Conversion In Antiquity

The paper explores Foucault’s analyzes of philosophical practices in the Hellenistic culture. Foucault’s studies have been widely debated ever since their publication – in particular his interpretation of the Hellenistic form of “conversion”. The paper will shed light on the critique, and investigate how Foucault conceived of the Hellenistic conversion.

“But through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his party experience it.” Thus reads the customary English translation, largely unchanged since the earliest English translations, of Wisdom of Solomon 2:24. As modern translators have apparently not questioned the devil’s place in this verse, so too have modern scholars and commentators taken for granted the devil in the diabolos. On the surface this seems reasonable enough. The Greek diabolos was used in the LXX as a translation of the Hebrew satan, the adversary or seducer of Job and Zechariah. Of course, in some Second Temple Jewish traditions and then in Christian literature this satan became Satan and the diabolos became the devil, an angel, evil and fallen, in some fashion opposed to the will of God. Diabolos had become such a commonplace term, especially in early Christian literature, to signify the devil, that the thought of it representing something other than this fallen angel has seemingly been disregarded. The problem with taking the diabolos for granted in Wisd is that translators or scholars then read into the text a notion absent, and even contrary to, the rest of the text’s ideology. The devil simply does not fit into this author’s worldview. So, how to explain the diabolos? I argue that this term and this verse with it have been mistranslated and misunderstood, beginning with the early Greek church fathers, precisely because theologians and scholars both had a preconceived notion that the diabolos could only be the devil. I propose an alternative reading of this verse which does not stretch the limits of the Greek term, but actually makes the verse as a whole accord better with proper Greek syntax. The diabolos of Wisd 2:24 is not an evil, fallen angel, nor is it even the Hebrew satan. The diabolos here refers specifically to the type of adversary of the text immediately preceding this passage, the persecutor of the righteous man. Through detailed philological and textual analyses, I will attempt to show how this translation of diabolos makes more sense, both in respect to the Greek and to the overall ideology of the author. The devil has no place in this author’s thought, and by reevaluating this passage with a more critical eye, we may better understand this author's unique world of thought and the overall purpose of his text.

The author of Joseph and Aseneth writes a lengthy narrative about Aseneth’s conversion, thereby providing a justification for Joseph’s marriage to an Egyptian woman. The author explicitly connects her seven-day period of withdrawal to creation, thus portraying her conversion as a divinely wrought new creation. In addition, her eight-day conversion process imitates two similar processes from Jewish scripture. First, Aseneth’s transformation parallels the circumcision of the newborn male eight days after his birth. Second, on the eighth day Aseneth partakes of an angelic existence, conversing with an angel, eating the food of angels, and being dressed in angelic garb. This elevation in her status parallels the consecration of the priestly class in Lev 8, which goes through a period of seven days before it can serve as priests on the eighth day. This process thus stresses the distance between non-Jew and Jew, while at the same time providing a scriptural rationale for how Aseneth overcame it.

Intensive concern for the proper observance of the Levitical purity laws was characteristic of various Jewish groups living in Judea during the late Second Temple period. The purity laws, concentrated in the Priestly Code (mostly in Lev 11–15 and Num 19), describe numerous sources of ritual impurity (e.g. dead swarming creatures, male and female genital discharges, human corpses etc.), venues whereby impurity is transferred from one object or person to another, and methods for purifying people, clothing and vessels that have become impure. Rigorous interest in the Levitical purity laws is evidenced in the literature of the period, including the Biblical apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the New Testament, and the works of Josephus Flavius. Continued interest in ritual purity law, at least within the rabbinic academy, is evidenced by the copious early rabbinic literature devoted to the topic; these laws are the focus of an entire order of the Mishnah and Tosefta (Ṭeharot; lit., “Purities”), and are the topic of many rabbinic pericopes interspersed throughout the Talmudic literature of the Roman and Early Byzantine periods.

Of late, the literary sources have been supplemented by a plethora of archaeological finds which provide evidence for the centrality of ritual purity observance in the daily lives of Jews in Judea during the Roman period. Chief amongst these finds are stepped water installations which served as ritual baths (miqwāʾôt) for the purificatory immersion of ritually impure people, clothing and vessels. Another important archaeological phenomenon which indicates observance of ritual purity laws is the widespread use of chalkstone vessels, as stone was regarded to be a material impervious to ritual impurity. Additionally, a marked absence of imported pottery at most Jewish sites throughout the Early Roman period has been explained by numerous scholars as a reflection of concern over the ritual impurity of ceramic vessels produced outside the borders of the Land of Israel.

Le christianisme est-il le syncrétisme entre le judaïsme et l'hellénisme? Cet article interroge les catégories de judaïsme et d'hellénisme pour réfuter cette assertion traditionnelle et propose des pistes du côté des théories post-colonialistes.

The religious, theological and philosophical discourse in Late Antiquity concerning the human soul, the Greek psuchē, reveals a sophisticated and complex psychological language that was aimed at conceptualizing and articulating the act of conversion. The analysis of Gnostic, Orthodox Christian, and Neoplatonic writings in relation to the psuchē shows the cardinal role that this term played in formulating individual processes of mental transformation. Attributing active agency, mutability and relational aspect to the individual psuchē turned it into a unique conceptual device, necessary to define anew the human condition.

This study surveys the archaeological evidence of Jewish ritual baths (miqwa’ot) built adjacent to tombs, dating variously from the late Second Temple period through the 3rd – 4th centuries C.E., and analyses this evidence in light of the halakhic sources. At first glance, this archaeological phenomenon would seem to stand at odds with normative halakhah, which mandates miqweh ablutions for corpse-impurity only at the end of a seven-day purification process. A careful reading of the scriptural and rabbinic sources, however, reveals that while a seven-day purification process is required for one who has contracted impurity directly from a corpse or a grave, impurity conveyed through an intermediary source (i.e. physical contact with one who has contracted direct corpse-impurity) may be purged through ablutions on the same day that the impurity was incurred. This study suggests that miqwa’ot adjacent to tombs were utilized at the conclusion burial ceremonies by funeral participants had contracted such “second-degree” impurity.

This paper takes the relation of the Ember Days of September (Quattuor tempora) to Yom Kippur as a test for the question as to how useful is the tree/model of the ‘parting of the ways’ of Judaism and Christianity.
Passages in Leo the Great and the choice of readings in the oldest Roman lectionaries for the Ember Days of September can best be explained on the background that Roman Christians adopted and “Christianized” Jewish practices of Yom Kippur long after a supposed “parting of the ways.” Leo’s description of contemporary Jewish practices shows acquaintance with Mishna Yoma. In addition, the Lectionary readings are exceptional from a source-internal view (the Minor Prophets are usually not read in the Roman lectionaries). On the other hand, the readings are very close to readings attested in Jewish traditions from Palestine and Babylonia or even in medieval sources for the festivals of Tishri, especially Yom Kippur. Most probably, the Christian readings were adopted from Judaism. This interaction took place after Constantine and in an area where such influence is usually not expected (in contrast to e.g. Syria). The tree model for the development of Judaism and Christianity according to which rituals or ideology of one system did not pass to the other system has to be abandoned as too great a simplification.

From Brill's website:

New Perspectives on 2 Enoch: No Longer Slavonic Only presents a collection of papers from the fifth conference of the Enoch Seminar. The conference re-examines 2 Enoch, an early Jewish apocalyptic text previously known to scholars only in its Slavonic translation, in light of recently identified Coptic fragments. This approach helps to advance the understanding of many key issues of this enigmatic and less explored Enochic text. One of the important methodological lessons of the current volume lies in the recognition that the Adamic and Melchizedek traditions, the mediatorial currents which play an important role in the apocalypse, are central for understanding the symbolic universe of the text. The volume also contains the recently identified Coptic fragments of 2 Enoch, introduced to scholars for the first time during the conference.

CONTENTS:
Preface
Andrei A. Orlov and Gabriele Boccaccini

PART ONE: 2 ENOCH
No Longer “Slavonic” Only: 2 Enoch Attested in Coptic from Nubia
Joost L. Hagen

TEXT AND DATING OF 2 ENOCH
The “Book of the Secrets of Enoch” (2 En): Between Jewish Origin and Christian Transmission. An Overview
Christfried Böttrich
The Provenance of 2 Enoch: A Philological Perspective. A Response to C. Böttrich’s Paper “The ‘Book of the Secrets of Enoch’ (2 En): Between Jewish Origin and Christian Transmission. An Overview”
Liudmila Navtanovich
2 Enoch: Manuscripts, Recensions, and Original Language
Grant Macaskill
The Sacerdotal Traditions of 2 Enoch and the Date of the Text
Andrei A. Orlov
Excavating 2 Enoch: The Question of Dating and the Sacerdotal Traditions
David W. Suter

CONTENT AND CONTEXT OF 2 ENOCH
2 Enoch and the New Perspective on Apocalyptic
Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis
The Watchers of Satanail: The Fallen Angels Traditions in 2 Enoch
Andrei A. Orlov
Patriarch, Prophet, Author, Angelic Rival: Exploring the Relationship of 1 Enoch to 2 Enoch in Light of the Figure of Enoch
Daniel Assefa and Kelley Coblentz Bautch
Calendrical Elements in 2 Enoch
Basil Lourié
2 Enoch and Halakhah
Lawrence H. Schiffman
Halakha, Calendars, and the Provenances of 2 Enoch
Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra

PART TWO: ADAM, ENOCH, AND MELCHIZEDEK: MEDIATORIAL FIGURES IN SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM

ADAMIC TRADITIONS
Adam as a Mediatorial Figure in Second Temple Jewish Literature
John R. Levison
Better Watch Your Back, Adam: Another Adam and Eve Tradition in Second Temple Judaism
Lester L. Grabbe
Adamic Traditions in 2 Enoch and in the Books of Adam and Eve
Johannes Magliano-Tromp
Adamic Traditions in Early Christian and Rabbinic Literature
Alexander Toepel
Adamic Tradition in Slavonic Manuscripts (Vita Adae et Evae and Apocryphal Cycle about the Holy Tree)
Anissava Miltenova

MELCHIZEDEK TRADITIONS
Melchizedek Traditions in Second Temple Judaism
Eric F. Mason
Melchizedek at Qumran and in Judaism: A Response
Devorah Dimant
Enoch and Melchizedek: The Concern for Supra-Human Priestly Mediators in 2 Enoch
Charles A. Gieschen
Melchizedek in Some Early Christian Texts and 2 Enoch
Harold W. Attridge
“Much to Say and Hard to Explain”: Melchizedek in Early Christian Literature, Theology, and Controversy
Pierluigi Piovanelli
On Adam, Enoch, Melchizedek, and Eve
Daphna Arbel
Bibliography on 2 Enoch
Andrei A. Orlov

RESUMEN: Teniendo en cuenta la acción misericordiosa de Dios en los hombres y la respuesta de éstos a Dios, se pasa revista tanto al don de la conversión (fruto de la misericordia divina) como a las obras de misericordia impulsadas por esa misma conversión. Mencionando a varios conversos famosos, son recordados desde una visión cronológica otros más desconocidos, destacando algunos testimonios recientes y ciertos casos especiales de acción misericordiosa de Dios.  PALABRAS CLAVE: Conversión, misericordia, obras de misericordia, caridad.
ABSTRACT: Using as a point of departure the merciful action of God toward human persons and their response to God, this article examines both the gift of conversión (as a fruit of divine mercy) and the works of mercy undertaken as a result of this conversion. A number of famous converts are mentioned, with emphasis on recent testimonies and certain special instances of the merciful action of God. KEY WORDS: Conversión, mercy, works of mercy, charity.

I present a typological classification of the various forms of conversion to philosophy as they appear in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of Eminent Philosophers, demonstrating that this was a recurrent and well-developed theme in the biographies, with little variation between schools. These conversions also functioned as a means of conferring social legitimacy on the philosophers. This analysis allows us to shed light on the how ancient Greeks perceived their philosophers, who differed from other ‘cultural agents’ such as poets, and from other characters traditionally established in the collective imagination such as heroes. This analysis also highlights the similarities and differences between the conversions of ancient Greek philosophers and the Christian saints.

As happened to other authors, Jeremy Bentham, the father of modern utilitarianism, focused his attention on religious matters in the last years of his life. But the interest of the late Bentham in religious matters did not take the usual form of a prudential devotion of the last hour, it was rather a way to make explicit the consequences of his own intellectual itinerary, which in fact presented from the beginning a systematically immanent and secular version of a doctrine - utilitarianism - which was born in a religious atmosphere. This paper concentrates on the latest and most ambitious text of religious criticism written by Bentham, Not Paul, but Jesus (published in 1823, under the pseudonym of Gamaliel Smith). This book was a reasoned demolition of Paul’s teachings and works, in contrast with what Bentham saw as the genuine teachings of Jesus, which were corrupted and distorted by the influence that Paul soon acquired, taking the position of head of the original church, despite the long and ultimately unsuccessful resistance of the apostles.

Dans cet article, j'envisage la facon dont Foucault a tente de forger, a partir de sources antiques, des outils pour penser sur un mode nouveau la forme moderne du rapport a soi. Ce faisant, Foucault propose une methode pour faire l’ontologie historique et critique de nous-memes en tant que sujets dont la forme presente du rapport a soi a herite de l’evenement moderne dans l’histoire de la pensee. Il propose ainsi une maniere d’heriter du passe ainsi qu’une methode pour evaluer l’importance de cet heritage historique. Au College de France, Foucault avait entame une serie de cours sur la question du sujet et de la verite. Je m'interesse plus particulierement au geste de Foucault dans les cours sur L’hermeneutique du sujet. Par ce geste Foucault tente de degager, dans la spiritualite antique, a l’interstice de la metanoia chretienne et de l’epistrophe platonico-gnostique, quelque chose comme une autre conversion a soi, que je qualifie de stoico-cynique, et qui n’implique ni ru...

Dans cet article, j'envisage la façon dont Foucault a tenté de forger, à partir de sources antiques, des outils pour penser sur un mode nouveau la forme moderne du rapport à soi. Ce faisant, Foucault propose une méthode pour faire l’ontologie historique et critique de nous-mêmes en tant que sujets dont la forme présente du rapport à soi a hérité de l’événement moderne dans l’histoire de la pensée. Il propose ainsi une manière d’hériter du passer ainsi qu’une méthode pour évaluer l’importance de cet héritage historique.

Au Collège de France, Foucault avait entamé une série de cours sur la question du sujet et de la vérité. Je m'intéresse plus particulièrement au geste de Foucault dans les cours sur L’herméneutique du sujet. Par ce geste Foucault tente de dégager, dans la spiritualité antique, à l’interstice de la metanoïa chrétienne et de l’epistrophè platonico-gnostique, quelque chose comme une autre conversion à soi, que je qualifie de stoïco-cynique, et qui n’implique ni rupture dans le rapport à soi, ni bifurcation du monde, mais seulement un « déplacement du sujet ». Cette transformation ouvre une « distance à soi » permettant d’opérer cette autre conversion par laquelle le sujet se constitue en faisant retour à soi comme étant cette distance à soi. Le sujet y est donc réfléchi comme processus éthopoïétique actif et non comme une substance ou une chose donnée a priori.

Enfin, je voudrais attirer l’attention sur la façon dont Foucault élabore des outils de pensée permettant d'esquiver le recours aux synthèses dialectiques et à l'herméneutique historique au profit d'une pensée matinale de la grandeur qui affirme la créativité dans l'histoire. Ce mode de pensée ne conclut pas sans ouvrir sur l’altérité, en affirmant la part de risque inhérente à l’avenir.

Modern scholarship is divided on the interpretation of ΠΑΣΧΩ in Gal. 3.4, and there has yet to be a definitive study on the subject attempting to rectify the disagreements. The clear consensus prior to the late seventeenth century was that ΠΑΣΧΩ possessed negative connotations in this passage. This interpretation was briefly challenged by Justus Christoph Schomer (1648–1693), influencing the majority of German scholarship and creating a major polarity among scholars in the English-speaking world. After making this history of interpretation known, the present study tries to demonstrate that lexically, thematically, and contextually, the preferable interpretation regards ΠΑΣΧΩ as a reference to suffering, in keeping with the longstanding interpretative tradition. [http://jnt.sagepub.com/content/current]

"This article endeavours to look at the Jerusalem collection from a fresh perspective by examining the language of κοινωνία Paul employs to describe the project in Romans 15.26 and in 2 Corinthians 8.4 and 9.13. After adducing oft-neglected literary and documentary evidence, this essay argues that Paul's audience must have understood κοινωνία to bear significant political and socio-economic implications. This article concludes that the collection was aimed at establishing a new order of socio-economic equality and solidarity among the emergent Christ-believing communities, at both a local and global level, and across socio-cultural and ethnic divides.

Copyrights Cambridge Journals 2012"

The Religious Other in the Histories of Gregory of Tours The question of the religious other is discussed from the perspective Gregory of Tours himself would have identified with: namely, that of eternal salvation (a necessary prerequisite for which is embracing the Catholic doctrine) or condemnation Arians, Jews and Catholics lapsed into heresy shall eventually face. Gregory’s portrayal of the followers of Arius (who, according to him, not only cannot be called Christians, but follow in footsteps of pagan Roman persecutors of Christianity) is discussed; the futility of theological debate as a mean to influence those non‑Trinitarians is showed and the miraculous is stressed as the only effective tool of gaining them for the Church. Secondly, the question of Jews in Gregory’s narrative: their loss of the chosen people status, their inability to read the Old Testament Christologically and their not partaking in the miraculous that proved so decisive for the conversion of Arians is str...

In this essay I discuss: a) the role of Manichaeism in Augustine's development, b) in which of his writings Manichaeism plays an important role (thetical and/or anti-thetical) and c) how he describes the role of Manichaeism in the successive stages of his life in Confessiones Books 3, 7 and 8 respectively.

The primary aim of the monograph is to demonstrate that scholars overstate their case when they maintain that 1 Cor 9:19-23 is incompatible with a Torah-observant Paul. A secondary aim is to show how one might understand 1 Cor 9:19-23 as the discourse of a Jew who remained within the bounds of pluriform Second Temple Judaism. Part I addresses the intertextual, contextual and textual case for the traditional reading of 1 Cor 9:19-23. Weaknesses are pointed out and alternative approaches are considered. The exegetical case in Part II centres on interpreting 1 Cor 9:19-23 in light of Paul's recapitulation in 1 Cor 10:32-11:1, which concludes with the statement, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ".

Given the food-related and hospitality context of 1 Cor 8-10, and Paul's reference to dominical sayings that point back to Jesus' example and rule of adaptation, it is argued that 1 Cor 9:19-23 reflects Paul's imitation of Jesus' accommodation-oriented table-fellowship with all. As Jesus became all things to all people through eating with ordinary Jews, Pharisees and sinners, Paul became "all things to all people" through eating with ordinary Jews, strict Jews (those "under the law") and Gentile sinners. This Cambridge University dissertation won the 2007 Franz Delitzsch Prize from the Freie Theologische Akademie.

The scope of this collection of original essays covers the years 1050 to 1215, but it really begins in the summer of 1096, when marauding crusaders attacked Jewish communities in three Rhineland cities. These violent episodes disrupted what had been a fairly peaceful history of co-existence between Jews and Christians for more than two centuries. Although the two groups inhabited fundamentally different religious universes, Jews and Christians lived in the same towns, on the same streets, and pursued their lives with minimal mutual interference and often with considerable cooperation. The events of 1096 destroyed that status quo. Relations between the two communities deteriorated, and the Jewish Communities suffered as a result.

The contributors to this volume examine again 1096 and its aftermath. Their careful analyses of people, events, and texts provide a balanced perspective on the fate of 12th-century Jewish communities. They reveal that there is considerable evidence that old routines and interactions between Christians and Jews persisted throughout this period. From the perspective of the editors and contributors, this sense of complementarity, of interaction or action and reaction, needs to better inform the medieval story. The essays in this volume therefore intentionally highlight areas of common or parallel activity: in vernacular literature, in biblical exegesis, in piety and mysticism, in the social context of conversion, in relations with prelates and monarchs, in coping in a time of change, renewal, and upheaval. Most importantly, the editors and contributors insist on integrating both Jewish and Christian perspectives into the larger history of a very complex and increasingly urban 12th-century Europe.