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… Read more
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… Read more
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… Read more
Bibliography Primary Literature ʿAbdišōʿ. Catalog. Ed.: Assemmani, J. S. 1725. Ebediesu, Enumeratio librorum omnium ecclesiasticorum. BO 3.1:1–362. Rome. Acts of the Council of Chalcedon. Ed.: Schwartz, E. 1932–1938. Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum 2.1–6. Berlin. Trans.: Price, R. and Gaddis, M. 2005. The… Read more
To Anastasia, Lampros, and Sofia-Melanthia Acknowledgments It is my pleasant duty to acknowledge the help of a number of people whose support and encouragement sustained me throughout the time during which this project, first as a thesis and now as a book, took shape. My gratitude… Read more
Preface: An Introduction to Theodoret’s Life and Writings [In this on-line version, the page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{69|70}” indicates where p. 69 of the printed version ends and p. 70 begins. These indications will be useful to… Read more
Introduction. Theodoret and the Fifth Century Earth and sea are freed from their ancient ignorance; the error of idols is no longer to be seen; the darkness of ignorance has been dispersed, and the light of knowledge fills with its rays the whole inhabited world. Read more
Chapter 1. The Notion of Therapeia in Theodoret: The Apologetic Use and Role of Greek Medicine and Philosophy against the Greeks As demonstrated both in particular comments scattered throughout his corpus of writings and more generally in the Therapeutikê, [1] Theodoret displays… Read more
Chapter 2. God, Gods, Angels, Heroes, and Demons: Parallel Notions of the Intermediaries In Dialexeis III, VII, and X, Theodoret sets out to contrast Christianity with Greek religious attitudes concerning the gods, angels, daemons, and the associated phenomena of divination, oracles, and sacrifices. Although these concepts are… Read more
Chapter 2. Men and Worms: Permanence and Organic Decay Time leaves indelible traces. All organic material, like a ship’s timber, eventually rots. The Greek verb used to describe this process, σήπεσθαι, occurs twice in the context of the decay of mortal flesh. Like the ship wood, heroes’… Read more
