Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions

Athanasios Despotis, 2006 Ph.D. at the University of Athens; 2012 Habilitation at the Univesity of Bonn is apl. Professor at the University of Bonn. He has published monographs and many articles on New Testament and Patristic Exegesis, including Bekehrungserfahrung und Bekehrungserinnerung bei Paulus und Johannes (Brill-Schöningh, 2021) Hermut Löhr, Dr. theol. (1994), Habilitation New Testament (2001), University of Bonn, is presently professor (chair) for New Testament and Judaism in Antiquity at the University of Bonn. He has published monographs and articles on the Epistle to the Hebrews, early Christian and Jewish Prayer (Studien zum frühchristlichen und frühjüdischen Gebet. Eine Untersuchung von 1 Clem 59 bis 61, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2003), the Decalogue, early Christian moral thought, Pauline theology et al.

• ContentsList of Tables and FiguresContributorsIntroductionAthanasios DespotisPart 1: Interdisciplinary Conversion ResearchContemporary Models of Conversion and Identity TransformationPierre-Yves BrandtUsing Behavioural Sciences to Understand Early Christian Experiences of ConversionRikard RoittoPart 2: Conversion in Ancient JudaismThe Lost Daughter: A Philological Study on the Scroll of RuthKarl-Heinrich OstmeyerConversion within Israel?: An Essay on Old and New in Second Temple Judaism, and on Paul the Convert According to Phil 3:2–4:1Hermut LöhrStrategies of Conversion in a Jewish-Orphic Hieros Logos: A Cognitive ApproachAnna Furlan“Making tešuḇā” (לעשות תשובה): “(Re-)turning” in Tannaitic LiteratureFrancesco ZanellaPart 3: Conversion in Philosophical TraditionsThe Awake and Sober Way of Life: A Key Motif in the Stoic ConversionSharon PadillaPhilosophical Conversion in Plutarch’s Moralia and the Cultural Discourses in the Ancient MediterraneanAthanasios DespotisConversion to Philosophy in Diogenes Laertius: Forms and FunctionsSergi GrauPart 4: Conversion in the New TestamentIs There Conversion in the Synoptic Gospels?Phillip A. Davis Jr.Metanoia in the Sermon on the Mount – A Philosophical ApproachRaul HeimannReligious and Philosophical Conversion in Paul and JohnAthanasios Despotis‘Consider Yourselves Dead’ (Rom 6:11): Biographical Reconstruction, Conversion, and the Death of the Self in RomansStephen ChesterWhat Was the Relationship between Almsgiving and Conversion for the New Testament Authors?Matthew N. WilliamsPart 5: Conversion in Mystery Cults and Late AntiquityBack to a Classic Debate: Conversion and Salvation in Ancient Mystery Cults?Miguel Herrero de JáureguiThe Sychar Story as a Standard Conversion Narrative in Heracleon’s HypomnēmataCarl Johan BerglundIndex