Jonathan Cahana: Confronting Greco-Roman Culture: The Discursive Practices of Early Christian Texts

Early Christian texts were written within, and often in view of, Greco-Roman culture of
the first centuries CE. The workshop would investigate the discursive practices adopted
by these texts in order to confront this cultural climate. When, where, and in what ways
did this confrontation turn to an affront? Why were those specific subjects singled
out for such a treatment? Were some trends of early Christianity more likely then others
to adopt a subversive approach to Greco-Roman culture, and if so, why? This workshop
would aim at trying to provide a preliminary answer to such questions.

Presenters and Papers:

Jonathan Cahana (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Androgyne or Undrogyne? Queering the Gnostic Myth

Erin Evans (University of Edinburgh)

From Saving Grace to Chains of Bondage: Astrology in the Pistis Sophia

Crystal Lubinsky (University of Edinburgh)

Re-reading Masculinity in Christian Greco-Roman Culture through Ambrose and the Female Transvestite Monk, Matrona of Perge

Michael F. Mach (Tel Aviv University)

Apocalyptic Confrontation with Roman Authority