Ritual, Emotion, and Materiality in the Early Christian World by Al-Suadi, Soham; Ascough, Richard S.; DeMaris, Richard E.;

Short description:

This volume advances our understanding of early Christianity as a lived religion by approaching it through its rites, the emotions and affects surrounding those rites, and the material setting for the practice of them.

Long description:

This volume advances our understanding of early Christianity as a lived religion by approaching it through its rites, the emotions and affects surrounding those rites, and the material setting for the practice of them.

The connections between emotions and ritual, between rites and their materiality, and between emotions and their physical manifestation in ancient Mediterranean culture have been inadequately explored as yet, especially with regard to early Christianity and its water and dining rites. Readers will find all three areas—ritual, emotion, and materiality—engaged in this exemplary interdisciplinary study, which provides fresh insights into early Christianity and its world.

Ritual, Emotion, and Materiality in the Early Christian World will be of special interest to interdisciplinary-minded researchers, seminarians, and students who are attentive to theory and method, and those with an interest in the New Testament and earliest Christianity. It will also appeal to those working on ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman religion, emotion, and ritual from a comparative standpoint.

"The book’s topic well deserves serious attention, and this volume brings the appropriate mix of theoretical insight and specific case studies to the task ... The editorial team represented here are leading scholars in the field of ritual studies." - Jonathan Schwiebert, Lenoir-Rhyne University, USA　

"Ritual, Emotion, and Materiality in the Early Christian World is a successful starting point for further research. For theologians and historians interested in affect- and emotion-studies, the essays offer valuable input for further research that moves beyond a narrow focus on water rites in the New Testament." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Table of Contents:

List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; Introduction, Soham Al-Suadi; 1 Theorizing ritual, emotion, and material, Sharday C. Mosurinjohn; 2 Emotional display in the necropoli at Roman Thessalonike, Richard S. Ascough; 3 Water Rites in the world of the New Testament: Archaeological Highlights, Klaus-Michael Bull; 4 Water rites in Greek and Roman associations, Richard S. Ascough; 5 Water rites, emotions, and epiphanic encounters in the literary and material record of the Roman east, Richard E. DeMaris; 6 Ritual experience and emotions: The right place for water rites in Luke-Acts, Soham Al-Suadi; 7 Early Christian ritual from the perspective of affect and emotion studies, Richard E. DeMaris; 8 Precious, powerful, and pernicious: The polyvalence of water and water symbolism in early Christianity, Peter-Ben Smit; 9 Scared disciples: Emotions of fear in Mark 4:35–41 and 6:45–52, May-Britt Melzer; 10 "Let the children be fed first" (Mark 7:27): Rituals, emotions, and identity in the Synoptic tradition, Soham Al-Suadi; 11 Water rites as structuring elements in ancient meals: An examination of foot washing in John 12 and 13, Henrike Dilling and Frank Krüger; 12 Physical affect and ritual as starting points of Pauline paranaesis, Peter-Ben Smit; Conclusion, Richard S. Ascough; Indices, Modern authors, Subject index, Ancient sources