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This thesis is aimed at addressing a lacuna in previous scholarship on the development of the martyr cult in the pivotal fourth century. Recent work on the martyr cult has avoided a diachronic approach to the topic. Consequently through their synchronic approach, issues of the early fifth century have been conflated and presented alongside those from the early fourth, with little discussion of the development of the martyr cult during the intervening decades. One aim of this work is to address the progression of the martyr cult from its pre-Christian origins through its adaptations in the fourth and early fifth century. Through a discussion of power dynamics with a critical eye towards the political situation of various influential figures in the fourth and early fifth centuries, this thesis demonstrates the ways in which Constantine, Damasus, Ambrose, Augustine, and others sought to craft cultural memory around the martyr shrine. Many of them did this through the erection of structures over pre-existing graves. Others made deliberate choices as to which martyrs to commemorate. Some utilized the dissemination of the saints’ relics as a means to expanding their own influence. Finally several sought to govern which behaviours were acceptable at the martyrs’ feasts. In nearly every instance these choices these men advanced their own agendas. In many cases the martyr cult was a decisive tool for the augmentation and solidification of civil and religious authority. Despite their goals these men were unable to create the uniformity they desired within the martyr cult. The meaning associated with the graves of the saints could never be determined unidirectionally. Meaning and the power to influence others through the martyr cult was the product of a dialogue. That dialogue included the leaders and the laity in the Christian community as well as a new group: pilgrims. Pilgrimage created a network within Christianity which ultimately led to a catholic Christian cultural memory surrounding the martyrs’ graves. This homogenized understanding of the martyr cult enabled it to become one of the most identifiable features of Christianity in subsequent centuries.

This thesis is aimed at addressing a lacuna in previous scholarship on the development of the martyr cult in the pivotal fourth century. Recent work on the martyr cult has avoided a diachronic approach to the topic. Consequently through their synchronic approach, issues of the early fifth century have been conflated and presented alongside those from the early fourth, with little discussion of the development of the martyr cult during the intervening decades. One aim of this work is to address the progression of the martyr cult from its pre-Christian origins through its adaptations in the fourth and early fifth century. Through a discussion of power dynamics with a critical eye towards the political situation of various influential figures in the fourth and early fifth centuries, this thesis demonstrates the ways in which Constantine, Damasus, Ambrose, Augustine, and others sought to craft cultural memory around the martyr shrine. Many of them did this through the erection of structures over pre-existing graves. Others made deliberate choices as to which martyrs to commemorate. Some utilized the dissemination of the saints’ relics as a means to expanding their own influence. Finally several sought to govern which behaviours were acceptable at the martyrs’ feasts. In nearly every instance these choices these men advanced their own agendas. In many cases the martyr cult was a decisive tool for the augmentation and solidification of civil and religious authority. Despite their goals these men were unable to create the uniformity they desired within the martyr cult. The meaning associated with the graves of the saints could never be determined unidirectionally. Meaning and the power to influence others through the martyr cult was the product of a dialogue. That dialogue included the leaders and the laity in the Christian community as well as a new group: pilgrims. Pilgrimage created a network within Christianity which ultimately led to a catholic Christian cultural memory surrounding the martyrs’ graves. This homogenized understanding of the martyr cult enabled it to become one of the most identifiable features of Christianity in subsequent centuries.

In his book, Ancient Rhetoric and the Art of Tertullian, Robert Sider omitted any analysis of adversus Iudaeos because, as he stated elsewhere, the latter part of the treatise was an addition probably by someone other than Tertullian and taken from the third book of adversus Marcionem. Rather than accept that position unquestioningly this dissertation, inspired by Sider's methodology, provides an analysis of adversus Iudaeos according to the rules of classical rhetoric with regard to its structure (dispositio), its argument (inventio), and its style (elocutio). Particular attention is paid to the differences in rhetorical systems that are found in the writings of Aristotle, the anonymous author of Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero and Quintilian. The results of this analysis indicate that whoever wrote the first part of the treatise (chapters 1 to 8) made sufficient comment about the structure of the treatise to indicate that they planned to write on the topics that are found in the second part (chapters 9 to 14). This suggests that the treatise is the responsibility of one author. The argument of Saflund and Trankle that adversus Iudaeos was written prior not subsequent to adversus Marcionem are accepted as being valid. Repetition of material from one treatise to another does not imply the activity of some unidentified copyist any more than it does the idea that Tertullian found it convenient to re-use material himself from one work in another. The structure of the treatise as we have it now indicates that it remains in draft form as there are several passages that do seem out of place. Tertullian's argument rests mainly on making oratorical use of his interpretations of passages from the Hebrew Scriptures. On a number of occasions he displayed knowledge of arguments made by Irenaeus and Justin Martyr from some of those passages, yet on quite a few occasions the arguments and interpretations Tertullian derived from the Scriptures make their first appearance in Patristic literature in this treatise. The results of this analysis are used in the conclusion of the dissertation to advocate greater attention being paid to this treatise in studies of early Christian anti-Judaic literature. Although many scholars would argue that this treatise provides no information about relationships between Jews and Christians in Carthage at the end of the second century, the position advanced in this dissertation is that how and what one interpreted in the Hebrew Scriptures was the contemporary issue between Jews and Christians still, as it had been since the time of the first followers of Jesus.

In this thesis, the author examines how Gregory of Nazianzus distinguishes between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, while maintaining their equality and unity. In the first chapter, he examines the way theological discourse shapes Gregory's understanding of how words are predicated of God. In chapter 2, the author explores Gregory's understanding of the divine persons whom he distinguishes only on account of their subsistent relations of origin. In the final chapter, the author indicates problems with the modern scholarly interpretation of Gregory that identifies the unity and equality of the divine persons exclusively with the person of the Father. It is concluded that Gregory relied upon the notion of the homoousios in order to establish and guarantee the divine equality and unity among the persons. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The Song of Songs was the most commented upon biblical text in medieval Europe and became the cornerstone of the Western mystical tradition, but our knowledge of its use in Latin Christian communities before the time of Ambrose and Jerome is largely fragmentary. The thesis is a study of the use and interpretation of the Song in the Latin West during the period 250 – 380 CE, with a focus on the Tractatus de Epithalamio of Gregory of Elvira (c. 320-392), which is the earliest extant Song commentary composed in Latin. The research demonstrates that there was a robust tradition of Song exegesis in early Latin Christianity, although the mystical-affective interpretation that marks the later tradition is entirely absent. The poem is, rather, interpreted in an ecclesiological mode and is put in the service of communal selfdefinition. Gregory’s Tractatus, which I argue should be dated to 350-55, is a key source in recovering this largely lost tradition. The first part of the thesis traces in detail all of the citations of the Song in Latin Christian literature during the period in question, focusing on the writings of Cyprian of Carthage, Optatus of Milevis, Tyconius, Pacian of Barcelona, and Augustine. There emerge a cluster of passages from the Song that become key proof texts in ecclesiological controversies in North Africa and Spain. The second part engages problems in Gregorian scholarship, particularly issues pertaining to Gregory’s supposed direct knowledge and use of Origen’s writings. Scholars assert that his exegetical writings reflect the Origenist turn of the late fourth century. Using the tools of source criticism and theological analysis, I contest this hypothesis, demonstrating that the evidence of Origen’s influence has been greatly exaggerated and that the points of contact which do exist must be explained with reference to intermediary Latin sources. The third part sets the Tractatus de Epithalamio within its precise historical context and offers a close reading of the text, giving an account of its Christology, ecclesiology, and use of sources. The Tractatus, I argue, represents a ‘fusion’ of a distinctly Latin tradition of ecclesiological exegesis with a particularly Spanish mode of Christological reflection, which treats the enfleshment of the Word in the Incarnation and the embodiment of the risen Christ in the church as conceptually inseparable. Related historical problems, such as the chronology of Gregory’s career, are treated in appendices.

Thesis advisor: Stephen F. Brown / This dissertation examines the doctrine of providence as it appears in the works of the North African Latin apologist, L. Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c.245 - c.325). In the early fourth century the Roman Empire was struggling to come to terms with its own religious self-identity. While the persecutions under Diocletian were still raging, the rhetorician Lactantius authored several apologetic works in order to advocate for Christianity's inclusion into the traditional Roman culture. Lactantius' apologetic goal is twofold: 'to defend and build up' (defendere et instituere) (cf. DI 5.4.3). The apologist is not merely concerned with the tearing down of fallacious arguments, but also with the constructing of a positive Christian theology; in Lactantius' own words, with the totius doctrinae substantiam (DI 5.4.3). Throughout his apologetic corpus the doctrine of providence functions as Lactantius' grundaxiom; a foundation upon which he can construct his own positive Christian theology. At the same time, the near unanimity among philosophers as to the existence of providence allowed Lactantius to engage his non-Christian audience through a concept of shared philosophical inheritance. By employing the doctrine of providence to support and integrate his entire theological system, therefore, Lactantius has made the linchpin of his theology a doctrine which finds common ground among both Christians and non-Christians. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

This thesis offers a constructive engagement with T.F. Torrance’s theological reading of the patristic tradition. It argues that Torrance reconstructs the Fathers into a Consensus Patrum, or “Consensus of the Fathers” consisting of catholic/ecumenical themes and figures. Torrance’s consensus is a creative attempt to produce a Reformed and evangelical version of the consensus which involves significant changes to both standard readings of the Fathers in other approaches to the consensus and Torrance’s own Reformed evangelical tradition. It is unique among other interpreters of the Fathers and ecumenically relevant, offering much to contemporary theology in both substance and method. In order to view Torrance’s project in historical context this thesis examines the notion of the consensus as found in historical Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant theology. Each tradition has a lens through which they view the Fathers: Aquinas for the Roman Catholics, Palamas for the Orthodox, Augustinian themes for the Reformers, and “de‐Hellenization” for liberal Protestants. This thesis places Torrance’s project within other contemporary retrievals of the church Fathers arguing for its uniqueness as a distinctively Reformed evangelical approach to the Fathers on their own terms. It inspects the Torrancian consensus exploring its consistence of a Reformed and evangelical approach to patristic themes and figures, rooted in the primary theme of the Nicene ὁμοούσιον and the primary figure of Athanasius of Alexandria. It examines Torrance’s creative reconstruction of the Fathers into a Reformed evangelical consensus and points to his constructive achievements demonstrating that Torrance’s approach is ecumenically relevant, as seen particularly in his work in the Reformed‐Orthodox Dialogue. A critical adoption of the Torrancian consensus is proposed in conclusion.

Orientador: Flávio Ribeiro de Oliveira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T21:25:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Donadon_DanielBueno_M.pdf: 1097747 bytes, checksum: c3b62e6aeb328f3fcfa73846e695fdad (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Neste trabalho é apresentada uma tradução do primeiro livro da obra Adversus Haereses (Contras as Heresias), de autoria do bispo cristão Ireneu de Lyon. Escrito na segunda metade do século II d.C., o livro apresenta o pensamento gnóstico como algo distinto do ensinamento apostólico, algo que o autor se empenha em refutar para fundamentar um dogmatismo ortodoxo para a fé cristã. A motivação desse trabalho não é somente o de trazer à comunidade um livro talvez pouco conhecido, mas também o de contextualizar o complexo processo de formação do pensamento cristão, que pouco após seu início transitou de uma tradição judaica fechada em si mesma para um mundo helenístico de diversas filosofias concorrentes, dentre as quais se destaca os primórdios do neo-platonismo. A escolha do primeiro dentre os cinco tomos da obra completa foi feita por ser o único que pôde ser quase totalmente restaurado em sua escrita grega original, através de longas citações feitas pelos heresiógrafos que o seguiram. Não apenas isso, mas o corpo da filosofia gnóstica é exposta somente neste primeiro livro, centrando-se no comentário do sistema valentiniano. Um breve ensaio introduz os temas do cristianismo, do judaísmo e do helenismo para melhor compreensão dessa obra de Ireneu de Lyon / Abstract: This work presents a translation of the first book of Irenaeus's Adversus Haereses (Against the Heresies). Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon wrote his work on the second half of the second century A. D., and through it he exposed the flourishing gnostic thought as being in opposition to the apostolic teaching. He endeavored to refute these new ideas in order to support the dogmatic orthodoxy of Christian faith. This present translation is not only an effort to bring into Portuguese language a book hardly known to the community but also an attempt to discuss the complex formation of the early Christian thought, which passed from a hermetic Jewish tradition to a Hellenistic world of philosophies, including notably that of Neo-Platonism. The choice of translating the first book out of the five tomes written by Irenaeus is not without reason: it is the only book which can almost completely be rendered in its original Greek language through the juxtaposition of copious quotations made by early theologists, while the remaining books are existent only in a barbarous version of Latin. Not only that, but also the gnostic philosophy which is discussed in this work is exposed only in the first book, which devotes itself to denounce the ideas of the Valentine's gnostic school and those of his disciples' / Mestrado / Linguistica / Mestre em Linguística