A collection of manuscripts from ancient Egypt reveals the variety of early Christian scriptures before the consolidation of the Bible.
Articles on Ancient texts
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The Book of Job and ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ both make fun of preachy know-it-alls and resist conventions of their genres.
In ancient Rome, male followers of the goddess Cybele, known as Galli, some of whom surgically removed their testicles, were often considered feminine.
In religious traditions, patience is more than waiting, or even more than enduring a hardship. But what does patience look like? And when should we not exercise patience?
The Therigatha, a collection of poems written in Pāli by Buddhist nuns, reveals that women’s enlightenment may not necessarily require renunciation of domestic life.
However exciting the technological developments may be, the task of reading and analyzing the Greek and Latin texts recovered from the papyri will fall to human beings.
A scholar of South Asian religions explains how one lesson from the text, ‘nishkama karma’ – or acting without desire – may be useful for navigating the contemporary workplace.
Faith and reason are often treated as opposites. But some philosophers believe they can only strengthen each other, including the Jewish sage Maimonides, who wrote the famous ‘Guide to the Perplexed.’
A scholar of Daoist rituals explains how the indigenous tradition of China understands the human body as being part of the larger cosmos.
For many Buddhists today, both in East Asia and across the world, the Lotus Sutra offers religious support for various gender identities.
Stoicism isn’t just a set of ideas; it’s meant to be put into practice. The ancient philosophy is finding new fans through online communities.
Advanced artificial intelligence is new, but a similar idea has been around for hundreds of years: the power of a just-right sequence of numbers, letters or elements to animate matter.
The ‘Shepherd of Hermas’ has been accused of being pedantic, even boring. In the first few centuries of Christianity, though, it was a hit.
There is a long tradition in China of associating monkeys with the mind – symbolism that has helped the novel’s most memorable character, the Monkey King, find universal resonance.
People sometimes assume religious traditions’ ideas about gender have always been conservative and unchanging.
Female characters in Greek mythology lived under strict patriarchal rules, but they spoke truth to power and resisted injustice.
A scholar of ancient Greek philosophy writes about Aristotle’s timeless advice on how to nurture and keep friendships.
The ancient Chinese text is considered a military classic, but Western readers often overlook its philosophical roots.
Codex Sassoon 1053 is not exactly the oldest known complete Hebrew bible. So how can we explain its astronomical price?
Lucian’s work provides insight into the second-century Roman world, which fostered multilingualism and multiculturalism.
Top contributors
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Associate Teaching Professor Religious Studies, University of Tennessee
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Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Tennessee
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Associate Professor of Christianity, University of Denver
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Associate Professor of American Studies, University of Notre Dame
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Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Case Western Reserve University
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Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Philosophy, Michigan State University
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Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Oklahoma State University
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Associate Professor of Classics and Digital Humanities, University of Florida
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Professor of Religious Studies, Indiana University
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Associate Professor, New Testament, & Inaugural Director of The Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy, University of Divinity
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Principal Lecturer in Religion, Clemson University
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PhD Candidate; Assyriologist, Macquarie University
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Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York
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Associate Teaching Professor, Arizona State University
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Associate Professor of Classics, University of Manitoba