Maßnahmen der Isolation. Neuplatonische Einflüsse in der medizinischen Metaphorik spätantiker Religionsgesetze
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Dirk Rohmann
Abstract
This study investigates the medical rhetoric employed in religious legislation of Late Antiquity, arguing that imperial policies against dissidents often resembled infectious disease control measures, such as social distancing and banning gatherings, and were aimed at protecting the vulnerable. The Christian clergy was concerned not just about maintaining their monopoly of sacraments, but also about demonic contagion. This kind of infection rhetoric has its roots in Christian polemical language which is itself based on far older ideas known from Plato and the Neo-Platonists, and the more general view shared by other philosophical schools, on the sympathy of the universe and the concomitant harmony of souls. The Neoplatonic school in particular had developed the view that ‘bad’ souls chose their demons and that these demons were responsible for natural catastrophes and diseases, and infecting the air with their presence. Christian authors endorsed this view. Religious dissidents of Late Antiquity were exiled and deprived of their freedoms of speech, of assembly, and of movement, and this is for several reasons, such as the avoidance of martyrs, forced conversion, and the deterrence of others. The concept of contagion is also among the reasons but has so far been underappreciated.
Danksagung
Diese Studie wurde durch ein Forschungsstipendium der Gerda Henkel Stiftung gefördert.
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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- Rezensionen
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- Katarina Pålsson: Negotiating Heresy. The Reception of Origen in Jerome’s Eschatological Thought, Adamantiana 23, Münster (Aschendorff) 2021, S. 292, ISBN 978-3-402-13745-1, € 54,–.
- Demetrios Alibertis: Jacob of Sarug’s Homily Concerning the Red Heifer and the Crucifixion of Our Lord, Texts from Christian Late Antiquity 78, Piscataway (Gorgias Press) 2022, S. 64, ISBN: 978-1463244712, € 27,–.
- Hartmut Leppin: The Early Christians. From the Beginnings to Constantine. Translated by Kathrin Lüddecke, Classical Scholarship in Translation, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2023, S. 465, ISBN: 978-1-316-51723-9, £ 35,–.
- Byron McDougall: Philosophy at the Festival. The Festal Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Classical Tradition, Mnemosyne Supplements 461, Leiden/Boston (Brill) 2022, S. 194, ISBN: 978-9004521391, € 140,–.
- Nathan D. Howard: Christianity and the Contest for Manhood in Late Antiquity. The Cappadocian Fathers and the Rhetoric of Masculinity, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2022, S. xviii + 338, ISBN 978-1-316-51476-4, £ 90,–.
- Rahel Schär: Auf der Suche nach dem vollkommenen Leben. Die frühen Juramönche und Juranonnen zwischen Rückzug und Interaktion, Theologisch bedeutsame Orte der Schweiz 3, Basel (Schwabe Verlag) 2022, S. 348, ISBN 978-3-7965-4697-6, CHF 64,–.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Edition
- A new manuscript witness of the poem Altus Prosator in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Clm 18609): Analysis of the poem’s manuscript transmission and transcription of its text as found in Clm 18609
- Artikel
- O Beatum Carcerem: The Rhetoric of Incarceration in the Letters of Tertullian and Cyprian
- On the Spread of Christianity in the Fayum Oasis
- Maßnahmen der Isolation. Neuplatonische Einflüsse in der medizinischen Metaphorik spätantiker Religionsgesetze
- The Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila and Epiphanius of Salamis
- The Embryological Interpretation of Gen 2:7 and its Use in Dyophysite Christology
- Who was Victor Mattaritanus (Cassiodorus, Institutiones 1,29,2)? A Note on the Contribution of Exiles from Vandal Africa to the Reception of the Augustinian Doctrine of Grace
- Rezensionen
- Pseudo-Basilius von Seleukia: Vita et Miracula Sanctae Theclae. Leben und Wunder der Heiligen Thekla, Fontes Christiani 93, Freiburg (Herder) 2021, S. 408, ISBN 978-3-451-32946-3, € 52,–.
- Katarina Pålsson: Negotiating Heresy. The Reception of Origen in Jerome’s Eschatological Thought, Adamantiana 23, Münster (Aschendorff) 2021, S. 292, ISBN 978-3-402-13745-1, € 54,–.
- Demetrios Alibertis: Jacob of Sarug’s Homily Concerning the Red Heifer and the Crucifixion of Our Lord, Texts from Christian Late Antiquity 78, Piscataway (Gorgias Press) 2022, S. 64, ISBN: 978-1463244712, € 27,–.
- Hartmut Leppin: The Early Christians. From the Beginnings to Constantine. Translated by Kathrin Lüddecke, Classical Scholarship in Translation, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2023, S. 465, ISBN: 978-1-316-51723-9, £ 35,–.
- Byron McDougall: Philosophy at the Festival. The Festal Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Classical Tradition, Mnemosyne Supplements 461, Leiden/Boston (Brill) 2022, S. 194, ISBN: 978-9004521391, € 140,–.
- Nathan D. Howard: Christianity and the Contest for Manhood in Late Antiquity. The Cappadocian Fathers and the Rhetoric of Masculinity, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2022, S. xviii + 338, ISBN 978-1-316-51476-4, £ 90,–.
- Rahel Schär: Auf der Suche nach dem vollkommenen Leben. Die frühen Juramönche und Juranonnen zwischen Rückzug und Interaktion, Theologisch bedeutsame Orte der Schweiz 3, Basel (Schwabe Verlag) 2022, S. 348, ISBN 978-3-7965-4697-6, CHF 64,–.
