EPIPHANIES IN SECOND- AND THIRD-CENTURY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE: DISCOURSE, IDENTITY, AND DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS Jason Robert Combs A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies (Ancient Mediterranean Religions). Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Bart D. Ehrman Joel Marcus Laura Nasrallah Zlatko Pleše Randall Styers i ©2016 Jason Robert Combs ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT JASON ROBERT COMBS: Epiphanies in Second- and Third-Century Christian Literature: Discourse, Identity, and Divine Manifestations. (Under the direction of Bart D. Ehrman) This is a study of the early Christian discourse on epiphanies—visible manifestations of otherworldly beings, including gods, angels, and demons, who communicate or interact directly with human beings. During the second and third centuries, epiphanies featured prominently in the literature, letters, inscriptions, and art of the pagan (non-Jewish, non- Christian) world that Christians inhabited. Yet, compared to their pagan contemporaries, Christians wrote little about epiphanies. The paucity of evidence in theological treatises has led scholars to suggest that most Christians in the second and third centuries were not interested in epiphanies. Nevertheless, when the evidence from theological treatises is compared with the more numerous accounts from such literature as the apocryphal acts, the significance of epiphanies becomes clear. Epiphanies were implicated in early Christian discourse on identity. Focusing on the writings of Tertullian, Athenagoras, and other apologists as well as on apocryphal acts, gospels, and other narratives, this dissertation argues that developments in Christian theories and narratives about divine encounters evolved out of discursive strategies that distinguished between Christian and pagan epiphanies. For instance, although the most common Christian response to pagan epiphanies was to declare them demonic, careful analysis of Christian discourse reveals a more influential strategy. Whereas most pagan authors suggested that gods could be recognized by iii comparison to their statues, some Christian authors proposed that demons should be identified by their efforts to encourage the worship of a pagan god. Interpreting epiphanies according to their purpose instead of their images allowed Christians to identify images commonly associated with pagan gods as images of angels or even Christ. In particular, some Christian authors adopted the popular pagan images of the young man or shepherd as manifestations of Christ, while others described Christ appearing in the uniquely Christian images of an apostle, a deacon, or even the cross. The study of each of these images shows how Christians negotiated their relationship with common Greco-Roman practices and traditions often defined as pagan. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank all of the people and organizations who have supported and shaped my work on this dissertation. To begin, I express my appreciation for the members of my dissertation committee: Bart Ehrman, Joel Marcus, Laura Nasrallah, Zlatko Pleše, and Randall Styers. I am grateful for their close reading of my work and for their suggestions on how to move forward with this project and further refine my arguments. I am especially grateful for my advisor, Bart Ehrman. His prolificacy is both intimidating and inspiring. Despite his busy schedule he was somehow always available to meet in person. I could not have written this without his guidance, constructive criticism, and encouragement. He knew precisely when to press me to work harder and when to ease my burdens; and he did so with his characteristic sense of humor and positive outlook. He has been, for me, the ideal advisor. My work on this project would not have been possible without generous funding from UNC’s Department of Religious Studies and UNC’s Royster Society of Fellows. I am grateful to Lovick P. Corn whose generosity made possible my dissertation fellowship in UNC’s Royster Society of Fellows. I am also grateful to UNC Religious Studies, as well as the religious studies programs at Guilford College, UNCG, High Point University, for the opportunities to teach while working on my dissertation. Various sections of this work first came into being as shorter articles and conference papers. These were presented at the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature (2011-2014), the North American Patristics Society (2013, 2014), Oxford Patristics Conference (2015), and a special conference titled, “Disclosure, Inspiration, Epiphany: Divine Revelation in the Ancient Mediterranean” held at King’s College London (2016). I am grateful to the official and unofficial respondents whose critiques have helped to sharpen and refine my arguments. These include Stephanie Cobb, David Eastman, Paul Foster, Steven Larson, Ellen Muehlberger, Joan Taylor, and others. Additional thanks are owed to Ellen Muehlberger, as well as to Georgia Petridou and Verity Platt, who shared their own unpublished work with me at various stages of this project. I am also grateful to participants in the combined UNC and Duke “Christianity in Antiquity” reading group for their reviews of early drafts. In particular, I would like to thank Stephen Carlson, Maria Doerfler, Luke Drake, Ken Olson, Julia Kelto Lillis, Shaily Patel, Travis Proctor, Jason Staples, and Erin Galgay Walsh. Travis Proctor, Jason Staples, and especially Shaily Patel merit additional gratitude for their numerous discussions and careful readings of my work. I also am grateful for the love and support of my family: for the encouragement of my parents and for my wife and children (Michael, Zechariah, Christiana, and Elizabeth) who have endured so many moves and remained positive throughout the adventure. Most of all, I am grateful for my wife, Rose. It is an understatement to say that I could not have done this without her. She has helped me to talk through the moments of writer’s block and has read more of my work at its various stages than anybody. Most important, however, she has been my rock. During the most challenging times of my graduate education, in those inevitable moments of self-doubt, she has been my constant strength. i Table of Contents INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 Review of Literature .............................................................................................................. 3 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 17 Categories and Key Terms .................................................................................................. 21 Selection of Sources ............................................................................................................ 27 Chapter Summaries .............................................................................................................. 34 THE GRECO-ROMAN DISCOURSE ON EPIPHANIES ............................................... 38 Content and Functions of Divine Manifestations ................................................................ 41 Health and Healing ................................................................................................................................................. 42 Love and Marriage .................................................................................................................................................. 46 Divine Directions and Interventions .................................................................................................................. 51 Worship and Divine Acceptance ......................................................................................................................... 54 Art as Epiphany ........................................................................................................................................................ 57 Trends in the Narration and Practice of Epiphanies ............................................................ 60 Polymorphy of the Gods in Epiphanies ............................................................................................................ 60 Recognizing Gods by their Common Characteristics .................................................................................. 65 Epiphanies in Public Life ...................................................................................................................................... 67 Dream Specialists .................................................................................................................................................... 69 Cultural Authority and Epiphanies .................................................................................................................... 71 Classification of Epiphanies and other Dreams ................................................................... 73 Psychobiological Origin of Insignificant Dreams featuring Gods .......................................................... 75 ii Classifying Epiphany as a Type of Divine Dream ........................................................................................ 78 Classification in Posidonius ................................................................................................................................