We argue that Civic Engagement is fundamental to the stated work of the university, the humanities, and the project of religious studies. We trace the historical connections between Civic Engagement and higher education in the American context to the present, highlighting a consistency of focus on Civic Engagement across diverse university contexts even as educational priorities and instantiations shift. We then explore the particular role of Civic Engagement in Religious Studies pedagogy. We contend that being explicit about integrating Civic Engagement in the religion classroom enhances our students’ ability to understand complex concepts in late antique religion and underscores for them how relevant the study of late ancient religion is to students’ lives today. We offer three ways that instructors in Religious Studies can incorporate Civic Engagement into their classes: cultivating naming practices, focusing pedagogical exercises on honing students’ Civic Engagement skills, and, where practicable, engaging in community-based learning.

In his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Ignatius of Antioch condemns his opponents to a "bodiless" and "daimonic" afterlife, and also quotes an apocryphal resurrection tradition wherein the risen Jesus eschews the label "bodiless daimon." Ignatius, therefore, defines both Jesus' and his opponents' physiology in terms of the 'daimonic'; but what would such an existence have entailed in antiquity? In what follows, I explore the rhetorical functions of Ignatius' daimonic terminology by situating it within larger discourses surrounding daimonic physiologies. I contend that Ignatius' daimonological terminology not only caricatures the docetic belief in a bodiless risen Jesus, but also condemns Ignatius' opponents to a morose afterlife that runs directly counter to their anticipations. When contextualized within his letters more generally, Ignatius' derisive rhetoric solidifies his construction of 'docetic' Christians: they are evil, sub-human, and daimonic, the epitome of the 'other,' doomed to inhabit the cosmic and societal margins, and unworthy of interaction with Ignatius' fellow 'orthodox' Christians.

Chapter 3 explores Justin Martyr’s claim that demons assumed polymorphic forms in order to deceive humans, promote improper worship, and inspire persecution against Christians. The chapter first argues that Justin’s distinctive highlighting of demonic changeability emerges alongside his counter-emphasis on the “immovability” of the Christian God, which, in turn, functions to undercut the polymorphic Greco-Roman pantheon’s collective claim to divinity. The second part of the chapter explores Justin’s distinctive retelling of the myth of the Watchers in his 2 Apology, which omits the characters of the giants in its recounting of demonic origins. In doing so, Justin promotes a closer correspondence between fallen angels and demons, highlighting his simultaneous ascription of polymorphic capabilities to both angelic fathers and demonic sons. The chapter concludes by examining how Justin associates demonic changeability with “magical” trickery, which aids the Apologist’s constructions of proper Christian exorcism as a “simple” practice distinct from “magical” alternatives.

The Conclusion completes the study by placing its findings in conversation with explorations in the humanities with regard to the “post-human” and “nonhuman.” The chapter notes that Christian descriptions of demonic corporeality reflect shifts and differences in early Christian anthropology insofar as they inversely correlate to articulations of the ideal human body. The early Christian body emerges, then, as a kind of “posthuman” (or, perhaps more appropriately, “prehuman”) entity, a being that is thoroughly enmeshed within its nonhuman cosmic environments—always evolving and materializing through the concomitant development of adjacent nonhuman entities, including demons. The chapter concludes by reflecting on how (ancient) history—the narratives humans tell themselves about themselves—has an enduring importance in informing how humans understand and interact with nonhuman others, and thus has much to contribute to contemporary ecological thought and practice.

In this article, I examine how the apocryphal Acts of John depicts wealthy Christian converts as part of the “Christianization” of Ephesus. I note how the Acts of John uses its portrayal of leading citizens not only to critique, but to preserve and adapt prevailing expectations surrounding Greco-Roman cultic patronage. My analysis comprises two parts. In the first part, I discuss the ways in which the Acts of John undermines prevalent Greco-Roman practices of benefaction. I note that the Acts of John criticizes monetary offerings as part of cultic “exchanges,” and thus indirectly condemns the patronage of religious institutions by wealthy benefactors. Relatedly, the Acts of John’s portrait scene, most often analyzed for its witness to early Christian aniconism, challenges Greco-Roman patronage norms by questioning the propriety of dedicatory portraits. In the second part, I track the ways in which the Acts of John preserves and adapts prevailing modes of ancient benefaction. Specifically, the Acts of John positions domestic hospitality as the primary means by which wealthy converts ought to support the Christian mission. Taken together, my two-part examination establishes that the Acts of John both challenges and redirects prevailing practices of Greco-Roman patronage as part of a broader articulation of proper Christian piety.