{"product_id":"heavenly-stories-9780812253269","title":"Heavenly Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSalvation is often thought to be an all-or-nothing matter: you are either saved or damned. In the ancient world some figures, including Paul the Apostle, John of Patmos, Hermas, the Sethians, and the Valentinians, did not think this way, however. For them, there were multiple levels of salvation. Examining the reasons and implications for why these important thinkers believed that salvation comes in degrees, Heavenly Stories offers a fresh perspective on ancient thinking about responsibility, especially as it intersects with concerns such as genealogy and determinism. It shows why Jews and Christians of various kindssome eventually declared orthodox, others hereticalcorrelated ethics and soteriology and argued over how this should be done.   By constructing a difference between a lower and higher level of salvation, ancient authors devised soteriological hierarchies that could account for ethical imperfections and social differentiation between their communities and outsiders, as well \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this thoughtful and thought-provoking work, Alexander Kocar assembles an intriguing selection of Late- and post-Second Temple Jewish and early Christian texts around a premier question: How do their concepts of 'salvation' encode a vision of ethical behavior? What emerges is a picture of vigorous variety-in ideas about salvation and its dark obverse, sin; about what it is to be human; about the cosmos as alien exile and as home. How is one 'saved'? And saved from what, to what, for what? \u003ci\u003eHeavenly Stories\u003c\/i\u003e helps us to hear the ancient answers to these urgent questions. * Paula Fredriksen, author of \u003ci\u003ePaul: The Pagans' Apostle\u003c\/i\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction. Differing Salvations, Differing Ethics\u003cbr\u003e Part I. The Salvation of Jews and Gentiles: Higher and Lower Levels of Salvation in the Letters of the Apostle Paul and John of Patmos's Revelation\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. John's Heavenly City: The Book of Revelation and Jewish Narratives of Salvation\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Paul's Olive Tree: Saving Gentiles as Gentiles and Jews as Jews in Christ\u003cbr\u003e Part II. Saints and Sinners in Early Christianity: Ethical Differences as Salvific Hierarchies in the \u003ci\u003eShepherd of Hermas\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eApocryphon of John\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. In Heaven as It Is on Earth: Ethical and Salvific Differences in the \u003ci\u003eShepherd of Hermas\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eApocryphon of John\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Diagnosing Sin and Saving Sinners: Early Christian Ethical and Soteriological Problem-Solving\u003cbr\u003e Part III. The Threefold Division of Humanity: Identity, Soteriology, and Moral Responsibility in the \u003ci\u003eExcerpts of Theodotus\u003c\/i\u003e, the\u003ci\u003e Tripartite Tractate\u003c\/i\u003e, and Heracleon's \u003ci\u003eCommentary on John\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Mapping the Heavens: The Missionizing Ethics and Soteriology of Valentinians\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. The Threefold Division and Exegesis: Ethics in Heracleon's \u003ci\u003eCommentary on John\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion. Moral Imagination and Ancient Christianity\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405746577751,"sku":"9780812253269","price":49.3,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780812253269.jpg?v=1730493468","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/heavenly-stories-9780812253269","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}