Old Age in Ancient Judaism, Early Christianity, and Their Contexts

Senescence and Its Significations
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-66504-7
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 244 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 537 g

The collection of chapters in this volume explores the significance of old age for Jews and Christians as well as Greeks and Romans in antiquity.

By examining a diverse range of sources, the authors in this volume elaborate on the manifold ways that old age functioned as a social discourse in ancient Jewish, Christian, Greek, and Roman contexts. The discussions herein demonstrate how perceptions of old age were closely intertwined with notions of authority and wisdom, gender and social dynamics, social and familial anxieties, and the body and disability. They show that conceptualizations of old age are far more prevalent and significant to ancient social and political structures, rhetorical discourse, and religious imagination than one might expect. By including studies on old age in different religious and cultural contexts, the volume highlights the commonalities, as well as the many differences, that existed among various communities in antiquity.

This volume is of interest for students and scholars of religion, particularly for those working on Jews, Christians, Greeks, and Romans in the ancient Mediterranean, as well as scholars in classical studies and ancient history. It is also a valuable resource for gerontologists who wish to explore the historical background of present-day notions of old age.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Oegema, Albertina

Bledsoe, Seth A.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Altersgruppen Alterssoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Geschichte des Judentums
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike Römische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike Griechische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte Religionen der Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Naher & Mittlerer Osten
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword (Mira Balberg)

Introduction (Albertina Oegema and Seth A. Bledsoe)

Section 1: Old Age, Wisdom, and Authority

1. Old and Young in Philo’s Legatio ad Gaium (Barry Hartog)

2. “O Glorious Wisdom in an Ugly Vessel”: Old Age, Wisdom, and Wine in Rabbinic Literature (Lieve M. Teugels)

3. Old Age and Political System Change in Ancient Rome (Christoph Michels)

Section 2: Old Age, Gender, and Social Dynamics

4. Beyond Gender: Polycarp’s Martyrdom at the Intersection of Old Age and Masculinity (Peter-Ben Smit)

5. “Wearing Clothes of a Young Woman”: The Agency of Elderly Women in Tannaitic Literature (Albertina Oegema)

Section 3: Old Age, Anxiety, and Familial Discourse

6. Dying in Peace: Old Age and Death Anxiety in the Hebrew Bible and in the Ancient Near East (Klaas Spronk)

7. Diverse Representations of Old Age in Literary and Iconographic Works of Classical Athens (Silvana Dayan)

8. Old Age and the Ethical Discourse of Familial Reciprocity among the Aramaic Documents from Elephantine (Seth A. Bledsoe)

Section 4: Old Age, the Body, and Disability

9. Ambivalences in the Process and Prolongation of Ageing in the Hebrew Bible (Hugh Pyper)

10. A Disabled Patriarch: John Chrysostom’s Use of Disability Discourse in His Characterization of Abraham (Chris L. de Wet)

Über Autor(innen)

Albertina Oegema is Postdoctoral Researcher in New Testament Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

Seth A. Bledsoe is Assistant Professor of Ancient Judaism at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.