A study of ancient Latin and Greek words frequently translated religion with a view to showing how such mistranslation seriously obscures our understanding of those cultures including their Jewish and Christian versions.

A Note on Authorship Introduction: What You Can See When You Stop Looking for What Isn't There Religio Part I. Mapping the Word 1. Religio without "Religion" 2. The Ciceronian Turn Part II. Case Study: Tertullian 3. Preface to Tertullian 4. Segregated by a Perfect Fear 5. Segregated by a Perfect Fear. The Terrible War Band of the Anti- Emperor: The Coniuratio and the Sacramentum 6. Governed by a Perfect Fear 7. Precarious Integration. Managing the Fears of the Romans: Tertullian on Tenterhooks Threskeia Part I. Mapping the Word 8. Imagine No Threskeia: The Task of the Untranslator 9. The Threskeia of the Judaeans: Josephus and the New Testament Part II. Case Study: Josephus 10. Josephus without Judaism: Nomos, Eusebeia, Threskeia 11. A Jewish Actor in the Audience: Josephan Doublespeak 12. A Glance at the Future: Threskeia and the Lit er a ture of Apologetic, First to Third Centuries c.e. Conclusion: What You Find When You Stop Looking for What Isn't There Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index of Ancient Texts General Index

"If, as recent scholarship suggests, ancient Romans did not have an idea of a distinctly "religious" sphere of life, what are we to do with those words in our sources that are generally translated as "religion," namely the Latin religio and the Greek threskeia? Adequately answering this question demands a back-to-basics lexical approach that carefully re-examines usages of these words in their ancient contexts. The rich fruits of such labor are on full display in Barton and Boyarin's Imagine No Religion, which pushes well beyond the simple observation that "Romans had no religion." Through in-depth studies of religio, threskeia, and related concepts, Barton and Boyarin shed new light on the fascinating transformations of these words in the shadow of Roman imperial power. One need not agree with all of its provocative conclusions in order to recognize that Imagine No Religion is now the definitive starting point for the reevaluation of these crucial terms." -- -Brent Nongbri Macquarie University "A timely contribution to a growing and important conversation about the inadequacy of our common category 'religion' for the understanding of many practices, attitudes, emotions, and beliefs-especially of peoples in other times and contexts." -- -Wayne A. Meeks Yale University "From Plautus to Tertullian, Herodotus to Josephus, "Imagine No Religion" illuminates cultural complexities otherwise obscured by our modern-day categories...Imagine No Religion is unreservedly recommended for community, seminary, college, and university library Religion/Spirituality collections." -- -Julie Summers Midwest Book Review

If, as recent scholarship suggests, ancient Romans did not have an idea of a distinctly “religious” sphere of life, what are we to do with those words in our sources that are generally translated as “religion,” namely the Latin religio and the Greek thrēskeia? Adequately answering this question demands a back-to-basics lexical approach that carefully re-examines usages of these words in their ancient contexts. The rich fruits of such labor are on full display in Barton and Boyarin’s Imagine No Religion, which pushes well beyond the simple observation that “Romans had no religion.” Through in-depth studies of religio, thrēskeia, and related concepts, Barton and Boyarin shed new light on the fascinating transformations of these words in the shadow of Roman imperial power. One need not agree with all of its provocative conclusions in order to recognize that Imagine No Religion is now the definitive starting point for the reevaluation of these crucial terms.---—Brent Nongbri, Macquarie University