Religious Competition in Late Antiquity

Call For Papers: The first session, “Theorizing Forms of Competition in Galatians,” examines how Paul’s letter describes an attack against his apostleship stemming from a new gospel that competes with his own. We invite papers that apply methodological approaches that highlight competitive discourses over community formation, conversion, Jewish law, and other ritual praxes in Galatians. We aim to explore how competition between the diverse socio-cultural realia of ancient Mediterranean religions shaped this epistle. Contributors should analyze how ritual, social, cognitive, or other theories elucidate intersections between parallel religious and philosophical communities. For the second session, “Utopian Myth-Making and Social Formation,” (co-sponsored by the Bible, Myth, and Myth Theory unit), we invite proposals on how religious and philosophical communities imagine their ideal communities. How did various religious communities generate utopian myths, competing for “correct” interpretations and contesting alternatives? How were such utopian ideals applied in actual communities? We seek papers that cover a range of methodologies (e.g. textual and literary criticisms, philology, social and anthropological theories). The third and fourth sessions will be dedicated to the “fate” of the vessels associated with the First and Second Jerusalem Temples (e.g. ark of the covenant, menorah). The papers will examine how they concretize religious expression, foster connections between otherwise distant peoples, embody memories, and served as media for competing claims over the biblical past. The third session, “Loss and Recovery of Temple Vessels in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East,” invites papers (open call) on the literary and ideological roles of the vessels within their biblical and ancient near eastern contexts. The fourth session, “The Temple Vessels in Late Antique Religious Competition,” will consist of invited papers on late-antique Jewish and Christian sources.

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