Religious Studies

How did Christian communities across time and space engage with religious others? Informed by current debates on global history, the studies in this volume cover Eastern and Western Christian traditions stretching from the second to the twentieth century and portray Christianity as a fluid, relational, and globally entangled religion.

Inter-congregational connections profoundly shaped the Pauline mission. Christoph W. Stenschke provides the first comprehensive analysis of these connections in the seven generally acknowledged authentic Pauline letters. He examines their various forms as well as their rhetorical function and historical plausibility within the epistolary context.

In this epigraphical commentary, the author examines the apostle Paul's first Epistle to the Thessalonians in the light of ancient inscriptions. He proposes new interpretations to better appreciate the significance of the letter in its socio-historical and epigraphic context.

Ruben van Wingerden explores how early Christians interpreted Jesus' call to »carry one's cross« and shows how early Christian readers, operating within diverse cultural and theological contexts, expanded and reshaped the meaning of cross-bearing from its New Testament origins into a rich and multifaceted tradition.