The Christian Cult and the Performativity of Freedom in the Latin West, c. 100 CE – c. 750 CE

Description

Abstract: In the global dynamics of increasing and complexing connectivity in the early centuries of the Common Era, Christianisation is among the impactful movements. The complexity of connectivity dealt with in this paper concerns 1. The complex of semantic continuity/change and re-use of keywords in the discourses of civic and religious belonging; and 2. The complex of users ‘on the ground’ of these keywords in the performative ritual of the Christian liturgical cult. These users constitute the distinct yet interrelated groups of A) preachers and authors as re-users of the civic vocabulary in the context of Christian hermeneutics; B) ritual experts, partly overlapping with group A, e.g., bishops; C) ritual communicants including the Christian lay but active participants in the liturgical congregation of late antique and early medieval urban cathedrals. The analysis of textual sources and their material transmission will lay bare the possible impact of semantic re-use of vocabularies of belonging on the creation and appropriation of new, globalising world views.

Period	29 Nov 2024
Event title	Global Dynamics in Antiquity: Situated Experience in an Extended Ancient World: Worldviews, Objects and Environments (ca. 750 BCE – 750 CE): Anchoring Innovation workshop
Event type	Workshop
Location	Leiden, NetherlandsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International