To all who might be interested,

Patristic sermons have enjoyed a particular academic interest during the last decades. Several aspects of this genre have been explored through a variety of methodologies. More than a few conferences, articles, and monographs have been devoted to this topic. In collaboration with Brill’s series, A New History of the Sermon (http://www.brill.com/publications/new-history-sermon), the Research Departments of Latin Literature (Arts Faculty) and History of Church and Theology (Theology Faculty) of the University of Leuven (Belgium) will compose a handbook on Latin Preaching in the Patristic Era: Sermons, Preachers, Audiences (working title).

In this volume we would like to bring together an up-to-date state of the art of the study of the sermons of Latin Patristic authors. The intention of this handbook is to outline the available sources, the approaches and methodologies appropriate in handling them, the research issues that arise in the study of the sermons, and to offer an overview of how these issues have been dealt with, leaving room for disagreement. The aim of this volume is not so much to compile a new narrative history, but to provide a graduate-level synthesis of debate and the state of scholarship, with balanced and general accounts. The contributions should avoid being limited to an abstract-theoretical presentation. The authors are encouraged to illustrate their overview/analysis with concrete textual examples, and if possible to add a case study/case studies. The contributions are not primarily intended for specialists, but should explain and show through examples the discussed subject for non-specialist scholars. The purpose of the volume is to allow graduate students and scholars versed in one area of the study of sermons but interested in another to find here the tools to further develop their knowledge. A provisional table of contents is added below.

The scholars who have already agreed to write a contribution for this volume include Pauline Allen, François Dolbeau, Bronwen Neil, Maureen Tilley.

Contributions should be written in English [Brill insists that the English of the contributions be thoroughly checked before submission] and be limited to ca. 7.000 words (including footnotes). The deadline for the submission of manuscripts would be 1 June 2014.

You may find the table of contents, provisional instructions, and available topics (indicated with an asterisk *), here below. If you are interested in writing a contribution on one of these topics, we would like to invite you to contact us, and send us (before 1 July 2013) your CV and a short abstract of how precisely you would like to deal with the subject of the chapter of your choice (indicating also preliminary thoughts on a possible case study/possible case studies you would like to develop).

Please, do not hesitate to contact us in case you have any questions or suggestions.

If you are interested in participating in this project, please send an email to:

latinpatristicsermons@arts.kuleuven.be

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Anthony Dupont                                                               Prof. Dr. Gert Partoens

Dra. Shari Boodts                                                                    Prof. Dr. Johan Leemans

——

Latin Preaching in the Patristic Era: Sermons, Preachers, Audiences

Provisional table of contents and Preliminary Instructions

Introduction (by the editors)

Part I: Text, Context and History

1. 1. Manuscripts and transmission
2. 2. History of liturgy, sermons as a form of liturgy
3. 3. Exegetical study
4. 4. Visual Arts and Iconography

Part II: Sermons: Delivering, Listening and Reading

1. 1. Historical-critical approach of sermons
2. 2. Rhetorics – Style – Linguistics
3. Impact – Influence – Identity

Part III: Latin Patristic Preachers

Each separate contribution (devoted to one specific patristic author, or to a specific group of authors), should treat (to a greater or lesser extent) each of the following parts:

1. Sources and (history of the) corpus: where can we find these sermons today, what is their place within the oeuvre of the discussed author, do we have chronological information?
2. How did the patristic author himself think about preaching in general and his own sermons in particular?
3. What is the content, style, aim, target group of the sermons?
4. Survey of the state of the art of the research into these sermons during the last decades. What is the importance of studying these sermons (in general and more specific in relation to the rest of the oeuvre of the specific author)?
5. Pseudo-tradition: inauthentic sermons ascribed to the discussed author(s). (only when applicable)
6. Concise bibliography
   1. Critical editions, translations, …
   2. Studies.

The authors of the volume are encouraged to illustrate their analysis with concrete textual examples.

Ambrosius

Augustine (+ ps.-tradition)

*Caesarius of Arles

Gregorius Magnus

*Jerome/Hiëronymus (+ ps.-tradition)

Leo Magnus

*Maximus of Turin (+ ps.-tradition)

Arian sermons (Maximinus)

*Petrus Chrysologus (+ ps.-tradition)

*Zeno, Chromatius, Gaudentius

Gallic preachers (Valerianus)

North-African preachers (Donatists)

Preaching in Spain (Priscillianus)

*Latin translations of Greek sermons

Epilogue (by the editors, or by an established protagonist in the study of (Latin) Patristic Sermons)

approx. x + 400 p., 156 x 234 mm, 2013, CELAMA 15, HB, ISBN 978-2-503-54131-0, approx. $167 / € 115

Publication scheduled for Summer 2013

This book addresses change and continuity in late antique Eastern Christianity, as perceived through the lens of the categories of institutional religion and personal religion. The interaction between personal devotion and public identity reveals the creative aspects of a vibrant religious culture that altered the experience of Christians on both a spiritual and an institutional level. A close look at the interrelations between the personal and the institutional expressions of religion in this period attests to an ongoing revision of both the patristic literature and the monastic tradition. By approaching the period in terms of ‘revision’, the contributors discuss the mechanism of transformation in Eastern Christianity from a new perspective, discerning social and religious changes while navigating between the dynamics of personal and institutional religion.

Recognizing the creative aspects inherent to the process of ‘revision’, this volume re-examines several aspects of personal and institutional religion, revealing dogmatic, ascetic, liturgical, and historiographical transformations. Attention is paid to the expression of the self, the role of history and memory in the construction of identity, and the modification of the theological discourse in late antique culture. The book also explores several avenues of Jewish-Christian interaction in the institutional and public sphere.

More info:
www.brepols.net
www.isdistribution.com

xii + 530 p., 156 x 234 mm, 2012, SEM 31, HB, ISBN 978-2-503-53148-9, $189 / € 130

The unexpected return of contemporary public Christian miracles in the late antique Latin west, after a centuries-long assumption that these had ceased after apostolic times, helped to create a religious mentality there that would continue to characterize the western European Middle Ages. While the social and political functions of the new miracles have been gaining greater scholarly attention, this study is the first in-depth treatment of their experiential dimension. It examines this dimension in the first reactions to the new phenomenon – enthusiasm, puzzlement, deep suspicion, and outright rejection – as they are reflected and, especially, imagined in the earliest contemporary narrative and poetic sources that describe them. And it traces how the new imaginative representations transformed, for many, the up to then precept-centered way of thinking about religion into one that immersed itself in the supralogical dynamics of symbolic images. The tendency of these image-clusters to precipitate transformations, not only in perception but also in physical condition, is examined for the period from 386, when a first public miracle caught everyone’s attention in the ostensibly flourishing Christian Roman Empire, to c. 460, when this empire was crumbling under the onslaught of Germanic tribes.

www.brepols.net
www.isdistribution.com

xii + 306 p., 156 x 234 mm, 2012, HB, ISBN 978-2-503-52960-8, $124 / € 80
___________________________________

Hermetic theosophy, originally an offspring of Egyptian religion, spread throughout the ancient world from the Hellenistic age onwards and was welcomed by Christianity in Late Antiquity. Cultivated people in a Christian milieu were convinced that Hermetic piety and religion were the preparation, expressed by heathen imagery, of their own faith: Hermes, a wise and pious philosopher in Egypt in the time of Moses, received (so it was thought) the same revelation which would be manifested 1,000 years later by Christ. At the end of the third century AD, this belief did not perish with the end of the Roman Empire; rather, it was taken up and explored during the French Renaissance of the twelfth century. In the fifteenth century, Italian humanism, supported by the rediscovery of Greek language and literature, promoted a fresh new evaluation of the ancient Hermetic texts which continued to be considered and studied as pre-Christian documents. In the sixteenth century, new interpretations of Christian Hermetism were explored until this connection between pagan and Christian was increasingly criticized by scholars who argued that Hermetism was neither as ancient as was thought nor as close to Christianity. The theory was abandoned in scientific milieux from the seventeenth century onwards, whereas Hermetic theosophy, on the contrary, survived in esoteric circles.

More info:
www.brepols.net
www.isdistribution.com

With a foreword by Wendy Mayer

ISBN 13: 978-1-62032-496-7

Wipf and Stock/Pickwick

March 2013

For details, go to https://wipfandstock.com/store/Harbor_for_the_Poor_A_Missiological_Analysis_of_Almsgiving_in_the_View_and_Practice_of_John_Chrysostom

The academic commitment to the Augustinian tradition is evident in the publication of the journal Augustinian Studies, in the curricular initiatives that enhance its Augustinian character, and by sponsoring lectures, conferences, discussion groups, etc. that bring the Augustinian tradition into dialogue with present-day issues.

The Patricia H. Imbesi Saint Augustine Fellow seeks to foster scholarship in Augustine or in the Augustinian Tradition by sharing with other dedicated scholars. This fellowship thus seeks to enhance cooperation among scholars so as to build a community of scholars.

Hence, Villanova University invites a scholar to campus each Spring semester – a scholar who has a doctoral degree but is not yet tenured. Recipients of the Patricia H. Imbesi Saint Augustine Fellowship will participate in the work of the Augustinian Institute:

• By interacting with faculty to enhance the Augustinian quality of the experience;
• By presenting 2 colloquia with faculty/graduate students on some aspect of St. Augustine’s thought or influence;
• By giving a public lecture and a faculty colloquium on their present research;
• By participating in the work-in-progress of the Augustinian Institute.

Application

Applicants for a Patricia H. Imbesi Saint Augustine Fellow will submit a current curriculum vitae, a brief essay describing the research project to be pursued while at Villanova and a proposal for two upper-level seminars that  they want to lead. Two letters of recommendation should also be submitted separately to the Augustinian Institute. The application process will be completed on-line (through the Villanova University Human Resources site) once the job is posted. https://jobs.villanova.edu/

Stipend and Accommodations:

The semester stipend for a St. Augustine Fellow will be $30,000. Housing and limited medical benefits will be provided by Villanova University.

Selection Process:

All applications will be reviewed by a Selection Committee which will weigh the quality of the proposal and the merits of the proposed contributions.

How did a person become an authority in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance?

The cultural and religious history from Antiquity through the Renaissance may be read through the lens of the rise and demise of auctoritates. Throughout this long period of about two millennia, many historical persons have been considered as exceptionally authoritative. Obviously, this authority derived from their personal achievements. But one does not become an authority on one’s own. In many cases, the way an authority’s achievements were received and disseminated by their contemporaries and later generations, was the determining factor in the construction of their authority. We will focus on the latter aspect: what are the mechanisms and strategies by which participants in intellectual life at large have shaped the authority of historical persons? On what basis, why and how were some persons singled out above their peers as exceptional auctoritates and by which processes did this continue (or discontinue) over time? What imposed geographical or other limits on the development and expansion of a person’s auctoritas? Which circumstances led to the disintegration of the authority of persons previously considered to be authoritative?

We invite interdisciplinary and innovative scholarly case studies that document these processes. They may focus on one (group of) source(s) to analyse its contribution to shaping the authority of a historical person or they may take a longue durée perspective on the rise (and demise) of a person’s auctoritas.

Thematic clusters one can think of may include (1) Biography, historiography and hagiography as grounds for authority; (2) The role played by manuscript transmission and production; (3) The contribution of non-textual sources; (4) Biblical characters as authorities. Papers are invited from fields as diverse as philosophy, classical studies, Oriental and Byzantine studies, history, theology and religion, art history, manuscript studies and hagiography.

The papers selected for presentation at the conference will preferably be case studies which contain the following elements in some combination: (1) Presentation and analysis of the sources and their context; (2) Analysis of the strategies for the “making of authority”; (3) Description of the long term success (or failure) of these enterprises.

Papers may be given in English, French of German and should be twenty minutes long. To submit a proposal, please send an abstract of your paper and a brief curriculum vitae (max one pag. each) by e-mail to marleen.reynders@ghum.kuleuven.be before 20 April 2013.

The publication of selected papers is planned in a volume to be included in the peer-reviewed LECTIO Series (Brepols Publishers).

The keynote lecture will be delivered by Prof. John Van Engen (Notre Dame Indiana USA)

Detailed information about the conference on http://ghum.kuleuven.be/lectio

It is a pleasure to invite you to the next, the XVII Conference on Patristic Studies Oxford (10-14 August 2015), to visit our newly designed website (http://www.oxfordpatristics.com), to register and to submit your abstract there. Hopefully, it should be much easier to do this than last round, but if you encounter problems, please don’t hesitate to send me an email and I will do the best I can that you can get registered and submit your abstract. All deadlines – especially for the early bird discounted fees, you will find on the website (http://www.oxfordpatristics.com).

As you will see, the website looks different – but we would like to improve it even more. It would be wonderful, if you could send me a few photographs of previous conferences, as we could create a small archive on the site that presents such photos to recreate memories.

Again, you can also visit our blog (http://oxfordpatristics.blogspot.co.uk/) where we are going to publish the abstracts, as soon as they are accepted. Please note, we are also publishing reviews on our blog, call for papers, conferences and others – if you wish your book to be reviewed please ask the publishers to send the book to my King’s College London address.

Yours,

Markus Vinzent

With an Introduction by Elizabeth A. Clark

Edited by Hans-Ulrich Weidemann
ISBN 978-3-525-59358-5
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
erscheint März 2013

Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus/Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments (NTOA/StUNT) – Band 101

For the book’s table of contents, click here.

To read the introductory chapter from the book, click here. (Availability of the introductory chapter is with the permission of the publisher and the author).