PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS IN THE LATE ROMAN EMPIRE: NEW EVIDENCE, NEW APPROACHES (4th-6th centuries)

CALL FOR PAPERS

 

PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS IN THE LATE ROMAN EMPIRE:  NEW EVIDENCE, NEW APPROACHES  (4th-6th  centuries)

 

Budapest, 7-10 March 2013

 

Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

www.ceu.hu

 

An International Conference organized by the

  Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest

in cooperation with the University of Pécs and the Hungarian Patristic Society

 

After a successful conference that focused on the city of Rome in September 2012 (“Pagans and Christians in Late Antique Rome”), we invite papers for a second conference devoted to examining pagan-Christian interactions across the Roman Empire.   This conference seeks to consider new evidence and new approaches to the material and textual remains that bear on the value of these categories in the Roman Empire between the fourth and the sixth centuries.  Did these labels – pagans and Christians - matter in the daily lives of late Romans?  Or are they only relevant in moments of conflict or for historians? To what degree does geography make a difference in assessing the nature of pagan-Christian relations?  And, how does the presence of other religious groups – Jews and heretics, Manichees and schismatics – affect our understanding of pagan-Christian interactions  in different times and places across the empire?

 

To facilitate a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary conversation, we encourage scholars working in any discipline – history, archaeology, art history, religious studies, classical studies - to submit abstracts for papers that address the issue of pagan-Christian relation across the empire. The organizers are particularly interested in papers that focus on new material evidence, new interpretations of texts or new interpretive paradigms with which to approach relations between pagans and Christians in the fourth - sixth centuries of the Roman Empire. The proceedings of the conference will be published.

Participants whose papers are accepted for presentation will be offered accommodation in Budapest and a field trip along the Danube limes to Pécs, with a visit to the late fourth-century Roman cemetery. We cannot, however, underwrite travel expenses.

 

Please send proposals of 400 words for 20-minute papers

in English

by 25 November 2012

to saghym@ceu.hu

 

Marianne Sághy                  Rita Lizzi Testa                   Michele Salzman   

CEU Budapest                                   Università di Perugia       University of California Riverside          

 

The Eighth Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament will be held in Birmingham from 4-6 March 2013

The Eighth Birmingham Colloquium on the Textual Criticism of the New Testament will be held in Birmingham from 4-6 March 2013

The general theme is "The Tradition of the New Testament: Treasures New and Old".

Proposals are invited for papers of around 20 minutes. (It may also be possible to accommodate longer presentations.) Suggestions for workshops, presenting work in progress, are also welcome. Titles and short abstracts should be sent to H.A.G.Houghton@bham.ac.uk by the end of December 2012 (all submissions will be acknowledged).

A provisional programme and booking form will be made available in early 2013.

David Parker and Hugh Houghton
Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing,
School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion
University of Birmingham
www.birmingham.ac.uk/itsee

Researcher in Ancient History of Religion

The Max Weber        Center at the University of Erfurt invites applications for the        position of a

Researcher in            Ancient History of Religion 
65 % (26            h/week)


within the          research project „Lived Ancient Religion“ (directed by Prof.          Dr. Jörg Rüpke). The position is to be filled from 1st December 2012          onwards. The initial contract is for two years. The salary is          according to TV-L E 13 (starting from brutto 24855,56 € p.a.).


„Lived            Ancient Religion“ takes a              completely new perspective on the religious history of              Mediterranean antiquity, starting from the individual and              “lived” religion instead of civic religion. “Lived              religion” suggests a set of experiences, of practices              addressed to, and conceptions of the divine, which are              appropriated, expressed, and shared by individuals in              diverse social spaces, from the primary space of the              family to the shared space of public institutions and              trans-local literary communication. The member of the team              we are looking for has to work on the formation of              literary and expert discourse about religion and ritual              (e.g. in the field of divination) and individual              appropriations of such discourses in the Imperial period              and thus to contribute to the analysis of the interaction              of individuals with the agents of traditions and providers              of religious services in the Mediterranean world. The              group's methodological approach is defined through the              notions of religious experience, embodiment, and “culture              in interaction”. For          further information see http://www.uni-erfurt.de/max-weber-kolleg/projekte/kooperationsprojekte/lived-ancient-religion/.          The project is financed by the European Research Council.


As a member of the          team, the researcher is obliged to also share into the          research tasks of the team, e.g. in preparing workshops,          conferences, and publications. 
.
The ideal candidate needs to
 have an excellent MA or comparable degree in              History of Religion, Classical Philology or Ancient              History

 should aim at a doctoral degree based on her or              his research project

 have a very good knowledge of English

 have excellent knowledge of the relevant ancient              language(s)

 have substantial experience in analysing literary              texts

 fulfil the general admissions rules of § 84 Abs.              4 Thüringer Hochschulgesetz.



Any admission to          the doctoral program of the Max Weber Center presupposes the          participation in interdisciplinary colloquia.


For further          information please contact joerg.ruepke@uni-erfurt.de


The University of          Erfurt is an equal opportunity employer and encourage in          particular applications by women. Ceteris paribus seriously          handicapped people will have preference. 


Deadline
Please send your application with CV, copies of your          final school and university degrees, a copy of your MA thesis,          and an outline of the research project you would like to          pursue puntil 14 October 2012 to


 University of Erfurt • Max Weber Centre • PO Box 900 221 • D-99105 Erfurt • Germany or to 
 ursula.birtel-koltes@uni-erfurt.de


As the University cannot refund any costs incurred by          applying, your applications will not be resent. Please use          photocopies or pdf files.

WORKSHOP ON THE RECEPTION OF JOSEPHUS BY JEWS AND CHRISTIANS

Applications are invited to participate in this workshop, to be held in Oxford, at

the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Yarnton Manor, on

January 7-8, 2013.

Please submit your application in English, with a short CV and an abstract (not

more than 500 words) of a research paper to be discussed in the workshop, to

the Registrar of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies

(

registrar@ochjs.ac.uk), by Friday 14 September 2012.

Bursaries to cover travel expenses and accommodation will be available for

selected participants. Please indicate in your application whether you would

like to be considered for a bursary, including an estimate of your travel

expenses.

The workshop will be devoted to discussion of the research papers, which will

be circulated to all participants in advance.

Applicants will be informed of the result of their applications on or before

Friday 21 September 2012.

The workshop will be the first in a series, as part of a project on the reception of

Josephus in Jewish culture from the 18

th century to the present. This project, which is

funded by the AHRC, focuses on the ways in which Jews since the middle of the

eighteenth century have built on earlier uses of Josephus’ writings for their own

purposes, examining the reasons for fluctuations of interest over time and in different

places and seeking to understand how such preferences were influenced by

contemporary issues and how they in turn affected them. The project also looks at

the impact of non-Jewish scholarship on Jewish interpretations of Josephus, and the

extent to which Jewish attitudes to Josephus were affected by responses to the

2

historian as a controversial participant in complex political events and as a moral

agent.

In this first workshop, on the reception of Josephus by Jews and Christians before

1750, we hope that the participants will help us to identify the issues in Josephus’

writings which played a key role in the reception of his work in ancient and medieval

times, investigating which themes are specific to specific periods or types of literature

(including translations and adaptations into other languages, notably Latin and

Hebrew) and which remained relevant in later centuries; the reasons why early

modern scholars (both Jewish and Christian) were attracted to Josephus’ writings,

and how their approach differed from earlier reception of Josephus; and the role

played by Josephus in the popular imagination of Jews and Christians throughout

this period.

Topics suitable for paper proposals for the workshop include the Testimonium

Flavianum, patristic uses of Josephus, rabbinic references to Josephus in late

antiquity, the manuscript tradition, Josippon, Azariah de’Rossi, uses of Josephus by

Christian humanists in the early modern period, chronography, early printed editions,

illustrations and artistic representations, and vernacular translations.

Further workshops will address the Jewish reception of Josephus in the 18

th and 19th

centuries in Western Europe (June 17-18, 2013); the Jewish reception of Josephus

in the 19

th and early 20th centuries in Eastern Europe (January 6-7, 2014); and the

Jewish reception of Josephus in the 20

th and 21st centuries (June 16-17, 2014).

We plan to publish a selection of the studies discussed at the four workshops in a

volume, to share the results of the project and to help to define the agenda for future

research.

To apply, and for further information about participation in the workshop and

about bursaries, please contact the Registrar of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew

and Jewish Studies (

registrar@ochjs.ac.uk) before 14 September 2012.

Martin Goodman, Tessa Rajak, Andrea Schatz

PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS IN LATE ANTIQUE ROME - INTERPRETING THE EVIDENCE

Rome, 20-21 September 2012

Palazzo Falconieri, Accademia d’Ungheria, Via Giulia 1, Roma

Thursday 20 September 2012

9 am – 9: 30 am

Welcome Addresses and Introductory Presentation

Antal Molnár, director of the Hungarian Academy in Rome

Marianne Sághy, Michele R. Salzman, Rita Lizzi Testa conference organizers

9: 30 am – 11 am The Topography of Paganism and Christianity in Late Antique Rome

Laura Acampora (Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, Roma) Pagan Temples and Christian Buildings in Rome between the Fourth and Fifth Century: an Archeological and Topographical Approach

Michael Mulryan - Luke Lavan (University of Kent) The Fate of Temples of Ostia in an Italian Context

Claire Sotinel (Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne) The Urban Prefect and  Christian Building Projects in Rome

11 am -11:30 am Coffee Break

11:30 am – 1 pm Law, Cult, Cultural Memory   

María Victoria Escribano Paño (University of Zaragoza), Pagans and Christians in Fourth-Century Rome: Interpreting the Evidence of Codex Theodosianus XVI

Douglas Boin (Georgetown University) Imperial Cult in Christian Rome:

Towards a More Nuanced Understanding of Fourth and Fifth Century Society

Gitte Lønstrup Dal Santo (Accademia di Danimarca, Roma) Storytelling and Cultural Memory in the Making: Celebrating Pagan and Christian Founders of Rome

1 pm- 3 pm Lunch

3 pm- 4:30 pm Pagan Cults

Kristine Iara (LMU München) Connecting the Remains: Cult Places in Late Antique Rome

Silviu Anghel (EDRIS, Göttingen) Shifting the Ortodoxy: the Changing Face of Pagan Cults in Late Antique Rome

Jonas Bjornebie (Accademia di Norvegia, Roma) Re-Interpreting the Cult of Mithras in Late Antique Rome

4:30 pm – 5 pm Coffee Break

5 pm- 6:30 pm Christianity and the City

Danielle Slootjes (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen) Christianity and its Influence on Crowd Behavior in Late Antique Rome

Giulia Marconi (Università di Perugia) Pagans, Christians and Young People: Spaces of Education in Fourth-Fifth Century Rome

David Natal (University of Manchester) Symmachus and the Anician Entourage: Famine and Religious Controversy in late Fourth-Century Rome

7 pm Keynote lecture

Michele R. Salzman (University of California Riverside) Pagans and Christians in Constantine's Rome

8 pm Cocktail

Friday 21 September

9 am-10:30 am Conflict and Cohabitation

Robert Chenault (Villamette University) Beyond Pagans and Christians: Politics and Infra-Christian Conflict in the Controversy over the Altar of Victory of Rome

Maijastina Kahlos (Helsinki University)  Artis heu magicis: The Label of Magic in the Fourth-century Conflicts and Disputes

Gaetano Colantuono (Università di Bari) Propter copiam puellarum: Interreligious Marriages among Christians and Pagans in the Late Antiquity

10:30-11 am Coffee Break

11 am – 12:30 pm Looking at the Gods: Reading Divine Images

Alessandra Bravi (Università di Perugia) Divine Images between Decoration and Cult in Fourth-Century Rome

Caroline Michel d’Annoville (University of Grenoble 2) Rome and Imagery in Late Antiquity: Perception and Uses of Statues in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries

Levente Nagy (Pécs University) Hercules the Christian

12:30- 3 pm Lunch

3 pm – 4:30 pm Poetry and Propaganda

Marianne Sághy (CEU Budapest), Christianity as Romanitas:Bishop Damasus’ Reforms   

Dennis E. Trout (University of Missouri) Making Difference: the Carmina contra Paganos and the Invention of Late Roman Paganism

Neil McLynn (Oxford University), Poetry and Pagans in Late Antique Rome: the Case of the Senator ’Converted from the Christian religion to Servitude to the Idols'

4:30 pm – 5 pm Coffee Break

5 pm – 6:30 pm Family Pietas and Cult of the Saints

Francesca Diosono (Università di Perugia) Professiones gentiliciae. The collegia of Rome between paganism and Christianity

Nicola Denzey (Brown University, USA) Reinterpreting ’Pagans’ and ’Christians’  from Rome's Late Antique Mortuary Evidence

Hartwin Brandt (Bamberg University) Paulinus of Nola and the City of Rome

7 pm  

Concluding remarks by Rita Lizzi Testa

8 pm Dinner

St. Luke’s Scholarships - 4th British Patristic Conference

 The 4^th British Patristics Conference

University of Exeter  5 – 7 September 2012

is pleased to announce it will offer ten

St. Luke’s Scholarships

Each scholarship will provide £200 towards conference and travel costs.  Scholarships are available for graduate students and for post-doctoral scholars with no current academic post or source of income.

Please apply to:   Dr Morwenna Ludlow    britishpatristics@gmail.com by   Friday 10^th August 2012.

Please provide the following details:-

1. Full contact details (email and postal address).

2. Your current institution, degree course and academic supervisor (if applicable).

3. The title of your dissertation/thesis, or a short (one sentence) summary of your current research.

4. Your current funding (for example: are you in receipt of a scholarship? does it cover fees alone, or fees and living expenses? does it provide you with a lump sum to set against fees?)

5. Do you have additional sources of funding or additional demands on your income (e.g. do you have dependents)?

6. Are you able to apply for funding from your current institution to cover the cost of this conference?  Have you applied?  Have you been successful?  If so, how much have you been awarded?

You do not necessarily have to provide figures; however, the clearer the information is, the more easily the committee will be able to make their decision.  Decisions will be made on the basis of our judgment of financial circumstances and how much the applicant will benefit from attending the conference, not on academic merit, so please do not provide an academic cv.  We will not contact your supervisor unless we need to clarify your current academic affiliation and/or funding from your current institution.  All information will be treated absolutely confidentially by the conference committee.  It is a condition of the scholarships that the recipients’ names are sent to the St Luke’s College foundation, but the names will not otherwise be publicised.

Applications which have not arrived by noon on Friday 10th August 2012 will not be considered.

The committee will make their decisions as soon as they can.

The committee is very grateful to the St. Luke’s College Foundation for their generosity in making this award and for providing other funding for the conference.  We are particularly pleased that they were prepared to include the 4^th British Patristics Conference in their funding round for the 2012-13 academic year.

Full details about the conference, including programme and booking details can be found at:

http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/research/conferences/patristics .                                                                          

Promotions- und Postdoktoranden-Stipendien / Bursaries

Das Max-Weber-Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien der Universität Erfurt schreibt zum 1. Oktober 2012 aus:

Promotions- und Postdoktoranden-Stipendien

für Vorhaben aus den Bereichen Soziologie, Religionswissenschaft, Geschichte, Philosophie, Theologie, Rechtswissenschaft oder Wirtschaftswissenschaft im Rahmen des „Weberschen Forschungsprogramms“ des Max-Weber-Kollegs für bis zu drei bzw. zwei Jahre.

Gute Deutsch- und Englischkenntnisse sind für alle Kollegiaten verpflichtend sowie die Bereitschaft zur Teilnahme am interdisziplinären Programm des Kollegs. Nähere Informationen zur inhaltlichen Ausrichtung des Forschungsprogramms sowie zu Voraussetzungen und Bewerbungsmodalitäten finden sich unter www.uni-erfurt.de/maxwe.

Für Doktoranden mit einem Interesse an antiker Religion verweisen wir auf die auf der Website zu findenden Ausschreibung des Projekts „Lived Ancient Religion“.

Die Universität strebt eine Erhöhung des Anteils von Frauen im wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs an und fordert qualifizierte Frauen auf, sich zu bewerben.

Bewerbungen einschl. Lebenslauf, Zeugnissen, einem Gutachten eines Hochschullehrers und einem Exemplar der Magister- bzw. Diplomarbeit (für Postdoktoranden: ein Exemplar der Dissertation) sowie einem Exposé des Forschungsvorhabens (ca. 5 Seiten), in dem die Fragestellung, der Forschungsstand, die methodische Herangehensweise und die leitenden Hypothesen dargestellt werden und ein Arbeits- und Zeitplan enthalten ist, sind schriftlich und in digitaler Form (Datei mit max. 2 MB an Dekanat.MWK@uni-erfurt.de) bis zum 9. Juli 2012 zu richten an: Dekanat, Max-Weber-Kolleg der Universität Erfurt, Am Hügel 1, 99084 Erfurt. Für die Rücksendung der Unterlagen bitten wir, einen adressierten und ausreichend frankierten Briefumschlag beizulegen. Für Rückfragen steht Ihnen Frau Ilona Bode (Dekanat.MWK@uni-erfurt.de) zur Verfügung.