This study focuses on a set of conversion narratives from the late third and early fourth centuries: Porphyry of Tyre’s and Eusebius of Caesarea’s conflicting accounts of Origen’s reputed apostasy from Hellenism and Ammonius Saccas’s alleged abandonment of Christianity for philosophy, and fourth-century reports of Porphyry’s supposed flirtation with Christianity. It argues that these narratives functioned as a means for Christian scholars and pagan philosophers to establish boundaries between themselves and their opponents and as a way to obfuscate broad dogmatic and practical similarities between Platonists and Christians. This reading of conversion and apostasy narratives opens the door to a more nuanced, if more complex, appreciation of the fluidity and permeability of religious and philosophical identities in Late Antiquity
Jeremy M. Schott_2008_‘Living Like a Christian, but Playing the Greek’.pdf:/Users/stockhausen/Sync/Bibliographie/storage/BMBQX5TA/Jeremy M. Schott_2008_‘Living Like a Christian, but Playing the Greek’.pdf:application/pdf
%0 Journal Article
%1 schott_living_2008
%A Schott, Jeremy M.
%D 2008
%J Journal of Late Antiquity
%K Ammonios_Sakkas Apostasie Euseb_von_Caesarea Konversion Origenes Porphyrios
%N 2
%P 258--277
%R 10.1353/jla.0.0023
%T ‘Living Like a Christian, but Playing the Greek’: Accounts of Apostasy and Conversion in Porphyry and Eusebius
%V 1
%X This study focuses on a set of conversion narratives from the late third and early fourth centuries: Porphyry of Tyre’s and Eusebius of Caesarea’s conflicting accounts of Origen’s reputed apostasy from Hellenism and Ammonius Saccas’s alleged abandonment of Christianity for philosophy, and fourth-century reports of Porphyry’s supposed flirtation with Christianity. It argues that these narratives functioned as a means for Christian scholars and pagan philosophers to establish boundaries between themselves and their opponents and as a way to obfuscate broad dogmatic and practical similarities between Platonists and Christians. This reading of conversion and apostasy narratives opens the door to a more nuanced, if more complex, appreciation of the fluidity and permeability of religious and philosophical identities in Late Antiquity
@article{schott_living_2008,
abstract = {This study focuses on a set of conversion narratives from the late third and early fourth centuries: Porphyry of Tyre’s and Eusebius of Caesarea’s conflicting accounts of Origen’s reputed apostasy from Hellenism and Ammonius Saccas’s alleged abandonment of Christianity for philosophy, and fourth-century reports of Porphyry’s supposed flirtation with Christianity. It argues that these narratives functioned as a means for Christian scholars and pagan philosophers to establish boundaries between themselves and their opponents and as a way to obfuscate broad dogmatic and practical similarities between Platonists and Christians. This reading of conversion and apostasy narratives opens the door to a more nuanced, if more complex, appreciation of the fluidity and permeability of religious and philosophical identities in Late Antiquity},
added-at = {2013-03-31T20:31:16.000+0200},
author = {Schott, Jeremy M.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/27343166fd90dc36b4fe6f90ede3b3746/avs},
doi = {10.1353/jla.0.0023},
file = {Jeremy M. Schott_2008_‘Living Like a Christian, but Playing the Greek’.pdf:/Users/stockhausen/Sync/Bibliographie/storage/BMBQX5TA/Jeremy M. Schott_2008_‘Living Like a Christian, but Playing the Greek’.pdf:application/pdf},
interhash = {ec5da3d2e40b8e1f5739aa71b7ec9660},
intrahash = {7343166fd90dc36b4fe6f90ede3b3746},
issn = {1942-1273},
journal = {Journal of Late Antiquity},
keywords = {Ammonios_Sakkas Apostasie Euseb_von_Caesarea Konversion Origenes Porphyrios},
number = 2,
pages = {258--277},
shorttitle = {{‘Living} Like a Christian, but Playing the Greek’},
timestamp = {2013-03-31T20:31:17.000+0200},
title = {{‘Living} Like a Christian, but Playing the Greek’: Accounts of Apostasy and Conversion in Porphyry and Eusebius},
volume = 1,
year = 2008
}