1st Edition
Debate and Dialogue Christian and Pagan Cultures c. 360-430
By Maijastina Kahlos
Copyright 2007
224 Pages
by
Routledge
224 Pages
by
Routledge
224 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
This book explores the construction of Christian identity in fourth and fifth centuries through inventing, fabricating and sharpening binary oppositions. Such oppositions, for example Christians - pagans; truth - falsehood; the one true god - the multitude of demons; the right religion - superstition, served to create and reinforce the Christian self-identity. The author examines how the Christian... Read more
Contents: Introduction; Constructing and deconstructing dichotomies; Debate, polemic and dialogue; Religio and superstitio; Ceremonies of light and dark; Gods and demons; Bibliography; Index.
Biography
Dr Maijastina Kahlos is Academy Research Fellow in the Department of Classical Philology, University Of Helsinki, Finland.
’...Kahlos has made a valuable contribution not only to the field of history and patristics, but to all who would study religious texts produced in a polemical context. Kahlos’ careful examination of the texts, their use of prior traditions, and their role in early Christianity’s struggle to define itself over against the other has provided a valuable model of how texts such as these reflect not objective reality but reality as it is perceived by the authors. Indeed, Kahlos has provided the guild with a valuable resource not only for understanding Christianity of the fourth and fifth centuries, but polemical religious texts in general.’ The Bible & Critical Theory ’This book offers a valuable contribution to contemporary scholarly debate about Late Antique religious history and the relationship between Christianity and other religions.’ Theological Book Review
