medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
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PHILADELPHIA SEMINAR ON CHRISTIAN ORIGINS
in its 40th year
an Interdisciplinary Humanities Seminar
under the auspices of the
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Department of Religious Studies
201 Logan Hall
with support from
the Penn Humanities Forum
TOPIC FOR 2002-2003: Parabiblical Literature
Co-Chairs:
Robert Kraft (University of Pennsylvania) [log in to unmask]
Annete Reed (Princeton University) [log in to unmask]
Secretary:
T.J.Wellman (University of Pennsylvania) [log in to unmask]
Coordinator:
Robert Kraft (University of Pennsylvania) [log in to unmask]
THE FIFTH (and final) MEETING OF 2002-03 will be held on Thursday, 8 May, 2003
from 7-9 pm in the Second Floor Lounge, Logan Hall at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Persons wishing to dine with other participants prior to the meeting
should meet at 6 pm at Logan Hall, Second Floor Lounge (southeast of
Locust Walk and 36th Street Walk) or go directly to the Food Court in the
basement of Houston Hall (just east of Logan, along Spruce Street), where
an international variety of food choices is available at reasonable
prices.
The focus for this meeting is twofold: (1) Kim Haines-Eitzen (author of
Guardians of Letters: Literacy, Power, and the Transmitters of Early Christian
Literature [Oxford UP 2000]) will direct our attention to the development of
authoritative Christian literature in the early centuries; (2) we will also
consider a related proposal to continue the "parabiblical" focus next year by
looking at the ways in which specific names of famous "biblical" (and related)
persons became magnets for creation and collection of literature.
1. Kim Haines-Eitzen (Cornell University)
"Textual Communities in Early Christianity/ies: Scripture Selection,
Transmission, and Interpretation"
An exploration of conflicts over canon and how canon intersected with emerging
and diverse notions of Christian identity; how books were transmitted and copied
and how the form of the books was shaped by and in turn shaped issues of canon;
and questions of how to interpet and especially what to interpret and what to
read in public, what to read in private, etc.
Some suggestions for background reading:
Harry Gamble, Books and Readers in the Early Church (Yale UP, 1995) --
or his article "The Pauline Corpus and the Early Christian Book" in Paul
and the Legacies of Paul, ed. William S. Babcock (Southern Methodist UP,
1990) 265-398.
The classic on NT canon is Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament
(Oxford UP, 1987).
More recently: David Trobisch, The First Edition of the New Testament (Oxford
UP, 2000).
2. Robert Kraft, "Organizing the 'Parabiblical' Instinct in connection with
'Biblical' Names -- with Barnabas as a Test Case"
In 1920, Montague Rhoades James published his modest study of "The Lost
Apocrypha of the Old Testament: their Titles and Fragments Collected, Translated
and Discussed," in which he organized the materials under the specific names
with which each work was associated (now availabe online at
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/courses/735/Parabiblical/jamesnew.htm )
This work is understandably badly in need of updating, and the internet provides
an amenable format for such a task. But in addition, it might be worthwhile to
create an electronic "sister volume" that focuses on early Christian names and
materials, along the lines explored in
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/courses/735/Parabiblical/NTApoc.htm .
Thus the proposal is to continue the "parabiblical" theme next year in PSCO,
with a program that approaches the subject from the perspective of the specific
names that seemed to serve as magnets for associating literature and traditions
-- and with a view to creating appropriately updated electronic tools for such
study. To proceed, we will need co-chairs (or a single chair) willing to oversee
the PSCO program, as well as volunteers to prepare appropriate studies of the
material. I will be happy to continue as "coordinator" and to be involved in
helping to make the electronic site(s) useful.
Other proposals for PSCO 41 (2003-2004) are also welcome, or can be held in
reserve for future years. As some of you will already know, I am now formally
"retired," although this will have little effect on my University connections
and graduate teaching schedule in the immediate future. In the long run,
however, the question of the continuation and organization of the PSCO may be at
issue and should be kept in view.
RAK (and Annette Reed)
--
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
227 Logan Hall (Philadelphia PA 19104-6304); tel. 215 898-5827
[log in to unmask]
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html
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