Alexi Chantziantoniou

@alexichantz.bsky.social

1414 Followers 259 Following

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

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).
a picture of Chance Bonar’s book, _God, Slavery, and Early Christianity_, in a glass display next to a blurb i wrote, saying, “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.”
abstract: Paul’s ritual demand that gentiles turn from images of their ancestral gods (so-called idols) is a staple in scholarly accounts of his gentile mission. It is so widely accepted that the very fact of it is not often considered. The result is that a basic observation among scholars of early Judaism has gone unrecognized as a puzzle for the study of Paul: early Jews did not generally expect, much less demand, that gentiles turn from their images. Why should Paul be any different? In this article, I outline five examples in Jewish texts where gentiles are indeed depicted as turning from their images: resident aliens, righteous gentiles, Noachides, proselytes, and eschatological gentiles. In each case, I trace similarities and differences to Paul’s pneumatic gentiles as yet another option on offer. In so doing, I propose a range of possibilities in early Judaism for when, and for whom, idolatry is idolatry.
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."
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.
A picture of the back cover of the book, with an impressively long list of endorsements from top scholars such as Paula Fredriksen, Matthew Novenson, Isaac Oliver, Madison Pierce, Yair Furstenberg, and Joshua Jipp. The frontmatter includes even more endorsements, from David Moffitt, Matthew Thiessen, Jason Staples, Cecilia Wassén, because the list already included on the back cover clearly was not enough.
A picture of my hand holding Paul T. Sloan's new book with Baker, entitled Jesus and the Law of Moses: The Gospels and the Restoration of Israel within First-Century Judaism.
CONTENTS Introduction Alexander Chantziantoniou, Paula Fredriksen, and Stephen L. Young Part I: The Mediterranean Matrix 1. What Does It Mean to See Paul's Judaism "within Paganism"? Alexander Chantziantoniou 2. Jews in a Pagan World Erich S. Gruen 3. Paul and Roman Freelance Expertise Heidi Wendt Part II: A World Full of Gods 4. The Universal Polytheism and the Case of the Apostle Paul Matthew V. Novenson 5. Pauline Polytheism and the Triumph of the Davidic Messiah Paula Fredriksen Part III: Deification and Spirit Possession 6. Paul among the Sons of God Matthew Thiessen 7. Paul on Becoming (a) God M. David Litwa 8. Paul among the Other Possessed Giovanni B. Bazzana
proofs of the first page of my forthcoming JSNT article, "Paul's Iconic Christ among Mediterranean Cult Statues: A Comparison of Divine Images." Abstract in the thread below.
alexander chantziantoniou, “the unextraordinary life of eidololatria: lexicography, neologism, and the invention of idolatry,” in the biblical lexicography section on saturday at 1:00–3:30pm.
screenshot of page 2, which has "memoriae James K. Aitken sacrum" at the top, and a footnote acknowledging him: "Sadly, Jim Aitken passed away before he could read the full manuscript or hear it presented as a paper, but we spoke often of its contents. It was his own work that inspired me to take up the topic, and the guidance, care, and encouragement he gave me in long conversations over the last few years of his life is something I will always cherish. May his memory be a blessing."
screenshot of the proofs for the first page of alexander chantziantoniou, "are εἴδωλα idols? probing a lexicographical trope," JSJ (forthcoming): 1–32. abstract is too long for alt text so i included it in the thread itself.
announcement of the 2024 paul j. achtemeier award for new testament scholarship. the announcement is too long to include the whole thing in alt text, but it can be found in full by following the link here: https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/2024AchtemeierAwardAnnouncement.pdf
Cover page of my doctoral dissertation: ‘Paul and the Politics of Idolatry: Ancient Mediterranean Cult Images and Iconic Ritual in the Letters of Paul’. Alexander Chantziantoniou. Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology and Religious Studies. Downing College, September 2023.