Religious Identity in Late Antiquity: Greeks, Jews and Christians in Antioch

by Isabella Sandwell

• ISBN13: 9780521879156
• ISBN10: 0521879159
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-17
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Studies of religious interaction in the fourth century AD have often assumed that the categories of 'pagan', 'Christian' and 'Jew' can be straightforwardly applied, and that we can assess the extent of Christianization in the Graeco-Roman period. In contrast, Dr Sandwell tackles the fundamental question of attitudes to religious identity by exploring how the Christian preacher John Chrysostom and the Graeco-Roman orator Libanius wrote about and understood issues of religious allegiance. By comparing the approaches of these men, who were living and working in Antioch at approximately the same time, she strives to get inside the process of religious interaction in a way not normally possible due to the dominance of Christian sources. In so doing she develops new approaches to the study of Libanius' religion, the impact of John Chrysostom's preaching on his audiences and the importance of religious identity to fourth-century individuals.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
List of abbreviations	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Understanding religious identity in fourth-century Antioch	p. 3
Imperial society, religion and literary culture in fourth-century Antioch	p. 34
Constructed and Strategic Religious Identities and Allegiances	p. 61
Chrysostom and the construction of religious identities	p. 63
Libanius and the strategic use of religious allegiance	p. 91
Religious Identities and Other Forms of Social Identification	p. 121
Religious identity and other social identities in Chrysostom	p. 125
Religious allegiance and other social identities in Libanius	p. 154
Religious Identity and Social Organization	p. 181
Chrysostom and social structure among Christians in Antioch	p. 185
Libanius, religious allegiance and social structure	p. 213
Assessing the Impact of Constructions of Identity	p. 241
Religious identity, religious practice and personal religious power	p. 245
Conclusion	p. 277
Bibliography	p. 282
Index	p. 308
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