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‘Social-Scientific Criticism’ now serves in New Testament
studies as an umbrella term for a variety of critical approaches to early
Christianity, which include cultural anthropology, social identity theory, social
history, ancient and modern media studies, memory theories, human geography,
ancient and modern politics, race theory, trauma studies, and others. This conference gathers leading scholars to discuss the progress of the scholarly discourse from
initial applications to the current state, as well as offer
thoughts about the future.
8.00–9.00 Registration
9.00–9.10 Welcome
9.10–9.20 Introduction to
the Conference (Chris Keith)
Session 1: Theoretical Origins and Texts
9.20–9.50 ‘From Honour and
Shame to Theorizing Christian Origins’ (John Kloppenborg)
9.50–10.20 ‘Competitive Textualization
in the Jesus Tradition’ (Chris Keith)
10.20–10.50 ‘The Letter to Titus
as a Site of Memory’ (Michael Scott Robertson)
10.50–11.20 coffee and tea break
Session 2: Violence and Identity
11.20–12.10 ‘Violence as Social
Currency in Early Christianity’ (Sarah Rollens)
12.10–12.40 ‘The Death of John
the Baptist and the Sociology of Beheading in the Ancient World’ (Nathan Shedd)
12.40–1.00 Open Discussion
1.00–2.00 Lunch
Session 3: Space and Language
2.00–2.40 ‘Diverse Futures of Social-Scientific
Criticism of the New Testament: Affective, Spatial, Cognitive, and Digital
Turns’ (Louise J. Lawrence)
2.40–3.20 ‘Apocalyptic Language in the New Testament:
Can Cognitive Linguistics
Help?’ (Jamie Davies)
3.20–3.40 coffee and tea
break
Session 4: Ethnicity, Race, and Ideology
3.40–4.10 ‘Whose Race Needs
to be Noted? Further Reflections on Whiteness and Biblical Studies’ (David
Horrell)
4.40–5.10 ‘Social-Scientific
Criticism and the Bible: Investigating Ideological Trend’ (Taylor Weaver)
5.10–5.30 coffee and tea
break
Session 5: Politics and Social-Scientific Criticism
5.30–6.00 Keynote
Address: ‘Cults, Martyrs, and Good
Samaritans’ (James Crossley)
6.00–6.20 Respondent:
Hannah Strømmen
6.20–6.40 Respondent: Yvonne Sherwood
6.40–7.00 Discussion
7.00 supper at La
Dolce Vita for those who have reserved a place, otherwise the St Mary’s dining
room will be open
