Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions

351 Pages·2004·2.46 MB·English

by  Ra'anan S. Boustan

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HeavenlyRealmsandEarthlyRealitiesinLateAntiqueReligions
Heavenheldaspecialplaceinthelateantiqueimagination.Apoignantsense
of the relevance of heavenly realms for earthly life can be found not only in
JudaismandChristianitybutalsoinGraeco–Romanreligious,philosophical,
scientific,and“magical”traditions.Thepreoccupationwithotherworldlyreal-
ities transcends social, regional, and creedal boundaries. The topic of heaven
thusservesasanidealfocusforaninterdisciplinaryapproachtounderstanding
thisformativeerainWesternhistory.Drawingontheexpertiseofscholarsof
Classics, Ancient History, Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, and Patristics, this
volumeexploresthedifferentfunctionsofheavenlyimageryindifferenttexts
andtraditionsinordertomapthepatternsofunityanddiversitywithinthe
religiouslandscapeofLateAntiquity.
Ra‘ananS.BoustanisAssistantProfessorintheDepartmentofClassicaland
NearEasternStudiesattheUniversityofMinnesota.AscholarofearlyJudaism,
he has published studies on early Jewish mysticism, the relationship between
JewsandChristiansinLateAntiquity,andtheroleofgenderandsexualitywithin
Judaism,amongothertopics.
Annette Yoshiko Reed is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious
StudiesatMcMasterUniversity.HerresearchspansthefieldsofBiblicalStudies,
JewishStudies,andPatristics,andherpublicationsincludeTheWaysthatNever
Parted:JewsandChristiansinLateAntiquityandtheEarlyMiddleAges(coeditedwith
AdamH.Becker).
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HEAVENLY REALMS
AND
EARTHLY REALITIES
IN
LATE ANTIQUE RELIGIONS
Editedby
RA‘ANAN S. BOUSTAN
UniversityofMinnesota
ANNETTE YOSHIKO REED
McMasterUniversity
iii
cambridge university press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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© Cambridge University Press 2004
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2004
isbn-13 978-0-511-21175-1 eBook (EBL)
isbn-10 0-511-21352-2
eBook (EBL)
isbn-13 978-0-521-83102-4 hardback
isbn-10 0-521-83102-4 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
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Contents
Preface page vii
ListofContributors xi
Introduction:“InHeavenasItIsonEarth” 1
Ra‘ananS.BoustanandAnnetteYoshikoReed
PARTONE. BETWEENEARTHANDHEAVEN
1. TheBridgeandtheLadder:NarrowPassages
inLateAntiqueVisions 19
FritzGraf
2. “HeavenlySteps”:Manilius4.119–121andItsBackground 34
KatharinaVolk
3. HeavenlyAscent,AngelicDescent,andtheTransmission
ofKnowledgein1Enoch6–16 47
AnnetteYoshikoReed
4. “ConnectingHeavenandEarth”:TheFunction
oftheHymnsinRevelation4–5 67
GottfriedSchimanowski
5. WorkingOvertimeintheAfterlife;or,NoRest
fortheVirtuous 85
SarahIlesJohnston
PARTTWO. INSTITUTIONALIZINGHEAVEN
6. EarthlySacrificeandHeavenlyIncense:TheLaw
ofthePriesthoodinAramaicLeviandJubilees 103
MarthaHimmelfarb
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Contents
7. Who’s ontheThrone?RevelationintheLongYear 123
JohnW.Marshall
8. TheEarthlyMonasteryandtheTransformation
oftheHeavenlyCityinLateAntiqueEgypt 142
KirstiB.Copeland
9. ContextualizingHeaveninThird-CenturyNorthAfrica 159
JanN.Bremmer
10. BringingtheHeavenlyAcademyDowntoEarth:Approaches
totheImageryofDivinePedagogyintheEastSyrian
Tradition 174
AdamH.Becker
PARTTHREE. TRADITIONANDINNOVATION
11. AngelsintheArchitecture:TempleArtandthePoeticsof
PraiseintheSongsoftheSabbathSacrifice 195
Ra‘ananS.Boustan
12. TheCollapseofCelestialandChthonicRealmsinaLate
Antique“ApollonianInvocation”(PGMI262–347) 213
ChristopherA.Faraone
13. InHeavenasItIsinHell:TheCosmologyofSeder
Rabbahdi-Bereshit 233
PeterSch¨afer
14. TheFacesoftheMoon:Cosmology,Genesis,
andtheMithrasLiturgy 275
RadcliffeG.EdmondsIII
15. “OParadoxicalFusion!”:GregoryofNazianzusonBaptism
andCosmology(Orations38–40) 296
SusannaElm
SelectBibliography 317
Index 323
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Preface
Thepresentvolumeistheproductofauniquesortofcollaborativeeffort
aimedatbringingtogetherrelativelyunseasonedscholars–thatis,graduate
students–andtheirmoreexperiencedcounterpartsinanenvironmentcon-
ducivetointerdisciplinaryresearch.In2000,whentheeditorswerebothstill
inthemidstofourdoctoralstudiesintheReligionsofLateAntiquitysubfield
oftheDepartmentofReligionatPrincetonUniversity,Prof.PeterSch¨afer
approachedusforideasaboutinnovativewaystoenrichgraduate-student
trainingandtofosterfurthercollaborationbetweenfacultyandstudentsin
oursubfield,withthesupportoffundsgenerouslygrantedforthispurpose
by Prof. John F. Wilson, then Dean of Princeton’s Graduate School. This
dovetailedwithagrowingsenseonthepartofthestudentsinoursubfield
thatwewouldbenefitfromhavingaformalyetsupportiveforumatwhich
toshareourongoingresearch.Exciteddiscussionssoonyieldedaplanfor
aneventwithatwofoldstructure:(1)asemester-longworkshoponatheme
ofspecialrelevancetothestudyofLateAntiquity,atwhichstudentswould
present papers and receive feedback from Princeton students and faculty,
culminating in (2) a public colloquium that would feature reworked ver-
sionsofthesepapers,alongsidepresentationsfromthefacultymembersof
theworkshopandinvitedscholarsfromotherinstitutions.
Toenhancethisproject’sbenefitsforgraduate-studenttraining,itwasde-
terminedthattheresponsibilityfororganizingbothelementsofthisevent,
aswellasforchoosingthetopic,thetitle,andthescholarstoinvitetothecol-
loquium,wouldfalltous.WorkingundertheguidanceofProf.Sch¨afer,we
decidedthatthedistinctivelylateantiquefascinationwiththeotherworldly
realmspresentedasuitablyvariegatedandwidespreadphenomenonforour
project, intersecting the diverse areas of interest represented in our sub-
fieldwhilealsoopeningthewayforaprofitablyinterdisciplinaryvistaonto
thereligiouslandscapeofLateAntiquity.Accordingly,wechoseatitlethat
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Preface
reflectedourinterestintherelationshipbetweenimagesofheavenandthe
social,cultural,andhistoricalcontextsthatshapedthem:“InHeavenasItIs
onEarth:ImaginedRealmsandEarthlyRealitiesinLateAntiqueReligions.”
FromSeptembertoDecember2000,thefacultyanddoctoralstudentsin
oursubfieldmetbiweeklytodiscussstudentpapersonthistheme.Aswe
hadhoped,thesemeetingsservedtofosteraproductivesettingofcontin-
ued,informaldialogueandtoencouragetheexchangeofresearchbetween
membersofoursubfieldwithexpertiseindifferentreligioustraditionsand
geographicalareas,evenastheyfulfilledtheaimofprovidingstudentswith
feedbacktowardrevisingtheirpapersforpresentationattheculminating
colloquium.Atthisevent,heldatPrincetononJanuary14–15,2001,wewere
joinedbyscholarsfromotheruniversities,fromarangeofintersectingfields–
Classics, Religious Studies, Ancient History, Jewish Studies, Patristics –
whosharedtheproductsoftheirongoingresearchonimagesofheaven.
Thesuccessofthiseventsurpassedourexpectations.Theindividualpa-
pers were of high quality, the dialogue that they sparked was unusually
spirited,andeventheparticipantsexpressedtheirsurpriseatthepowerful
perspectiveonlateantiquereligionthatemergedfromthecumulativeeffect
ofthediversepresentations.Despiteourdifferentdisciplinesandfieldsof
specialization, we found ourselves confronted by many of the same inter-
pretative issues and methodological problems; not only were we pleased
to discover many intriguing parallels and patterns within different late
antiquereligions,butourinterdisciplinarydialoguealsoallowedustoshare
theproductsofourindividualattemptstoforgeheuristicnewapproaches
tostudyingLateAntiquity.Thepresentvolumeaimstocapturethespirit
of this event and to build upon its insights. We here include many of the
paperspresentedatthe2001colloquium,whichhavebeenrevisedandex-
pandedtoreflectourdiscussionsthere,togetherwithsixadditionalcontri-
butionssolicitedespeciallyforthispublication.1
Spacedoesnotpermitacompletelistofallthose,atPrincetonandbeyond,
whocontributedtothesuccessoftheworkshopandcolloquiumandwho
helped to make this volume possible. We would be remiss, however, not
to express our deepest debt of gratitude to Prof. Sch¨afer, without whom
1 Thesuccessofthisprojectalsoopenedthewayforanotherworkshopandcolloquiumin
2001–2002–thesecondofwhatwehopearemany,manymoretocome–whichtackledthe
topicofearlyJewish–Christianrelations.ProceedingshaverecentlybeenpublishedbyMohr
Siebeck:A.H.BeckerandA.Y.Reed,eds.,TheWaysthatNeverParted:JewsandChristiansinLate
AntiquityandtheEarlyMiddleAges(TSAJ95;Tu¨bingen,2003).
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