Christianity in the second century: themes and developments

20 Mar 2013 - 22 Mar 2013

All day

CRASSH, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT

Description

Description

Conveners

James Carleton Paget (Faculty of Divinity / Peterhouse)

Judith Lieu (Faculty of Divinity)

Simon Gathercole (Faculty of Divinity /

Fitzwilliam College)

Conference Summary

The significance of the second century for the development of Christianity has been acknowledged for many years. After all, it could be argued that in this century a small messianic sect within Judaism begin, in a variety of ways, to establish itself as a more permanent presence in the world. And yet despite the importance of the century, there has been no study devoted exclusively to its discussion. This is made all the more striking, even odd, as in recent times much work, in a variety of disciplines, and so not devoted specifically to early Christian studies, has been done which has significant implications for our understanding of the period. Our inter-disciplinary conference, entitled ‘Christianity in the second century: themes and developments’, brings together Classicists, historians of ancient Judaism and of early Christianity in an attempt to take stock of this changing scholarly landscape, and with ancient Christianity as its principal focus, explore ways in which that movement both reflected, differed from and changed the cultural, social, religious and political background of the time. Amongst the broad questions addressed will be the subject of Christianity’s relationship to Judaism, persecution and politics, canon and literary culture, exclusion and inclusion, ideas of doctrine and practice, myth and philosophy, all of which pertain in one way or another to the complex subject of Christianity’s developing identity.