Conferences & Events

  1. Pappas Patristic Institute’s Sixth Annual Summer Patristic Studies Program (July 23-28, 2012)

    Announcing the Pappas Patristic Institute’s
    Sixth Annual Summer Patristic Studies Program

    July 23 – 28, 2012

    At Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

    Brookline, Massachusetts

    We are again pleased to inform you about our sixth annual week-long Summer Patristic Studies Program on the campus of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA on July 23-28, 2012.  This is a unique opportunity to study and discuss classic texts of the early Church through small group-study led by doctoral candidates and brief lectures led by our instructors.   The intended audience for the program includes theology and religious studies students at the masters and undergraduate levels, along with clergy, lay people, and undergraduates with an interest in learning more about the Church Fathers.  Students enrolled in an undergraduate or masters program who wish to receive credit for the courses should indicate this on the registration form.  Doctoral-level students are also welcome.

     

    The current list of courses for this summer includes:

    The Philokalia:  Exploring a Classic Text in Orthodox Spirituality,
       Dr. Bradley Nassif,  North Park University

    Readings in the Filioque Controversy,
         Dr. Brian Matz, Carroll College

    Approaches to Prayer in the Early Church,
            Dr. George Tsakiridis, Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Religion at South Dakota State University

    Economia and Ecology: The Church Fathers on the Creation,
             Dr. David K. Goodin, McGill University, Montreal

    The Formation of Christian Identity: Unity and Diversity in the Second Century,
             David Jorgensen, Princeton University 

    In addition, two evening lectures will be offered during the week:

    Dr. Maria Doerfler, Duke University,
         “Contributions to the study of Ancient Christianity from the Syriac Christian Tradition”

    Dr. Bruce Beck, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology,
         “Contributions to the study of Ancient Christianity from Patristic Sermons: the Art of Analogical Reading”

     

    The program goes from Monday evening, July 23, through Saturday afternoon, July 28.   Each course will be offered daily during a three-hour session.  Each participant will have the opportunity to take two courses during the week (see below for more details on the schedule and methodology).   For attendees needing lodging, housing will be provided on campus  For more information, or to register, please send an email to the Director of the Pappas Institute, Dr. Bruce Beck () at your earliest convenience.   We will then send you a registration form to fill out.  Please register at your earliest convenience to facilitate planning.

    Program Fees:

    • Registration (includes lunches):                                                    $400
    • Registration (one course, includes lunch)                                   $250
    • Room and Board (for 6 nights, Mon – Sat, and meals)               $250

    Program Details:

     

    • Goal: to provide the opportunity for in-depth, group study of significant theological topics of contemporary relevance based on selected writings of the ancient Church.

     

    • Primary Audience: Masters-level students of theology, divinity, or similar programs who wish to further their knowledge of the writings and practices of the early Church. All others interested in coming are also welcome to apply.

     

    • Pedagogical Method: each course will study in small groups led by Faculty primary patristic texts on topics. Following the group study of selected texts, the instructor will offer a 20 minute lecture followed by further discussion.

     

    For more information or to register, please contact:

    Dr. Bruce Beck (by email at: )

    Director, Pappas Patristic Institute of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

    Secretary-Treasurer

    May 5th, 2012 5:39 pm | Continue Reading

  2. 2012 Patristics, Medieval & Renaissance Studies Conference (Oct 26-28, Villanova Univ.)

    October 26-28, 2012

    Villanova University invites you to participate in its  37th  International  PMR Conference . As always, the PMR makes an OPEN CALL to scholars, institutions, and societies to propose  Papers,  Panels,  or Sponsored Sessions in all areas and topics in late antiquity/patristics, Byzantine Studies,  Medieval Studies, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, and Renaissance & Reformation Studies.

    The PMR committee this year makes a special invitation to scholars from all disciplines in these fields to address our plenary theme: After Constantine: Religion, Politics, Culture, and Counterculture

    October 28, 2012 is the 1700th Anniversary of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, which established Constantine as the sole Emperor of the Roman Empire and established Christianity firmly within the corridors of political and cultural power. This year’s conference will look back over 1700 years to ponder the political, cultural, theological, and philosophical implications of this turning point in the history of Mediterranean cultures. More than a question of politics, the year 312 affects simply every dimension of life thereafter around the Mediterranean, and we will take the time to explore all these dimensions, whether it be questions of pagan and Christian wisdom, natural and civil law, of providence and freedom, justice and coercion, establishment or resistance. Many of the major moments and monuments from late antiquity through the Reformation and beyond can be seen in this light, from Augustine’s City of God, to the medieval papacy, to Dante’s Divine Comedy, to the Spanish ‘Reconquista’ to the Lutheran Reformation. 

    Deadline for submissions: June 1,  2012

    Notice of acceptance will be made by July 1, 2012

    For detailed information please visit :

    http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/mission/augustinianinstitute/conferences/pmr.html

    Send all abstracts and panel proposals by e-mail to:  

    by mail to : PMR c/o Anna Misticoni -  The Augustinian Institute – Villanova University – 800 Lancaster Avenue – Villanova PA 19085-1699.

    Secretary-Treasurer

    April 13th, 2012 10:36 am | Continue Reading

  3. NAPS 2012 Annual Meeting Announcements

    Dear NAPS members,

    I am happy to announce that the program for our May 2012 meeting is now available online at the NAPS website.  To access the program, please click the following link: http://patristics.org/annual-meeting/program/  In addition, I do need to point out three important items:

    First, all requests for audio-visual equipment have been honored, in most cases a screen and projector.  However, computers will not be provided.  If you are making an audio-visual presentation, you will need to bring your own laptop, which you may plug into the projector.  The hotel does provide technical support for its equipment. 

    Second, if on your response to the call for papers you volunteered chair a session, please check the index of the program to see what session, if any, you may be chairing.  I am not sending individual emails to anyone on the program.  This is your notification.  To those who volunteered, I thank you for your willingness to chair a session.

    Third, the Board of Directors is proposing amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws that will enable the Past President to serve as a member of the Board for one year (two in the case of an Oxford year) after she or he leaves the presidency.  In fact, this amendment formalizes an existing situation.  For some time immediate past presidents have been invited to join the Board meetings in an advisory capacity as the Board often benefits from their memory and advice on policies and discussions instituted or continued during the years of their presidencies.  Please read the proposed amendments, which are appended below, and be prepared to discuss and vote upon them at the Business Meeting.

    This is our largest program yet with 72 sessions.  To accommodate the increased number of sessions, the Merchants Hotel room has been split into two rooms North and South.  Other than that past participants should find no major changes in the logistics of the meeting.  There is no need to print the program.  When you arrive at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza Hotel, you will receive a printed copy of the program with your packet.

    You may reserve your hotel room at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza at this time.  Rates are discounted for meeting attendees to $146 per night for up to 4 people in a room.  The deadline to reserve your room at the discounted rate is Thursday, April 30, 2012. To make reservations at the Holiday Inn, please use this link: http://www.martplaza.com/event-calendar/event.cfm?eventId=EV_20111201162100569735 or call 1-312-836-5000 and mention you are with NAPS.

    Registration for the meeting will open in early April.  Please be on the lookout for an email letting you know that registration has opened.

    Best regards,

     

    Kenneth B. Steinhauser

    NAPS, Vice-President

     

    ———————-

    Proposed NAPS Constitution and By-Laws Amendments

     

    RESOLVED, the NAPS Board proposes amending the NAPS Constitution Article II, Section 3 to read,

    “There shall be a Board of Directors composed of the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary-Treasurer, THE IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT and five other members elected by the membership, one of whom must be a student. Four of these latter five members shall be elected for a two-year term and shall not be eligible to succeed themselves immediately; the student member shall be elected for a one-year term. Division of service shall be determined by lot.  Editors of Society publications, appointed by the Board of Directors, shall be ex officio non-voting members of the Board of Directors. It shall be the task of the Board of Directors to conduct the business of the Society in the period between Annual Meetings.”

     

    RESOLVED, the NAPS Board proposes amending the NAPS By-Laws Article II, Section 1 to read,

    “The affairs of this Society shall be managed by a board of eight (8) NINE (9) directors, who need not be residents of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The number of directors may be increased or decreased by amendment of these By-Laws as hereinafter provided, but shall not be decreased to less than three (3) in number.”

     

    RESOLVED, the NAPS Board proposes amending the NAPS By-Laws Article II, Section 3, Parts D and E to read,

    “D. The terms of those directors serving for two years shall be staggered so that half of the directors shall be elected in one year and the other half in the subsequent year. The term of office of the director designated as Immediate Past President shall be until the next annual meeting of the members;

    E. In all events, each officer and director shall serve until his or her successor shall have been duly elected and qualified. The terms of those directors serving for two years shall be staggered so that half of the directors shall be elected in one year and the other half in the subsequent year.

    F. In all events, each officer and director shall serve until his or her successor shall have been duly elected and qualified.

     

    RESOLVED, the NAPS Board proposes amending the NAPS By-Laws Article IV, Section 2 to add,

    E. Immediate Past President

    The immediate past president shall serve principally in an advisory capacity to the Board, thereby contributing to the institutional memory of a Board whose Policies are generally implemented over multiple years. The immediate past president shall discharge any and all other duties assigned to him or her by the Board.

    Secretary-Treasurer

    February 15th, 2012 11:00 am | Continue Reading

  4. The Eighth Annual Archbishop Iakovos Graduate Students Conference in Patristic Studies (Mar 8-10, 2012)

    The Eighth Annual Archbishop Iakovos Graduate Students Conference in Patristic Studies

    March 8 -10, 2012

    At Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology,
    Brookline, Massachusetts

    The Stephen and Catherine Pappas Patristic Institute of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology is pleased to announce its eighth annual Archbishop Iakovos Graduate Student Conference in Patristic Studies on March 8-10, 2012. The purpose of the conference is to bring graduate students together from the fields of Patristic Studies, Historical Theology, and the History of Christianity in Late Antiquity in a collaborative and theological setting to hear and discuss peer research.  The conference will begin on Thursday, March 8, at 5:00 p.m., and ends with dinner on Saturday, March 10.

    We now call for paper proposals.  We encourage all doctoral and masters students with research interests in Patristic Studies, Historical Exegesis or Theology, or the History of Christianity in Late Antiquity, to submit a paper abstract of approximately 250 words.   Topics relating to eastern Christianity, including Syriac-speaking Christianity, are particularly encouraged.  Each presenter will have up to 20 minutes to present her or his paper, followed by a respondent’s prepared comments and group discussion.  Please send abstracts to the Institute’s Director, Dr. Bruce Beck, at by February 8, 2012. Participants will be informed about the status of paper proposals by February 10th. The deadline for completed papers for distribution to the respondents is March 1st.

    For those who live outside the Boston area that need financial assistance to attend the conference, partial financial aid is again available upon request to assist with your expenses.  To request aid, please pre-register for the conference at your earliest convenience (but no later than February 8th) and please mention that you need financial assistance in order to participate.  Note that due to economic conditions these last two years, we will be limited again in the amount of aid that we can provide each person.

    To help with our planning, please pre-register at your earliest convenience. The registration fee is $25 to help offset the cost of meals during the conference, and will be collected at registration upon arrival. To pre-register, please send an email to Dr. Beck () with your personal information, including address, phone number, institution, degree program, area of study, and dissertation topic (if applicable). 

    Conference lodging will be at the Needham Sheraton.  If you will need lodging, please register as early as possible to facilitate reserving a place for you to stay.  We will make the reservation for you at the hotel in order to facilitate sharing of rooms. The discounted conference rate per night is $95 plus taxes, or $55 for those who wish to share a room. Let us know if you there is someone with whom you would like to share a room.

    Secretary-Treasurer

    January 26th, 2012 3:38 pm | Continue Reading

  5. Summer Course “Polemos/Pulmus: Ways of Confrontation in Judaism, Paganism & Christianity in Late Antiquity” at Central European University (CEU)

    Summer Course “Polemos/Pulmus: Ways of Confrontation in Judaism, Paganism and Christianity in Late Antiquity” at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary, July 9-20, 2012

    CEU’s summer school invites applications from doctoral students, postdocs, junior faculty and researchers from all over the world.

    The course aims at exploring the nature and various ways of confrontation between and within Early and Rabbinic Judaism, the Early Church, and Pagan religions and schools of thought. The sessions discuss how these movements coped with conflicts within and without; what their strategies were in confronting and accommodating foreign ideas, competing religions, worldly powers or internal subversion; and what role these external and internal confrontations played in shaping them.

    Course faculty include Daniel Boyarin, Shaye J. D. Cohen, John M. Dillon, Mark Edwards and Guy G. Stroumsa.

    The application deadline is February 15, 2012.

    Financial aid is available.

    More detailed information available at http://www.summer.ceu.hu/polemos-2012.

    Secretary-Treasurer

    January 17th, 2012 4:55 pm | Continue Reading