables. Barker maintains that Victor's <em>Vorlage</em> was written in Old Latin, and this is key to his theory that he hopes will represent the next advance in the field of Diatessaronic scholarship.</p> <p>The \"old perspective,\" exemplified by William Petersen's <em>Tatian's Diatessaron: Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship</em> (Leiden: Brill, 1994), theorized a (perhaps very early) Old Latin Diatessaron. It sought for remnants of this translation in the many Latin and vernacular harmonies, glosses, and commentaries in places where they agreed with some eastern source, but disagreed with Fuldensis. The new perspective, developed especially by Ulrich Schmid, along with August den Hollander and Elizabeth Meyer, and accepted by most today, has abandoned the quest for an Old Latin Diatessaron. The entire western Diatessaronic tradition, it proposes, descends ultimately from the single volume, Codex Fuldensis. There are no routes around Fuldensis to an Old Latin version.</p> <p>Barker thinks one route remains. Victor's <em>Vorlage</em>, or one of its relatives, Barker supposes, survived long past the sixth century to produce a group of late medieval, western harmonies headed by the Middle Dutch Liège (ca. 1280) and Stuttgart (1332) harmonies and the Middle High German Zurich harmony (1300) (this combination hereafter S-L-Z). These harmonies share most of their content-related characteristics with Fuldensis and the rest, departing ","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"101 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138714923","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":"Revisiting the Date of the Acts of Peter: Engaging with Potential New Evidence from the History of Simon Cephas","authors":"Callie Callon","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915029","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>Previous scholarly consensus held that the text preserved in the Latin <i>Actus Vercellenses</i> was a relatively faithful translation of a second-century Greek <i>Acts of Peter</i>. In partial support of this date was the posited intertextual relationship with the <i>Acts of Paul</i>, with particular attention given to the so-called \"<i>quo vadis</i>\" scenes related in both apocryphal acts. More recent scholarship has cast doubt on this, thus removing the <i>terminus ad quem</i> of a late second-century date that this posited relationship provided. Taking this as his starting point, Matthew Baldwin's work constitutes a formidable challenge to previous consensus of both the date and the faithfulness of the Latin translation. He argues that the <i>Vercelli Acts</i> should be understood as a fourth-century product in its own right and of no value for recovering an earlier <i>Acts of Peter</i>. While some brief counterarguments to this have been offered, to the best of my knowledge none have yet incorporated the fourth-century Syriac <i>History of Simon Cephas, Chief of the Apostles</i>, which has extensive parallels with the <i>Vercelli Acts</i>. Doing so lends additional evidence to the priority of the <i>Acts of Peter</i>, as well as potentially verifies scholarly argument regarding a redactional history of the <i>Acts of Peter</i> in the second century. As a fourth-century composition itself that includes material reflecting this date, it is also useful in comparison with details preserved in the <i>Vercelli Acts</i> that scholars have suggested attest to the preservation of earlier material. Taken together, these three avenues of discussion can potentially reinstate the consensus regarding the existence of a second-century <i>Acts of Peter</i> that is more or less faithfully preserved in the <i>Vercelli Acts</i>.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138715219","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 Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice ed. by Elisabeth R. O'Connell (review)","authors":"Michael Beshay","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915042","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 Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice&lt;/em&gt; ed. by Elisabeth R. O'Connell &lt;!-- /html_title --&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; Michael Beshay &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; Elisabeth R. O'Connell, editor &lt;em&gt;The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice&lt;/em&gt; London: The British Museum, 2022 Pp. v + 235. $64.95. &lt;p&gt;This volume (edited by Elisabeth R. O'Connell) represents the convergence of two significant trends in the historical study of religion in late antique Egypt. The first is the so-called \"material turn,\" a theoretical stream within the study of history placing emphasis on the enduring aspects of extant materials and the stories they tell about the people, cultures, and societies that produced, used, and transmitted them. The second is the specific attention to the scripts, objects, and devices traditionally labeled \"magic,\" with ample discussion of the constitution and utility of the category in relation to \"religion.\" Coptic magical texts, in particular, offer rich sources for investigating the materiality of ancient religions, since the majority of the scripts are contained in compilations that bear signs of many earlier impressions; thus, Coptic magical texts may be classified as both objects and traditions, existing at the crossroads of \"religion\" and \"magic.\" P. Brit. Mus. Hay 1–7, the subjects of this volume, are prime examples of such texts that harbor plentiful details for reconstructing the material and ritual history of late antique Egypt. Appropriately, the research contained here employs a multidisciplinary approach, from cultural and textual studies to the scientific analyses of leather, developing a robust historical profile of the manuscripts. The researchers intend this work to provide a model for similar investigations of ancient texts.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The volume is organized into eight chapters explaining various dimensions of the background, interpretation, and significance of P. Brit. Mus. Hay 1–7. Chapter One (by Elisabeth R. O'Connell) provides an introduction to the volume's contents, the Hay archive, and the study of \"magic\" in late antique Egypt. Topics move from the specific, defining the character and users of the Hay texts, to the general, describing Egypt's political, linguistic, and religious history from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The chapter's final sections focus on the context of magic in ancient Egypt and Coptic magic in particular. Both at the beginning and end, O'Connell alludes to a central finding of this study (elaborated in Chapter Two)—namely, the likely provenance of the Hay archive in western Thebes.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The next three chapters focus on the discovery and preservation of the manuscripts. Chapter Two (by Elisabeth R. O'Connell) details the ","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138717221","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":"Mirrors of the Divine: Late Ancient Christianity and the Vision of God by Emily R. Cain (review)","authors":"Derek King","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915043","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;Mirrors of the Divine: Late Ancient Christianity and the Vision of God&lt;/em&gt; by Emily R. Cain &lt;!-- /html_title --&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; Derek King &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; Emily R. Cain &lt;em&gt;Mirrors of the Divine: Late Ancient Christianity and the Vision of God&lt;/em&gt; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023 Pp. viii + 194. $83.00. &lt;p&gt;What does it mean to see God? For Christians, the matter is complicated. On the one hand, the Bible insists that no one can see God and live (Exodus 33.20). On the other hand, Jesus says the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5.8). In &lt;em&gt;Mirrors of the Divine&lt;/em&gt;, Emily Cain approaches the matter with care. She shows why this theme flourished in ancient Christianity and its significance for us today.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Cain summarizes the book's argument in the Introduction: \"In this book, I focus on a selection of theological discussions on vision and mirrors, and I argue that these philosophical and theological speculations of vision of God are also the very location for important discursive struggles over claims of Christian identity, Christian agency, and Christian epistemology\" (6). Identity, agency, and epistemology moor the historical arguments, as they are markers that direct her engagement toward contemporary relevance.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The outline of the book is simple and clear. She begins with an extensive background of ancient theories on sight. Ancient philosophers were primarily interested in how we internally processed external stimuli. Many thought the process was material, too. In \"extramission,\" for example, \"our vision is sent out to meet the light\" (20). In \"intromission\" and \"atomism,\" on the other hand, \"particles stream from an object toward the viewer\" (24). The difference illustrates well the dynamic of the activity and passivity involved in vision. Along with the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, these ancient views are foundational for later thought on vision that Cain turns toward next. &lt;strong&gt;[End Page 590]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Cain next examines vision in two influential Christian thinkers: Tertullian of Carthage and Clement of Alexandria. She argues that Tertullian uses a philosophically inconsistent view of the world, mixing the Stoic and Epicurean theories of visual perception, to create a spiritual hierarchy (64). Considering spiritual identity, Cain specifically examines how Tertullian applies this to gender, suggesting that gendered embodiment is important for one's seeing God and therefore one's place in the hierarchy. Clement, though, sees baptism as a kind of \"cataract surgery,\" thereby opening up a kind of spiritual vision for the baptized believer (75–79). Like Tertullian, Cain argues that Clement merges different ancient theories of vision to make his point (84). Cain then moves to an excursus on mirrors and their role in self-reflection. She distinguishes the \"philosopher's mir","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"268 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138714681","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":"Christianity and the Contest for Manhood in Late Antiquity: The Cappadocian Fathers and the Rhetoric of Masculinity by Nathan D. Howard (review)","authors":"Richard Flower","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915045","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;Christianity and the Contest for Manhood in Late Antiquity: The Cappadocian Fathers and the Rhetoric of Masculinity&lt;/em&gt; by Nathan D. Howard &lt;!-- /html_title --&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; Richard Flower &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; Nathan D. Howard &lt;em&gt;Christianity and the Contest for Manhood in Late Antiquity: The Cappadocian Fathers and the Rhetoric of Masculinity&lt;/em&gt; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023 Pp. xvi + 338. $120.00. &lt;p&gt;When the emperor Julian's relationship with Antioch soured during his stay there on his way to Persia, his response was characteristically idiosyncratic: he penned his &lt;em&gt;Misopogon&lt;/em&gt;, or &lt;em&gt;Beard Hater&lt;/em&gt;, and had it posted up publicly for all to see. In this incredibly sarcastic treatise, he issued a mock apology for his appearance, including his philosophical beard and shaggy chest-hair, contrasting it with the depilated bodies of the Antiochenes, which were \"smoother than women\" (346A). He similarly compared his own austere, bookish lifestyle with the city's love of luxury, with excessive eating, drinking, dancing, and theater-going. Moreover, Julian claimed that his devotion to &lt;em&gt;paideia&lt;/em&gt; and \"manliness\" (ἀνδρεία) in resisting desires were instilled during his youth by his tutor Mardonius, who was both a Scythian barbarian and a eunuch. In a reversal of expectations, Mardonius understood proper masculinity much better than the so-called \"men\" of Antioch.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Nathan D. Howard's book examines the deployment of similar discourse by three of Julian's Christian contemporaries, the \"Cappadocian Fathers\" Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus. Despite being vehemently opposed to the pagan emperor, the trio enjoyed the same elite educational background as him and were keen to present themselves (and other figures they approved of) as &lt;em&gt;pepaideumenoi&lt;/em&gt;, paradigmatic examples of cultured, aristocratic men who formed the ruling class of the later Roman empire. Howard therefore situates these bishops firmly within a classical tradition of constructing the ideal Greek man, while also demonstrating some distinctively Christian elements of their rhetoric, most notably in the celebration of asceticism, the incorporation of biblical &lt;em&gt;exempla&lt;/em&gt;, and the deployment of these ideas for invective against enemies of Nicene theology, especially \"Heterousian\" heretics. The substantial Introduction establishes important context, exploring a wealth of different factors involved in the characterization of elite men during the preceding centuries. Howard focuses in particular on the agonistic culture of public oratory and performance during the \"Second Sophistic,\" drawing on studies of the construction of masculinity and &lt;em&gt;aretē&lt;/em&gt; (\"excellence\") in this period, especially the work of Maud Gleason and Erik Gunderson. The Introduction does, however, range much more","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138714695","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 Coptic Act of Peter in Late Antiquity: Virginity, Disability, Intertextuality","authors":"Luke Drake","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915032","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>In this essay, I argue that the Coptic <i>Act of Peter</i> (Papyrus Berolinensis 8502.4) is a late ancient Christian reformulation of an early Jewish temple tradition preserved in the book of <i>3 Maccabees</i>, according to which God preserves the sanctity of his temple by means of divine paralysis. I argue further that the implications of this intertextual relationship ought to influence how we interpret the <i>Act of Peter</i>—its narrative, themes, and theology—as well as how and where we might situate this apocryphal account in history. Instead of placing the Greek original in the second or third centuries, I locate it closer to the fourth or fifth, alongside a contemporaneous surge of orthodox exhortations and treatises on virginity—most likely in the context of the varieties of \"household asceticism\" that were prevalent in late ancient Syria and Asia Minor.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138715065","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":"Converting after Constantine: Firmicus Maternus and the Scriptures","authors":"Mattias Gassman","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abstract:</p><p>The two extant works by the senator Julius Firmicus Maternus, a manual of astrology (<i>Mathesis</i>, ca. 337) and a ferocious attack on senatorial paganism (<i>De errore profanarum religionum</i>, 343–50), offer exceptional insight into the transformation of a convert's beliefs in the era of Constantine. Study of Firmicus's Christianity has long been hampered by distaste for his desire to see pagan cult annihilated and by the belief that he took essentially all of his scriptural knowledge from Cyprian's <i>Ad Quirinum</i> and <i>Ad Fortunatum</i>. Recent scholarship has dealt with the first issue. This article focuses on the second. Surveying Firmicus's biblical quotations and allusions, it demonstrates that he had extensive knowledge of biblical passages that Cyprian does not cite, ranging far beyond the Psalms (which Firmicus is generally thought to have known independently). He interprets Cyprianic texts in light of non-Cyprianic parallels, cites surrounding context, weaves in references to liturgical custom, and deploys well-known exegetical motifs such as the interpretation of Psalm 23 (LXX) in reference to Christ's descent and ascension. Combined with his heavy reliance on Cyprian for quotations, Firmicus's use of biblical passages and extrabiblical theological ideas suggests that he was widely read in scripture, but that had to hand only Cyprian's collections, with whose explanatory headings his ideas about coercion and his Christology engage. Firmicus's engagement with scripture, in part through Cyprian's mediation, thus illustrates the processes by which an upper-class convert could assimilate Christian ideas. His integration of astral language into his description of Christianity, in turn, undercuts modern generalizations about the Christianity of the Constantinian era. Far from being at home with pagan conceptions of the universe, Firmicus reworks them to exalt Christ and the cross above the stars themselves.</p></p>","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"198 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138714488","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":"Fallen Angels in the Theology of Saint Augustine by Gregory D. Wiebe (review)","authors":"Travis Proctor","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915039","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;Fallen Angels in the Theology of Saint Augustine&lt;/em&gt; by Gregory D. Wiebe &lt;!-- /html_title --&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; Travis Proctor &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; Gregory D. Wiebe &lt;em&gt;Fallen Angels in the Theology of Saint Augustine&lt;/em&gt; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021 Pp. xviii + 258. $100. &lt;p&gt;This book offers a thorough exploration of Augustine's understanding of fallen angels and demons, with special attention to their ancient demonological, angelological, and anthropological underpinnings. Wiebe focuses on three of Augustine's most important demonological works: &lt;em&gt;The City of God, The Literal Meaning of Genesis&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;The Trinity&lt;/em&gt;. Wiebe also gives due attention to the potential sources for Augustine's angelology and demonology, noting both Christian and non-Christian inspirations. Importantly, Wiebe pushes back against suggestions that Augustine's reflections on the moral import of demons resulted in their \"psychologizing\" (read: dis-embodiment); rather, Wiebe argues that \"Augustine's basic insight … [is] that the moral struggle with demons is only properly contained within the ecclesial body\" (3).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Chapter One, \"The Angels of God,\" explores the creation and distinctive nature of angels, with Wiebe judiciously tracing how these beings are situated within Augustine's broader understanding of God and creation. Chapter Two, \"The Fall of the Angels,\" analyzes the causes and consequences of the angels' rebellion against God, with vigilant attention to the logical consequences of the fall for angelic and demonic modes of embodiment and influence upon humans.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Chapter Three, \"Demonic Bodies,\" details demonic embodiment further. Notably, Wiebe analyzes how the embodiment of fallen angels and demons emerges as part of Augustine's discussion of their interaction with and temptation of humans. Chapter Four, \"Demonic Phenomena,\" explores Augustine's description of demonic appearances to humans, noting how Augustine limits demonic power to the corporeal sphere (i.e., the spaces in which their bodies can operate). Significantly, this functions to insulate the human will from demonic attack, thus providing human opportunity for resistance to demonic temptations.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Chapter Five, \"The Devil and His Body,\" shows how, according to Augustine, fallen angels and demons have created a rival \"symbolic order\" to that of God, as physically embodied in the religious institutions and practices of \"pagan\" Rome. Chapter Six, \"Pagan Demonolatry,\" deepens this investigation, demonstrating how Augustine contrasts the false, imitative \"religion\" of the demons with the salvific, authentic piety of the church.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The broader significance, and major strength, of this book is its insistence that fallen angels and demons were integral components of Augustine's broader theology, contra earlier interpreters who, as Wiebe n","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"198 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138714686","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":"Politics and the Earthly City in Augustine's by Veronica Roberts Ogle (review)","authors":"Naoki Kamimura","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915035","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;Politics and the Earthly City in Augustine's&lt;/em&gt; by Veronica Roberts Ogle &lt;!-- /html_title --&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; Naoki Kamimura &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; Veronica Roberts Ogle &lt;em&gt;Politics and the Earthly City in Augustine's&lt;/em&gt; City of God Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020 Pp. x + 201. $99.00. &lt;p&gt;In her 2020 book, &lt;em&gt;Politics and the Earthly City in Augustine's&lt;/em&gt; City of God, Veronica Roberts Ogle critically examines what the \"earthly city\" means as presented in Augustine's &lt;em&gt;City of God&lt;/em&gt; and draws attention to the \"psychagogic\" function of the rhetoric of the &lt;em&gt;City of God&lt;/em&gt;. She argues that the status of \"politics\" should be determined within a sacramental worldview. She also claims that Augustine expects his readers \"to work for an earthly peace understood in light of &lt;em&gt;amor Dei&lt;/em&gt; … in light of the needs of concrete human persons\" (183).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Augustine's &lt;em&gt;City of God&lt;/em&gt;, like other important works in his corpus, is a fascinating text that has addressed us with a \"great and arduous task,\" so to speak, the response to which has always been debated and questioned. Many who have discussed the implications of Augustine's model of two \"cities\" for our society indicate that Augustine's pessimistic emphasis on politics most aptly expresses his contempt for the political character of our lives. Indeed, Augustinian scholarship in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been mired in debates over conflicting positions on the status of politics in Augustine's thought. Those who have worked in this area will know well that scholars such as Ernest Fortin, Herbert Deane, Robert Markus, John Milbank, Rowan Williams, Robert Dodaro, Gerald O'Daly, and Gillian Clark have argued over whether Augustine was a political realist, whether he positioned the political sphere as a neutral space, or whether he viewed the political in a pessimistic light. Ogle provides a valuable overview of this sequence of discussions in the Introduction. With the six chapters that follow and a brief conclusion, Ogle's book joins more recent attempts (e.g., those of Eric Gregory, Michael Bruno, Richard Dougherty, Michael Lamb, and Mary Keys) to articulate Augustine's multifaceted view of political philosophy and theology.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;After showing the &lt;em&gt;status quaestionis&lt;/em&gt; and its correlation with her work in the Introduction, in Chapter One, \"The Parodic City,\" Ogle details how Augustine's \"earthly city\" is a \"counterfeit\" or \"shadow of the city of God\" (41), examining the argument in Books 11–14 of the &lt;em&gt;City of God&lt;/em&gt; and presenting &lt;em&gt;amor sui&lt;/em&gt; as the destructive logic contained in the earthly city. Chapter Two, \"The Sack of &lt;em&gt;Roma Aeterna&lt;/em&gt;,\" reveals Augustine's attempt, based on his psychagogical methods, to &lt;strong&gt;[End Page 575]&lt;/strong&gt; direct the reader's attention beyond the history of the","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":"138714698","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 Syriac World: In Search of a Forgotten Christianity by Francoise Briquel Chatonnet and Muriel Debie (review)","authors":"","doi":"10.1353/earl.2023.a915044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2023.a915044","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44662,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES","volume":"80 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139026457","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}