Rhetoric and Reality in Early Christianities (review)

Conference proceedings appear to be taking the numerical lead in scholarly publication. Lists of recent publications are fatted with such works. Not every volume, however, is as thoughtfully gathered and insightful as the recent collection, edited by Willi Braun, entitled Rhetoric and Reality in Early Christianities. Braun has collected and commissioned nine papers on the use of rhetoric in the first six centuries of Christianity. The papers range chronologically in subject matter from the Gospel of Thomas (first century) to the Life of Saint Martin (sixth century). The purpose of the volume is to peer through the written practices of rhetoric to the social and religious realities beyond. In his introduction, Braun notes the situation of early Christianities in the ancient world, where religious pluralism was supported (and challenged) by the many means of persuading people to embrace one form of life or another. Braun's rather labyrinthine prose introduces the reader both to the scholarly debates about ancient rhetoric and to the volume's inclusive approach. It is tough going, at first; however, once having braved the introduction, one is rewarded with nine essays that fairly bristle with clear and urgent interest in pushing past the niceties of rhetorical criticism (observant of structure to the point of losing context) to the social settings that bring the arts of persuasion to life.

Of the nine engaging essays, I can comment upon only two in any detail. The first, by Laurence Broadhurst, deals with the second-century paschal homily by Melito of Sardis. This text, renowned for its virulent anti-Judaism and novel assertion of Jewish deicide, is treated within the context of forms of rhetoric known and practised in Asia Minor. Current scholarship on Melito's sermon has reached something of a stalemate, suggesting that the homily is either directed at an imagined Judaism for purely rhetorical (hence theological) ends or at a real second-century opponent. Broadhurst, however, effectively demonstrates that the text, while indebted to the Second Sophistic 'school' of rhetoric, deals with real opponents, thus offering a nuanced understanding of rhetoric used in aid of theological arguments. His reading of the homily makes no excuse for the latter's rhetorical excess and vituperative content; instead, Broadhurst seeks to understand Melito's discourse within a larger strategy for creating a Christian identity in the second century. His is a welcome addition to the ongoing scholarly re-evaluation of the conditions of Jewish-Christian relations in pre-modern Christianity.

The other noteworthy essay, by John Kitchen, revisits the symbols of slavery and redemption that originate in Paul's letters and populate early medieval discourse. Kitchen approaches this language first through the analysis of a sociologist of slavery and a medievalist. His essay then provides a necessary corrective to their ideas about the support for slavery in the rhetoric of saints' lives. Using the life of St Martin, Kitchen notes the subversive use of resurrection imagery in the freeing of slaves, and suggests the death and resurrection of Christ is key to understanding the hagiographical rhetoric that might otherwise appear to bolster (or, at least, not question) institutionalized slavery. Kitchen's subtle reading of medieval hagiography provides a much-needed re-examination of the value of saints' lives. Like Broadhurst, Kitchen enters a controversial field of study and creates room for new readings that negotiate between existing scholarly extremes.

The other essays in this collection offer thoughtful readings of the domestic code in Colossians, texts from the cult of Mithras, ritual responses to death, and the Christianization of Europe. In every case, the author weaves together some form of contemporary theory (e.g., ritual studies and social memory theory) with a desire to reread rhetoric in the light of social realities. The essays are of varying length, and one wishes at times for greater consistency in format. Nevertheless, they argue well for the study of rhetoric as a social, rather than merely literary practice. The volume is well worth reading, in its parts and as a whole.