Chrésima

Those cultural assets of the ancient world that the fathers of early Christianity recognised as usable according to the standard of Christian truth, they liked to call χρήσιμα. Their Χρῆσις (Chrêsis; Latin: usus iustus) itself, i.e. the method of diacritical judgement and selective use, was not only practised in practice, but was also repeatedly thought through theoretically, without ever turning it into an abstract concept detached from the concrete object. Anyone researching chrêsis, one of the decisive forces of that world-changing transformation that represents the transformation of ancient culture into early Christian culture, therefore always starts from the exploration of a χρήσιμον.

Early Christian chrêsis has received particular attention in recent research, not least due to the studies of Christian Gnilka. However, meaningful individual studies in which the principle of usus iustus in praxi is proven and demonstrated are urgently needed. This volume aims to fulfil this desideratum and the authors have dedicated the contributions to Christian Gnilka on the occasion of his 80th birthday in December 2016. The value of his research approach is also demonstrated by the fact that the studies presented here cover the entire period of early Christianity up to late antiquity (from the Apologists to the Cappadocians, Jerome, Augustine and Prudentius), starting with an Old Testament text, and also deal with archaeological and art-historical monuments in addition to literature.