RLB46 The Christian Cult in the Context of Hellenistic Religions

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2013
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Iva Doležalová (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. David Václavík, Ph.D.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Lucie Čelková
Supplier department: Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
each odd Wednesday 10:50–12:25 J22
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Basic features of Christian cult formed during the first five centuries of CE. The course of lectures focuses on characteristics of the process of ritualisation during which originaly very simple ritual life changed from liturgical gatherings known as "agapé" to sophisticated structured eucharistic liturgy, the cycle of liturgical year formed its basic milestones, the cult of saints and martyrs originated. Early Christian art is introduced as the visible side of this process.
The interpretation of the rise of various aspects of Christian cult is based upon comparative as well as sociological approaches.
At the end of the course students should be able to understand and explain the process of ritualisation in Early Christianity in particular aspects as well as the part of the process of self-identification of the rising religion.
Syllabus
  • 1. The rise of Christianity and its ritual practise. Main methodological problems: sociological and anthropological theories and their application in the study of early Christianity.
  • 2. First Chritstian communities and problem of identity. Ritual practises (common feasting, baptism) as important aspects of creating particular Christian identity within the context of Hellenistic religious system. Problem of orthodoxy, canon and orthopraxy.
  • 3. Cult and authority forming in early Christian communities. Monarchical episcopy, authority of priests, development of ritual orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Status and role of women in rituals.
  • 4. Common feasting/eating: "agapé" - eucharistic meal. Social solidarity, rules of conviviality. Symbolisation of food, comparism with ancient and judaistic practise.
  • 5. The Last Supper. Process of self-identification of early Christianity via rituals. Aitiological myth in 1 C, controversies on the way of celebration of the Last Supper
  • 6. Banquets with the dead - refrigerium. Common eating with dead ancestors as means of social solidarity and special identity of particular community.
  • 7. Burials, cemetries, catacombs, relation of Early Christians to dead. Cemetries and their role in localisation of early Christian communties.
  • 8. Cult of apostles, martyrs, saints: comparative perspective (ancient cult of heroes, Judaism and its respect to patriarchs). Fictive relationship of members of early Christian community.
  • 9. Baptism - ritual, structure, identity: comparism - Hellenistic initiation, ritual purity in Antiquity and Judaism.
  • 10. Constantinian turn - early Christian sacred architecture: Constantinople. Constantine's conversion and its consequences for the evolution of ritual. Constantine's religious policy and the foundation of Constantinople as the Christian Capital.
  • 11. Jeruzalem - archeological excavations, reconstruction and construction of Christian sacred places: new impulses for Christian ritual. Pilgrimages and pilgrims.
  • 12. The Cult of Mary - origin, its role in the spectrum of Christian piety and ritual, feminine aspects of Christianity. (Comparison: Mary and Hellenistic Goddesses.)
  • 13. Liturgical year: Eastern, Christmas. Comparative perspective: Hellenistic and Judaistic liturgical calender.
Literature
  • SMITH, Jonathan Z. Drudgery divine : on the comparison of early Christianities and the religions of late antiquity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990, xiii, 145. ISBN 0-226-76362-5. info
  • MACK, Burton L. Who wrote the new testament? : the making of the Christian myth. San Francisco: Harper, 1995, ix, 326 s. ISBN 0-06-065517-8. info
  • LIEU, Judith. Christian identity in the Jewish and Graeco-Roman world. 1st pub. in pbk. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, x, 370. ISBN 019929142X. info
  • BRADSHAW, Paul F. Eucharistic origins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, ix, 166. ISBN 0195222229. info
  • SNYDER, Graydon F. Ante pacem : archaeological evidence of church life before Constantine. Rev. ed. Macon: Mercer University Press, 2003, 311 s. ISBN 0865548951. info
  • SNYDER, Graydon F. Inculturation of the Jesus tradition : the impact of Jesus on Jewish and Roman cultures. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1999, x, 247. ISBN 1563382954. info
Assessment methods
Lecture, seminar
Coloquim
Requests for colloqium
- active participation in seminar discussions based on reading and comments written on the base of the read text
- presentation of prepared paper which should be defended in seminar disscussion
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo religionistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučující.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2002, Spring 2005, Autumn 2006, Spring 2008.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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