Jens Schröter

Konrad Schmid

The Bible is full of ancient texts long predating the assembly of Judaism's and Christianity's sacred books. Why these texts, and how were they transformed on the journey from folk tale to holy writ? Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter unearth the history, in the process overturning assumptions about the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.

From the First Fragments to Sacred Scripture

The Making of the Bible

Joseph Verheyden

Tobias Nicklas

The second century CE has often been described as a kind of dark period with regard to our knowledge of how the earliest Christian writings (the gospels and Paul’s letters) were transmitted and gradually came to be accepted as authoritative and then, later on, as “canonical”. At the same time a number of other Christian texts, of various genres, saw the light. Some of these seem to be familiar with the gospels, or perhaps rather with gospel traditions identical or similar to those that found their way into the NT gospels. The volume focuses on representative texts and authors of the time in order to see how they have struggled to find a way to work with the NT gospels and/or the traditions behind these, while at the same time giving a place also to other extra-canonical traditions. It studies in a comparative way the reception of identifiably “canonical” and of extra-canonical traditions in the second century. It aims at discovering patterns or strategies of reception within the at first sight often rather chaotic way some of these ancient authors have cited or used these traditions. And it will look for explanations of why it took such a while before authors got used to cite gospel texts (more or less) accurately.

Experiments in Reception

Gospels and Gospel Traditions in the Second Century

Christoph Ernst

The late 20th century was a formative phase in the history of digital media culture. The introduction of "new media" was associated with promises for the future that still resonate today. This book brings together contributions that discuss key aspects of the "imaginaries" surrounding new media in this epoch. The focus is on the works of the media artist group Van Gogh-TV, especially the historically very important interactive television project "Piazza virtuale" (1992).

Techno-Imaginaries around 2000 and the case of "Piazza virtuale" (1992)

(Re-)Imagining New Media

Christine Jacobi

From Thomas to Tertullian : christian literary receptions of Jesus in the second and third century CE / volume editors Jens Schröter and Christine Jacobi

The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries

Chris Keith

Helen Katharine Bond

"In The Reception of the Jesus in the First Three Centuries Chris Keith, Helen K. Bond, Christine Jacobi and Jens Schröter have collated a methodologically sophisticated resource. These volumes focus upon the diversity of reception of the Jesus tradition in this time period, highlighting the complex interactions between the inherited past and the present in which it is received. Rather than address texts specifically as canonical or non-canonical, the volumes show the more complex reality of attitudes towards and within early Christianity. Core literary texts such as Gospels and other early Christian writings are discussed in detail, but the volumes also highlight the importance of Jesus tradition in literary and non-literary contexts outside the gospel genre; including the Apostolic Fathers, patristic writers, traditions such as the Abgar Legend, and modifications to the gospel genre such as the Diatesseron. Evidence from material culture, such as pictographic representations of Jesus in the staurogram and Alexamenos Graffito, as well as visual presentations of gospel tradition in sarcophagi carvings, are also included in order to fully reflect the transmission and reception of the Jesus tradition. Volume 1 provides an extensive introduction and, in 18 chapters, covers literary representations of Jesus in the first century, featuring gospel literature and other early Christian writings. Methodologically the volumes draw on new approaches to history, memory, and tradition, to provide a cutting-edge approach that focuses upon reception-history rather than the putative actual past. This cutting-edge reference resource provides a fresh and comprehensive account of the complex development of early Christian thought about Jesus. It will fuel future discussions of early Christian history, the historical Jesus, the development of the New Testament canon, and non-canonical Jesus traditions for years to come."--

From Paul to Josephus : literary reception of Jesus in the first century CE / volume editor Helen K. Bond

"In The Reception of the Jesus in the First Three Centuries Chris Keith, Helen K. Bond, Christine Jacobi and Jens Schröter have collated a methodologically sophisticated resource. These volumes focus upon the diversity of reception of the Jesus tradition in this time period, highlighting the complex interactions between the inherited past and the present in which it is received. Rather than address texts specifically as canonical or non-canonical, the volumes show the more complex reality of attitudes towards and within early Christianity. Core literary texts such as Gospels and other early Christian writings are discussed in detail, but the volumes also highlight the importance of Jesus tradition in literary and non-literary contexts outside the gospel genre; including the Apostolic Fathers, patristic writers, traditions such as the Abgar Legend, and modifications to the gospel genre such as the Diatesseron. Evidence from material culture, such as pictographic representations of Jesus in the staurogram and Alexamenos Graffito, as well as visual presentations of gospel tradition in sarcophagi carvings, are also included in order to fully reflect the transmission and reception of the Jesus tradition. Volume 3 examines visual, liturgical and non-Christian receptions of Jesus in the second and third centuries, across 24 chapters. Methodologically the volumes draw on new approaches to history, memory, and tradition, to provide a cutting-edge approach that focuses upon reception-history rather than the putative actual past. This cutting-edge reference resource provides a fresh and comprehensive account of the complex development of early Christian thought about Jesus. It will fuel future discussions of early Christian history, the historical Jesus, the development of the New Testament canon, and non-canonical Jesus traditions for years to come."--

from Celsus to the Catacombs : visual, liturgical, and non-Christian receptions of Jesus in the second and third centuries CE. Volume three

In The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, Chris L. Keith, Helen K. Bond, Christine Jacobi and Jens Schröter, together with an international cast of more than 70 contributors, provide a methodologically sophisticated resource, showing the reception history of Jesus and the Jesus tradition in early Christianity. The three volumes focus upon the diversity of receptions of the Jesus tradition in this time period, with memory theory providing the framework for approaching the complex interactions between the past of the tradition and the present of its receptions. Rather than addressing texts specifically as canonical or non-canonical, the volumes show the more complex reality of the reception of the Jesus tradition in early Christianity. Core literary texts such as Gospels and other early Christian writings are discussed in detail, as well as non-literary contexts outside the gospel genre; including the Apostolic Fathers, patristic writers, traditions such as the Abgar Legend, and modifications to the gospel genre such as the Diatesseron. Evidence from material culture, such as pictographic representations of Jesus in iconography and graffiti (e.g. the staurogram and Alexamenos Graffito), as well as representations of Jesus tradition in sarcophagi and in liturgy are also included, in order to fully reflect the transmission and reception of the Jesus tradition. Volume 1 provides an extensive introduction and, in 18 chapters, covers literary representations of Jesus in the first century, featuring gospel literature and other early Christian writings. Volume 2 examines all the literary texts from the second and third centuries, across 40 chapters, examining both gospel writing and other texts. Volume 3 examines visual, liturgical and non-Christian receptions of Jesus in the second and third centuries, across 24 chapters.

Neben den vier biblischen Evangelien entstanden im frühen Christentum zahlreiche Texte zu Jesus, die keinen Eingang in die Bibel fanden. Vor allem die "Kindheitsevangelien" haben die christliche Frömmigkeit - Liturgie, Festtraditionen, bildliche Darstellungen - nachhaltig beeinflusst. Andere Texte wie das Thomasevangelium wurden erst im 20. Jahrhundert wiederentdeckt. Jens Schröter beschreibt die wichtigsten apokryphen Schriften zu Jesus, beleuchtet ihr Verhältnis zu den kanonischen Evangelien und erklärt ihre Bedeutung für die Geschichte des Christentums.

Jesusüberlieferungen außerhalb der Bibel

Die apokryphen Evangelien

This book deals with the connection between media and the future. It is about the imagination of futuristic media and what this says about the present, but it also shows how media are imagined as means to control the future. The book begins by describing different theories of the evolution of media and by exploring how this evolution is tied to expectations regarding the future. The authors discuss the theories of imagination and how the imagination of media futures operates. To do so, they analyse four concrete examples: the imaginations once related to interactive television and how they were performed in an important piece of media art; those on “ubiquitous computing,” which remain present today; those on three-dimensional, especially holographic, displays that are prevalent everywhere in cinema, and lastly the contemporary imaginations on quantum computing and how they have been enacted in science fiction. The book appeals to readers interested in the question of how our present imagines its technological futures.

Theory and Aesthetics

Media Futures

Andreas Dettwiler

Simon Butticaz

The volume deals with interpretations of Paul, his person and his letters, in various early Christian writings. Some of those, written in the name of Paul, became part of the New Testament, others are included among „Ancient Christian Apocrypha", still others belong to the collection called „The Apostolic Fathers". Impacts of Paul are also discernible in early collections of his letters which became an important part of the New Testament canon. This process, resulting in the „canonical Paul", is also considered in this collection.

The Person of Paul and His Writings Through the Eyes of His Early Interpreters

Receptions of Paul in Early Christianity

Heike Paul

Die Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften dient als kritisches Medium für Diskussionen über »Kultur«, die Kulturwissenschaften und deren methodische Verfahren. Anlässlich seines 100. Geburtstags widmen sich die Beiträger*innen Cornelius Castoriadis' Analyse der imaginären Konstitution von Gesellschaft, insbesondere seinem Konzept der »radikalen Imagination«. Sie zeigen auf, dass sein Denken es erlaubt, gesellschaftliche Selbstbeschreibungen vor dem Hintergrund ihres eigenen »Anderswerdens« zu verstehen und verschiedene Kulturen der Imagination zu beschreiben, die den Raum des Gegenwärtigen überschreiten: andere Technik, andere Gesellschaft, andere Körper, andere Subjekte, andere Zukunft.

Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften, Heft 2/2022

Radikale Imagination

Gregor Schwering

Dominik Maeder

Till A. Heilmann

Mit der Bezeichnung Ambient verbinden sich jene zugleich unaufdringlichen wie hörintensiven Klänge und Klangfolgen, die der Musikproduzent Brian Eno als Spielart populärer Musik etabliert hat. Dieser Band fragt, wie der Einfluss der Ambient Music (= Hintergrundmusik) zu beschreiben ist. Außerdem fragt er nach den Übertragungen: Lässt sich das Konzept des Ambient auch als eine Ästhetik des Hintergrunds begreifen, das sich auch auf andere, ähnlich gelagerte Phänomene ausweiten lässt? Etwa auf Literatur oder Film, Computergraphik oder Flugzeugkabinen?

Ästhetik des Hintergrunds

Ambient

Axel Volmar

Der Band »Auditive Medienkulturen« versammelt aktuelle Forschungen zu medial vermittelten Klang- und Hörkulturen und bietet einen fundierten und breit angelegten Überblick über aktuelle methodische Zugänge im Feld der Sound Studies. Die Fallstudien behandeln u.a. Recording Cultures von der Popmusik bis zur Bioakustik, Kulturen der Klanggestaltung vom Instrumentenbau über das Filmsounddesign bis zur auditiven Architektur sowie Rezeptionskulturen zwischen Ambient und Radio, Kopfhörer und Stereoanlage, Konzertsaal und Diskothek. Indem sich die Beiträge den Zusammenhängen zwischen Klang, Medientechnologien und kultureller Praxis widmen, verdeutlichen sie auf je unterschiedliche Weise, dass es sich bei Klang- und Hörphänomenen um kulturelle Objekte handelt, die nicht unabhängig vom Kontext ihrer historischen Entwicklung sowie vielfältiger Materialisierungen und Mediatisierungen betrachtet werden können. Mit Beiträgen von Cornelia Epping-Jäger, Sabine von Fischer, Golo Föllmer, Daniel Gethmann, Rolf Großmann, Marcus S. Kleiner, Friedrich A. Kittler, Sebastian Klotz, Volkmar Kramarz, Steffen Lepa, Daniel Morat, Sabine Sanio, Bettina Schlüter, Jens Schröter, Gregor Schwering, Jochen Venus, Axel Volmar, Thomas Wilke, Judith Willkomm, Bettina Wodianka, Rebecca Wolf und Hansjakob Ziemer.

Techniken des Hörens und Praktiken der Klanggestaltung

Auditive Medienkulturen

Reimund Bieringer

Ines Jäger

This volume studies the ways modern research has tried to detect traces of Docetism in ancient sources, including the gospels and the Johannine epistles and several second-century authors. As a concept, Docetism is often used in scholarly literature for denoting loosely connected or even quite different phenomena or doctrines that all have to do with defining the nature of Christ and the reality of the incarnation and passion of Jesus. The essays gathered here address the topic from a new perspective by concentrating on the ancient documents themselves instead of staying on a purely theoretical or dogmatic level, while also critically re-examining the historical contexts in which these were produced and first circulated. Contributors: Reimund Bieringer, Allen Brent, Paul Foster, Jorg Frey, Paul Anthony Hartog, Taras Khomych, Dominika Kurek-Chomycz, Winrich Lohr, Maarten J.J. Menken, Jens Schroter, Alistair C. Stewart, Joseph Verheyden, Francis Watson

The Quest for an Elusive Phenomenon

Docetism in the Early Church

Armand Puig i Tàrrech

The contributions in this volume are focused on the historical origins, religious provenance, and social function of ancient Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature, including so-called ‘Gnostic’ writings. Although it is disputed whether there was a genre of ‘apocalyptic literature,’ it is obvious that numerous texts from ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and other religious milieus share a specific view of history and the world to come. Many of these writings are presented in form of a heavenly (divine) revelation, mediated through an otherworldly figure (like an angel) to an elected human being who discloses this revelation to his recipients in written form. In different strands of early Judaism, ancient Christianity as well as in Gnosticism, Manichaeism, and Islam, apocalyptic writings played an important role from early on and were produced also in later centuries. One of the most characteristic features of these texts is their specific interpretation of history, based on the knowledge about the upper, divine realm and the world to come. Against this background the volume deals with a wide range of apocalyptic texts from different periods and various religious backgrounds.

Jewish, Christian and Gnostic Views of the World to Come

Dreams, Visions, Imaginations

Jörg Frey

Enno Edzard Popkes

St. Thomas’s Gospel is one of the most hotly debated documents from Early Christianity. No other piece of extra-canonical scripture has given rise to such controversy about whether it presents Jesus’ message in a more original and less theologically sophisticated form than the New Testament Gospels. The papers collected in the present volume give an insight into the present state of research and demonstrate new perspectives on the question of the status of the various texts and traditions of St. Thomas’s Gospel in the history of religion.

Entstehung – Rezeption – Theologie

Das Thomasevangelium

Benjamin Beil

Herbert Schwaab

Lorenz Engell

Daniela Wentz

The television series LOST initiated a wide-ranging academic debate which centered on its narrative and temporal complexity, while also addressing the massive expansion into other media and consequently crossing established genre categories. This expansion poses the essential question about the status of the original medium (television) within recent multiple media configurations. Can LOST be regarded as a symptom of television in the process of media change? What is the relation between LOST's temporality and that of television in general? And how can LOST be understood as a phenomenon of mediatized worlds? The contributions in this book examine these questions. The book's editors are members of the project "TV Series as Reflection and Projection of Change," which is part of the DFG Priority Program 1505: "Mediatized Worlds". (Series: Medien'welten. Braunschweiger Schriften zur Medienkultur - Vol. 19)

LOST in Media

Jakob Spaeth

English summary: Apocryphal Jesus traditions form a specific area of multifaceted interpretations of Jesus' activity. Quite often, these traditions are only preserved in unfamiliar languages and fragmentary manuscripts. This volume presents a comprehensive survey of important texts from this area from the perspective of well-known specialists in these texts. It collects a range of studies of Jesus traditions outside the New Testament from diverse languages and cultural traditions. Widely discussed texts such as the Gospels of Thomas, Peter and Mary are considered, but also texts from less well-known languages and cultural milieus e.g. Syriac, Ethiopic or Slavonic traditions are taken into account. In this way a fascinating variety of ancient and medieval receptions of Jesus' teaching emerges, which interprets it in new ways and adopts it to new contexts. German description: Die apokryphen Jesusuberlieferungen bilden einen Bereich vielfaltiger Deutungen des Wirkens Jesu, die oft in nur wenig bekannten Sprachen und schwer zuganglichen Manuskripten erhalten sind. Der hier vorliegende Band stellt eine umfassende Bestandsaufnahme massgeblicher Texte dieses Uberlieferungsbereichs aus der Perspektive ausgewiesener Kenner dieser Texte dar.Er versammelt eine Vielzahl von Studien zu ausserneutestamentlichen Jesusuberlieferungen aus diversen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen. Dabei kommen haufig diskutierte apokryphe Texte, wie etwa das Thomas-, das Petrus- oder das Mariaevangelium in den Blick, es werden aber auch bislang weniger bekannte Uberlieferungsbereiche wie der syrische, der athiopische und der slawische berucksichtigt. Auf diese Weise entsteht ein faszinierendes Spektrum antiker und mittelalterlicher Rezeptionen der Lehre Jesu, die diese in verschiedener Weise fortschreiben und in neue Kontexte stellen.

Beiträge zu ausserkanonischen Jesusüberlieferungen aus verschiedenen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen

Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienüberlieferungen

The authoritative new account of the Bible’s origins, illuminating the 1,600-year tradition that shaped the Christian and Jewish holy books as millions know them today. The Bible as we know it today is best understood as a process, one that begins in the tenth century BCE. In this revelatory account, a world-renowned scholar of Hebrew scripture joins a foremost authority on the New Testament to write a new biography of the Book of Books, reconstructing Jewish and Christian scriptural histories, as well as the underappreciated contest between them, from which the Bible arose. Recent scholarship has overturned popular assumptions about Israel’s past, suggesting, for instance, that the five books of the Torah were written not by Moses but during the reign of Josiah centuries later. The sources of the Gospels are also under scrutiny. Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter reveal the long, transformative journeys of these and other texts en route to inclusion in the holy books. The New Testament, the authors show, did not develop in the wake of an Old Testament set in stone. Rather the two evolved in parallel, in conversation with each other, ensuring a continuing mutual influence of Jewish and Christian traditions. Indeed, Schmid and Schröter argue that Judaism may not have survived had it not been reshaped in competition with early Christianity. A remarkable synthesis of the latest Old and New Testament scholarship, The Making of the Bible is the most comprehensive history yet told of the world’s best-known literature, revealing its buried lessons and secrets.

Jens Schröter

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