18th-22nd March 2012

Denis Feeney – Harriet Flower (Princeton) - Richard Gordon – Jörg Rüpke (Erfurt) – Christopher Smith (St. Andrews/Roma)

History is one of the most important cultural tools for making sense of one's situation, establishing identities, defining otherness, and explaining change.  In the field of religion, historical claims are basic to a number of past and present conflicts over orthodoxy and legitimacy, over territory and dominance. Boundaries could be drawn, and alliances forged, by appeal to some version of one's own or of an opponent's history. Such narratives (as a frequent, but not the only form of history) were not only a powerful resource in their own time but might influence accounts for generations to come (even into modern historiography). Religious tools, practices of sacralisation (e.g.rituals or deifications), could perpetuate such accounts indefinitely. Divine revelations or apocryphal texts could offer means of legitimating alternative histories and altered futures. On the other hand historicising religion itself might conflict with the legitimating strategies of a religion based on tradition, with a stress on the unchanging validity of its claims. Scholars have not paid much attention to the relationship between history and religion in traditions outside Judaism and Christianity. The aim of this Spring School is to set the ball rolling by looking specifically 1) at the circumstances under which religion in antiquity comes to be historicised and 2) at the media in which history is sacralised. We would like to encourage participants to analyse texts of different genres and other media of cultural memory, such as rituals and images.

The seminar will offer an overview of these and related issues. Historiographical texts will be included as well as antiquarian, ethnographic or poetic discourse. The question really at issue here concerns our strategies of historicising ancient religion and their bases in ancient and post-ancient thinking. Lectures and seminars will help to clarify ancient and modern concepts to ground critical discussion of importance evidence and long-term developments. The work will include the discussion of papers and texts (distributed in advance). We will also be analysing sources in small groups.

M.A., Ph.D. and post-doctoral students from the disciplines of Classics (including its various sub-disciplines), Religious Studies, Ancient Judaism, and Theology are invited to participate. The maximum number of participants is 25. The course will be conducted in English; knowledge of Latin and Greek is desirable. Participants are invited to present their own research projects related to the general topic; if you wish to offer such a presentation, please add a short summary of your topic to your application.

Please apply via email by 30th October, 2011, supplying also a brief CV with your application. Confirmation will be sent by mid-December, to be followed by a reader including primary texts and some secondary literature by the end of January. There will be a participation fee of 50 EURO covering the costs of the reader, coffee breaks etc. Inexpensive accommodation is available, and can be booked by the organizers, if required.

For queries and further information please contact:
University of Erfurt
Max-Weber-Center
Research group “Religious Individualisation in Historical Perspective”
PO Box 90 02 21
D-99105 Erfurt
Germany
diana.pueschel(at)uni-erfurt.de