Worth More Than Many Sparrows: Essays in Honour of Willi Braun(Studies in Ancient Religion and Culture)

When it comes to the study of religion, Willi Braun is a paragon of what a methodologically rigorous and epistemologically modest academic ought to look like. Braun’s career began in the 1990s, when he studied among a cadre of other notable graduate students at the Centre for the Study of Religion at University of Toronto—what is often referred to as the “Toronto School.” There, Braun and his comrades maintained a fidelity to a particular methodological ethos: that religion should be studied as a fundamentally human phenomenon and that scholars should examine how the “data” of religions (texts, artifacts, rituals, etc) reveal the interests, concerns, and values of the humans who imbue that same data with something divine or transcendent. The Toronto School’s commitment to this ethos led to the inauguration of the North American Society for the Study of Religion and fostered development of the now-renowned journal Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. Braun was a catalyst in these discipline-changing initiatives and brought them to bear in his own work on antiquity and early Christianities. Yet beyond that, Braun’s career also involved an unwavering commitment to pedagogy, as he selflessly endeavored to pass on his exceptional professional and personal qualities to his students. In an effort to honor Braun’s work and mentorship, this volume is focused on exploring, probing, and theorizing ancient religious data as reflections of human interests and activities.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Sarah E. Rollens and Patrick Hart 1. Partaking in the Great Supper of God: Figuring Birds in the Apocalypse of John Sarah E. Rollens 2. Authority and Canon: I Fight Authority, but Does Authority Always Win? Patrick Hart 3. Ornitheology Francis Landy, University of Alberta 4. Shipwrecked on a Desert Island: The Barren Isolation of “Christian Origins” William Arnal, University of Regina 5. The Ontological and Zoomorphic Semiotics of Two Hellenistic Saviour Deities Compared Darlene Juschka, University of Regina 6. From Liturgy to Polemic and Back: Social Identity Issues in the Use of Two Psalms Steven Muir, Concordia University of Edmonton 7. “The Spirit Descended like a Dove”: Bird Divination, Carrier Pigeons, and the Baptism of Jesus Jennifer Eyl, Tufts University 8. Syriac Dialogue Hymns and New Comedy Robyn Faith Walsh, University of Maimi 9. Diamonds and Rust: Q, Mythic Marcion, and the (De)Contextualization of Divine Wisdom Glen Fairen, Oklahoma State University 10. The Past as Simulacrum: Shifting Our Focus in Studying “Religion” in the Ancient World Vaia Touna, University of Alabama 11. The Corinthian Funerary Cultural Context and Baptism on Behalf of the Dead Ritual Mark Wheller, University of Alberta 12. Reconstructing Socio-Cultural Institutions in the Gospel of Mark Allan Wright, Universit of Alberta 13. “After This, Nothing Happened”: Historical Vulnerability and the End of (Cultural) Time in the Gospel of Mark John Parrish, University of Alberta 14. Farm to (School)table: The Cultivation of Paideia in the Gospel of Thomas Ian P. Brown, University of Regina 15. Transgressing New Testament Classrooms with Thecla Anna Cwikla, University of Toronto

About the Author :
Sarah E Rollens is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College. Patrick Hart is is a professor in the Religious Studies department at University of Alberta. Sarah E Rollens is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College. Patrick Hart is is a professor in the Religious Studies department at University of Alberta.