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Ancient iconography of Paul is dominated by one image: Paul as martyr. Whether he is carrying a sword—the traditional instrument of his execution—or receiving a martyr's crown from Christ, the apostle was remembered and honored for his faithfulness to the point of death. As a result, Christians created a cult of Paul, centered on particular holy sites and characterized by practices such as the telling of stories, pilgrimage, and the veneration of relics. This study integrates literary, archaeological, artistic, and liturgical evidence to describe the development of the Pauline cult within the cultural context of the late antique West.

A close look at Phoenician religion

The Hebrew Bible contains a prohibition against divine images (Exod 20:2-5a). Explanations for this command are legion, usually focusing on the unique status of Israel's deity within the context of the broader Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds. Doak explores whether or not Israel was truly alone in its severe stance against idols. This book focuses on one particular aspect of this iconographic context in Israel's Iron Age world: that of the Phoenicians. The question of whether Phoenicians employed aniconic (as opposed to iconic) representational techniques has significance not only for the many poorly understood aspects of Phoenician religion generally, but also for the question of whether aniconism can be considered a broader trend among the Semitic populations of the ancient Near East.

Features:

• More than fifty images and illustrations
• Examination of textual and archaeological evidence
• Application of art historical methods

Phoenician Inscriptions introduces readers to the writing of the ancient people groups who originated in the ancient Levantine cities of Byblos, Tyre, and Sidon by the late second millennium BCE. Thanks to their establishment of colonies throughout the Mediterranean world, written evidence of their influence has been discovered from the Levant, Anatolia, and Cyprus to Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Spain. Each inscription in this volume is transliterated and includes an English translation and select critical commentary. Helpful maps, discussions of historical context, and drawings of inscribed artifacts supplement the translations. This resource opens a window onto the religious ideas and economic practices of people instrumental in shaping the history and culture of the ancient Mediterranean for a variety of readers, including curious nonspecialists and scholars and students of ancient history, linguistics, and archaeology.

A seminar, a sixteenth-century heretical text, and the art of slow reading—this is historical research as you’ve never seen it before.

Patience Games: A Seminar on the 'Benefit of Christ' invites readers into the unpredictable world of scholarly discovery, where interpretation is not a straight path but a labyrinth of dialogue revision. At the heart of this book is a seminar held forty years ago at the University of Bologna, where students wrestled with The Beneficio di Cristo, the incendiary sixteenth-century text that questioned Church authority and championed salvation through grace alone. This is not a neatly packaged historical study, however—it is an unfiltered look at the errors and insights that emerge in the collective process of reading and debating a text.

Through shifting hypotheses and the sheer unpredictability of research, Patience Games dismantles the illusion of scholarship as a sterile pursuit, revealing instead a messy, deeply human endeavor. Blending sharp analysis with wit and self-irony, the book makes a compelling case for the continued importance of slow reading—even in an age where knowledge is just a click away.