The Early Christian Mind

Language, Literature, and Memory in Late Antiquity. Volume I
1. Auflage 2027
ISBN: 978-1-032-54883-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 326 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Variorum Collected Studies

How did the literary cultures of early Christianity emerge from, transform, and preserve the world of classical antiquity? This volume explores the remarkable creativity with which late antique and early Byzantine Christians engaged both their literary inheritance and their religious past. Moving across the eastern Mediterranean and beyond, it examines a multilingual Christian world in which Greek functioned not simply as a literary language but as a marker of education, identity, and cultural authority. Throughout, the volume challenges sharp divisions between classical and Christian, canonical and apocryphal, and ancient and medieval literature.

The chapters explore language, narrative, biblical interpretation, pilgrimage, apocrypha, and historiography from early Christianity through Byzantium. They trace the adaptation of classical literary forms in Christian narrative; the transformation of scripture through poetic paraphrase and interpretation; and the relationship between sacred texts and the landscapes encountered by pilgrims. Particular attention is given to Christian apocrypha and to the ways stories about Jesus, Mary, and the apostles were rewritten, transmitted, and incorporated into later Christian memory. Together, these studies reveal a literary culture characterized not by the passive preservation of an authoritative past, but by its continual reinterpretation.

Bringing literary history into conversation with the study of language, religion, and cultural memory, this volume will be of particular interest to scholars and students of Late Antiquity, early Christianity, Byzantine studies, Classics, and the history of Christianity. It will also appeal to readers interested in the transmission and transformation of texts across languages, cultures, and historical periods

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

PART 1: LANGUAGE

1. The Social Presence of Greek in Eastern Christianity, 200–1200 CE

Published as: “The Social Presence of Greek in Eastern Christianity, 200–1200 CE.” In Languages and Cultures of Eastern Christianity: Greek, 1–122. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015.

2. Greek in Late Antiquity: Its Meaning and Scope

Published as: “Greek.” In A Companion to Late Antique Literature, ed. Scott McGill and Edward Watts, 9–25. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2018.

PART 2: LITERATURE

3. Late Antique Narrative Fiction: Apocryphal Acta and the Greek Novel in the Fifth-Century Life and Miracles of Thekla

Published as: “Late Antique Narrative Fiction: Apocryphal Acta and the Greek Novel in the Fifth-Century Life and Miracles of Thekla.” In Greek Literature in Late Antiquity, ed. S.F. Johnson, 189–207. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006.

4. “The Stone the Builders Rejected”: Liturgical and Exegetical Irrelevancies in the Piacenza Pilgrim

Published as: “‘The Stone the Builders Rejected’: Liturgical and Exegetical Irrelevancies in the Piacenza Pilgrim.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 70 (2016) 43–70.

5. Nonnus’ Paraphrastic Technique: A Case Study of Self-Recognition in John 9

Published as: “Nonnus’ Paraphrastic Technique: A Case Study of Self-Recognition in John 9.” In Brill’s Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis, ed. Domenico Accorinti, 267–288. Leiden: Brill, 2016.

PART 3: MEMORY

6. Apostolic Patterns of Thought, From Early Christianity to Early Byzantium

Published as: “Apostolic Patterns of Thought, From Early Christianity to Early Byzantium.” In The Holy Apostles: A Lost Monument, a Forgotten Project, and the Presentness of the Past, edited by Margaret Mullett and Robert G. Ousterhout, 53–66. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2020.

7. Christian Apocrypha: Its Outline, History, and Significance

Published as: “Christian Apocrypha.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Second Sophistic, ed. William Johnson and Daniel Richter, 669–686. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

8. Apocrypha and the Literary Past in Late Antiquity  Published as: “Apocrypha and the Literary Past in Late Antiquity.” In From Rome to Constantinople: Studies in Honour of Averil Cameron, ed. Hagit Amirav and Bas ter Haar Romeny, 47–66. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.

9. Lists, Originality, and Christian Time: Eusebius’ Historiography of Succession  Published as: “Lists, Originality, and Christian Time: Eusebius’ Historiography of Succession.” In Historiography and Identity 1: Ancient and Early Christian Narratives of Community, ed. Walter Pohl and Veronika Wieser, 191–217. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019.

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Scott Fitzgerald Johnson is a historian of late antique literature and culture. His research focuses on early Christianity, Greek and Syriac, and the transmission and reception of texts across the late antique and Byzantine worlds. He is the author, editor, or translator of ten books and more than two dozen articles. He has taught at Oxford, Harvard, Washington and Lee, Georgetown, and the University of Oklahoma, and held fellowships at the Harvard Society of Fellows, Dumbarton Oaks, and the Library of Congress. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018. He lives with his family in Oklahoma City and Sea Island, Georgia.