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18 records
Journal article

From Aēšma to Asmoday: The Transformation of Asmodeus from Iranian Demonology to Jewish Literature and Western Occult Tradition

Grace, Daniel J.

This article examines the historical transformation of Asmodeus across Iranian, Jewish, Christian, and early modern European religious literature. Beginning with the possible relationship between the Zoroastrian figure Aēšma and the demon Asmodeus in the Book of Tobit, it traces the development of the…

Early ChristianityView record
Preprint

Casting Out Demons Before Constantine: Exorcism, Christian Identity, and the Contest for Religious Authority in the Early Church

Grace, Daniel J.

Exorcism was one of the practices through which early Christians publicly distinguished their religious claims from surrounding ritual cultures. This article surveys Christian exorcistic discourse before Constantine, concentrating on Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen. It argues that exorcism functioned simultaneously as pastoral…

Christian History & ArchaeologyView record
Preprint

Participation without Absorption: Divine Indwelling, Theosis, and the Ontological Grammar of Salvation in Witness Lee

Daniel J. Grace

This article examines Witness Lee’s theology of divine-human participation through the categories of indwelling, theosis, mingling, and the Creator-creature distinction. Rather than treating Lee’s soteriology merely as an extension of his Trinitarian language, the study asks how his account of salvation construes the…

Systematic TheologyView record
Working paper

The Almandel and the Problem of Angelic Mediation: Solomonic Attribution, Ritual Cosmology, and Christian Discernment in the Ars Almadel Tradition

Grace, Daniel J.

The Ars Almadel occupies an unusual position within the textual world later gathered under the title Lemegeton or Lesser Key of Solomon. Unlike the more notorious Goetia, the Almadel tradition is oriented principally toward angelic contact through a portable ritual altar, sacred names,…

Religious Traditions & TextsView record
Journal article

Biblical Authority and Christian Political Allegiance: The Church, Political Power, and Public Witness in an Age of Polarisation

Grace, Daniel J.

This article examines Christian political allegiance under the authority of Scripture in an age in which political identity can become a rival source of belonging, moral certainty, and quasi-religious devotion. It argues that the Bible neither authorises political withdrawal nor permits the Church…

Biblical Studies & InterpretationView record
Working paper

Neurotheology and the Resurrection: Memory, Trauma, and Personal Identity Beyond Neurological Death

Grace, Daniel J.

This article examines a problem that sits between neuroscience and Christian resurrection theology: what happens to personal identity when memory is damaged, fragmented, or lost? Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, severe amnesia, and traumatic memory make the question difficult because autobiographical memory is closely tied…

Theology, Science & TechnologyView record
Journal article

The Palimpsests of Sinai: Christological Readings in Christian Palestinian Aramaic Gospel Fragments

Grace, Daniel J.

The palimpsests preserved at St Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai contain an important body of erased Christian Palestinian Aramaic Gospel material. Recovered through modern multispectral imaging, these fragments provide evidence for both the history of biblical translation and the Christological memory of Palestinian…

Christian History & ArchaeologyView record
Journal article

Beyond the Ethiopic Canon: Distinctive Theological Motifs in the Geʽez Tradition of Jubilees

Grace, Daniel J.

The Ethiopic tradition of the Book of Jubilees represents one of the most significant examples of ancient Jewish literature preserved within an African Christian manuscript tradition. While Jubilees originated within Second Temple Judaism, its survival primarily through Geʽez manuscripts demonstrates the complex movement…

Religious Traditions & TextsView record
Journal article

Beyond Greek and Latin: Theological Meaning in Early Georgian, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, and Geʽez Biblical Translation

Grace, Daniel J.

This article examines early Georgian, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, and Geʽez biblical translation as forms of theological interpretation rather than as secondary witnesses to Greek and Latin Christianity. Each tradition emerged within a distinct cultural and ecclesial environment, yet all three demonstrate that translation…

Christian History & ArchaeologyView record
Journal article

Remembering the Human Cost of Early Christianity

Grace, Daniel J.

Modern scholarship has rightly challenged simplified representations of early Christianity as a completely unified movement subjected to continuous, empire-wide persecution. Christian communities differed in theology, practice, authority, and textual tradition, while Roman responses to Christianity varied considerably across periods and regions. Nevertheless, critical…

Christian History & ArchaeologyView record