Beyond Priesthood: Religious Entrepreneurs and Innovators in the Roman Empire

Open Access Published by De Gruyter 2017

Beyond Priesthood

Religious Entrepreneurs and Innovators in the Roman Empire

Edited by: Richard L. Gordon , Georgia Petridou and Jörg Rüpke
Funded by: European Research Council (ERC)

Volume 66 in the series Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110448184

Overview
Contents

About this book

Open Access

The last decade has seen a surge of scholarly interest in these religious professionals and a good number of high quality publications. Our volume, however, with its unique intercultural character and its explicit focus on appropriation and contestation of religious expertise in the Imperial Era is substantially different.

Unlike the rather narrow focus of earlier studies of civic priests, the papers presented here examine a wider range of religious professionals, their dynamic interaction with established religious authorities and institutions, and their contributions to religious innovation in the ancient Mediterranean world, from the late Hellenistic period through to Late Antiquity, from the City of Rome to mainland Greece, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt, from Greek civic practice to ancient Judaism.

A further advantage of our volume is the wide range of media of transmission taken into account. Our contributors look at both old and new materials, which derive not only from literary sources but also from papyri, inscriptions, and material culture. Above all, this volume assesses critically convenient terminological usage and offers a unique insight into a rich gamut of ancient Mediterranean religious specialists.

Author / Editor information

Richard L. Gordon and Jörg Rüpke, Max-Weber Kolleg, University of Erfurt, Germany, Georgia Petridou, University of Liverpool, UK.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Acknowledgements Open Access Download PDF	VII
Bibliographical Note Open Access Download PDF	IX
List of Illustrations Open Access Download PDF	XI
Notes on the Contributors Open Access Download PDF	1
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	5
Part I: Innovation: Forms and Limits
Public priests and religious innovation in imperial Rome Jörg Rüpke and Federico Santangelo Open Access Download PDF	15
Lucian on Peregrinus and Alexander of Abonuteichos: A sceptical view of two religious entrepreneurs Jan N. Bremmer Open Access Download PDF	49
Lived Religion among second-century ‘Gnostic hieratic specialists’ Nicola Denzey Lewis Open Access Download PDF	79
On and beyond duty: Christian clergy at Oxyrhynchus (c. 250 – 400) AnneMarie Luijendijk Open Access Download PDF	103
Part II: The Author as Religious Entrepreneur
Best practice. Religious reformation in Philo’s representation of the Therapeutae and Therapeutrides Angela Standhartinger Open Access Download PDF	129
A roadmap to heaven: High-priestly vestments and the Jerusalem Temple in Flavius Josephus Annette Weissenrieder Open Access Download PDF	157
Contesting religious and medical expertise: The therapeutai of Pergamum as religious and medical entrepreneurs Georgia Petridou Open Access Download PDF	185
Christians, the ‘more obvious’ representatives of the religion of Israel than the Rabbis? Markus Vinzent Open Access Download PDF	215
Rhetorical indications of the poet’s craft in the ancient synagogue Michael D. Swartz Open Access Download PDF	231
Part III: Filling in the Blanks
In search of the ‘beggar-priest’ Esther Eidinow Open Access Download PDF	255
Projects, performance and charisma: Managing small religious groups in the Roman Empire Richard Gordon Open Access Download PDF	277
Enforcing priesthood. The struggle for the monopolisation of religious goods and the construction of the Christian religious field Emiliano Rubens Urciuoli Open Access Download PDF	317
Part IV: ‘Written on the Body’
Tertium genus? Representations of religious practitioners in the cult of Magna Mater Anja Klöckner Open Access Download PDF	343
Negotiating the body: Between religious investment and narratological strategies. Paulina, Decius Mundus and the priests of Anubis Valentino Gasparini Open Access Download PDF	385
‘You can leave your hat on.’ Priestly representations from Palmyra: Between visual genre, religious importance and social status Rubina Raja Open Access Download PDF	417
Index rerum Open Access Download PDF	443

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: All those interested in classical studies, history of religion, ancient history, comparative theology, history of ideas
Pages
- Front matter: 14
- Main content: 460
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 28
- Coloured Illustrations: 12
Keywords: Religious specialists; imperial era; religious innovation; Roman empire

eBook

Published: August 21, 2017
ISBN: 9783110448184

Hardcover

Published: August 21, 2017
ISBN: 9783110447019