Death and Rebirth in Late Antiquity

Lee M. Jefferson

doi:10.5771/9781978701601

Summary

Death and rebirth was of vital importance to early Christians in late antiquity. In late antiquity, death was all encompassing. Mortality rates were high, plague and disease in urban areas struck at will, and one lived on the knife’s edge regarding one’s health. Religion filled a crucial role in this environment, offering an option for those who sought cure and comfort. Following death, the inhumed were memorialized, providing solace to family members through sculpture, painting, and epigraphy. This book offers a sustained interdisciplinary treatment of death and rebirth, a theme that early Christians (and scholars) found important. By analysing the theme of death and rebirth through various lenses, the contributors deepen our understanding of the early Christian funerary and liturgical practices as well as their engagement with other groups in the Empire.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-9787-0159-5
ISBN-Online: 978-1-9787-0160-1
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 346
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
2. List of Figures No access
3. List of Figures No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
1. Notes No access
1. The Origins and Spread of the New Prophecy Movement No access
2. Early Montanist Logia on Death and Rebirth No access
3. The Passio Sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis No access
4. Tertullian and Later Montanist Logia on Death and Rebirth No access
5. Tertullian, Perpetua, and “North African Montanism” No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. Notes No access
8. Bibliography No access
1. Peter and Paul in Rome No access
2. The Wand of Jesus? No access
3. Notes No access
4. Biblilography No access
1. Beginnings: Cross-Signs No access
2. Gregory and the Death of Macrina No access
3. Notes No access
4. Bibliography No access
1. A Note on Early Christian Altars No access
2. Divine Deliverance in Early Christian Art (Third to Sixth Centuries) No access
3. Early Reliquaries: Funerary Imagery on Christian “Arks” (Fourth to Sixth Centuries) No access
4. The Two Arks in Early Medieval Manuscripts No access
5. Portable Altars in the Middle Ages (Seventh to Twelfth Centuries) No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. Notes No access
8. Bibliography No access
1. Introduction No access
2. The Cult of St. Crispina in Roman North Africa No access
3. Crispina in Augustine’s Sermon 354 and in De sancta virginitate No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. Notes No access
6. Bibliography No access
1. A Mediterranean Ritual Koine No access
2. Christian Dialects No access
3. Romanesco: Public Funerary Rites at Rome No access
4. Notes No access
5. Bibliography No access
1. A Fallen Woman No access
2. Facing Death and Resurrection No access
3. Upright Witness No access
4. Standing Confidently No access
5. Notes No access
6. Bibliography No access
1. The “Meeting Again” Motif No access
2. Community Identity and Fictive Kinship No access
3. Familia and Reuniting after Death: Spouses, Children, Parents, and Relatives No access
4. Conclusions No access
5. Notes No access
6. Bibliography No access
1. Peter and Jesus Silenced: The Growth of the Petrine Burial Cult No access
2. Pauline Traditions and a Cultic Object No access
3. Picturing the Glorified Apostles No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. Notes No access
6. Works Cited No access
1. Sacrifice No access
2. Ignatius and Sacrifice No access
3. Ignatius’s Death as Sacrifice No access
4. One Altar: Eucharist and Sacrifice No access
5. The Flesh of Christ No access
6. Ransom and Sacrifice No access
7. “I am your scum”: Peripsēma in Ignatius No access
8. “As to One Temple” No access
9. Conclusion No access
10. Notes No access
11. Bibliography No access
1. Notes No access
2. Bibliography No access
Index No access Pages 335 - 344
About the Contributors No access Pages 345 - 346