The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses

The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses PDF Author: James Gollnick
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 0889208034
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Apuleius’ Metamorphoses is probably best known as the literary source for the myth of Eros and Psyche and as a primary source of information about mystery religions in the ancient world. There is another realm of the Metamorphoses which has, until now, received relatively little attention — namely, the many dreams found within it. The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses offers an engaging portrait of the second-century dreamworld. Recognizing the centrality of the religious function and spiritual interpretation of dreams, this book illustrates their vital importance in the ancient world and the wide variety of meanings attributed to them. James Gollnick draws deeply from historical and psychological studies and provides a historical background on the current interest in the role of dreams in psychological and spiritual transformation. This study of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses adds to an appreciation of Apuleius the dreamer and the second-century dreamworld in which he lived and wrote.

The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses

The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses PDF Author: James Gollnick
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 0889208034
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Apuleius’ Metamorphoses is probably best known as the literary source for the myth of Eros and Psyche and as a primary source of information about mystery religions in the ancient world. There is another realm of the Metamorphoses which has, until now, received relatively little attention — namely, the many dreams found within it. The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses offers an engaging portrait of the second-century dreamworld. Recognizing the centrality of the religious function and spiritual interpretation of dreams, this book illustrates their vital importance in the ancient world and the wide variety of meanings attributed to them. James Gollnick draws deeply from historical and psychological studies and provides a historical background on the current interest in the role of dreams in psychological and spiritual transformation. This study of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses adds to an appreciation of Apuleius the dreamer and the second-century dreamworld in which he lived and wrote.

Religion and Apuleius' Golden Ass

Religion and Apuleius' Golden Ass PDF Author: Warren S. Smith
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000813002
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
This volume examines Apuleius’ comic donkey novel, The Golden Ass, within the context of the popular beliefs and Jewish and Christian writings that were part of the intellectual culture of his own day in 2nd century C.E. North Africa, a culture which can also be glimpsed in some early Arabic writings. The novel was written against a cultural and religious background in which the donkey had various connotations, both positive and negative, but tended to be admired in Jewish, Christian, and later, in Muslim writings. Smith explores the influence of such popular opinions on The Golden Ass and how Apuleius presented Isis and Osiris as desirable alternatives to the claims of both Christianity and magic, offering hope of spiritual renewal partly modelled on contemporary religious apocalyptic literature. Complemented by images of contemporary art, including amulets and terra cotta figures, this volume gives readers a better understanding of how Apuleius, ostensibly a Platonist and member of the Roman establishment, could maintain an intellectual independence in a North African milieu while still drawing on hope in the salvation of the gods. Religion and Apuleius’ Golden Ass provides a fascinating new approach to this much disputed novel, of interest not only to students and scholars of Apuleius and Roman literature, but also scholars interested in Christian and Jewish literature and beliefs of the early centuries of the first millennium C.E.

Women's Religions in the Greco-Roman World

Women's Religions in the Greco-Roman World PDF Author: Ross Shepard Kraemer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199725830
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
This is a substantially expanded and completely revised edition of a book originally published in 1988 as Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons, Monastics. The book is a collection of translations of primary texts relevant to women's religion in Western antiquity, from the fourth century BCE to the fifth century CE. The selections are taken from the plethora of ancient religions, including Judaism and Christianity, and are translated from the six major languages of the Greco-Roman world: Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Coptic. The texts are grouped thematically in six sections: Observances, Rituals, and Festivals; Researching Real Women: Documents to, from and by Women; Religious Office; New Religious Affiliation and Conversion; Holy, Pious, and Exemplary Women; and The Feminine Divine. Women's Religions in the Greco-Roman World provides a unique and invaluable resource for scholars of classical antiquity, early Christianity and Judaism, and women's religion more generally.

Evolution, Cognition, and the History of Religion: A New Synthesis

Evolution, Cognition, and the History of Religion: A New Synthesis PDF Author: Anders Klostergaard Petersen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004385371
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 702

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Book Description
Evolution, Cognition, and the History of Religion: A New Synthesis comprises 41 chapters that push for a new way of conducting the study of religion, thereby, transforming the discipline into a genuine science of religion. The recent resurgence of evolutionary approaches on culture and the increasing acknowledgement in the natural and social sciences of culture’s and religion’s evolutionary importance calls for a novel epistemological and theoretical framework for studying these two areas. The chapters explore how a new scholarly synthesis, founded on the triadic space constituted by evolution, cognition, cultural and ecological environment, may develop. Different perspectives and themes relating to this overarching topic are taken up with a main focus on either evolution, cognition, and/or the history of religion.

The Ancient Novel and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative: Fictional Intersections

The Ancient Novel and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative: Fictional Intersections PDF Author: Marília P. Futre Pinheiro
Publisher: Barkhuis
ISBN: 9491431528
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
This innovative collection explores the vital role played by fictional narratives in Christian and Jewish self-fashioning in the early Roman imperial period. Employing a diversity of approaches, including cultural studies, feminist, philological, and narratological, expert scholars from six countries offer twelve essays on Christian fictions or fictionalized texts and one essay on Aseneth. All the papers were originally presented at the Fourth International Conference on the Ancient Novel in Lisbon Portugal in 2008. The papers emphasize historical contextualization and comparative methodologies and will appeal to all those interested in early Christianity, the Ancient novel, Roman imperial history, feminist studies, and canonization processes.

Cultural Crossroads in the Ancient Novel

Cultural Crossroads in the Ancient Novel PDF Author: Marília P. Futre Pinheiro
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501504029
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
The protagonists of the ancient novels wandered or were carried off to distant lands, from Italy in the west to Persia in the east and Ethiopia in the south; the authors themselves came, or pretended to come, from remote places such as Aphrodisia and Phoenicia; and the novelistic form had antecedents in a host of classical genres. These intersections are explored in this volume. Papers in the first section discuss “mapping the world in the novels.” The second part looks at the dialogical imagination, and the conversation between fiction and history in the novels. Section 3 looks at the way ancient fiction has been transmitted and received. Space, as the locus of cultural interaction and exchange, is the topic of the fourth part. The fifth and final section is devoted to character and emotion, and how these are perceived or constructed in ancient fiction. Overall, a rich picture is offered of the many spatial and cultural dimensions in a variety of ancient fictional genres.

Food and Transformation in Ancient Mediterranean Literature

Food and Transformation in Ancient Mediterranean Literature PDF Author: Meredith J. C. Warren
Publisher: SBL Press
ISBN: 0884143570
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
New research that transforms how to understand food and eating in literature Meredith J. C. Warren identifies and defines a new genre in ancient texts that she terms hierophagy, a specific type of transformational eating where otherworldly things are consumed. Multiple ancient Mediterranean, Jewish, and Christian texts represent the ramifications of consuming otherworldly food, ramifications that were understood across religious boundaries. Reading ancient texts through the lens of hierophagy helps scholars and students interpret difficult passages in Joseph and Aseneth, 4 Ezra, Revelation 10, and the Persephone myths, among others. Features: Exploration of how ancient literature relies on bending, challenging, inverting, and parodying cultural norms in order to make meaning out of genres Analysis of hierophagy as social action that articulates how patterns of communication across texts and cultures emerge and diverge A new understanding of previously confounding scenes of literary eating

The Formation of Christian Europe

The Formation of Christian Europe PDF Author: Owen Michael Phelan
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198718039
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
This work is a study of the Carolingians' efforts to form a Christian Empire with the organizing principle of the sacrament of baptism. Dr Phelan argues that baptism offered a medium for the communication and popularization of beliefs and ideas, through which the Carolingian Renewal established the vision of an imperium christianum in Europe.

Religious Rivalries and the Struggle for Success in Sardis and Smyrna

Religious Rivalries and the Struggle for Success in Sardis and Smyrna PDF Author: Richard S. Ascough
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN: 0889209243
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This volume, one in a series of books examining religious rivalries, focuses in detail on the religious dimension of life in two particular Roman cities: Sardis and Smyrna. The essays explore the relationships and rivalries among Jews, Christians, and various Greco-Roman religious groups from the second century bce to the fourth century ce. The thirteen contributors, including seasoned scholars and promising newcomers, bring fresh perspectives on religious life in antiquity. They draw upon a wide range of archaeological, epigraphic, and literary data to investigate the complex web of relationships that existed among the religious groups of these two cities—from coexistence and cooperation to competition and conflict. To the extent that the essays investigate how religious groups are shaped by their urban settings, the book also offers insights into the material urban realities of the Roman Empire. Investigating two cities together in one volume highlights similarities and differences in the interaction of religious groups in each location. The specific focus on Sardis and Smyrna is broadened through an investigation of methodological issues involved in the study of the interaction of urban-based religious groups in antiquity. The volume will be of particular interest to scholars and advanced students in Biblical Studies, Classical Studies, and Archaeology.

Persuasion and Dissuasion in Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Hellenism

Persuasion and Dissuasion in Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Hellenism PDF Author: Pieter Willem van der Horst
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
ISBN: 9789042912809
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
For those of you who like jargon, this book is about propaganda, protreptics, apologetics and polemics. For those of you who don't, this is a study of ancient religious discourse and the interaction between different religious groups.