The Belly-myther of Endor

The story of Saul and the woman at Endor in 1 Samuel 28 (LXX 1 Kingdoms 28) lay at the center of energetic disputes among early Christian authors about the nature and fate of the soul, the source of prophetic gifts, and biblical truth. In addition to providing the original texts and fresh translations of works by Origen, Eustathius of Antioch (not previously translated into English), and six other authors, Greer and Mitchell offer an insightful introduction to and detailed analysis of the rhetorical cast and theological stakes involved in early church debates on this notoriously difficult passage.

Rowan A. Greer is Professor of Anglican Studies Emeritus at Yale Divinity School. He is the author of numerous books including Origen: An Exhortation to Martyrdom, Prayer, and Selected Works (Paulist); Broken Lights and Mended Lives: Theology and Common Life in the Early Church (Penn State); and Anglican Approaches to Scripture: From the Reformation to the Present (Crossroad). Margaret M. Mitchell is Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University of Chicago. She is the author of The Heavenly Trumpet: John Chrysostom and the Art of Pauline Interpretation and Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation (both from Westminster John Knox) and the co-editor of The Cambridge History of Christianity, Volume 1: Origins to Constantine (Cambridge University Press).