dreams in rome

8/13/2019 dreams in rome

1/3

merican Society of Church History

Gods and the One God by Robert M. GrantReview by: Henry ChadwickChurch History, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Dec., 1988), pp. 519-520Published by: Cambridge University Presson behalf of the American Society of Church HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3166657.

Accessed: 17/02/2014 17:25

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Cambridge University PressandAmerican Society of Church Historyare collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,

preserve and extend access to Church History.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 181.118.153.143 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 17:25:32 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cuphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aschhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3166657?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3166657?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aschhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup


2/3

BOOK REVIEWSGods and the One God. By ROBERTM. GRANT. Library of Early Christiani-ty. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1986. 216 pp. 18.95.

This volume is characteristic of a scholar whose knowledge of the ancientsources is always firsthand and deep. At the same time, it is written so thatone who runs may read, and there is even a risk that the first-year student, towhom the book can be confidently recommended, will not easily recognize therange of critical judgment here deployed.As the title might lead one to expect, the book offers a narrative analysis ofsome of the differences that came about in ancient society and its institutionswhen Christian monotheism succeeded in conquering polytheism. Thattransition is central to Robert Grant's story, though the later stages of thepagan-Christian conflict are only alluded to. He begins with the collisionbetween Christianity and polytheism recorded in the Acts of the Apostles,certainly the most vivid and authentic picture we possess of what life felt likefor Roman provincials of that age. Paul the missionary criticized the godshesitatingly venerated by the Athenians, who, for all their skepticism, still feltthat one could not be too careful. But on the Areopagus he might reasonablyhave expected an audience already sympathetic to the negative parts of histhesis. It is doubtful whether Stoic philosophers took the cults very seriously,and wholly certain that Epicureans did not. So at this. stage the cult was aneuralgic thing and not the ancient philosophical tradition. Other encounterswith paganism in Acts occurred at Cyprus, Corinth, Lystra, Ephesus, andPuteoli (western home of the Baal of Sarepta and the colonists from Tyre).Oriental deities also traveled westwards, like Isis to Athens, the Aegean, andRome, Serapis to the Aegean, Dionysus to Egypt and to Italy. Judaisminfiltrated everywhere and stuck out like a sore thumb, seldom admired in theGreco-Roman world but an object of fascinated curiosity. Like the Jews, theearly Christians were against idolatry (1 Thess. 1:9) but tended because oftheir universalism to adopt a more militant stance than the synagogues. Grantmight have told us more of the Christians who knocked heads off statues orhissed disapprobation as they passed a temple. One crucial text relatingChristian monotheism to belief in many gods is 1 Cor. 8:4-6, but more thanone deduction could be made from that text.

What could the old gods do for anyone? They were expected, if propitious,to provide physical safety, healing, rescue from shipwreck, success in love,fertility in procreation, and prosperity in commerce or military action. Theyeither kept kings on thrones or not, as circumstances might determine. Basicexpectations were for miracles and prophecies of the hazardous future. Theyspoke not only through oracles, which by Plutarch's time were in decline(including a diminished facility in the improvization of Greek hexameters),but also by dreams such as those catalogued in the gripping pages of

519

This content downloaded from 181.118.153.143 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 17:25:32 PM

All use subject toJSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/3

CHURCH HISTORYHURCH HISTORYArtemidorus. Gods were pleased to be praised, and the aretalogies advertisedtheir success in the market. Some deities such as those of Egypt, Isis, andSerapis (one should add the God of the Jews) were respected as especiallypotent. The power which could annually cause an event as colossal as theNile flood was good to have on one's side. The myths recorded the exploits ofthe gods, notably by heroes such as Dionysus, Asclepius, and Heracles.From page 75 onwards the book is less about cult and more about theChristian assimilation and critical digestion of philosophical theology, withthe implicit question whether or not pagan philosophical reflection onreligion anticipated developments in the early Church. Texts successivelydrawn upon to illustrate affirmative answers to that question are called towitness: Pseudo-Aristotle's de mundo; Plutarch; the middle Platonists Albin-us, Apuleius, and Atticus; Aelius Aristides; Maximus of Tyre; and Lucian.Philo makes only a brief appearance (the contentious might think too brief) tointroduce the second-century Christian apologists, along with Irenaeus,Clement, and Origen. Grant sets aside W. L. Knox's fascinating andindemonstrable suggestion that the conventional praises of Isis influenced thefigure of Wisdom in Proverbs 8. But certainly Isis became a cosmic goddess inthe Hellenistic world and in that sense anticipated Pauline and Johanninelanguage about the cosmic Christ in creation. Apollo, Athena, Dionysus, andHermes are also credited with a cosmic role.

The remainder of the book studies specifically Christian themes, Christo-logy, and the Trinity. First there is a study of the Antiochene Christology ofIgnatius, Theophilus, Paul of Samosata, and Marcellus. Chapters follow onthe spirit (prophecy and Montanism) and on the development of the divineTriad with middle Platonist analogies in Numenius of Apamea. Care is takento guard against the simplistic notion that trinitarianism was Plato with aPalestinian accent. But Grant concludes this valuable study with thereflection that there was some fittingness in the Christian appropriation forliturgical use of a number of pagan temples such as the Parthenon, whichbecame a Church of Saint Mary for a lot longer than it served to honorAthena.Cambridge University HENRY CHADWICKCambridge, England

Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine: History, Messiah, Israel,and the Initial Confrontation. By JACOBNEUSNER. Chicago Studies in theHistory of Judaism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. xv + 246pp. 27.50.The Judaic sages of Genesis Rabbah and Eusebius of Caesarea on the

meaning of history, the sages of the Talmud of the Land of Israel and JohnChrysostom on the Messiah, and the sages of Leviticus Rabbah and Genesis

Artemidorus. Gods were pleased to be praised, and the aretalogies advertisedtheir success in the market. Some deities such as those of Egypt, Isis, andSerapis (one should add the God of the Jews) were respected as especiallypotent. The power which could annually cause an event as colossal as theNile flood was good to have on one's side. The myths recorded the exploits ofthe gods, notably by heroes such as Dionysus, Asclepius, and Heracles.From page 75 onwards the book is less about cult and more about theChristian assimilation and critical digestion of philosophical theology, withthe implicit question whether or not pagan philosophical reflection onreligion anticipated developments in the early Church. Texts successivelydrawn upon to illustrate affirmative answers to that question are called towitness: Pseudo-Aristotle's de mundo; Plutarch; the middle Platonists Albin-us, Apuleius, and Atticus; Aelius Aristides; Maximus of Tyre; and Lucian.Philo makes only a brief appearance (the contentious might think too brief) tointroduce the second-century Christian apologists, along with Irenaeus,Clement, and Origen. Grant sets aside W. L. Knox's fascinating andindemonstrable suggestion that the conventional praises of Isis influenced thefigure of Wisdom in Proverbs 8. But certainly Isis became a cosmic goddess inthe Hellenistic world and in that sense anticipated Pauline and Johanninelanguage about the cosmic Christ in creation. Apollo, Athena, Dionysus, andHermes are also credited with a cosmic role.

The remainder of the book studies specifically Christian themes, Christo-logy, and the Trinity. First there is a study of the Antiochene Christology ofIgnatius, Theophilus, Paul of Samosata, and Marcellus. Chapters follow onthe spirit (prophecy and Montanism) and on the development of the divineTriad with middle Platonist analogies in Numenius of Apamea. Care is takento guard against the simplistic notion that trinitarianism was Plato with aPalestinian accent. But Grant concludes this valuable study with thereflection that there was some fittingness in the Christian appropriation forliturgical use of a number of pagan temples such as the Parthenon, whichbecame a Church of Saint Mary for a lot longer than it served to honorAthena.Cambridge University HENRY CHADWICKCambridge, England

Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine: History, Messiah, Israel,and the Initial Confrontation. By JACOBNEUSNER. Chicago Studies in theHistory of Judaism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. xv + 246pp. 27.50.The Judaic sages of Genesis Rabbah and Eusebius of Caesarea on the

meaning of history, the sages of the Talmud of the Land of Israel and JohnChrysostom on the Messiah, and the sages of Leviticus Rabbah and Genesis

52020

This content downloaded from 181.118.153.143 on Mon, 17 Feb 2014 17:25:32 PM

All use subject toJSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

dreams in rome

Documents