In this thesis, I hope to demonstrate that what I call the magic contest tradition, that is the episodes of competitive wonder-working that appear in a wide variety of apocryphal and non-canonical Christian texts, made an important contribution to the development of Christian thought during the second to the fifth centuries CE. This contribution was to articulate ‘the way’ to be a Christian in a world which was not isolated from the secular, and not insulated from the reality of the Roman empire. First, I demonstrate that a tradition of texts which feature magic contests exists within the broader scope of non-canonical Christian literature (looking at this literature across communities, regions and time periods). Second, I identify what the major features of the traditions are, e.g. what form the narratives take, what the form for a magic contest is, and what the principles used to build the magic contests are, and how these principles feature in the texts. The principles I identify are power, authority, ritual, and conversion, as well as their use as historical exempla. Third, I discuss what the texts did in the context of the time period, and for the communities that produced and read them: in other words, how did the this tradition work? I show that they served multiple purposes: as tests of faith, religious truth and ways to proclaim such; as constructors and markers of group identity (and the perilous task of identifying the insiders and those who should be outsiders); as calls to unity within the overarching diversity of the times and places, and a unified front for the ‘battle’ against evil. I suggest that the texts present a model for how one could decide what the ‘true faith’ was and how one could practice it in the turbulent environment that early Christians faced both before and after Constantine.

For many Christians the names ‘Constantine’ and Nicaea are not a familiar idea. In instances where they do recognize these names, they tend to be prejudiced towards the ‘pagan emperor’ and the ‘venerated council’ (Olson 1999:160). The importance of the First Nicene Council and the emperor’s role in the council may be seen as historical only. However, the events related to the development of the Nicene orthodoxy and the role the emperor played in the development of the relations between politics and religion are still influencing the lives of Christians today and therefore, these important events are in need of a review, this time from an African perspective. A probe into the imperial religious-political play may hold many significant answers in relation to contextualization, enculturation, dogmatic teaching, and the relationship between the church and state, amongst other things. In this dissertation document analysis is used in literature study to establish the significance of one of the interactive factors in the period leading to the first ecumenical council. Using a tri-categorical classification of the era, this study reviews the Jewish-Christian schism, Hellenism, and ultimately the role of imperial politics in the development of Christianity. The Jewish-Christian schism refers to the separation between Judaism and Christianity as the conceptive stage of the dynamics through which ecumenical orthodoxy was formed. Hellenism broadly refers to the integration of philosophy with Christianity. Finally, imperial politics was the political dynamic that contributed to the formation of ecumenical orthodoxy. This facilitated an investigation of the era between AD 70 and 325, enhancing a revisionist approach to Constantine, the Nicene Council and the orthodoxy that emerged post AD 325 – with an implied deduction of ecclesiastical polities which became an unconventional phenomenon. The study, engaging with primary sources and specialist scholarship on the era, derived and developed a revisionist approach on Constantinian influence upon Christianity. In the findings the ecclesiastical polity appeared as the significant influence in the shaping of ecumenical orthodoxy. The ecclesiastical polity itself being a factor of the very process of self-definition and contextualization. The significance of enculturation as established in the research implied cultural diversity as a major factor in the formation of religious orthodoxy, xix hence this implied the Jewish Christian schism as the departure point of enquiry. The research implied the development of social models as an interpretation and analysis of the hypothesis. The aforementioned social models had implications for Christian/religious eras even post the one at study. Therefore, making the hypothesis a tool of measuring the interaction of politics, socio-ethnic dynamics and religion in different eras. In principle the study enables a review of history as a factor of these three elements culture, religious syncretism and politics. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Church History)

Notre thèse a pour objectif d’éclaircir les formes et l’esprit de la vie économique des communautés chrétiennes aux trois premiers siècles. Du ministère de Jésus à la fin du IIIe siècle, les chrétiens, dans leur diversité, ont développé des modes de vie particuliers dans lesquels les pratiques économiques, fortement influencées par leur morale, ont joué un rôle majeur. Nous chercherons à éclaircir les modalités de financement de la mission et de la vie communautaire des chrétiens, mais aussi les formes institutionnelles de la gestion de ces aspects économiques ainsi que les formes de solidarité matérielle qui ont été développées par les premiers chrétiens. Dès le ministère de Jésus, une réflexion pratique sur le maniement des richesses a été menée et a produit une organisation économique particulière fortement marquée par un modèle communautaire. La portée d’un tel modèle dans les trois premiers siècles chrétiens doit être évaluée. Nous nous attachons avant tout aux aspects concrets de cette vie économique, pour en comprendre le fonctionnement. Notre étude se fonde essentiellement sur des sources littéraires chrétiennes, néotestamentaires et patristiques, mais aussi sur des sources archéologiques, épigraphiques ou papyrologiques lorsqu’elles sont disponibles. / Our dissertation aims to enlighten different aspects of the economic life of the Christian communities during the first three centuries. From Jesus to the end of the third century, Christians, in different ways, developed specific ways of life in which the economic practices played a key role. We will try to explain how the mission and the communal life of Christians were funded, but also what role played the ecclesiastical institutions in the use of the common fund. A very important part of our work will also consist in explaining the concrete practices of the Christians concerning the care for the poor in the community. The first Christian communities developed a thought about the economic life of a religious community as early as the preaching of Jesus and we have to try to understand better the meaning and the concrete consequences of these thoughts on their communal life, and the posterity of these practices. To investigate about the economic life of the first Christian communities, we will use most of all the New Testament and patristic texts, even if at some points archaeological, epigraphical and papyrological sources can be used to strengthen our analysis.

La prière, parce qu’elle suppose une reconnaissance du pouvoir des mots et des gestes, est une pratique tangible et un fait historique. Étudier sa nature et ses évolutions fait progresser la connaissance des comportements et des dispositifs religieux. Ainsi, les prières formulées par les empereurs romains, qu’ils soient païens ou chrétiens, participent de la manifestation de leur pouvoir et de l’expression des rapports complexes entre l’individu, la communauté et le monde divin. Néanmoins la nature de la documentation et la spécificité des différents systèmes religieux conduisent à privilégier une relative synchronie. L’étude des prières récitées par l’empereur dans la célébration des cultes publics permet de préciser l’articulation entre la personne impériale et la communauté publique. Sur le temps long, il est alors possible de discuter les supposées évolutions ou mutations de ces responsabilités et de leurs représentations. Aussi la nature même des prières romaines peut-elle être éclairée au regard des interrogations modernes sur les religions antiques et des concepts de spiritualisation, d’individualisation ou de performance collective. La définition du paysage cultuel des empereurs romains permet de reconsidérer le sens même de la prière individuelle et de ses enjeux religieux et sociaux. L’ensemble de ces approches se prolonge harmonieusement avec le passage du paganisme au christianisme. La place des empereurs dans le culte communautaire, la possible élaboration de dispositifs cultuels spécifiques et la représentation de leurs prières individuelles ou personnelles participent de l’étude historique de la lente constitution d’un christianisme impérial romain divers. / The prayer is a tangible practice and a historical fact. It implies recognition of the power of words and gestures. The study of its nature and evolutions improves knowledge of religious behaviours and setups. Prayers made by pagan or Christian Roman emperors involve representation of their power and show the complex relationship between the person, the community and the divine world. However, the available documentation and the specificity of different religious systems lead to adopt a relative synchrony. The prayers said in public cults are used to study the relationship between the imperial person and public community. It is then possible to have a long-term discussion of the supposed changes or mutations of these responsibilities and their images. The nature of Roman prayers can be discussed by the modern interrogations about antique religions and concepts such as spiritualization, individualization and collective performance. The definition of the Roman emperors worship landscape allows reconsidering the very meaning of individual prayer together with its religious and social issues. All these approaches extend harmoniously from Paganism to early Christianity. The position of emperors in community worship, the development of specific worship setup and representation of individual or personal prayers are part of an historical study focused on the slow formation of a diverse Roman imperial Christianity.

L’elaborato analizza e ricostruisce la storia del testo del brano neotestamentario di Mt 27,51b-53. Il breve componimento, di natura innodica, assume particolare rilievo per la sua collocazione all’interno del racconto della passione, cuore dell’annuncio evangelico. Attraverso l’applicazione di una metodologia che tenga conto delle peculiarità di origine, redazione e trasmissione della letteratura protocristiana, il passo in questione è assunto come caso di studio per una rivalutazione, nella constitutio textus del Nuovo Testamento, della c.d. tradizione indiretta, non sempre adeguatamente valutata dalla filologia tradizionale. Il lavoro è strutturato in due macro-sezioni: la prima, filologica, volta a far emergere, attraverso l’analisi delle citazioni indirette, la forma testuale più antica. Particolare attenzione è rivolta all’espressione «dopo la sua risurrezione», non presente nella fase primitiva del testo. La seconda sezione, storico-teologica, analizza il contesto di formazione e utilizzo della pericope, avallando l’ipotesi di un’origine innodica del brano. Esso sarebbe stato un materiale liturgico precedente, forse giudeo-cristiano, a disposizione della comunità e fatto qui confluire dal redattore del Vangelo per celebrare il sacrificio di Gesù. Vengono, infine, indagate le motivazioni teologiche che potrebbero aver contribuito, tra il III e il IV secolo, alla modifica del dettato testuale più antico. / The thesis aims to reconstruct the history of the text of Matt 27:51b-53. This brief composition, probably a hymn, is particularly relevant for its arrangement in the passion narrative, which is the most important point of the Gospel’s kerygma. By applying a methodology that takes into consideration the peculiarity of the origin, the redaction, and the transmission of the earliest Christian literature, these verses are assumed as a study case, in order to value the indirect tradition in the reconstruction of the text of the New Testament. The work is divided into two parts: the first one, philological, brings out, through the indirect quotations, the earliest form of the text, which is partly different from the canonical one. Here, the sentence «after his resurrection» is relevant because it was not present in the primitive text. The second section analyses the context and the employment of the Matthean pericope in order to confirm the hypothesis of the hymn. It might have been a liturgical material, perhaps Jewish-Christian, used by the community and added to the Gospel by the redactor. Finally, this study takes into account the theological reasons that could have caused, within the third and fourth centuries, the modification of the earliest text.

The orans, although a gesture with a long ‘pagan’ past, was easily adopted by Christians for its symbolic meanings of prayer and piety and quickly attained a number of other more nuanced meanings as it was refined and reused. By restricting the scope of this thesis to the orans in the Christian catacombs of Rome, it becomes possible to approach the figure from a multi-directional perspective, not merely concerned with what the gesture meant to the Christian, but with its literary and material pedigrees, its transition to Christian art, and its cultural significance. To this end, chapter one examines ‘pagan’ precursors of the Christian orans through an examination of coins, sculptures, inscriptions, and reliefs, as well as by looking at the two figures whose appearance most influences that of the orans – the goddess Pietas, and the Artemisia-Adorans funerary portrait type. Chapter two addresses the importance of the orans in the Christian literary community, and examines not only the actual usage of prayer with raised hands by the Christian faithful, but also examines the aesthetic and theological reasons for the popularity of the gesture – the parallel between the spread arms of the orans and the posture of the crucified Christ. Finally, chapter three presents a spatial-thematic analysis of the usage of the orans in the Roman Christian catacombs, using a corpus of 158 orantes. This chapter enables the reader to draw conclusions about the veracity of the academic theories presented in the previous chapters, as it compares the usage of the orans against its scholarly interpretation.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of History, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 880-87).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:19:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ANDERSONLIMA.pdf: 1262691 bytes, checksum: 424e13c6260aea9132d95d09f2479b56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-22 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This research assumes that the Gospel of Matthew is a literary document produced at the end of the first century CE. in some urban environment of the ancient Mediterranean World, where it differs from the other gospels of the New Testament by economic emphasis in its language, and also by its content. We try to demonstrate the importance of this Matthew s language feature for the development of Gospels discourse, and to understand it, we deal with the approximations between this speech and some socioeconomic models known in the real world of the great urban centers of that time. Along the discussion, we conclude that the author of Matthews Gospel is part of an embracing debate between new judaisms that kept conflictual relations with the Greco-Roman domain and their cultural heritage. Matthew, in particular, rejects the complete ownership of clientelist patterns in interpersonal relations of the disciples of Jesus, while also appropriates the foreign socioeconomic model to develop its religious imaginary. We argue that in Matthew, God takes, as a character, the features of a divine patron who protects and benefits its faithful clients, and in retribution, they should do good deeds for the poor. However, despite this vertical relationship religious be desirable, the gospel rejects other clientelistic ties that rating the human being, and sees them as a betrayal to the first sovereign patron. / Este trabalho de pesquisa parte do pressuposto de que o Evangelho de Mateus é um documento literário produzido no final do século I EC, em algum ambiente urbano do antigo Mundo Mediterrâneo, e que se diferencia dos demais evangelhos do Novo Testamento pela ênfase econômica presente em sua linguagem e conteúdo. Procura-se demonstrar a importância dessa particularidade para o desenvolvimento do próprio discurso mateano e para compreendê-lo, trata das proximidades que há entre esse discurso e os modelos socioeconômicos conhecidos no mundo real dos grandes centros urbanos de então. Dessa pesquisa conclui-se que o autor de Mateus se insere num debate abrangente entre os judaísmos do período, que mantinham relações conflituosas com a cultura Greco-romana e a própria herança cultural. Mateus, em especial, rejeita a apropriação plena dos padrões clientelistas para as relações interpessoais dos discípulos de Jesus ao mesmo tempo que se apropria desse modelo socioeconômico estrangeiro para desenvolver seu imaginário religioso. Defende-se que em Mateus, Deus assume, como personagem, as características de um patrono divino que protege e beneficia seus fieis clientes, que em retribuição deviam praticar boas obras para com os pobres. Em contrapartida a essa relação religiosa vertical que é desejável, o evangelho rejeita os vínculos clientelistas que hierarquizam os seres humanos, vendo-as também como traição àquele primeiro e soberano patrono.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:19:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Filipe de Oliveira2.pdf: 2235436 bytes, checksum: 54d99448b518032678d03665d849c1d2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-17 / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo / Until the fourth century AD, was common among Christians, to read the book of I Enoch. The embryo of rejection began in the second century, with Julius Africanus, and reached its peak in the fourth century with Augustine of Hippo. However, the official position, in Western Christianity, which rejected the writing of I Enoch as a useful literature to faith, happened at the Council of Laodicea (century IV) who said that the only names of angels authorized by the Scriptures would be the Miguel, Gabriel and Raphael. this position deleted the book of Enoch (book that makes reference to several names of angels) from the books useful for theological research, until recent times in the West. The great character of Christianity was a man recognized in Palestinian as Rabbi. This title presupposes knowledge of the main literature enjoyed by the Jews. The consensus among most of the Second Temple scholars, is that the writing of I Enoch occupied a distinct place in the literary scene of that time. This thesis was born from a plausible suspicion, which is embedded within the cultural context of the I century AD, that Jesus knew the Book of I Enoch. But not only that, distrust develops in the possibility that he has studied the writing and he built teachings based on that text. The research had as general objective: Find the relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and the Written I Enoch. With regard to its technical procedures, research is bibliographic, exploratory and documentary. For this research to gain form, we used the historiographical proposal of the Historical Jesus, and have developed a methodology called Analysis of the Sayings of Jesus (ASJ), for use in the investigation of sayings attributed to Jesus contained in the Gospels. The first chapter, besides being a book review of I Enoch addressing the book on various perspectives, was built aiming to bring the Brazilian Academy the latest information on research related to I Enoch, in dialogue with the principal investigators of this literature. The second chapter was developed in order to examine by historiography, the potential of some words recorded in the Gospels in being originates from the person of Jesus. The third and last chapter presents an approach among words that were examined and the Book of I Enoch. The end result indicates that the literature of Enoch may have occupied a prominent place among the estimated written by Jesus Christ. / Até o século IV d.C. era comum, entre os cristãos, a leitura do livro pseudepígrafo de I Enoque. O embrião da rejeição começou no século II, com Júlio Africano, e atingiu o seu auge no século IV com Agostinho de Hipona. Porém, o posicionamento oficial, no cristianismo ocidental, que descredenciou o escrito de I Enoque como uma literatura útil à fé, deu-se no Concílio de Laodiceia (Séc. IV) que afirmou que os únicos nomes de anjos autorizados pelas Escrituras seriam o de Miguel, Gabriel e Rafael, afastando I Enoque (que cita vários nomes de anjos) do cenário teológico, até épocas recentes no Ocidente. O grande personagem do cristianismo foi um homem reconhecido na Palestina como Rabi, título que pressupunha o conhecimento das principais literaturas apreciadas pelos judeus. É consenso entre a maioria dos estudiosos do Segundo Templo que o escrito de I Enoque ocupava um lugar distinto no cenário literário daquela época. A presente tese nasceu de uma desconfiança plausível, inserida dentro do contexto cultural do I século da era cristã, de que Jesus Cristo conhecia o livro de I Enoque. Mas, não somente isso, a desconfiança evoluiu para a possibilidade de que ele tenha feito uso do escrito construindo ensinos embasados no mesmo. A pesquisa teve como objetivo geral: Pesquisar a relação entre Jesus de Nazaré e o Escrito de I Enoque. No que se refere aos seus procedimentos técnicos, a pesquisa é de natureza bibliográfica, exploratória e documental. Para que esta pesquisa ganhasse forma, fizemos uso da proposta historiográfica do Jesus Histórico, bem como desenvolvemos uma metodologia chamada Análise dos Ditos de Jesus (ADJ), para ser utilizada na investigação de ditos atribuídos a Jesus contidos nos evangelhos. O primeiro capítulo, além de ser uma análise do livro de I Enoque abordando o escrito sobre várias perspectivas, foi construído objetivando trazer à academia brasileira as informações mais recentes sobre as pesquisas relacionadas a I Enoque, em diálogo com os principais pesquisadores da obra. O segundo capítulo foi desenvolvido com vistas a examinarmos, pela historiografia, o potencial de alguns ditos, de serem originários da pessoa de Jesus. O terceiro e último capítulo apresenta uma aproximação entre os ditos trabalhados e o livro de I Enoque. O resultado final indica que a literatura enoqueana pode ter ocupado um lugar de destaque entre os escritos estimados por Jesus Cristo.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:21:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose Luiz Izidoro.pdf: 360009 bytes, checksum: 2775fbb4b1ad79ca6f3b134f212e38f8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-03-08 / In recent times, it has become very important to explicitate the Christian experiences that existed in and co-existed with, or even were immersed in the extrapalestinian cultures, and which were protagonists in the project of the proclamation of the Christian kerygma. Those experiences were lived and realized in the period of Early Christianity and, without a doubt, contributed significantly to its expansion process. We present the passage of Acts 8,26-40, the episode of Philip and the Ethiopia n. What happens here is a dislocation of the missionary-geographical axis from Samaria to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza , and reaching back to Caesarea. The text opens up the horizon of Christian experiences to other peoples and nations represented in the figure of the Ethiopian eunuch. Taking Acts 8,26-40 in its Lucan redaction as a starting point, using exegetical methods and historical-literary resources, based on the theoretical reference to the concepts of ethnicity and ethnic boundaries, we intend to investigate the possibility of a Christian experience lived in Ethiopia, which constructed itself ethnically from the identities that interacted in the text, and which points out to the imaginary of Ethiopia s symbolic universe. Doing so, we reclaim, within Biblical Exegesis, hermeutical issues for our own theological, biblical, and pastoral practice, on the horizon of the identities and ethnic boundaries of the Africanamerican and Caribian universe. / Torna-se muito importante demonstrar as experiências cristãs que existiram e coexistiram juntas ou/e imersas nas culturas extrapalestinenses e que exerceram protagonismo no anúncio do querigma. São experiências cristãs vividas e realizadas no período do cristianismo primitivo, e que, sem dúvida, contribuíram significativamente para o seu processo de expansão. Apresentamos a perícope Atos 8,26-40. Trata-se do episódio de Filipe e o Etíope. Acontece um deslocamento do eixo geográfico-missionário de Samaria ao caminho que desce de Jerusalém a Gaza , retornando a Cesaréia. O texto abre o horizonte das experiências cristãs a outros povos e nações, representadas nesta perícope pela figura do Etíope eunuco. Partindo de Atos 8,26-40, na perspectiva da redação lucana como ponto de partida, por meio dos procedimentos exegéticos e dos recursos histórico- literários, apoiado no referencial teórico dos conceitos de etnicidade e fronteiras étnicas, nós pretendemos investigar a possibilidade de uma experiência cristã vivenciada na Etiópia, que se constrói etnicamente desde as identidades que interagem na perícope e que apontam ao imaginário do universo simbólico do Etíope. Assim, resgataremos na exegese bíblica pautas hermenêuticas para a nossa prática teológico-bíblica-pastoral no horizonte das identidades e fronteiras étnicas do universo afro americano e caribenho.