Christian Apocrypha at SBL 2025
The 2025 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature runs from November 22 to 25 in Boston. The following is a list of all the sessions and individual presentations that focus on Christian Apocrypha.
1. Christian Apocrypha Sessions
S22-235 The Apocrypha of Symeon Metaphrastes, Part 1 (1:00 PM to 3:30 PM)
In the tenth century, Symeon Metaphrastes created an expansive menologion collecting lives of saints for reading in the monasteries. Symeon’s menologion is a mix of rewritten and newly-written texts. Fifteen of them focus on the lives of apostles and other first-century figures. The goal of the Apocrypha of Symeon Metaphrastes Project is to prepare English translations of this corpus for a volume to be published in 2027. Leading up to that publication, contributors to the project will present their preliminary work at the SBL in 2025 and 2026 and at a workshop to be hosted by the Beyond Canon Project in Regensburg in the summer of 2026. The first set of presentations are the following:
“The Byzantine Rewriter Symeon Metaphrastes and the Apocrypha of Symeon Metaphrastes Project” by Christian Høgel, Lunds universitet
Hypomnema on John, Son of Zebedee (ECCA 191; CANT 221), by Janet Spittler, University of Virginia
Martyrdom of Longinus the Centurion (ECCA 730), by Nathan Hardy and Kelly Holob, University of Chicago
Hypomnema on Timothy (ECCA 928; CANT 296), by Scott Robertson, Projekt Beyond Canon, Universität Regensburg
Hypomnema on Matthew (ECCA 768; CANT 271), by Tony Burke, York University
S 22-307 Christian Apocrypha Section and Religious World of Late Antiquity Section (4:00 PM to 6:30 PM)
Theme: Christian Apocrypha and Local Cult in Late Antiquity
Megan Nutzman, Ohio State University, Presiding
Troy Hillman, Boston University: “From Relic to Ritual: The Jesus-Abgar Tradition and the Cultic Reception of Apocryphal Texts.”
Blake Leyerle, The University of Notre Dame: “In the Shoes of Abgar: Egeria in Edessa.”
Jonah Bissell, Boston University: “Michael as Naturengel: Ecology and Angel Cults in Mediterranean Antiquity.”
Alexey Somov, Institute for Bible Translation, Moscow, Russia: “The Martyrdom of Daniel and the Three Youths and the Development of the Cult of the Three Youths in Alexandria.”
Katharina Heyden, University of Bern: “The Cultic Context of the Testament of Abraham.”
S23-135 Christian Apocrypha Section: Open Session 2 (9:00 AM to 11:30 AM)
Addie Harrington, University Texas at Austin, Presiding
Ciara Mulcahy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: “‘Johannine Discourse’ in Late Antiquity: The Acts of John by Prochorus as a Johannine Text.”
Christian Vrangbæk, Aarhus University: “Unveiling the Unknown: Character Knowledge and Narrative Ambiguity in the Acts of John.”
Florence Gantenbein, University of Zurich: “Revisiting Drusiana: The Role of Elite Christian Women in Second Century Ephesos.”
Michael Kok, Morling College, Perth Campus: “The Title of the Gospel of the Ebionites.”
Acacia Chan, The University of Texas at Austin: “To Affinity and Beyond: An Ethnographic Approach to Interdisciplinary Dialogue between Christian Apocrypha and Fanfiction Studies.”
S24-229 Christian Apocrypha Section: Open Session 1 (1:00 PM to 3:30 PM)
Chance Bonar, Tufts University, Presider
Slavomír Céplö, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences: “New Witnesses to the Arabic Infancy Gospel of Thomas and New Philology.”
Lanie Walkup, Baylor University: “Who’s Your Pater? Parentage, Education, and Origins in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.”
Ursula Ulrike Kaiser, Universität Jena: “The Protevangelium of James as ‘Narrated’ on an Antique Column in Venice.”
Jacob Lollar, Durham University: “The Acts of Thomas and the Old Syriac Gospels: Reconsidering the Sinai Palimpsest.”
Thomas J. Kraus, University of Zürich, Switzerland/University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa: “Would the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up? Is Nero Really the Arch-villain in Acta Petri, Acta Pauli, and Their Literary Continuations.”
2. Additional Sessions
S22-131 Pseudo-Clementines and Philosophy with Jewish Christianity / Christian Judaism (9:00 AM to 11:30 AM)
Invited Guest Panel: Pseudo-Clementines and Philosophy
Nicole Kelley, Florida State University: “The Pseudo-Clementines between Constantine and Julian.”
Dominique Côté, Ottawa University/Université d’Ottawa: “Peter and Porphyry on Demons and Images.”
Elsa Giovanna Simonetti, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris: “Annihilation over Eternal Damnation: Soteriology and Divine Justice in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies.”
Gio DiRusso, Harvard University: “How Mattidia Became a Philosopher: Adaptations of Jewish-Christian Narratives from the Pseudo-Clementines in Response to Islam”
Benjamin De Vos, Ghent University: “Simon Magus and the Public Eye: Religion, Politics, and the Sophistic in the Greek Pseudo-Clementines.”
S23-223 Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section: Open Session (1:00 PM to 3:30 PM)
Pamela Mullins Reaves, Colorado College, Presiding
Max Bergamo, Yale University / University of Padua: “Between Silence and Logos: Heraclitus in the Thunder–Perfect Intellect (Nag Hammadi Codex VI,2).”
Philippe Therrien, Université Laval: “Interpreting the Specificities of the Long Version of the Secret Book of John (NH II, 1; IV, 1).”
Nathan Houstin, Loyola University Chicago: “Daddy Trouble in Paradise: Joseph the Demiurgic Carpenter and Father in the Gospel of Philip.”
S23-315 Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section: Heresiologists and Apocrypha (4:00 PM to 6:30 PM)
Pamela Mullins Reaves, Colorado College, Presider
Hugo Lundhaug, University of Oslo: “Modifying the Biblical Storyworld in Egypt: The Nag Hammadi Codices and the History of Coptic Apocrypha.”
S24-118 Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section (9:00 AM to 11:30 AM)
Theme: Manichaeism
Geoffrey Smith, University of Texas at Austin, Presider
Timothy Pettipiece, Carleton University: “Competing Portraits: Hagiographic Polymorphy in Early Manichaean.”
Paul Dilley, University of Iowa: “Odysseus the Manichaean: Sailing to Alexandria, or, the Land of Light.”
Jason BeDuhn, Northern Arizona University: “Maiden(s) of Light: The Divine Feminine in Manichaean Myth and Worship.”
3. Individual Papers of Interest in Other Sessions
S22-142 Connecting John: Intertextualities, Contexts, Reception Section (9:00 AM to 11:30 AM)
Brent Landau, University of Texas at Austin: “Light of the World: The Gospel of John in the Apocryphal Revelation of the Magi.”
S22-319 Interrelations of the Gospels Section (4:00 PM to 6:30 PM)
Fabio Caruso, Loyola University Chicago: “Pontius Pilate: A Story of Reception; From the Canonical Gospels to the Apocryphal Texts.”
S22-348 Pseudepigrapha Section (4:00 PM to 6:30 PM)
Theme: Women, Scribes, Priests, and Prophets
Angela Standhartinger, University of Marburg: “‘Including Not a Few Greek Women of High Standing’ (Acts 17:12): Gender, Class, Status, and Religion in Joseph and Aseneth and the Acts of Thecla.”
S23-136 Ancient Fiction and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative Section (9:00 AM to 11:30 AM)
Triantafillos Kantartzis, Ludwig-Maximillians university of Munich: “The Return of the Minor Characters: Focalization, Fan Fiction, and Narrative Reframing in the Acta Pilati.”
Benjamin De Vos, Ghent University: “Orchestrating Philosophical Drama: Strategies of Truth-Telling and Fiction in Recognitions VIII.”
S23-139 Archaeology of Religion in the Roman World Section (9:00 AM to 11:30 AM)
Theme: Problematizing “Christianization” in Rough Cilicia and Isauria
M. Thomas, University of California, Santa Barbara, Presider
Katherine Taronas, University of Texas at Austin: “The Çirga Casket and the ‘Apostles’ of Cilicia: Commemorating Christianization as Process.”
Günder Varinlio?lu, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University: “Pilgrimage and the Christianization of Isaurian Islands: Thecla, Barnabas, Panteleimon, Theodore, et alii at Work.”
S23-214 Ethiopic Bible and Literature Section (1:00 PM to 3:30 PM)
Phillip Smith, University of Cambridge: “A Critical Edition of the Greek/Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter.”
S23-230 Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible Section (1:00 PM to 3:30 PM)
Brigid Dwyer, Drew University: “Because Licked Cupcakes are Unworthy of Life: Thomas 114, Mary Magdalene, and the Abjection of the Feminine.”
S24-232 Corpus Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti (1:00 PM to 3:30 PM)
Theme: Please Recycle! Ancient Intertextuality in the New Testament, Christian Apocrypha, and Beyond
Teresa Morgan, Yale Divinity School, Presider
Michael Cover, Marquette University: “‘And the Sheep Will Be Turned into Wolves’ (Did. 16.3): Metamorphosis and Conversion in the Didache’s Little Apocalypse.”
Jacob Ferrier, New York University: “The Disruption of Ecclesiastes’s Cosmology in the Vision of Joseph in the Protevangelium of James.”