Theorizing Religion in Antiquity - Nickolas P. Roubekas

Theorizing Religion in Antiquity - Nickolas P. Roubekas

14. Whither Shall we Go? Tertullian and Christian Identity Formation

Theorizing Religion in Antiquity - Nickolas P. Roubekas

Nickolas P. Roubekas [+-]
University of Vienna
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Nickolas P. Roubekas is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. Previously he held a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of South Africa as a member of the research project ‘Redescribing Graeco-Roman Antiquity,’ a teaching fellowship at the University of Aberdeen, U.K., and a research fellowship at the North-West University, South Africa. He has published articles and book reviews in various journals and is the author of Αναζητώντας τους Θεούς: Θρησκεία, Μύθος, Ουτοπία στον Ευήμερο τον Μεσσήνιο (Vanias, 2011) and An Ancient Theory of Religion: Euhemerism from Antiquity to the Present (Routledge, 2017). His research focuses on the Graeco-Roman world, method and theory in the study of religion, and the disciplinary intersection of Religious Studies, Classics, and Ancient History.

Description

It is today common practice to refer to identity-formation practices and processes when dealing with early Christianity. In addition, postmodern approaches to religion tend to focus on identity formation as the underlying aim of 'religion' as a phenomenon. Tertulian, perhaps the most important author of the early Christian period in the west, dedicates a treatise on the spectacles and whether, how, and why Christians should avoid participating as spectators to the games, theater, and other social gatherings curated by the Roman Empire on the basis of their pagan contents. Although his argumentation is based on theological principles, his discussion touches upon the issue of theorizing about space, religion, and identity.

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Citation

Roubekas, Nickolas. 14. Whither Shall we Go? Tertullian and Christian Identity Formation. Theorizing Religion in Antiquity. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 289-306 May 2019. ISBN 9781781793572. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=27974. Date accessed: 23 Jan 2020 doi: 10.1558/equinox.27974. May 2019

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