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Alexi Chantziantoniou

@alexichantz.bsky.social

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies (Crandall University) | PhD (Cantab) | Ancient Mediterranean Religion, incl. Early Judaism and Christianity

177 Posts1412 Follower258 Folgt
I.T. Soon@isaactsoon.bsky.social · last wk.

Very pleased to hear the news that I received a two-year SSHRC Insight Development Grant from the government of Canada for my research project on the importance of death by suicide in early Christianity.

Alexi Chantziantoniou@alexichantz.bsky.social · last wk.

✨proofs✨ honoured to have an essay in a volume dedicated to the late Jim Aitken. the essay is a sequel of sorts to my JSJ article, “Are Eidōla Idols?” basically, if eidōla aren’t idols in the traditional sense, is eidōlolatria still idolatry? if not, then what?

a screenshot of the first page of my essay, “The Unextraordinary Life of Eidōlolatria: Morphology, Neologism, and the Invention of Idolatry,” chapter 23 in _Postclassical Greek and Cultural Identity in the Septuagint: In Memoriam: James K. Aitken (1968–2023)_, ed. Andrew T. Keenan and Robert S. Walker (Berlin: De Gruyter, forthcoming).
Andrew T. Keenan, PhD@andrewtimkeenan.bsky.social · last wk.

PROOFS!!! Robert and I finally got the proofs for our edited volume dedicated and in memory of the late James Aitken. Over the moon to be at this stage! If everything goes smooth, the book should be published November 2026! Keep your eyes peeled and your book budgets ready!

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Dr. Chance Bonar@chancebonar.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Was just informed by @katgelk.bsky.social that _From Slave to Saint: Onesimus Throughout Christian History_ now has a page on @fortresspress.bsky.social's website! Consider pre-ordering for Jan 2027 to learn more about Onesimus from the 1st–20th centuries www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

From Slave to Saint: Onesimus Throughout Christian History

In this book, Chance E. Bonar offers a reception history of Onesimus from the first century until today in order to demonstrate the value of apocryphal Christian traditions. Bonara? TMs book highlight...

fortresspress.com

Stephen L. Young@slyprofessor.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Holy crap. "Paul Within Paganism," the book I co-edited w/ Paula Fredriksen & @alexichantz.bsky.social, got a long review essay in The New Yorker! Still sifting through the disparate threads Gopnik tries to tie together. Well earned shout-outs in it to @ryancollman.bsky.social @zafulotus.bsky.social

St. Paul Remade Human History. How Did He Do It?

New scholarship reconsiders the apostle who turned a Jewish sect into a world religion—and whose legacy remains contested two millennia later.

newyorker.com

I.T. Soon@isaactsoon.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Pleased to see that my latest article, entitled "The Alexamenos Graffito as Christian Self-Parody," is now out in NTS. In it I argue against the widely held view that this graffito is non-Christian in origin and that it could very well have been written by an enslaved Christian.

The first page of the journal article entitled "The Alexamenos Graffito as Christian Parody." Abstract: Against the near-universal consensus that it was created by a pagan (non-Christian) in order to satirise Christian worship, this article contends that the Alexamenos graffito can plausibly be read as a Christian self-parody, created by the enslaved Alexamenos himself. It is the first full-length treatment of the authorial origins of the Alexamenos graffito. The article first provides an overview of the visual and scholarly histories of the image since the nineteenth century. Then it addresses evidence for and against reading the text as non-Christian or Christian in origin, focusing on the apparent sexualisation of Jesus, early Christian receptions of satirical depictions of Jesus, the graffito's use of a titulus, the solidarity of the image with enslaved workers and the relevance of nearby Christian graf-fiti. Finally, it places the graffito in conversation with ancient self-parody practices from wider Greek, Roman and Christian sources. While it is impossible to argue definitively about the identity of the graffito's creator, this article contends that scholarship cannot exclude the possibility and potential likelihood that it may be Christian in origin.
Alexi Chantziantoniou@alexichantz.bsky.social · 5mo ago

i was elated to hear that my article, “When Is Idolatry Idolatry? Paul’s Pneumatic Pagans among Other Possibilities in Early Judaism,” was accepted for publication in Harvard Theological Review! coming early 2027 to a journal near you

Evan Vossman@evanvossman.bsky.social · 6mo ago

My dissertation proposal (tentatively titled "Invisible Hands: Despotic Fiction and Enslaved Labor in Early Rabbinic Literature") has been approved! Time to keep reading and writing. Also time to submit a condensed version of my work to SBL for November.

Alexi Chantziantoniou@alexichantz.bsky.social · 6mo ago

for those looking for a temporary reprieve from *waves hands at everything*, i’ll be giving a paper on a new project at birmingham’s biblical studies seminar on 18 Feb at 11am ET. the paper’s entitled, “the enslaved seer: slavery and literate labour in the book of revelation.” DM for the zoom link!

Alexi Chantziantoniou@alexichantz.bsky.social · 7mo ago

PROOFS DAY i'm still a bit bewildered this paper won the achtemeier. i've presented its basic content so often that it feels slightly old to me. i'm just glad it's finally coming out so i don't need to present it or write about it anymore! but i hope someone else out there finds some use in it.

screenshot of the first page of proofs for my forthcoming NTS article, "The Politics of Paul's Image Parodies: Material Epiphany, Human-Divine Reciprocity, and Social Power." Abstract: "Early Jewish parodies of ancient Mediterranean cult images have long been taken as a point of categorical difference between Jews and non‘-Jews. The basic logic can be stated with maximal brevity: Jews were ‘aniconic’, indeed ‘anti-idolic’, while Greeks and Romans were iconic. When it comes to the question of so-called ‘idolatry’ and Jewish polemics against it, Jews were ostensibly ‘unique’ within the wider world of ancient Mediterranean religion. In this article, I interrogate such claims specifically as they relate to the apostle Paul, as one such Jewish polemicist who wrote to a predominantly gentile audience well accustomed to image piety and sensitive to its internal politics. I argue that early Jewish image parodies, including Paul’s own, are better understood to be situated within an iconopolitical strategy of cultural production that was otherwise common among Greeks and Romans, no less than Jews. By caricaturing cult images as non-existent, disabled or dead, it is my contention that Paul operated within and innovated upon a widespread tradition of ancient Mediterranean image politics, which configured social power relations between humans and their gods by abducting, mutilating or destroying their images, and that Paul’s parodies were intelligible and recognisable as such among his gentile followers. After outlining the comparative problems of ‘idolatry’, I draw from classical and art-historical scholarship to theorise the epiphanic and reciprocal dynamics of images in ancient Mediterranean religion, and then redescribe Jewish image parodies in Paul’s letters as operating within these same dynamics in the very process of polemicising against them."
I.T. Soon@isaactsoon.bsky.social · 8mo ago

My short Elements book "Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature" is now available on Cambridge Core. It was a lot of fun to learn from the exciting scholarship that's been happening and I hope that it's a useful resource for people. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature

Cambridge Core - History of Religion - Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature

cambridge.org

David W. Congdon@dwcongdon.com · 9mo ago

It also appears in the offshoot from the PWJ school known as Paul Within Paganism (PWP). Adam's analysis would lead one to think that PWP must be somehow at odds with PWJ, but in fact these are two complementary programs of analysis. Many scholars overlap. www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

Paul within Paganism: Restoring the Mediterranean Context to the Apostle

Leading and rising scholars introduce a burgeoning new approach to the study of Paul, which situates the Jewish apostle to gentiles within the wider world of ancient Mediterranean religion.

fortresspress.com

Dr. Chance Bonar@chancebonar.bsky.social · 10mo ago

🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️ I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator! spot.fund/dn8t744sc

Click here to support Chance Bonar's story *AncientGazanLitTranslation

*spotfund is the easiest place to create beautiful and free online fundraisers. It takes just minutes to start raising money today.

spot.fund

Alexi Chantziantoniou@alexichantz.bsky.social · 10mo ago

IT’S ALIVE! today i received my advance copies of 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 ahead of publication next month. it just dawned on me last week that people might actually buy and read this book. which is mildly terrifying. yay?

my hand holding a hardcover book, entitled 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮: 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦, edited by Paula Fredriksen, Stephen L. Young, and an unknown, insignificant scholar who happens the have the exact same long greek name as mine.
Alexi Chantziantoniou@alexichantz.bsky.social · 10mo ago

this book just came out and i *already* cannot stop talking about it with students! it’s become a staple in my book of revelation course. (i literally referred to it again in class this morning.)

Dr. Chance Bonar@chancebonar.bsky.social · 10mo ago

God, Slavery, and Early Christianity is out in the real world with @universitypress.cambridge.org! I have some extra, so retweet this by the end of Oct. 19 if you’re interested in receiving a copy! Book info here: www.cambridge.org/core/books/g...

Joshua Alfaro@joshuaalfaro.bsky.social · 10mo ago

At a Coldplay concert reading the 8th volume of Gerhard Kittel’s Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament and shaking my head the whole time so the people who see me on the Kiss Cam know I disagree with it.