CONFERENCE ON PAGAN MONOTHEISM: Peter Van Nuffelen e-mails the following call for papers:

University of Exeter
Department of Classics and Ancient History

Pagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire (1st-4th cent. AD)
Conference at Exeter, 17-20 July 2006

The publication of the volume Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity (eds. P. Athanassiadi – M. Frede, Oxford, 1999), in which pagan monotheism was presented as a major religious force in Late Antiquity, has led to an extensive debate on the definition and role of pagan monotheism in Late Antique society.

As part of an AHRB-funded research project concerned with the cultural and intellectual context of pagan monotheism in the Roman empire, directed by Professor Stephen Mitchell, the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter is staging a conference in July 2006. The aim is to examine pagan monotheism as a religious phenomenon and to place it in its social, political and cultural context. The focus will both be on philosophical and literary texts, and on the evidence derived from epigraphy, archaeology and material culture. The conference will also examine the various strands of monotheistic ideas and practices, and the way that these interact with other diverse religious developments in the Roman empire up to the fourth century.

The conference will address six themes:

• questions of definition and terminology
  
  
• archaeology, epigraphy, and material culture
  
  
• the intellectual basis of pagan monotheism
  
  
• monotheism, politics and social order
  
  
• monotheism and religious pluralism
  
  
• interaction among pagans, Christians and Jews

We invite papers of about 20 minutes in length, which address one of these issues. We welcome in particular contributions which offer new evidence for pagan monotheism and related phenomena, as well as detailed analyses of the contexts in which pagan monotheism must be seen. Please send proposals for papers (length 200 words) by 30 September 2005. Conference booking will begin in October 2005. It is expected that the cost of accommodation (3 nights, full-board) will be in the range £200-250.

More information can be found on the website: http://www.ex.ac.uk/classics/news/index.htm

For further information, please contact Dr Peter van Nuffelen, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Exeter, Queen’s Building, Exeter EX4 4QH; p.e.r.van-nuffelen@ex.ac.uk