Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Part I INTRODUCTION
- Chapter 1 Understanding religious identity in fourth-century Antioch
- Chapter 2 Imperial society, religion and literary culture in fourth-century Antioch
- Part II CONSTRUCTED AND STRATEGIC RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES AND ALLEGIANCES
- Part III RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES AND OTHER FORMS OF SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION
- Part IV RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
- Part V ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTIONS OF IDENTITY
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 1 - Understanding religious identity in fourth-century Antioch
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Part I INTRODUCTION
- Chapter 1 Understanding religious identity in fourth-century Antioch
- Chapter 2 Imperial society, religion and literary culture in fourth-century Antioch
- Part II CONSTRUCTED AND STRATEGIC RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES AND ALLEGIANCES
- Part III RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES AND OTHER FORMS OF SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION
- Part IV RELIGIOUS IDENTITY AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
- Part V ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTIONS OF IDENTITY
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
IDENTITY AND RELIGIOUS INTERACTION IN ANTIOCH
I hate and I turn away from such a woman for this reason above all others, because she uses the name of God as an insult and because, while she says she is a Christian, she displays the actions of a Greek.
(John Chrysostom, Ad Illum. Catech. 2.5 (PG 49.240) = Harkins, Baptismal Instruction 12.59)By the gods, whom you have admired for a long time and now admit to, exceed Hyperchius' own father's goodwill towards him and imitate my own.
(Libanius, Ep. B.74.5 (F.804))The question of religious identity lies at the heart of understanding religious interaction. Talking about religious interaction means first saying something about the religious entities that we see to be taking part in that interaction. As Markus noted long ago, rather than try to assess how Christianized fourth-century society was, we need to ‘set ourselves the task of tracing the shifting boundaries drawn by late antique people which determined how far their society measured up to what they saw as properly Christianised society’. At the same time, because what it means to be the member of one religion can only be constructed in relation to what it means to be a member of another religion, religious interaction is always a prerequisite for the existence of religious identities. Religious identities do not have an objective existence that naturally arises out of an essential and distinct package of religious traits.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Religious Identity in Late AntiquityGreeks, Jews and Christians in Antioch, pp. 3 - 33Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007