The present volume investigates the circumstances of religious transformation in early Christianity and in other ancient religions - the various converts, the means by which followers attracted adherents, and the factors that influenced and limited their success.
Arthur Darby Nock (1902-1963) made lasting contributions to classical scholarship and the history of religion, including the study of ancient religion, magic, and the relationship of paganism to ancient Judaism and early Christianity. Almost ninety years after its publication, his work,
Conversion: The Old and New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo , serves as an introduction to what is today an entire area of research encompassing history, literature (i.e., »conversion« as a literary genre), philosophy, psychology, and theology. The present volume features essays exploring the circumstances of religious transformation not only in early Christianity but also in other ancient religions and in philosophical schools - the various converts, the means by which followers attracted adherents, and the factors influencing and limiting their success.
Table of contents:
Clare K. Rothschild: Introduction: Conversion Since Nock
Part One: Responses to Nock'sConversion
Jan N. Bremmer: Notes on Arthur Darby Nock's Ideas of Ancient Religion and the Mysteries in His
Conversion -
John J. Collins: Nock's Typology of Religion -
Carl R. Holladay: A. D. Nock's
Conversion : Some Glosses -
John S. Kloppenborg: Rethinking Nock's
Conversion -
Paula Fredriksen: »Conversion« as »Sea Change«: Re-thinking A. D. Nock's
Conversion -
L. L. Welborn: Nock on the Exclusiveness of Conversion to Christianity: A Re-evaluation with Reference to Evidence from Roman Corinth -
Michael B. Cover: The Conversion and Return of Simon Peter (Luke 22:31-32) -
Harold W. Attridge: Celebration of Arthur Darby Nock -
Christopher Mount: Conversion and the Success of Christianity in the Roman Empire -
James A. Kelhoffer: Do ΜΕΤΑΝΟΕΩ and ΜΕΤΑΝΟΙΑ in Second Clement Signify »Repentance« or a Change in Mindset Tantamount to Conversion? -
Carl Johan Berglund: Miracles, Determination, and Loyalty: The Concept of Conversion in the Acts of John -
Meira Z. Kensky: »Thus a Teacher Must Be«: Pedagogical Formation in John Chrysostom's Homilies on 1 and 2 Timothy -
Andrew S. Jacobs: »Coloured by the Nature of Christianity«: Nock's Invention of Religion and Ex-Jews in Late Antiquity
Part Two: Beyond Conversion
John T. Fitzgerald: Arthur Darby Nock and the Study of Sallustius -
Dylan M. Burns: The Hermetic
Asclepius's Middle Platonist Teaching on Fate -
David Lincicum: In Search of Nock's Gifford Lectures: A Dossier of Sources -
Everett Ferguson: Afterword: Reminiscences of Arthur Darby Nock
