medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
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PHILADELPHIA SEMINAR ON CHRISTIAN ORIGINS
in its 44th 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 2006-2007: Rethinking History, Theory, and Texts:
New Theoretical and Methodological Endeavors
Co-Chairs:
Debra Bucher (University of Pennsylvania)dbucher AT pobox.upenn.edu
Sarah Schwarz (Haverford College) schwarz.sl AT gmail.com
Secretary:
Douglas Finkbeiner (University of Pennsylvania)
Webmaster:
Jay C. Treat (University of Pennsylvania) [log in to unmask]
The topic for the 44th year of PSCO is taken from Elizabeth Clark's recent book,
_History, Theory Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn_, in which she attempts
to persuade historians of ancient texts, especially those of early Christianity,
"that the texts they study are highly amenable to the types of
literary/philosophical/theoretical critique that have excited "other humanities
disciplines under the rubric of post-structuralism" (p.ix). We plan to invite
scholars to share current work that utilizes new theoretical approaches in
interpreting ancient Jewish and Christian texts.
The next PSCO session will be with David Brakke (Indiana University) on Friday,
November 17, 2006, 7:30-9:00 pm at the SBL/AAR Annual Meetings in Washington,
D.C. We will meet in the Washington Convention Center, Room 149 A.
PLEASE NOTE THE TIME: 7:30 not the usual 7:00.
In his recent book, _Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early
Christianity_ (Harvard University Press 2006), Brakke considers the creation of
Egyptian monastic identity alongside the development of demonology. Using recent
theoretical discussions of race and gender to explore the Othering of these
demonic forces, Brakke's insights fit well into our theme for this year.
The title for his presentation is "Shifting Strategies: Monks, Demons, and
Historians."
There are two recommended reading items:
1. "The Lady Appears: Materializations of 'Woman' in Early Monastic
Literature." Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 33 (2003): 387-402.
Reprinted in The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies: Asceticism, Gender, and
Historiography, 25-39. Ed. Dale B. Martin and Patricia Cox Miller. Durham, N.C.:
Duke University Press, 2005.
2. "Ethiopian Demons: Male Sexuality, the Black-Skinned Other, and the Monastic
Self." Journal of the History of Sexuality 10 (2001): 501-35. A briefer and less
theoretically explicit version is chapter 7 of Brakke's Demons and the Making of
the Monk (Harvard University Press, 2006).
For more on David Brakke, see
http://www.indiana.edu/~relstud/faculty/brakke.shtml
RAK, coordinator
--
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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