Bøger af Jan N. Bremmer

Why did the early followers of Jesus call themselves "Christians"? What was their social and religious capital? Why did Christianity attract both poor widows and wealthy women? What did pagans think of early Christians? Integrating the major apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in the study of Christianity and the ancient world, Jan N. Bremmer illustrates their prominence of women and their, sometimes surprising, usage of magic as well as establishing a new chronology and place of composition for these Acts. He also shows that the early Christian tours of hell derive from both Jewish and Greek models, although they become increasingly Christianised. The author concludes by decoding the intriguing visions in the Passion of Perpetua by placing them in the contemporary world, thereby compelling us to sympathize with the hopes and fears of young Christian martyrs. It is the close attention to both pagan and Christian traditions that make these papers, which have all been updated and some of them revised, an exciting read for scholars and advanced students alike.

Das Munchner Zentrum fur Antike Welten ist eine interfakultare Arbeitsgemeinschaft an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat. Es verfugt uber eine standige Gastprofessur fur antike Kulturgeschichte. Auf sie werden im jahrlichen Wechsel namhafte Gelehrte aus den Altertumswissenschaften berufen, die in einer Vortragsreihe ein interdisziplinar bedeutsames Thema behandeln. Zudem veranstaltet das MZAW Kolloquien und Fachtagungen. Die Reihe Munchner Vorlesungen zu Antiken Welten legt diese Vortrage einem kultur- und altertumswissenschaftlich interessierten Publikum vor.

In this perceptive and intriguing book, Bremmer takes a fresh look at the major developments in the Western imagination of the afterlife, from the ancient Greeks to the modern near-death experience.