Lived Religiousness in Antiquity

Call For Papers: At the 2021 meeting, we plan to have three sessions. Two of these have been carried over from 2020, one of which will address the question: Does it make sense to distinguish between “Christian” and “pagan”? This session seeks to problematize the distinction regularly drawn in scholarship between “Christian” and “pagan” (or: “gentile,” “Roman”) persons, texts, practices, images, etc. Questions for reflection include: (a) How do scholars decide if a text is “Christian” or not? Is a shopping list or business letter written by a baptized person a “Christian” document? If a person who rejects traditional claims about Jesus writes a story about him, is that a “Christian” text? (b) How does one decide if a practice is “Christian”? If a baptized person is a vegetarian, does that make his or her avoidance of meat a “Christian” practice? If someone participates in a ritual in honor of Jesus only once a year, is that person a “Christian”? Is the practice “Christian”? (c) Does it make sense to discuss criteria that would define which ancient persons, texts, practices, images, etc., should be considered “Christian” for scholarly purposes? If not, what are some alternative approaches for determining which practices, texts, etc., are “worthy of scholarly attention” for those whose work ostensibly concerns “early Christianity”? We welcome additional proposals on this topic, as well as for an open session on “Lived Religiousness.” Papers should be well-developed and theoretically sophisticated.

Program Unit Chairs

Propose a Paper for this Program Unit

Questions About Membership?

• Call 866-727-9955 Toll Free in the US
• Call 404-727-9498 Outside the US
• Fax us at 404-727-2419
• Email us at sblservices@sbl-site.org