Apocryphicity

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is mere days away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register BY E-MAIL as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE).

Lily Vuong, "Ordinary or Extraordinary? The Reception of the Protevangelium of James in the History of the Blessed Virgin Mary"

Lily Vuong is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Valdosta State University. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto (H.B.A.) and graduate studies at Wilfrid Laurier University (M.A.) and McMaster University (Ph.D.). Before joining the faculty at VSU, she spent time as a Visiting Scholar at Claremont Graduate University’s School of Religion, Institute for Antiquity and Christianity and the Women’s Studies in Religion Program and served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at UCLA's Center for the Study of Religion. Her area of study is in Early Christianity with a special interest in New Testament Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal writings. Gender studies have also played an important role in her research, especially in terms of its construction and interpretation in early Christian literature.

Other topics of interest include the relationships between Judaism, Christianity, and Greco-Roman culture, the formation of Jewish and Christian identities in Late Antiquity, religious competition in the third century, the place of non-canonical …

The keynote address for this year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium takes place Friday, September 27 from 8 to 9:30pm. As with all other sessions at the Symposium, the address will take place in the Renaissance Room at Vanier College. There is no charge to attend the keynote address and all are welcome to attend. If you wish to participate further in the Symposium, there is still time to register (by email only). For information see the Symposium's web page (HERE).

Annette Yoshiko Reed, "The Afterlives of Christian Apocrypha”

Annette Yoshiko Reed (BA McGill; MTS Harvard; MA, PhD Princeton University) is M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Assistant Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches in the Department of Religious Studies, Program in Jewish Studies, and Graduate Group in Ancient History. Her research crosses and connects Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, and Late Antiquity. Her publications include Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity (2005) and over forty articles, as well as four edited volumes—most recently, Jews, Christians, and the Roman Empire (2013).

At the center of Reed's research are so-called “Old Testament Pseudepigrapha” and “Christian Apocrypha”—writings which are non-canonical in the modern West but which were often influential in premodern cultures, especially in shaping ideas about the biblical past. She has attempted to understand these texts both by analyzing their redacted forms and by tracing their reception, translation, and reinterpretation by later readers. Her studies of 1 Enoch and Jubilees, …

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is less than a week away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register BY E-MAIL as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE).

Mary Dzon, “‘All the (Good) News That’s Fit to Print?’ Early Printings of Apocryphal Texts”

Mary Dzon is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee where she teaches courses on medieval literature and specializes in Medieval Latin and Middle English religious literature. Besides medieval piety, she is interested in medieval romances and legends (especially those based upon the Bible and the apocrypha), medieval conceptualizations of the lifecycle, gender and the body, as well as visual and manuscript studies. Her numerous publications include “Jesus and the Birds in Medieval Abrahamic Traditions,” Traditio 66 (2011): 189-230; “Boys Will Be Boys: The Physiology of Childhood and the Apocryphal Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages,” Viator 42.1 (2011): 179-225; and editor (with Theresa Kenney) of The Christ Child in Medieval Culture: Alpha es et O! (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012); and most recently, “Out of Egypt, Into England: Tales of the Good Thief for Medieval English Audiences,” forthcoming in “Diuerse Imaginaciouns of Cristes Life”: Devotional Culture in England and Beyond, 1300-1560, ed. Stephen Kelly and Ryan Perry (Brepols, 2013).

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is less than a week away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register BY E-MAIL as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE).

A visiting Associate professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, Nicola Denzey Lewis is the author of The Bone Gatherers: The Lost Worlds of Early Christian Women (Boston: Beacon, 2007), Introduction to ‘Gnosticism’: Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), and Cosmology and Fate in Gnosticism and Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Under Pitiless Skies (Leiden: Brill, 2013), in addition to several articles on the ancient world. Having received her Ph.D from Princeton University, Nicola Denzey Lewis's research interests include the social and intellectual contexts of the ancient world, particularly the intersection of early Christianity and the Roman Empire from the first to the fourth century CE, with particular focus on the social history of women in antiquity, and death in ancient Rome. Her work is interdisciplinary, incorporating methods and insights from Religious Studies, Classics, History, Art History and Archaeology.

For those people still trying to decide whether or not to attend this year's Christian Apocrypha Symposium at York (or what papers to drop in for), here is what should be the final programme for the event.

All sessions take place in the Renaissance Room, basement level of Vanier College.

Friday, September 27
9:00-9:15 Introductions
Tony Burke (York University) and Brent Landau (University of Texas)

9:15-11:30 Session 1: Christian Apocrypha in the 21st Century
Chair: Tony Burke (York University)

Jean-Michel Roessli (Concordia University), “North American Approaches to the Study of the Christian Apocrypha on the World Stage”
Pierluigi Piovanelli (University of Ottawa), “Trajectories through Early Christianity and Late Antiquity: The longue durée of Christian Memorial Traditions in American Scholarship”
Brent Landau (University of Texas), “The ‘Harvard School’ of the Christian Apocrypha”
Charles Hedrick (Missouri State University), “Excavating Museums: From Bible Thumping to Fishing in the Stream of Western Civilization.”

11:30-1:00 Lunch

1:00-3:00 Session 2: Special Topics 1 ~ New Frontiers in Christian Apocrypha Studies
Chair: Brent Landau (University of Texas)

Cornelia Horn (Catholic University of America), “Jesus at School among Christians, Jews, and Muslims."
Nicola Denzey Lewis (Brown University), “Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, Apocrypha: Bridging Disciplinary Divides”
Lee Martin McDonald (Institute for Biblical Research), “Debating Canon Formation: Why and Where Scholars Disagree”
Lorenzo DiTommaso (Concordia University), Response

3:00-3:30 Break

3:30-5:30 Session 3: Special Topics 2 ~ The Apocryphal Jesus—A Reassessment
Chair: Nicola Denzey Lewis (Brown University)

Stephen Patterson (Willamette University), “The Apocryphal Gospels and North American Historical Jesus Research”
Respondents: John

…

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is just over a week away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register BY E-MAIL as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE).

Jean-Michel Roessli, “North American Approaches to the Study of the Christian Apocrypha on the World Stage”
 
Jean-Michel Roessli is an Associate Professor of historical theology in the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia University, Montreal. His interests lie in the Jewish and Christian appropriation of pagan culture (Orpheus, the Sibyls), Christian apocryphal literature—particularly the Sibylline Oracles and their reception throughout the centuries—as well as the history of Christian thought and doctrine. 
For a few years now, he has been a member of the AELAC (Association pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne), contributing to the group particularly as the coordinator and a co-director of their paperback series “Apocryphes,” and as a member of the editorial board of Apocrypha: International Journal for Apocryphal Literature. He is also as member of the editorial board for the Laval théologique et philosophique, and of Memini: Travaux et Documents, the journal of the “Société d’études médiévales du Québec (SÉMQ).
 
Roessli’s most recent publications include: “Alexandrie, berceau de la poésie sibylline juive et chrétienne,” in G. Dorival – A. …

One of the panels at this year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium features a reassessment of North American scholarship's use of the Christian Apocrypha for studying the Historical Jesus. The panel features Stephen Patterson, well-known for his work on the Gospel of Thomas, with responses from Mark Goodacre and John Kloppenborg. This particular session takes place Friday, September 27 from 3:30-5:30. For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE).

Stephen J. Patterson, “The Apocryphal Gospels and North American Historical Jesus Research”
Stephen J. Patterson is the George H. Atkinson Chair in Religious Studies at Willamette University (Salem, Oregon). His most recent monograph, Beyond the Passion: Rethinking the Death and Life of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 2004), discusses the death and resurrection of Jesus, held by many Christians to be the central event which gives meaning to Jesus’ ministry. Patterson is also the author of The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus (Sonoma, Calif.: Polebridge, 1993) as well as The God of Jesus: The Historical Jesus and the Search for Meaning (Philadelphia: Trinity, 1998). He has co-edited several works on the figure of Jesus, and has contributed over 50 articles and reviews to scholarly journals and critical volumes.

Patterson observes that scholars are divided over the importance of non-canonical texts. “For some, the rediscovery of Christian Apocrypha in our generation has meant a complete change in our approach to the historical Jesus question. For others, it has changed nothing,” he says. A Fulbright scholar, Patterson received his PhD from Claremont Graduate …

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is now only two weeks away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE).

David Eastman, “Confused Traditions? Peter and Paul in the Apocryphal Acts”

David Eastman teaches courses in New Testament, Christian history, and western religions in the Department of Religion and the Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at Ohio Wesleyan University. A graduate of Yale University (PhD, M.Phil, M.A.), his first book, Paul the Martyr: The Cult of the Apostle in the Latin West (Brill, 2011) was on the early Christian veneration of the apostle Paul.

In addition to his work on Paul, he is interested in the ancient Christian cult of the saints and contemporary portrayals of antiquity in popular media (especially Jesus films). He is currently working on two book projects: one on the ancient Greek, Latin, and Syriac accounts of the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul, and another on the formation of early Christian identity in Rome. He serves on the Society of Biblical Literature’s Career Development Committee, the program committee for the Society of Ancient Mediterranean Religions, and is the Book Review Editor for the Journal of Early Christian Studies.

“My study of these texts comes …

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is now only three weeks away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE).

Kristian S Heal,  “Digital Humanities and the Textual Critic: Resources, Prospects and Problems”

Kristian Heal is Director of the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts at Brigham Young University. His work is divided between doing digital humanities and studying the reception of Genesis in the Syriac tradition. He hopes to bring these two interests together in a future project. Recent publications include the first English translation of the Syriac History of Joseph (in the forthcoming collection Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures), and the article “Corpora, eLibraries and Databases: Locating Syriac Studies in the 21st Century” (Hugoye 12.1, Winter 2012; available here). Current projects include a critical edition of the Syriac History of Joseph, to be published with translation and commentary, along with the Arabic, Latin, and Ethiopic

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is now only three weeks away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE). 

Mark Glen Bilby, “Backstories of the Bandits: The Emergence, Submersion and Re-emergence of the Cult of Dysmas”

Mark Bilby is Lecturer of Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, where he teaches courses in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. His PhD dissertation (University of Virginia), forthcoming (Nov. 2013) in the Brepols series Cahiers de Biblia Patristica, is entitled As the bandit will I confess you: Luke 23, 39-43 in early Christian interpretation. It comprises the first book-length, critical investigation of the early reception history of this Lucan story about the two co-crucified criminals. Bilby has contributed an introduction and translation of a Byzantine story (BHG 2119y) about the so-called Good Thief, Dysmas, to the More Christian Apocrypha project.

Bilby is also the author of the forthcoming (2014) Luke through the Centuries in the Blackwell Bible Commentary series. He is contributing various articles to the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception that deal with the reception history of Luke, including apocryphal legends about Luke the Evangelist. His other scholarly interests include patristic homililes, historical exchanges and inter-faith dialogue …

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is now only six weeks away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's web page (HERE). 

F. Stanley Jones, “The Distinctive Sayings of Jesus Shared by Justin and the Pseudo-Clementines”

F. Stanley Jones is Professor of Religion at California State University (Long Beach, California). A scholar of Jewish Christianity, his research focuses on the Pseudo-Clementines, writings which purport to relate Clement of Rome’s travels in the Mediterranean and his conversion to Christianity. Jones has suggested a third-century Syrian provenance for the Pseudo-Clementines. His views on the texts are reflected in An Ancient Jewish Christian Source on the History of Christianity: Pseudo-Clementine “Recognitions” 1.27-71 (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars, 1995) and his recently-published collection of essays entitled, Pseudoclementina Elchasaiticaque inter Judaeochristiana: Collected Studies (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 203; Leuven: Peeters, 2012)

“The apocrypha fill in and fill out aspects of the biblical stories in ingenious ways that reflect astonishing depths in ancient Christian imagination and thought,” Jones says. “Once you have read and appreciated these accounts, it is impossible to interact with the Bible again without recalling the details of these writings.” Considered the foremost scholar of the Pseudo-Clementines, Jones received his PhD from …

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is now only seven weeks away (September 26–28, 2013). If you are interested in attending, please register as soon as possible (remember, it's free for students, but you should register if you want to receive the papers ahead of time). For more information, see the Symposium's spiffy new web page (HERE).

Stephen Shoemaker, “The Tiburtine Sibyl, the Last Emperor, and the Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition”

Stephen Shoemaker is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon. He is the author of The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad’s Life and the Beginnings of Islam (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012) and The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption (Oxford University Press, 2002), which analyses over 60 Marian narratives, some of which are translated into English here for the first time.

While he is primarily interested in apocryphal traditions of the Virgin Mary, Shoemaker’s current research focuses on non-canonical apocalyptic narratives and their historical contexts. “I’ve recently become interested in certain apocryphal apocalypses from late antiquity that envision eschatology in terms of imperial conquest,” he says, highlighting one text, the Tiburtine Sybil, as an example of this worldview. “This text envisions an impending end of the world that will be accomplished through the triumph of the Roman Empire and the Emperor’s surrender of authority to God in Jerusalem. In the medieval period it was one …

This year's York Christian Apocrypha Symposium, “Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier: The Christian Apocrypha in North American Perspectives,” is only a few months away (September 26–28, 2013; mark your calendars). In the weeks leading up to the event, I will be posting here and on the the Symposium web page short profiles of the conference participants. For more information, see the Symposium web page (HERE).

Lorenzo DiTommaso

Lorenzo DiTommaso is Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion at Concordia University in Montréal. He specialises in the study of apocalypticism, from the book of Daniel to contemporary popular culture. In the field of Christian Apocrypha, he has published several studies on late antique and mediaeval Christian apocalyptic literature and on the transmission of the ancient Jewish "pseudepigrapha" in Christian contexts. For the 2013 York Symposium, Professor DiTommaso will respond to the papers in the session on "New Frontiers in Christian Apocrypha Studies."