An exploration of the paradoxical celebrity of ascetic renunciants in early Christianity, using the example of Simeon Stylites, the pillar saint.

An exploration of the paradoxical celebrity of ascetic renunciants in early Christianity, using the example of Simeon Stylites, the pillar saint.

My essay highlights differences between how Edwards and I approach ancient sources and the scholarship on them. My response also provides a dossier of a dozen or so passages where Origen portrays paradise as a divine or incorporeal place, distinct from this earth, and as a residence for pre-existent rational creatures. Edwards denies such a portrait.

My essay highlights differences between how Edwards and I approach ancient sources and the scholarship on them. My response also provides a dossier of a dozen or so passages where Origen portrays paradise as a divine or incorporeal place, distinct from this earth, and as a residence for pre-existent rational creatures. Edwards denies such a portrait.

Writing Demetrias: Ascetic Logic in Ancient Christianity

Writing Demetrias: Ascetic Logic in Ancient Christianity

Writing Demetrias: Ascetic Logic in Ancient Christianity

The fourth-century Syriac corpus known as the Demonstrations, attributed to Aphrahat, the Persian Sage, provides a unique window into the early development of Christianity among Syriac-speaking communities. Occasionally these writings attest to beliefs and practices that were not common among other contemporaneous Christian communities, such as…[Read more]