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Patristics: Essays from Australia
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Patristics: Essays from Australia

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2023) | Viewed by 10109

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Garry Trompf

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
Interests: the idea of historical recurrence in Western thought; religions in Melanesia and Oceania; retributive logic in comparative religion and changing societies; Biblical and Patristic studies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Patristics, or the Study of the Writings and Practices of the early Fathers and Mothers of the Christian Church (in the period running from after New Testament times up to the coming of Islam (ca. 100–700 CE/AD)) is an enormous and venerable subject for international research. Patristics has been mainly concerned with how the doctrines and the rites of the early Christian Church(es) were ironed out and how the challenges of false accusations, and of opinions other than those generally accepted, prompted the formulation of Creeds, theological schools, different liturgical patterns and mystic styles, as well as distinctive regional traditions. While the chief agenda for Patristics (or Patrology) remains firm, modern research has increasingly refined methodologies for engaging with it, both by thinkers intensely engaged with Christian faith and newer brands of scholars more affected by secular methodologies. Over recent centuries, many important studies have been carried out on the changing historical context in which ancient Christian authors of Late Antiquity operated, with the weakening of Rome in the West and the creation of Constantinople and the Eastern Byzantine Empire, or the vulnerability of Persia and the rise of Islam. More recently, fitting for our questioning times, issues have been raised about patriarchalism and gender relations, socio-religious conflict and its management, ties between Church and the State, etc. Over the last hundred years, Australian academics have been making important contributions to Patristics, and this volume is to consolidate their continued involvement.

Prof. Garry Trompf
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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16 pages, 3466 KiB  
Article
The First Apocalypse of James in a Socio-Linguistic Perspective: Three Greek and Coptic Versions from Ancient Monastic Egypt
by David W. Kim
Religions 2024, 15(8), 881; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080881 - 23 Jul 2024
Viewed by 558
Abstract
The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC) in 1945 rates as one of the two most profound occurrences for Biblical archaeology and interpretation during the last hundred years, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls (1946–1956). The codices allow us to document Christian [...] Read more.
The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC) in 1945 rates as one of the two most profound occurrences for Biblical archaeology and interpretation during the last hundred years, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls (1946–1956). The codices allow us to document Christian monastic culture, gnostic Christianity and gnostic offshoots in the desert climate of Late Ancient Egypt. The recovery of the related Codex Tchacos (CT) brought further excitement for contemporary readers by 2006, it being sensational that narratives of “Judas the betrayer” and “doubting Thomas” were found in the whole collection of writings. The text named the [First] Apocalypse of James, significantly, was found to be in both NHC and CT in different Coptic versions (from near the sacred sites of Chenoboskion and El Minya), but yet another more fragmentary version in Greek had turned up much earlier among the huge cache of papyri found at Oxyrhynchus (also, like the other places, on the banks of the Nile). Given the opportunity for comparison, what distinguishes the three versions? Does comparative analysis better tell us what this ancient text is about? Does the strong presence of Gnostic Christian insights in the Coptic texts still imply a historical Jamesian community is being honoured? This paper concentrates on three comparable passages in the three versions that apparently contain historical memories of James and his followers. It works on the reasonable hypothesis that the Greek version of Oxyrhynchus Papyri (P.Oxy. 5533) (hereafter = PO) is prior and read with different purposes than the two Coptic translated versions of CT (CT 2.10–30) and NHC (NHC V,3. 24–44). When a critical approach, involving a socio-linguistic comparison, is applied, we will see that the three versions of the text were not directly related to each other, but that narratives about James the Just were available to desert monastics from the second century CE. The paper argues for a literal transmission of traditions from a Jewish Christian community around James into Egypt, that the textual figure of James in the Oxyrhynchus fragments points to a ‘mutual familiarity’ between PO and CT, while the NHC tradition of James has been further elaborated by processes of compilation and addition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
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18 pages, 296 KiB  
Article
The Fathers of the Church, the Reformation, and the Failed Attempts at Union between the Tübingen Theologians and the Patriarchate of Constantinople: A Broad Perspective
by Mario Baghos
Religions 2024, 15(7), 831; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070831 - 9 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1902
Abstract
The sixteenth century witnessed dramatic upheavals in Eastern and Western Europe in both the ecclesiastical and political domains. In the previous century, Constantinople had fallen to the Ottoman Turks, meaning that its Eastern Orthodox inhabitants were severed both politically and religiously from their [...] Read more.
The sixteenth century witnessed dramatic upheavals in Eastern and Western Europe in both the ecclesiastical and political domains. In the previous century, Constantinople had fallen to the Ottoman Turks, meaning that its Eastern Orthodox inhabitants were severed both politically and religiously from their Western Christian neighbors, who were ruled over by sovereigns that derived their spiritual authority from the Papacy. Meanwhile, the Reformation endangered the unity of the political and religious spheres of the Catholic West. As it soon became clear that the mainstream Reformers were neither united nor consistent in their ecclesiological views, one thing remained a constant: a recourse to the Fathers of the Church for the confirmation of Reformed tenets such as sola scriptura and sola fide. The use of Patristic proof texts played an important role in the attempt of the Lutherans to unite with the Orthodox, the former reading the writings of the Fathers in a very different way to the latter. This article analyzes why this attempt at union failed, with specific focus on the correspondence between the Tübingen theologians and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Jeremiah II Tranos, in their respective reading of the Augsburg Confession which represents the main Lutheran articles of faith. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
20 pages, 305 KiB  
Article
Patristics Confined in a Cocoon: Where Did We Go Wrong?
by Dimitri Kepreotes
Religions 2024, 15(7), 774; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070774 - 26 Jun 2024
Viewed by 703
Abstract
This article is a personal reflection on the current state of Patristics in Australia, focusing on its debatable effectiveness in both Church and society. It discusses the manner in which the subject of Patristics functions as a specialized subset of knowledge within theological [...] Read more.
This article is a personal reflection on the current state of Patristics in Australia, focusing on its debatable effectiveness in both Church and society. It discusses the manner in which the subject of Patristics functions as a specialized subset of knowledge within theological colleges and in a very limited number of universities, meaning that its accessibility is almost exclusively via formal educational providers. The more specialized the mode of delivery becomes, however, the more the role and relevance of Patristics appears to be diminishing over time. While that is not an Australian characteristic alone, the author argues that the purely tertiary nature of Patristic learning today is a feature of the local landscape that ought to be surveyed. As it currently stands, the subject is disconnected from preceding levels of education and indeed from other possible means of popularizing the subject for a broader audience who, otherwise, are not likely to encounter the Church Fathers in any meaningful way. This implies a fundamental question about how such a situation arose in the first place and became part of the status quo. The discussion is broadened through a presentation of certain key features of Patristics in the Eastern tradition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
16 pages, 535 KiB  
Article
Under the Judgement of the Living God: The Early Christian Funerary Imprecations of Phrygian Eumeneia
by Bernard Doherty
Religions 2024, 15(7), 764; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070764 - 24 Jun 2024
Viewed by 377
Abstract
Since the late nineteenth century, the Phrygian funerary imprecation, known as the Eumeneian formula, has been considered one of the clearest indicators of Christian religious identity on inscriptions from Roman Asia Minor. After a brief précis of the early scholarly history of interpretation [...] Read more.
Since the late nineteenth century, the Phrygian funerary imprecation, known as the Eumeneian formula, has been considered one of the clearest indicators of Christian religious identity on inscriptions from Roman Asia Minor. After a brief précis of the early scholarly history of interpretation of this formula and the historiographical assumptions which underpinned its identification as Christian, this article attempts to reframe how we understand the specific context out of which these inscriptions emerge—that of the wider socio-religious context of Roman Asia Minor—and to examine the degree of continuity which these inscriptions have in terms of religious sentiment with similar pagan examples from wider Anatolia. The central contention of this article is that the Eumeneian formula inscriptions, quite apart from what they can tell us about the socio-political status of early Christians and their relationships with their wider civic environment, are also an important index for understanding early Christian popular religion in the pre-Constantinian period and how ordinary Christians expressed their religious identity in a potentially hostile environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
14 pages, 329 KiB  
Article
Transitions in Patristic Cosmology: From Cosmophobia to Universe-(Re)Making
by Doru Costache
Religions 2024, 15(6), 728; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060728 - 14 Jun 2024
Viewed by 736
Abstract
The field of Patristics, or early Christian and Mediaeval Studies, traditionally works along the lines of historical and literary criticism. But this method is not always useful, especially when it comes to complex objects and circumstances. No wonder the current trend of replacing [...] Read more.
The field of Patristics, or early Christian and Mediaeval Studies, traditionally works along the lines of historical and literary criticism. But this method is not always useful, especially when it comes to complex objects and circumstances. No wonder the current trend of replacing it, more often than not, by interdisciplinary frameworks. The article begins accordingly by reviewing three interdisciplinary frameworks, namely, the “socio-historical method”, “Deep Time”, and archaeological theorist Roland Fletcher’s “transitions”, highlighting their suitability for a comprehensive approach to Patristic cosmology. Here, cosmology should not be taken in the narrow sense of contemporary science. It means both a way of representing reality—a worldview—and a way of inhabiting the world. The present article analyses the evolution of the early Christian and mediaeval perception of the environment and the cosmos in Greek sources, pointing to successive transitions from apprehension (cosmophobia) to a keen interest in understanding nature to the thought that holiness represents a universe-(re)making agency. It addresses relevant historical and social circumstances, but proposes that the above transitions were triggered by internal or existential factors as well, and not only external, thus complementing Fletcher’s outline, which focuses upon external catalysts, such as economy and technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
16 pages, 418 KiB  
Article
Theōria as Cure for Impiety and Atheism in Plato’s Laws and Clement of Alexandria
by Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides
Religions 2024, 15(6), 727; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060727 - 14 Jun 2024
Viewed by 457
Abstract
The article examines the impact of Plato’s views on atheism and impiety, relayed in the Laws, on Clement of Alexandria. Clement employed the adjectives godless (atheos) and impious (asebēs) often in his writings as accusations against pagan philosophers [...] Read more.
The article examines the impact of Plato’s views on atheism and impiety, relayed in the Laws, on Clement of Alexandria. Clement employed the adjectives godless (atheos) and impious (asebēs) often in his writings as accusations against pagan philosophers and/or heretics, but also in his defence of Christians against the very charge of atheism on account of their rejection of pagan gods (Stromata 7.1; cf. Tertullian’s Apologia 10). I argue that Clement, perceptive of Plato’s defence of philosophical contemplation (theōria) and its civic benefits in the Laws, reworked the latter’s association of disbelief with excessive confidence in fleshly pleasures (Leges 888A) in tandem with his stipulation of virtue as the civic goal of his ideal colonists of Magnesia who ought to attune to the divine principles of the cosmos. Thus, Clement promoted the concept of citizenship in the Heavenly kingdom, secured through contemplation and its ensuing impassibility. For Plato and Clement, atheism was the opposite of genuine engagement with divine truth and had no place in the ideal state. Although Clement associated the Church with peace, his views were adapted by Firmicus Maternus to sanction violent rhetoric against the pagans in the fourth century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
13 pages, 497 KiB  
Article
Origen’s ‘Celsus’: Questions of Identity
by Harold Tarrant
Religions 2024, 15(6), 715; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060715 - 10 Jun 2024
Viewed by 692
Abstract
This article will investigate a certain similarity between Origen’s response to Celsus’ True Logos and the criticisms against Longinus’ interpretation of the early pages of Plato’s Timaeus made in Proclus’ Commentary by a certain Origenes, usually held to be a pagan though without [...] Read more.
This article will investigate a certain similarity between Origen’s response to Celsus’ True Logos and the criticisms against Longinus’ interpretation of the early pages of Plato’s Timaeus made in Proclus’ Commentary by a certain Origenes, usually held to be a pagan though without compelling evidence. Origen begins by assuming that ‘Celsus’ was an Epicurean of that name, even though it has long been obvious that ‘Celsus’ has adopted a Platonist point of view and that Origen’s answers often rely on Plato’s authority; in Proclus, Origenes regularly regards Longinus’ explanations as turning Plato into a hedonist by having him aim at the reader’s pleasure, and at one point Longinus even made reference to Epicurus. The paper uses recent work on the presence in Porphyry and Lucian of alternative names, whether inside philosophic schools or as a nom de plume, to argue that Origen could not be sure of his opponent’s identity, but that as he wrote he came to suspect that ‘Celsus’ was in fact his younger contemporary Longinus, the initial teacher of Porphyry himself. Hence the allusions to his ‘philological’ tendencies. If this is correct, then there is additional reason to identify Origen with Origenes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
27 pages, 12861 KiB  
Article
Revisiting the Institution of Bnay and Bnoth Qyōmo in the Syriac Tradition
by Malatius Malki Malki
Religions 2024, 15(6), 686; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060686 - 31 May 2024
Viewed by 377
Abstract
A group of Syriac Christian believers existed during the fourth century called the Bnay Qyōmo (with their female counterparts known as the Bnoth Qyōmo): the Sons and Daughters of the Covenant. There has been considerable controversy about the nature of this archaic [...] Read more.
A group of Syriac Christian believers existed during the fourth century called the Bnay Qyōmo (with their female counterparts known as the Bnoth Qyōmo): the Sons and Daughters of the Covenant. There has been considerable controversy about the nature of this archaic Syrian monastic movement or, as it is known to some scholars, the Syriac “Proto-Monastic Tradition”. The controversy has not only been about the name, but also the origin, habits, and ascetic way of life of the Bnay Qyōmo. The intention of the present article is not to elaborate on the various terminology used to describe the Bnay Qyōmo or the nature of their vows and expected duties as introduced by Aphrahat and other Syrian Fathers, for these have been studied by many scholars. Rather, the intention of this article is to review some of the material discussing this group by key Syriac Fathers to present a fresh reading of the historical record to better apprize the order’s regulations and its social and ecclesiastical roles within the Syriac-speaking Church during the fourth and fifth centuries AD. The main Syriac writers who dealt with this topic were Aphrahat, known as “the Persian Sage” (ca. 260–345), and Rabūla, Bishop of Edessa (flor. 420s). Whilst the order appears to have declined by about the eighth century, understanding the roles of the Bnay Qyōmo during the earlier period (the focus of this writing) is crucial for explaining the development of the Syriac Tradition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
12 pages, 6949 KiB  
Article
Dream Divination in a Context of Social Disruption: Julian’s Vision of the Two Trees
by Bronwen Neil
Religions 2024, 15(6), 631; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060631 - 21 May 2024
Viewed by 650
Abstract
The late Roman discourse on divinatory dreams and their interpretation reflects a context of cultural fragmentation. The political turbulence of the 350s to 360s was due partly to the ongoing external war with the (Persian) Sasanians, but also to the internal struggle between [...] Read more.
The late Roman discourse on divinatory dreams and their interpretation reflects a context of cultural fragmentation. The political turbulence of the 350s to 360s was due partly to the ongoing external war with the (Persian) Sasanians, but also to the internal struggle between the heirs of Constantine for rule over the Roman empire, still undergoing a process of Christianization when Julian was acclaimed Augustus in 360. A third arena of fragmentation was religious beliefs and practices during the 350s and 360s. The contested transformation of Rome in the religious sphere was the context of Julian’s dynastic vision of the two trees, received in late 358 or 359. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
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22 pages, 305 KiB  
Article
On the Foundation Period of the Maronite Tradition
by Joseph Azize
Religions 2024, 15(5), 596; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15050596 - 13 May 2024
Viewed by 995
Abstract
The Maronite Church states that it is an Antiochene and Syriac Church. This article traces, in chronological and discursive fashion, the emergence of the Maronite tradition. It explores the life and significance of St Maroun (d. ca AD 418–23), giving consideration to thinkers [...] Read more.
The Maronite Church states that it is an Antiochene and Syriac Church. This article traces, in chronological and discursive fashion, the emergence of the Maronite tradition. It explores the life and significance of St Maroun (d. ca AD 418–23), giving consideration to thinkers who helped to understand his outlook and methods and assessing what we know of the St Maroun monastery (Dayr Mar Maroun) and its vicissitudes down to the sixth century. The piece then treats Maronites in the context of the seventh-century monothelite controversy, following their foundational developments up to the time of their first patriarch Yohanna Maroun (flor. 680s). The paper considers not only the ascetic and monastic currents in the early Maronite community but also touches on the influence of Syriac typology and its gradual displacement by analytic and dogmatic theology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)

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20 pages, 264 KiB  
Essay
The Origins of the Christian Idea of Trinity: Answering Jewish Charges of Heresy; Exhorting Pagans against Polytheism; Countering False Gnostics
by Keith Thompson
Religions 2024, 15(4), 402; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040402 - 26 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1196
Abstract
In this essay I explain that the Christian doctrine of the Trinity was first developed as a response to Jewish claims of Christian apostasy and polytheism. At the beginning of Christianity, most of its converts were observant Jews. The Jewish authorities took steps [...] Read more.
In this essay I explain that the Christian doctrine of the Trinity was first developed as a response to Jewish claims of Christian apostasy and polytheism. At the beginning of Christianity, most of its converts were observant Jews. The Jewish authorities took steps to reclaim their lost sheep and to stem the flow of departures. Their primary intellectual ammunition in that effort was the claim that the Christians were polytheists, because they claimed to believe in two Gods–the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The Christians’ apostasy was manifest by simple referring to the Mosaic commandment that righteous Israel should have only one God. This Jewish accusation of polytheism also neatly answered the inflammatory Christian charge that the Jews had crucified God and raised significant doubt about their claims of a special resurrection. The doctrine of the Trinity answered all those criticisms. God and Jesus Christ together were the one true God. But the nature of that oneness took some time to work out, and it is within a process of contending with pagan philosophical arguments and intra-Christian heretical positions, that a Christian doctrine of the Trinity begins to congeal. The work of Ante-Nicene Fathers—Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Novatian, and others—whose voices we allow to be heard below—contain a trajectory of ideas that explain how the tri-unity is expressed in the momentous Creeds of Nicaea (AD 325) and Constantinople (381). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Patristics: Essays from Australia)
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