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This paper examines the apparently unnoticed presence of the Greco-Coptic term \"gnostikos\" in a text of the Pachomian corpus, one of the only occurrences of the term in the entire indigenous Coptic corpus. After a careful contextualization of the term and its use by Pachomius, we will look at the way it was understood by the ancient authors, from the \"invention\" of the term by Plato, to its appropriation by Christian writers, notably Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Evagrius of Pontus. We will then see where Pachomius stands regarding his usage of the term \"gnostikos\" and if this attestation can shed new light on the development and use of the term by the first Christians.

This article sets out to establish a taxonomy of Christian faith-based humanitarian agencies, challenging assumptions that such agencies are similarly informed by Christian theology and pursue a uniform mission. Christian principles and missionary efforts are central in the development of humanitarianism, and the agencies associated with the Christian tradition comprise a prominent and growing portion of international humanitarian agencies. Little, however, is known about how Christian faith-based agencies diverge from one another in their orientation and operations, how their theological tradition shapes their humanitarianism, and whether or how they are distinct from secular agencies. Examining the humanitarianism of Christian faith-based agencies in light of their theological roots, this article delineates three classifications of Christian faith-based agencies: Accommodative–Humanitarian, Synthesis–Humanitarian, and Evangelistic–Humanitarian agencies. The study demonstrates the importance of distinguishing not simply between faith-based and secular agencies, but among faith-based agencies themselves. Cet article se propose d'établir une taxinomie d'agences humanitaires basées sur la foi chrétienne, faisant défi aux présupposés que de telles agences sont informées de façon semblable par la théologie chrétienne et poursuivent une mission uniforme. Les principes chrétien et les efforts des missionnaires constituent une partie centrale dans le développement de l'humanitarisme, et les agences associées à la tradition chrétienne se composent d'une portion de premier plan et en croissance des agences humanitaires internationales. Très peu, cependant, est connu concernant la façon dont les agences basées sur la foi chrétienne divergent l'une de l'autre dans leur orientation et opérations, comment leur tradition théologique forment leur humanitarisme, et si ou comment elles sont distinctes de la mission laïque. En examinant l'humanitarisme des agences de la foi chrétienne à la lumière de leurs racines théologiques, cet article délimite trois classification de la foi chrétienne basées sur les institutions: institutions humanistes accommodantes, de synthèse et évangélistes. L'étude fait la démonstration de l'importance de la distinction non simplement entre les institutions se basant sur la foi et la laïcité, mais parmi les institutions basées elles-mêmes sur la foi. Dieser Artikel hat es sich zum Ziel gesetzt, humanitäre Organisationen, die auf christlichem Glauben basieren, zu klassifizieren und stellt dabei die Annahme, dass solche Organisationen auf christlicher Theologie basieren und diesselbe Mission verfolgen, in Frage. Christliche Prinzipien und missionarische Bemühungen stehen im Mittelpunkt der Entwicklung einer humanitären Einstellung und mit christlicher Tradition assoziierte Organisationen stellen einen bedeutenden und wachsenden Anteil unter internationalen humanitären Organisationen. Allerdings ist wenig drüber bekannt, wie Organisationen, die auf christlichem Glauben basieren, sich voneinander in Orientierung und Operation unterscheiden, wie deren theologische Tradition deren Humanität beeinflusst und ob oder wie sie sich von säkularen Organisationen unterscheiden. Die Humanität von auf christlichem Glauben basierenden Organisationen unter Berücksichtigung ihrer theologischen Wurzeln begutachtend, beschreibt dieser Artikel drei Gruppen von auf christlichem Glauben basierenden Organisationen: versorgend–humanitär, synthetisch–humanitär und evangelistisch–humanitär. Die Studie zeigt, wie wichtig es ist, nicht einfach zwischen auf Glauben basierenden und säkularen Organisationen zu unterscheiden, sondern auch unter den auf Glauben basierenden Organisationen selbst. Este trabajo pretende establecer una taxonomía de las organizaciones humanitarias religiosas cristianas y cuestiona las ideas de que estas organizaciones tienen en común su teología cristiana y persiguen una misión similar. Los principios cristianos y los esfuerzos misionarios son vitales para el desarrollo del humanitarismo y las organizaciones relacionadas con la tradición cristiana suponen una porción creciente y significativa de las organizaciones humanitarias internacionales. Poco se sabe sin embargo sobre qué es lo que diferencia a las agencias religiosas cristianas entre sí en cuanto a orientación y trabajos, cómo influye su tradición teológica en su humanitarismo y si se distinguen de las organizaciones seculares. Este trabajo, que analiza el humanitarismo de las organizaciones religiosas cristianas desde el punto de vista de sus raíces teológicas, esboza tres clasificaciones de organizaciones religiosas cristianas: las acomodativas-humanitarias, las sintéticas-humanitarias y las evangelistas-humanitarias. El estudio demuestra la importancia de distinguir no solo entre las organizaciones religiosas y seculares, sino entre las propias organizaciones religiosas.

Many studies of early Christian martyrdom have noted the phenomenon of voluntary martyrdom. However, most scholars, drawing on criticism of the practice found in the Martyrdom of Polycarp and Clement of Alexandria, dismiss those who provoked their own arrest and death as deviant, heretical, or numerically insignificant. This article argues instead that the earliest Christian martyrologies celebrate voluntary martyrdom as a valid mainstream Christian practice, which faced only isolated challenge in the first three centuries. Furthermore, pagan sources support the view that voluntary martyrdom was a significant historical as well as literary phenomenon. As there is no reason to conclude voluntary martyrdom was anything other than a valid subset of proto-orthodox Christian martyrdom, more attention should be paid to this phenomenon by early Christian historians.

The Interpretation of Knowledge, a Valentinian text that dates from the late second to early fourth century, addresses a social conflict within a Christian community that has resulted in factionalism between “spiritual” and “ordinary” Christians. In this sustained paraenetic address, the author exhorts both factions to reconciliation. At the close of the tractate, the author shifts from the internal problem to themes of cosmic conflict and persecution, thereby tapping into martyrdom language. In 20.36–38 the author uses a rhetorical question and three consecutive sentences to emphasize his or her moral indignation at those in the community who are causing divisions. By building up to a rhetorical climax, the author discursively aligns these agitators with those cosmic forces that oppose the Christian's soteriological status and the church's harmony. Thus, the paraenesis charges the recipients either to accept the exhortation to unity or to be identified as persecutors rather than as “athletes of the Logos.”

Starting from his De haeresibus 46,9-10, the present article examines Augustine's contention that, among the Manichaeans, there was a certain ceremony in which human semen (i.e., sperma and menstrual fluid) was collected and consumed during a eucharistic rite. My contextual analysis of the pivotal passage, haer. 46,9-10, is followed by an overview of scholarly opinions on this text. From here I proceed to interpret the incriminated rite in light of the Seduction of the Archons myth and conclude that, according to Augustine, the Manichaeans consider the 'vital substance' (or 'light' or 'living soul') in the life of plants, animals and human beings, to be the very nature of God, which should be released whenever possible. I finish my research by interpreting the Manichaean practice within a wider 'gnostic' context, in particular Epiphanius' report on the 'Borborites'. My final conclusion is that we should try to understand both Manichaeans (like the 'Catharists') and Gnostics (like the 'Borborites') according to their own logic: both appear to have considered the life-substance of man, i.e., the semen, as divine, and indeed a part of God.

\"Jewish Christianity\" is a modern term for the beliefs of those followers of Jesus who saw devotion to Jesus as part of God's covenant with Israel, not as a transfer of God's promise of salvation from the Jews to the gentiles. Some of them regarded Jesus as a prophet, others saw him as a heavenly power, but all retained their Jewish identity and continued to observe the law. The first Christians were all Jews, but they were not all Jewish Christians by this definition, for they disagreed over the necessity of keeping the law after the coming of Christ. Here, Crone examines whether gentile believers in Christ should undergo full conversion to Judaism is a highly contentious issue in the New Testament.

This examination of historical churches in Armenia, Cappadocia and Greece advocates a new geography of architectural traditions that can capture nuanced relationships among different material cultures, especially where they have coexisted in tension. While the history of heretical religions can help identify such places, the buildings analyzed here reveal suppressed or unconscious processes of cultural negotiation. Despite attempts by political and religious leaders to control the ideological programs of art and architecture, heretical worldviews have persisted as tacit but materially consistent practices that have contributed to a greater complexity of forms and experiences than recognized by conventional architectural history.

Origen was a Christian Platonist, which his adversaries (both Christians who opposed Greek philosophy and pagan philosophers like Porphyry who saw Christianity as a non-culture) considered to be a contradictio in adiecto. His formation and teaching centred on philosophy, and his Περὶ ἀρχω̑ν in its structure was inspired not so much by earlier Christian works as by pagan philosophical works stemming from the selfsame authors as those appreciated at Ammonius' and Plotinus' schools. A close examination of all extant sources and a careful investigation of Origen's philosophical formation, readings, and works show that Origen the Neoplatonist is likely to be our Christian philosopher. The presupposition of the incompatibility between Christianity and philosophy (especially Platonism), which provoked charges against Origen as a Christian Platonist from his lifetime onward, is still at work in modern theorizations concerning the \"Hellenisation of Christianity,\" which are here analysed and brought into connection with the supposed necessity of distinguishing Origen the Platonist from Origen the Christian. It is not the case that a \"pure\" Christianity was subsequently Hellenised: the NT itself was already Hellenised to some extent, and the Christian κήρυγμα, intended for all nations and cultures, was a σκάνδαλον for the Jews as well as μωρία for the Greeks.

The famous find-story behind the Nag Hammadi codices, discovered in Egypt in 1945, has been one of the most cherished narratives in our field. Yet a close examination of its details reveals inconsistencies, ambiguities, implicitly colonialist attitudes, and assumptions that call for a thorough reevaluation. This article explores the problematic moments in the find-story narrative and challenges the suggestions of James M. Robinson and others that the Nag Hammadi codices were intentionally buried for posterity, perhaps by Pachomian monks, in the wake of Athanasius's thirty-ninthFestal Letter. We consider, rather, that the Nag Hammadi codices may have derived from private Greco-Egyptian citizens in late antiquity who commissioned the texts for personal use, depositing them as grave goods following a practice well attested in Egypt.