Drudgery divine
Subtitle: on the comparison of early Christianities and the religions of late antiquity
By: Jonathan Z. Smith.
Series: Jordan lectures in comparative religion ;; 14; Chicago studies in the history of Judaism
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 1990
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 145
Subjects: Christianity and other religions -- Roman -- Study and teaching -- History; Christianity and other religions -- Greek -- Study and teaching -- History; Mysteries, Religious -- Study and teaching -- History; Christianity and other religions -- Judaism -- Study and teaching -- History; Judaism -- Relations -- Christianity -- Study and teaching -- History; Christianity -- Origin -- Study and teaching -- History; Apologetics -- History; Rome -- Religion -- Study and teaching -- History; Greece -- Religion -- Study and teaching -- History
Description: In this major theoretical and methodological statement on the history of religions, Jonathan Z. Smith shows how convert apologetic agendas can dictate the course of comparative religious studies. As his example, Smith reviews four centuries of scholarship comparing early Christianities with religions of late Antiquity (especially the so-called mystery cults) and shows how this scholarship has been based upon an underlying Protestant-Catholic polemic. The result is a devastating critique of traditional New Testament scholarship, a redescription of early Christianities as religious traditions amenable to comparison, and a milestone in Smith's controversial approach to comparative religious studies.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Lectures delivered at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1988.