The present volume brings together talks given at an international conference held at the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva. Strongly interdisciplinary, the authors explore a fresh problem in the study of the origins of Christianity and of the New Testament, namely the social relevance of remembering in Early Christianity and its role in the discourses and practices of the first believers.
Bringing together thirteen talks given at the international conference »Memory and Memories in Early Christianity«, held at the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva in June 2016, this interdisciplinary volume explores a fresh problem in the study of the origins of Christianity and of the New Testament, namely the »work of memory« undertaken in the discourses and practices of the believers in Jesus. The studies collected here not only apply a heuristic analytical tool - »social memory theory« - to the literature and history of Christian beginnings, but also endeavour to show the socio-religious resonance of this »work of memory« in the language and ideology of the early believers. The historical Jesus, the Pauline writings, the Gospel of John, the Acts of the Apostles, Marcion, ancient Christian epistolography, Hegesippus, Irenaeus, etc. are explored by some of the world's top specialists in »social memory studies« as applied to Christian origins.
Table of contents:
Simon Butticaz/Enrico Norelli: Introduction
I. Memory Studies and Nascent Christianity: Challenges, Approaches and Problems Sandra Huebenthal: »Frozen Moments« - Early Christianity through the Lens of
Social Memory Theory -
Adriana Destro/Mauro Pesce: Remembering and Writing: Their Substantial Differences -
Jens Schröter: Memory and Memories in Early Christianity: The Remembered Jesus as a Test Case
II. Memory, Authority and Modalities (Personal, Ritual, Textual, etc.) Simon Butticaz: The Transformation of »Collective Memory« in Early Christianity as Reflected in the Letters of Paul -
Judith M. Lieu: Letters and the Construction of Early Christian Memory -
Christoph Markschies: Erinnerungen bei Irenaeus an Figuren des apostolischen und nachapostolischen Zeitalters
III. Memory, Identity and the Construction of Origins Daniel Marguerat: De Jésus à Paul : l'invention du christianisme dans les Actes des apȏtres -
Claudio Zamagni: Reinventing Christian Origins: Competing Conceptions in the Christianity of the Second Century -
Enrico Norelli: La construction polémique des origines chrétiennes par Marcion -
Cecilia Antonelli: La construction de la mémoire des »origines« par Hégésippe chez Eusèbe à travers deux modèles en dialogue: Jérusalem et la famille de Jésus, Corinthe et Rome et ses apôtres et disciples
IV. Early Christianity, Memory and Theology Jörg Frey: The Gospel of John as a Narrative Memory of Jesus -
Andreas Dettwiler: Erinnerung und Identität - Erwägungen zur Pragmatik und Theologie des Kolosser- und Epheserbriefes -
Jean Zumstein: La mémoire créatrice des premiers chrétiens
