Thursday, April 26, 2018

Review of Dodson and Briones (eds.), Paul and Seneca in Dialogue

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Joseph R. Dodson, David E. Briones (ed.), Paul and Seneca in Dialogue. Ancient Philosophy & Religion, 2. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2017. Pp. xviii, 340. ISBN 9789004341357. $159.00. Reviewed by Dominik Wolff, Stade (dominicus-lupus@web.de).
The question “What if?” elevates historical studies from a mere descriptive level to a true Geisteswissenschaft. The reviewed collection of fourteen essays undertakes just this approach by putting two contemporaries of the 1st century CE, the Christic 1 apostle Paul and the Stoic philosopher Seneca, into dialogue, although the two of them actually, to our knowledge, never met.2 As such, this compilation follows in the footsteps of J. N. Sevenster’s seminal book “Paul and Seneca” (Leiden: Brill 1961), and extends the path of its predecessor.

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Cross-file under Counterfactual History.

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