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Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity PDF

219 Pages·2015·1.49 MB·English
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Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity “This is a ground-breaking study of the literary antecedents for the resurrection stories in the Gospels, with wide-ranging implications for Christian history and the- ology. Never again can the resurrection stories be read and interpreted apart from their ancient literary context.” —Dennis Smith, Phillips Theological Seminary, USA “Early Christianity emerged in a world of intense interaction among the devotees of different cults and religions. Narratives, images, ritual practices, and ideas continu- ally crossed the boundaries of religious groups. With the interdependence of ancient religions as his starting point, Richard Miller shows the close relation of the early narratives of Jesus’ resurrection with pre-existing pagan and Jewish narratives of divine translation. This study makes a signifi cant contribution to the study of Early Christianity and the religious trends of the Roman Empire.” —Angelos Chaniotis, Professor of Ancient History, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, US A “Richard Miller’s reading of ancient Greco-Roman narratives concerning the disap- pearance of heroes and demi-gods successfully challenges the traditional reconstruc- tions of the formation of resurrection accounts in the Gospels. Miller moves with theoretical sophistication through an impressive array of ancient texts and shows how early Christian stories about Jesus were developed in the context of literary imitation and emulation that characterized the Mediterranean world in antiquity.” —Giovanni Bazzana, Harvard Divinity School, USA This book offers an original interpretation of the origin and early reception of the most fundamental claim of Christianity: Jesus’ resurrection. Richard Miller con- tends that the earliest Christians would not have considered the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ resurrection to be literal or historical, but instead would have recognized this narrative as an instance of the trope of divine translation, common within the Hellenistic and Roman mythic traditions. Given this framework, Miller argues, early Christians would have understood the resurrection story as fi ctitious rather than historical in nature. By drawing connections between the Gospels and ancient Greek and Roman literature, Miller makes the case that the narratives of the resurrection and ascension of Christ applied extensive and unmistakable structural and symbolic language common to Mediterranean “translation fables,” stock story patterns derived particularly from the archetypal myths of Heracles and Romulus. In the course of his argument, the author applies a critical lens to the referential and mimetic nature of the Gospel stories, and suggests that adapting the “translation fable” trope to accounts of Jesus’ resurrection functioned to exalt him to the level of the heroes, demigods, and emperors of the Hellenistic and Roman world. Miller’s contentions have signifi cant implications for New Testament scholarship and will provoke discussion among scholars of early Christianity and classical studies. Richard C. Miller is an adjunct professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Chapman University, USA. 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Lloyd Edited by Niamh Reilly and Stacey Scriver 40 Making European Muslims Religious Socialization among 31 An Introduction to Jacob Young Muslims in Scandinavia Boehme and Western Europe Four Centuries of Thought and Edited by Mark Sedgwick Reception Edited by Ariel Hessayon and 41 Just War and the Ethics of Sarah Apetrei Espionage Darrell Cole 32 Globalization and Orthodox Christianity 42 Teaching the Historical Jesus The Transformations of a Issues and Exegesis Religious Tradition Edited by Zev Garber Victor Roudometof 43 Eschatology and the 33 Contemporary Jewish Writing Technological Future Austria after Waldheim Michael S. Burdett Andrea Reiter 44 Resurrection and Reception in 34 Religious Ethics and Migration Early Christianity Doing Justice to Undocumented Richard C. Miller Workers Ilsup Ahn This page intentionally left blank Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity Richard C. Miller First published 2015 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Taylor & Francis The right of Richard C. Miller to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Miller, Richard C. (Adjunct Professor) Resurrection and reception in early Christianity / by Richard C. Miller. — 1 [edition]. pages cm. — (Routledge studies in religion ; 44) Includes index. 1. Jesus Christ—Resurrection—History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30–600. I. Title. BT482.M54 2015 232′.509015—dc23 2014033662 ISBN: 978-1-138-82270-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-74233-5 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC I dedicate this book to my three marvelous sons, Riley, Owen, and Sebastian. May you ever be three true brothers and three fi ne gentlemen. This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments xi 1 Justin’s Confession 1 1.1 Evil Demons 5 1.2 Zeus’s Other Sons 8 1.3 Proper Inference 13 2 Translation Fables in Hellenistic and Roman Antiquity 26 2.1 The Hellenic Roots of Translation 26 2.2 Structure and Signification 32 2.3 Samples of the Translation Fable 39 2.4 Generic Modality 76 3 Critical Method and the Gospels 91 3.1 Semiotics and the Sociology of Inference 92 3.2 Cultural Patterns and Archetypal Mimesis 101 3.3 Mimicry in the Gospels as Transcendent Rivalry 129 4 Translation Fables and the Gospels 150 4.1 The “Resurrection” Polyseme in the Gospels 154 4.2 Translation Signals and the Gospels 160 4.3 Conclusion 177 4.4 Implications 180 Index 201

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This book offers an original interpretation of the origin and early reception of the most fundamental claim of Christianity: Jesus' resurrection. Richard Miller contends that the earliest Christians would not have considered the New Testament accounts of Jesus' resurrection to be literal or historic
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