Andrew Louth Conference at Durham, UK - 9-12 July 2012

Durham University in conjunction with the Department of Theology and Religion will be hosting the conference ‘A celebration of living theology: Engaging with the work of Andrew Louth’ on 9-12 July 2012 at Durham University. The conference aims to celebrate the work of Andrew Louth in the areas of Patristics, both Western and Eastern, Modern Theology and Theology as Life, as well as explore its reception outside the English-speaking world. The plenary papers will be collected into a Festschrift to be published after the conference.
The confirmed plenary speakers are:
Antoine Arjakovsky: ‘The orthodox theology and the future pan orthodox council’.
John Behr, ‘Studying the Fathers in the Twenty First Century’.
Augustine Casiday, ’Boethius the Theologian’.
Mary Cunningham: ‘The concept of “image” according to an eighth-century Byzantine bishop: St Andrew of Crete’s response to ps-Dionysius the Areopagite’.
Pavel Gavrilyuk: ‘The Evolution of Florovsky’s Reading of Vladimir Solovyov and the Waywardness of Russian Theology’.
Cyril Hovorun: ‘British Patristic School: Its impact on modern Orthodox Theology’.
John Milbank, title tbc.
Kallistos Ware: ‘The Future Path of Orthodox Thought: ‘Culture and Society’ or ‘Mystical Theology’?’.
Jane Baun, title tbc.
Thomas Graumann, title tbc.
Lewis Ayres, title tbc.
and, of course, Andrew Louth.

http://andrewlouthconference2012.wordpress.com/

"Religion in Pieces" - Call for Papers

"Religion in Pieces" An Interdisciplinary Conference Sponsored by the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University, April 27-29th, 2012

The quest to determine the contours and contents of ancient religion has always been a largely constructivist endeavor, subject to the exigencies of preservation. How do we, in our respective fields, approach the problem of fragmentary evidence? How do we construct such elusive categories as "belief" or "ritual" or "praxis" from an insufficient, scattered, or occasionally inscrutable base of primary source materials?

The Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions seeks papers for a conference to be held at Brown University, April 27-29th 2012, on the topic, "Religion in Pieces." In keeping with the society's broad interests in religions of the Mediterranean basin over the great chronological expanse from prehistory to late antiquity, we seek contributions from scholars in the fields of Classics, Ancient History, Religious Studies, Archaeology, Near Eastern Studies, Egyptology, and Art History. We are particularly interested in papers that present case studies in reconstructing religious practice from fragmentary evidence, or which problematize or lay out the methodological challenges inherent in constructing religion from a paucity of sources. Relevant subfields include (but are not limited to) papyrology, codicology, archaeology, and textual studies of fragmentary or poorly attested sources; especially welcome are transdisciplinary papers which synthesize a variety of textual, archaeological, and art historical and/or material culture sources.

We invite abstracts from 250-500 words, accompanied by a curriculum vitae, to socamr@gmail.com. Deadline for submission is midnight of January 28th, 2012. Participants will be contacted with an invitation to participate by the beginning of March, 2012.

New Dölger-Prize for an essay in Early Christian Art and Epigraphy

The BARDA project on 'Early Christian Iconography and Epigraphy - beyond Dölger',
supported by the British Academy, The-Romans.net, together with the King's Patristic Seminar
offer an annual prize of £500 for the best essay submitted on
a subject connected with any aspect of early Christian Iconography and Epigraphy,
including the first seven centuries AD/CE. Scholars in any
relevant discipline (art history, theology, classics, late antique studies, Middle
Eastern studies, philosophy etc), whether established in their field or graduate
students, are encouraged to enter the competition. Essays should not exceed
8,000 words including footnotes, and should be submitted by 31
May. A judgement will be made at the end of June 2012
(the project reserves the right not to award the prize if no essay of
significant quality is submitted). The essay of the successful candidate
will be published in Studia Patristica (2013). Other submissions entered
into the competition may also be recommended for publication. All essays
should be sent as electronic word-documents - using the SP style guide -,
to markusvinzent2011@gmail.com

JEH Eusebius Prize 2011 and 2012

Matthew Crawford was awarded the 2011 Eusebius Prize

The Editors and Editorial Board of the Journal of Ecclesiastical History
warmly congratulate Matthew Crawford on the award of the 2011 Eusebius
Prize for his essay 'On the Diversity and Influence of the Eusebian
Alliance: the case of Theodore of Heraclea'.

The Journal offers an annual prize of £500 for the best essay submitted on
a subject connected with any aspect of early Christian history, broadly
understood as including the first seven centuries AD/CE. Scholars in any
relevant discipline (theology, classics, late antique studies, Middle
Eastern studies, etc), whether established in their field or graduate
students, are encouraged to enter the competition. Essays should not exceed
8,000 words including footnotes, and for 2012 should be submitted by 30
September. A judgement will be made at the end of November of the same year
(the editors reserve the right not to award the prize if no essay of
significant quality is submitted). The essay of the successful candidate
will be published in the Journal, probably in the number appearing in July
2013. Other submissions entered into the competition may also be
recommended for publication. All essays should be sent as two hard copies,
prepared to journal style, to Mrs Anne Waites, Journal of Ecclesiastical
History, Robinson College, Cambridge CB3 9AN

(Non-residential) Course on 'History in texts and iconography: Early Christian Life and Thought from Clement of Rome to Cyprian' at the INSTITUTUM PATRISTICUM AUGUSTINIANUM and The British School at Rome

You are invited to join Professor Allen Brent who delivers this course in English, this spring 2012 (from 13.2.-19.5.2012, with an Easter recess from 31.3.-15.4.):

1^st  sett. Church, State and Roman society from Nero to Constantine: an overview.

2^nd sett. Clement of Rome and imperial order.

3^rd sett. Ignatius of Antioch and the origin of single bishops.

4^th sett. Ignatius, Asia Minor, and imperial order viewed by the Second Sophistic.

5^th sett. Justin Martyr and the theology of the Logos.

6^th sett. Justin’s Apology and the Logos in Pagan political theology.

7^th sett. The Hippolytan community and the Statue of ‘St Hippolytus’ in the Vatican Library.

8^th sett. Monarchian disputes on the Trinity and developments towards a pagan monotheism legitimating imperial political order.

9^th sett. The emergence of a monarch bishop at Rome: Callistus, the Papal Mausoleum and the Via Apia Antica.

10^th sett. From Maximin to Decius Trajan: Ss Petrus et Paulus ad catacombas and popular Christianity.

11^th sett. Cyprian of Carthage and Roman jurisprudence.

12^th sett. Cyprian’s response to the imperial ideology: popular culture, Pagan and Christian.

13^th sett. Aurelian, Constantine, and Sol Invictus.

Visits: In addition, site visits are planned:

1.      Ara Pacis Augustae and the Prima Porta statue, Via di Ripetta and Vatican museum (after week 2)

2.      The statue of ‘St Hippolytus’ in the Vatican Library and the Museo Pio Cristiano (after week 6).

3.      S. Callisto and S. Sebastiano, Via Apia Antica (afer week 9)

4.      Vatican mausolea and the shrine of St. Peter (after week 12)

Content:

Beginning with Clement of Rome, the character of the pagan imperial background is explored as a backcloth the author’s reflection on the unity of nature and of society. A contrast is provided by Ignatius of Antioch’s alternative Hellenistic perspective, and his background in the Greek city-states of Asia minor in the Second Sophistic, whose polity and iconography he reflects. The political implications of Justin’s Logos apologetic are explored in terms of a developing imperial ideology. The discussion of the Hippolytan community is based upon the text of the Refutation of All Heresies, and the Statue and its iconography, with a comparison between Callistus’ theological monarchianism and the quest for a pagan monotheism represented by Severan ideology. Cyprian’s developing thesis on Church Order is identified as the counterpart to imperial order, and his eschatological claims as the counterpart to imperial, Stoic eschatology represented in the coinage of Decius Trajan and his rivals. The course concludes with the setting of the scene for Aurelian and Constantine’s quest for a universal monotheism, whether Pagan or Christian, and its textual and iconographic indications.

(costs for the entire course EUR 150,-)

Further information at: segreteria@patristicum.org

Call for papers - Prize in Patristic Exegesis with focus on Africa

The Institute for Classical Christian Studies and the Center for Early African Christianity announced last week at the International Patristic Studies Conference held at Oxford University its 1st annual award for the best paper(s) in Patristic Exegesis. (Please see Announcement below.) We are very excited about this new initiative and believe it will encourage young scholars to venture more deeply into patristic studies in a way that is illuminating for church and society today.

ANNOUNCEMENT

 $2000 FIRST PRIZE

ICCS STUDIES IN PATRISTIC EXEGESIS

 $1000 ADDITIONAL PRIZES

 WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON TEXTS FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM

 Topic: Any subject that advances the thesis of the Ancient Christian Commentary, that patristic commentators on scripture bear incomparable wisdom for contemporary Christian teaching. The subject areas investigated may be in theology, liturgy, linguistics, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, or in ecumenical, historical and socio-cultural studies.   A translation of a previously untranslated patristic text may be submitted. Untranslated Arabic, Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian texts are to be given special consideration.

Manuscripts:  The paper must be a previously unpublished manuscript submitted in English. The manuscript may be submitted in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese or Korean (all languages in which the ACCS is being translated), but if selected the writer would be responsible for translating it into English. Manuscripts selected may be submitted simultaneously to peer-reviewed journals, or may be published digitally in English for the international community of readers, teachers, and patristic scholarship.

 Length: approx. 5,000-10,000 words.

 Assessment: Manuscripts will be assessed by quality of argumentation, clarity of exposition, significance of the position argued, degree to which the paper advances the topic under discussion, contribution to global Christianity, depth of understanding of the ancient Christian writers.

African Focus: Since the Institute for Classical Study was founded by the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture Project, and since the ACCS project, having been completed, is now focused on early African Christianity, we especially welcome contributions from African scholars or by other scholars on topics of patristic studies regarded texts written on the continent of Africa.

Deadline: August 1, 2012. Submit manuscript to the Institute for Classical Christian Studies, c/o Dr. Michael Glerup at the address below. The award will be announced by November 2012.

For more info please email: ICCS@earlyafricanchristianity.com or visit earlyafricanchristianity.com

Recently Published

Holger Villadsen, Nordisk Patristisk Bibliografi, Bind I: Systematisk afdeling (Kopenhagen, 2011).

H. Pietras and S. Kaczmarek, Origen as Writer, Origeniana Decima (Leuven: Peeters, 2011).

Pseudo-Prospero de Aquitania, Sobre la providencia de Dios. Introduccion, texto latino revisado, traduccion y comentario por Raul Villegas Marin (Publicacions i Edicions, Universitat de Barcelona, 2010).

Codices Chrysostomici Graeci VII: Codicum Parisinorum partem priorem, descripsit Pierre Augustin Adiuvante Jacques-Hubert Sautel, Documents, Etudes et Repertoires, 80 (Paris: CNRS Editions, 2011).

J. van Oort and W. Wischmeyer, Die spätantike Kirche Nordafrikas im Umbruch, Studien der Patristischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft, 10 (Leuven: Peeters, 2011).

W. Kinzig, U. Volp and J. Schmidt, Liturgie und Ritual in der Alten Kirche: Patristische Beiträge zum Studium der gottesdienstlichen Quellen der Alten Kirche, Studien der Patristischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft, 11 (Leuven: Peeters, 2011).

(These volumes have already or will be commissioned to be reviewed here on our Oxford Patristics Blog, if anybody is interested in reviewing a particular volume, please write to me)