The project “Polyphony of Late Antique Christianity“ started work on October 1, 2015 supported by the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation. It explores the diversity of Christianity in Late Antiquity, especially the period from the 4th century until the arrival of Islam. In order to better understand long term processes of development, the analysis includes forms of early Christianity and investigates persistence and transformation of other religious practices in Antiquity.
One core area of our project lies in the exploration of the diversity of Christianity in Late Antiquity from a deliberately historical perspective. In addition to examining different forms of Christianity within the Roman Empire, the project also concentrates on so-called “Oriental Christianities". The principal texts of these Christianities were not written in Latin or Greek, but e.g. in Armenian, Syriac, Georgian, Coptic and ancient Ethiopian languages and their intellectual centers often lay outside of the Roman Empire. Our particular focus is on linguistic, intellectual, religious and political exchanges between Christian cultures both inside and outside the Roman Empire, in order to gain a global and nuanced perspective on the history of late antiquity.
Our second area of research focuses on how to integrate Christianity and its developments in Late Antiquity into a global historical context. Particular attention is paid to the relationship of religion and empire. To what degree does a universal religion support the stability of empires or does it pose a counterbalance? Was tolerance more likely to prevail in an empire due to its diversity? Or did empires in fact promote religious minorities that depended on the goodwill of the ruler?
[Fotos: Croberto68]
Project director:
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin
Research coordination:
Marius Kalfelis M.A.
Dr. Daniel An (Humboldt stipend)
Associate members:
Prof. Dr. Alexander Weiß
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Brandes
Prof. Dr. Annette Warner
PD Dr. Philipp Niewöhner
Dr. Christian Barthel
Dr. Philip Forness
Dr. Kai Preuß
Dr. des. Simone Mehr
Grigori Khislavski, M.A.
Matthias Kuta M.A.
Julia Schwarzer M.A.
Office:
Judith Delombre
Student assistants:
René Gebhardt
Maximilian Mußhoff
Former research staff:
Prof. Dr. Caillan Davenport
Prof. Dr. Luise Marion Frenkel
Prof. Dr. Johannes Wienand
Dr. habil. Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev
Dr. Michael Hanaghan
Dr. Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer
Dr. Meaghan McEvoy
Dr. Simone Pratelli
Omar El Manfalouty M.A.
Alexander Graumann-Kardan M.A.
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*** NEWS AND EVENTS ***
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Dr Kai Preuß will be awarded with the Bruno-Snell-Prize 2022/23 for his dissertation on „Säkularität und Pastoral bei Augustinus von Hippo. Geschichte – Macht – Subjekt“ (Frankfurt 2020). Our heartfelt congratulations!
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The Polycentricity of Late Antiquity – Final Conference of the Leibniz Prize Project “The Polyphony of Late Antique Christianity"
October 11-13, 2023, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
We would be grateful if interested researchers would send us a proposal for a lecture by April 15, 2023: Call for Papers
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Frankfurt-Jena Summer School for Syriac Language and Literature
The first Frankfurt-Jena Summer School for Syriac Language and Literature will be hosted at the Goethe University Frankfurt (Leibniz Prize Project “Polyphony of Late Antique Christianity") in cooperation with the DFG Research Training Group 2792 (“Autonomy of Heteronomous Texts in Antiquity and the Middle Ages" (Friedrich Schiller University Jena) from July 24 to 27, 2023, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin (Frankfurt), PD Dr. Christa Kessler (Jena), and Prof. Dr. Matthias Perkams (Jena). The topic will be
“Barhadbeshaba's Cause of the Foundation of the Schools and other texts from the environment of the school of Nisibis".
We invite applications from researchers interested in improving their knowledge of ancient Syriac in small study groups. The selected texts will cover areas of interest for researchers of different disciplines, including ancient history, philosophy, theology, and religious studies. Basic knowledge of Syriac and basic understanding of written and spoken German are required. Depending on the number of participants, several smaller reading groups catering to all levels of Syriac knowledge will be established. Lectures on various topics surrounding the field of Syriac language and literature are planned for the evenings. There is no fee for participants. Accommodation costs and travel expenses will be reimbursed.
To apply, please send a CV and short cover letter outlining your motivation and background in German or English to Marius Kalfelis (kalfelis@em.uni-frankfurt.de) by March 31, 2023. If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to reach out to any of the organisers!
We
look forward to studying Syriac with you!
Christa Kessler Hartmut Leppin Matthias Perkams
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Congratulations to Dr. Daniel An, who just received the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship! The fellowship will allow Dr. An to spend two years at the Department for Ancient History (Chair of Prof. Leppin) to work on his research project “The Social Lives of Crosses: Understanding Cross Veneration in Late Antique Mesopotamia".
We were pleased to host Dr Michael Hanaghan (ACU Melbourne, November 2022) and Prof Dr Luise Marion Frenkel (University of São Paolo, November 2022 - March 2023) as guest researchers in the winter term!
On Oktober 1, 2022 the long-term research project “Commentary on John of Ephesus's Ecclesiastical History" under the auspices of Prof Dr Hartmut Leppin und Prof Dr Philip Forness (Leuven) has started. We wish them every success!
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The Leibniz-Seminar took place again in summer term 2022 on Tuesdays, 4-6 pm (programme).
In the summer term 2022 a public lecture series on „Christen in Ostafrika und Westasien – Alte Traditionen und neue Herausforderungen“ has been taken place as part of the "Science and Society" Visiting Fellowship, which is generously funded by the Deutsche Bank AG. The lecture series was held under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin and Prof. Dr. Dorothea Weltecke. More information at: www.uni-frankfurt.de/stiftungsgastprofessur-wissenschaft-und-gesellschaft
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We were pleased to host Dr. Emanuele Zimbardi (Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia) as a guest researcher in May 2022.
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin was in conversation with Anthony Kaldellis on his podcast "Byzantium & Friends". He talks about "Being Roman in Syriac".
We were pleased to host Dr. Michael Hanaghan (Australian Catholic University, Melbourne) as a guest researcher (Humboldt stipend) from November 2021 onwards.
We congratulate Prof. Dr. Caillan Davenport and Dr. Meaghan McEvoy on their new positions at the Australian National University, Canberra!
Hartmut Leppin was in conversation with Anreas Bomba on h2-kultur (series "Doppelkopf") on January 7th at 12 am.
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We are happy to announce that Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin in collaboration with Dr. Philip Forness successfully solicited funding from the German Reaearch Foundation (DFG) to support the long-term research project “Commentary on John of Ephesus's Ecclesiastical History". Congratulations!
Project
description
John of Ephesus's Ecclesiastical History forms one of the most extensive
historiographical sources for the Eastern Roman Empire and the Middle East on
the eve of the long-lasting political and cultural changes that began in the
seventh century. The Ecclesiastical History offers a distinct vantage
point on the understudied late sixth century: it was written in a dialect of
Aramaic called Syriac, and it comes from the pen of a bishop from an
ecclesiastical body that competed with the imperial church. Only the third part
of this work survives intact, and John of Ephesus wrote it while living—and
indeed while intermittently imprisoned—in the imperial capital of
Constantinople. Although historians and theologians have both made extensive
use of the Ecclesiastical History, these perspectives have rarely been
brought together. The proposed project will bridge this divide by integrating
historical and theological research on the Ecclesiastical History in a
new critical edition, translation, and comprehensive commentary on the third
part of this work. Open access digital and print versions of the edition,
translation, and commentary are planned, and preliminary digital publications
in several repositories will invite feedback from the scholarly community during
the course of the project. Collaboration with several digital humanities
projects will also result in a suite of didactic aids to support students and
scholars learning Syriac. Finally, this project will draw attention to one of
the literary achievements of a community in antiquity which many recent
immigrants to Germany and the European Union count as their heritage.
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Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin was granted the “Preis zur Förderung der Übersetzung geisteswissenschaftlicher Werke - Geisteswissenschaften International" for his book “Die Frühen Christen" (C.H. Beck) in October 2021. The Translation of his work in English will be financed by the “Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels", the “Fritz Thyssen Stiftung", the “VG Wort" and the Federal Foreign Office.
The Leibniz-Seminar has taken place in winter term 2021/22 on Tuesdays, 4-6 pm (programme).
On the “Historikertag" 2021 the Leibniz-Projekt contributed a panel titeled “A Decentralized Late Antiquity? On the Emanation of East Roman Cites and Regions beyond their Borders" on October 5th.
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*** SELECTION OF NEW PUBLICATIONS ***
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Philip Michael Forness, Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer, Hartmut Leppin (Hg.), The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Wider Mediterranean World in Conversation, Berlin/Boston 2021 (Proceedings of the Leibniz conference „Good Christian Ruler“).
Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev (Hg.), Apocryphal and Esoteric Sources in the Development of Christianity and Judaism. The Eastern Mediterranean, the Near East, and Beyond, Leiden/Boston 2021
Wolfram Brandes, Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer, Hartmut Leppin (Ed.), Konzilien und kanonisches Recht in Spätantike und frühem Mittelalter. Aspekte konziliarer Entscheidungsfindung (Forschungen zur byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte. NF 2), Berlin/Boston 2020. (Proceedings of the Leibniz conference „Konziliare Entscheidungsfindung“)
Hartmut Leppin, Die Frühen Christen. Von den Anfängen bis Konstantin, 3rd edition, München 2021.
Philip Forness, Preaching Christology in the Roman Near East: A Study of Jacob of Serugh. Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford 2018
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*** OUTREACH ***
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Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin delivered the first DFG-RFH-Leibniz-Lecture on “Humility and Power. The Christian Emperors of Late Antiquity" as part of the Leibniz Project in Russia at the Russian State University for the Humanities on June 9th, 2015. He visited Moskau again in April 2016 and gave a seminar on Religious Violence in Antiquity at Lomonossow University as well as a lecture titled The Roman Empire in John of Ephesus' Church History: Being Roman, Writing Syriac at the Higher School of Economics (more information).
From March 17th to 29th Hartmut Leppin visited China and gave lectures on Identities of Syriac Christians in Antiquity at Peking University and the Northeast Normal University in Changchun as well as the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (article in the Chinese newspaper Wen Hui Daily).
PD Dr.
Philip Niewöhner,
visting scholar at the Leibniz-Projekt in cooperation with the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften
Bad Homburg (theme year “Christianisations"), gave
a public lecture August 22nd, 2018 on Byzantinismus oder Wilhelminismus? Die
Mosaiken der Erlöserkirche in Bad Homburg and offered guided tours
at the “Erlöserkirche".
Newspaper reports:
Führung mit vielen Interpreationen. Erlöserkiche: Stehen die Mosaiken
für Byzantinismus oder Wilhelminismus? (Taunus Zeitung, 29.08.2018, p. 11).
Mosaik in der Erlöserkirche: Bezug zu Byzanz nicht eindeutig (Bad
Homburger Woche, 30.08.2018, p. 10).
Articles and interviews in newspapers
Was
Konstantin wirklich verfügt. Köln anno 321 by Hartmut Leppin
“Warum das Gedenkjahr '1700 Jahre jüdisches Leben in Deutschland' eine
zweifelhafte historische Kontinuität suggeriert." (FAZ 01.03.2021, S. 11)
Vom
Nutzen des Tadels by Hartmut
Leppin
“Die alten Athener hatten ein Mittel, das die Demokratie am Laufen hielt. Greta
Thunberg kennt es auch." (FAZ 11.03.2020, p. 12)
Vi ville ikke betragte mange af de første kristne som kristne i dag, interview with Hartmut Leppin by Tobias Stern Johansen. (Kristeligt Dagblad 08.06.2019, p. 4)
Article Wetterauer Zeitung: Discussion on "Römerspuren bei Rendel - die frühen Christen im Römischen Reich" with Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin near Rendel/Karben on Sunday, 26th of May, 2019.
Wieso
denn fasten, wenn man heiraten kann? by Hartmut Leppin
“Die Radikalität, zu der er viele anstiftete, kam in Rom nicht gut an: Heinrich
Schlange-Schöningen kennt den Lebensweg des Hieronymus."
Review H. Schlange-Schöningen, Hieronymus. Eine historische Biografie,
Darmstadt 2018. (FAZ 12.12.2018, p. 12)
Preprint: Chapter of the new monograph H. Leppin, Die
Frühen Christen. Von den Anfängen bis Konstantin, München 2018 (publication
date 15.9.2018).
Das Paradies in der Einöde
“Die
Wüstenväter des frühen Christentums gaben asketischen Praktiken einen neuen
Sinn. Mit Anerkennung ihrer Verzichtleistungen konnten sie aber nicht nur bei
ihren Glaubensbrüdern rechnen." (FAZ, 10.9.2018, p. 13)
Einfach
mal das Leben ändern by
Hartmut Leppin
“Erfolg und Wohlstand machen noch lange nicht glücklich. Wie man zu echter
Erfüllung findet, zeigt das Beispiel des Augustinus." (FAS 26.6.2016, p. 43)
Gebt
dem Kaiser, was des Kaisers ist by Hartmut Leppin
“Jeder ordnet sich der Obrigkeit unter. Und zahlt seine Steuern. So steht es in
der Bibel." (FAS 29.7.2018, p. 31)
Der
Dichter hadert mit seinem Gott by Hartmut Leppin
„Fernsehbilder dieser Tage drängen sich auf, wenn man diese Verse liest (Carmen
Nisibenum 10), und doch: sie stammen von einem Autor des vierten Jahrhunderts,
von Ephraim dem Syrer.“ (FAZ 9.7.2016, p. 20)
Christianisierungen und kulturelle Vielfalt im Römischen Reich by Hartmut Leppin, in: Offener Horizont. Jahrbuch der Kael Jaspers-Gesellschaft 3, 2016, 277-294
Solcher
Verzicht zahlt sich aus von
Hartmut Leppin
“Denn die Kirche kann Gaben vertragen: Peter Brown erzählt, wie sich das frühe Christentum
mit Geld und Besitz arrangierte, um Rom zu beerben." (FAZ 6.4. 2017, p.
10)
Von
der Umkehr eines Karrieristen by
Hartmut Leppin
“War Augustinus nur ein egozentrischer Ehrgeizling, der rechtzeitig aufs
richtige Pferd setzte? Robin Lane Fox sieht das anders und macht das am
Bildungsweg des Kirchenvaters fest." (FAZ 10.10. 2017, p. 10)
Alte
Texte tun nicht, was wir wollen by Hartmut Leppin
„Die Übertragung heutiger Wertvorstellungen auf historische Ereignisse ist
unzulässig: Warum die neue Version des Vaterunsers, die Papst Franziskus
vorschwebt, in die Irre führt.“ (FAZ 13.12. 2017, p. 13)
Sterben
in der Arena by
Bernhard Mackowiak
“Christenverfolgungen in Römischen Reich gehören zu den grausamsten Ereignissen
der Geschichte. Heute wissen wir: Der Grund hierfür war nicht die Religion,
sondern das Verhalten Ihrer Anhänger, von dem man meinte, es gefährde das
Gemeinwesen." (30.07.2016, p. 7)
Interview with Hartmut Leppin by Stefan Toepfer (FAZ 23.12.2015)
TV, Videos and Radio
Hessischer Rundfunk, Podcast “Der Kaiser als Arbeiterfürst? 1.700 Jahre freier Sonntag" (aired 26.02.2021)
Deutschlandfunk, “Hartmut Leppin über die Anfänge des Christentums. Im Gespräch mit Andreas Main" (aired 04.03.2020)
Deutschlandfunk Nova, Beitrag “Dreikaiseredikt 'Cunctos populos'. Christentum wird Staatsreligion" (aired 24.01.2020)
HR, Hessenschau, “Latein Abi-Prüfungen in Hessen" (aired 15.03.2019)
SWR 2, “Von der Urgemeinde zur Weltreligion. Wie kam es zum Aufstieg des Christentums?", Disskussion mit Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin, Prof. Dr.Christoph Markschies und Prof. Dr. Eberhard Schockenhoff (aired 08.02.2019)
ZDF TV Production “Paulus Gefährliche Mission" (aired 5.6.2017)
City Lecture in cooperation with the Cluster of Excellence “Normative Orders": “Im Namen Gottes? Monotheismus und Gewalt."
Press reports to the award of the Leibniz Prize:
Geschichte neu denken. Der Leibniz-Preisträger Hartmut Leppin erforscht die Verbreitung der Religionen von Franziska Schubert (FR 17./18.1.2015, p. 23)
EurekAlert! online, 17.12.2016
Press reports to the award of the Erwin Stein Prize
FAZ, 8.02.2019, p. 9
Gießener Anzeiger, 12.3.2019
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*** ARCHIVE ***
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Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin was granted the “Preis zur Förderung der Übersetzung geisteswissenschaftlicher Werke - Geisteswissenschaften International" for his book “Die Frühen Christen" (C.H. Beck) in October 2021. The Translation of his work in English will be financed by the “Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels", the “Fritz Thyssen Stiftung", the “VG Wort" and the Federal Foreign Office.
The Leibniz-Seminar has taken place in winter term 2021/22 on Tuesdays, 4-6 pm (programme).
On the “Historikertag" 2021 the Leibniz-Projekt contributed a panel titeled “A Decentralized Late Antiquity? On the Emanation of East Roman Cites and Regions beyond their Borders" on October 5th.
A book presentation of our new volume “The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Wider Mediterranean World in Conversation, edited by Hartmut Leppin, Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer, and Philip Forness" took place on July, 14th.
We are pleased to hoste Dr. Caillan Davenport and Dr. Meaghan McEvoy (Macquarie University, Sydney) as guest researchers (Humboldt stipends) since October, 2019.
We are pleased to hoste Prof. Dr. Luise Marion Frenkel (Univesity of São Paolo ) as guest researcher from November 2020 until May 2021.
The Leibniz-Seminar took place in summer term 2021 on Tuesdays, 4-6 pm online via Zoom (programme).
The Leibniz Seminar took place in winter term 2020/21 on Tuesdays, 4-6 pm online via Zoom (programme).
The Leibniz Seminar took place in summer term 2020 online via Zoom (programme).
Please note: Unfortunately the conference in honor of Wolfram Brandes (March, 17-18th) has to be cancelled due to the Covid-Situation.
The Leibniz-Seminar took place every second week during the summer term of 2019 (programme).
The Erwin-Stein-Preis 2019 was awarded to Professor Hartmut Leppin. The ceremony took place on March 13th 2019 at the Justus-Liebig University Gießen (Senatssaal). Our heartfelt congratulations!
Dr. Philip Forness has been granted a BMBF-project titled Cultural Exchange from Syria to Ethiopia through the Transmission and Translation of Early Christian Literature which will start in February 2019. Our heartfelt gratulations!
On July 5th, 2019 a Round Table on “Religious Violence" in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Dorothea Wetheke (Frankfurt) and Prof. Dr. Boris Barth (Prag) took place in Frankfurt (programme).
The Leibniz-Seminar took place every second week during the winter term of 2018/19 (programme).
In the course of the Book lɔ:ntʃ of the Cluster of Excellence “Normative Orders" Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin presented his monograph „Die frühen Christen – Von den Anfängen bis Konstantin“ (C.H. Beck 2018) on Thursday, January 24th, 2019 (further information).
November 5th to 9th, 2018 Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin spoke at the Tria-Corda-Lectures at the University of Jena about Intelektuelle Autoritäten in der Antike (programme).
On December 5th, 2018 Prof. Hartmut Leppin gave a lecture on Märtyrer und Martyriumsgegner unter frühen Christen at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften Bad Homburg (more information).
We were pleased to host PD Dr. Philip Niewöhner as a guest researcher in cooperation with the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften Bad Homburg from June to August 2018.
The 4th international conference of the Leibniz-Project took place June 21st-23rd, 2018 in cooperation with the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften Bad Homburg. We discussed “The Transmission of Early Christian Homilies from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages" (programme).
The 3rd international conference of the Leibniz-Project took place March 26th-29th, 2018 in cooperation with the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften Bad Homburg. We examined the “Role of Esoteric and Apocryphal Sources in the Development of Christian and Jewish Traditions" (programme).
Dr. Christian Barthel has been granted a research stipend for one year by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. He will carry out research as an associate member of the Leibniz-Project on the subject of “The Prophecy of Carour. Expectations of the Future, Crisis and Notions of Authority in Pachomian Monasticism". Our heartfelt congratulations!
The 2nd international conference of the Leibniz-Project took place October 5th-7th, 2017 in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History. It was concerned with “Conciliar Decision-Making in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (6th to mid-7th century)" (programme | conference report).
The 1st international conference of the Leibniz-Project took place at the Goethe-University in Frankfurt November 9th-11th, 2017. We examined the topic of “Images of the good Christian Ruler in the Mediterranean and the Near East (4th-10th Centuries)" (programme | conference report).
The Opening Ceremony of the Leibniz-Project took place at Campus Westend on May 10th, 2016 (programme).Concepts of Freedom in the Jewish-Christian World (Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin / Omar El Manfalouty M.A.)
Personal relationships and Christian controversies (Alexander Graumann-Kardan M.A.)
Munera and agones in Late Antique law (Marius Kalfelis M.A.)
Social composition of early Christianity (Prof. Dr. Alexander Weiß)
Cultural Exchange in the Christian World (in cooperation with the BMBF project of Dr. Philip Forness)
Monographs and Edited Volumes
Wolfram Brandes, Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer, Hartmut Leppin (Hg.), Konzilien und kanonisches Recht in Spätantike und frühem Mittelalter. Aspekte konziliarer Entscheidungsfindung (Forschungen zur byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte NF 2), Berlin/Boston 2020 (Proceedings of the Leibniz conference „Konziliare Entscheidungsfindung“).
Igor
Dorfmann-Lazarev, Christ in Armenian Tradition: Doctrine, Apocrypha, Art
(Sixth-Tenth Centuries), Leuven 2016.
Preview · (chargeable) Download
Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev (Hg.), Apocryphal and Esoteric Sources in the Development of Christianity and Judaism. The Eastern Mediterranean, the Near East, and Beyond, Leiden/Boston 2021.
Philip M. Forness, Preaching Christology in the Roman Near East: A Study of Jacob of Serugh (Oxford Early Christian Studies), Oxford 2018.
Philip
M. Forness, Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer, Hartmut Leppin (Hg.), The Good
Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Wider
Mediterranean World in Conversation (Millennium-Studien 92), Berlin/Boston 2021
(Proceedings of the Leibniz conference „Good Christian Ruler“). Open Access
Hartmut Leppin, Stefan Alkier (Hg.), Juden, Christen, Heiden? Religiöse Inklusion und Exklusion in Kleinasien bis Decius (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 400), Tübingen 2018.
Hartmut Leppin, Die frühen Christen. Von den Anfängen bis Konstantin, 3. Aufl. München 2021.
Hartmut Leppin, Paradoxe der Parrhesie. Eine antike Wortgeschichte, Tübingen 2022.
Articles
Christian Barthel, Die Prophezeiung des Karour (Charour). Krise, Kommunikation und Kohäsionsstrategien im pachomianischen Mönchtum, Le Muséon 134, 2021, 35-77.
Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev, Kingship and Hospitality in the Iconography of the Palatine Church at Ałtʽamar, Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 52/3, 2016, 479-516. Download
Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev, The Messiah Hidden in the Depths of the Sea: Reminiscences of 4 Ezra in the Armenian Script of the Lord's Infancy', in: I. Bremmer, V. Hirschberger, T. Nicklas (Hg.), Figures of Ezra between Early Judaism and Ancient Christianity (Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha 13), Leuven 2018, 79-96.
Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev, Esoteric Visitors to the Cave of the Nativity in Armenian Apocryphal Sources, in: I. Bremmer, T. Nicklas (Hg.), Apocryphal Stories of Jesus's Birth: the Protevangelium of James and Related Texts, Leuven 2019 (in Vorbereitung).
Philip M. Forness, New Textual Evidence for Jacob of Serugh's Letters: An Analysis and Collation of Five Monastic Miscellanies, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 20/1, 2017, 51-128. Open Access
Philip M. Forness, Cultural Exchange and Scholarship on Eastern Christianity: An Early Modern Debate over Jacob of Serugh's Christology, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 70/3-4, 2018, 257-284.
Philip M. Forness, An Ecclesiology of Monastic and Clerical Vocations in the Letters of Jacob of Serugh to Daniel the Monk, in: G. Sh. Kuttiyil, G. Ayyaneth (Hg.), Monasticism Meeting Modernity: Oriental Christian and Indian Perspectives and Challenges, Pune 2019, 325-356.
Philip M. Forness, Representing Lay Involvement in the Christological Controversies: The Acclamations of the People and the Synod of Constantinople (518), in: W. Brandes, A. Hasse-Ungeheuer, H. Leppin (Hg.), Konzilien und kanonisches Recht in Spätantike und frühem Mittelalter. Aspekte konziliarer Entscheidungsfindung (Forschungen zur byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte NF 2), Berlin/Boston 2020, 57-80.
Philip M. Forness, The Construction of Metrical Poetry in the Homilies of Narsai of Nisibis and Jacob of Serugh, in: A. M. Butts, K. S. Heal, R. A. Kitchen (Hg.), Narsai: Rethinking His Work and His World (Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity 121), Tübingen 2020, 93-115.
Philip M. Forness, The Rise of the Church of the East, in: M. Raheb and M. A. Lamport (Hg.), The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Christianity in the Middle East, Lanham, MD 2020, 27-43.
Philip M. Forness, The First Book of Maccabees in Syriac: Dating and Context, Aramaic Studies 18/1, 2020, 99-123.
Philip M. Forness, Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer, Hartmut Leppin, Introduction. Expanding the Discourse on Good Christian Rulership, in: dies. (Hg.), The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Mediterranean World and Neighbouring Regions (Millennium-Studien 92), Berlin/Boston 2021, 1-36.
Philip M. Forness, Faithful Rulers and Theological Deviance: Ephrem the Syrian and Jacob of Serugh on the Roman Emperor, in: Ph. M. Forness, A. Hasse-Ungeheuer, H. Leppin (Hg.), The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Mediterranean World and Neighbouring Regions (Millennium Studies 92), Berlin / Boston 2021, 141-167.
Philip M. Forness, The Anonymous Source for Marcion's Gospel in British Library, Add. 17215: An Identification and Analysis, New Testament Studies 67/4, 2021, 541-559.
Philip M. Forness, Reading Early Christian Authors in Medieval Monastic Communities: A Syriac Miscellany from Ṭur ʿAbdin (Harvard University, Syr. 108/18), Le Muséon 134/1-2, 2021, 79-102.
Hartmut Leppin, Religiöse Vielfalt und öffentlicher Raum in der Spätantike, in: M. Lutz-Bachmann (Hg.), Postsäkularismus (Normative Orders 7), Frankfurt am Main/New York 2015, 335-360.
Hartmut Leppin, Instrumentelle Toleranz und Jacob Burckhardts Constantin, in: M. Wallraff (Hg.), Religiöse Toleranz. 1700 Jahre nach dem Edikt von Mailand (Colloquium Rauricum 14), Berlin 2016, 283-304.
Hartmut Leppin, Aspects of the Christianisation of Foreign Policy in Late Antiquity: The Impact of Religious Universalism, in: G. Hellmann, A. Fahrmeir, M. Vec (Hg.), The Transformation of Foreign Policy. Drawing and Managing Boundaries from Antiquity to the Present, Oxford 2016, 105-124.
Hartmut Leppin, Globalisierung des Altertums in zweierlei Gestalt, Historische Zeitschrift 304, 2017, 147-156.
Hartmut Leppin, Das 4. Jahrhundert. Die christlichen Kaiser suchen ihren Ort, in: St. Rebenich (Hg.), Monarchische Herrschaft im Altertum (Schriften des Historischen Kollegs 94), München 2017, 485-507.
Hartmut Leppin, Skeptische Anmerkungen zur Mission des Johannes von Ephesos in Kleinasien, in: W. Ameling (Hg.), Die Christianisierung Kleinasiens in der Spätantike (Asia Minor Studien 87), Bonn 2017, 49-59.
Hartmut Leppin, Christentum und das antike Erbe des Euromediterraneums, in: Michael Meyer-Blanck (Hg.), Christentum und Europa (VWGTh 57), Leipzig 2019, 53-72.
Hartmut Leppin, Early Christians and the Transformation of Recognition, in: M. Kahlos, H. J. Koskinen, R. Palmén (Hg.), Recognition and Religion. Contemporary and Historical Perspectives, London 2019, 71-89.
Hartmut Leppin, The Roman Empire in John of Ephesus' Church History: A Romano-Syriac's Perspective, in: P. van Nuffelen (Hg.), Historiography and Space in Late Antiquity, Cambridge 2019, 113-135. Podcast „Being Roman in Syriac“
Hartmut Leppin, Intellektuelle Autorität unter frühen Christen. Auch zur Frage der Hellenisierung des Christentums, in: P. Gemeinhardt (Hg.), Was ist Bildung in der Vormoderne?, Tübingen 2019, 305-329.
Hartmut Leppin, Zwischen Bekennerstolz und Konsensfindung. Konzile und Konzilstheorie in der Geschichtsschreibung des ausgehenden sechsten Jahrhunderts, in: W. Brandes, A. Hasse-Ungeheuer, H. Leppin (Hg.), Konzilien und kanonisches Recht in Spätantike und frühem Mittelalter (Forschungen zur byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte NF 2), Berlin/Boston 2020, 107-132.
Hartmut Leppin, Heiligkeit und Macht in der Spätantike, in: M. Delgado / V. Leppin (Hg.), Bilder, Heilige und Reliquien. Beiträge zur Christentums- und Religionsgeschichte, Basel 2020, 69-84.
Hartmut Leppin, Creating a City of Believers - Rabbula of Edessa, in A. Lätzer-Lasar, E. R. Urciuoli (Hg.), Urban Religion in Late Antiquity, Berlin 2021, 185-204.
Hartmut Leppin, Ambrosius, Augustinus und die Macht des Seelsorgers, in: D. Reisinger (Hg.), Gefährliche Theologien. Wenn theologische Ansätze Machtmissbrauch legitimieren, Regensburg 2021, 46-57.
Hartmut Leppin, Monotheism and Religious Violence in Antiquity (in Chinese), China Scholarship 15, 2020, 105-121.
Hartmut Leppin, Ern(e)st Stein: Christentum, Nationalitätenkonflikt und Reichszerfall, in: Cl. Ando / M. Formisano (Hg.), The New Late Antiquity. A Gallery of Intellectuals Portraits, Heidelberg 2021, 297-315.
Hartmut Leppin, Finding a Common Cause. Fourth Century Discourses on Rulership, in: Ph. M. Forness / A.Hasse-Ungeheuer / H. Leppin (Hg.), The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Mediterranean World and Neighbouring Regions (Millennium-Studien 92), Berlin/Boston 2021.
Hartmut Leppin, Ambrogio ed Agostino. Idee politiche tra potere e spiritualità, in: E. Ghelfi (Hg.), „Satis episcopaliter me dilexit“. Ambrogio ed Agostino, Mailand 2021, 19-34.
Hartmut Leppin, Euergetismus und christliche Wohltätigkeit. Überlegungen zu ihrem Vergleich, in: A. Müller (Hg.), Wohltätigkeit im antiken und spätantiken Christentum, Löwen 2021, 47-65.
Hartmut Leppin, Normative Ordnung, Exemplarität und Performanz. Das Beispiel Rabbulas von Edessa, in: R. Forst / Kl. Günther (Hg.), Normative Ordnungen, Frankfurt am Main 2021, 355-374 (revised version of Creating a City of Believers).
Hartmut Leppin, The Eastern Roman Empire and its Neighbours in the „Age of Justinian“ – an Overview, in: M. Meier / F. Montinaro (Hg.), A Companion to Procopius, Leiden/Boston 2022 (2021), 9-27.
Kai Preuß, The Emperor's Two Cities: Augustine's Image of the Good Christian Rulerin De civitate Die 5.24, in: Ph. M. Forness, A. Hasse-Ungeheuer, H. Leppin (Hg.), The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Mediterranean World and Neighbouring Regions (Millennium Studies 92), Berlin / Boston 2021, 87-108.
Alexander Weiß, Paulus und die coloniae. Warum der Apostel nicht der einzige römische Bürger unter den frühen Christen war, in: A. D. Baum, D. Häußer, E. L. Rehfeld (Hg.), Der jüdische Messias Jesus und sein jüdischer Apostel Paulus (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament II 425), Tübingen 2016, 341-356.
Alexander Weiß, Christliche versus städtische Identitäten? Ein Heptapolit liest die ‚Sieben Sendschreiben' der Johannes-Apokalypse, in: St. Alkier, H. Leppin (Hg.), Juden, Christen, Heiden? (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament), Tübingen 2018, 253-274.
Alexander Weiß, Sozialgeschichtliche Aspekte der Apostelgeschichte, in: St. Alkier, M. Rydryck (Hg.), Paulus – Das Kapital eines Reisenden. Die Apostelgeschichte als sozialhistorische Quelle (Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 241), Stuttgart 2018, 37-58.
Alexander Weiß, Deissmann und die Unterschichtenthese, in: C. Breytenbach, Ch. Markschies (Hg.), Adolf Deissmann – ein (zu Unrecht) fast vergessener Theologe und Philologe (Novum Testamentum Suppl. 174), Leiden 2018, 170-188.
Alexander Weiß, Politische Ämter und Amtsträger in der Apostelgeschichte, in: Th. Corsten, M. Öhler, J. Verheyden (Hg.), Epigraphy and New Testament (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament), Tübingen 2018, 221-237.
Alexander Weiß, Ein „Ocean von Gelehrsamkeit“: Sir William Mitchell Ramsays Briefe an Adolf von Harnack, Novum Testamentum 60, 2018, 402-439.
Alexander Weiß & Emanuel Zingg, Sir William Mitchell Ramsay and the birth of international epigraphy, Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents Oxford, Newsletter 24, 2019, 4-5.
Alexander Weiß, Christen als Römer – Römer als Christen, Antike Welt 2021/6, 8-12.
Alexander Weiß, Römische Religion, in: Evangelisches Lexikon für Theologie und Gemeinde, 2. Aufl., Bd. 3, 2022 (in print).
Alexander Weiß, Check Your Privilege: Reconsidering the Social Position of Public Slaves in the Cities of the Roman Empire, in: F. Luciani (Hg.), Being Everybody's Slaves. Public Slavery in Ancient and Modern Worlds (Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies), 2022 (in print).
Alexander Weiß, Sklaverei und Religion. In: J. Bremmer, J. Rüpke, G. Petridou (Hg.), Religion in Context. Graeco-Roman Religious Practices in their Socio-Cultural Milieu, in: Der Neue Pauly Supplement, Leiden 2022 (in print).
Critical Editions and Translations
Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev, Commented Translation of the Poetry of Grigor Narekacՙi (945?–1010), in: Anthology Faces of the Infinite: Neoplatonism and Poetics a the Confluence of Africa, Asia and Europe, Online-Publikation der British Academy und SOAS University of London 2018 (in preparation).
Philip M. Forness, 1 Maccabees According to the Syriac Peshiṭta Version with English Translation. The Antioch Bible, Piscataway, NJ 2018.
Philip M. Forness, 2 Maccabees According to the Syriac Peshiṭta Version with English Translation. The Antioch Bible, Piscataway, NJ 2018 (in print).
Philip M. Forness, 3-4 Maccabees According to the Syriac Peshiṭta Version with English Translation. The Antioch Bible, Piscataway, NJ (in preparation).
Philip M. Forness, Jacob of Serugh: The Homily on the Apostle Thomas and the Resurrection of Our Lord (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 691, Scriptores Syri 266) (in print).
The project “Polyphony of Late Antique Christianity“ started work on October 1, 2015 supported by the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation. It explores the diversity of Christianity in Late Antiquity, especially the period from the 4th century until the arrival of Islam. In order to better understand long term processes of development, the analysis includes forms of early Christianity and investigates persistence and transformation of other religious practices in Antiquity.
One core area of our project lies in the exploration of the diversity of Christianity in Late Antiquity from a deliberately historical perspective. In addition to examining different forms of Christianity within the Roman Empire, the project also concentrates on so-called “Oriental Christianities". The principal texts of these Christianities were not written in Latin or Greek, but e.g. in Armenian, Syriac, Georgian, Coptic and ancient Ethiopian languages and their intellectual centers often lay outside of the Roman Empire. Our particular focus is on linguistic, intellectual, religious and political exchanges between Christian cultures both inside and outside the Roman Empire, in order to gain a global and nuanced perspective on the history of late antiquity.
Our second area of research focuses on how to integrate Christianity and its developments in Late Antiquity into a global historical context. Particular attention is paid to the relationship of religion and empire. To what degree does a universal religion support the stability of empires or does it pose a counterbalance? Was tolerance more likely to prevail in an empire due to its diversity? Or did empires in fact promote religious minorities that depended on the goodwill of the ruler?
[Fotos: Croberto68]
Project director:
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin
Research coordination:
Marius Kalfelis M.A.
Dr. Daniel An (Humboldt stipend)
Associate members:
Prof. Dr. Alexander Weiß
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Brandes
Prof. Dr. Annette Warner
PD Dr. Philipp Niewöhner
Dr. Christian Barthel
Dr. Philip Forness
Dr. Kai Preuß
Dr. des. Simone Mehr
Grigori Khislavski, M.A.
Matthias Kuta M.A.
Julia Schwarzer M.A.
Office:
Judith Delombre
Student assistants:
René Gebhardt
Maximilian Mußhoff
Former research staff:
Prof. Dr. Caillan Davenport
Prof. Dr. Luise Marion Frenkel
Prof. Dr. Johannes Wienand
Dr. habil. Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev
Dr. Michael Hanaghan
Dr. Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer
Dr. Meaghan McEvoy
Dr. Simone Pratelli
Omar El Manfalouty M.A.
Alexander Graumann-Kardan M.A.