The 15 papers in this collection are the print version of a dialogue that took place over the course of a year at Society meetings in 2008 in Boston and 2009 in Rome and New Orleans. Scholars of religion, The Bible, classics, and art look at Roman imperial religion from perspectives of methodological and theoretical issues, specific sites, Christian and Jewish engagement, and prospects and responses. Among the topics are whether the cult of the emperor united or divided, Augustan religion from locative to utopian, embedding Rome in Athens, the emperor as Christ and Christian iconography, and in the shadow or not of the imperial cult. The Society of Biblical Literature publishes the paperbound edition; Brill publishes the hardbound. Annotation 2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
