Greco-Roman Literature

In 2 Cor. 10-13, Paul tries to prove his authority as a reliable leader by using two different masculinity standards. Paul manifests his power and control over the Corinthian church members by using an image of paterfamilias (11.2-3; 12.14). Paternal control of others was an essential element of hegemonic masculinity in the Greco-Roman world. Moreover, Paul proves his manliness by revealing his endurance and submission to divine authority (11.21b-12.10) according to the Hellenistic Jewish masculinity. I argue that Paul is embedded in these different cultural assumptions regarding masculinity and that he refers to these assumptions to persuade Gentile and Jewish groups in the Corinthian church.

In the Greco-Roman “Pagan” literature of the 1st-4th centuries, we can find a number of the  narratives describing the bringing back to life a person (Vita Apolloni Tyanensis by Fl. Philostratus, Ancient Novels, Phlegon of Tralles, Lucan and Apuleius, Greek Magical Papyri). They have long been the subject of a lively research debate: whether and to what extent they can be described by the category of resurrection, developed on the ground of the Biblical and Christian tradition, or even whether they were not directly inspired by Christian thought or the desire for hidden-polemics with Christianity? The book is not only an attempt to face these problems in detail, but also touches on a broader question: should the concept of the return to life in the body really be regarded as a completely foreign and unknown element in the earlier Greco-Roman tradition?

The aim of this article is twofold. First, the article presents a comprehensive study of the meaning of the term ἀναίδειαν in extant papyrological evidence. The conclusion reached is that the term, as is the case in early Jewish and patristic writings, the LXX, Graeco–Roman literature and in early Christian writings, always carries a negative and pejorative meaning. This meaning of the term is then used the interpret the occurrence of ἀναίδειαν in the parable of the Friend at Midnight. Second, as part of a publication that celebrates the centenary of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria, a few remarks are made with regards to the Faculty of Theology’s Faculty Research Theme (Oikodome: Life in its fullness) and the attitude of ἀναίδειαν as depicted in the parable.

This paper examines the reception of misogynistic tropes in the Greek-Cypriot Press during the first decades of the 19th century, through a comparative study of women’s portrayal in 19th century Europe and ancient Greek and Latin literature. The analysis focuses on both ‘scientific’ and ‘metaphysical’ evidence that consign women to the convenient role of the ‘Other’. Philosophical and sociopolitical readings of the given periods with regard to female inferiority, on matters such as the size of the female brain and the alleged animalistic and materialistic nature of women, not only associate them with negative female stereotypes, but also subordinate them as powerless, incapacitated ‘males’ and, eventually and inevitably, inhuman. In a paradoxically reversed power relationship, however, in which both mythological and theological beliefs coincide, women are also sketched as fearsome dominae and demonized enemies of the victimized genus of men. This paper will demonstrate that the silenced outsider’s multifaceted and artificial construction as the ‘Other’, both in Greco-Roman antiquity and 19th century Europe and Cyprus, serves man’s intention to feminize his most unsurpassed fear: the risk of power loss as a consequence of a potential reversal of roles, in which the male ego becomes – or still is – (the reflection of) his female alter.