Rhetoric and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity

— —

Richard Flower (Associate Professor in Classics and Late Antiquity, Associate Professor in Classics and Late Antiquity, University of Exeter) Morwenna Ludlow (Professor of Christian History and Theology, Professor of Christian History and Theology, University of Exeter)

Rhetoric and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity

Richard Flower (Associate Professor in Classics and Late Antiquity, Associate Professor in Classics and Late Antiquity, University of Exeter), Morwenna Ludlow (Professor of Christian History and Theology, Professor of Christian History and Theology, University of Exeter)

$217

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press
31 August 2020

Ancient history: to c 500 CE; History of religion; The Early Church; Religious life & practice

The topic of religious identity in late antiquity is highly contentious. How did individuals and groups come to ascribe identities based on what would now be known as 'religion', categorizing themselves and others with regard to Judaism, Manichaeism, traditional Greek and Roman practices, and numerous competing conceptions of Christianity? How and why did examples of self-identification become established, activated, or transformed in response to circumstances? To what extent do labels (whether ancient and modern) for religious categories reflect a sense of a unified and enduring social or group identity for those included within them? How does religious identity relate to other forms of ancient identity politics (for example, ethnic discourse concerning 'barbarians')? Rhetoric and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity responds to the recent upsurge of interest in this issue by developing interdisciplinary research between classics, ancient and medieval history, philosophy, religion, patristics, and Byzantine studies, expanding the range of evidence standardly used to explore these questions. In exploring the malleability and potential overlapping of religious identities in late antiquity, as well as their variable expressions in response to different public and private contexts, it challenges some prominent scholarly paradigms. In particular, rhetoric and religious identity are here brought together and simultaneously interrogated to provide mutual illumination: in what way does a better understanding of rhetoric (its rules, forms, practices) enrich our understanding of the expression of late-antique religious identity? How does an understanding of how religious identity was ascribed, constructed, and contested provide us with a new perspective on rhetoric at work in late antiquity?

Edited by: Richard Flower (Associate Professor in Classics and Late Antiquity Associate Professor in Classics and Late Antiquity University of Exeter), Morwenna Ludlow (Professor of Christian History and Theology, Professor of Christian History and Theology, University of Exeter)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 241mm, Width: 162mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9780198813194
ISBN 10: 0198813198
Pages: 300
Publication Date: 31 August 2020
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1: Richard Flower and Morwenna Ludlow: Introduction PART I: THE NATURE OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES AND THEIR REPRESENTATION 2: Éric Rebillard: Approaching 'Religious Identity' in Late Antiquity 3: Aaron P. Johnson: The Rhetoric of Pagan Religious Identities: Porphyry and his First Readers 4: Douglas Boin: The Maccabees, 'Apostasy' and Julian's Appropriation of Hellenismos as a Reclaimed Epithet in Christian Conversations of the Fourth Century C.E. PART II: AGENTS OF THE REPRESENTATION OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY 5: Shaun Tougher: Julian the Apologist: Christians and Pagans on the Mother of the Gods 6: Susanna Elm: Bodies, Books, Histories: Augustine of Hippo and the Extraordinary (civ. Dei 16.8 and Pliny, HN 7) 7: Raffaella Cribiore: Classical Decadence or Christian Aesthetics? Libanius, John Chrysostom, and Augustine on Rhetoric 8: Nicholas Baker-Brian: 'Very great are your words': Dialogue as Rhetoric in Manichaean Kephalaia 9: Maijastina Kahlos: 'A Christian Cannot Employ Magic': Rhetorical Self-fashioning of the Magicless Christianity of Late Antiquity PART III: MODES OF THE REPRESENTATION OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY 10: Mark Humphries: The Rhetorical Construction of a Christian Empire in the Theodosian Code 11: Peter Van Nuffelen: What Happened after Eusebius? Chronicles and Narrative Identities in the Fourth Century 12: Richard Flower: The Rhetoric of Heresiological Prefaces 13: Robin M. Jensen: Constructing Identity in the Tomb: The Visual Rhetoric of Early Christian Iconography 14: Hajnalka Tamas: Renunciation and Ascetic Identity in the Liber ad Renatum of Asterius Ansedunensis 15: Morwenna Ludlow: Christian Literary Identity and Rhetoric about Style

Prof Richard Flower studied for his BA, MPhil and PhD in Classics at Clare College, Cambridge, and has worked at the Universities of Cambridge, Sheffield and Exeter. He specialises in the construction of imperial and ecclesiastical authority, particularly in late-antique polemical literature and heresiology. His publications include Emperors and Bishops in Late Roman Invective (Cambridge, 2013) and Imperial Invectives against Constantius II (Liverpool, 2016), and he is also editing The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy. Prof Morwenna Ludlow studied Classics and then Theology at the University of Oxford. She has written widely on Gregory of Nyssa. Her latest book, Art, Craft and Theology in Fourth Century Greek Authors (also published by OUP) examines the use of literary and rhetorical tropes by Christian authors and argues that they interpret themselves as both theologians and craftsmen with words.

Reviews for Rhetoric and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity

The strongest essays of this collection are those that work with a clear set of definitions and methods. Part One is by far the most useful section of the book and will repay the attention of readers since issues of identity and rhetoric are at the forefront. * Harry O. Maier, Vancouver School of Theology, ARYS: Antiquity, Religions and Societies * rhetoric and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity instructs with rich insights, delights with its wide array of subjects, and ultimately proves persuasive of its core argument about rhetorical representation among late antique religions. * Mark Clavier, Augustiniana * In many cases, the essays break down dichotomies and remind us to be careful when trying to fit people or texts into particular categories of religious identity. The editors' goal was to study rhetoric in order to better understand religious identity and vice-versa, and the volume succeeds on both counts. * Jaclyn Maxwell, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * This volume will be essential reading for scholars concerned with East-West cultural interactions. * Jenny Strauss Clay, University of Virginia, Religious Studies Review * The volume,...successfully accomplishes what the editors promised in the first chapter and delivers a collection of contributions replete with rich sources and insightful approaches to understand how rhetoric and religious identities interacted. * Alberto J. Quiroga Puertas, GNOMON 95 *