2018 NAPS Presidential Address: Reading the Second Century

Scholarly consensus can lead to unimaginative repetition of a thesis that has functionally taken on an absolute status. When this happens any contributions derived from competitive interpretations shrink in comparison and scholars may forget that all interpretations, including the one around which a...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:2018 National Adaptation Plans Presidential Address
Main Author: Bingham, D. Jeffrey 1959- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press [2019]
In: Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2019, Volume: 27, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-26
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bauer, Walter 1877-1960 / Arnal, William E. 1967- / Paget, James Carleton 1966- / Lieu, Judith 1951- / Research / Church / History 100-200
IxTheo Classification:CF Christianity and Science
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Scholarly consensus can lead to unimaginative repetition of a thesis that has functionally taken on an absolute status. When this happens any contributions derived from competitive interpretations shrink in comparison and scholars may forget that all interpretations, including the one around which a consensus may have been formed, are conceptual models. With this in mind, my paper revisits treatments of unity, diversity, orthodoxy, heterodoxy, and Christian origins set forth by several prominent historians in their models of second-century Christianity, both ancient and modern. It claims that, far from any monolithic analysis arrived at via consensus, the field of second-century scholarship is filled with a diverse selection of readings, each contributing a particular perspective. This state of affairs manifests a complexity within the second century itself and provides a certain leveling of the different interpretations that historians have offered. Each is produced within the parameters of a peculiar hermeneutical, historiographical approach containing its own set of assumptions and interests.
ISSN:1086-3184
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1353/earl.2019.0000