Klauck's is a uniquely well-informed and comprehensive guide to the world of religion in the Graeco-Roman environment of early Christianity. Drawing on the most up-to-date scholarship, his volume paints a carefully nuanced portrait of the Christians' religious context. Besides describing ordinary domestic and civic religion and popular belief (including astrology, divination and "magic"), there is extended discussion of mystery cults, ruler and emperor cults, the religious dimensions of philosophy, and Gnosticism. An authoritative work, Klauck's will become a new standard for reference and teaching.
Many forms of magic and paganism were practiced at the time of Jesus. What were these practices, and how did the first Christians react to them?Hans-Josef Klauck, an expert in the cultic practices of the region, describes this world into which Christianity was born and relates to it the many experiences of the first Christians recorded in Acts. Peter, for example, encounters the Samaritan magician Simon; Paul meets the Jewish magician Bar-Jesus; the people in Lystra want to offer a sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas; a soothsaying slave girl is the occasion of conflict in Philippi; in Athens, Paul finds the city full of idols but also discovers an altar 'to an unknown god'; in Ephesus, some burn their books of magic formulae, while other provoke a riot in the name of Artemis.Professor Klauck provides a fascinating account of these phenomena and their significance for Christianity historically and today.Available November 2000.
In this book Hans-Josef Klauck provides a comprehensive introduction to the apocryphal gospels - the biblical and related writings which do not form part of the accepted canon of Scripture.Klauck classifies the material in various helpful ways: Agrapha (isolated sayings if Jesus), Fragments, Jewish Christian Gospels, Two Gospels of the Egyptians, Infancy Gospels, Gospels about Jesus' Death and Resurrection, Gospels from Nag Hammadi, Conversations with the Risen Jesus, Dialogues of Jesus with No Location, Legends about the Death of Mary, Lost Gospels, the Toledot Jeshu (an anti-gospel) . Each section is accompanied by a carefully related bibliography. This highly readable introduction takes account of all the latest international scholarship on the apocrypha and will be an invaluable resource for all scholars and students in the field.
This volume places the New Testament letters squarely in the middle of all the important letter corpora of antiquity. Chapters cover the basic letter formula, papyrus and postal delivery, non-literary and diplomatic correspondence, Greek and Latin literary letters, epistolary theory, letters in early Judaism, and all the letters of the New Testament. Part I of each chapter surveys each corpus, followed by detailed exegetical examples in Part II. Comprehensive bibliographies and 54 exercises with answers suit this guide to student and scholar alike."--Publisher's website.
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