Includes bibliographical references and index.

Front Matter / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Introduction: Theoretical Aims and Methods / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Introduction to Part One / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- The Divine Anthropos Theme in Pre-Nicene Paschal Materials / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- The Roots of the “Divine Anthropos” Tradition / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Summary of Part One / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Introduction to Part Two / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Glory/Kabod Christology and Soteriology / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Jesus as High Priest and Lord of Hosts (Yahweh Sabaoth): Liturgical Soteriology / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Eikonic Christology and Soteriology / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Divine Warrior Christology and the Soteriology of the Divine Combat / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Summary of Part Two / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Introduction to Part Three / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- The Hermeneutics of a Theophanic Report—Exodus 12: Paschal Exegesis as Mystery Performance / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Unraveling a Theophanic Text—Exodus 12: Typology as a Method of Decoding Heavenly Mysteries / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Contemplating on Earth the Radiant Noetic Anthropos: Pseudo-Hippolytus’s “Mystery Apocalypse” / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Summary of Part Three / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Introduction to Part Four / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Prolegomena: Polemical Attitudes against Anthropomorphic Traditions / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- From “Open Heaven” to Noetic Perception: New Ontologies of the Divine, New Methods and Epistemologies of Accessing the Glory / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- The Noetic Anthropos of the Pre-Nicene Paschal Texts / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- The Noetic Anthropos of Pre-Nicene Christian Hellenism / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Summary of Part Four / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Final Conclusions: Pre-Nicene Christology Revisited / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Bibliography / Dragoş Andrei Giulea -- Indexes / Dragoş Andrei Giulea.

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In Pre-Nicene Christology in Paschal Contexts Dragoş A. Giulea re-examines the earliest texts related to the festival of Easter in light of Second Temple traditions. Commonly portrayed as sacrificial lamb, the key actor of the paschal narrative is here designated as heavenly Kabod , Divine Image, King of the Powers, celestial Anthropos, Demiurge, Son of Man, each of these divine names implying a corresponding soteriological function. Dragoş A. Giulea indicates as well that the Greek philosophical vocabulary and certain idioms of the mystery religions inspired new categories which reshaped the traditional way of describing the nature of celestial entities and the epistemological capacities able to access these realities. Thus, the King of the Powers, or the Son of Man, is several times described as a noetic Anthropos, while initiation and noetic perception become the appropriate methods of accessing the divine.