DFG-Eigene Stellen
Prof. Dr. Stefano Parenti
Stefano Parenti
E-Mail: parenti.stef@gmail.com
Die DFG hat Prof. Dr. Stefano Parenti zum zweiten Mal in Folge eine Eigene Stelle bewilligt. Prof. Parenti, der kürzlich eine monumentale Monographie über "L'anafora di Crisostomo: Testi e contesti" (Münster 2020) vorgelegt hat und seit 2018 am Lehrstuhl für Liturgiewissenschaft an einer "Regional History of the Byzantine Rite" arbeitet, die einen innovativen Beitrag einerseits zur vormodernen Metropolitätsforschung, andererseits zu den Area Studies leistet, gehört zu den weltweit führenden Spezialisten der orientalischen Liturgiewissenschaft. Sein neues Projekt über "A History of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy: The Synaxis of the Word" ergänzt diesen Forschungskontext in idealer Weise und fügt sich insbesondere zu den laufenden Projekten der vier Humboldt-Fellows Dr. Ramez Mikhail, "The Ritual Celebration fo Scripture from Late Antique to Medieval Egypt", Prof. Dr. Gabriel Radle, "The Ritual of an Empire: Life-Cycle Liturgies at Constantinople", Dr. Evan Freeman, "Appropriating the Past: Art, Ritual, and Identity in Later Byzantium" und Dr. Alexandra Nikiforova, "The Triodion between Jerusalem and Constantinople".
Ass.-Prof. DDr. Predrag Bukovec
Predrag Bukovec
E-Mail: predrag.bukovec@ur.de
Die DFG hat Dr. Predrag Bukvoec, PhD, derzeit Ass.-Prof. an der KU Linz, für drei Jahre eine Eigene Stelle für seine Forschung "Zu den Ursprüngen der Taufsalbung" bewilligt. Dr. Bukovec war nach seinen Promotionen zum Dr. theol. und PhD an der Universität Wien Fellow am Centre for Advanced Studies "Beyond Canon_" und habilitiert sich an der Universität Regensburg. Neben Prof. Dr. Stefano Parenti aus Rom (seit 2018) und Dr. Arthur Westwell aus Cambridge (seit 2020) ist er der dritte Forscher, der eine Eigene Stelle der DFG am Lehrstuhl für Liturgiewissenschaft ansiedelt; sein Projekt steht zudem in engem Zusammenhang mit dem Centre for Advanced Studies "Beyond Canon_".
Dr. Arthur Westwell
Arthur Westwell
Raum: PT 4.2.45
Tel.: +49 941 943-7465
E-Mail: arthur.westwell@ur.de
Arthur Westwell is undertaking a research project for three years funded by the DFG entitled "Die Sakramentare aus Saint-Amand als Fallstudie in den Prozessen des liturgischen Wandels im 9. Jahrhundert". He investigates the production of a unique series of deluxe mass books at the monastery of Saint-Amand in north-eastern France, and uses them as examples of the creative and ambitious achievements of compilation in the later Carolingian period. These neglected manuscript witnesses demonstrate how ,monastic scribes innovated in organising knowledge, preserving their liturgical inheritence against the turmoils of the Viking invasions. He has previously work on Carolingian liturgical ordines, and his book Roman Liturgy and Frankish Creativity: The Early Medieval Manuscripts of the Ordines Romani will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.
Dr. Gregory Tucker
Gregory Tucker
E-Mail: gregory.tucker@ur.de
Gregory Tucker is currently working on a project under the title "Hymning the Transfiguration of Christ in the Greek East: Heortology, Thematic Development, and Theological Contributions,” funded for three years by the DFG. Despite the clear historical and contemporary significance of the transfiguration of Christ, its liturgical commemoration in the Eastern Christian world remains little studied and there has been, to date, no systematic investigation of the important and rich corpus of festal hymns. This project fills the identified lacuna in research through a ground-breaking study of the Greek hymns of the feast, including a re-evaluation of the sources for the history of the emergence and development of the feast in the Christian (Byzantine) East, which will provide broader context for the study; the cataloguing, editing, and translation of the corpus of Greek festal hymns; and a theological commentary, exploring the principal themes developed in the hymns in comparison with contemporary sources, including homilies, biblical commentaries, and dogmatic and ascetical treatises. Dr Tucker previously completed his doctoral studies at the University of Regensburg and his dissertation is published as The Hymnography of the Middle Byzantine Ecclesiastic Rite & Its Festal Theology: Introduction–Edition & Translation–Commentary (Aschendorff, 2022).
Dr. Thomas Tops
Thomas Tops
Room: PT 4.1.77
Phone: +49 941 943-1746
Email: thomas.tops@ur.de
Eine sozial-historische Studie des Wahrheit-Sprechens in den Petrus- und Thomasakten
Die frühen Apokryphen Apostelakten des zweiten und dritten Jahrhunderts n. Chr. beschreiben die Reisen der Apostel in fremde Länder. Dorthin wurden sie geschickt um die Wahrheit der Lehren Jesu zu verkündigen. Obwohl ihnen sowohl die jeweilige Staatsbürgerschaft als auch Reichtum und eine angesehene Familie fehlten, werden sie als erfolgreiche Wahrheitssprecher dargestellt. Das Projekt widmet sich einer ersten systematischen Untersuchung von Wahrheit-Sprechen in den Petrus- und Thomasakten. Erstens wird eine Typologie literarischer Darstellungen von Wahrheit-Sprechen des Petrus und Thomas entwickelt. Diese Typologie wird die verschiedenen Arten des Wahrheit-Sprechens, durch die die frühen Christinnen und Christen ihre Identitäten formten, auffächern. Des Weiteren werden diese Tätigkeiten in ihrem philosophischen und rhetorischen Kontext verortet. Zweitens wird erarbeitet, inwiefern die Petrus- und Thomasakten die beiden Apostel als Wahrheitssprecher autorisieren. Ferner wird untersucht, welche sogenannten konstruktiven Diskurse verwendet werden, um Petrus und Thomas als autoritative Wahrheitssprecher darzustellen. In diesem Zusammenhang werden auch sogenannte korrosive Diskurse, durch welche den Gegnern der Apostel die Autorität entzogen wird, erforscht. Im Fokus stehen dabei besonders jene Kriterien, die in diesen konstruktiven und korrosiven Diskursen angewandt werden, um Wahrheit-Sprechen als authentisch oder nicht authentisch zu kategorisieren. Auf Basis dieser Erkenntnisse wird folgendes vertieft: (1) die Beziehung zwischen Wahrheit-Sprechen und Autorität im Frühen Christentum, (2) die diversen Formen der Autorisierung von Wahrheit-Sprechen im Frühen Christentum und (3) die historische Dimension von Wahrheit. Wahrheit realisiert sich in konkreten Praktiken des Wahrheit-Sprechens. Die Authentizität dieser Praktiken wiederum wird an historisch bedingten Kriterien gemessen. Da der Fokus des Projekts auf der performativen Dimension von Wahrheit-Sprechen liegt, wird zusätzlich herausgearbeitet, inwiefern das Wahrheit-Sprechen der Apostel die sozialen Kategorien und Relationen, sowie die Gesellschaft im Allgemeinen prägt. Das Projekt trägt in erster Linien zum Diskurs über das Frühe Christentum bei, indem (i) die politische Dimension der Petrus- und Thomasakten und (ii) die Identitätsformung der frühen Christinnen und Christen beleuchtet werden. Da auch das Wissen über die Geschichte des Wahrheit-Sprechens und darin Fragen der Autorität vertieft werden, leistet das Projekt ebenfalls einen Betrag zu den Diskursen der Kulturwissenschaften. Abschließend kann noch gesagt werden, dass das Projekt äußerst zeitgemäß ist. In einer postfaktischen Welt, in welcher Wahrheit-Sprechen und Fakten stetig infrage gestellt werden, zeigt das Projekt, dass diese Herausforderungen nicht nur ein Phänomen heutiger Zeit darstellen, sondern schon die frühe Christenheit beschäftigt haben.
Dr. Michael Scott Robertson
Michael Scott Robertson
Raum: SG 320
E-Mail: michael-scott.robertson@ur.de
Michael Scott Robertson’s current project, “The Social Locations of the Acts of Titus: How a Minor ‘Apostle’ Influenced the Social Identity of a Big Island,” is funded by the DFG for three years. The Acts of Titus is a document dating from the 5th–8th century CE and originating from the island of Crete. It tells the story of Titus, the descendant of the legendary King Minos and companion of the apostle Paul, and Titus’s exploits while spreading the message of Christ throughout the Mediterranean basin and his founding of the church in Crete. In this text, the scant details of Titus in the canonical New Testament are expanded and combined with native Cretan traditions in order to provide an origin story for the Christian community on Crete. In the canonical New Testament, Titus is one of Paul’s companions (2 Cor 2:13; 7:6–8:23; 12:18; Gal 2:1, 3) and ostensibly Paul’s delegate to Crete after he and Paul made a previous journey to the island (Titus 1:1–5), but there are few other details of this elusive figure. This growth of the story of Titus raises some questions, particularly, how and in what ways did the Titus tradition develop, what are the sources from which the Acts of Titus drew, how did this larger version of Titus’s life affect Crete and the Cretan church, how did this document fit into the larger discussions in the time in which it was written, and in what ways did later authors receive the Acts of Titus? This project will explore these questions using aspects of social memory theory to further our understanding of a largely unexplored trajectory of the development of early Christianity. Dr Robertson completed his doctorate at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, under the supervision of Chris Keith and James Crossley, and published his dissertation as, Reading the Letter to Titus in Light of Crete: Dynamics of Early Christian Identity Construction, Critical Approaches to Early Christianity 3 (Leiden: Brill, 2024).
Dr. Nathan Betz
Nathan Betz
Room: SG 320
Email: nathan.betz@ur.de
Nathan’s current project is called "Revelation’s New Jerusalem in the Age of Imperial Christianity (ca. 313–ca. 600)” / "Das Neue Jerusalem der Apokalypse des Johannes im Zeitalter des imperialen Christentums (ca. 313–ca. 600).” Every great city demands a worthy history. This is not less true for the New Jerusalem described at the conclusion of the New Testament book of Revelation, the resplendent ideal city that has inspired countless theological, artistic, and political developments since it was written at the turn to the second century. From Irenaeus to 16th-century English Puritans, from the so-called Montanists to 19th-century liberal, progressive, and communist leaders, from the fourth-century churches of Rome to the hip-hop group Artifacts, the image has shaped, and at times defined, the course of human events and artistic expression throughout the Christian patrimony.
Much of the early stage of this story, however, has never been told. In this project, Nathan will seek to understand some of the earliest and most fundamental conceptions of this vivid figure as shown in their textual and visual reception, and further to situate them and their rise within the historical conditions that brought them forth in the formative centuries of the Christian imperial age. Building on his previous research, which investigates the very earliest reception of the image during the period of virtually universal acceptance of the book of Revelation (i.e. until ca. 312), this project will illuminate how previously existing theological ideas developed in the larger context of what could be described as imperial Christianity—that is, the late antique political system in which Christianity became a dominant social, cultural, and political factor—from the time of Constantine’s and Licinius’s reforms vis-à-vis Christianity until just after the restoration of the book of Revelation in the Greek East in the sixth century. While Nathan will look to the Greek and Latin textual tradition, he will also investigate both the Syriac textual tradition and the material cultural production—specifically visual art and architecture—in which these three languages were dominant. In the end, this project will illuminate the various significances attached to the image of the New Jerusalem, why and how the image came to be so frequently and lastingly employed in literature, visual art, and political thinking during this period, and how these developments grew out of the preceding period and developed into the period that followed.
This current project, therefore, by picking up where he and others have left off, promises a substantial, vital, and previously unwritten history of the reception of John’s New Jerusalem during the period of the late-antique Roman empire, broadly construed.
Broader research, technology, and network interests
Nathan's principal research interests include the New Testament, New Testament reception (especially the book of Revelation), patristic biblical exegesis, "Jerusalem" as an idea, the Christian doctrine of deification (theosis), and religious mysticism.
Partly due to his professional background (see below), he is a strong proponent of developing synergy in team environments. To that end, he actively leverages technology, social media, and traditional networking approaches to overcome traditional academic barriers and foster exceptionally fruitful and open research collaboration.
A founder and participant in several well-known networks, he co-founded the Revelation Reception Network and Seminar This network provides a broad, interdisciplinary group of international scholars with seminars, collaborations, and opportunities relevant to the long and fascinating reception of John's Apocalypse.
Professional background
Prior to re-entering the academy, Nathan pursued a career in advertising, creative direction, and marketing consulting. During that time, he provided well-known corporate brands and universities with strategic communications solutions using a combination of digital, social, and traditional media. Drawing on this experience, Nathan is an active promotor of digital technology to solve persistent problems and shortcomings in humanities scholarship.
Further information and CV
For Nathan’s fuller research profile and publication record, please visit his ORCiD page here: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6852-333X
Prof. Dr. Arsenius Mikhail
DFG-EIGENE STELLE 2025-2028
Arsenius Mikhail
E-Mail: arsenius.mikhail@actslibrary.org
A Digital Catalogue and Historical Analysis of Manuscripts of the Bohairic Coptic Euchologion
The liturgical book known as the Euchologion is the most important witness to the liturgical practices of Egypt’s Coptic Christians. It contains the prayers recited by the bishop or priest in the celebration of the Eucharist, the central religious activity of the Church, and one that represents a mirror of the religious, cultural, and social history of Christianity in Egypt. The overall goal of this project is to prepare a digital catalogue database of the Bohairic manuscripts of the Northern Egyptian Euchologion (ca. 13th–early 20th centuries) preserved in ten major locations worldwide. The database will be hosted on the open-access Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR), managed by the long-term project “Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament,” conducted at the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. The project will also lay the groundwork for additional smaller collections of Coptic Euchologia to be catalogued and added to the database in the future. This digital catalogue will lay a reliable foundation for the study of Coptic liturgy as well as serve as an indispensable reference tool for any scholar of History, Religion, and/or Liturgical Studies interested in Coptic worship, thus filling this significant scientific gap. Attention to contents of the Euchologion and their order as well as the choice of optional prayers will also facilitate the development of a typology of Coptic Euchologia based on these textual features, which can be analyzed in terms of the regional and diachronic evolution of Coptic liturgical practice in medieval Egypt. This analysis will appear in a series of seminal articles to be written during the course of the project.
Anna Kleist - 18.11.2024 10:55 
