IMC 2023: Sessions

Session 613: Entanglements in Antioch: Religious and Cultural Intersections in the 4th and 5th Centuries

Tuesday 4 July 2023, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:	Studies in Late Antiquity
Organiser:	Darlene Brooks Hedstrom, Department of History, Wittenberg University, Ohio
Moderator/Chair:	Nicola Ernst, School of Historical & Philosophical Inquiry, University of Queensland
Paper 613-a	More than a Metaphor?: Julian and Himerius on the Cult of Paideia (Language: English) Jeremy J. Swist, Department of Classical Studies, Brandeis University, Massachusetts Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Education, Pagan Religions, Philosophy
Paper 613-b	Straight from the Golden Mouth: Negotiating between Antiochene Christians and Roman Christian Authorities (Language: English) Andrea Scardina, Department of Religious Studies, University of Iowa Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Ecclesiastical History, Religious Life, Sermons and Preaching
Paper 613-c	The Enemy You Know: Polemic, Instruction, and Apology in Theodoret of Cyrrhus' Episcopate (Language: English) Peter Gerard Miller, Department of Classics, University of Iowa Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Ecclesiastical History, Sermons and Preaching, Theology
Abstract	Late antique Antioch oversaw significant flashpoints in the history of entanglements between religious identity, Hellenism, and Roman authority. This panel offers three vignettes within one century of that history. The first plumbs the depths to which pagans, like Julian and the sophist Himerius, guarded Hellenic paideia exclusive to themselves. The second examines how one of Julian's most strident critics, John Chrysostom, worked to bring Antiochenes into alignment with imperial Christianity using the rhetoric of fear and salvation. The third traces how Theodoret of Cyrrhus advocated for imperial orthodoxy at Antioch with appeals to orthodoxy, pious practice, and self-defence.