D. H. Williams: Ambrose of Milan and Apologetics

The Reception of Ambrose:
Reconsidering the Archbishop of Milan in Context

As interest in Ambrose continues to grow beyond uncovering his contributions as a Kirchenpolitiker, this workshop promises to illuminate new dimensions of his corpus by further exploring his way of receiving various traditions and how thinkers subsequent to Ambrose received him. The workshop begins with three papers on Ambrose's reception in the former sense: "Cock on a Column: Art, Ambrose, and Audience," by Prof. Ethan Gannaway; "Ambrose and Apologetic," by Prof. Daniel Williams, on Ambrose's use of previous apologetic Christian literature in his two pleas to Valentinian; and a paper on Ambrose's reception of Plotinus by Prof. Chen Yuehua. Next follow two contributions examining Ambrose's role as a bridge-figure who both appropriates, and serves as a source for, others: Prof. Paola Moretti's "Ambrose's De officiis between Cicero and Jerome" and Prof. Robert Grant's "Natural Theology: how Ambrose converted Natural Law." The final two papers of the workshop, Han-luen Kantzer Komline's "The Ambrosian Heart of the Augustinian Will? Augustine's Reception of Ambrose's Commentary on Luke in his Anti-Pelagian Writings" and Prof. Francesco Braschi's "Ambrose of Milan ‘reloaded': the Homilies by Cardinal Federico Borromeo about his Blessed Predecessor," focus on how Ambrose's heirs appropriate him. Ambrose's wide reading and facility in Greek, inter alia, make him a fascinating figure in which to observe the meeting and melding of a variety of cultures and traditions-Latin and Greek, Christian and "pagan," literary and artistic. The "reception of Ambrose" transmitted this unique synthesis to posterity.