Graeco-Roman Society and the New Testament

EABS GRAECO-ROMAN SOCIETY AND THE NEW TESTAMENT
CALL FOR PAPERS - 2013 EABS ANNUAL MEETING, LEIPZIG

Chairs
Ekaterini Tsalampouni, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR (etsala@past.auth.gr)

Programme
The research group will focus a) on various aspects of the social life of the Graeco-Roman world (e.g. household networks and religion, kinship, friendship and other relationships, slavery, prostitution, social and geographical mobility, social groups, everyday life in Graeco-Roman cities etc.) that consist part of the socio-historical context of the New Testament texts and could therefore provide insight into them, and b) on artifacts from the Graeco-Roman world (e.g. inscriptions, papyri and archeological findings) that can shed light to various aspects of the New Testament texts and events.

Papers that present interdisciplinary approaches to the topics under discussion and offer new insights and interpretations of New Testament texts placing them within their socio-historical context are welcome.

Previous meetings

• 2010: Tartu, Estonia – “Family and Friendship as Reality and Metaphor in the Graeco-Roman World and in the New Testament” (joint session with the SBL Greco-Roman World Section)
• 2011: Thessaloniki, Greece – “Graeco-Roman Thessaloniki” (joint session with the Pauline Literature Research Group)
• 2012: Amsterdam, Netherlands – “Inscriptions and the New Testament” (joint session with the Greco-Roman World Group of SBL)

Agenda for 2013

Two sessions are scheduled for the meeting of 2013 in Leipzig:

1. a session where papers on any topic within the range of the interests of the research group as described above are welcome;
2. following the significant attendance of the session dedicated to the inscriptions and the NT in Amsterdam a session focused again on “Inscriptions and the New Testament” is being scheduled. Inscriptions have always provided useful evidence not only for understanding the New Testament vocabulary but also for illuminating events and situations described or implied in the New Testament texts. The ever growing epigraphic data provides the biblical scholarly research with a valuable pool of information that can be used through interdisciplinary readings in reconstructing the socio-historical context of the NT texts and of the early Christian communities. Therefore, papers that deal a) with methodological issues regarding the constructive use of the epigraphic data in the NT exegesis, b) with the evaluation of the work done in this field by previous scholars (e.g. A. Deissmann, R. Horsley etc), c) with particular cases of utilization of the epigraphic data in the lexicographical research of the NT, and d) with the use of the inscriptions in illuminating the social, political or religious background of the NT, are welcome.

Paper proposals and abstracts can be submitted to the chair of the research group, Ekaterini Tsalampouni (etsala@past.auth.gr). Call for papers opens on December 1st, 2012 and closes on February 15th, 2013. When submitting a paper, please, note which of the two sessions you would like it to be included in.