Inaugural Graduate Conference on Early Christian Studies: Memories

Conference Program

Monday, May 23

9:15-9:45 a.m. Opening remarks

• Timothy Matovina, Chair, Department of Theology
• Luca Grillo, Chair, Department of Classics
• Hildegund Müller, Director, Program of Early Christian Studies

9:45-11:00 a.m. Session 1: New Testament (chair: James Whitaker)

• Kendall Davis, The Interpretation of Scripture in Early Christianity as Revelatory Religious Experience: Faith, Christology, and Israel’s Scriptures in the Gospel of Luke
• Lilly Davis, The Independent Works of Luke: Further Evidence on the Early Christian Reception of Luke and Acts
• Eric E. Richter, The Father of the Church and the Woman Apostle: (Pseudo)Epiphanius of Salamis and his Interpretation of Rm 16:7 in Light of the Current Debate (on Zoom)

11:00-11:15 a.m. Coffee break

11:15 a.m. -12:30 p.m. Session 2: Testimonies of Christian Life (chair: Susan Francino)

• Madeline Link, A Woman with a Plan: Female Agency and Leadership in the Itinerarium Egeriae
• Melissa Yorio, An Analysis of Early Christian Graffiti found in Smyrna and Aphrodisias
• Maddie Hoaglund, Remnants of Feminine Power: An Examination of Epigraphy in Ankara (on Zoom)

12:30-1:30 p.m. Lunch

1:30-3:15 p.m. Session 3: Latin Fathers (chair: Melissa Yorio)

• Marissa Swan, Reading the Body, (re)reading Lactantius’ De Opificio Dei
• Elise Abshire, “Trophies of Glory”: St. Augustine on Martyrs, Disability, and Resurrected Woundedness in Late Antiquity
• Michael Durant, United Bishops and the Boundaries of Communion: The Mediating Role of the Bishop-Priest in Cyprian of Carthage
• Karl Berg, Augustine of Hippo and Late Roman Slavery

3:15-3:30 p.m. Coffee break

3:30-4:45 p.m. Session 4: Poetry and Art (chair: Rachel Edney)

• Domenico Praticò, Cosmopoiesis and Ideology in Late Antique Greek Poetry (on Zoom)
• Kyle Dillon, The Aqedah in Late Antique Liturgical Poetry
• Lauren Beversluis, Martyrdom and Communion in the Mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale

4:45-5:00 p.m. Coffee break

5:00-6:00 p.m. Keynote Lecture: Robin Jensen (Department of Theology), Visual Typologies: Prodigies of the Passion in Early Christian Art

6:00-7:30 p.m. Dinner reception at Jenkins-Nanovic Hall (Atrium)

Tuesday, May 24

9:00-10:45 a.m. Session 5: Latin Poetry (chair: Theresa Crnkovich)

• Christine Ascik, Haec Opulentia Christicolis: Prudentius and the Christian Diet
• Susan Francino, Violence in Prudentius’ Peristephanon
• Bramwell Atkins, Desire and Documents in the Consolation of Boethius
• Hannah Resnick, Riddles in the Dark (Ages)

10:45-11:00 a.m. Coffee break

11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. Keynote Lecture: Éric Rebillard (Cornell University), Early Martyr Narratives as Living Texts: The Case-Study of North Africa

12:00-1:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00-2:15 p.m. Session 6: Origen (chair: Luísa Portilho Andrade)

• Christopher Enabnit, Interpreting Traces of Divine Power in Origen of Alexandria’s Contra Celsum
• Hilary O. Nwainya, Apokatastasis and Eternal Suffering: Can there be a Dialogue between Origen and Augustine? (on Zoom)
• Adam Wyatt, Origen’s City of God

2:15-2:30 p.m. Coffee break

2:30-4:15 p.m. Session 7: Christians and Ancient Culture (chair: Karl Berg)

• John Ladouceur, ‘Dicta ex te et per te’: The Apocryphal Letters of Paul and Seneca and Fourth-Century Christian Debates About Rhetorical Eloquence (on Zoom)
• Regina Nagan, The Parallel Lives of Cornelia and Macrina: Mothers and Subversive Femininity
• Ben Moon-Black, Allegory, Education, and Quotation in Julian’s Seventh Oration
• Reed J. Morgan, Exegetical Encyclopedism: Isidore of Seville’s Scriptural Writing as Memory Aid, Spiritual Pedagogy, and Cosmic Theology

4:15-4:30 p.m. Coffee break

4:30-6:15 p.m. Session 8: Greek Fathers (I) (chair: Adam Wyatt)

• Andrew Kneeland, The Council of Nicaea and the Changing Function of Creeds
• Hayden Hagerman, Symbolizing Virginity: The Hermeneutics of the Symbol in Gregory of Nyssa’s On Virginity
• Milanna Fritz, Monastic Ascent as Paschal Anamnesis: Reception of Nazianzus’ Oration 45 in Maximus the Confessor’s Ambigua 45-60
• John Reilly, Peace Surpassing Understanding: The Strategic Christology of Pseudo-Dionysius

6:30 p.m. Dinner

Wednesday, May 25

9:00-10:45 a.m. Session 9: Syriac and Anti-Chalcedonian Writers (chair: John Reilly)

• Rachel Edney, The Eucharist in John Rufus’ Plerophories
• Michelle Freeman, Body and Senses in Ephrem’s Madrashe contra haereses and Madrashe de fide: Polemics and Epistemology (on Zoom)
• Maroun El Houkayem, A Syriac Orthodox Community of Discourse: From Timothy Aelurus to Daniel of Ṣalaḥ (on Zoom)
• Cana Kanda, Faith as Mother in the Discourses of Philoxenos of Mabbug

10:45-11:00 a.m. Coffee break

11:00 a.m. -12:45 p.m. Session 10: Greek Fathers (II) (chair: Milanna Fritz)

• Joshua Wong, The Death of Christ in the Thought of St Maximus the Confessor
• Samuel Korb, Configuring Divine Transcendence: Origen, Athanasius, Maximus
• James Whitaker, The State of Scholarship on St Nilus of Ancyra
• Luísa Portilho Andrade, Remembering the ἐνυπόστατον — Chalcedonian Christology and its Modern Remembrance

1:00-2:00 p.m. Lunch reception at Jenkins-Nanovic Hall (Atrium)

We look forward to welcoming you at our next event!

Hildegund Müller, Director

The students of the Program of Early Christian Studies:

• Bramwell Atkins
• Karl Berg
• Theresa Crnkovich
• Rachel Edney
• Tess Fitzsimmons
• Susan Francino
• Lucy Grinnan
• Gabriel Parlin
• James Schetelich
• Adam Wyatt
• Melissa Yorio