TY - BOOK ID - 78643059 TI - The Scriptural Universe of Ancient Christianity PY - 2017 SN - 0674974867 0674974883 9780674974883 9780674545137 0674545133 PB - Cambridge, MA DB - UniCat KW - Sacred books KW - Church history KW - Christianity and other religions. KW - Books KW - Christianity KW - Christianity and other religions KW - Syncretism (Christianity) KW - Religions KW - Apostolic Church KW - Church, Apostolic KW - Early Christianity KW - Early church KW - Primitive and early church KW - Primitive Christianity KW - Fathers of the church KW - Great Apostasy (Mormon doctrine) KW - History and criticism. KW - Religious aspects KW - Christianity. KW - Relations KW - History KW - 27 "00/06" KW - Library materials KW - Publications KW - Bibliography KW - Cataloging KW - International Standard Book Numbers KW - 27 "00/06" Histoire de l'Eglise--?"00/06" KW - 27 "00/06" Kerkgeschiedenis--?"00/06" KW - Histoire de l'Eglise--?"00/06" KW - Kerkgeschiedenis--?"00/06" KW - History and criticism KW - Religious aspects&delete& KW - 11.51 early Christianity. KW - Vie chrétienne UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:78643059 AB - The passage of texts from scroll to codex created a revolution in the religious life of late antiquity. It played a decisive role in the Roman Empire’s conversion to Christianity and eventually enabled the worldwide spread of Christian faith. The Scriptural Universe of Ancient Christianity describes how canonical scripture was established and how scriptural interpretation replaced blood sacrifice as the central element of religious ritual. Perhaps more than any other cause, Guy G. Stroumsa argues, the codex converted the Roman Empire from paganism to Christianity. The codex permitted a mode of religious transmission across vast geographical areas, as sacred texts and commentaries circulated in book translations within and beyond Roman borders. Although sacred books had existed in ancient societies, they were now invested with a new aura and a new role at the core of religious ceremony. Once the holy book became central to all aspects of religious experience, the floodgates were opened for Greek and Latin texts to be reimagined and repurposed as proto-Christian. Most early Christian theologians did not intend to erase Greek and Roman cultural traditions; they were content to selectively adopt the texts and traditions they deemed valuable and compatible with the new faith, such as Platonism. The new cultura christiana emerging in late antiquity would eventually become the backbone of European identity. ER -