Announcements
New Program Unit at the Society of Biblical Literature:
"Trinitarian Theology in Early Christianity."

We are pleased to announce the formation of a new program unit for the Society of Biblical Literature. This unit will explore the close connections between the construction of Christian scriptures, early Christian practices of Biblical interpretation, and theological and ecclesiastical debates that occurred from the apostolic period to the close of the fourth century, organized around the doctrine and worship of the Trinity, broadly conceived.

The first sessions of this program unit will be held at the 2009 annual meeting of the Society, to be held in New Orleans from November 21 - 24. These initial sessions will feature contributions from an array of notable Biblical and Patristics scholars, including Francis Watson, Kavin Rowe, Christopher Beeley, Volker Henning Drecoll, Warren Smith, Denys Turner and Matthew Levering.

If anyone would like more info, feel free to contact the unit Co-Chairs, Mark Weedman (mweedman@crossroadscollege.edu) or Christopher Beeley (christopher.beeley@yale.edu).

CONFERENCE: Genesis and Christian Theology, 14-18 July 2009
St Mary's College, University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews is pleased to announce its third conference on Scripture and Christian Theology. Since the first conference on the Gospel of John in 2003, the St Andrews conferences have been recognized as one of the most important occasions when biblical scholars and systematic theologians are brought together in conversation about a biblical text. The conferences aim to cut through the megaphone diplomacy or the sheer incomprehension that so often marks attempts to communicate across our disciplines. We invite you then to join us and some of the best theological and biblical minds in careful and often lively interaction about one of the most theologically generative of biblical books: the book of Genesis.

We are now calling for papers that integrate close readings of Genesis with Christian theology. While we are particularly interested in explorations of the dynamic relationship between Genesis and Christian doctrine, we also welcome proposals that combine careful reading of the text of Genesis with theological attention to art, creativity, ecology, ethics, the history of interpretation, or Jewish and Christian dialogue.

The call for paper proposals closes on 15 March 2009. Please visit our website for further details or to submit a proposal: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/divinity/rt/conf/genesis09/.

International patristics conference:
"The image of the perfect Christian in patristic thought."
11-12 September 2009
Catholic University of Lviv (Lviv, Ukraine)

In honor of the 80th anniversary of the Lviv Theological Academy, the Department of Theology of the Ukrainian Catholic University and Holy Spirit Seminary of the Lviv Archieparchy are pleased to announce this international patristics conference. The conference will be held at the Ukrainian Catholic University (Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, Khutorivka St., 35, Lviv, Ukraine), on 11-12 September 2009.

Given the present-day nascent stage of Ukrainian patristic scholarship, we hope that this conference will be a good beginning for reflections on the topics of early Christian theology, the history of the development of Christian thought, ancient Christian literature, early Christian authors and the Fathers of the Church, and for building an international network of scholarly cooperation and stimulating broader interest in the theology of the Fathers of the Church in Ukraine.

The chosen theme will allow the participants of the conference to reflect on how early Christian authors and the Fathers of the Church of the Western and Eastern traditions understood Christian perfection, who is the perfect Christian, and whether it is possible to reach perfection, living in this world. We will look for the answers to the following questions: What does spiritual progress mean? How is it possible to achieve life in Christ and the contemplation of God? What are the origins of Christian mysticism, and the like.

We look forward to your abstracts, up to a page long, to be sent electronically to ovakula@ucu.edu.ua. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is March 15, 2009, and the deadline for the submission of texts of reports is June 15, 2009. The working languages are Ukrainian, English, Italian, Russian, and Polish.

For more information and details, please write to Oleksandra Vakula.

On behalf of the organizing committee:
Oleksandra Vakula, SThD
Oleh Kindiy, PhD

Patristics Monograph Series

The Board of Directors of the North American Patristics Society seeks nominations and applications for the position of editor-in-chief of the Patristics Monograph Series, currently published by The Catholic University of America Press. The editor-in-chief will work in conjunction with the press to solicit and screen manuscripts for publication and to serve as a liaison between authors and the press throughout the publication process. Qualifications for editor-in-chief include a distinguished record of publications and editorial experience.

In accordance with the bylaws of NAPS, editors of the society's publications shall serve a five-year term, with the possibility of reappointment for a second and terminal term of five years. Editors serve as ex officio, non-voting members of the Board of Directors (Art. II, sec. 4, a). The board normally meets during the annual meeting in Chicago and at the Oxford Patristics Conference.

The NAPS Board of Directors is especially interested in candidates who are eager to think creatively about the future of the series and to enhance its scholarly profile. Nominations (including self-nominations and applications) should be sent to Paul Blowers, President of NAPS, Emmanuel School of Religion, One Walker Drive, Johnson City, TN 37601. Email: BlowersP@esr.edu.

Applications should include an up-to-date curriculum vitae and letter stating qualifications, and should arrive by March 15, 2009.

SBL 2009 Annual Meeting New Program Unit

Syriac Literature and Interpretations of Sacred Texts

New Orleans, LA
Meeting Begins: 11/21/2009
Meeting Ends: 11/24/2009
Call For Papers Opens: 12/15/2008
Call For Papers Closes: 2/28/2009

Program Unit Type: New Program Units
Accepting Papers? Yes
Call For Papers: This program unit seeks to offer a forum for scholars studying the Syriac interpretation of Biblical and para-biblical literatures and the intimate connections between Syriac biblical interpretation and historiography, hagiography, and para-scriptural traditions in Oriental Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. For this year's topical focus we invite papers on aspects of the theme "Translations of Biblical Texts in the Syriac-speaking Realm and Their Impact on the Development of Doctrine." For an "open session" we also welcome papers in the broader realm of the interpretation of Biblical and para-biblical literatures in Syriac.

Program Unit Chair
Cornelia Horn (horncb@slu.edu)

Steering Committee
Joseph Amar
Sidney H. Griffith
Robert R. Phenix Jr.
Ute Possekel

http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_CallForPapers.aspx?MeetingId=15

The following positions are currently available at St Vladimir's Seminary. Kindly follow instructions given at the end of the job descriptions to submit resumes and inquiries. Please, no phone calls.

Faculty Positions

St Vladimir's Seminary seeks applications for two faculty positions, to commence July 1, 2009. Applicants should have, or be nearing completion of, their Ph.D., and have a higher degree from an Orthodox Seminary or Academy.

* A tenure-track position in the field of Canon Law and Church History
* A three-year sessional appointment in the field of apologetics, with an ability to teach Patristics and Systematic Theology.

Rank and salary to be determined upon qualifications and experience.

Please send application letter and resume, with the names and contact details of at least two referees, to Prof. John Barnet, jbarnet@svots.edu, at St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 575 Scarsdale Road, Crestwood, NY 10707, USA, by December 31, 2008.

International Conference

EPISCOPAL ELECTIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY (CA. 250 - CA. 600 AD)
26-28 October 2009

Hosted by the Faculty of Theology
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
http://theo.kuleuven.be/page/project_bisschopsopvolging/

Keynote speakers include:
Pauline Allen (ACU, Brisbane), George Bevan (Queen's, Kingston), Philippe Blaudeau (Paris XII), Peter Bruns (Bamberg), Bruno Dumézil (Paris X), Geoffrey Dunn (ACU, Brisbane), Rudolf Haensch (DAI, München), David G. Hunter (Kentucky), Hartmut Leppin (Frankfurt), Veit Rosenberger (Erfurt), Claire Sotinel (Tours), Raymond Van Dam (Michigan), Eckhard Wirbelauer (Strasbourg), Ewa Wipszycka (Warsaw)

It is well known that episcopal elections in the later Roman Empire were often a complicated and complicating event, as the controversy (and even violence) attendant upon the elections and successions of many bishops indicates. This conference will approach the phenomenon of episcopal elections and succession from the broadest possible perspective, examining the varied combination of factors, personalities, rules and habits that played a role in the process that eventually resulted in one specific candidate becoming the new bishop, and not another. The many diverse and even conflicting aspects of this phenomenon will be addressed: the influence of doctrinal conflicts, the relationship between Church and State, patronage, local habits and regional differences, chronological developments, ethnic identity. Also relevant is the development of images of the ideal bishop, especially the manner in which such idealized representations shaped the outcome of contested elections and affected the character and exercise of episcopal authority in late antique society.

Proposals for papers approaching the broader theme by any number of perspectives and methodologies are welcome: particular elections, specific bishops, geographical surveys (e.g. a city or a province), and concrete texts (e.g. legislation - both civil and canonical, or, hagiography) are all legitimate points of entry shedding valuable light upon a relatively little studied phenomenon.

English will be the primary conference language, although proposals for papers in French and German are equally acceptable. Following the conference there will be opportunity for participants to submit their papers for peer review, as the conference organizers intend to edit the conference proceedings for publication.

PAPER PROPOSALS: Send to the conference secretary, Shawn Keough [shawn.keough@theo.kuleuven.be], by 15 May 2008. Proposals should consist of a title and an abstract of up to 300 words providing a clear indication of the paper's thesis, sources and methodology.

Call for Papers (Collection)

Resurrecting the “First Five Hundred”:
The Church Fathers in Early Modern England

In his “Challenge Sermon” delivered at St. Paul’s Cross on November 26, 1559, Bishop John Jewel argued that the Church Fathers were the true architects of the Christian religion and that the English people would no longer be subjected to the sort of medieval tampering that had led the one true Church astray. “The first five hundred years of the church,” he would argue, “are worth more than the whole thousand that followed afterward.” For this collection, we are seeking essays that address the topic of the Church Fathers in early modern English culture. Topics addressed may include (but will not be limited to) the rhetorical, political, ethical, and material uses of the Church Fathers and the influence of the Fathers on education, rhetoric, science, philosophy, philology, the stage, book production, devotional and polemical writing, women and writing, the body, colonialist discourse, and the rise of capitalism.

Please address queries to the collection’s editors, Mitchell Harris (mharris@gustavus.edu) and Steven Matthews (smatthew@d.umn.edu). Essay proposals should be between 500 and 800 words. Completed essays should be between 4,000 and 9,000 words in text, approximately 16-36 double-spaced pages, and should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003). Please use endnotes. Proposals and completed essays should be sent electronically as a Microsoft Word document or PDF file.

TRADITIO: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought, and Religion, is published annually by Fordham University. The Board of Editors was recently reconstituted and comprises: Martin Chase (English, Associate Managing Editor), Joseph T. Lienhard (Theology, Managing Editor), Wolfgang Mueller (History), and Giorgio Pini (Philosophy), all at Fordham University; Susan Boynton (Music), and Carmela Vircillo Franklin (Classics), both at Columbia University; and William E. Klingshirn (Greek and Latin), at the Catholic University of America.

TRADITIO publishes monographic essays, critical editions of texts, and research tools in Classics, Early Christianity, Late Antiquity, and Medieval and Byzantine Studies. Disciplinary approaches include philology, history, theology, philosophy, literature, and art history. The managing editor, or any of the editors, will gladly receive manuscripts for review, or inquiries about submitting articles. For further details, see www.fordham.edu/traditio.

TRINITY EVANGELICAL DIVINITY SCHOOL, a graduate educational institution affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America, invites applications and nominations for a faculty position in Patristics and Early Christian History, to begin by the fall of 2009. The successful candidate will possess a Ph.D. in church history or a related discipline, a record of rigorous academic scholarship, demonstrated effectiveness in the classroom, and an enthusiastic commitment to training future pastors and scholars for the global Church. Applicants should have a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ, an active involvement in the local church, and a desire to serve with an interdenominational, evangelical faculty and staff. Faculty members must concur with the school's doctrinal statement. The successful applicant must be eligible for faculty rank of either assistant or associate professor. Please mail letters of interest, three academic references, and a curriculum vitae to Scott Manetsch, Chairman of the Department of Church History; Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; 2065 Half Day Road; Deerfield, IL 60015. Application will be received until the position if filled.

Sophia Institute

NAPS Colleagues may wish to note the Foundation of the ‘Sophia Institute’ in New York, as part of a new endowment to recast Early Church History at Union Theological Seminary, as an endowed Chair in Late Antique and Byzantine Christian History. John McGuckin has launched the Sophia Institute to focus on the history, theology, and wider culture of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It is currently gathering endowment so as to extend its range and scope; but its intellectual mission is already inaugurated. It aspires to be a significant Advanced Research Institute for the years ahead with an academic mission of publications related to Eastern Christian thought, an annual conference, and a Philanthropic program focused on Eastern Europe. Further details may be found on the attached flyer, or from John McGuckin (jam401@columbia.edu).

Sophia Institute flyer (pdf)

Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy

I'm delighted to announce a new research project, "Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy" under the overall leadership of Professor John Fitzgerald of the University of Miami (john.fitzgerald@miami.edu) and Fika J. van Rensburg of North-West University (Fika.JanseVanRensburg@nwu.ac.za). We are planning to pursue this project in sessions held at both NAPS and the SBL Annual Meeting. Although the project itself is still at a very preliminary planning stage, we conceive the project as an international, interdisciplinary endeavor involving ancient historians, classicists, New Testament scholars, church historians, patristic experts, scholars of Late Antiquity, as well as scholars of the different relevant aspects of present day societies. The main research problem is to delineate the relationship between Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy, demonstrating both similarities and differences in attitudes, approaches to problems, and attempted solutions.

To this end the project has four sub-projects:

* The first sub-project involves a study of the major aspects of the economy in the ancient world, especially the economies of Classical Greece, the Hellenistic world, and the Roman Empire. This is a vast field of study that will involve consideration of numerous issues and questions.

* The second sub-project examines first century Early Christianity both in relationship to the ancient economy and in regard to its own economic aspects. We plan to proceed primarily in chronological fashion, beginning with Jesus in the gospels and then the other writings of the New Testament. Given the international and interdisciplinary scope of the project, however, studies will be both synchronic and diachronic, with some contributions focused on specific texts, authors, and events, and others being more comprehensive (and thematic) in nature.

* The third sub-project examines Early Christianity of the second to the fifth centuries, both in relationship to the ancient economy and in regard to its own economic aspects, proceeding century by century to the time of Justinian. Given the international and interdisciplinary scope of the project, however, studies will be both synchronic and diachronic, with some contributions focused on specific texts, authors, and events, and others being more comprehensive in nature.

* The fourth sub-project: The first three sub-projects lay a partial foundation for the fourth one: "Present day Christianity and the Present day Economy: Implications for South Africa and its Development." This fourth sub-project will be done by those who concentrate their research on the present day world, and we view this fourth sub-project as an endeavor that should be independent of, yet informed by, the results of the first three sub-projects. At the same time, we believe that the results of our research project, though focused on early Christianity, will have important implications for present day countries, specifically for South Africa and its economic development: it will contribute to establishing the Biblical principles and guidelines for the economy of a country, e.g., South Africa.

The steering committee of the project plans to submit the application to register as a program unit with the SBL later this year. We are now taking steps to coordinate a session at our NAPS conference in 2008 in Chicago on the third sub-project outlined above: early Christianity of the second to the fifth centuries, both in relationship to the ancient economy and in regard to its own economic aspects. If you are interested in getting involved in this project, and especially if you are interested in giving a paper at the upcoming NAPS conference, please send an e-mail to Charles Bobertz at cbobertz@csbsju.edu.

Charles Bobertz, Ph.D.
St. John's University and School of Theology

CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS

The Library of Early Christianity, founded by a challenge grant of the NEH and with the support of many members of the NAPS, solicits new texts/translations of patristic works of all genres and languages. We intend to publish documentary and literary works of early Christianity in affordable, up-to-date, bi-lingual editions accompanied by historical introductions and some critical and explanatory notes. We are especially interested in works that are not easily available elsewhere. For a copy of the editorial guidelines and for any other information, please contact: Dr. J. Petruccione, Editorial Director, the LEC, The Dept. of Greek and Latin, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 20064. Tel.: 202-319-5216; e-mail: Petruccione@cua.edu.