Vigiliae Christianae Supplements Online, Supplement 2020
Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language
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Vigiliae Christianae Supplements Online publishes scholarly translations, commentary and critical studies of texts and issues relating to early Christianity.
The title list and free MARC records are available for download here.
The title list and free MARC records are available for download here.
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Augustine of Hippo, his Contemporaries and Early Reception
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In The Catechumenate in Late Antique Africa (4th-6th centuries) Matthieu Pignot explores how individuals became Christian in ancient North Africa. Before baptism, converts first became catechumens and spent a significant time of gradual integration into the community through rituals and teaching. This book provides the first historical study of this process in African sources, from Augustine of Hippo, to canon of councils, anonymous sermons and 6th-century letters. Pignot shows that practices varied more than is generally assumed and that catechumens, because of their liminal position, were a disputed and essential group in the development of Christian communities until the 6th century at least. This book demonstrates that the catechumenate is key to understanding the processes of Christianisation and conversion in the West.
Schools and Students in the Ancient City
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Essays in Christian Teachers in Second-Century Rome situate Christian teachers in the social and intellectual context of the Roman urban environment. The teaching and textual work of well-known figures such as Marcion, Justin, Valentinus, and Tatian are discussed, as well as lesser-known and appreciated figures such as Theodotus the Cobbler. Authors probe material and visual evidence on teachers and teaching activity, adopting different theoretical perspectives that go beyond the traditional “church – school” dichotomy: comparative looks at physicians, philosophers and other textual experts; at synagogues, shops and other sites where students gathered around religious entrepreneurs. Taken as a whole, the volume makes a strong case for the sheer diversity of Christian teaching activity in second-century Rome.
The Hagiographical Experiment: Developing Discourses of Sainthood throws fresh light on narratives about Christian holy men and women from Late Antiquity to Byzantium. Rather than focusing on the relationship between story and reality, it asks what literary choices authors made in depicting their heroes and heroines: how they positioned the narrator, how they responded to existing texts, how they utilised or transcended genre conventions for their own purposes, and how they sought to relate to their audiences. The literary focus of the chapters assembled here showcases the diversity of hagiographical texts written in Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac, as well as pointing out the ongoing conversations that connect them. By asking these questions of this diverse group of texts, it illuminates the literary development of hagiography in the late antique, Byzantine, and medieval periods.
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In Monachus et sacerdos untersucht Christian Hornung die Asketisierung des Klerus im antiken Christentum. Analysiert werden theologische Begründungen der Asketisierung, ihre Einforderung in der kirchlichen Disziplin sowie die konkrete Umsetzung in der Pastoral. Ein eigenes Kapitel ist den Widerständen gegen die Durchsetzung der Asketisierung gewidmet.
Hornung kann überzeugend aufzeigen, dass die Asketisierung als ein umfassender Prozess einer zunehmenden asketischen Konzeptualisierung des Klerus zu deuten ist, der sich an die Professionalisierung in vorkonstantinischer Zeit anschließt und zu einer Ausdifferenzierung unterschiedlicher christlicher Lebensformen führt.
In Monachus et sacerdos Christian Hornung examines the asceticism of the clergy in late antique Christianity. The theological justifications of asceticism, its demand in ecclesiastical discipline and its concrete implementation in pastoral care are analysed. A separate chapter is devoted to resistances against the enforcement of asceticism in the clergy.
Hornung convincingly demonstrates that the asceticism is a broad process of increasing ascetic conceptualization of the clergy, which follows the professionalization in pre-Constantine time and leads to a differentiation of Christian life forms.
Hornung kann überzeugend aufzeigen, dass die Asketisierung als ein umfassender Prozess einer zunehmenden asketischen Konzeptualisierung des Klerus zu deuten ist, der sich an die Professionalisierung in vorkonstantinischer Zeit anschließt und zu einer Ausdifferenzierung unterschiedlicher christlicher Lebensformen führt.
In Monachus et sacerdos Christian Hornung examines the asceticism of the clergy in late antique Christianity. The theological justifications of asceticism, its demand in ecclesiastical discipline and its concrete implementation in pastoral care are analysed. A separate chapter is devoted to resistances against the enforcement of asceticism in the clergy.
Hornung convincingly demonstrates that the asceticism is a broad process of increasing ascetic conceptualization of the clergy, which follows the professionalization in pre-Constantine time and leads to a differentiation of Christian life forms.
Studies in Honor of Alexander Golitzin
Editor:
The essays collected in Jewish Roots of Eastern Christian Mysticism intend to honor Alexander Golitzin, a scholar known for his keen attention to the Jewish matrix of Eastern Orthodox spirituality. Following Golitzin's insights, this Festschrift explores influences of Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism on certain early and late Christian authors, including Irenaeus, Origen, Evagrius of Pontus, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Symeon the New Theologian. Special attention is given to Jewish theophanic traditions regarding the beatific vision of the divine Glory (Kavod), which profoundly shaped Eastern Christian theology and liturgy. This volume demonstrates that recent developments in the study of apocalyptic literature, the Qumran Scrolls, Gnosticism, and later Jewish mysticism throw new and welcome light on the sources and continuities of Orthodox theology, liturgy, and spirituality
Aphraate, Ephrem, Jacques de Saroug et Narsaï
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Dans Le ministère sacerdotal dans la tradition syriaque primitive, Tanios Bou Mansour présente une analyse du sacerdoce chrétien chez quatre auteurs syriaques, Aphraate, Éphrem, Jacques et Narsaï, en l’éclairant par le sacerdoce du Christ et en le plaçant dans la continuité du sacerdoce de l’Ancien Testament. L’originalité et l’actualité de nos auteurs résident dans leur conception de l’élection, de la succession apostolique, de traits “sacerdotaux” attribués aux femmes dans la Bible, et surtout du prêtre qui, mandaté par l’Eglise, exécute l’action du Christ et de l’Esprit.
In Le ministère sacerdotal dans la tradition syriaque primitive, Tanios Bou Mansour analyzes the Christian priesthood in four Syriac writers: Aphraate, Ephrem, Jacob of Sarug and Narsaï. Their conception of priesthood is illuminated by the Priesthood of Christ and contextualized within the continuity of the priesthood of the Old Testament. These authors’ originality and actuality lies in their conception of election, of apostolic succession, of “sacerdotal” traits attributed to women in the Bible, and especially of the priest who, commissioned by the Church, executes the action of the Christ and the Spirit.
In Le ministère sacerdotal dans la tradition syriaque primitive, Tanios Bou Mansour analyzes the Christian priesthood in four Syriac writers: Aphraate, Ephrem, Jacob of Sarug and Narsaï. Their conception of priesthood is illuminated by the Priesthood of Christ and contextualized within the continuity of the priesthood of the Old Testament. These authors’ originality and actuality lies in their conception of election, of apostolic succession, of “sacerdotal” traits attributed to women in the Bible, and especially of the priest who, commissioned by the Church, executes the action of the Christ and the Spirit.
Essays in Honor of Samuel Rubenson
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Wisdom on the Move explores the complexity and flexibility of wisdom traditions in Late Antiquity and beyond. This book studies how sayings, maxims and expressions of spiritual insight travelled across linguistic and cultural borders, between different religions and milieus, and how this multicultural process reshaped these sayings and anecdotes. Wisdom on the Move takes the reader on a journey through late antique religious traditions, from manuscript fragments and folios via the monastic cradle of Egypt, across linguistic and cultural barriers, through Jewish and Biblical wisdom, monastic sayings, and Muslim interpretations. Particular attention is paid to the monastic Apophthegmata Patrum, arguably the most important genre of wisdom literature in the early Christian world.
Commentary and Systematic-Theological Synthesis
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In his commentary on Gregory of Nyssa’s Adversus Macedonianos, Piet Hein Hupsch highlights the carefully composed structure of this work and the important connection between its theological, rhetorical and stylistic elements. In his capacity of arbiter fidei, which was bestowed upon him by the Council of Constantinople in 381, Bishop Gregory wrote this circular letter in the form of a counteraccusation against the Pneumatomachi, developing his Trinitarian theology of adoration in which the Spirit occupies a central role.
In a systematic-theological synthesis of this work, Hupsch shows how the Spirit draws baptised human beings and human language into the relatio of the three divine persons, the dynamic circle of divine glory of which the Spirit is the personification.
In a systematic-theological synthesis of this work, Hupsch shows how the Spirit draws baptised human beings and human language into the relatio of the three divine persons, the dynamic circle of divine glory of which the Spirit is the personification.
New Perspectives on Tradition and Transformation
Based on the paradigmatic shift in both liturgical and ritual studies, this multidisciplinary volume presents a collection of case studies on rituals in the early Christian world. After a methodological discussion of the new paradigm, it shows how emblematic Christian rituals were influenced by their Greco-Roman and Jewish contexts, undergoing multiple transformations, while themselves affecting developments both within and outside Christianity. Notably, parallel traditions in Judaism and Islam are included in the discussion, highlighting the importance of ongoing reception history. Focusing on the dynamic character of rituals, the new perspectives on ritual traditions pursued here relate to the expanding source material, both textual and material, as well as the development of recent interdisciplinary approaches, including the cognitive science of religion.
Das Leben und Wirken eines westgotischen Bischofs des siebten Jahrhunderts
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In Das theologische Profil des Julian von Toledo analysiert Stefan Pabst das Leben und Wirken des westgotischen Bischofs Julian von Toledo (ca. 642–690). Im Anschluss an eine Hinführung zum historischen Umfeld und zur Biographie des Julian werden sämtliche erhaltene Schriften untersucht. Dies betrifft sowohl die nicht-theologischen als auch die theologischen Werke. Im Zentrum der Analyse steht einerseits die Frage nach der Originalität des Autors. Julian zitiert nämlich intensiv aus den Schriften der Kirchenväter, insbesondere des Augustinus. Andererseits werden die Zielgruppe und die Intention jeder einzelnen Schrift eingehend betrachtet. Abschließend wird so ein theologisches Profil des Julian von Toledo entwickelt, das ihn als einen patristischen, einen pädagogisch-pastoralen und damit als einen spezifisch westgotischen Theologen präsentiert.
In Das theologische Profil des Julian von Toledo Stefan Pabst analyses the life and work of the Visigothic bishop Julian of Toledo (ca. 642–690). After a presentation of Julian's historical environment and biography, all preserved writings are analysed in detail. This includes his non-theological as well as his theological works. While, on the one hand, the analysis focusses on the question of the author’s originality, for Julian quotes extensively from the works of the Church Fathers, Augustine in particular, on the other hand, the author’s addressed audience and the intention of each individual writing are considered in detail as well. As conclusion, Julian’s profile as theologian is presented: He is a patristic and pedagogical-pastoral theologian and thus a specifically Visigothic theologian.
In Das theologische Profil des Julian von Toledo Stefan Pabst analyses the life and work of the Visigothic bishop Julian of Toledo (ca. 642–690). After a presentation of Julian's historical environment and biography, all preserved writings are analysed in detail. This includes his non-theological as well as his theological works. While, on the one hand, the analysis focusses on the question of the author’s originality, for Julian quotes extensively from the works of the Church Fathers, Augustine in particular, on the other hand, the author’s addressed audience and the intention of each individual writing are considered in detail as well. As conclusion, Julian’s profile as theologian is presented: He is a patristic and pedagogical-pastoral theologian and thus a specifically Visigothic theologian.