Chapter 1 Re-theorizing religious conflict early Christianity to late antiquity and beyond

• Main Author: Mayer, Wendy (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2018
• Subjects: Ancient history: to c 500 CE; Religious conflict in the ancient world|Religious persecution in the ancient world|Religious conflict in late antiquity|Religious persecution in late antiquity|Religious violence in late antiquity|Religious violence in the ancient world|Iconoclasm in the ancient world|Iconoclasm in the late antiquity|The Funerary Speech for John Chrysostom|John of Ephesus's Church History|Disability and early christianity|Deformity and early christianity|Religious persecution and early christianity|Religious violence and early christianity|Religious conflict and early christianity|pseudo-Clementine Homilies|Religious Violence in Late Antique Egypt|destruction of the Serapeum at Alexandria|Abbot Shenoute|Closure of temple of Isis Philae|Panopolis|Cologne Mani Codex|Manichaean Kephalaia|Gnostic-Manichaean Christianity|Hagiasma of Chonai|Jan Bremmer|Pieter J. J. Botha|Chris L. de Wet|Christine Shepardson|Alan H. Cadwallader|Christoph Stenschke|Maijastina Kahlos|Jitse H. F. Dijkstra|Peter Van Nuffelen|Elizabeth DePalma Digeser|Gerhard van den Heever
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

The nostalgic view that the classical polytheist world is one of religious tolerance and coexistence, whereas monotheism, which is exclusivist, is responsible for much of the religious violence perpetrated between the rise of Christianity and the end of pre-modern history. A dominant model that of the religious marketplace, is related, and similarly benchmarks the conversion of Constantine and focuses attention on Christianity and the religions of Greece and Rome. The emphasis on violence and the raising of questions about the role of the rhetoric of violence in relation to it brings us to one final influential perspective from which religious conflict in early Christianity and late antiquity has been addressed. Theorization of religious conflict in historical period has been criticized for its Christianity-centred focus. Christianity emerges in a pluri-religious urban society where it is in competition for converts.