Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Brown Classics in Judaica)
Arthur Darby Nock
Language: English
Pages: 328
ISBN: 0819167894
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Originally published in 1933, Conversion is a seminal study of the psychology and circumstances of conversion from about 500 B.C.E. to about 400 A.D. A.D. Nock not only discusses early Christianity and its converts, but also examines non-Christian religions and philosophy, the means by which they attracted adherents, and the factors influencing and limiting their success. Christianity succeeded, he argues, in part because it acquired and adapted those parts of other philosophies and religions that had a popular appeal.
such begging save for Cybele on a few days, 'for it fills men's minds with superstition and drains their resources'. But there is no reason to believe that their activities How Eastern Cults travelled 83 were directed towards the influencing of those who heard and saw them to the practice of regular personal devotion to Cybele or Dea Suria. They wanted money for a religious purpose, and they had a technique, religious in their eyes, for securing it. Marius had a Syrian prophetess whom he took
greatness of a god. Let us take an illustration from the third century B.C. Artemidorus of Perga settled on the island of Thera and put up 1nscriptions to Hecate and Priapus: 'Artemidorus set up this Hecate, of many names, the light-bringer, honoured by all who dwell in the land. Artemidorus made these steps as a memorial of the city of Thera and stablished a black stone. I, Priapus of Lampsacus, am come to this city of Thera, bearing imperishable wealth. I am here as a benefactor and a defender
second century than in the first, in fact probably more Romanized: but the tone of society was set by the ruling class and the composition of this had changed. It is therefore not surprising that the Flavian period saw a rise in the importance of the Egyptian gods. They remain outside the official city boundary, but appear on Roman coins in 71 and 73, and for the first The Success oj these Cults time on the coins of Alexandria (which had an official character) Sarapis is called Zeus Sarapis.
at Civitas Mattiacorum in Germany), the temple of the Dea Suria at Hierapolis, and in particular cities there are cult dignitaries, the archigallus for Cybele, the pater patratus The Success of these Cults for Mithraism: the quindecimuiri at Rome, as we have noted, approved the gift of the appropriate insignia to Cybele's priest at Lyons and elsewhere. Butwemissany sort of general organization and feeling of unity. There was indeed a theology which finds expression in many of these cults. To
embraced the priest who had initiated him and who was now his father, and made his way home. Then in a few days at the prompting of the goddess he packed his baggage and went to Rome, reaching the holy city on 14 December. 'Nor was there anything thereafter to which I devoted myself so eagerly as daily to pray to the high power of queen Isis, who taking the name of Campensis from the place of her temple is worshipped with deepest reverence. In a word, I was a constant worshipper, a stranger to