Overview

The development of Early Christian rituals in connection with death and burial has so far not sufficiently been explored. Volp’s study focuses on the surviving literary sources—both pagan and Christian—, together with inscriptions and other archaeological remains while taking into account recent results from science and humanities. A summary of death and ritual in the ancient Mediterranean religions is followed by detailed analyses of the Christian sources from the 2nd to the 5th century. Thus, basic developments are being discovered which led to and accompanied the forming of Christian rituals, such as ritual purity or the social structure of family and society. Being the first such interdisciplinary approach, it also represents the first monographic work on the topic since 1941.

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'...a major contribution to the study of Christian rituals in connection with death, burial and commemoration of the departed in the first centuries.' Heikki Kotila, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2005. '...cette etude tres erudite est donc plein d'enseignements sur tout un versant de l'existence chretienne.' Bulletin de Theologie Patristique Crecque, 2005.

Author Information

Ulrich Volp, Dr. theol. (2001), University of Bonn, is currently - after studies in Marburg, Heidelberg, Bonn, St. Andrews und Cambridge, and an appointment at Birmingham University - Wissenschaftlicher Assistent in Patristics at Bonn. His publications include an edition of Adolf von Harnack (Cicero 2001).

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