Papers by Harry O . Maier
Judeophobia in the New Testament: Texts and Contexts, 2025
This is a chapter in Sarah E. Rollins, Eric M. Vanden Eikel, and Meredith J.C. Warren, eds, Judeo... more This is a chapter in Sarah E. Rollins, Eric M. Vanden Eikel, and Meredith J.C. Warren, eds, Judeophobia in the New Testament: Texts and Contexts. Grand Rapids 2025. pp. 149-155. It charts the elements of anti-Judaism in the interperetation of Colossians in the early Christian, Reformation, and modern periods by analysing the way it is presented in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, including in the preface to the series, its selection of representative Colossian interpreters, and its editorial fashioning of it, its companion series, The Reformation Commentary on Scripture, as well as modern commentaries. The paper shows how different treatments align Colossians' polemic with aspects of Judaism that are a gross representation of ancient as well as modern Judaism, even though Colossians itself either avoids such configurations and its polemic has mistakenly been portrayed as anti-Jewish over the centuries, The chapter closes with some suggestions for discussion as well as exercises for classroom use.. .
Early Christian Epistolarity, 2025
In: Judith Lieu and Matthijs den Dulk, Early Christian Epistolarity, Critical Approaches to Early... more In: Judith Lieu and Matthijs den Dulk, Early Christian Epistolarity, Critical Approaches to Early Christianity 5. Brill, 2025, 207-245.
The paper is one of the first deployments of Social and Actor Network Theory, exploration of strong and weak ties, study of assemblages, cost of travel, connectivity, and the social production of space to determine the role of Cyprian's letters as well as those of his opponents in promoting allegiance and dissent in third century Christ religion.
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, vol 24, 2025
An account of visual depiction of Polycarp of Smyrna, specifically his martyrdom in a diversity o... more An account of visual depiction of Polycarp of Smyrna, specifically his martyrdom in a diversity of media from the Byzantine period onward, through the Reformation to early and later Modernity, as well as popular culture, including modern evangelical depictions.
Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Religion, 2025
Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–216 ce) was an Athenian-born Christian theologian and philosopher, ... more Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–216 ce) was an Athenian-born Christian theologian and philosopher, active for most of his career in Alexandria, where, according to Christian tradition, he was the teacher at a catechetical school. It is more likely that he was one of many teachers representing different forms of emergent Christianity in a metropolitan center known for its diverse intellectual life. He fled persecution of Christians in Alexandria in 202 and died in 216, probably in Antioch. Clement is best known for a trio of writings, the Protreptikos, Paedagogus, and Stromateis, which, respectively, exhort pagans to a progressive spiritual path of conversion, teach ethical formation, and advance ideals of contemplation. The last of these works, Stromateis, was written for more advanced and spiritually insightful male and female students of Clement’s teachings. Clement refers to those pursuing the most advanced stage as “gnostics”—but these are to be distinguished from the similarly named followers of the teachings of contemporary Alexandrian Christian teachers such as Basilides and the adherents of Valentinus. Five longer fragments of Clement’s works probably belong to the same spiritual program, specifically related to the third level. Another treatise, titled Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved?, takes the form of a sermon on Mk 10:17–31. Addressing the problem of attachment to money and other material goods, it offers valuable information about the wealth of some Christians in 2nd-century Alexandria. Clement’s works use an eclectic set of philosophical concepts drawn from Middle Platonism, Stoicism, and Aristotelianism to interpret the Bible and to outline the goals of Christian life. Like the earlier works of Philo, Clement’s writings attest to a synthesis, uniting an emergent religious tradition with Hellenistic philosophical ideals, that was formulated to shape ethical and spiritual teaching and to further theological insight.
Religion in the Roman Empire, 2024
The paper considers the way Rudolpf Sohm and Adolf von Harnack debated each other over 1 Clement ... more The paper considers the way Rudolpf Sohm and Adolf von Harnack debated each other over 1 Clement as evidence of the institutionalisation of early Christianity and the rise of early Catholicism. Moving beyond their treatment, it considers ways in which Clement supports his arguments for restoration of deposed leaders by appeals to civic themes of concord and then relates those themes to the natural order. The paper concludes by locating Clement's arguments about concord and the natural order within Roman imperial conceptions of the political order from the Flavian through the Hadrianic period during which the letter may be dated.
Exploring the Sublime Rhetoric in Biblical Literature, 2024
Meghan Henning and Nils Neumann, eds., Vivd Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion: Ekphrasis in Early Christian LIterature. Grand Rapids, MICH: Eerdmans, 2024
Religion and Urbanity Online, Jan 20, 2024
The phrase New Testament and urbanity refers to ways New Testament writings attest to practices a... more The phrase New Testament and urbanity refers to ways New Testament writings attest to practices and imagination of urban spaces and the ways urban spaces affected the practices and forms of imagination those documents describe. The phrase rests on a heuristic model of urbanity described by Rau (2020) as ‘a city-related phenomenon that materialises, takes spatial and temporal form. Taking spatial form means urbanity can emerge out of spatial practices and that these practices can also be translated into spatial structures. Taking temporal form means urbanity can emerge out of temporal practices and that these practices can also be translated into temporal structures – rhythms, for example.’ When applied to New Testament writings this heuristic understanding prompts us to ask, what role did religious actors, practices, and ideas found in the New Testament play in the emergence and ongoing development of cities and urbanity? What role did urban spaces and urban practices play in the emergence and ongoing development of Christ religions attested to by New Testament writings? How did spatial practices and forms mutually shape one another? What forms of temporality were expressed by that mutual formation? What urban rhythms arose, consequently? We refer to differing modes of urbanity, which is to say different kinds of relations and practices of urban spaces expressed through the various kinds of literature that constitute the New Testament (apocalyptic, gospel or sacred biography, types of letters, etc.), demography (ethnicity, economic power, social status), and the variety of imperial locations in which they were produced. The confluence of these elements resulted in rich spatial imagination and practices that reconceptualised urban spaces even as those spaces prompted forms of thought and practice.
Religion and Gender , 2024
Using spatial and intersectional analysis as well as theory dedicated to embedded gender agency, ... more Using spatial and intersectional analysis as well as theory dedicated to embedded gender agency, this article argues that the religious identities of female Christians were dynamic and pluriform not static and singular. These tools help to identify the ways in which one or more aspects of simultaneously co-existing female gendered identities became salient in different situations, through specific social practices. Documents for analysis include references to urban women in Pauline literature with special attention to widows/single women in 1Timothy, ascetical women rejecting marriage as represented by the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, and the representations of female Christ followers and the gendering of Christianity by first and second century Greek and Roman polemicists/magistrates against Christ religion (Celsus, Lucian, Caecilius, Pliny).
Archiv für Religionsgeschichte, 2023
Durch die Veröffentlichung der Originalarbeiten in diesem Jahrbuch gehen sämtliche Nutzungs recht... more Durch die Veröffentlichung der Originalarbeiten in diesem Jahrbuch gehen sämtliche Nutzungs rechte an den Beiträgen, einschließlich des Rechtes der Übersetzung, an den Verlag über. Das Werk einschließlich aller Beiträge ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen.
Resonanzen: Gerd Theissen zum 80. Geburtstag, 2023
Visions of the End Times: Visions of Hope and Challenge, 2022
Welcome to you, as you join us in exploring religious pluralism-a topic both simple and complex. ... more Welcome to you, as you join us in exploring religious pluralism-a topic both simple and complex. Simply put, North America, like much of the world, is home to many different religious traditions. Though our traditions have different histories and philosophies, we share a common life. Thus, we must work together to navigate questions about politics, ethics, education, environment, possible futures, and more. Naturally, our different perspectives come into conversation and, sometimes, conflict. Conversation helps us discover new facets of problems and solutions. Conflict challenges us to learn skills of resolution: listening, waiting, translating, compromising, collaborating. But living into religious pluralism can be complex. How exactly do we bring theologies into conversation? Can we face historical hurts and ruptures? When we honestly encounter one another, what happens to our traditions? Do we remain distinct? Teach one another new ideas and practices? Adopt a unifying spirituality that holds a place for all? And in its light creatively re-interpret our own sacred texts and rituals? Answers to these questions are likely situational, emerging out of our collaborations, conversations, and conflicts over specific issues. Thus, this book series, Religious Pluralism and Public Life, begins with issues-oriented discussions. These exchanges uncover deeper theological and cultural challenges for scholars and activists of different traditions to explore together. By reading, discussing, and even writing to series contributors, you, the readers, become part of the discussion. Thank you for joining us.
This essay investigates the Shepherd of Hermas as an instance of emergent urban religion in first... more This essay investigates the Shepherd of Hermas as an instance of emergent urban religion in first century Rome. With the help of socio-logical tools of modern urban geography it situates the work in the crowded streets and insulae of the Roman capital. The work respatialises and retemporalises the city by locating its audience in a series of visions through which Hermas exhorts wealthier members to live in greater solidarity with poorer members. Hermas uses an apocalypse genre to create an imagined community centred on economic and spiritual symbiotic relationships of richer and poorer listeners. The essay deploys the urban geographical notion of aspirational space to show the way in which Hermas as a religious entrepreneur promoted mutually beneficial neighbourhood relationships. T Gifts of the rich to the poor create networks of identity and self, distributed across a variety of neighbourhood relationships.
Mortality, 2022
The essay concentrates on the Martyrdom of Polycarp, a script largely believed to contain the ear... more The essay concentrates on the Martyrdom of Polycarp, a script largely believed to contain the earliest extant occurrences of a Christian technical martyrdom vocabulary. On the one hand, we will lay bare the distinctively urban character of this death performance by showing how and to what extent all the components of the martyrdom apparatus relate to the city as socio-spatial condition of production and consumption, textualisation and memorialisation of an ‘urban religious event’. On the other, we will look at how the text manages to turn a Roman death spectacle into a Christian propaganda event by hijacking practices and re-routing sequences of a public urban show. For both purposes, the critical conceptual toolkit will be provided by the most quintessentially urban among the 20th-century artistic-cum-political avant-gardes: the Situationists.
The Entrepreneurial Widows of 1 Timothy
Patterns of Women's Leadership in Early Christianity, 2021
This chapter continues a focus on the Christian Bible with examination of ‘The Entrepreneurial Wi... more This chapter continues a focus on the Christian Bible with examination of ‘The Entrepreneurial Widows of 1 Timothy’. It argues that the exhortations and admonitions to widows (i.e. unmarried women) voiced in 1 Timothy—identified as a highly rhetorical pseudonymous letter written in Paul’s name—attests to a concern with single women’s patronage of Christ assemblies, which the writer seeks to address by having them marry. The contributor seeks to move beyond a common explanation that the letter was occasioned by ascetical teachings in which women discovered in sexual continence a new freedom from traditional gender roles. The chapter aims to establish that the letter has a broader economic concern with widows, through an historical exploration of the socio-economic status of women who were artisans in the imperial urban economy. It identifies the means by which women gained skill in trades, the roles they played in the ‘adaptive family’ in which households of tradespeople plied their ...
Words , imagery , and the mystery of Christ. A reconstruction of Cyril of Alexandria's Christology . By Steven A. McKinion. (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae. Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language, 55.) Pp. xi+244. Leiden–Boston–Cologne: Brill, 2000. Nlg 182.91. 90 04 11987 6;...
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2003
Heresy, Households, and the Disciplining of Diversity
Exposed! Nakedness and Clothing in the Book of Revelation
Dress in Mediterranean Antiquity, 2021
The essay uses contemporary anthropological and sociological study of dress and nakedness to cons... more The essay uses contemporary anthropological and sociological study of dress and nakedness to consider nakedness in the Book of Revelation as part of a gendered apocalyptic fashion code and following Bourdieu the generation of a form of symbolic capital. It exegetes nakedness motifs in Revelation and compares them with themes of nakedness in the Hebrew Bible, intertestamental Jewish literature including Qumran, and in apocalyptic literature in Christ religion from the first century CE through to the Byzantine period. The essay analyses the motif of nakedness in Roman imperial military iconography which represents conquered enemies in various degrees of nakedness or improperly arranged clothing to argue that while parallels with Hebrew Bible texts are important for understanding Revelation’s treatment of dress and nakedness, attention to Roman imperial iconography repays exegetical and hermeneutical attention.
Historical Social Research, 2013
»Sojas Dritter Raum, Foucaults Heterotopie und de Certeaus Praktiken: Zeit/Raum und Sozialgeograp... more »Sojas Dritter Raum, Foucaults Heterotopie und de Certeaus Praktiken: Zeit/Raum und Sozialgeographie im frühen Christentum«. This essay uses analytical tools developed by Edward Soja, Michel Foucault, and Michel de Certeau to investigate time-space configurations in the religious movements inaugurated by Jesus and promoted by Paul. The article begins with an account of the domination of time as a conceptual tool for analyzing both figures and their teachings to establish the context for an alternative space-time reading of the data represented in the New Testament and extra-canonical sources. Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God is placed in the context of the monetization and hence disruption of traditional kinship and social structures. His parables, sayings, and the traditions associated with him represent thirdspace performances of his rural world. His proclamation of the Kingdom of God coheres with Foucault's notion of heterotopia in that it places listeners in places outside of place. His articulation of behaviours coincides with de Certeau's notion of tactics inserted within dominant social strategies. Through a reading of Paul's message against the backdrop of urban poverty Paul's motif of the church as body is seen as a thirdspace articulation of social groups, heterotopic place outside of place, and communal solidarity within the urban context of the Roman Empire.
Paul, Imperial Situation, and Visualization in the Epistle to the Colossians
The Art of Visual Exegesis
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Papers by Harry O . Maier
The paper is one of the first deployments of Social and Actor Network Theory, exploration of strong and weak ties, study of assemblages, cost of travel, connectivity, and the social production of space to determine the role of Cyprian's letters as well as those of his opponents in promoting allegiance and dissent in third century Christ religion.