Moses In Graeco Roman Paganism

In this book the varied and important reception is traced which the story of the revelation of YHWH’s name to Moses received in Judaism, early Christianity, and the pagan Graeco-Roman world.

Publisher Description

According to the available evidence not many pagans knew the Greek Bible (Septuagint) before the advent of Christianity. Those pagans who later became aware of Christian texts were among the first, according to the surviving data, to seriously explore the Septuagint. They found the Bible to be difficult reading. The pagans who reacted to biblical texts include Celsus (II C.E.), Porphyry (III C.E.), and Julian the Apostate (IV C.E.). These authors thought that if they could refute one of the primary foundations of Christianity, namely its use or interpretation of the Septuagint, then the new religion would perhaps crumble. John Granger Cook analyzes these pagans' voice and elaborates on its importance, since it shows how Septuagint texts appeared in the eyes of Greco-Roman intellectuals. Theirs was not an abstract interest, however, because they knew that Christianity posed a grave danger to some of their dearest beliefs, self-understanding, and way of life.

A collection of articles published previously.

Dealing with the subject of apologetics and polemics against the pagans in Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260-340), this volume discusses his response to the vigorous political, cultural and religious campaign launched against Christianity in his time. The first part of the book examines the background for Eusebius' apologetic enterprise and his early apologetic writings. The second and main part of the study analyzes major topics in Eusebius' great two-part apologetic work, the Praeparatio Evangelica and the Demonstratio Evangelica, such as the concept of Christian prehistory, prophecy and miracles. The last part deals with Eusebius' tactics and rhetoric and the place of Porphyry - the outstanding pagan polemicist against Christianity - in Eusebius' work. This part closes with a discussion of Eusebius' final apologetic statement in his work The Theophany, reflecting already the recent triumph of Christianity. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

This collection explores the importance of magic within Early Christianity