Preface
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors
List of Images
Chapter One: The Isis Temple in the Campus Martius in Rome: Place, Space, and Identity in the Ancient Mediterranean World - Frederick E. Brenk, Arrupe House Jesuit Community, USA
Chapter Two: The Myth of the Diasporic Isiac-Family as Reflected in the Epigraphical Evidence Connected to the Delian Sarapeia - Elina Lapinoja-Pitkänen, University of Helsinki, Finland
Chapter Three: Jesus, the Daimons and the Dead - Peter G. Bolt, Sydney College of Divinity, Australia
Chapter Four: Jesus and the Archetypes: A Study of the Heroic Archetype - Adam Z. Wright, The College of Emmanuel and St. Chad, USA
Chapter Five: Fiery Twins: James, John, and the Sons of Zeus - Jeff Pettis, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, USA
Chapter Six: Romulus, Roman Omens, and the Portents of the Birth and Passion of Jesus - Craig A. Evans, Houston Baptist University, USA
Chapter Seven: Learning Rhetoric at Tarsus: The Apostle Paul and His Use of Aristotelian Rhetoric - Alexa Wallace and Adam Z. Wright, The College of Emmanuel and St. Chad, USA
Chapter Eight: Early Christian “Binding Spells”? The Formulas in 1 Cor 12:3 Read Against the Background of Ancient Curse Tablets - Susanne Luther, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Chapter Nine: Paul as the Originator of Women Teachers within Religious Circles - Chris S. Stevens, Independent Scholar
Chapter Ten: The Secret of the Hidden Cross: The Form, Meaning and Background of the Hellenistic Hymn Quoted in 1 Timothy 3:16 - Roy D. Kotansky, Independent Scholar
Chapter Eleven: “Out with the Christians … Our with the Epicureans!” Atheism and Constructing the Other in Antiquity - Richard A. Wright, Abilene Christian University, USA
Chapter Twelve: Jinn and the Myth of the Shepherd - Jonathan Poletti, Independent Scholar
Index of Authors
Index of Primary Sources

This series focuses on early Jewish and Christian texts and their formative contexts; it also includes sourcebooks that help clarify the ancient world. Five aspects distinguish this series. First, the series reflects the need to situate, and to seek to understand, these ancient texts within their originating social and historical contexts. Second, the series assumes that it is now often difficult to distinguish between Jewish and Christian documents, since all early Christians were Jews. Jesus and his earliest followers were devout Jews who shared many ideas with the well-known Jewish groups, especially the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the various apocalyptic groups. Third, the series recognizes that there were (and still are) many ways of understanding authoritative literature or scripture. Therefore, we must not impose a static notion of canon on the early period of our culture and in turn denigrate some texts with labels such as non-canonical since such terms are anachronistic designations that were only later imposed on the early documents. Fourth, the series emphasizes the need to include all relevant sources and documents, including non-literary data, and that all important methodologies - from archaeology and sociology to rhetoric and theology - should be employed to clarify the origin and meaning of the documents. Fifth, scientific research is at the foundation of these publications which are directed to scholars and those interested in Jewish and Christian origins.