Ioannis Papadogiannakis: Emotions in Patristic Literature

Given that emotions figure so prominently, and powerfully in most patristic texts, and despite growing interest in the topic, emotion remains a remarkably underanalyzed subject in the field of patristics. There is little evidence that, beyond a handful of studies, patristic scholars have engaged it seriously as an analytical category. Church fathers were heirs to classical and biblical conceptualizations, understandings and uses of emotions. As the Graeco-roman society changed its religious idiom, Christian authors were involved in a process of articulating a new religious sensibility that owed a lot both to classical and biblical conceptualizations of emotions. The focus of this workshop is on this process and its ramifications.