Bruce Longenecker’s The Crosses of Pompeii– Part Four

Last updated on: July 1, 2016 at 1:17 am by Ben Witherington

Bruce Longenecker’s The Crosses of Pompeii– Part Four 2016-06-08T15:29:52-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

BEN: Let’s talk about apotropaic symbols, symbols meant to either ward off evil spirits and bad luck, or to encourage good luck to happen at a particular venue, or for particular people. Christians will immediately think of the blood on the lintel in the Exodus, or even the hex signs on barns in Amish country, when they think of warding off bad things. To what degree do you think devout Christians continued to carry forward such practices as they became more and more socialized into the new faith, and to what degree do you think they began to see this as superstition? Think for example about the discussion in Corinth about what would formerly have been seen as actual daemons, but now some were saying— ‘are no gods’. Would you say that Jewish believers were less likely than Gentile ones to continue to practice such superstitions when they became followers of Jesus…. Or do we have little basis for judging such a matter?

BRUCE:

There may have been an array of attitudes toward the use of protective devises among Christians. But one thing is pretty certain: as ancient artifacts and literary evidence testify, it was not uncommon for Christians throughout the pre-modern eras to make use of Christian symbols as apotropaic devices that enhanced their protection against evil spirits.

For instance, I own a Christian ring from the fourth or fifth century that displays the shape of the cross through the use of the ubiquitous “eye” that repels the evil eye (with the evil eye being understood as tapping into the power of evil spirits to disadvantage someone for the benefit of someone else). Was the owner of that protective ring an exception to the norm of Christian attitudes toward apotropaia? I don’t know if we can be sure of the percentages one way or another, but I doubt it.

Notice, though, that we cannot gauge the exclusivity of someone’s Christian devotion simply on the basis of whether he or she made use of Christian symbols as apotropaic devices against evil. It might be that a person of that kind was syncretistic, adding Jesus-devotion to a long list of commitments to various deities.

On the other hand, maybe not. That person might have been exclusively devoted to Jesus Christ and might have foresworn all other deities, while still making use of protective apotropaia.

In this regard, ancient forms of Judeo-Christian monotheism did not entail the denial of the existence of all superhuman forces except for the one God. Ancient Judeo-Christian “monotheism” was not the affirmation that only one suprahuman being exists (as we moderns frequently imagine); instead, ancient Judeo-Christian monotheism was primarily the practice of mono-devotion – that is, devotion to only one deity, even if there were thought to be other suprahuman entities.

Take the apostle Paul, for instance. When discussing idolatry in 1 Corinthians 8-10, Paul commented that “there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as in fact there are many gods and many lords” (1 Cor 8:5), and later he states that he does not want the Corinthians to be “partners with demons” (1 Cor 10:20). The suprahuman world was alive and well for Paul. But he also insisted that “for us there is one God” (8:6). His practice of mono-devotion did not rule out the existence of other suprahuman entities. Of course, I don’t imagine that Paul himself clung to apotropaic devices for protection from those suprahuman entities; but it would not be hard to imagine that newly converted Christians, who had been immersed in pagan ways all their days, may have connected the dots differently than Paul did.

We can’t rule that out even for Jews of the Greco-Roman world who placed their belief in Jesus Christ. Jews often made use of apotropaic symbols along with their pagan neighbors, so again we see that monotheism itself doesn’t rule out the use of apotropaia. An ancient Christian, whether Jewish or gentile, might well have been exclusive in his or her devotion to Jesus Christ and still have seen the need to use Christian symbols to ward off evil.

BEN: On p. 194 you discuss the little white stones between the main paving stones in the streets at Pompeii. My guides have always said these stone reflected the light at night that a traveler would be carrying so they would not stumble and fall, rather like reflective materials on our highways. You don’t mention this theory. What do you think of it?

BRUCE:

Well, I’m a bit dubious about that. Those quarter-sized white marble inserts spaced between paving stones had no real reflective quality to speak of, and probably couldn’t act like little mirrors, which wouldn’t really have augmented the light from lanterns anyway. And the inserts appear only in a very specific location of the town, on a very small stretch of road between the entrance to the temple of Venus and the entrance to the temple of Apollo. If they were precursors to the street light, we would expect white marble inserts to have been placed in the streets throughout the town. But we don’t. So I don’t think the “light reflectors” interpretation has merit. But I’m willing to be proven wrong.

And of course, it should be pointed out to your readers that this issue has really no bearing on the main argument of the book – in case they were wondering how this little issue pertains to the issue of Jesus-devotion in Pompeii.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 30, 2016

Bruce Longenecker's The Crosses of Pompeii-- Part Three

Next Post

July 2, 2016 Bruce Longenecker's The Crosses of Pompeii-- Part Five

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz