2014 NAPS
Pre-Conference Workshop 2: “Religion and Medicine, Health, Healing, Disease, and Disability in Late Antiquity.” Chairs: Heidi Marx-Wolf, University of Manitoba, and Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College.
Session 15: “The Role of Medicine and Health in the Making of Christian Subjects.” Organizers: Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College, and Heidi Marx-Wolf, University of Manitoba. Chair: Kristi Upson-Saia.
Phillip Webster, University of Pennsylvania:
“Diagnose and Heal: The Sick Soul in Clement of Alexandria”David Woodington, University of Notre Dame:
“Healing the Empire: The Rhetoric of Disease in Maternus”Allison Ralph, Catholic University of America:
“Constantine and Coercion for the Health of Society”
Session 44: “Medicalizing the Early Christian Body and Soul.” Organizers: Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College, and Heidi Marx-Wolf, University of Manitoba. Chair: Maria Doerfler, Duke Divinity School.
Heidi Marx-Wolf, University of Manitoba:
“Porphyry and Galen on the Ensoulment of Embryos: Religion, Medicine, andPhilosophy in Late Antiquity”Wendy Mayer, Australian Catholic University:
“Chrysostom’s Last Word on Treating the Soul”Jessica Wright, Princeton University:
“Mental and Affective Disorders in Fourth-Century Medicine
and Theology”Liza Anderson, Yale University:
“Mysticism and Medicine in John of Apamea”
Session 73: “Evaluating Physical Deformities, Illness, Suffering, and Death.” Organizers: Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College, and Heidi Marx-Wolf, University of Manitoba. Chair: Scott Johnson, Dumbarton Oaks and Georgetown University.
Kayla Reish, Wheaton College:
“‘The Lame Run into the Church’: Cyprian and Disabilities”Peter Anthony Mena, Drew University:
“Suffering Saintliness: The Ailing Body and the Desert Community”Ellen Muehlberger, University of Michigan:
“Learning to Die: Jacob of Sarug on the Experience of Death”
2016 NAPS
Pre-Conference Workshop 1: “Religion and Medicine, Disability, and Health in Late Antiquity.” Chairs: Heidi Marx-Wolf, University of Manitoba, and Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College.
Session 1E: “Problems in Ancient Biography: The Construction of Professional Identity in Late Antiquity, I.” Chair: Heidi Marx-Wolf, University of Manitoba.
Elizabeth DePalma Defeser, University of California, Santa Barbara:
“The Other in Fragments: Arguments with Silence”Ilaria Ramelli, Catholic University; Angelicum; Oxford University:
“The Construction of the Professional Identity of Origen of Alexandria and the Question of Which Origen”Aaron Johnson, Lee University:
“Unprofessional Identities in Porphyry’s Biographies of Philosophers”
Session 4E: “Religion and Medicine, Disability, and Health in Late Antiquity, I.” Chair: Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College.
Anna Rebecca Solevåg, Providence College:
“Judas’ Deserving DisabilityGeoffery Smith, University of Texas at Austin
“Metaphor and Meaning in Tertullian’s Scorpiace”Ashley Edewaard, University of Notre Dame:
“The Faculties of Foods: Clement of Alexandria and Hippocrates’
On Affections”Sarah Moravsik, The Catholic University of America:
“Nutrition and Angelic Intervention in Medical Treatment: Origen’s Contra Celsum 8:24-32 and Philocalia 12”
Session 6E: “Religion and Medicine, Disability, and Health in Late Antiquity, II.” Chair: Heidi Marx-Wolf, University of Manitoba.
Jared Secord, University of Chicago:
“The Celibate Athlete: Christian and Medical Perspectives on Abstinence from Sex in the Second and Third Centuries”Marianne Djuth, Canisius College:
“The Cure of the Body in Augustine’s Early Works”Jessica Wright, Princeton University:
“Preaching Phrenitis: The Medicalization of Religious Difference in Augustine’s Sermons”(NAPS 2016 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize Awardee)
Christiaan Kappes, SS Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary:
“The medical terminology and embryological background underlying John Damascene’s doctrine of the Prepurification of Mary at the Annunciation and Incarnation”
Session 7E: “Religion and Medicine, Disability, and Health in Late Antiquity, III.” Chair: Jessica Wright, Princeton University.
Niki Clements, Rice University:
“Demons, Depression, and the Dangers of Naps: Depathologizing Akedia with John Cassian”Thomas Arentzen, University of Oslo:
“Deformed Bodies in Late Ancient Hymns”John Penniman, Bucknell University:
“St. Gregory and the Broken Bones: Eucharist as Bodily Remedy in the Catechetical Oration”
2017 NAPS
Pre-Conference Workshop 1: “ReMeDHe Pedagogy Workshop: Teaching Medicine and Religion in Late Antiquity.” Chairs: Jared Secord, Washington State University; Jessica Wright, University of Southern California; and Kristi Upson-Saia, Occidental College.
Session 6D: “Religion, Medicine, Disability, Health and Healing in Late Antiquity I: Intersections between Asceticism and Medicine in Late Ancient Christianity.” Chair: Stefan Hodges-Kluck, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Jonathan Zecher, University of Houston:
“‘Does medicine agree with the aims of piety?’: Toward a Re-evaluation of Ascetic Ambivalence to Medicine”Elisa Groff, University of Exeter:
“Out of Sight Out of Mind: Asceticism as Medical Treatment for Hypersexual Disorders in St Mary of Egypt”Heidi Marx-Wolf / Heather Penner, University of Manitoba:
“Suppurative Wounds and Necrotic Limbs: from Ancient Medical Discourse to Christian Hagiography”Chris De Wet, University of South Africa:
“God’s Askēsis: Medical and Cultural Discourses of Old Age in Early Christian Literature”
Session 7D: “Religion, Medicine, Disability, Health and Healing in Late Antiquity II: Early Christian Psychagogy and Care of the Soul.” Chair: Maria Doerfler, Yale University.
Wendy Mayer, Australian Lutheran College, University of Divinity:
“John Chrysostom, Neuroscience and the Jews”Naoki Kamimura, Tokyo Gakugei University:
“Tertullian’s Approach to Medicine and the Care of Souls”Junghun Bae, Australian Catholic University:
“Fear, Hope and Almsgiving: Revisiting John Chrysostom’s Approach to Redemptive Almsgiving”Jessica Wright, University of Southern California:
“The Brain is the Treasury of the Marrow: Medicine and Economy in Theodoret of Cyrrhus”
Session 10E: “Religion, Medicine, Disability, Health and Healing in Late Antiquity III: Religion, Medicine, Health and Disability in Early Christianity.” Chair: Mark Anderson, California State University, San Bernardino.
Ashley Edewaard, University of Notre Dame:
“Combative Digestion and Clement of Alexandria’s Rationale for
Moderate Eating”Candace Buckner, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:
“Made in an Imperfect Image: Ethnicity, Disability, and Infirmity in the Life of Aphou”Andrew Langford, University of Chicago Divinity School:
“Cauterized Conscience: Medical Metaphor and Medical Practice in Historical Perspective”
2017 SBL
Book Review and Discussion of Moss and Baden’s Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness and Melcher, Parsons and Yong’s Disability and the Bible: a Commentary.
Laura Zucconi, Stockton University, Presiding
Hector Avalos, Iowa State University, Panelist
Jeremy Schipper, Temple University, Panelist
Candida Moss, University of Birmingham, Panelist
Joel Baden, Yale University, Panelist
Anna Rebecca Solevåg, VID Specialized University, Panelist
Noah Buchholz, Princeton Theological Seminary, Panelist
David Watson, United Theological Seminary, Panelist
Research Collaboration: Dissertation Prospectus Round Table Discussion.
Julia Lillis, Duke University, Presiding
Candida Moss, University of Birmingham, Presiding
David A. Schones, Southern Methodist University:
Toward a Hermeneutic of Reproduction: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:10 from a Disability Social Scientific Perspective
Tag(s): Disability Studies (Interpretive Approaches), Gender and Sexuality Criticism (incl. Feminist, Womanist, Masculinity Studies, Queer Theory) (Interpretive Approaches), Former Prophets – 1-2 Samuel (Biblical Literature – Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint))
Laurel Taylor, Eden Theological Seminary, Respondent
Tara Baldrick-Morrone, Florida State University:
The Conception of the Past: Twentieth-Century American Reimaginings of Abortion in AntiquityTag(s): History of Interpretation (Interpretive Approaches)
Bernadette Brooten, Brandeis University, Respondent
Session 20: Healthcare and Disability in the Ancient World.
Andrew Crislip, Virginia Commonwealth University, Presiding
Matthew D Niemi, Indiana University (Bloomington):
Touching the Tsinnor: New Images of David as Merciful ShofetTag(s): Former Prophets – 1-2 Samuel (Biblical Literature – Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Comparative Approaches (Interpretive Approaches), Historical Criticism (Interpretive Approaches)
Ilona Rashkow, Stony Brook University:
“I Am the Lord Who Heals You”: Health and Healing in Ancient IsraelTag(s): Ancient Near East (History & Culture), Hebrew Bible (Ideology & Theology)
Ken Holder, Brite Divinity:
The Surrogate Victim as Evidenced in Diseased Persons in the New TestamentTag(s): Disability Studies (Interpretive Approaches), Ethical Approaches (Interpretive Approaches), Imperial-critical (empire studies) (Interpretive Approaches)
Andrew M. Langford, University of Chicago:
The Curious Case of the Cauterized Conscience: Pathology and Polemic in 1 TimothyTag(s): Pauline Epistles – 1 Timothy (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Disability Studies (Interpretive Approaches)
Charles J. Schmidt, Rice University:
The Physiology of Salvation: The Use of Medical Theories in Simonian, Naassene, and Peratic Constructions of the Human BodyTag(s): Comparative Approaches (Interpretive Approaches), Historical Criticism (Interpretive Approaches), Greece and Hellenism (History & Culture)
2018 NAPS
Pre-Conference Workshop: “ReMeDHe Pedagogy Workshop: Publishing Panel.” Chairs: Heidi Marx and Wendy Mayer.
Session 2C: “Religion, Medicine, Disability, Health and Healing in Late Antiquity (ReMeDHe).” Chair: Mark Anderson, California State University San Bernardino
Candace Buckner, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill:
“Double-Blindness: Race, Disability, and Conversion in the Life of Aaron”(NAPS 2018 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize Awardee)
Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen, University of Wales Trinity Saint David:
“Marketing the Martyr: A Tale of Two Stephens”Myrick Shinall, Vanderbilt University:
“Basil’s Hospital and the Conflation of Poverty and Illness”Shulamit Shinnar, Columbia University:
“The Etiology of Illness and Late Antique Rabbinic Public Health Practices: Discourse on Skin Afflictions in Leviticus Rabbah”
Session 4E: “ReMeDHe II.” Chair: Chris De Wet, University of South Africa
Anne Kreps, University of Oregon:
“Who Knew Healthcare Could Be So Complicated? Ancient Medicine and the Formation of Christian Heresy”Helen Rhee, Westmont College:
“Christian Paideia: The Therapeia for Greek Madness in Theodoret of Cyrrhus”Ulrich Volp, Mainz University:
“Steps of Mourning and the Intelligence of Emotions: Observations on Fourth-Century Christian Funeral Orations”Jessica Wright, University of Southern California:
“Animal Models for the Human Brain: Negotiating Comparative Anatomy in Arguments for Divine Providence”
2019 SBL
Book Review Panel of Candida R. Moss, Divine Bodies: Resurrecting Perfection in the New Testament and Early Christianity.
Brenda Ihssen, Pacific Lutheran University, Presiding
Christoph Markschies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin – Humboldt University of Berlin, Panelist
Laura Zucconi, Stockton University, Panelist
Hector Avalos, Iowa State University, Panelist
Candida Moss, University of Birmingham, Panelist
Session: “Senses, Cultures, and Biblical Worlds / Healthcare and Disability in the Ancient World / Violence and Representations of Violence in Antiquity.”
Dominika Kurek-Chomycz, Liverpool Hope University, Presiding
Andrew M. Langford, University of Oregon:
“They pierced themselves with many pains”: Pain Experience and the Rhetoric of Self-Harm in 1 TimothyTag(s): Pauline Epistles – 1 Timothy (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Disability Studies, (Interpretive Approaches), Greco-Roman Literature (Greco-Roman Literature)
Erin Galgay Walsh, Duke University:
Giving Voice to Pain: Poetic Representations of the Hemorrhaging WomanTag(s): Ancient Near East – Late Antiquity (History & Culture), Syriac (Philology / Linguistics (incl.Semiotics)), Gender and Sexuality Criticism (incl. Feminist, Womanist, Masculinity Studies, Queer Theory) (Interpretive Approaches)
Jonathan L Zecher, Australian Catholic University:
Hermeneutics of Mental Pain and the Organization of Emotions in Late Antique AsceticismTag(s): Early Christian Literature (Early Christian Literature – Other), History of Christianity (History & Culture), Christian (Ideology & Theology)
Helen Rhee, Westmont College:
Pain’s Sharability and Sociality in the Writings of Gregory Nazianzen and AugustineTag(s): 1 Esdras (Biblical Literature – Deuterocanonical Works)
Lennart Lehmhaus, Freie Universität Berlin
Talmudic Torment: Jewish Discourse on Pain and Suffering between Medicine and MartyrdomTag(s): Jewish (Ideology & Theology), Babylonian Talmud (Early Jewish Literature – Rabbinic Literature), Early Christian Literature (Early Christian Literature – Other)
Work In Progress Workshop: Healthcare and Disability in the Ancient World.
Julia Lillis, Union Theological Seminary, Presiding
Timothy Hyun, Faith International University and Seminary:
Job’s Dialogic Body and DisabilityTag(s): Writings – Job (Biblical Literature – Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint))
Rebecca Raphael, Respondent
Christopher Stanley, Saint Bonaventure University:
Paul and Asklepios: The Greco-Roman Quest for Healing and the Mission of PaulTag(s): Pauline Epistles (Biblical Literature – New Testament), Historical Criticism (Interpretive Approaches), Hellenistic Period (History & Culture)
John Penniman, Bucknell University, Respondent
Session: Healing and Disability in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East
Anna Rebecca Solevåg, VID Specialized University, Presiding
Ilona Rashkow SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook University:
Medicine in the Ancient Near East: “Magic” and Religious Healing (Asu, Ashipu, and God/gods)Tag(s): Ancient Near East (History & Culture), Hebrew Bible / Old Testament / Greek OT (Septuagint) (Biblical Literature – Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint))
Kirsty Jones, Georgetown University:
Looking, Lusting, Loving: Samson’s Sight and BlindnessTag(s): Disability Studies (Interpretive Approaches), Literary Criticism (incl. poetics, new criticism, formalism, close reading, narratology) (Interpretive Approaches)
Seonghyun Choi, Yale Divinity School:
The Language of Hearing and Seeing in 1 Samuel 1–3: Understanding DisabilityTag(s): Disability Studies (Interpretive Approaches)
Mihi Yang, Sookmyung Womens University:
Comparison between Hezekiah’s and Ancient Syriac-Mesopotamian’s HealingTag(s): Latter Prophets – Isaiah (Biblical Literature – Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint)), Ancient Near East (History & Culture), Assyrian Akkadian (Ancient Near Eastern Literature – Region)
LaToya M. Leary, Florida State University:
Disability, Masculinity, and Access in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish TextsTag(s): Disability Studies (Interpretive Approaches), Rabbinic Literature (Early Jewish Literature – Rabbinic Literature), Hebrew Bible / Old Testament / Greek OT (Septuagint) (Biblical Literature – Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Greek OT (Septuagint))
Session: Healthcare and Disability in Early Christianity
Chris de Wet, University of South Africa, Presiding
Tara Baldrick-Morrone, Florida State University:
Lost to the Bosom of the Church: Abortion as Differentiation and Slander in Ancient Christian TextsTag(s): Early Christian Literature (Early Christian Literature – Other)
Jenn Strawbridge, University of Oxford:
The Missing Dimensions of Sightlessness in New Testament StudiesTag(s): New Testament (Ideology & Theology), Disability Studies (Interpretive Approaches)
Andrew Crislip, Virginia Commonwealth University:
Pain and Emotion in Early ChristianityTag(s): Early Christian Literature (Early Christian Literature – Other)
2019 Oxford
Session: “Ordering Knowledge and Modes of Knowing in Ascetic Theory and Practice.” Chair: Jonathan Zecher; Discussant: N/A.
Julien Delhez: The Bible, the Monastic Fathers, and the Road towards Wisdom: Transmission and organisation of knowledge in Shenoute’s Canons
Piwowarczyk Przemyslaw: Modes of knowing among Coptic monks of Western Thebes
Matthew Hale: Meaning, Self-Transcendence, and Conversion in St. Maximus the Confessor’s Account of Theoria
Eric Lopez: Ascetic Knowledge and Anagogical Knowing in Maximus the Confessor
Inbar Graiver: The Late Antique Roots of Introspection: Producing and Ordering Psychological Knowledge in Monastic Communities
Jonathan Zecher: Byzantine Monastic Anthologies and the Organization of Tradition
Session: “Disability Discourse, Embodiment, and Healing: Intersecting Christian Antiquity and Modern Health Care (1).” Chair: Susan Holman; Discussant: Brenda Llewellyn-Ihssen. (two sessions)
Candace Buckner: A Healing Vision: Elements of the Greco-Roman Miraculous Healing Tradition in the Coptic Life of Onnophrius
Kylie Crabbe: Disability, economic hardship, and mercy: The multilayered story of a father and his sons in the Acts of John
Elisa Groff: To Be, or Not to Be Sterile: that is a Question of Wellbeing in the Sixth Century AD
Anna Rebecca Solevåg: Medical Metaphors in Ignatius’ Letters
Respondent: Andrew Crislip
Session: “Disability Discourse (2)”
Helen Rhee: Pain at the Intersection of Ancient Medicine and Early Christianity: Paradox of Agency and Insharability
Susan Holman: Shaping Water: Public Health and the ‘Medicine of Mortality’ in Late Antiquity
Chris de Wet: Medical Discourse, Identity Formation, and Otherness in Late Ancient Christianity
Respondent: Brenda Llewellyn-Ihssen
