Beyond the Timeline: How to Write History (For Example of the Middle Ages) in Different Ways

About the workshop

The workshop refers to the book published in 2019 by patristician and medi evalist Markus Vinzent "Writing the History of Early Christianity. From Reception to Retrospection" (Cambridge University Press). In his book Vinzent introduces the perspective of retrospection as a critical method of historiography and exemplifies this by several showcases from the ‘beginnings’ of Christianity. One of the basic ideas of retrospection is that writing history must by necessity be progressive (as all our thinking and writing is progressive), while its (re-)construction is always done in a regressive mode, working anachronologically against the timeline. If this is recognised, continuities and linearities disappear. Vinzent‘s historiographical method of retrospection dissolves the difference between sources (or an original, authoritative reference text) and secondary literature and questions past authorities (auctoritates). Retrospection rather foregrounds the author of the historiographical production as subj ect of history which targets different objects of the past. With his idea of retrospection, Vinzent dares to provoke classical historiography and challenges us to think about the way in which history is written. This challenge will be taken up at the workshop and it will be asked: How to write History (for example of the Mi ddle Ages) in different ways?

Organization:

• Sabine Schmolinsky, University of Erfurt
• Julia Seeberger, University of Erfurt
• Markus Vinzent, King’s College London / Max-WeberKolleg, University of Erfurt