Robin Darling Young, Lillian Larsen, Luke Dysinger: Evagrian Pedagogy

The Scholia in the Work of Evagrius: Christ in Psalms, Proverbs and EcclesiastesAs a hypothesis, this paper proposes that Evagrius of Pontus composed his Scholia on Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes as the foundation for his work, and probably earlier than his more properly monastic treatises and letters. As a trained grammarian, adept at rhetoric and learned in philosophy, Evagrius may have assembled the scholia as a teacher, either in Asia Minor or in Constantinople. In particular, I will focus upon the presentation of Christ, encountered at various levels, in the scholia, to further demonstrate Evagrius' connection with Origen and Clement.

Sami Yli-Karjanmaa: The Reception of Philo’s Reincarnational Soteriology in Clement

It is usually assumed in scholarship that Christianity inherited a negative attitude from Judaism towards the tenet of reincarnation. However, I have shown that, despite his reticence about the issue, Philo of Alexandria endorsed the doctrine (Reincarnation in Philo of Alexandria, SBL Press 2015). In Philo’s Platonic two-tier worldview the soul must orientate away from the sense-perceptible realm to the noetic in order to become liberated from repeated “prison terms” in the body. The soul’s orientation to things corporeal constitutes the major driving force of reincarnation in his thought. Clement of Alexandria is a highly interesting point of comparison because of the influence both Plato and Philo exerted on him. Contrary to the view of many scholars, a close reading of Clement’s works makes it clear that in his repeated mentions of reincarnation he never reveals his own stance – in marked contrast to heresiologists like Irenaeus and Tertullian, who vehemently denounce the doctrine. Yet Clement clearly implies he has a position. It thus remains for scholars to turn to the more indirect evidence: does reincarnation have a niche in which to thrive in Clement’s thought? Are his ethics and soteriology easier to understand with or without reincarnation? This paper summarizes the findings of a research project focusing on this question.

Jonathan H. Young: The Resurrection of the Rational Soul and Origen’s Modification of Metensomatosis

Scholars argue that Origen of Alexandria conceives the soul’s spiritual progress within a modified Platonic paradigm (Marx-Wolf; Ramelli). Others suggest more alignment with the New Testament (Edwards). According to Ramelli, Origen advances that the soul occupies an earthly, human body only once (ensomatosis), rather than a cycle of multiple bodies (metensomatosis). This notwithstanding, Marx-Wolf argues that the soul, separated from the body, still is capable of spiritual advancement. Furthermore, Origen insists that the Christian teaching of the resurrection should contrast with metensomatosis (Con.Cels. 5.29, 3.75). Origen’s Contra Celsum and De Principiis belie full disavowal of metensomatosis. He harmonizes Plato’s “cycle of generation” (Phaedrus 249Aff) with the Christian teaching of the soul’s resurrection (cf. 1 Corinthians 15). Like Plato, Origen preserves the souls’ future embodiment (cf. Phaedrus 247b-c). One obtains this spiritual body at its resurrection in heaven, not on earth (Con.Cels. 7.32, 7.44). Implicit in Origen’s disagreement with multiple earthly incarnations, is the suggestion that the human soul is born into animals or vice versa (e.g. Plato, Phaedo 81d-82b, Phaedrus 249b). Origen solves this conundrum by incorporating the Stoic distinction of rational, human soul and the irrational, animal soul (cf. Gilhus; cf. Con.Cels. 7.17, 8.18). Thus, I argue that Origen preserves the paradigm of metensomatosis but limits its scope to only earthly, human body. The soul’s future embodiment occurs at its heavenly resurrection and not in another human lifetime. This study provides a window into third-century CE debates among Platonists regarding the interpretation of Plato’s teachings.

Jun Yamada: Oratorio and xenodochia in Early Medieval Rome － Underground Excavation Research Reports of Angel Hospital at San Giovanni in Laterano Square.

In some letters of Jerome, he referred Centers of Christian charitable assistance for the poor and pilgrims as xenodochia, and this fact indicates that such Christian centers has already existed in the 4 - 5th century. Today, San Giovanni Hospital (Azienda Ospedariela San Giovanni - Addolorata) locates on the west side of San Giovanni in Laterano Square in Rome, and the predecessor of the hospital was named Angel Hospital (Ospedale d'Angelo) which was established in the first half of the 14th century. Although in the early 1960s, in the basement of Angel Hospital, Santa Maria Scrinari found an oratorio, a small chapel with some frescos of the 4 - 5th century, there is still room to examine her incomplete researches. After half a century, we resumed Scrinari's excavation. Our first excavation research was conducted from 2013 to 2015, and now we are conducting the second excavation and restorations of frescos which we discovered newly. The aims of this presentation are to describe the archaeological and iconographical features of the oratorio underneath Angel Hospital, and to consider the possibility that the hospital could be the oratorio belonging to a Christian charitable assistance institution in the 4 - 5th century in Rome, like a xenodochia testified by Jerom's letters and other materials.

Zachary Yuzwa: Colonial Encounters with the Ancient Martyrs: Saintly and Savage Bodies in the Canadian Wild

This paper addresses the exemplary force of patristic models in a context far removed from the ancient world. References to early Christian literature permeate the writings of Jesuit missionaries in seventeenth-century New France. Ancient Christian conceptions of the body condition Jesuit depictions of their “martyred” brethren and the indigenous communities they encountered in early modern Canada: indigenous bodies are corrupted, penetrable and changeable, whereas the bodies of Jesuit missionaries are explicitly figured as the product of an ancient ascetic virtue. Capable of suffering, but unmoved by it, men like Jean de Brébeuf are written as the heroes and martyrs of a nascent church. In this paper, I propose to examine the hagiographical discourse that surrounds the life and death of Brébeuf, the earliest “apostle” of the Hurons and one of the first “martyrs” among the Jesuits in New France. In “eyewitness” reports on his death, in the official relations of his superior Paul Ragueneau, in the literary history of François DuCreux, in the visionary experiences of Marie-Catherine de Saint-Augustin, the discourse that attends Brébeuf’s suffering body makes him out to be like the ancient martyrs. The martyrdom of Polycarp, in particular, serves as a productive exemplum for the suffering of Brébeuf at the hands of his Iroquois captors. This act of writing an ancient exemplum of holiness into the new world becomes a vehicle for the textual construction of a new Christian identity but likewise enforces contemporary rhetorics of colonization in the Jesuit missions of New France.

Nozomu Yamada: Pelagians' and Chrysostom's Similar Ascetic Counsel to Christian Women

 Since about half a century ago, the relationship between Pelagian and Antiochian theologies has been explored (e.g. E.TeSelle, 1972). Altough a similarity between Pelagius' and Chrysostom's views on infant baptism and ascetic exercises has been pointed out, the relationship between their theologies has not yet been fully investigated. One of the reasons that these theologians are distinguished is due to their different sacerdotal statuses (Pelagius as a Western layman and Chrysostom as an Eastern Bishop) and evaluation of women's roles (Pelagius as a strong feminist and Chrysostom the opposite). Nevertheless, if we investigate in detail the practical counsel they offered Christian women in their letters and homilies, particularly in their letters to noblewomen, we can recognize two shared characteristics of Eastern ascetic theology and practices, that is, απαθεια and θεωσις. In this presentation, firstly, I would like to clarify the main characteristics of the common ascetic counsels to Christian women in Pelagius' and Chrysostom's letters and homilies. Secondly, I would like to introduce Chrysostom's Genesis interpretation, particularly on Genesis 3:16 about Eve's pains of childbirth, whose interpretation Chrysostom displayed in his letter to Olympias. It is well known that Pelagius' disciple, Julian of Eclanum, debated fiercely with Augustine in Opus Imperfectum, asserting that women's pain during childbirth was quite natural and not a penalty for Eve's transgression. I would like to demonstrate that Chrysostom's interpretation of Genesis 3:16 could be one of the reasons, which suggests a close relationship between Pelagians' and Chrysostom's understanding of Christian anthropology.

Frances Young: Doctrine and Scripture: their coinherence in the Catechetical Homilies of Cyril of Jerusalem

This short paper will consider the validity of Cyril's explicit understanding of the relationship between creed and scripture, in the light of his proof-texting use of scripture to confirm doctrine, as well as his recognition of false interpretation by heretics. It will then seek to uncover the basis of his doctrinal reading and articulate his implicit hermeneutic.