In 2001, scholars working in the fields of early Christianity, ancient Judaism, and Hellenism at the Faculty of Theology of Utrecht University and the Catholic Theological University in Utrecht started a new research program called "Judaism, Christianity, and Hellenism in Interaction". To mark its start, a small conference on religious propaganda in antiquity was organized in January 2002; on this occasion the group presented itself, and some guests from abroad were also invited to join in. The ten conference papers have been brought together in this volume.

The terms "persuasion" and "dissuasion" cover both "propaganda" and "protreptics" as well as "apologetics" and "polemics", and it is these four aspects of ancient religious discourse which are addressed. Persuasion and dissuasion have their natural setting in a context of cultural, or religious, interaction. The common aim of the papers is to contribute to the fascinating study of pluriform religious interaction in antiquity.