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2. On the Historical Personae Bardiya and Gaumāta

Chapter 2. On the Historical Personae Bardiya and Gaumāta The duplication of the usurper in the Greek sources—which contrasts with the Bisotun inscription’s single “usurper”—is commonly believed to derive from the erroneous interpretation of Gaumāta’s titles as appellations of secondary persons. [1] The names of the pair transmitted by Herodotus, namely, Patizeithēs and Smerdis, could be respectively interpreted as graecized renderings of… Read more

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3. The Concept and Reality of the Substitute Kingin Mesopotamia and Iran

Chapter 3. The Concept and Reality of the Substitute Kingin Mesopotamia and Iran Having made a case for the historicity of both Bardiya and Gaumāta, and their presumed functions of “kingmaker” and “puppet-king,” in the classical sources, there remains the necessity of revealing the historical prece-dents, or literary patterns, upon which Darius’ fabricated chronicle—as put forth in the Bisotun inscription—rested. The first of these forms the main… Read more

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4. The Evil Brothers in the Iranian Tradition

Chapter 4. The Evil Brothers in the Iranian Tradition The Legend of the Indo-European Twins Now let us turn our attention to the problem of the “two brothers.” [1] What could have triggered the identification of “two associates” with “two brothers”? This time the answer seems to lie within the Indo-Iranian epic tradition itself. From the Indic pantheon we know of… Read more

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5. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Iranian Royal Inscriptions

Chapter 5. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Iranian Royal Inscriptions Literary parallels between the Achaemenid inscriptions of the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, especially those of Darius I (late sixth century BCE), and the Sasanian inscriptions of the third and early fourth century CE had already been recognized in the 1930s and were attributed to the survival of Aramaic translations of the former. [1]… Read more

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1. Theodore’s Life, Education, and Ministry

1. Theodore’s Life, Education, and Ministry Theodore of Mopsuestia stands out as an influential figure well situated to observe and contribute to the Christianization of the Roman Empire during the late-fourth and early-fifth centuries. He was born into a well-to-do family in the city of Antioch (Antakya in southern Turkey) around the year AD 350. He was educated, along with his better-known contemporary John Chrysostom, in the… Read more

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2. Approaching Catechesis

2. Approaching Catechesis We have now considered Theodore’s life and the circumstances surrounding his education, ecclesiastical career, and writings. Subsequent chapters address three key components of Theodore’s catechesis, but first we must take a step back from Theodore to consider several important factors surrounding the way clergy framed catechesis and the rites of initiation. Many preachers catechized Christian converts and they did so within a cultural and… Read more

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3. The Community of Citizens

3. The Community of Citizens In the last chapter, we discussed some of the ways that the church maintained cultic boundaries and rhetorically emphasized its exclusivity. We now turn to a consideration of just what the catechumens were doing as they pursued baptism. Many have sought to answer this question with the cognitive and psychological models discussed in the Introduction. Such approaches, however, tend to downplay if… Read more

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4. Teaching the Creed

4. Teaching the Creed We have seen the rich variety of official positions in the church and considered the construction of a hierarchy as a way to create stakeholders within the Christian community. The higher clergy, especially the bishops, put considerable effort into maintaining their position in matters both secular and religious. However, they exercised that power in part by collecting substantial numbers of lower clergy and… Read more

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5. Teaching Liturgy and Performing Theology

5. Teaching Liturgy and Performing Theology Having considered the communal and creedal aspects of Christian initiation, we turn here to the theme of cult and consider the role played by Theodore’s discussion of the liturgy within his catechetical curriculum. The final five sermons in Theodore’s educational program for baptismal candidates comment on the sacramental liturgies, three on baptism and two on the eucharist. The first sermon on… Read more

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Conclusion

Conclusion Theodore’s Catechetical Homilies present his attempt to craft a distinctive Christian paideia and to create initiated Christian citizens. While Nock sees these converts as the norm, MacMullen can hardly imagine that such converts were produced by the early church. Of course, even after receiving this sort of instruction, people were still entering the church with differing notions of what that meant and with a broad range… Read more