Theology
Sceptic and Believer in Ancient Mediterranean Religions
Edited by Babett Edelmann-Singer, Tobias Nicklas, Janet E. Spittler, and Luigi Walt
[Skeptiker und Gläubiger in den Religionen des Mittelmeeraums in der Antike.]
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What are the roles of doubt and scepticism in the religious landscape of the ancient Mediterranean? How is doubt expressed within a specific religious community, and what reactions does it provoke? How does »insider doubt« differ from the sceptical attitude of outsiders? Exploring these questions with respect to a wide range of religious contexts and topics (including early Christianity, Greco-Roman religions, Egyptian religions, astrology, and magic), the essays in this volume confirm the thesis that doubting one's own religious tradition is not simply a »Western« post-Enlightenment phenomenon. On the contrary, ancient religions offered opportunities and contexts wherein aspects of doubt are not just tolerated but accepted; moreover, doubt and scepticism concerning certain religious ideas or aspects of belief also motivated creative reinterpretation of those ideas.Survey of contents
Clifford Ando: Disbelief and Cognate Concepts in Roman Antiquity – Jan Assmann: Ancient Egyptian Disbelief in the Promises of Eternity – Tim Whitmarsh: The Invention of Atheism and the Invention of Religion in Classical Athens – Jan N. Bremmer: Youth, Atheism, and (Un)Belief in Late Fifth-Century Athens – Matthew A. Fox: Disbelief in Rome: A Reappraisal – Babett Edelmann-Singer: »Who Will Worship This Man as a God, Who Will Believe in Him?« – Seneca's Apocolocyntosis and the Hermeneutical Categories of Belief and Scepticism in Emperor Cult – Kai Trampedach: Plutarch als Apologet des Orakels von Delphi – Janet Downie: Belief and Doubt in Aelius Aristides's Isthmian Oration: To Poseidon – Inger N.I. Kuin: Loukianos Atheos? Humour and Religious Doubt in Lucian of Samosata – Tobias Nicklas: Skepsis und Christusglaube: Funktionen, Räume und Impulse des Zweifels bei Paulus – David P. Moessner: Luke as Sceptical »Insider« – Re-configuring the »Tradition« by Re-figuring the »Synoptic« Plot – Benjamin Schliesser: The Gospel for Sceptics: Doubting Thomas (John 20:24–29) and Early Christian Identity Formation – Anna Van den Kerchove: »Why Do You Doubt?« – Scepticism and Some Nag Hammadi Writings – Richard L. Gordon: Evading Doubt: Astrology and Magic in the Greco-Roman Period