Irenaeus made a significant contribution to epistemology, psychology, and asceticism in late antiquity by establishing the first fully developed Christian framework for ascetic training that has come down to us. Irenaeus innovated in epistemology and psychology to direct the daily, embodied ascetic practices that enabled human beings to make progress towards union with God. Irenaeus developed an empirical epistemology from his physics of creation ex nihilo that focused ascetic training on structuring embodied perceptions in order to develop the ability to accurately discern the truth and to reliably choose the good. He produced a holistic psychology from his physics of embodiment that focused on training the soul to grasp the truth, have virtuous emotions, choose righteous actions, and follow the desires of the Spirit. Irenaeus taught that practising the ascetic disciplines of vigilant attention, meletē, and egkrateia every day was essential for structuring perception to grasp the essence of phenomena ‘as they are’, unveiling the true value of faith, righteousness, and union with God as the highest human good, and living an embodied life capable of enjoying the good without end.

In this study, Jeremy L. Williams interrogates the book of Acts in an effort to understand how early Christian texts provide glimpses of the legal processes by which Roman officials and militarized police criminalized, prosecuted, and incarcerated people in the first and second centuries CE. Williams investigates how individuals and groups have been, and still are, prosecuted for specious reasons – because of stories and myths written against them, perceptions of alterity that render them subhuman or nonhuman, the collision of officials, and financial incentives that foster injustices, among them. Through analysis of criminalization in Acts, he demonstrates how critical race theory, Black studies, and feminist rhetorical scholarship enable a reconstruction of ancient understandings of crime, judicial institutions, militarized police, punishment, and sociopolitical processes that criminalize. Williams’ study highlights how the criminalization of Jesus’ followers as depicted in Acts enables connections with contemporary movements. It also presents the ancient text as a critique against the shortcomings of some contemporary understandings of justice and human rights.

Festal sermons exhibit a distinct mode of creating and communicating knowledge and, hence, constitute one specific element of the late-antique Christian intellectual world. Through their dynamic character and the flexibility of the genre, sermons offered the preacher endless possibilities to spread the word of God and to inspire his audience by drawing them into the liturgical and spiritual world that he created for them. Three elements contributed to this: rhetoric and style; the use of the scriptures; and a theological and liturgical epistemology, in which the sermon transcends the concrete here and now to encompass the past, present, and future of God’s plan of salvation for humanity. The final section shows that the preacher’s liberty was substantial but not unlimited: in the end he remained a servant of the Word and of his congregation.

The chapter examines the somewhat unexpected links between Origens and Iamblichus views on foreknowledge deriving from the divine. Both share a division of foreknowledge, venerating that which comes from a highest god and devaluing that which is thought to derive from the material world or lower divinities. This contributes a late chapter to a history of divination in the classical world, and to a formation story of early Christian notions of prophecy.

The epilogue reflects on the nature of essay collections and the distinctive contribution they make to intellectual debate and to wider society. It considers the risks we take when we make and accept academic arguments, and explores some of the specific questions these essays raise for the contemporary world.

This chapter re-examines the image of a canopied building supported by columns that often appears as the concluding page to the prefatory paratext to the gospels known as the Canon Tables, which was devised by Eusebius of Caesarea in the early fourth century. A catalogue of surviving examples of the so-called tholos image is provided, followed by an argument that the image is underdetermined and polyvalent, and that it operates together with the rest of the Canon Tables decorative scheme to invite an imaginative response from the viewer. The latter half of the chapter turns to two texts in Eusebius’ corpus to elucidate the way in which he used sacred architecture as a means of mapping the theological truths and ritual activities associated with such spaces. The same approach can be applied to the architectural decorative scheme adorning the Canon Tables, including its richly symbolic tholos, which can be seen as a potent symbol that can be activated through a biblically inspired ekphrasis and used as a ‘cognitive machine’ to theorise Christian knowledge and practice.

Jesus was a Jewish preacher and, for some Jews, a Messiah. His first followers lived in Jewish contexts. Only gradually did the differences between Christians and the followers of other religions become visible. Thus, there was a parting of the ways between Christians and Jews, but it was never complete. Jews and Christians always observed and influenced each other. Christians also set themselves apart from the many groups they called pagans. Although they believed in the existence of the gods, they considered them to be demons. They also developed their own rituals and created places where they met, so that Christianity became increasingly recognisable as a religion in its own right.

Alongside Ambrose, several prominent figures exemplify other forms of knowledge-shaping practices in catechesis. Zeno of Verona and Gaudentius of Brescia taught new Christians to re-imagine time and the natural world guided by Christian principles. Rufinus of Aquileia and Peter Chrysologus stressed the apophatic reserve necessary for initial inquiries into the nature of God.

The catechumenate emerged in the late second century during the period when Christianity was transitioning from a loose collection of school churches to a more unified monepiscopate. Irenaeus’s writings bear witness to the aesthetic character of knowledge in early Christian catechetical teaching during this time. For Irenaeus, the rule of truth serves as a pedagogical tool enabling new Christians to perceive the unity of creation and Scripture. This chapter looks at catechetical terminology and appeals to the Rule of Truth in Aduersus haereses and the Demonstratio.