The Rise of the Early Christian Intellectual

Lewis Ayres, H. Clifton Ward, Lewis Ayres, H. Clifton Ward

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9783110607550
• eBook ISBN: 9783110608007
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The study of the growth of early Christian intellectual life is of perennial interest to scholars. This volume advances discussion by exploring ways in which Christian writers in the second century did not so much draw on Hellenistic intellectual traditions and models, as they were inevitably embedded in those traditions.

The volume contains papers from a seminar in Rome in 2016 that explored the nature and activity of the emergent Christian intellectual between the late first century and the early third century. The papers show that Hellenistic scholarly cultures were the milieu within which Christian modes of thinking developed. At the same time the essays show how Christian thinkers made use of the cultures of which they were part in distinctive ways, adapting existing traditions because of Christian beliefs and needs.

The figures studied include Papias from the early part of the second-century, Tatian, Irenaeus, and Clement of Alexandria from the later second century. One paper on Eusebius of Caesarea explores the Christian adaptation of Hellenistic scholarly methods of commentary. Christian figures are studied in the light of debates within Classics and Jewish studies.

Index locorum

• Bible
  • Old Testament
  • Genesis
    • 38:11 – 27
  • Exodus
    • 3:8
    • 12
    • 12:5 – 6
  • Leviticus
    • 1:5
    • 11:33
    • 25
    • 25:3
    • 25:3 – 4
  • Numbers
    • 28
    • 28:3 – 8
    • 28:8
  • Deuteronomy
    • 25:5 – 6
  • 1 Chronicles
    • 3:10 – 16
  • Psalm 88
  • Proverbs
    • 8:9
  • Wisdom of Solomon
    • 7:22 – 24
    • 7:25 ff:
  • Isaiah
    • 40:8
    • 49:1
    • 49:1, 6 LXX
    • 49:6 LXX
  • Jeremiah
    • 1:5
    • 1:5 LXX
    • 22:28
  • Joel
    • 2:28 – 29
  • New Testament
  • Mark
    • 6:15
    • 7:1 – 23
    • 8:27 – 28
    • 13:14
    • 16:2
  • Matthew
    • 1:11
    • 1:12 – 16
    • 1:17
    • 4:1 – 11
    • 5:20
    • 15:1 – 20
    • 17:29
    • 22
    • 22:14
    • 24:15
    • 28:20
    • 28:30
    • 37:39 – 40
  • Luke
    • 1:1
    • 1:2
    • 1:32
    • 2
    • 2:39
    • 2:46
    • 2:48
    • 4:16 – 22
    • 13:33
    • 24:1
  • John
    • 1:3 – 4
    • 8:6 – 8
    • 19:35
    • 20:1, 19
    • 20:29
    • 20:30
    • 2...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction and Acknowledgments
• Crazy Guy or Intellectual Leader? The Seer of Revelation and his Role for the Communities of Asia Minor
• Papias’s Appeal to the “Living and Lasting Voice” over Books
• Tatian, Celsus, and Christianity as “Barbarian Philosophy” in the Late Second Century
• Intellectual independence in Christian and medical discourse of the 2nd – 3rd centuries
• Clement and the Catechumenate in the Late Second Century
• Platonism and Stoicism in Clement of Alexandria: “Becoming like God”
• Irenaeus and the ‘Rule of Truth’: A Reconsideration
• Christian, Jewish, and Pagan Authority and the Rise of the Christian Intellectual
• Eusebius’ Gospel Questions and Aristarchus on Homer – Similar Strategies to Save Different ‘Sacred’ Texts
• Bibliography
• Index locorum
• General Index