David L Eastman
Biographic Data
| ID | 1002636 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David L Eastman |
| GIVEN NAMES | David L |
| FAMILY NAME | Eastman |
| SIGNATURE | EASTMAN D L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Regensburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4880-9602 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Bourdieu and the Cult of the Saints as Cultural Theology
Despite advancements by social historians in early Christian studies, the narrative remains heavily influenced by the writings of bishops and theologians. Practices of non-elites are often dismissed as “popular religion,” implicitly contrasting them with “proper” theology. This paper employs Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus to analyze patron-client dynamics within the early Christian cult of the saints. Such an approach discursively reorients scholarly …
The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity
The first three hundred years of the common era witnessed critical developments that would become foundational for Christianity itself, as well as for the societies and later history that emerged thereafter. The concept of 'ancient Christianity,' however, along with the content that the category represents, has raised much debate. This is, in part, because within this category lie multiple forms of devotion to Jesus Christ, multiple phenomena, an…
Perpetua, Felicity, and the Paradox of Horror
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity is one of the most well-known texts from the earliest Christian centuries. However, at its heart lies a paradox. The story describes the arrest, imprisonment, torture, and violent deaths of two young women. If events such as these were to happen right in front of us, most of us would turn away. Our sense of fear and horror might be magnified by a sense that we could also become victims of this kind of senseles…
Under Caesar’s Sword
In 2019, Cambridge University Press published an edited volume entitled Under Caesar’s Sword , the product of a three-year study on contemporary Christian responses to persecution in various parts of the world. As part of the overall findings, the project directors noted three primary methods of response: (1) Survival strategies (trying to avoid the attention of the persecutors); (2) Association strategies (building relationships beyond their own…
Simon the Composite Sorcerer
Simon Magus is a key figure in the earliest apocryphal Acts of Peter. He is a sorcerer and confidant of the emperor who clashes with Peter and, in later apocryphal texts, with both Peter and Paul. However, this is not simply the villain of the Acts of the Apostles. In this article I will argue that the apocryphal Simon is a composite figure drawn substantially, but not necessarily wholly, from the Simon of Acts 8 and the Elymas/Bar-Jesus figure w…
Peter’s Paradoxical Cross
This article examines two ways in which the cross on which Peter hangs in various apocryphal accounts of his death is actually paradoxical. First, the earliest account, the second-century Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Peter (the final section of the Acts of Peter), recounts that Peter returns to face his fate after meeting Christ in the famous Quo vadis? scene. However, the author presents a death that is ultimately not very Christlike at all, fo…
The Linguistic Turn and the Expanding Horizons of Early Christian Martyrdom
This article examines the impact of martyrdom literature on the formation of Christian identity in the earliest centuries. Taking a cue from insights from the “linguistic turn” in scholarship, the article examines the function of martyr traditions in identifying suffering as the evidence of true Christian identity, in transforming the martyrs into a perceived elite class of Christians to be emulated, and in promoting a strong, anti-imperial rheto…
Martyrdom in Historical and Contemporary Perspective
Ignatius, Pseudo-Ignatius, and the Art of Pauline Reception
Die jüngere Forschung hat in neuer Weise einige Kernelemente der gezielten Rezeption paulinischer Themen und Begriffe bei Ignatius von Antiochien hervorgehoben. Im vorliegenden Artikel wird das Augenmerk auf die (sekundäre) Rezeption der Person des Ignatius als Erbe des paulinischen Vermächtnisses gelegt, wie sie sich in den pseudo-ignatianischen Erweiterungen und Briefen sowie in der Lobrede auf Ignatius von Johannes Chrysostomus und im »Martyri…
Epiphanius' and Patristic Debates on the Marital Status of Peter and Paul
A Syriac fragment erroneously ascribed to Epiphanius of Salamis allegedly preserves the names of the wives of Peter and Paul and draws our attention to patristic debates over the marital status of the apostles. In these contexts scriptural interpretation and ascetic ideals interacted, producing varied conclusions about the apostolic teaching and examples. Some patristic authors accepted the married apostles as a matter of fact, while others saw s…
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Epiphanius' and Patristic Debates on the Marital Status of Peter and Paul
A Syriac fragment erroneously ascribed to Epiphanius of Salamis allegedly preserves the names of the wives of Peter and Paul and draws our attention to patristic debates over the marital status of the apostles. In these contexts scriptural interpretation and ascetic ideals interacted, producing varied conclusions about the apostolic teaching and examples. Some patristic authors accepted the married apostles as a matter of fact, while others saw s…
Ignatius, Pseudo-Ignatius, and the Art of Pauline Reception
Die jüngere Forschung hat in neuer Weise einige Kernelemente der gezielten Rezeption paulinischer Themen und Begriffe bei Ignatius von Antiochien hervorgehoben. Im vorliegenden Artikel wird das Augenmerk auf die (sekundäre) Rezeption der Person des Ignatius als Erbe des paulinischen Vermächtnisses gelegt, wie sie sich in den pseudo-ignatianischen Erweiterungen und Briefen sowie in der Lobrede auf Ignatius von Johannes Chrysostomus und im »Martyri…
Martyrdom in Historical and Contemporary Perspective
Peter’s Paradoxical Cross
This article examines two ways in which the cross on which Peter hangs in various apocryphal accounts of his death is actually paradoxical. First, the earliest account, the second-century Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Peter (the final section of the Acts of Peter), recounts that Peter returns to face his fate after meeting Christ in the famous Quo vadis? scene. However, the author presents a death that is ultimately not very Christlike at all, fo…
The Linguistic Turn and the Expanding Horizons of Early Christian Martyrdom
This article examines the impact of martyrdom literature on the formation of Christian identity in the earliest centuries. Taking a cue from insights from the “linguistic turn” in scholarship, the article examines the function of martyr traditions in identifying suffering as the evidence of true Christian identity, in transforming the martyrs into a perceived elite class of Christians to be emulated, and in promoting a strong, anti-imperial rheto…
Simon the Composite Sorcerer
Simon Magus is a key figure in the earliest apocryphal Acts of Peter. He is a sorcerer and confidant of the emperor who clashes with Peter and, in later apocryphal texts, with both Peter and Paul. However, this is not simply the villain of the Acts of the Apostles. In this article I will argue that the apocryphal Simon is a composite figure drawn substantially, but not necessarily wholly, from the Simon of Acts 8 and the Elymas/Bar-Jesus figure w…
The Cambridge History of Ancient Christianity
The first three hundred years of the common era witnessed critical developments that would become foundational for Christianity itself, as well as for the societies and later history that emerged thereafter. The concept of 'ancient Christianity,' however, along with the content that the category represents, has raised much debate. This is, in part, because within this category lie multiple forms of devotion to Jesus Christ, multiple phenomena, an…
Perpetua, Felicity, and the Paradox of Horror
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity is one of the most well-known texts from the earliest Christian centuries. However, at its heart lies a paradox. The story describes the arrest, imprisonment, torture, and violent deaths of two young women. If events such as these were to happen right in front of us, most of us would turn away. Our sense of fear and horror might be magnified by a sense that we could also become victims of this kind of senseles…
Under Caesar’s Sword
In 2019, Cambridge University Press published an edited volume entitled Under Caesar’s Sword , the product of a three-year study on contemporary Christian responses to persecution in various parts of the world. As part of the overall findings, the project directors noted three primary methods of response: (1) Survival strategies (trying to avoid the attention of the persecutors); (2) Association strategies (building relationships beyond their own…
Bourdieu and the Cult of the Saints as Cultural Theology
Despite advancements by social historians in early Christian studies, the narrative remains heavily influenced by the writings of bishops and theologians. Practices of non-elites are often dismissed as “popular religion,” implicitly contrasting them with “proper” theology. This paper employs Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus to analyze patron-client dynamics within the early Christian cult of the saints. Such an approach discursively reorients scholarly …
History (8 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Art (5 works) · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Classics (4 works) · Historical and Linguistic Studies (4 works) · Literature (4 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (3 works) · Byzantine Studies and History (3 works)