ECSW Schedule 2023-24

Spring 2024

April 8

“Gregory Nazianzen, Jerome, and Pedagogical Playfulness in Fourth-Century Christian Letters”

Lydia Herndon, University of Chicago

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 403

April 22

“For Pure Eyes Only: Thresholds of visibility on an 8th century Assumption textile”

May Peterson, University of Chicago

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 208

April 30 (Tuesday)

“Marcion, Mangones, and the Expertise of the Slave Dealer”

Prof. Candida Moss, University of Birmingham

Co-sponsored with the Ancient Societies Workshop

3:30-5:00 pm, Classics 21

May 6

“On Matthew 26:59—Glimpses of Early Christian Exegesis in Medieval Arabic Commentaries.”

Rachel Abdoler, University of Chicago

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 208

May 13

Selections from Ritual Boundaries: Magic and Differentiation in Late Antique Christianity (University of California Press, 2024)

Prof. Joseph Sanzo, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 208

Winter 2024

January 8

“Origen, Amelius, and the Hermeneutics of the Johannine Prologue.”

Prof. Ilaria Ramelli, Sacred Heart University, Milan

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 208

March 4

“The Myth of the Logos Revealed at Night: An Exegetical Argument for the Middle Platonizing Unity of the Johannine Narrative”

Jonathan Wegner, University of Chicago

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 403

Autumn 2023

October 2

“The Problem of Miracle”

Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell, University of Chicago

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 106

October 6 (Friday)

Library Resources Training for Students in Bible, Reception, and Jewish Studies

Dr. Anne Knafl, Bibliographer for Religion, Philosophy, and Jewish Studies, University of Chicago

Co-sponsored with Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Reception Workshop

1:00-2:00 pm, Zoom

October 16

“Paul and Silent Witness in the Preface of Origen’s Contra Celsum“

Emily Barnum, University of Chicago

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 403

October 30

“A New Edition of the Codex Vercellensis Luke Based on Multi-Spectral Images”

Prof. Dr. Annette Weissenrieder, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 200

November 6

“Space, Time, and Magic: Bakhtin’s Theory of Chronotope in Acts”

Allison Barbee, University of Chicago

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 403

November 15 (Wednesday, n.b. new date)

“Sinners, Seductresses, and Sirens: The Many Faces of Female Wickedness”

Prof. Erin Galgay Walsh, University of Chicago

Co-sponsored with Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Reception Workshop

5:15-7:00 pm, Swift 201

December 4

“Physical Space and the Depiction of Christ’s Life in the Pantanassa Monastery at Mystras”

Dr. Richard Zaleski, University of Chicago

4:30-6:00 pm, Swift 200

ECSW Schedule 2022-23

Spring 2023

• March 27th – Emily Barnum (University of Chicago), “Origen’s Contra Celsum: How to Read with the True Word.”
• April 17th – Joss Childs (University of Chicago), “Woolworkers, Women, and Wise Men: Rereading the Contra Celsum 3.50 and 3.55.”
• May 1st – Jonathan Wegner (University of Chicago), “Integrating C.H. Dodd’s Platonic Religio-historical Thesis on the Fourth Gospel.”
• May 8th – Prof. Sofia Torallas Tovar (University of Chicago), “New Fragments of the Coptic Translation of Athanasius to Dracontius and the Additional Paragraph.” 
  • n.b. time and location change: 5:00-6:30 pm in Swift 200.
    
• May 22nd – Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (University of Chicago), John Chrysostom on Paul: Praises and Problem Passages (SBL Press, 2022). Selective readings and analysis.

Winter 2023

• February 2nd (5pm) – Accordance Training Seminar, co-sponsored with the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Reception Workshop
• February 13th (4:30pm) – Jodi Magness (University of North Carolina), “More than just Mosaics: The Huqoq Synagogue.” Co-Sponsored with the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish Reception Workshop.
• March 6th (4:30) – Bradley Hansen (University of Chicago), text seminar on book 1 of the Adamantius Dialogue.

Fall 2022

• October 10th (4:30pm) – Bradley Hansen (University of Chicago), “Praying with Others: Addressing Readers and Their Problems in De oratione.”
• October 24rd (4:30pm) – Dr. Douglas Hoffer, “Sperma, Not Spermata: Galatians 3:16 and the Agonistic Paradigm of Interpretation.
• November 28th (4:30pm) – Lydia Herndon (University of Chicago) , “Celsus’ Christians, Origen’s Celsus: Prosopopoeia in Contra Celsum 7.36-41.” 
• December 5th (4:30pm) – Discussion with Prof. Karin Krause (University of Chicago) on chapter 3 of her new book, Divine Inspiration in Byzantium: Notions of Authenticity in Art and Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2022).

ECSW Schedule 2021-22

Spring 2022

• April 4th (4:30pm) – Prof. Karin Krause (University of Chicago), “Moses, Christ, and the Transmission of the Law: Visual Exegesis in Byzantine Psalters.”
• May 9th (4:30pm) – Bradley Hansen (University of Chicago), “Plato among the Prophets: Platonic Synkriseis in Origen’s Contra Celsum.”
• May 16^th (12:30pm, Swift 400) – Paul Hosle (University of Chicago) and Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (University of Chicago), “Novelty, Tradition, and Translation: Reflections on David Bentley Hart’s The New Testament: A Translation.”
• May 23^rd (4:30pm) – Jonathan Wegner (University of Chicago), “The Scattered Children of God: Exploring Textual Evidence of a Platonic Anthropology in the Gospel of John – A Text Seminar.”

Winter 2022

• February 28th – Kyle Longworth, PhD Candidate (University of Chicago). “Between Exception and Exploited: Christian Bureaucrats in the First Islamic Empire (600-750 CE).”
• March 7th – Peter White, Herman C. Bernick Family Professor in Classics and the College (University of Chicago), “The Truth of Stories in Augustine’s Confessions.”
• March 14th – Margaret M. Mitchell, Shailer Mathews Distinguished Service Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature (University of Chicago) and Bradley Hansen, PhD Student (University of Chicago), “Another New New Testament: Soundings in Sarah Ruden’s The Gospels: A New Translation.”

Fall 2021

• October 4th – Welcome Reception in the Cloister Garden outside Swift Hall with Drinks and Light Snacks
• October 11th – Nathan Hardy, PhD Candidate (University of Chicago), “A Pocket Icon and a Wall Painting: Problems with Presence in the Image Miracles of the Miracles of Cosmas and Damian
• October 25th – Lauren Beversluis, PhD Student (University of Chicago), “Jonah and the Vine: The Refrigerium Interim in Early Christian Funerary Art.” Response by Lauren Onel, MA Student (University of Chicago)
• November 15th – Doug Hoffer, PhD Candidate (University of Chicago), “Jesus’ Obfuscatory Speech and the Motif of Misunderstanding in the Fourth Gospel.” Response by Jonathan Wegner, PhD Candidate (University of Chicago)
• November 29th – Paul Hosle, MA Student (University of Chicago), “The Didactic Poetics of Gregory Nazianzen’s Poemata Arcana.” Response by Emily Barnum, PhD Student (University of Chicago)
• December 6th – Prof. Paul B. Duff (George Washington University) and Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (University of Chicago), “The SBL’s New NRSV: the Case Study of 2 Corinthians.”

ECSW Schedule 2020-21

Spring 2021

• April 12 – Prof. Matthew Chalmers (Northwestern) – “Syriac Exodus, Samaritan Torah, and the Mythos of Philological Discovery.”
• April 26 – Prof. Erin Galgay Walsh (UChicago) – “The Daughter of Ham Speaks: Noah’s Curse in the Poetry of Narsai.”
• May 17 – Doug Hoffer (UChicago) – “A Person’s Will or a Human Covenant? Diathēkē in Gal 3:15-17.”
• May 24 @ 12:00pm – Prof. Matthijs den Dulk (Radboud University) – “Ancient Ethnic Stereotypes and Paul’s Letter to the Galatians.”

Winter 2021

• February 1 – Tobias Scheunchen (UChicago) – “The Women Martyrs of Najran: Hagiography between Theological Dispute, Discursive Violence, and Community-Building”
• March 1 – Prof. Carly Daniel-Hughes (Concordia) – “The Apostle of Failure: The Corinthian Letters and Paul’s Unflattering Characterization in the Acts of Thecla”
• March 15 – David Kim (UChicago) – “Toward an Untrodden Path: A Rhetorical Analysis of Ignatius’s use of the Gospel of Matthew in Smyrn. 1”

Autumn 2020

• November 16 – Christine Trotter (UChicago) – “Hellenistic Jewish Consolatory Rhetoric and the Destruction of Jerusalem: The Case of Hebrews.”
• November 30 – Emily Barnum (UChicago) – “‘Beyond Ulysses’ Cunning’: Paulinus of Nola’s Poetics of Renunciation in Epistle 16 and Poem 22.”
• December 7 – Prof. Yuliya Minets (Jacksonville State University) – “The Slow Fall of Babel: Languages and Identities in Late Antique Christianity.”

ECSW Schedule 2019-2020

Spring 2020

• April 20 – Daniel Owings (Chicago) – “Augustine’s Construction of Idolatry.”
• May 4 – Dr. Yair Furstenberg (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) – “Jesus and the Law: The Woe-Sayings and Inter-Sectarian Discourse.” (11am)
• June 2 – Dissertation Writing Workshop with Prof. Liane Feldman (NYU) and Christine Trotter (Chicago) (5pm – Co-Sponsored with the Hebrew Bible Workshop)

Winter 2020

• January 13 – Dr. Daniel Bailey (University of Illinois at Chicago) – “A New Lexicography for ἱλαστήριον: Biblical and Hellenistic Uses as Homonyms with Criticism of Past Paradigms.”
• February 17 – Dr. Matthew Novenson (Edinburgh) – “Law and Immortality in Paul, Origen, and the Talmud Bavli.”
• February 18 – Dr. Serena Ammirati (Roma Tre University) – “The three lives of a parchment book. An early (Christian?) palimpsested palimpsest.” Note: This presentation is co-sponsored by the Ancient Societies Workshop and will take place on Tuesday at 3:30 in Classics 21.
• March 2 – Prof. Erin Galgay Walsh (Chicago) – “Foolish Habits: The Syriac Life of Onesima.”
• March 9 – Nathan Hardy (Chicago) – “The Riddle of the Sphinx: Animation and Anti-Jewish Polemic in the Acts of Andrew and Matthias in the City of the Cannibals.”
• March 16 – Kelly Holob (Chicago) – “A Weird Favor to Ask: The Requesting Letter Genre and Ignatius’s Letter to the Romans.”

Autumn 2019

• October 7 – Jonathan Wegner (Chicago) – “Jesus as Good Samaritan: A Synthesis of Two Approaches to the Historical Jesus.”
• October 14 – Prof. David Brakke (Ohio State) – “‘In the Midst of the Children’: Finding Jesus in the Gospel of Judas.”
• October 28 – Michael Dinsmore (Chicago) – “The Fall of the Angels and Second Century Apologetics: Justin Martyr and Athenagoras of Athens Compared.”
• November 11 – Prof. Juan Chapa (Universidad de Navarra) – “The ‘Jewish’ LXX Papyri from Oxyrhynchus: Witnesses of the Ways that Did not Part?” (Co-sponsored with the Ancient Societies Workshop)
• November 18 – Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (Chicago) – “On Comparing, and Calling the Question.”
• December 2 – Bradley Hansen (Chicago) – “’Marcion Was My Bishop:’ Evaluating Evidence of a Marcionite Episcopacy in the Adamantius Dialogue.”

ECSW Schedule 2018-2019

Spring 2019

• April 8 – Cameron Ferguson (Chicago) – “The Body and the Blood: Eucharist in Mark and Paul.”
• April 22 – Richard Zaleski (Chicago) – “Gregory of Nyssa’s Historia: Problems and Solutions.”
• May 6 – Prof. Maia Kotrosits (Denison) – “Objects Made Real: The Arts of Description.”
• May 13 – Christine Trotter (Chicago) – “Ancient Consolation Discourse in 1 Thessalonians.”
• May 20 – Prof. Stephen Ahearne-Kroll (Minnesota) – “Teaching a Jesus Course for Undergrads.” (co-sponsored with Craft of Teaching) Please note that this session will be in Swift 201.
• June 6 – Maureen Kelly (Chicago) – “Thinking Augustine’s Confessions after Foucault.” Please note that this session will be on Thursday in the Martin Marty Center Library.

Winter 2019

• January 14 – Prof. Hans-Josef Klauck (Emeritus, Chicago) – “Alciphron’s Fictional Letters and the New Testament.”
• January 28 – James Covington (Chicago) –The Poetics of Translation in Greek Genesis and the Virtuous Plot (Dissertation Defense).
• February 11 – Prof. Ari Bryen (Vanderbilt) – “The Judgment of the Provinces: Law, Culture, and Empire in the Roman East.”
• February 28 – Rosalie Stoner (Chicago) – “The Significance of Voluntas in Quintilian’s Project of Moral Education.” (co-sponsored with the Rhetoric and Poetics Workshop) Please note that this session will be on a Thursday at 3:30 pm in Classics 21.
• March 4 – Roko Rumora (Chicago) – “Niche Interests: Architectural Backgrounds in Early Sinai Icons.”

In addition to these workshops, the following are the dates for events for Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature candidates.

• Michael Cover

• • January 31, 4:30 pm (Thursday, public lecture) – “Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Christian Orthodoxies.”
  • February 1, 9:30 am (Friday, student panel)
  • February 1, 2:00 pm (Friday, workshop) – “The Divine Comedy at Corinth: Paul, Menander and the Rhetoric of Resurrection.”

• Jeff Jay

• • February 4, 4:30 pm (Monday, public lecture) – “In the Lap of Jesus: The Hermeneutics of Love, Sex, and Eros in John’s Portrayal of the Beloved Disciple.”
  • February 5, 9:30 am (Tuesday, student panel)
  • February 5, 2:00 pm (Tuesday, workshop) – “Spectacle, Stage-Craft, and the Tragic in Philo’s In Flaccum.”

• Julia Snyder

• • February 18, 4:30 pm (Monday, public lecture) – “Paul and Hidden Particularity: One Size Fits All?”
  • February 19, 9:30 am (Tuesday, student panel)
  • February 19, 2:00 pm (Tuesday, workshop) – “Christ of the Acts of Andrew and Matthias.”

• Erin Walsh

• • February 21, 4:30 pm (Thursday, public lecture) – “Emboldened Speech, Embodied Voices: New Testament Women in Syriac and Greek Poetry.”
  • February 22, 9:30 am (Friday, student panel)
  • February 22, 2:00 pm (Friday, workshop) – “Icons of Zeal: A Lexical Study of Parrhēsia and Audacity in Greek and Syriac.”

Autumn 2018

• October 8 – Prof. Emily R. Cain (Loyola)– “Medically Modified Eyes: A Baptismal Cataract Surgery in Clement of Alexandria.”
• October 15 – Prof. Allison Gray (St. Mary’s Texas) – “The Job Market for Bible: Two Recent Successes.” (co-sponsored with the Hebrew Bible Workshop and Craft of Teaching Program) Please note that this session will begin at 5pm in Swift 208.
• October 29 – David Orsbon (Chicago) – “Handmaiden to Creation: Natura and the Formation of Early Christian Thought.”
• November 12 – Hannah Stork (Chicago) – “‘Children of the Slave Woman’: Proto-Muslims and Ishmaelite Descent.”
• November 26 – Nathan J. Hardy (Chicago) – “Body, Text, Statue, Successor: Conflict, Exclusion, and Identity Formation in the Greek Acts of Mark.”

Workshop Schedule 2017-2018

Apse Mosaic in the San Vitale Basillica, Ravenna, Italy. Mid 6th Century

Spring 2018

• April 2 – Prof. Dr. Jens Schroeter (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) – “The Words of Institution in First and Second Century Christian Texts: Origin and Meaning of a Christian Ritual.”
• April 16 – Prof. Jaś Elsner (Oxford; Chicago) – “The Garima Gospels: Early Ethiopian Mss in Their Late Antique Context.”
• May 7 – Prof. Clifford Ando (Chicago) – “The Discovery of Paganism.” This event is co-sponsored by the Religion and Human Sciences Workshop.
• May 14 – Aaron Hollander (Chicago) – “Breathing Fire: Holy Dramaturgy in the Festival Homiletics of John Chrysostom.”
• May 21 – Richard Zaleski (Chicago) – “Philo of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa on the Parting of the Red Sea.” This event is co-sponsored by the Hebrew Bible Workshop and will be held in Swift 208 at 5:00pm.
• May 29 – Mayuko Yasuda (LSTC/Chicago) – “‘One in Christ’: Where the Gender Binary is Transcended—Queering the gender binary in Galatians 3:28c ‘No Male and Female.’” Please note: this presentation will take place on a Tuesday in Swift 201.

Winter 2018

• January 16 – Nick Venable (Chicago) – “Failing Bodies and Monastic Endowments: Social Control in Coptic Wills and Donation Papyri.” – Please Note: this presentation will take place on a Tuesday at 3:30 in Classics 21 and is co-sponsored by the Ancient Societies Workshop.

• February 5 – Kelly Holob (Chicago) – “A Comedy of Eros: New Comedy and Sexual Ethics in Plutarch’s Amatorius.”
  

• February 12– Andrew Langford (Chicago) – “A New Solution to the Riddle of Timothy’s ‘Stomach and Frequent Ailments’ (1 Tim 5:23): Ancient Pathology, Dietetics, and Physiognomy.”
  

• February 28 – Prof. Niki Kasumi Clements (Rice University)–“Foucault’s Christianities.” – Please Note: this workshop will take place on a Wednesday and is co-sponsored by the Philosophy of Religions Club.
• March 5– Christine Trotter (Chicago) – “Correcting Job: The Wisdom of Solomon’s Refutation of Job on Life, Death, and God when the Righteous Suffer.”

Please also note that the Early Christian Studies Workshop is co-sponsoring a special Craft of Teaching workshop with Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell on February 14 from 4:30-6:00 pm in Swift 403. See here for more information and the full CoT schedule.

Autumn 2017

• October 2 – Elon Harvey (Chicago) – “Origen’s Homily XI on Ezekiel 17: A Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma.”  – Please Note: this presentation will be held in the Martin Marty Seminar Room.

• October 16 – James Covington (Chicago) – “Did the Animals Deserve It? Interpretations of the Flood in Hebrew and Greek.” 

• November 6– Prof. Michael Cover (Marquette University) – “Paul’s Commentary in Letters: The Exegesis of Exodus between Alexandria and Corinth.”

• November 14 – Cameron Ferguson (Chicago)–“The Relationship of Mark to Paul: Past, Present, and Future.” 

• November 27– Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (Chicago) – “Rhetoric, Scriptural Interpretation, and Economic Reality in John Chrysostom’s Appeals for Almsgiving.” 

Workshop Schedule 2016-2017

Apse Mosaic in the San Vitale Basillica, Ravenna, Italy. Mid 6th Century

Autumn 2016

• October 3 – Cameron Ferguson (Chicago) – “The Beloved Son Crucified: The Aqedah in Mark and Paul.”  – This workshop is cosponsored with the Hebrew Bible Workshop

• October 10 – Prof. Sarah E. Bond (University of Iowa) – “Inheriting the Prejudices of Rome: Perceptions of Work and Labor in Early Christianity.” – This workshop is cosponsored with the Ancient Societies Workshop

• October 31– Kelly Holob (Chicago) – “Rational Worship and Harmonization in the Hymns of Synesius of Cyrene.”

• November 14 – Dr. Korshi Dosoo (Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)) –“Animals in ‘Christian’ Magical Texts from Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt.” – This workshop is cosponsored with the Animal Studies Workshop

• December 5– Prof. Jeffrey Stackert (Chicago) – “The Elohistic Horeb Narrative in Jewish and Christian Interpretation: Two Examples.” – This workshop is cosponsored with the Hebrew Bible Workshop

Winter 2017

• January 23 – Prof. Ellen Muehlberger (University of Michigan) – “Training for Death: Rhetorical Formation and the Cast of Early Christian Thanatology.
  • Please note:  There is a SECOND talk with Prof. Muehlberger on January 23rd from 12-1:30 in Swift 200 co-sponsored by The Craft of Teaching entitled, “Salt for the Impure, Light for the Pure: Cumulative Assignment Design and Students’ Intellectual Development.” (RSVP for lunch by Thursday, January 19th to craftofteaching@uchicago.edu)

• February 6– Prof. Claudia Rapp (University of Vienna) – “Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai and its Hidden Manuscript Treasures.”—This event is sponsored by the Dean’s Office and is a Public Lecture. The lecture will take place in Swift 208 at 4:30 pm

• February 13 – Mark Lambert (Chicago) – “From the Falling Sickness to Walking Corpses: Leprosy as the Second Sacred Disease in Cappadocian Thought.” 

• February 27– Andrew Langford (Chicago) – “Corrupting the Mind and Cauterizing the Conscience: Ancient Psychopathology and the Pastoral Epistles”

• March 6—Prof. Eve-Marie Becker (Aarhus University) — “Paul and ‘Paul’: Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in Light of Acts 20:18ff.”

• March 13–Doug Hoffer (Chicago) — “A Body Enslaved to Sin: Paul’s Engagement with the Wisdom of Solomon in Romans 6-8” (rescheduled)

Spring 2017

• April 3– Prof. Sofia Torallas Tovar (University of Chicago)– “The Roll of Athanasius: The Coptic Version of the Letter to Dracontius in a 4th cent. Papyrus”
• April 24– Doug Hoffer (Chicago)–“A Body Enslaved to Sin: Paul’s Engagement with the Wisdom of Solomon in Romans 6-8
• May 8– Richard Zaleski (Chicago) – “Paraphrase in Philo of Alexandria’s Life of Moses”
• May 22—Gianna Zipp (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität) — “Tyranny in Lactantius’ Death of the Persecutors”—this event is cosponsored by the Theology/Ethics Workshop
• May 23 – Prof. Illaria Ramelli (Sacred Heart) – “Philosophical Asceticism in Antiquity and Late Antiquity and Its Impact on Debates Concerning Justice, Poverty, and Slavery” -This event is cosponsored with the Late Antique and Byzantium Workshop.
• May 30–Prof. Janet Spittler (UVA)–“What Do We Mean when We Say ‘Acts of John?'”

Workshop Schedule 2015-2016

Jerusalem on the Madaba Map, in the apse of the church of St George at Madaba, Mid-6th Century.  

Spring 2016

• March 28 — Prof. Mark Chancey (SMU) — “Archaeology of Galilee, the Gospel of John, and the “Judean” or “Jew” Translation Debate”

• April 18 — Trevor Thompson (Chicago) — “Intentional Ambiguity: The Rhetoric of 2 Thessalonians“

• May 2 — Allison Gray (Chicago) — “Weaving Lives for Virtuous Readers: Gregory of Nyssa as Biographer“

• May 16 — Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (Chicago) — “John Chrysostom on Sex, Marriage and the Magical Arts:  Assessing the Evidence of a Previously Untranslated Homily (hom. in 1 Cor 7:2)“

• May 24 — Prof. Philip Venticinque (Cornell) and Alba de Frutos (Complutense University of Madrid) — Special workshop on the topic of Hellenistic and Roman Guilds

Winter 2016

• January 11 — Mike Zeddies (Chicago) — “Did Origen Write the Letter To Theodore?”

• January 25 — Nathan Hardy (Chicago) — “On the Use and Abuse of the Present in History, or: When Keepin’ it Real (Simple) Goes Wrong: Rodney Stark and Douglas Boin on the ‘Triumph’ of Christianity”

• February 8 – Prof. Thomas Tobin (Loyola University) – “Philo of Alexandria and the Subversion of Eschatological Language.”  This workshop is cosponsored with the Hebrew Bible Workshop.

• February 15 — Christine Trotter (Chicago) — “The Wisdom of Solomon on God’s Purposes in Suffering”

• February 29 — Prof. Mark Chancey (Southern Methodist University) — TBA   THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED

• February 29 —
• March 4 — Prof. Meira Kensky (Coe College) — “Biblical Studies Expertise and the Generalist Classroom” (Craft of Teaching Workshop Cosponsored with Hebrew Bible Workshop).  NB: This event will take place from 10:00 AM-11:15 AM in Swift 200.

Fall 2015

• October 5 – James Covington (Chicago) – “Telling the Flood Stories in LXX-Genesis.”  – This workshop is cosponsored with the Hebrew Bible Workshop

• October 7 – Gary A. Anderson (University of Notre Dame) – “Morals or Metaphysics: The Place of Charity in Christian Thought” – This is a special workshop we are cosponsoring with Lumen Christ.  Note alternate time and place: Wednesday, 7 PM, Location TBA.

• November 2 – Ben Sheppard (Chicago) – “Chaironeia and the Hellenistic Center: Plutarch, Hellenization, and the New Testament.”

• November 16 – Andrew Langford (Chicago) –“The Pastor’s Opponents in Pauline Perspective: Intertextuality and Restrictive (Re)writing in 1 Timothy”

• November 30 – Kelly Holob (Chicago) – “Anti-Epicurean Polemic in Gregory of Nyssa’s De anima et resurrectione“

Workshop Schedule 2014-2015

Apse Mosaic of the Transfiguration from St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai (ca. 548-565 CE).  

Fall 2014

• October 6 – Allison Gray (Chicago) – “Training the Eyes: manipulation and deception in the Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus.”

• October 20 – Prof. Clare Rothschild (Lewis University) – “The Muratorian Fragment as Fraud”

• November 10 – Prof. Paula Fredriksen (Boston University) – “How Later Contexts Affect Pauline Content; or, Retrospect is the Mother of Anachronism.”  – cosponsored by the Dean’s office.  Note: This meeting will take place in Swift 201.

• November 17 – Seon Yong Kim (Chicago) – “Paul and the Stoic Theory of Οἰκείωσις: A Response to Troels Engberg-Pedersen.”

• December 1 – Brandon Cline (Chicago) – “How Many Apologies Did Justin Write?  A Review and Appraisal of Recent Proposals.” 

Winter 2015

• January 12 – Dale Walker (Chicago) – Pedagogy Session: “How to Choose a Textbook, or, Why I Wrote My Own”

• January 26 – Prof. Chris Faraone (Chicago Classics) – “The Miniature Silver Shrines of the Ephesian Artemis (Luke Acts 19.23): Souvenirs, Votives or Domestic Amulets?”

• February 9 – (Rescheduled) – Matthijs den Dulk (Chicago) – “Justin, Luke, and the Seven Jewish Heresies”

• February 16 – Prof. Tobias Nicklas (University of Regensburg) – Public lecture: “Jewish, Christian, Greek? The Apocalypse of Peter as a Witness of Early Second Century Christianity in Alexandria” – (Swift Hall Common Room at 4:30 PM)

• February 17 – Special ECSW Workshop at 12:00 PM with Prof. Tobias Nicklas (University of Regensburg) – “Non-Canonical ‘Landscapes of Memory’: Christian Apocrypha and Pilgrimage” (paper will be pre-distributed) – (Swift Hall Common Room)
  • You can download the workshop paper here (UChicago credentials required).

• February 23 – Prof. David Brakke (Ohio State University) – Public lecture: “Shenoute the Great (347-465) and the Invention of Early Christian Literature: Making an Author” – (Swift Hall Common Room at 4:30 PM)

• February 24 – Special ECSW Workshop at 12:00 PM with Prof. David Brakke (Ohio State University) – “The Gospel of Judas, ‘Sethians,’ and ‘Gnostics’: An Emendation to My Argument in The Gnostics” (paper will be pre-distributed) – (Swift Hall Common Room)
  • You can download the workshop papers here and here (UChicago credential required).

• February 24 – Prof. Karin Krause (Chicago) – “What Became of the Constantinian Labarum?” – this workshop is cosponsored by the Late Antiquity and Byzantium Workshop and will be held in CWAC 152

• March 9 – Sean Hannan (Chicago) – “Augustine on Angels, Demons, & Historical Knowledge in City of God IX”
  • You can download the workshop paper here (UChicago credentials required). 

Spring 2015

• April 6 – Doug Hoffer (Chicago) – “A Covenant Ratified by God: Paul’s Reading of Genesis 12-22 in Galatians 3:17”

• April 10 – Group outing to see The Good Book at Court Theatre @ 8 PM.

• April 21 – Jas Elsner (Oxford) – “Relic, Icon and Architecture: The Material Articulation of the Holy in Eastern Christian Art”  – This workshop is cosponsored by the Late Antiquity and Byzantium Workshop and will be held in CWAC 152

• May 11 – John Behr (St Vladimir’s Seminary) – “The Apocalypse of the Cross: The Gospel of John and the Beginning of Christian Theology” – This workshop is cosponsored by the Late Antiquity and Byzantium Workshop.

• • You can download the workshop paper here (UChicago credentials required).

• May 18 – Matthew Knotts (Leuven) – “The Antecedent of all Reality: Augustine’s Reception of John in the Tractates and Beyond”

• May 22 — Jeffrey Jay (Wabash College) — “Interpreting the Tragic in Mark”  – This workshop will be held in the Swift Hall Common Room @ 10:30 AM

• June 1 – Richard Zaleski (Chicago) –“Gregory of Nyssa and the Burning Bush Theophany”

Workshop Schedule 2013-2014

The Doctors of the Church and scenes from the life of Christ. A 16th century folio from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (Additional 21412).

Fall 2013

• October 7 – Andrew Langford (Chicago) & Matthijs den Dulk (Chicago) – “Polycarp & Polemo: Early Christianity at the Center of the Second Sophistic.“

• October 21 – Justin Howell (Chicago) – “Covert and Secure Speech in Luke-Acts.”

• November 4 – Drew Strait (Pretoria) – “Pseudo-Solomon’s Polemic Against Imperial Cult Media and Paul’s Speech on the Areopagus.”

• December 3 (NB: this is a Tuesday) – Prof. Urban von Wahlde (Loyola) –  “Some Seldom Noticed Features of the Gospel of John.”
  

• December 9 – James Covington (Chicago) – “How to Do Things with God’s Words: Translation Technique of Divine Speech Acts in LXX Genesis.” –-cosponsored by the Hebrew Bible Workshop. This meeting will be in S201.

Winter 2014

• January 13 – Cameron Ferguson (Chicago) – “The Pauline Eucharist According to the Gospel of Mark.”

• January 27 – Prof. John Kloppenborg (Toronto) – “Paying for Dinner: Financial Practices in Early Christ Groups.”

• January 28 – (NB: this is a Tuesday)–  Pedagogy Session: “Teaching the Bible with Technology” with Anne Knafl (Bibliographer for Religion and Philosophy) and Annette Huizenga (Dubuque) –-cosponsored by the Hebrew Bible Workshop. This meeting will be in S106.

• February 10 – Patricia Duncan (Chicago) – “The Epistula Petri and the Right Reading of Scripture.”

• February 24 – Prof. Hindy Najman (Yale) –  “Radical Hope and the Revitalization of Scripture in Jewish Antiquity: Rereading 4Ezra.”  –-cosponsored by the Hebrew Bible Workshop. This meeting will be in S106.

• February 25 (NB: this is a Tuesday)–  Pedagogy Session: “The Art of Lecturing” with Prof. Hindy Najman (Yale) and Dean Margaret M. Mitchell (Chicago), moderated by Jonathan E. Soyars –-cosponsored by the Hebrew Bible Workshop. This meeting will be in S106.

Spring 2014

• April 14 – Romulus Stefanut (Chicago) – “The Genre of De Vita Contemplativa as a Vehicle for Bios Theoretikos”

• April 21 – Prof. Harry O. Maier (Vancouver) – “Visual Exegesis, Paul, and Empire” -cosponsored by the Chicago Center for the Study of Ancient Religion (CSAR)

• April 28 – Prof. Jaś Elsner (Oxford/Chicago) – “Concealment and Revelation: The Pola Casket and the Visuality of Early Christian Relics.” 

• May 19 – Prof. Christoph Markschies (Berlin) – “New Remarks on the ‘Grande Notice’ (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses I.1 ff.)” –  Prof. Markschies will also give a public lecture at the Divinity School on May 20. See details here.

• June 2 – Prof. Elizabeth Asmis (Chicago) – “Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things as a Conversion Narrative.”

Workshop Schedule 2012-13 

 

Psalter and New Testament Manuscript (olim Pantocrator 49): St. Paul with St. Thecla and St. Timothy (Constantinople, ca. 1084)

Spring 2013

All meetings take place in Swift 208 at 4:30, unless otherwise noted.

• April 8 – Allison Gray (Chicago) – “Encounters with a Homicidal Bath Demon: Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus.“

• April 22 – Romulus Stefanut (Chicago) – “Theology and Teleology in Philo of Alexandria: the Puzzling Case of the Therapeutae.“

• May 6 – John T. Fitzgerald (Notre Dame) – “The Ancient Mediterranean Wine Industry, Intoxication, and Various Problems in Early Christian Communities.”

• May 28 – Elizabeth A. Clark (Duke) – “‘Rome’ in the Nineteenth-Century Protestant Imaginary: American Professors, Ancient ‘Pagans’, and Early Christianity.”
• June 3 – David Horrell (Exeter) – “Honor Everyone” (1 Pet 2.17): The Social Strategy of 1 Peter and its Significance for Early Christianity.“

Winter 2013

• January 14 – Michael F. Pope (Chicago) – “Declamation and the Arena: Infamia, Reputation, and Redemption.”

• January 28 – Troy Martin (Saint Xavier) – “Poets, Playwrights, Plastic Artists, Physicians, Physiologists, Philo, and Paul on Peritomē.”

• February 11 – Justin Howell (Chicago) –“The Ruling Power within the Beelzebul Controversy of Luke 11:14-23.”

• February 25 – Hans-Dieter Betz (Chicago) –“Paul on Self-sufficiency (Phil 4:11-13).”
• March 18 – Brandon Cline (Chicago) – “Justin Martyr’s Apologies and Ancient Petitions.”

Fall 2012

• October 4 – Holger Zellentin (Nottingham) – “Rabbinic Historiography as Response to Christian Triumphalism: The Temple’s Destruction in Aramaic, Syriac and Greek Discourse.”

• October 22 – Young-Ho Park (Chicago) –Dissertation Defense: “Paul’s Ekklesia as a Civic Assembly.”

• November 2 – Special Event: Guided Tour of the Exhibition “Swiss Treasures: From Biblical Papyrus and Parchment to Erasmus, Zwingli, Calvin, and Barth.” (2 pm in the Regenstein Library Special Collections)

• November 13 – David C. Parker, Klaus Wachtel, Ulrich Schmid (Birmingham & Münster) –“Editing the Greek New Testament for the Twenty-First Century.”
• November 26 – Brandon Cline (Chicago) – “Teaching Introduction to the New Testament.” (A special pedagogy session. Part of the Divinity School’s “Craft of Teaching” program.)

2011-12 workshops

2010-11 workshops

2009-10 workshops

 

• Oct. 12 – Andrew Langford – “Interpreting κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τοῦ λόγου: Origenic Exegesis and προσωποποιία in Hom. Jer. 1”

• Oct. 26 (6:00-8:00 pm, in Special Collections, Regenstein Library) – Joseph Barabe (The McCrone Group, Westmont, IL),  Abigail Quandt (Walters Museum of Art, Baltimore), Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (University of Chicago Divinity School) – “Chicago’s Archaic Mark (ms. 2427): A Report on the Results of Chemical, Codicological and Textual Analysis”

• Nov. 9 – Jeff Jay – “Tragedy in Alexandria: Jewish Accommodations of Theatrical Culture in the Pogrom of 38 CE”

• Nov. 16 – Allison Gray – “Literal and Figurative Interpretation in Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses”

• Dec. 7 – Prof. Clare Rothschild (Lewis University, IL) – “Hebrews as an Instructional Appendix to Romans”

• Jan 11 – Prof. Hans-Josef Klauck (University of Chicago) – “With Paul through Heaven and Hell: Two Apocryphal Apocalypses”

• Jan 25 – Jay Weaver – “Can’t Explain: The Progymnasmata and Supercession in Origen’s 14th Homily on Jeremiah”

• Feb 8 – Justin Howell – “Lucian’s /Hermotimus/: A Fictive Dialogue with Marcus Aurelius”

• Feb 22 – Robyn Whitaker – “Rebuke and Re-Call: Markan Discipleship and the Martyrdom of Peter”

• March 8 – Prof. Daniel Bailey (Northern Baptist Seminary) – “The Suffering Messiah–Ho pathêtos Christos: Justin Martyr’s Use of Isaiah 53 in His Dialogue with Trypho, with Special Reference to the Interpretation of pathêtos (“passible”; “subject to suffering”) in the edition of Miroslav Marcovich”

• April 13 – Prof. Guy Stroumsa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) – Docetism: Jewish and Greek Roots

• April 26 – Prof. Jas Elsner (Oxford University) – “Image and Rhetoric in Early Christian Sarcophagi: Reflections on  Jesus’ Trial”

• May 10 – Matthijs den Dulk – “Paul vs. Paul: The Curious Case of the Pastoral Epistles and the Acts of Paul and Thecla Reconsidered”
• May 25 – Prof. Ilaria Ramelli (Catholic University of Milan) – “The Apocalypse in Origen and the Origenian Tradition” (cosponsored with Lumen Christi Institute)

2008-09 workshops

• Oct. 6 – Justin Howell – “Kingly Vices and the Occasion of Dio Chrysostom’s Fourth Oration  on Kingship”
• Oct. 20 – Matthew Calhoun – “The Letter of Mithridates: A Neglected Item of Epistolary    Theory”
• Nov 3 – Prof. Margaret M. Mitchell (University of Chicago) – “Christian Martyrdom and the ‘Dialect  of the Holy Scriptures’: “The Literal, the Allegorical, the Martyrological”
• Nov 19 – Prof. Larry Hurtado (University of Edinburgh) – Early Devotion to Jesus: A Report, with Reflections and  Implications’”
• Dec 3 – Prof. John Pocock (John Hopkins University) – “Gibbon and the Invention of Gibbon: Chapters 15 and 16  Reconsidered”
• January 12 – Stephen Hall – “’Beginnings of the Birth Pangs’: Conceiving a Concept in Ancient Israel and Early Judaism”

• Jan 26 – Anne Knafl – “Forms of God, Forming God: A Typology of Anthropomorphism in the Pentateuch”
• Feb 13 – Prof. Ilaria Ramelli (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Italy) – “Platonism and Early Christian Thought”
• March 2 – Prof. David Martinez (University of Chicago) – “Some Papyrologyical Perspectives on Early Christianity”
• March 9 – Romulus Stefanut – “Hellenistic Epistemology and the Epistle of 1 John.”
• April 6 – Prof. Nicole Belayche (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne) – “Ritual expressions of ‘distinction’ within the divine world in the imperial period”
• April 27 – Prof. Elizabeth Asmis (University of Chicago) – “Retouching the Ancestors: Myth in Cicero’s conception of the Roman Republic”
• May 11 – Annette Huizenga – “Sōphrosynē for Women: What Makes a Woman Good?”
• May 18 – David DeMarco – “A Christian Appropriation of Pagan Literature: Basil’s Ad Adulescentes”
• June 8 – Prof. Raffaela Cribbiore (Columbia University) – “Pagan and Christian Friends: An Unknown Oration of Libanius”