medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
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PHILADELPHIA SEMINAR ON CHRISTIAN ORIGINS
in its 41st 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 2003-2004: Parabiblical Prosopography (in the footsteps of
Lost Apocrypha by M. R. James,)
Chair and Coordinator:
Robert Kraft (University of Pennsylvania) [log in to unmask]
Secretary:
T.J.Wellman (University of Pennsylvania) [log in to unmask]
Harry Tolley (University of Pennsylvania) [log in to unmask]
Webmaster:
Jay C. Treat (University of Pennsylvania) [log in to unmask]
THE FIFTH MEETING OF THE 2003-04 YEAR will be held on Thursday, 15 April
2004, from 7-9 pm in the Second Floor Lounge, Logan Hall at the University
of Pennsylvania. For some backgrounding on the topic (which is a
continuation of the previous year's topic), see the PSCO web page (URL
below) and especially
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/courses/735/Parabiblical/intro.htm
(with links to electronic versions of M.R.James Lost Apocrypha and similar
materials with early Christian focus).
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.
PROGRAM:
Ann Matter (University of Pennsylvania) and Vasiliki Limberis (Temple University)
will focus our attention on traditions (including texts and art) relating to
Mary, mother of Jesus, in the late-antique and early medieval worlds, east and west.
For those who like to browse the web, there is an astounding amount of material
relating to "virgin Mary," "Mary mother of Jesus," "Dormitio Mariae" (= Koimesis
Theotokou) and the like - use google.com for such phrases and/or terms -
including lots of "images of Mary," from various contexts (search on that phrase,
but also use the "image" option at the top of the google.com menu with any of the
searches).
For an early tradition with biographical claims, see the "Protevangelium Jacobi"
(Book of James, Infancy Gospel of James) - online information is collected at
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancyjames.html
In the "New M.R.James" project, I've begun to gather relevant information on
Mary, and other early Christian figures connected with parabiblical literature;
see
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/courses/735/Parabiblical/NTParabib.htm (search
for Mary) -- your suggestions and contributions to this material would be most
welcome!
BUSINESS:
Two significant items of business also face us:
(1) deciding on a topic and leadership for PSCO 42.
The following have been suggested:
--Exploring connections between early Christianity and Stoic thought (suggested
by Howard Kee)
--Traditions of "magic" and "astrology" in early Judaism and early Christianity
(several grad student topics fall into these areas)
--An updated electronic English edition of Harnack's Mission and Expansion of
Christianity in the first Three Centuries, taking account of his 1924 revisions
as well as new developments -- similar to the Bauer project we did three decades
ago (Kraft suggestion; see already
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/courses/535/Harnack/bk0-TOC.htm)
Feel free to submit any additional ideas!
(2) The second business item is easier: for the past two years, PSCO has held its
second meeting at the SBL/AAR conference, the Friday night before the conference
proper. If we want to continue this "tradition," room and time arrangements will
need to be made well in advance, to get the information onto the program booklet,
etc. I have the application materials and am willing to make those arrangements,
if the PSCO participants consider continuing this practice to be desirable.
Bob Kraft
PSCO coordinator and chair, 2003-2004
PSCO home page at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/psco/
-- 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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