Session 1
Triantafillos Kantartzis, Ludwig Maximillians Universität, München, ‘The Narrator’s Craft: Unveiling Jesus Through the Authorial Lens in the Acta Pilati’
This study delves into the narrative dynamics of early Christian apocryphal texts, with a focused examination of the Acta Pilati from the Gospel of Nicodemus. It highlights the text’s complex narrative structure and its nuanced depiction of Jesus Christ. The paper investigates the role of the author/outer narrator in shaping the portrayal of Jesus through the integration of embedded character narratives. Key questions include how the author/outer narrator influences the narrative delivery and the extent to which narrative interventions contribute to the understanding of Jesus’ character and the text’s theological discourse, particularly in relation to early Christian perceptions of Jesus’ identity and mission. By analyzing the interplay between the authorial voice and character testimonies, this study aims to uncover the sophisticated narrative mechanisms that shape Christological perspectives. This approach not only sheds light on the Acta Pilati’s contribution to early Christian narrative art but also underscores the significance of narrative strategies in crafting theological identities within the Christian apocryphal tradition.
Amy Saunders, University of Durham, ‘“Sethians” and “Valentinians” or just Interacting Traditions?’
The modern study of “Gnosticism,” much like its historical adherents, is concerned with proper naming and categorisation. We are concerned, for example, with naming and delineating groups: “Sethians” wrote the Apocryphon of John and “Eastern Valentinians” the Tripartite Tractate, and Irenaeus’ presents a “Western Valentinian” account in Book One of Against Heresies. Despite these contrasting attributions, a comparative study of the preexistent realm in these three accounts could reveal a more interrelated textual tradition. Said accounts bear noteworthy resemblances not only in naming concerns, but also in the structures of their systems: in each, multiple generations of procreation form a complex family tree of progressive expansion away from the Father. These commonalities are not exact, and variations are not always the “Sethian” versus the two “Valentinian” texts. Rather, across different categories, two texts frequently agree, while another deviates, and the combination is variable. I therefore propose that when analysed using narrative and structural methods these texts suggest a far more shared heritage – and less distinction between their traditions – than previously assumed.
Priscilla Buongiorno, Durham University, ‘The Star in Their Eyes: A Hermeneutical Interpretation of the San Celso Sarcophagus in Milan [WP32 243, 4-6]’
This paper problematises the peculiar rendition of the epiphany cycle on the San Celso sarcophagus, which depicts the three Magi following the star away from the manger. The symmetry and orientation of the scenes towards the apocalyptic Christ at its centre suggest that the San Celso sarcophagus represents a testimony to the early Christian visual hermeneutic in Milan. Dated to the early or mid-fourth century, this sarcophagus constitutes one of the first examples of early Christian iconography known from the Ambrosian city, although much of the background around its commission and realisation remains unknown. The complex weave of iconographical choices and literary sources here shown is coherent with a hermeneutical construction. The paper will discuss the epiphany cycle and the parallel established with the Protoevangelium of James, brought forth by the nativity and Thomas’s disbelief scenes. Additionally, it will argue that the themes of sin and gender, as portrayed on the sides of the chest (healing of the woman with the issue of blood and Peter smiting the rock), may hint towards a female commission.
Session 2
Carolyn Davison, Queen’s University Belfast, ‘Damasus: Elogia, Evolving Identity and the New Testament’
Damasus, bishop of Rome (366-384 AD), operated in an era of dynamic change with regards to what it meant to be a Christian and, in particular, a Roman Christian. With persecution becoming a distant memory, an amended collective memory befitting of the evolving status of Roman Christians, under the authority of the bishop of Rome, was needed. Damasus utilised the Catacombs of St Callixtus, arguably the most prominent subterranean burial complex in Rome, to promote his vision of an evolved, unified Roman-Christian identity. An integral element of this utilisation was the placing of elogia, written in the style of Virgilian hexameters, in key martyrial areas.
The prevailing view in modern scholarship is that Damasus employed the elogia to innovatively rewrite Christianity in Graeco-Roman military language. However, focussing on The Elogium of the Saints, this paper proposes that Damasus did not intend to set such a precedent. Rather, he cleverly affiliated the Roman Church with Graeco-Roman identity while simultaneously, through the image of the soldier, anchoring it in the teaching of the New Testament (Philippians 2:25, 2 Timothy 2:3 and Philemon 1:2). This paper proposes that Damasus’ solution for the evolving Roman-Christian identity was one in which what it meant to be ‘Christian’ and ‘Roman’ aligned, while standing firm in the apostolic message.
Elizabeth Clayton, Oxford University, ‘When you come together frequently, the powers of Satan are overthrown” (Eph. 13.1): Ignatius of Antioch’s Apotropaic Eucharists’
The Ignatian letters offer intriguing details on the nature of Christian communities at a key point in the development of their worship practices. One dynamic of Ignatius’ presentation of Eucharistic gatherings is especially confounding—that these meetings can cast down Satan and undo his destruction. He writes to the church in Ephesus, “Try your hardest therefore to come together frequently, to give thanks (εὐχαριστία) and glory to God. For when you come together frequently, the powers of Satan are overthrown” (Eph. 13.1). This paper will thus argue that, for Ignatius, since unity accomplishes the end of all war on heaven and earth (Eph. 13.2), and the celebration of the Eucharist both manifests and bolsters a community’s unity (Phld. 4; Smyr. 6.2; 8.1), the Eucharist therefore takes on a kind of apotropaic function. Further, drawing on observations and insights of ritual studies scholars (namely Catherine Bell), the paper will consider how Ignatius imagines the Eucharist can promote and represent unity in such a way that its practice has implications beyond the material world.
Isaac A. Olivarez, Cambridge University, ‘Christians, Accusations, and Myths: Eating People? Or, An Eating People?’
A particular set of accusations against Christians associated them with “Thyestean” feasts, “Oedipodean” intercourse, and Bacchic rites. This Thyestean-Oedipodean-Bacchic confluence of accusations implied that Christians were guilty of killing and eating people at their incestuous feasts. Upon closer inspection, a motif that emerges from these accusations is that they represented more than surface-level misunderstandings of Christian eucharistic practices. Rather, they were culturally-rooted attempts to discredit dangerous religious innovations within the Roman Empire. Moreover, they provide a vital witness from non-Christian sources to one of early Christianity’s most salient features: meal fellowship. This perception shaped their reality: their eating habits often became the impetus for their mistreatment. What transpired surrounding the dining rituals of these mythological figures apparently remained familiar enough by the third century CE to delineate a certain amoral standard for those both circulating and refuting these rumours. Still, rather than abandoning shared meals, Christians insisted on meal-centred gatherings. This distinction was central to the early stages of Christianity’s development, as can be seen at key junctures of the early church’s growth in Acts.
Session 3: Book Panel on Tom de Bruin’s Fan Fiction and Early Christian Writings
Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Canon (London: Bloomsbury, 2024)
Tom de Bruin, Radboud University
Kelsie Rodenbiker, University of Glasgow
Julia Lindenlaub, Cambridge University Press
Richard Britton, Independent Scholar