Books by "Michael C. Magree"
2 books found
While there has been renewed scholarly interest in paratextual features of early Christian manuscripts, that interest has rarely extended to the size of manuscripts, particularly the format known as the miniature codex. Such neglect is surprising given that this miniature format was a notable part of early Christian textual culture, emerging as early as the second century and visible well into the seventh century and beyond. So established was this format among Christians during this period, that C.H. Roberts once surmised (incorrectly) that, "The miniature codex would seem to be a Christian invention." Many of these tiny books were elegant, well-crafted, and could contain a surprising number of pages. Currently, we have over 60 such codices, which contain a wide range of Christian literature including New Testament books, patristic and non-canonical writings (e.g., the Didache, Acts of Paul, and apocryphal gospels), and even liturgical-ritual texts. This volume is the first full-length monograph on the phenomenon of the miniature codex, offering a framework for distinguishing miniature codices from other tiny texts (e.g. amulets), exploring their practical and iconic functions, and, perhaps most importantly, assembling a detailed catalogue of all known Christian and Greek miniature codices. This distinctive book format provides an essential window into the textual, literary, and visual culture of early Christianity, shedding fresh light on how and why Christians were considered people of the book.
The Interpretation of Kenosis from Origen to Cyril of Alexandria
by Michael C. Magree
2024 · Oxford University Press
The self-emptying of Christ, proclaimed in the letter to the Philippians 2:7, remains a much-debated topic in modern theology and exegesis. The Interpretation of Kenosis from Origen to Cyril of Alexandria brings the insights of Greek Christianity to the understanding of kenosis to illustrate that new dimensions of the topic open up when it is examined in the historical era of early Christianity. Origen of Alexandria showed that his understanding of kenosis allowed him to resist overly confining understandings of divine immutability, yet retain the conviction that the immutable Word's self-emptying calls the Christian believer to awe and wonder. Gregory of Nyssa found in kenosis a way to emphasize the Son of God's embrace of all of human life, including historical development. Cyril of Alexandria, finally, the term kenosis more than anyone else in Greek-speaking Christianity. It was a theme across all major eras and genres of his writing, from scriptural exegesis to doctrinal disputes, including those about the divinity of the Son and the natural union of the Son with human reality. Cyril found in kenosis an anchor point for two themes: first, that the strangeness and shocking quality of the term kenosis reminds the believer that God's categories always stretch beyond human "who emptied himself?" can only be answered by a single-subject Christology that proclaims the kenosis of the Word. This book opens and closes with chapters relating early Christian teaching on Christ's self-emptying to modern scripture scholarship and to concerns of feminist systematic theology.