Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Title: Studying Jesus and early Christians in modern times: New perspectives & methods
Unit Description:
Since
the
late
15th
century
several
different
historical
factors
influenced
the
research
of
the
Christian
past
and
the
analysis
of
the
figure
of
Jesus.
The
increasing
refinement
of
philology
fueled
by
Humanism
and
the
study
of
ancient
texts
proved
to
be
relevant
in
readdressing
theological
questions
concerning
the
nature
of
early
Christianity.
The
Reformation
set
forth
a
religious
conflict
that
rekindled
ancient
polemics
and,
in
turn,
the
study
of
antiquity.
The
search
for
the
most
authentic
religious
experience
of
Jesus
and
the
Christian
community
became
one
of
the
most
relevant
topic
of
different
religious
groups.
Thanks
to
technological
innovations
such
as
the
rise
of
print
and
the
amelioration
of
communication
infrastructures,
ideas
and
texts
circulated
widely
both
in
print
and
manuscripts
disseminating
new
representations
of
Jesus
and
the
early
Christianity.
As
a
result
of
the
inception
of
new
science
and
the
discoveries
linked
to
the
age
of
exploration,
new
notions
of
religion
appeared
and
greatly
influenced
the
understanding
of
the
history
Christianity.
Furthermore,
we
wish
to
break
the
scholarly
periodization
which
separates
the
early
modern
and
the
modern
period,
aiming
to
connect
them
in
order
to
assess
when
and
how
new
notions
about
the
study
of
Jesus
emerged
and
how
they
accordingly
changed
in
relations
to
the
rise
of
different
epistemological
paradigms.
This
unit
will
include
some
invited
papers,
as
well
as
some
selected
from
submissions
to
the
call
for
papers.