Programme and Presentations
Tuesday 25/9
9:00–10:35 1. Block: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Religious and Philosophical Conversion. Chair: Hermut Löhr (Bonn)
Welcome by the Dean
9:05–9:50 Keynote lecture: Contemporary Models of Conversion and Identity Transformation, Pierre-Yves Brandt (Université de Lausanne) PPPresentation
9:50–10:35 Keynote lecture: Conversion to Early Christianity: In-Sights from Cognitive Psychology, Rikard Roitto (Stockholm School of Theology) PPPresentation
Coffee Break
11:05–12:40 2. Block: Conversion in the Hebrew Bible. Chair: Udo Rüterswörden (Bonn)
11:05–11:30 The Problematic Return of Ruth, Karl-Heinrich Ostmeyer (TU Dortmund). Handout+PPP
11:30–11:55 Perspectives on Conversion in the Book of Job and the Testament of Job, Michael C. Legaspi (PennState, College of the Liberal Arts)
11:55–12:40 Keynote lecture: A Conversion of the Inner Being? The Philology of Shuv in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond, David Lambert (University of North Carolina)
Lunch Break
14:30–16:05 3. Block: Second Temple Judaism – Qumran and the OT Apocrypha. Chair: Michael Legaspi (Penn State)
14:30–15:15 Keynote lecture: Conversion within Second Temple Judaism?, Hermut Löhr (Universität Bonn)
15:15–15:40: Confession of Sins as Essential Part of a Conversion, Kerstin Böhm (Institut für Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, Wien)
15:40–16:05: ‘To Make Tešuḇā’ (תשובה לעשות): “Turning” in Tannaitic Literature, Francesco Zanella (Dölger-Institut, Universität Bonn/ Universität Hamburg) PPPresentation
Coffee Break
16:30–18:05 4. Block: Conversion in Hellenistic Mysteries. Chair: Jeffrey Ulrich (Rutgers University, New Jersey)
16:30–17:15: Keynote lecture: Back to a Classic Debate: Conversion and Salvation in Ancient Mystery Cults?, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui (Universidad Complutense Madrid) Handout
17:15–17:40: Strategies of Conversion in the Pseudo-Orphic Hieros Logos: A Cognitive Approach, Anna Lucia Furlan (King's College London)
17:40–18:05: Can an Ass Convert? Lucius' Prayer to Isis as the Beginning of his Self-Transformation in Apuleius' Metamorphoses, Compared to Augustine's Theory of Grace, Friedemann Drews (Universität Münster)
Visit to the Metropolitan Church Agia Trias & Dinner
(Only for speakers and staff)
Wednesday 26/9
8:30–10:30 5. Block: Philosophical Conversion. Chair: Pierre-Yves Brandt (Lausanne)
8:30–9:15: Keynote lecture: Stoic Conversion and Philosophical Paideia: Conceptual Difficulties and Thematic Affinities, Natacha Bustos (Universidad del Rosario) Handout
9:15–9:40: The Origins of Conversion in Pagan Texts of the Second Sophistic, Jeffrey Ulrich (Rutgers University, New Jersey) PPPresentation
9:40–10:05: Conversion to Philosophy in Diogenes Laertius: Forms and Functions, Sergi Grau (ICAC - University of Barcelona) Handout
10:05–10:30: ‘The Awake and Sober Man’: A Key Motif in the Rhetoric of Conversion of Hellenistic Stoicism, Sharon Padilla (Universität Bonn) Handout
Coffee Break
11:00–13:00 6. Block: Conversion in Paul and the Synoptics. Chair: Günter Röhser (Bonn)
11:00–11:45: Keynote lecture: 'Consider yourselves dead' (Rom 6:11): Biographical Re-construction, Conversion, and the Death of the Self in Romans, Stephen Chester (North Park University, Chicago) Handout
11:45–12:10: Christ in the Eye of the Beholder: A Re-reading of Pauline Charis in the Autobiographical Conversion Narratives of Galatians 1 and 1 Corinthians 15, J. LaRae Ferguson (University College, Oxford) Handout
12:10–12:35: Is there Conversion in the Synoptic Gospels? A “Problemanzeige“, Phillip Andrew Davis (Universität Bonn) Handout
12:35–13:00 μετανοεῖτε· Dimensions of Conversion in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, Raul Heimann (FU Berlin) Handout
Lunch Break
14:45–16:05 7. Block: Christian Pseudepigrapha. Chair: Alexander Angelov (Williamsburg, VA )
14:45–15:15: Keynote lecture: The Elect/Election Concepts and Their Relationship to Conversion/Penitence Experiences in Christian Pseudepigrapha, Kelley Coblentz-Bautch (St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas)
15:15–15:40: Predestined for Conversion? Reconsidering Heracleon’s “Valentinian” Reading of John, Carl Johan Berglund (Uppsala University) Handout
15:40–16:05: Conversion from Physic to Pneumatic and vice versa: Moving in and out of a Gnostic Community, Elena Sol Jimenez (University of Cantabria) PPPresentation
Excursion to the medieval city Bad Münstereifel (Prospect)
(Guided city tour and dinner; only for speakers and staff)
Thursday 27/9
9:00–10:55 8. Block: Conversion in the New Testament and Early Christianity. Chair: Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui (Madrid)
9:00–9:45: Keynote lecture: Religious and Philosophical Conversion in Paul and John, Athanasios Despotis (Universität Bonn) PPPresentation
9:45–10:10: Narrating the Conversion of Corinth. Luke’s Approach to Community Conversions, Daniel Alberto Ayuch (University of Balamand – Lebanon) PPPresentation
10:10–10:35 The Narratives of Conversions in the Acts of the Apostles in the Exegetical Writings of John Chrysostom, Fr. Konstantin Papathanasiou (University of Athens) Handout
10:35–11:00: The Relationship between Almsgiving and Conversion for the New Testament Αuthors, Matthew N. Williams (Durham University) PPPresentation
Coffee Break
11:30–13:05 9. Block: Conversion in Late Antiquity. Chair: Athanasios Despotis (Bonn)
11:30–12:15: Keynote lecture: The Question of Origen's Conversion and the Philosophico-Theological Lexicon of Epistrophē, Ilaria Ramelli (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan) Handout
12:15–12:40: Law and Conversion in St. Augustine: Improving the Current Model, Steven Firmin (Pembroke College, University of Oxford) Handout
12:40–13:05: Conversion from Byzantium: From Neoplatonism to the Cultural Politics of the Enlightenment, Alexander Angelov (The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA)
Conclusions 13:05–13:30
Farewell lunch
