Richard E. DeMaris is Senior Research Professor of Religious Studies at Valparaiso University (USA), whose special interest is early Christian ritual.Soham Al-Suadi is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Rostock (Germany), with a research focus on early Christian ritual practices, meals in antiquity, and gender-critical biblical interpretation.Richard S. Ascough is Professor of Religious Studies at Queen’s University (Canada) and has published widely on the social dynamics of early Christ groups as well as Greek and Roman associations.

• List of figures ixList of tables xiList of contributors xiiAcknowledgments xvAbbreviations xviIntroduction: Embodying belief 1RICHARD E. DEMARIS1 Theorizing ritual and gender: The case of masculinity 8ERIC C. STEWART2 Readjusting enslavement ritually: The case of Paul’s Letter to Philemon 28SUZAN SIERKSMA-AGTERES, ILSE SWART, AND PETER-BEN SMIT3 Alexander the Great submits to a Judean high priest?!: Ritual and masculine performance in Josephus’ account of their meeting 46ERIC C. STEWART4 Ritual failure and masculinity in the martyrdom of Polycarp 60PETER-BEN SMIT5 Gender and early Christian visual discourse: The pictorial program of the Dura-Europos baptismal room 78RICHARD E. DEMARIS6 Female agency in ancient Greek religion 96ANNE GÜRLACH7 Placing the kitchen and the storeroom in the ritual landscape 111KATRINA ROSIE8 “The girl with the Pythian spirit”: Women’s ritual labor in Acts 16 129BRIGIDDA ZAPATA9 Naked in court—Humiliation and salvation: A comparison of Phryne, Thecla, and the naked young man of Mark 14:50–52 144HENRIKE BLOCK10 The body and its parts: Divided tongues as votive body parts in Acts 2:3 158SOHAM AL-SUADI11 Holy oil, haptics, and healing 181ALICIA J. BATTEN12 Healthy water, harmful water, and early Christian ambivalence toward it 197RICHARD E. DEMARIS AND HENRIKE BLOCK13 Geographic potency: Using magical papyri to find good drugs 215JON-PHILIPPE RUHUMULIZAConclusion 243RICHARD S. ASCOUGHIndex of ancient sources 253Index of modern authors 263Index of subjects 269

Richard E. DeMaris is Senior Research Professor of Religious Studies at Valparaiso University (USA), whose special interest is early Christian ritual.Soham Al-Suadi is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Rostock (Germany), with a research focus on early Christian ritual practices, meals in antiquity, and gender-critical biblical interpretation.Richard S. Ascough is Professor of Religious Studies at Queen’s University (Canada) and has published widely on the social dynamics of early Christ groups as well as Greek and Roman associations.

• List of figures ixList of tables xiList of contributors xiiAcknowledgments xvAbbreviations xviIntroduction: Embodying belief 1RICHARD E. DEMARIS1 Theorizing ritual and gender: The case of masculinity 8ERIC C. STEWART2 Readjusting enslavement ritually: The case of Paul’s Letter to Philemon 28SUZAN SIERKSMA-AGTERES, ILSE SWART, AND PETER-BEN SMIT3 Alexander the Great submits to a Judean high priest?!: Ritual and masculine performance in Josephus’ account of their meeting 46ERIC C. STEWART4 Ritual failure and masculinity in the martyrdom of Polycarp 60PETER-BEN SMIT5 Gender and early Christian visual discourse: The pictorial program of the Dura-Europos baptismal room 78RICHARD E. DEMARIS6 Female agency in ancient Greek religion 96ANNE GÜRLACH7 Placing the kitchen and the storeroom in the ritual landscape 111KATRINA ROSIE8 “The girl with the Pythian spirit”: Women’s ritual labor in Acts 16 129BRIGIDDA ZAPATA9 Naked in court—Humiliation and salvation: A comparison of Phryne, Thecla, and the naked young man of Mark 14:50–52 144HENRIKE BLOCK10 The body and its parts: Divided tongues as votive body parts in Acts 2:3 158SOHAM AL-SUADI11 Holy oil, haptics, and healing 181ALICIA J. BATTEN12 Healthy water, harmful water, and early Christian ambivalence toward it 197RICHARD E. DEMARIS AND HENRIKE BLOCK13 Geographic potency: Using magical papyri to find good drugs 215JON-PHILIPPE RUHUMULIZAConclusion 243RICHARD S. ASCOUGHIndex of ancient sources 253Index of modern authors 263Index of subjects 269

Richard E. DeMaris is Senior Research Professor of Religious Studies at Valparaiso University (USA), whose special interest is early Christian ritual.Soham Al-Suadi is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Rostock (Germany), with a research focus on early Christian ritual practices, meals in antiquity, and gender-critical biblical interpretation.Richard S. Ascough is Professor of Religious Studies at Queen’s University (Canada) and has published widely on the social dynamics of early Christ groups as well as Greek and Roman associations.

• List of figures ixList of tables xiList of contributors xiiAcknowledgments xvAbbreviations xviIntroduction: Embodying belief 1RICHARD E. DEMARIS1 Theorizing ritual and gender: The case of masculinity 8ERIC C. STEWART2 Readjusting enslavement ritually: The case of Paul’s Letter to Philemon 28SUZAN SIERKSMA-AGTERES, ILSE SWART, AND PETER-BEN SMIT3 Alexander the Great submits to a Judean high priest?!: Ritual and masculine performance in Josephus’ account of their meeting 46ERIC C. STEWART4 Ritual failure and masculinity in the martyrdom of Polycarp 60PETER-BEN SMIT5 Gender and early Christian visual discourse: The pictorial program of the Dura-Europos baptismal room 78RICHARD E. DEMARIS6 Female agency in ancient Greek religion 96ANNE GÜRLACH7 Placing the kitchen and the storeroom in the ritual landscape 111KATRINA ROSIE8 “The girl with the Pythian spirit”: Women’s ritual labor in Acts 16 129BRIGIDDA ZAPATA9 Naked in court—Humiliation and salvation: A comparison of Phryne, Thecla, and the naked young man of Mark 14:50–52 144HENRIKE BLOCK10 The body and its parts: Divided tongues as votive body parts in Acts 2:3 158SOHAM AL-SUADI11 Holy oil, haptics, and healing 181ALICIA J. BATTEN12 Healthy water, harmful water, and early Christian ambivalence toward it 197RICHARD E. DEMARIS AND HENRIKE BLOCK13 Geographic potency: Using magical papyri to find good drugs 215JON-PHILIPPE RUHUMULIZAConclusion 243RICHARD S. ASCOUGHIndex of ancient sources 253Index of modern authors 263Index of subjects 269