The Hellenic Origins of Christian Asceticism
Author: Joseph Ward Swain
Publisher:
Published: 1916
Total Pages: 166
ISBN-13:
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The Hellenic Origins of Christian Asceticism
Author: Joseph Ward Swain
Publisher: Legare Street Press
Published: 2022-10-27
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781018411682
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Asceticism in the Graeco-Roman World
Author: Richard Damian Finn
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2009-07-02
Total Pages: 195
ISBN-13: 0521862817
DOWNLOAD EBOOKPagan asceticism: cultic and contemplative purity -- Asceticism in Hellenistic and Rabbinic Judaism -- Christian asceticism before Origen -- Origen and his ascetic legacy -- Cavemen, cenobites, and clerics.
The Hellenic Origins of Christian Asceticism
Author: Joseph Ward Swain
Publisher: Theclassics.Us
Published: 2013-09
Total Pages: 48
ISBN-13: 9781230242873
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI Philosophical Asceticism In the preceding chapter it was seen how, beginning in the last century before Christ, large numbers of people began to give themselves over to all sorts of ascetic practices; from the opening of tbis century until the end of the pagan world, such practices became ever more popular. The persons who did such things, however, did not do them from strictly religious motives, but rather from ethical ones: the asceticism which has been described was a distinctly ethical asceticism. Two different sorts of asceticism have been found in the Roman Empire, then, one religious and largely oriental, the other ethical, and more distinctly Greek--though it too was influenced by oriental forceT. _ 5ut there was a third sort as well, which must be described before the present study will be complete. In general, the persons whose activities were described in the last chapter were not very philosophic persons; they were not the sort who would think things through and formulate a reasoned exposition of the grounds for their conduct; they were content to invoke a few general conceptions and let it go at that. But at the same time there were other persons, likewise interested in asceticism, who were more deep-thinking. These latter were profoundly influenced by the more popular asceticism which they saw about them, and which was undoubtedly the determining cause of their own, but owing to their character, they could not rest content until they had worked out a rationale of the whole thing. These more philosophic persons therefore formulated a philosophy of asceticism which stated in enduring terms the confusedly 104 i felt aspirations of the popular ascetics of their day. Not only do they serve to clarify this popular...
Evagrius of Pontus
Author: Robert E. Sinkewicz
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2006-04-14
Total Pages: 410
ISBN-13: 0191516368
DOWNLOAD EBOOKEvagrius of Pontus (c.345-399) was one of the most prominent figures among the monks of the desert settlements of Nitria, Sketis, and Kellia in Lower Egypt. Through the course of his ascetic writings he formulated a systematic presentation of the teaching of the semi-eremitic monks of these settlements. The works of Evagrius had a profound influence on Eastern Orthodox monastic teaching and passed to the West through the writings of John Cassian (c.365-435). This is the first complete English translation of Evagrius' Greek ascetic writings, based on modern critical editions, where available, and, where they are not, on collations of the principal manuscripts. Two appendices provide variant readings for the Greek texts and the complete text of the long recension of Eulogios. The translations are accompanied by a commentary to guide the reader through the intricacies of Evagrian thought by offering explanatory comments and references to other Evagrian texts and relevant scholarly literature. Finally, detailed indexes are provided to allow the reader to identify and study the numerous themes of Evagrian teaching.
The Sentences of Sextus and the Origins of Christian Ascetiscism
Author: Daniele Pevarello
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Published: 2013-11-19
Total Pages: 268
ISBN-13: 9783161525797
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDaniele Pevarello analyzes the Sentences of Sextus, a second century collection of Greek aphorisms compiled by Sextus, an otherwise unknown Christian author. The specific character of Sextus' collection lies in the fact that the Sentences are a Christian rewriting of Hellenistic sayings, some of which are still preserved in pagan gnomologies and in Porphyry. Pevarello investigates the problem of continuity and discontinuity between the ascetic tendencies of the Christian compiler and aphorisms promoting self-control in his pagan sources. In particular, he shows how some aspects of the Stoic, Cynic, Platonic and Pythagorean moral traditions, such as sexual restraint, voluntary poverty, the practice of silence and of a secluded life were creatively combined with Sextus' ascetic agenda against the background of the biblical tradition. Drawing on this adoption of Hellenistic moral traditions, Pevarello shows how great a part the moral tradition of Greek paideia played in the shaping and development of self-restraint among early Christian ascetics.
To Train His Soul in Books
Author: Robin Darling Young
Publisher: CUA Press
Published: 2011-08-31
Total Pages: 239
ISBN-13: 0813217326
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTo Train His Soul in Books explores numerous aspects of this rich religious culture, extending previous lines of scholarly investigation and demonstrating the activity of Syriac-speaking scribes and translators busy assembling books for the training of biblical interpreters, ascetics, and learned clergy.
Asceticism
Author: Vincent L. Wimbush
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2002-05-23
Total Pages: 678
ISBN-13: 0198034512
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom meditation and fasting to celibacy and anchoritism, the ascetic impulse has been an enduring and complex phenomenon throughout history. Offering a sweeping view of this elusive and controversial aspect of religious life and culture, Asceticism looks at the ascetic impulse from a unique vantage point. Cross-cultural, cross-religious, and multidisciplinary in nature, these essays provide a broad historical and comparative perspective on asceticism--a subject rarely studied outside the context of individual religious traditions. The work represents the input of more than forty preeminent scholars in a wide range of fields and disciplines, and analyzes asceticism from antiquity to the present in European, Near Eastern, African, Asian, and North American settings. Asceticism is organized around four major themes that cut across religious traditions: origins and meanings of asceticism, which explores the motivations and impulses behind ascetic behaviors; hermeneutics of asceticism, which looks at texts and rhetorics and their presuppositions; aesthetics of asceticism, which documents responses evoked by ascetic impulses and practices, as well as the arts of ascetic practices themselves; and politics of asceticism, which analyzes the power dynamics of asceticism, especially as regards gender, cultural, and ethnic differences. Critical responses to the major papers ensure the focus upon the themes and unify the discussion. Two general addresses on broad philosophical and historical-interpretive issues suggest the importance of the subject of asceticism for wide-ranging but serious cultural-critical discussions. An Appendix, Ascetica Miscellanea, includes six short papers on provocative topics not related to the four major themes, and a panel discussion on the practices and meanings of asceticism in contemporary religious life and culture. A selected bibliography and an index are also included. The only comprehensive reference work on asceticism with a multicultural, multireligious, and multidisciplinary perspective, Asceticism offers a model not only for an understanding of a most important dimension of religious life, but also for future interdisciplinary study in general.
The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies
Author: Susan Ashbrook Harvey
Publisher: Oxford Handbooks Online
Published: 2008-09-04
Total Pages: 1049
ISBN-13: 0199271569
DOWNLOAD EBOOKProvides an introduction to the academic study of early Christianity (c. 100-600 AD) and examines the vast geographical area impacted by the early church, in Western and Eastern late antiquity. --from publisher description.
Asceticism and Anthropology in Irenaeus and Clement
Author: John Behr
Publisher: Oxford Early Christian Studies
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 282
ISBN-13: 9780198270003
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAsceticism and Anthropology in Irenaeus and Clement examines the ways in which Irenaeus and Clement understood what it means to be human. By exploring these writings from within their own theological perspectives, John Behr also offers a theological critique of the prevailing approach to the asceticism of Late Antiquity. Writing before monasticism became the dominant paradigm of Christian asceticism, Irenaeus and Clement afford fascinating glimpses of alternative approaches. For Irenaeus, asceticism is the expression of man living the life of God in all dimensions of the body, that which is most characteristically human and in the image of God. Human existence as a physical being includes sexuality as a permanent part of the framework within which males and females grow towards God. In contrast, Clement depicts asceticism as man's attempt at a godlike life to protect the rational element, that which is distinctively human and in the image of God, from any possible disturbance and threat, or from the vulnerability of dependency, especially of a physical or sexual nature. Here human sexuality is strictly limited by the finality of procreation and abandoned in the resurrection. By paying careful attention to these two writers, Behr offers challenging material for the continuing task of understanding ourselves as human beings.
