| Description |
1 online resource (xiv, 257 pages) |
| Series |
Gender, theory, and religion |
|
Gender, theory, and religion.
|
| Contents |
Worshipers of so-called gods, Jews, and Christians: religion in ethnoracial discourses -- We were before the foundation of the world: appeals to the past in early Christian self-definition -- We quarried from the bowels of Christ, are the true Genos of Israel: Christian claims to peoplehood -- A Genos saved by nature: Ethnic reasoning as intra-Christian polemic -- From every race of humans: ethnic reasoning, conversion, and Christian universalism |
| Summary |
Conventional histories have understood Christianity as a religion that has sought to transcend ethnic and racial distinctions. Denise Kimber Buell challenges this view and argues that ethnicity and race played a crucial role in early definitions of Christianity. In her readings of early Christian texts, Buell considers the use of "ethnic reasoning" to depict Christianness as more than a set of shared religious practices and beliefs. By asking themselves, "Why this new race?" early Christians positioned themselves as members of a distinct ethnos (nation) or genos (race). Buell's reconsideration of Christian identity pays close attention to the ways early Christians viewed ethnicity as both fixed and fluid. Many early Christians characterized Christianness as an ethnicity that had a real essence (fixed) but one that could be acquired through conversion (fluid). Buell also shows that discussions of early Christian self-definition offer insights into contemporary issues concerning race |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-250) and indexes |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Race -- Religious aspects -- Christianity -- History of doctrines -- Early church, ca. 30-600
|
|
Ethnicity -- Religious aspects -- Christianity -- History of doctrines -- Early church, ca. 30-600
|
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Identification (Religion) -- History of doctrines -- Early church, ca. 30-600
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RELIGION -- Christian Church -- History.
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RELIGION -- Christianity -- History.
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| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
0231508204 |
|
9780231508209 |
|
9780231133340 |
|
0231133340 |
|
