Repentance in late antiquity : eastern asceticism and the framing of the Christian life c. 400-650 CE

255 Pages·2013·1.02 MB·English

by  Alexis C. Torrance

OXFORD THEOLOGY AND
RELIGION MONOGRAPHS
EditorialCommittee
J.BARTON M.J.EDWARDS
P.S.FIDDES G.D.FLOOD
D.N.J.MACCULLOCH C.C.ROWLAND
OXFORDTHEOLOGYANDRELIGIONMONOGRAPHS
BLAKE’SJERUSALEMASVISIONARYTHEATRE
EnteringtheDivineBody
SuzanneSklar(2011)
PAULTILLICHANDTHEPOSSIBILITYOFREVELATION
THROUGHFILM
JonathanBrant(2012)
HINDUTHEOLOGYANDBIOLOGY
TheBhāgavataPuran(cid:2)aandContemporaryTheory
JonathanB.Edelmann(2012)
ETHNICITYANDTHEMIXEDMARRIAGECRISISINEZRA9–10
AnAnthropologicalApproach
KatherineE.Southwood(2012)
DIVINEPRODUCTIONINLATEMEDIEVAL
TRINITARIANTHEOLOGY
HenryofGhent,DunsScotus,andWilliamOckham
JTPaasch(2012)
THESALVATIONOFATHEISTSANDCATHOLIC
DOGMATICTHEOLOGY
StephenBullivant(2012)
COMEDYANDFEMINISTINTERPRETATIONOF
THEHEBREWBIBLE
ASubversiveCollaboration
MelissaA.Jackson(2012)
THESTORYOFISRAELINTHEBOOKOFQOHELET
EcclesiastesasCulturalMemory
JennieBarbour(2012)
THEANTI-PELAGIANCHRISTOLOGYOFAUGUSTINE
OFHIPPO,396–430
DominicKeech(2012)
VISIONARYRELIGIONANDRADICALISMINEARLY
INDUSTRIALENGLAND
FromSouthcotttoSocialism
PhilipLockley(2012)
Repentance in Late
Antiquity
Eastern Asceticism and the Framing of the
– ce
Christian Life c.400 650
ALEXIS TORRANCE
1
3
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Acknowledgements
There are many scholars and friends to whom I owe a great debt of
gratitudefortheirencouragement,support,andguidancethroughout
theprocessofresearchingforandwritingthisstudy,notallofwhom
can be mentioned here. The first debt belongs to Dr Jane Baun, my
doctoralsupervisoratOxford,whohasalwaysbeenequippedwitha
readywordtoexhort,aid,andsustain.Similarly,thanksareduetoDr
Yannis Papadoyannakis, who served as a supporting advisor and
acted beyond his official responsibilities in helping and guiding my
research. Both Drs Baun and Papadoyannakis petitioned for me to
embark on an academic exchange at Princeton University’s History
Department, where I was given the opportunity to work with Pro-
fessorPeterBrown,perhapsthemostprofitableacademicexperience
Icouldhopefor.MuchgratitudeisduetoProfessorBrownfortaking
meonandofferingmehiscarefulandwiseguidance,whoseincisive
counselsarealwaysseasonedwithsalt.
ThanksareowedalsotoRtRevdDrKallistosWareandDrMark
Edwards, who have taken the time on numerous occasions to read
andcommentonmywork,providingdirectionandinspirationfrom
manyrichyearsofpatristicresearchandsupervision.
I am grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, to-
gether with the electors of the University of Oxford’s Bampton
Studentship and Christ Church’s Hugh Pilkington Scholarship, for
generously supporting the research of this work in its form as a
doctoral dissertation. I am likewise grateful to the University of
Notre Dame’s Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton Univer-
sity’s Center for Hellenic Studies for providing me with support as
Ifinalizedturningthethesisintoamonograph.
For their advice, encouragement, help, and guidance in various
aspects of my research, I would also like to thank Revd Professor
AndrewLouth,RevdProfessorIrenei(Matthew)Steenberg,Professor
Claudia Rapp, Professor Guy Stroumsa, Revd Professor George Pat-
tison, Dr Johannes Zachhuber, Dr Kevin Uhalde, as well as the
Monastic Community of St John the Baptist in Essex, England.
I likewise owe a debt ofgratitude to the anonymous reviewerof this
work, and to the wonderfully efficient and professional editors who
viii Acknowledgements
have so carefully guided me through the publication process (in
particular,ElizabethRobottom,DavidTomlinson,andSarahCheese-
man).Needlesstosay,anyerrors,infelicites,oroversightsthatremain
aremyown.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support of my parents,
who from the first have exemplified the virtues of parental care and
encouragement. The dedication of this book, however, belongs with
muchloveandgratitudetoEugenia.
AlexisTorrance
Princeton
March2012
Table of Contents
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1. TrueandFalseRepenting:TrendsintheStudyofEarly
ChristianRepentancefromtheReformationtothePresent 9
2. DefiningRepentanceintheGreekPatristicWorld,PartI:
HellenisticJudaism,theNewTestament,andNon-
Judaeo-ChristianHellenisticSources 36
3. DefiningRepentanceintheGreekPatristicWorld,PartII:
RepentanceintheEarlyChurch(aRe-assessment) 64
4. RepentanceintheTreatisesofStMarktheMonk 88
5. RepentanceintheLettersofSSBarsanuphius
andJohnofGaza 118
6. RepentanceintheOeuvreofStJohnoftheLadder 158
Conclusion:RepentanceinChristianLateAntiquityand
theQuestionofContinuity 176
Epilogue 181
AppendixI: ApocalypticRepentanceintheEarlyChurch 186
AppendixII: ThePenitentialCanonsandMonasticRepentance 197
Bibliography 209
IndexofScripturalReferences 235
GeneralIndex 239