The Slow Fall of Babel: Languages and Identities in Late Antique Christianity

Cover
Half-title
Title page
Copyright information
Dedication
Contents
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Awakening to Linguistic Otherness
CHAPTER 1 Meeting the Alloglottic Other: The Socio-Linguistic Landscape of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Spread of Christianity
	The Bilingual Roman Empire
	The Near East Broadly Understood
	Egypt
	North Africa
	Europe and the Balkans
	Concluding Remarks
CHAPTER 2 Languages and Identities in Greco-Roman and Jewish Antiquity
	Languages in Ancient Greek Epics, Tragedies, and Comedies
	Herodotus and Beyond: Historical Narratives on Foreign Languages
	Foreign Languages in Philosophical Inquiries
	Hellenism: Assimilation of the Other
	The Roman Era: From a Monolingual to a Bilingual Antiquity
	Foreign Languages in Hellenistic Literature and Beyond
	Languages in Ancient Judaism: The Second Temple Period
	Hellenistic Judaism: Philo of Alexandria
	Languages in Ancient Judaism: The Rabbinic Period
	Languages of Revelation and Multilingualism in Rabbinic Literature
	Concluding Remarks
CHAPTER 3 The Tower of Babel and Beyond: The Primordial Linguistic Situation, the Original Language, and the Start of Linguistic Diversification
	The Confusing Confusion: Making Sense of Babel
	Hebrew and Primordial Unilingualism
	Christianizing ''Hebrew''
	History of the Hebrew Language in Christian Discourse
	History of the Hebrew Language in Christian Discourse (1): Hebrew that Ceased
	History of the Hebrew Language in Christian Discourse (2): Hebrew that Was Preserved
	History of the Hebrew Language in Christian Discourse (3): Alternatives to the Hebrew Hypothesis
	Beyond Hebrew: Histories of Other Languages
	The Language of God
	Tower of Babel: Blessed Catastrophe or Catastrophic Blessing?
	Concluding Remarks
CHAPTER 4 Speaking in Tongues in Christian Late Antiquity
	''Speaking in Tongues'' in Texts and Practices of the Second and Third Centuries
	Angelic Languages as a Solution
	Eusebius of Caesarea: A Turning Point
	Speaking in Foreign Languages
	Coming to Terms with the Xenolalia Interpretation of ''Speaking in Tongues''
		1. New Vocabulary
		2. Languages Never Learned
		3. Navigating the List of Peoples
		4. Ruling Out Akolalia
		5. Missionary Context
		6. Reconciling Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14
		7. Updating Earlier Texts
	The Tower of Faith and the Tower of Pride: Patterns of Multilinguality
	Unity and Fragmentation
	The Use and Abuse of Tongues
	Concluding Remarks
CHAPTER 5 Foreign Languages and the Discourse of Otherness
	Proto-Orthodox Christianity: Setting the Universal Frame
	Barbarians Old and New: Between Universalism and Cultural Superiority
	Languages of Christianity: Quest for Legitimacy and Authority
		1. The Right to Use Language and the Competition for the Classical Legacy
		2. Three Sacred Languages
		3. Navigating Symbolic Hierarchies of Languages
		4. Search for Authority: Summarizing the Case of Latin
	Linguistic Awareness and Sensitivity to Language Differences
	Concluding Remarks
CHAPTER 6 The Languages of Saints and Demons
	Languages of Ascetics: Between the Grace of Knowledge and the Grace of Ignorance
	Xenolalia in Christian Literature of Late Antiquity
		1. Disconnection of the Exegetical and Hagiographical Traditions
		2. Early Greek Testimonies of Language-Related Miracles
		3. Xenolalia Accounts in Syriac Literature
		4. Topos of Xenolalia?
	Demons Speaking in Tongues
	Concluding Remarks
Conclusion: What's in the Language?
	Communities of Linguistic Sensitivities
	Monolingual Babel to Fall
	Imagining the Alloglottic Other
	Dialect(ic)s of Christian Universalism
	Languages of Heretics
	What's Next?
Bibliography
	Scriptural Sources
	Primary Sources
		Achilles Tatius
		Acts of St. Marina and St. Christopher
		Acts of St. Simeon Stylite
		Acts of Thomas
		Aeschylus
		Ambrose
		Ambrosiaster
		Antoninus of Piacenza
		Aphrahat
		Apocalypse of Paul
		Apophthegmata Patrum
		Apostolic Constitutions
		Apponius
		Aristeas: Letter to Philocrates
		Aristophanes
		Aristotle
		Arnobius the Younger
		Athanasius of Alexandria
		Augustine
		Aulus Gellius
		Auxentius: Epistula de Vita Ulfilae
		Avitus of Vienne
		Babrius
		Barsanuphius and John
		Basil of Caesarea
		Book of Jubilees
		Book of Steps
		Callimachus
		Cassiodorus
		Catenae on Genesis and Exodus
		Cave of Treasures
		Chromatius of Aquileia
		Claudius Marius Victorius
		Clement of Alexandria
		Commentary on Genesis-Exodus (Diyarbakir Manuscript)
		Consultations of Zacchaeus and Apollonius
		Cornelius Nepos
		Crates
		Cyril of Alexandria
		Cyril of Jerusalem
		Cyril of Scythopolis
		Cyrus of Edessa
		Didymus the Blind / Ps.-Didymus the Blind
		Diodorus Siculus
		Diogenes Laertius
		Diogenes of Oinoanda
		Dionysius of Halicarnassus
		Elias of Dara
		Ephrem the Syrian
		Epicurus
		Epiphanius of Salamis
		Eucherius of Lyons
		Eunomius of Cyzicus
		Euripides
		Eusebius of Caesarea
		Eustratios the Presbyter
		Faustus of Riez
		Filastrius of Brescia
		Fourth Memra on Joseph
		Fulgentius Mythographus
		Fulgentius of Ruspe
		The Funerary Oration for John Chrysostom
		Gaudentius of Brescia
		Gregory of Elvira
		Gregory of Nazianzus
		Gregory of Nyssa
		Gregory of Tours
		Gregory the Great
		Herodotus
		Hilary of Poitiers
		Hippolytus of Rome
		History of the Egyptian Monks
		Homer
		Hyginus
		Irenaeus
		Isho?dad of Merv
		Isidore of Seville
		Jacob of Sarug
		Jerome
		Jerome (Translated to Greek)
		Jewish Inscriptions
		John Cassian
		John Chrysostom
		John of Ephesus
		John the Lydian
		Jordanes
		Josephus
		Julius Africanus
		Justin Martyr
		Lactantius
		Lament of the Virgin Mary
		Leo the Great
		Leontius of Constantinople
		Letter to Diognetus
		Life of Aesop
		Life of Ahoudemmeh
		Life of Andrew the Holy Fool
		Life of Daniel the Stylite
		Life of Ephrem
		Life of Nino
		Life of Pachomius and Paralipomena
		Life of Rabbula
		Lucian of Samosata
		Lucretius
		Marius Victorinus
		Marutha of Tagrit
		Maximus of Turin
		Memra (Romance) on Alexander
		Midrash Rabbah
		Mysteries of Letters
		Nikephoros of Rus
		Optate of Milevis
		Origen
		Origen (Translated to Latin)
		Oxyrhynchus Papyri
		Pacian of Barcelona
		Palladius of Helenopolis
		Paulinus of Nola
		Paulinus of Perigueux
		Philo of Alexandria
		Philoxenus of Mabbug
		Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer
		Plato
		Plautus
		Pliny the Elder
		Plutarch
		Porphyry
		Procopius of Gaza
		Prophetiae Ex Omnibus Libris Collectae
		Prosper of Aquitaine
		Ps.-Amphilochius of Iconium: De Basilio Magno et S. Ephraem Syro
		Ps.-Clement: Recognitions
		Ps.-Cyprian
		Ps.-Eustathius
		Ps.-Macarius
		Ps.-Zacharias of Mytilene
		Pseudo-Jonathan Targum
		Quodvultdeus
		Rufinus of Aquileia
		Scriptores Historiae Augustae
		Second Book of Enoch
		Severian of Gabala
			Shubhalmaran
			Sibylline Oracles
			Sidonius Apollinaris
			Simeon Beth Arsham
			Sophocles
			Stephanus of Byzantium
			Stephen Bar-Sudhaile
			Symeon Metaphrastes
			Talmud
			Tatian
			Teaching of Addai
			Tertullian
			Testament of Naphtali
			Theodore Bar Koni
			Theodoret of Cyrrhus
			Theophilus of Antioch
			Thucydides
			Valerius Maximus
			Varro
			Venantius Fortunatus
			Victor of Vita
			Xenophon
			Zosimos of Panopolis
		Secondary Sources
Index