Marius A. van Willigen: Why did Augustine change his perspective on baptism?

The sacrament of Holy Baptism was an initiation rite for every new Christian in early Christianity. Many baptisteries were built as invaluable testimonies of this initiation-rite at the end of the fourth century. At the same time however, this initiation-rite was seriously threatened by a devastating lack of interest for baptism in general. Many Christians listened to the exposition of the Bible, without wishing to be baptized. Receiving the initiation-rite of baptism seemed to thoroughly change in this period. Baptism was retarded until death. To receive baptism appeared to be equal to getting a passport to heaven. Christians decided en masse to be baptized just prior to death.
 It was the Church Father Augustine who had considered this a dangerous turn of events. He did not forbid the practice of adult-baptism, but simultaneously encouraged infant baptism.
What was his motivation for this? Was he afraid of depriving Christians of their privilege to choose for adult-baptism, or did he stimulate parents to baptize their children deliberately? What was his theological reflection on this subject and what was his motivation to change practice of baptism?The paper will explain Augustine's motivation to promote infant baptism along with Ambrose' and Origen's reflections on infant baptism. The continual theological reflection on baptism in relation to original sin will be mapped out, starting with Origen and ending with Augustine.

Liuwe Westra: Creating a Theological Difference: The Myth of Two Grammatical Constructions with Latin Credo

The theological difference between ‘believing in God' and ‘believing the Church' is presented as a real and significant one in most dogmatic handbooks. However, this difference was only invented in the fourth century. Latin sources show, that the Church (just as Forgiveness and Resurrection) was originally taught the catechumens as something to believe in the same way as they were taught to believe in the Triune God. Thus, the fourth century appears to be an important turning point in patristic ecclesiology.

Andra Wolgemuth: Understanding of the Feminine in Egyptian Culture and Clement of Alexandra's Paedagogus

In this paper we will look at the influence of Egyptian understandings of femininity in art and in culture that could have potentially been influential on Clement of Alexandria's use of 1 Peter 2:2 and his feminine metaphors in Paedagogus. We will discuss primary and secondary sources concerning Egyptian understandings of femininity and how this was expressed in religion, art and culture. We will analyze Clement of Alexandria's use and of his feminine metaphors in his work Paedagogus and see if comparison can be found. Finally we will briefly discuss the potential influence of Clement's use of feminine metaphor and Egyptian culture on other Fathers and the tradition of the church.

Bryan Ward-Perkins: Marginal saints, and disputed saints, in the late antique East and West

To explore the cult of those late antique holy persons whose sanctity was uncertain or denied. Hagiographies usually claimed that their protagonists' saintly status was firmly accepted. But some evidence shows that the process of creating a saint was often not straightforward. There are historiographies which pondered rather than advertised the sanctity of their heroes, calendars unable to establish their identity, and even hagiographies whose apologetic tone implies at least doubts, if not denial. The workshop will explore what types of late antique saints were considered most problematic, how Christians tried to establish criteria of sanctity and determine the saints to be venerated, and what forms of cult were considered appropriate. The answers to these questions are interesting in themselves, and will also help to understand the emergence of specific cults and the development of the very phenomenon of the cult of saints.
Participants in the workshop will be: Bryan Ward-Perkins, exploring moments of uncertainty in the works of Gregory of Tours, particularly his Histories: Marta Tycner, showing how the redactions of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum sought to eliminate doubtful saints, but also managed to produce new ones; Stavroula Konstantinou, examining the uncertainty and debate over the sanctity of the holy women who had dressed and lived as monks; and Cristian-Nicolae Gaşpar, analysing the promotion of the exceptional style of sanctity practiced by Symeon the Elder Stylite, and the conflict over control of his leagacy.

Chance Woods: Plotinus and Origen Once More: The Case of a Cambridge Platonist

Recent scholarship, including the studies of Mark Edwards, Panayiotis Tzamalikos, and Dylan Burns, has seriously qualified the intellectual relationship between Plotinus and Origen.  Whereas Origen was once comfortably termed a “Platonist,” such an epithet has become increasingly difficult to ascribe to the Alexandrian theologian in light of his idiosyncratic reworking of ideas pertaining to ontology, eschatology, and hermeneutics.  Still, the conceptualization of Plotinus and Origen as somehow occupying the same intellectual terrain is not without historical precedent.  Indeed, this paper argues that we would do well to revisit an early stage of early modern theological inquiry to understand fully how and why Plotinus and Origen have often been uniquely compared.  Specifically, this paper addresses the so-called Cambridge Platonist Henry More (1614-1687), whose theology was both overtly indebted to Plotinus and characterized by contemporaries as suffering from the undue influence of “Origenism.”  In returning to some important points first adumbrated by D.W. Dockrill in the pages of Studia Patristica, this paper develops a sustained consideration of More’s theology and maintains that a careful consideration of More’s speculative enterprise stands to provide measureable insight into the historical comparison of Plotinus and Origen in the patristic scholarship of the last three centuries.

Brendan Wolfe: The Gothic Sermon Fragments of Bologna: Theological Content, Political Context

In 2013, a newly discovered addition to the very limited corpus of the Gothic language was published. This fragmentary manuscript, the scriptio inferior of a palimpsest, contains fragments of theological writing with extensive citation of the Old and New Testaments, likely one or two sermons. The editio princeps (Aevum 87), a subsequent reading (ZfdA 143, 281-305), and further analysis have concentrated on the identification of the cited passages, comparison to the Gothic Bible as we have it, the significance for textual criticism, and the presence of new linguistic forms. This paper will evaluate what can be said about the theological content of the sermon(s), with special reference to the political context in Ostrogothic Italy.

Bethany Williams: The Significance of the Senses: An Exploration into the Multi-Sensory Experience of Faith for the Lay Population of Christianity during the Fourth and Fifth Centuries C.E.

From the study of sense perception in relation to faith a particular trend in modern, patristic scholarship called the ‘material or corporeal turn’ has emerged. This ‘turn’ refers to a shift in Christianity’s physical sensibility as occurring post-legalisation, marking late antique as distinct from earlier Christianity. Carol Harrison makes a useful distinction between the two terms ‘material’ and ‘corporeal’: my research works from the premise that these two terms are separate and distinct. Following its legalisation Christianity categorically underwent a ‘material turn’. Whilst Christianity cannot be accurately referred to as taking a ‘corporeal turn’, it did however enjoy a revived employment and an intensified engagement of the body and its senses post-313 C.E.

Against this scholarly background I pose the question: how did such employment and engagement of the body and its senses impact upon the formulation of the early Christians faith? My current research explores the ‘sensory experience of faith’, that is, ‘the way in which the senses actively participated in formulating the faith of the early Christians’, specifically through analysing the rite of initiation in its late antique form. In this presentation I will put forward the following argument: in Late Antiquity the physical, bodily senses were considered to be intrinsically formational, transformational and revelatory.  Further, the rite of initiation existed as a complete assault of the senses: it was through the senses that the catechumen’s faith was formed during the rite, impressed upon his/her mind, heart and soul and sealed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Jacquelyn Winston: Popular Christianity in Roman Britain: Developing the Continuity Thesis

Since the publication of Charles Thomas' Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500, scholars have debated whether Christianity ceased with the fall of the Roman British imperial structures until the missionary project of Augustine of Canterbury, or if it continued in a minimal fashion as a paganized adulterated faith until the revival of imperial Christianity in Britain at the direction of Pope Gregory the Great.  Despite archaeological evidence which suggests that Christianity was culturally embedded and widespread throughout Roman Britain, the study of Roman British Christianity has suffered from scholarly bias which has expected it to resemble Roman imperial Christianity.  This paper posits the view that imperial Christianity did not exist in Roman Britain until the late 6^th century.  Instead, early Roman British Christianity was hybrid in character due to its mixture of indigenous Britons, Roman soldiers and their families, provincial elites, emigrés, as well as a small number of imperial elites for whom Britain was the setting for a stage in their social advancement.  This diverse constituency formed a Roman British church which was more congregational in character, rather than the hierarchical, episcopally-driven Roman imperial church. Rather than being dependent on regional, politically powerful bishops, it emphasized personal devotion which was practically incorporated in everyday life, a quality which allowed Christians to continue their faith beyond the fall of imperial Roman Britain. The Christianity which survived the fall of Roman Britain was not paganized threadbare superstition - it was the personal, practical faith which gave rise to Irish Christianity.

Erin Walsh: Holy Boldness: Narsai and Jacob of Serug Preaching the Canaanite Woman

The exegetical history of the Canaanite Woman from the Gospel of Matthew  (15:21-28) in patristic sources has received little attention from historians of biblical interpretation. Within the corpus of Syriac literature, both Narsai and his younger contemporary, Jacob of Serug, composed verse homilies on this particular biblical pericope. This paper will compare the strategies both authors employ to explain the exegetical issues raised by the enigmatic exchange of Jesus with a non-Israelite woman. While Jacob’s homily exists in an edited form, Narsai’s homily on the Canaanite woman (Homily XXXII) has heretofore been unedited and unpublished. [1]I have prepared a critical edition and translation based on two of the four manuscripts containing the homily:  the oldest extant manuscript, ms. Diyarbakir 70 and ms. Vat. Syr. 594. The two other manuscripts (ms. M3 and M5) are currently at the Chaldean Patriarchate and inaccessible. Narsai and Jacob present the Canaanite Woman as a model for Christian emulation, showing a particular concern for her bold speech. Given the respective positions of these two exegetes within the Western and Eastern Syriac traditions, the present project promises to contribute to our understanding of how the schools of Edessa and Nisibis diverged and what continuities may still be detected in the works of the two Syriac poets.


[1]Sebastian Brock, “Guide to Narsai’s Homilies” in Hugoye 12.1 (2009). Brock provides a convenient guide to manuscripts and editions of Narsai’s homilies, using the numbering system of A. Mingana and Macomber.

Dietmar Wyrwa: Die Neuedition "Athanasius, Epistulae dogmaticae minores" (AthW I,1,5)

Vorstellung der von der Patristischen Arbeitsstelle Bochum erarbeiteten kritischen Neuedition von Athanasius. Die Dogmatischen Werke, 5. Lfg. (AthW I,1,5). Der Faszikel enthält Epistula ad Epictetum, Epistula ad Adelphium, Epistula ad Maximum, Epistula catholica und In illid: Omnia mihi tradita.

Stephan Witetschek: Polycrates of Ephesos and the "Canonical John"

John "who had reclined at the Lord's chest" is one of the witnesses whom Bishop Polycrates of Ephesos lines up in order to defend the quartodeciman practice of celebrating Easter agaist Bishop Victor of Rome (apud Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 5.24.2-8; see also ibid. 3.31.3). This "John" is identified with the "Beloved Disciple" of John 13.23-25, as in Irenaeus (Haer. 3.1.1). Yet in other aspects, Polycrates' image of "John" is quite different from what we find, at about the same time, in Irenaeus (partly in Clement of Alexandria, too) who presents the full "canonical" image of John as it had become common in the course of the 2^nd century: "John",  the "Beloved Disciple", Apostle and author of the Gospel and the Apocalypse of John. Polycrates' "John" is, among other things, a priest, but not the author of a literary work, be it a gospel or an apocalypse. This paper will trace the differences between these images of "John" and try to investigate the reasons for Polycrates' peculiar image of "John".

Kenneth Wilson: Re-dating Augustine’s Ad Simplicianum 1.2 to the Pelagian Controversy

Scholars have accepted Augustine’s Ad Simplicianum as his definitive transition to his later theology due to its obvious shift between books one and two; and, Augustine’s statements that he began to understand grace during this time and that his theology had already countered the Pelagian heresy prior to its appearance.  Numerous novel doctrines such as initial faith being God’s gift because of humanity’s “dead will” and God’s unilateral determination of individuals’ eternal destinies erupt in Ad Simplicianum without prior formative concepts. Scholars have noted his continued emphasis on unmerited grace, but that his works, letters, and sermons for another fifteen years are relatively silent on these novel doctrines. A chronological examination of Augustine’s works, letters, and sermons reveals that only in AD 412 did the Bishop of Hippo begin to gradually develop his later theology. Between 397 and 412, Augustine persists in teaching his prior theology. In contrast, one single letter (Ad Simpicianum 1.2 ) erupts with a plethora of novel doctrines of relative maturity. This suggests that like numerous other works revised years or decades later, Augustine himself revised Ad Simplicianum after AD 411. This paper will provide an alternative theory to reconcile his comments in Retractationes, Predestinatione sanctorum, and De dono perseverantiae. Augustine’s rhetorical skills shine as he cautiously maneuvers to avoid the sin of lying while defending the faith against Pelagian heresies. By demonstrating Augustine’s revision of Ad Simplicianum, the otherwise inexplicable fifteen-year lacuna transforms into a cohesive understanding of his theological development.

Jessica van 't Westeinde: Jerome and Pammachius: modelling Christian transformation in epistolary correspondence

‘Fiunt, non nascuntur christiani' (e.g. Jerome, Ep. 107.1, from Tertullian, Apol. 18.4) seems to imply that the conversion to Christianity demands a transformation of identity which at first sight does not appear to be compatible with Roman aristocratic values. In his letters to his aristocrat friends or patrons, Jerome, too, seems to invoke the idea that their adoption of the Christian faith and their embarking on the ascetic way of life requires such transformation. His letters could be read as instructions in the process of it. However, many questions remain unanswered. To what extent could we actually speak of transformation, what model of Christian identity did Jerome present that could be appealing to these aristocrats?
Indebted to insights presented in the work of a.o. Cain, Brown, and Salzman, but also taking into account and developing further the methodology of embodied early and medieval Christianity, I will explore how Jerome could exercise authority over a figure like Pammachius, so high above his own social standing, and how Jerome's model of Christian elite could have been accepted by the Roman aristocrats in light of its apparent requirement of a radical rupture with the past, whilst at the same time safeguarding social superiority. Jerome appears to have offered a model that would make best ends meet: it did see conversion as discontinuous with the past, but at the same time it attempted to create a superior ‘christianus perfectus' which would rise high above the ‘mediocre flock'.

Christopher Wojtulewicz: The Reception of Augustine in the Theology of Alexander de Sancto Elpidio OESA

If known at all, Alexander de Sancto Elpidio is perhaps best remembered for his Tractatus de ecclesiastica potestate; his theology, however, remains somewhat shrouded in obscurity. Besides some references to his opinion in the sentence commentaries of various Augustinians of the early fourteenth century, we do not yet possess any real conception of Alexander’s theological positions, despite his prominence in Paris and as General of the Order from 1312. Both Doucet and Courtenay have made reference to a quodlibet in Naples, which Glorieux had considered likely to have been penned by Alexander. Now that his authorship is confirmed, this paper will present the positions found in the questions of the Naples manuscript and look into their use of Augustine. In particular it will consider Alexander’s contribution to Trinitarian debates and the contextualisation of the reception of Augustine more broadly in the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

Florian Woeller: Turning towards the Literal Sense: Augustine in Late Medieval Exegesis

One of the characteristic features of late medieval exegesis (14th and 15th centuries) consists in a special attention for the literal sense of Scripture with which many biblical theologians dedicated themselves to biblical interpretation. This tendency marks an important 'turn' in the history of biblical exegesis and as such directs our attention to later, i.e. Early Modern developments. Yet, it must also be understood as a 'turn' to the past, since to a fair extent it was Augustine's idea of the literal sense which inspired late-medieval exegetes.
In my paper I will discuss two prominent biblical theologians, Nicholas of Lyra (ca. 1270-1349) and Peter Auriol (ca. 1280-1322), who both developed influential accounts of Scripture's literal sense and of its meaning for biblical exegesis. Although these Franciscan confrères both heavily draw upon Augustine, they come to strikingly different conclusions and thus offer excellent examples for the late-medieval transformations in the reception of Augustine, more specifically of his principles of biblical interpretation.

H. Clifton Ward: We Hold These ἀρχαὶ to be Self-Evident: Clement of Alexandria, ἐναργεία, and the Search for Truth

Clement of Alexandria broadly defines the divine economy by which God providentially orders the world as a mystical pedagogy of the word.  As the Logos operates within this economy, the Christian gnostikos is led progressively towards ultimate truth—namely, God himself.  But what role does Scripture play in this plan for Clement?  How does Scripture function to lead believers to truth in the divine οἰκονομία?  This paper will proceed as an analysis of Clement's response to this significant anterior concern. Clement forges a clear path to understanding Scripture's role in the divine economy by focusing on the nature of Scripture and its inherent characteristics.  His proclivity for appropriating the Aristotelian tradition of demonstration has been noted, but by developing an earlier suggestion by Raoul Mortley, this paper will argue that Clement utilizes a key concept from Epicurean epistemology in his portrayal of Scripture.  Scripture is an ἐναργεία, like the incarnate Word, and its existence as a self-evidential truth justifies its status as a first principle in the Christian's scientific investigation of truth.  Clement thus fashions a particularly Christian logic by integrating Epicurean epistemology with Aristotelian demonstration.  This paper therefore sheds light on the philosophical grounds for Clement's claim that Scripture is the curriculum by which Christians ascend in faith through hope to love (1 Cor 13).  The teachings of the incarnate Word are perpetuated in the deposit of the written Word, so that believers are never far from the education provided by the voice of God.

Gerben Wartena: Epic Emotions: High Emotional Involvement in Sedulius' Carmen Paschale

In the 5th century biblical epic Carmen Paschale (Easter Song), the poet Sedulius intersperses his narrative of the life of Christ with numerous exegetical and homiletic comments. This phenomenon is most prominent in the fifth and last book, describing Christ's passion, death, resurrection, and ascension. It has been observed before that the poet is highly emotionally involved with his subject (see, e.g., Roberts (2008), ‘Poetry and Hymnography (1): Christian Latin Poetry', in: The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, ed. S.A. Harvey and D.G. Hunter, 635-636). By means of a combined discourse-linguistic and narratological analysis (see, e.g., De Jong (2014), Narratology and Classics) it is possible to show how the poet has shaped his text to convey his emotional involvement. The cumulation of certain linguistic and stylistic devices in such highly emotional passages creates the sense of a Peak in the text (Labov (1972), Language in the Inner City). It is remarkable that these Peaks often do not occur at the high points of the story itself, e.g., the moment of Christ's death, but rather within the exegetical comments. By means of an example (5.303-314 - an apostrophe to the people who ask for a guard at Christ's tomb) I will show how my approach may help to discover the aimed effects of such highly emotional passages, and to answer the question why they occur when they do. Finally, I will draw conclusions concerning the communicative goals of the text and its function within the community of its readers.

David Woods: Constantine, Aurelian, and Aphaca

The claim by Eusebius of Caesarea that Constantine I ordered the destruction of the shrine of Aphrodite at Aphaca because of sexual misconduct there (VC 3.55) has normally been accepted at face-value. It is arguable, however, that Constantine's main reason for ordering its destruction may have been because of an oracle there which had risen to prominence during the reign of Aurelian and may have played some role in provoking his persecution of Christians. It is also arguable that he may have sought to justify the destruction of this shrine in terms of respect for the cult of Sol rather than on any moral or Christian basis.

Daniel Weisser: The Eustathians as exclusive ascetics and their reintegration into the Catholic Church

The Eustathians and their condemnation at the Council of Gangra are a rather well known example of a 4th century ideal of exclusive asceticism: In the eyes of these ascetics, only those Christians can be saved, who abstain from sexual intercourse, property, eating meat etc. Yet, they are not an isolated phenomenon, but part of a larger movement whose followers can be found in Syria, Egypt, and Spain. Since those radical ascetics encounter only in the 4th century, the obvious question occurs, how the bishops handled this provocation.
Their reaction, as the short communication will show, not only contains threats of condemnation (as documented in Gangra), but first and foremost aim at their reintegration. One of these attempts are Basil's regulae, which can be understood as an immediate response to the Eustathians in Asia Minor. Other examples are the Councils of Milan and Rome of 393, which not only condemn Jovinian, but also make an attempt to reintegrate exclusive ascetics into the church by establishing a hierarchy of stands in the church: Ascetics are accepted as members of the church as long as they abstain from their claim of exclusiveness, then bringing a hundredfold grain, whereas widows only bring sixtyfold and married Christians even thirtyfold grain (cf. Mt 13,8).
Again: Why do these exclusive ascetics disappear in the sources of the 5th and later centuries? Because the bishops have reacted to their provocation by a compromise and reintegrated the predominant majority of them.

Jeffrey Witt: "I should not believe the gospel except…": Tradition, Authority, and the Grounds for Belief in the Late Fourteenth Century

In this paper, I will introduce a previously undocumented late-fourteenth century use and interpretation of Augustine's famous statement in Contra Epistolam Manichaei, 5.6: "For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church."
The use is found in the lecture of a secular master named Peter Plaoul (fl. 1390s). Plaoul's use is noteworthy partially because it occurred at a time when debates about how to end the Western Schism were raging at the University of Paris. It is also notable because Plaoul clearly adopts a particular way of thinking about Church tradition singled out by Heiko Oberman, who contrasts it with an alternative approach represented by the likes of Bradwardine, Wyclif, and Huss. Thus, after showing that Plaoul adopts this view of tradition, I will point to his interpretation of the quotation from Augustine as a representative example of how proponents of this view of church tradition might approach the quotation in the last decade of the fourteenth century.

Finally, because the interpretation of this passage and the varying views on the nature of the authority of tradition are closely linked to how theologians have thought about faith and theology, I will close by contextualizing Plaoul's interpretation within the larger debates about tradition, faith, canon law, and theology. Here I will attempt to draw lessons about how commitments like those seen in the text of Plaoul will pair with related commitments on the nature of faith and the theological enterprise.