<p>Ambrose, bishop of Milan, was one of the most outspoken advocates of Christian female virginity in the fourth century C.E. This dissertation examines his writings on virginity in the interest of illuminating the historical and social contexts of his teachings. Considering Ambrose's treatises on virginity as literary productions with social, political, and theological functions in Milanese society, I look at the various ways in which the bishop of Milan formulated ascetic discourse in response to the needs and expectations of his audience. Furthermore, I attend to the various discontinuities in Ambrose's ascetic writings in the hope of illuminating what kinds of ideological work these texts were intended to perform by the bishop within Milanese society and beyond.</p> <p> In the first part of this dissertation, I consider the mechanisms of language and rhetoric promoting virginity in context of the Nicene-Homoian debate, highlighting the fluidity and flexibility of ascetic language in the late fourth century. While in his earliest teachings Ambrose expounds virginity in ways that reflect and support a Nicene understanding of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, his later ascetic writings display his use of anti-Homoian rhetoric in order to support his virginal ideals when they are challenged by Jovinian and others. In the second part, I examine some of the various ways in which the bishop formulated his teachings of virginity in response to the complaints and criticisms of lay members of the Christian community in Milan and elsewhere. I scrutinize the bishop's rhetorical expositions of Biblical figures such as Mary, Eve, the bride of the Song of Songs, and the Jews as a means of furthering his ascetic agenda, and consider his adaptation of a female voice to avoid incurring further criticism. Finally, I consider the role that the bishop's ascetic interests may have played in the so-called Altar of Victory controversy of 384. Largely at stake in Ambrose's dispute with the Roman senator Symmachus, I argue, were the rights and privileges of the Vestal Virgins, a well-established pagan ideology of virginity whose continued prominence and existence was largely unconscionable to the bishop. Ambrose's involvement in the controversy was partly attributable to his interest in ensuring the restriction of Vestal privileges as he perceived the cult to be in direct social and ideological competition with Christian virginity. Together, these three parts attempt to demonstrate the highly fluid and flexible nature of virginity discourse in the late fourth century and to draw attention to some of the socio-theological negotiations that took place as the cult of virginity gained increasing prominence in the Christian church.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis investigates space through its relationship with society based on the idea of the social production of space. By employing the social concepts of community and institution, and the spatial concepts of shelter space and marker space, it provides a theoretical perspective for the evaluation of space in architectural history. This theoretical frame is supplied with a case study on the evolution of Early Christian community and their meeting place. The historical course of the Early Christianity in the Roman Empire from community formation to become an institution &ndash / Christendom - constitutes the paradigm for the social premise of the thesis. On the other hand, the proposed outline for the spatial evolution is demonstrated on the house-church at Dura-Europos.

Univ., Diss.--Princeton. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 278-296) and indexes.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-17T15:01:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 708964 bytes, checksum: d6c5cf36c9d73665dd065decd6ba621a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The research constitutes a quest to rescue the understanding of epistemology angelology present in early Christianity. Since the Bible makes mention of the book of Enoch, we sought to harmonize the accounts so that some biblical texts could be seen more clearly. In the book of Jude, for example, there is a prophecy attributed to Enoch, however, this prophecy is not found in the Bible, which begs the question: Where Judas taken this prophecy? The prophecy is present in the Book of Enoch, more precisely in the Book of Watchers. Reading the Book of Watchers introduces the reader in an interesting world that discusses about the fall of angels, giants, flood, demons and visions. Such reports, present in Enoch, complete biblical narratives giving them a very interesting harmony. In an attempt to know the influence of Enoch in Judaism, allowed us to find quotes from the book present in Jewish writings, and quotes made by the leaders of early Christianity. In both cases there was extensive use of the Book of Watchers corroborating the finding that the book was a significant influence on the thought of Judaism and Christianity angelology primitive. Keywords: Enoch, early Christianity, Angelology. / A pesquisa se constituiu em uma busca por resgatar a compreensão da epistemologia angelológica presente no cristianismo primitivo. Uma vez que a Bíblia faz menção do livro de Enoque, buscou-se harmonizar os relatos de modo que alguns textos bíblicos pudessem ser percebidos com mais clareza. No livro de Judas, por exemplo, encontra-se uma profecia atribuída a Enoque, porém, tal profecia não está presente na Bíblia, o que, naturalmente, suscita a seguinte questão: De onde Judas extraiu esta profecia? A profecia encontra-se presente no Livro de Enoque mais precisamente no Livro dos Vigilantes. A leitura do Livro dos Vigilantes introduz o leitor em um mundo bem diferente que discorre sobre queda de anjos, gigantes, dilúvio, demônios e visões. Tais relatos, presente em Enoque, completam narrativas bíblicas concedendo-lhes harmonia. Na tentativa de conhecer a influência de Enoque no judaísmo, buscou-se verificar citações do livro presente em escritos judaicos, bem como citações feitas por líderes do cristianismo primitivo. Nos dois casos verificou-se ampla utilização do Livro dos Vigilantes corroborando para a constatação de que o escrito foi muito influente no pensamento angelológico do judaísmo e cristianismo primitivo.

Submitted by Noeme Timbo (noeme.timbo@metodista.br) on 2018-03-19T18:20:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Albertino Lima2.pdf: 1005509 bytes, checksum: 2e41800ff4634dbf8a1d1d8c96c31fac (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-19T18:20:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Albertino Lima2.pdf: 1005509 bytes, checksum: 2e41800ff4634dbf8a1d1d8c96c31fac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The presente dissertation aims to foster a centralized study on the character Simon, stigmatizated as magician by Early Christian Literature. To do that we will highlight the character introduced at chapter 8 from the Apostle´s Acts and will take a look at him, above all from the Apocryphal Acts of Peter due to the fact that this texts offers a more comprehensive picture about Simon, his spells and his duels with Peter. For this, we will use as a method, the Carlo Ginsburg´s indoctrination paradigm. With the aim of proposing clarification on the subject, this research is divided in three parts: in the first moment, we will work on the historical aspects of magic, and their sociological and anthropological concepts. In the second moment, we will discuss the presence of magic in the Greco-Roman world and and it´s practices among the Early Christians. Lastly, in the third and final moment, we will present our research on Simon within Early Christian Literature and historiography. However, we will focus in analysis in the Acts Apocryphal of Peter. Our intent is to show a new image from Simon. Not of a simple magician, but the image of a threatening leader of Christian hierarchical structures who has public acclaimed and used it to present himself as a new proposal for the Christian Community. We intend with this research to contribute with, a new perspective on the character Simon who is as important for Christian historiography as the other apostles. / A presente dissertação tem como proposta fomentar um estudo centralizado no personagem Simão estigmatizado como mago pela literatura cristã primitiva. Para isto, destacaremos o personagem apresentado no capítulo 8 de Atos dos Apóstolos e lançaremos um olhar sobre ele a partir dos Atos Apócrifos de Pedro, devido ao fato que este texto oferece uma imagem mais abrangente acerca de Simão, suas magias e seus duelos com Pedro e, para isto, utilizaremos como método o paradigma indiciário de Carlos Ginzburg. Com o intuito de propor um esclarecimento maior sobre o tema, esta pesquisa é dividida em três momentos. No primeiro momento, trabalharemos os aspectos históricos sobre a magia e os seus conceitos entre sociólogos e antropólogos. No segundo momento, dissertaremos sobre a presença da magia no mundo greco-romano e suas práticas entre os primeiros cristãos. Por fim, no terceiro e último momento apresentaremos a nossa pesquisa sobre Simão dentro da historiografia e da literatura cristã primitiva. No entanto, faremos o nosso foco final sobre os Atos Apócrifos de Pedro. Nosso objetivo será mostrar uma outra imagem de Simão, não de um mago pejorativamente, mas de um líder ameaçador das estruturas hierárquicas cristãs que possui uma aclamação pública e usa dela para apresentar-se como uma nova proposta para a comunidade cristã. Pretendemos com essa pesquisa contribuir com uma nova perspectiva sobre o personagem Simão que é tão importante para a historiografia cristã quanto os demais apóstolos.

This study examines the centrality of the body in the apostle Paul's resurrection ideals. It is argued that Paul holds to a non-propositional understanding of resurrection that is grounded in recurrent patterns of human embodiment. Such an assertion stands in stark contrast to the pervading scholarly consensus, which is exceedingly cognicentric in its outlook and premised on an untenable opposition of body and mind. In contrast to this consensus, which disembodies resurrection, the present study demonstrates the extent to which Paul's resurrection ideals are somatically grounded. Working within a theoretical matrix that integrates the study of cognition and culture, this study utilises methodologies drawn from cognitive linguistics. Three theoretical concepts are particularly elaborated in relation to Paul: (1) Mark Johnson's understanding of image schemata, (2) George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's understanding of conceptual metaphor, and (3) Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner's understanding of conceptual blending. These three theoretical concepts are utilised in concert with one another and thus constitute this study's methodological apparatus. After demonstrating the inherent cognicentrism of standard scholarly approaches (ch. 1), this study examines four aspects in which resurrection can be seen as an embodied concept. Chapter 2 establishes a conceptual framework in which resurrection texts can be both identified and interpreted. It is argued that the concept of RESURRECTION is necessarily abstract and metaphorical in nature, though fundamentally grounded in recurrent patterns of human embodiment. In ch. 3 attention is directed to Paul's transformation metaphors and notions of both dualism and monism in the apostle's thought. It is argued that Paul works within a dualistic framework characterised not by opposition (e.g., body vs. soul) but rather by tensive integration (e.g., the embodied soul). Building on this assertion, in ch. 4 we examine the extent to which Paul understands resurrection as a present (and not merely future) experience. Critically assessing the apostle's eschatological outlook, this chapter argues that the somatic interior functions as the location of present resurrection. In ch. 5 this experience of present resurrection is further elaborated in light of Paul's broader participationist ideals. It is demonstrated that Paul's eschatology fosters a specific kind of resurrection experience in the present, one that is mapped onto the human body itself and elaborated via an in-out transformative interplay. Finally, ch. 6 offers a synthesis of the argument, scholarly contribution, and suggested avenues for further research.

[pt] Literatura e cultura popular no cristianismo primitivo são apresentadas como temas com o objetivo de analisar, a partir da literatura, cultura e práticas mágicas no Mundo Antigo, a inserção das comunidades cristãs nesse ambiente vital, no geral e, da comunidade de Gálatas, no particular. O objetivo é, através da transdisciplinaridade (teologia, história, antropologia e arqueologia) reconstruir o contexto mágico originário da comunidade gálata, entender as tensões em seu interior e perceber que implicações existem em vincular essa comunidade com o ambiente da magia. O elemento mágico observado é a crença e prática do mau-olhado (baskaíno) que, por conta de processos históricos, como o Iluminismo Europeu, foi obscurecido nas modernas traduções bíblicas e comentários exegéticos. Desvelar, pois, esse filtro de leitura construído pela Modernidade, consiste em redimensionar as frágeis fronteiras entre magia (primitivo) e religião (civilizado), de acordo com a leitura racionalista do século XIX em diante. / [en] Literature and popular culture on the early christianity are presented as subjects and aims to examine, from literature, culture and magical practices in the ancient world, the participation of Christian communities in this vital environment, in general, and the community of Galatians, in particular. The goal is, through transdisciplinarity (theology, history, anthropology and archaeology) to reconstruct the original magical context in Galatian’s community, understand the tensions among them and realize that there are many implications in this community link with the environment of magic. The magical element observed is the belief and practice of the evil eye (baskaíno) that, because of some historical processes, such as the European Enlightenment, was obscured in modern Bible translations and exegetical commentaries. Unveiling, therefore, this filter in built by modernity, is to resize the fragile boundaries between magic (primitive) and religion (civilized), according to the racionalist reading of the nineteenth century onwards.

Modern interpreters of Paul, confronted with the ubiquitous and enigmatic phrase “in Christ,” have generally ignored “messiah” as a determinative category for explaining the idiom. This is due in part to a scholarly tradition which holds that Paul did not use χριστός with its conventional sense of “messiah.” However, recent scholarship on early messianology, emphasizing the creative interpretation of scripture in the production of messiah texts, has found that Paul’s usage follows the conventions of ancient Jewish messiah language. Drawing upon this revisionist model, I argue that Paul’s use of the phrase ἐν χριστῷ and its variants is explicable in terms of his messianic re-appropriation of authoritative literary traditions. Put differently, Paul’s “in Christ” language is an innovation that nevertheless follows the customs of ancient Jewish messiah speculation. Chapter one, recounting modern treatments of “participationism” and associated language in Paul, illustrates a virtually uniform neglect of messiahship in describing his “in Christ” language. Chapter two reviews the rise of revisionist accounts of ancient Jewish messiah language which eschew the totalizing concept of “the messianic idea” and emphasize instead linguistic conventions common to messiah texts: the creative re-appropriation of scripture, the reuse of messiah syntagms in new literary contexts, and the frequent recourse to a relatively small pool of literary sources to generate conceptions of messiahship. Chapter three, a study of Paul’s messianic interpretation of the promises concerning Abraham’s seed, concludes that the phraseology “in Christ” derives from the Jewish scriptural words “in your seed,” and that the use of the idiom to denote Christ’s instrumentality in God’s actions and the identification of people as believers arises from this tradition. Chapter four, a study of Paul’s messianic interpretation of the victory of the Danielic heavenly man, concludes that Paul’s concept of solidarity with the messiah is based on that between Daniel’s “one like a son of man” and the people of God and is often expressed with the phrase “in Christ.” Finally, chapter five is a two-part catalog of “in Christ” language in Paul’s letters, part one consisting of a syntactical analysis of every instance and part two a conceptual analysis of every instance in light of the findings of chapters three and four. In sum, Paul’s “in Christ” language, like ancient Jewish messiah language generally, is the product of its author’s creative interpretative enterprise to understand and explain his messiah.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-02-28Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:15:16Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 moriya_tk_me_assis.pdf: 501928 bytes, checksum: 184bca929388b15cb10c3f08f3aaad4d (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Com a descoberta dos escritos gnósticos, popularmente conhecidos como biblioteca de Nag Hammadi, os estudos do cristianismo primitivo encontraram uma nova fonte de informações, e principalmente, de idéias. A concepção de um cristianismo homogêneo no séc. II acabou sendo ultrapassada, tendo em vista a diversidade de pensamento que o gnosticismo cristão traz em si. Formas diversas de se vivenciar a fé cristã foram encontradas em tais escritos, como é o caso do evangelho de Maria, que leva o nome de uma figura enigmática do movimento cristão, Maria Madalena. O presente trabalho procura verificar os elementos que constituem esta nova forma de se viver a práxis cristã, inclusive com a possível participação feminina. O papel social da mulher no cristianismo traz em si uma história de lutas e silêncios, vivência e exclusão. Com o auxilio do movimento feminista e seus desdobramentos nas ciências humanas, nos estudos de gênero e na teologia feminista por exemplos, procura-se reconstruir esta história, trazendo à superfície as vivências de mulheres cristãs no caminho para a realização de sua fé. / With the discover of the Nag Hammadi´s library and the gnostics writings, the Early Christianity studies had found a new information source, and specially, of ideas. The conception of a monolithic christianity in the second century, has been overpassed, in face of the variety of thoughts that the christian gnosticism brings on itself. Different ways of living the christian faith, has been found on this writings, like the gospel of Mary, who takes the name of a enigmatic character of Eartly Christian moviment, Mary Magdalene. This work intents to verify the constitucional elements of this new way of living the christian praxis, including the possibility of feminine actuation. The social role of women on christianity, brings on itself a history of silences and contests, exclusion and participation. With the assistance of the feminist moviment and it´s development on the human sciences, gender studies and feminist theology, we search to reconstruct this history, bringing to the surface, the christian women´s experiences on their path to the achievement of their faith.

Submitted by ELIÉZER SERRA BRAGA null (eliserra.unesp@gmail.com) on 2016-09-24T19:08:41Z No. of bitstreams: 1 A REPRESENTAÇÃO DA MULHER ENTRE JESUS DE NAZARÉ E PAULO DE TARSO NO CRISTIANISMO PRIMITIVO (ISéculo EC).pdf: 811229 bytes, checksum: 041a55613fa00ddaa2281d220d4bca48 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-09-27T20:50:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 braga_es_dr_assis.pdf: 811229 bytes, checksum: 041a55613fa00ddaa2281d220d4bca48 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-27T20:50:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 braga_es_dr_assis.pdf: 811229 bytes, checksum: 041a55613fa00ddaa2281d220d4bca48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Essa tese examina os evangelhos e as cartas do Novo Testamento como fontes documentais na busca por construir uma história da importância das mulheres para o estabelecimento bem sucedido da Igreja nos séculos I e II na Palestina e na Diáspora romanas enquanto ainda era identificado como um movimento religioso judaico. Inicia-se essa pesquisa pela obervação do contexto social e cultural mais abrangente da formação do mediterrâneo greco-romano e suas atitudes para com o feminino a partir da análise de escritos dos seus pensadores, historiadores, poetas e filósofos, expondo sua misoginia de estado e suas preocupações pela preservação de valores e tradições religiosas de sua sociedade patriarcal. No capítulo dois procura-se uma aproximação mais acurada do contexto da Judéis do primeiro século onde nasce o movimento que deu origem ao cristianismo e a atitude geral para com as mulheres, observando-se como o sincretismo cultural e religioso que reuniu tradições das culturas presentes na formação do pensamento religioso israelita e judaica influenciaou sua percepção sobre o feminino. Os capítulos três, quatro e cinco são dedicados à observação dos movimentos de Jesus e de Paulo com a peculiar e marcane presença de mulheres que tiveram participação chave para o sucesso do estabelecimento da Igreja ocupando posições de autoridade e as várias formas como sua importância foi diminuída ou apagada dos textos bíblicos e da história por uma processo não natural. Na conclusão se ressalta a realidade e a importância fundamental da mulher ocupando cargos de liderança nos cultos e no sacerdócio antes percebidos como lugares de homens, desde a fundação das comunidades cristãs, não sem incômodr sua sociedade patriarcal. Fica claro que as mulheres tiveram muita liberdade de atuação no movimento de Jesus e recebiam dele tratamento diferencial em relação à atitude geral para com elas. Paulo a principio segue essa mesma atitude para com as mulheres para em algum momento de seu ministério aderir à forma misógina de sua sociedade e estabelecer os primeiros conceitos teológicos que viriam a fundamentar os argumentos necessários para a transformação do cristianismo numa das instituições mais misóginas da história da humanidade. / This thesis examines the Gospels and the New Testament texts as documentary sources in the construction of a history about the importance of women for the successful establishment of the Church in the first and second centuries in Palestine and the Roman Diaspora while still identified as a Jewis movement. The research begins by the observation of broader social and cultural context of the formation of the Graecco-Roman Mediterran and their attitudes toward the female from the analysis of its thinkers, historians, poets and philosophers texts, exposing its state of misogyny and their concerns for the preservation of values and religious traditions of their patriarchal society. Chapter two focuses on a more accurate approximation of the context of first century Judaea where starts the movement that gave rise to Christianity and its general attitude towards women, observing the cultural and religious syncretism that gathered traditions of many cultures in the formation of the Israeli and Jewish religious thought that influenced their perception of the female. Chapters three, four and five are dedicated to the observation of the movements of Jesus and Paul with the peculiar and clear presence of women who had key contribution to the success of Church's establishment occupying positions of authority and various forms as its importance was diminished or deleted from biblical texts and history by an unnatural process. In conclusion it underscores the reality and the real importance of women occupying leadership positions in the services and the priesthood before perceived as places of men from the foundation of the Christian communities, not without distubing the patriarchal society. It is clear that women have a lot of freedom of action in the Jesus movement and received his differential treatment in the general attitud toward them. Paul at first follows the same attitud towards women to at some point in his ministry to join the misogynist form of his society and establish the first theological concepts that would substantiate the arguments necessary for the transformation of Christianity in the most misogynistic institutions in the history of humanity. / CAPES D/S: 118169-2