Roberto Alejandro: Uses of Hybridity in Patristic Scholarship

I propose to present a short paper discussing the use of the postcolonial concept of hybridity in the interpretation of patristic texts.  Beginning with the work of Rebecca Lyman I will discuss the way this methodology has been applied to early Christian texts and why it is an important approach.  The reason for this importance is two fold.  First, hybridity analysis assists us to deconstruct essentialist categories, particularly those constructed within the context of oppositional binaries, whether internal to early Christian texts or imposed on them.  Second, hybridity analysis challenges us to consider the consequences of such essentialist categories as well as the consequences of our often unthinking acceptance of them.