Neglected Texts and Early Christian Identities
Durham University, 16-17 April, 2015
Please join us in the historic city of Durham for a two-day conference on neglected epistolary texts and early Christian identities. These texts include (but are not limited to) James, Hebrews, 1-2 Peter, as well as the Epistle of Barnabas and 1 Clement. In an era where a Pauline- or Gospel-centered reading is often the starting point for ‘the’ normative/orthodox reading, this gathering hopes to privilege these ‘muted’ texts to explore Christian identities from another perspective. The conference will take a multi-faceted approach, investigating identities via a number of avenues: theological, anthropological, sociological, reception historical, and political readings. Our world-class invited speakers will facilitate this discussion through plenary addresses, and we encourage you to contribute by submitting when our call for papers opens. We invite all those interested in the New Testament and Early Christianity to attend.
In order to foster interdisciplinary dialogue, we welcome papers that adopt approaches from a variety of fields, including theology and religious studies, social sciences, ancient history, and literary studies. The unifying element will be the body of texts, as papers must deal with a non-Pauline and non-Johannine early Christian letter[s] (typically datedpre-third century), as well as the theme of identity. This can include aspects of early Christian identities revealed in the letters or how these letters shaped or influenced the identities of future Christians. Although comparative studies with other NT texts are welcome, papers that address these neglected texts in their own right will be preferred. We welcome papers from researchers at every level, including postgraduate students.
Please e-mail your abstract of no more than 200 words to mutedvoices2015@gmail.com by 18th January 2015.
