This volume contains fifteen papers presented at the seventh British
Patristics Conference, held in Cardiff (Wales, UK) from 5 to 7 September
- The theme of the conference was Religion in Late Antiquity. The
papers address topics such as transformation and innovation,
interrelations between religions, and between religions and other areas
of culture: philosophy, education, politics and science. Some deal with
aspects of the pre-history of religion in late antiquity, others with
the reception of late-antique religion in later periods of history.
Consequently, alongside papers that treat more ‘traditional’ topics of
Patristic Studies there are papers applying approaches and methodologies
such as identity formation and reception theory.
The volume thus
offers a cross section of topics related to religion in late antiquity
from the second to the thirteenth century and reflects the current state
of research in this wide field. The papers are grouped in four
sections, I. Ancient Philosophy, Early Christianity and Judaism; II.
Christianity in its Cultural Context from the Second to the Fourth
Century; III. Augustine and His Age; IV. The End of Antiquity and
Beyond.
Part I contains papers by Ilaria Ramelli, who compares
pagan and Christians concepts of the ‘Logos/Nous One-Many’ in pagan and
Christian philosophers of the second to fourth century, David Lloyd
Dusenbury, who explores the concept of the World City in the thought of
Nemesius of Emesa, and Susanna Towers, who compares the ‘Demoness’ found
in eastern Manichaean texts with the pre-Rabbinic Jewish concept of
Yetzer Hara.
Part II begins with a paper by Josef Loessl on
the juxtaposition of Greek and Barbarian Paideia in Tatian’s Ad
Graecos. This is followed by a new discussion of the Cento
attributed to Faltona Betitia Proba, in which Nicholas Baker-Brian
situates the work firmly in the reign of Julian the Apostate and
understands its criticism of Constantius II in this context. A third
paper, by Zachary Esterson, compares the oeuvres of Victorinus of Pettau
and Fortunatianus of Aquileia. A fourth, by James Wellington, offers a
new, ontological, reading of Gregory of Nyssa’s refutation of slavery in
In Ecclesiasten Homiliae IV; and in a final piece entitled ‘A
Tale of Two Councils’, Sara Parvis compares the two Councils of
Constantinople of 360 and 381.
With Augustine, Part III moves from
the fourth to the fifth century. In it, Philip Brown shows how
Augustine’s sixth tractate on John contains an emerging ‘theology of
friendship’. Georgiana Huian explores notions of ‘Deification’ in Sermo
23B (Mainz 13) also known as ‘Sermo Dolbeau 6’. Math Osseforth studies
an example of intertextuality in the Confessions, the Vergilian concept
of the Underworld. Marcin Wysocki compares strategies of survival in
apocalyptic times in late-antique letter collections (Paulinus of Nola,
Augustine, Jerome).
Part IV contains papers from ‘the end of
antiquity and beyond’. Georgios Siskos writes on Maximus the Confessor’s
critique of Monothelitism, Michael Muthreich on an excerpt of Epistle
VIII of the Dionysian corpus in Syriac, Helen Dayton on Nikitas
Stithatos main work, 300 Kephalaia, and Andrej Kutarna on Theosis in
John of Damascus and Thomas Aquinas.
