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.
Reviews
“In general, the volume, intended for an audience already familiar with the writings under discussion, explores the literary relationships among this chronologically, geographically, and culturally diverse body of materials. The editors performed a splendid job not only in selecting the thirteen essays, but also in creating near stylistic uniformity throughout the pieces, although they could have asked some of the contributors to provide translations of the ancient texts.” Reviewed by Gary Gilbert, BMCR 2014.03.07.
Rodney A. Caruthers II in The Enoch Seminar Online
Annelies Bossu in L’Antiquité Classique 84 (2015), 322-324
Fotini Hadjittofi in Evphrosyne 42 (2014), 313-316
Nicole Fick in Latomus 73 (2014), 4, 1103-1105
Thomas J. Kraus, Expository Times 125.11, August 2014
Gary Gilbert, BMCR 2014.03.07
Acknowledgments IX
Prologue XI
Introduction XV
A THE APOCRYPHAL ACTS 1
JENNIFER EYL
Why Thekla Does Not See Paul: Visual Perception and the Displacement of Erōs in the Acts of Paul and Thekla 3
ROBIN J. GREENE
(Un)Happily Ever After: Literary and Religious Tensions in the Endings of the Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla 21
PAOLA FRANCESCA MORETTI
The Two Ephesian Matrons: Drusiana’s Story in the Acts of John as a Possible Christian Response to Milesian Narrative 35
VINCENT GIRAUDET
Virginity at Stake: Greek Novels, Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, and the Dionysiaca of Nonnus Panopolitanus 49
JANET SPITTLER
Wild Kingdom: Animal Episodes in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 65
B THE JEWISH NOVEL 77
NINA BRAGINSKAYA
Joseph and Aseneth in Greek Literary History: The Case of the “First Novel” 79
C ANCIENT NOVEL AND EARLY CHRISTIAN FICTIONS: INTERSECTIONS 107
JUDITH PERKINS
Jesus Was No Sophist: Education in Christian Fiction 109
OLIVER EHLEN
Reading the Protevangelium Jacobi as an Ancient Novel 133
ROSA M. ANDÚJAR
Charicleia the Martyr: Heliodorus and Early Christian Narrative 139
MARTINA HIRSCHBERGER
Marriages Spoiled: The Deconstruction of Novel Discourse in Early Christian Novel Narratives 153
D NEW TESTAMENT AND HAGIOGRAPHY 169
WARREN S. SMITH
We-Passages in Acts as Mission Narrative 171
PETR KITZLER
Viri mirantur facilius quam imitantur: Passio Perpetuae in the Literature of the Ancient Church (Tertullian, Acta martyrum, and Augustine) 189
TIMO GLASER
Telling What’s Beyond the Known: The Epistolary Novel and the Afterlife of the Apostle Paul in the Pastoral Epistles 203
Abstracts 215
Contributors 221
Indices 225
Index locorum 225
General index 227
