Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity
- The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- List of Contributors
- Editors’ Preface
- Part I Contested Contexts
- Part II Contested Figures
- 5 Remembering Jesus in Earliest Christianity
- 6 Remembering Jesus in the Second and Third Centuries CE
- 7 Paul and His Diverse Champions
- 8 Peter and His Diverse Champions
- Part III Contested Heritage
- Part IV Contested Cultures
- Part V Contested Beliefs
- Part VI Contested Bodies
- Ancient Sources
- Modern Authors
- References
6 - Remembering Jesus in the Second and Third Centuries CE
from Part II - Contested Figures
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 August 2023
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity
- The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- List of Contributors
- Editors’ Preface
- Part I Contested Contexts
- Part II Contested Figures
- 5 Remembering Jesus in Earliest Christianity
- 6 Remembering Jesus in the Second and Third Centuries CE
- 7 Paul and His Diverse Champions
- 8 Peter and His Diverse Champions
- Part III Contested Heritage
- Part IV Contested Cultures
- Part V Contested Beliefs
- Part VI Contested Bodies
- Ancient Sources
- Modern Authors
- References
Summary
In this chapter I consider some of the ways in which Jesus was remembered or commemorated in the second and third centuries ce, and how recent scholarship has addressed this issue. In this context, the use of the verb “remember” points to the significance of social or collective or cultural memory1 as the means by which individuals and communities understand both their present identity and the past that has helped to shape it. Such memory may extend over significant periods of time, as noted by Jan Assmann, who uses the category “cultural memory” to refer to a process made possible by written texts and ritual performance, and therefore neither dependent on the product of individual neurobiological memory orally transmitted (“communicative memory”) nor limited by any need for living contacts with eyewitnesses to past events.2 This category enables Assmann to explain how societies pass on foundational memories beyond the period of “communicative memory” with the original participants or eyewitnesses (which he considers to be 80–100 years or three to four generations). It is therefore readily applicable to the period studied here, in which authors of the second and third centuries ce draw on written sources and on “memory formulas and configurations that underpin [their] sense of community and … the memory needs of a clearly defined ‘we’” by means of which they construct and transmit their socially conditioned memories of Jesus.3
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity , pp. 130 - 153Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
References
Select Bibliography
Assmann, Jan. “Communicative and cultural memory.” Pages 109–18 in A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Edited by Erll, Astrid and Nünning, Ansgar, in collaboration with Young, Sara B. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010).Google Scholar
Assmann, Jan. “What is cultural memory?” Pages 1–30 in Religion and Cultural Memory (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Augustin, Philipp. Die Juden im Petrusevangelium: Narratologische Analyse und theologiegeschichtliche Kontextualisierung (BZNW 214; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015).Google Scholar
Beduhn, Jason D. The First New Testament: Marcion’s Scriptural Canon (Salem, OR: Polebridge Press, 2013).Google Scholar
Bellinzoni, Arthur J. The Sayings of Jesus in the Writings of Justin Martyr (NovT Suppl. 17; Leiden: Brill, 1967).Google Scholar
Brankaer, Johanna and van Os, Bas. The Gospel of Judas (Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019).Google Scholar
Broek, Roelof van den. “The gnostic Christ.” Pages 16–32 in Alternative Christs. Edited by Hammer, Olav (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).Google Scholar
Burke, Tony. “The Infancy Gospel of Thomas.” Pages 107–21 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Castelli, Elizabeth. Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making (Gender, Theory and Religion; New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).Google Scholar
Daly, Robert J., S.J. Sacrifice in Pagan and Christian Antiquity (London: T&T Clark, 2019).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Stephen J. Christ Child: Cultural Memories of a Young Jesus (Synkrisis; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014).Google Scholar
Edwards, J. Christopher. “Epistle of Barnabas.” Pages 27–41 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Ferguson, Everett. The Rule of Faith: A Guide (Cascade Companions; Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2015).Google Scholar
Foster, Paul M. “Christology and soteriology in apocryphal Acts and Apocalypses.” Pages 213–32 in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha. Edited by Gregory, Andrew and Tuckett, Christopher (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).Google Scholar
Foster, Paul M. “Ignatius of Antioch.” Pages 41–57 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Fürst, Alfons. “Origen.” Pages 473–91 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Wahrheit und Methode, repr. of 6th rev. ed. (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1999).Google Scholar
Galinsky, Karl. “Introduction.” Pages 1–40 in Memory in Ancient Rome and Early Christianity. Edited by Galinsky, Karl (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodacre, Mark. Thomas and the Gospels: The Case for Thomas’s Familiarity with the Synoptics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).Google Scholar
Gregory, Andrew. “Memory as method: Some observations on two recent accounts.” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 16 (2018), 1–11.Google Scholar
Gregory, Andrew. “First Clement.” Pages 325–36 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 1. Edited by Bond, Helen K. (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Hannah, Darrell D. “The four-gospel ‘canon’ in the Epistula Apostolorum,” Journal of Theological Studies 50 (1999), 80–101.Google Scholar
Holmes, Michael. “The Martyrdom of Polycarp and the New Testament passion narratives.” Pages 407–32 in Trajectories through the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers. Edited by Gregory, Andrew and Tuckett, Christopher (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).Google Scholar
Huebenthal, Sandra. “‘Frozen moments’: Early Christianity through the lens of Social Memory Theory.” Pages 17–43 in Memory and Memories in Early Christianity. Edited by Butticaz, Simon and Norelli, Enrico (WUNT 398; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018).Google Scholar
Huebenthal, Sandra. Reading Mark’s Gospel as a Text from Collective Memory (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020). German orig. Das Markusevangelium als kollektives Gedächtnis (FRLANT 253; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2014, 2nd ed. 2018).Google Scholar
Jones, Christopher P. New Heroes in Antiquity: From Achilles to Antinoos (Revealing Antiquity 18; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010).Google Scholar
Keith, Chris. “Public reading of the Gospels.” Pages 445–69 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 3. Edited by Keith, Chris (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Keith, Chris. “Social memory theory and Gospels research: The first decade (Part One),” Early Christianity 6 (2015), 354–76.Google Scholar
Keith, Chris, Bond, Helen K., Jacobi, Christine and Schröter, Jens (eds.) The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, 3 vols. (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Keith, Chris, Bond, Helen K., Jacobi, Christine, and Schröter, Jens, “Introduction.” Pages xv–xxvii in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries. Edited by Keith, Chris, Bond, Helen K., Jacobi, Christine, and Schröter, Jens, 3 vols. (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Kinzig, Wolfram. Faith in Formulae: A Collection of Early Christian Creeds and Creed-Related Texts, vol. 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).Google Scholar
Kirk, Alan J. “The Gospel of Peter.” Pages 123–39 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Le Donne, Anthony. The Historiographical Jesus: Memory, Typology and the Son of David (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2009).Google Scholar
Lieu, Judith M. Marcion and the Making of a Heretic: God and Scripture in the Second Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015).Google Scholar
Litwa, M. David. Iesus Deus: The Early Christian Depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Löhr, Wilrich. “Justin Martyr.” Pages 443–8 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
McGowan, Andrew. “The Eucharist.” Pages 393–418 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 3. Edited by Keith, Chris (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Moss, Candida R. The Other Christs: Imitating Jesus in Ancient Christian Ideologies of Martyrdom (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicklas, Tobias. “Die Leiblichkeit der Gepeinigten: Das Evangelium nach Petrus und frühchristliche Martyrerakten.” Pages 195–219 in Persecution and Martyrdom in Late Antique Christianity. Edited by Leeman, J. (BETL 241; Leuven: Peeters, 2011).Google Scholar
Noormann, Rolf. “Irenaeus.” Pages 401–32 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Parvis, Paul. “Epistle of the Apostles.” Pages 207–16 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Patterson, Stephen. The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus (Sonoma, CA: Polebridge Press, 1993).Google Scholar
Perkins, Pheme. “Christology and soteriology in apocryphal gospels.” Pages 196–212 in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha. Edited by Gregory, Andrew and Tuckett, Christopher (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).Google Scholar
Perkins, Pheme. “Docetism.” Pages 341–2 in Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. Edited by Ferguson, Everett, 2nd ed. (New York: Garland Publishing, 1997).Google Scholar
Riley, Gregory J. One Jesus, Many Christs: How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity but Many (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997).Google Scholar
Rodríguez, Rafael. “Baptism.” Pages 361–91 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 3. Edited by Keith, Chris (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Roth, Dieter T. “Marcion’s Gospel.” Pages 291–301 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Schröter, Jens. “The contribution of non-canonical gospels to the memory of Jesus: The Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Peter as test cases,” New Testament Studies 64 (2018), 435–54.Google Scholar
Schröter, Jens, “Memory and memories in early Christianity: The remembered Jesus as a test case.” Pages 79–96 in Memory and Memories in Early Christianity. Edited by Butticaz, Simon and Norelli, Enrico (WUNT 398; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018).Google Scholar
Schröter, Jens. “Memory, theories of history, and the reception of Jesus,” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 16 (2018), 85–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skarsaune, Oskar. The Proof from Prophecy. A Study in Justin Martyr’s Proof-Text Tradition: Text-Type, Provenance, Theological Profile (NovT Suppl. 56; Leiden: Brill, 1987).Google Scholar
Stewart-Sykes, Alistair E. The Lamb’s High Feast: Melito, Peri Pascha and the Quartodeciman Paschal Liturgy at Sardis (VC Suppl. 42; Leiden: Brill, 1998).Google Scholar
Thomassen, Einar. “Jesus in the New Testament apocrypha.” Pages 33–50 in Alternative Christs. Edited by Hammer, Olav (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).Google Scholar
Tuckett, Christopher M. 2 Clement: Introduction, Text and Commentary (OECGT; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).Google Scholar
Vanden Eykel, Eric M. “Protevangelium of James.” Pages 93–105 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar
Vuong, Lily C. The Protevangelium of James (Early Christian Apocrypha 7; Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2019).Google Scholar
Watson, Francis. An Apostolic Gospel: The “Epistula Apostolorum” in Literary Context (SNTSMS 179; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).Google Scholar
Westcott, Brooke F. On the Canon of the New Testament, 3rd ed. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1870).Google Scholar
Wilhite, David E. “Jesus in The Infancy Gospel of ‘the Israelite’ and the God of Israel,” Studia Patristica 126.23 (2021), 3–16.Google Scholar
Young, Frances M. The Use of Sacrificial Ideas in Greek Christian Writers from the New Testament to John Chrysostom (PMS 5; Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1979).Google Scholar
Zelyck, Lorne R. “The Gospel of Judas.” Pages 227–35 in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2. Edited by Schröter, Jens and Jacobi, Christine (London: T&T Clark, 2020).Google Scholar