24. – 26. June 2024 in Bern

Some impressions of the conference:

Monday, 24.06.2024, UniS 

17:15: Public evening lecture by Heinrich Detering (Göttingen)Rollende Sphären: Biografisches Erzählen zwischen sakralen und säkularen Narrativen 

Tuesday, 25.06.2024, Haus der Universität 

09:00-09:30: Biographically Grounded Literature (Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Travis R. Niles, Stefano De Feo, David Staub)

I. Ancient Literature 

09:30-10:15: Formen biographischer Darstellungsweise in der antiken Literaturgeschichte (Martin Hose, LMU München) 

10:15-10:45: Coffee Break 

10:45–11:15: Virtue, Fortune, and Divine Intervention in Plutarch’s Aemilius – Timoleon (Geert Roskam, KU Leuven) 

11:15–11:45: “Such is Human Life” (Charon 19): Biographically Grounded Forms in Lucian (Travis Niles, Universität Bern) 

11:45–12:15: “It Resembled an Act of Providence (πρόνοια), Though it Came about by Chance (τύχη)” (Lucian, Alexander 60): The Language of the Divine in Plutarch and Lucian of Samosata. (Stefano De Feo, Universität Bern) 

12:15–13:00: Discussion 

13:00–14:15: Lunch Break in the Haus der Universität

II. Authority Figures 

14:15-15:00: Divine and/or Human? Biography and the Construction of Philosophical Authority Figures in Imperial Times (Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler, Georg-August Universität Göttingen) 

15:00-15:30: Pythagoras the Messenger from the Gods (Johan Thom, Stellenbosch University)  

15:30-16:00: Coffee Break 

16:00-16:30: Socrates’s Biography in the Imperial School Praxis (Athanasios Despotis, Universität Bonn) 

16:30-17:00: The Many Lives of Hermes Trismegistos (Zlatko Pleše, UNC Chapel Hill)  

17:00-17:45: Discussion 

17:45-18:15: Jesus the Debutant: First Public Appearances in Ancient Biographies and Mark’s Gospel (Kasper Bro Larsen, Aarhus Universitet) 

Wednesday, 26.06.2024, Berghaus Niesen 

07:07h: Departure from Bern Central Station, Platform 7
08:30h: Arrival on the top of Mt. Niesen, including coffee 

III. Second Temple Judaism 

09:00-09:45: When a Human is not the Measure of All Things: God and Humans in Second Temple Judaism (Gregory Sterling, Yale) 

09:45-10:15: Between Human and Divine: Philo’s Biography of Moses in a Roman Context (Maren Niehoff, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) 

10:15-10:45: Resonating Highlights, Highlighting Resonances: Biographical Aspects in the Remembrance of Solomon (Nancy Rahn, Universität Bern) 

10:45-11:15: Coffee Break 

11:15–11:45: Eve as Exemplar in the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (Jack Levison, SMU Dallas) 

11:45–12:30: Discussion 

12:30–13:30: Lunch Break at the Berghaus 

IV. New Testament and Early Christian Literature 

13:30–14:15: Die Jesusvita als Gottesgeschichte. die Reden der Apostelgeschichte als Schlüssel zum Lukasevangelium (Reinhard Feldmeier, Georg-August Universität Göttingen) 

14:15–14:45: Biographische Formate in der neutestamentlichen Briefliteratur (Samuel Vollenweider, Universität Zürich) 

14:45–15:15: Lives of the Apostles or Foundation Narratives? (Tobias Nicklas, Universität Regensburg) 

15:15–15:45: Discussion 

15:45–16:15: Coffee Break 

V. Wirkungsgeschichte  

16:15–16:45: In Erwartung der Zerstörung. Nonnenbiographien für die Posteriorität (Angela Berlis, Universität Bern) 

16:45–17:15: Handel’s Messiah: The Biography of a Theological Idea (Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Universität Bern/Benjamin Hartmann, Salzburg) 

17:15–17:45: The Tree of Jesse: Genealogy and God’s Work in Theological and Iconographical Representations (Georgiana Huian, Universität Bern) 

17:45–18:15: Discussion 

18:15–18:45: Concluding Reflections and Prospects for Future Research

Invited Discussants: Christoph Riedweg and Benjamin Schliesser

Return to Bern

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