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Clement of Alexandria, active in the second half of the second century AD, is one of the first Christian authors to explain and defend the nascent religion in the terms of Greek philosophy and in relation to Greek paideia. His major work, the Stromateis, is a lengthy commentary on the true gnosis of the Christian faith, with no apparent overarching structure or organisational principle, replete with quotations from biblical, Jewish, Greek 'gnostic' and Christian works of all genres. This thesis seeks to read this complex and erudite text in conversation with what has been termed the ‘Second Sophistic’, the efflorescence of elite Greek literature under the Roman empire. We will examine the the text as a performance of authorial persona, competing in the agonistic marketplace of Greek paideia. Clement presents himself as a philosophical teacher in a diadoche from the apostles, arrogating to himself a kind of apostolic authority which appeals to both philosophical notions of intellectual credibility and Christian notions of the authentic handing down of tradition. We will also examine how the work engages key thematic concerns of the period, particularly discourses of intellectual eclecticism and ethnicity, challenging both Greek and Roman forms of hegemony to create a space for Christian identity. Lastly, this thesis will critically examine the Stromateis' intertextual relationship with the Homeric epics; the Iliad and the Odyssey are used as a testing ground for Christian self-positioning in relation to Greek culture as a whole. As we trace this variable relationship, we will also see the cross-fertilisation of reading strategies between Homer and the bible; these developing complex allegorical methods not only presage the rise of Neoplatonism, but also lay the foundations for changes in cultural authority which accompany the Christianisaton of the Roman empire in the centuries after Clement.

王學晟. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-221) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Wang Xuesheng.

This thesis examines Luke-Acts to explore if, how, and in what ways Jesus and early church leaders intentionally shaped the culture of their followers. In Luke, table fellowship was the primary means Jesus used to shape the culture of his followers, as demonstrated through the prominence of eleven meal scenes. In Acts, teaching was the primary means early church leaders used to shape the organizational culture of the early church, as demonstrated through five paraenetic sermons addressed to the church. Table fellowship and teaching affected the behavior, values, and underlying beliefs of the early church related to Jew/Gentile relations (Acts 11; Acts 15), who should be considered as insiders/outsiders (Luke 5:29-39; Luke 7:36-50, Luke 19:1-10), hypocrisy (Luke 11:37-54), Sabbath regulations (Luke 6:1-5), status and humility (Luke 14:1-24; Luke 22:14-34), Jesus' identity (Luke 9:10-17; Luke 24:13-43); the disciples' obedience (Luke 9:10-17; Luke 10:38-42), and leadership (Acts 1:15-26; Acts 20:17-38).

The Ecclesiastical History is the primary historical source of the Christian Church in the pre-Constantinian era. The History narrates the nature and work of Christ, the highlights of the apostolic age and the advancement of the Christian Church in the Roman Empire up to the principate of Constantine. Investigating the Ecclesiastical History using a quantitative method reveals Eusebius' preoccupation with the office of the bishop. There is almost no subject that Eusebius addresses that does not reflect his portrayal of the bishop's influence and universal presence. This thesis demonstrates the high status and undisputed authority of the episcopate as presented by Eusebius of Caesarea. The research of this thesis contributes to an understanding of the bishop in Roman society before Imperial favour. / iv, 250 leaves ; 28 cm.

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In recent decades there has been a growing scholarly interest in the representation of women in early Christian texts, with the works of Greek and Latin authors being the primary focus. This dissertation makes an important contribution to the existing scholarship by examining the representation of Armenian women in the fifth-century Christian narratives, which have been instrumental in forging the Christian identity and worldview of the Armenian people. The texts that are discussed here were written exclusively by clerics whose way of thinking was considerably influenced by the religious teachings of the Greek and Syriac Church Fathers. However, as far as the representation of women is concerned, the Greek Fathers' largely misogynistic discourse did not have discernible effect on the Armenian authors. On the contrary, the approach developed in early Christian Armenian literature was congruous with the more liberal way of thinking of the Syriac clerics, with a marked tendency towards empowering women ideologically and providing them with prominent roles in the male-centred society. I argue that such a representation of women was primarily prompted by the ideology of the pre-Christian religion of the Armenians. This research discusses the main historical and cultural factors that prompted a positive depiction of women, and highlights the rhetorical and moralising strategies that the authors deployed to construct an "ideal woman". It further explores the representation of women's agency, experience, discourse, and identity. In particular, women's pivotal role in Armenia's conversion to Christianity and female asceticism in fourth-fifth century Armenia are extensively investigated. It is also argued that women's status in the extended family determined the social spaces they could enter and the extent of power they could exercise. It appears that Iranian matrimonial practice, including polygyny and consanguineous marriages, was common among the Armenian elite, whereas the lower classes mainly practised marriage by bride purchase or abduction. Special attention is devoted to the institution of queenship in Arsacid Armenia and the position of the queen within the framework of power relationships. Finally, this study examines the instances of violence towards women during wars and how the female body was exploited to achieve desirable political goals.

This study endeavors to set Christian writing about Islam from the period of the Islamic expansion in the broader context of Christian theological development in Late Antiquity. To this end, this study traces elements of continuity in Christian thought from the Christological debates of the fifth and sixth century, particularly from the Council of Chalcedon in 451and the resulting emergence of the communities of Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonian Monophysites as the dominant strands of Christianity in the Near East at the rise of Islam. In order to understand how Christians began to integrate the Islamic expansion into their thinking, this study focuses particularly on Christian writings about Islam and the descriptions of Muslims in Christian writings from the rise of lslam, through the seventh and early eighth centuries, up to the Abbasid revolution in 750. It also considers the contemporary descriptions of Christians in the Qur'an, in order to illustrate that these descriptions have both a different starting point and a different focus, suggesting that both Christian discussions about Muslims and Muslim discussions about Christians were internal discussions, taking place within each tradition, and do not represent true inter-religious dialogue. In this way, this study attempts to illustrate how the rise of lslam, the emergence of the caliphate and the resulting separation of the Near Eastern churches from the Christian hierarchy in Rome and Constantinople influenced Christian identity in the Near East. The writings of the seventh century, and the Christian identity they preserve, emerge as a hybrid, integrating elements of the competing, pre-Islamic concerns of doctrinal purity versus church unity, but also attempting to address, in a variety of ways, the initial fear over Muslim victory and the eventual acceptance of Muslim rule as the new status quo in the Near East.