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Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church VI 'Politics and Religion'

This conference focuses on aspects of the temporal and spiritual concerns of the Early Church and their expression in private and public prayer, liturgy, art, music and the life of early Christians generally. It will be of interest to theologians, liturgists and historians, and to scholars and students of spirituality, asceticism and monasticism. Homiletics, poetry and hymnography as expressions of the life of the Early Church also form an important part of this focus.

Sessions are planned not only on the influence of the major christological and trinitarian debates in the East and of Augustine and the Western tradition, but also on the spiritual issues which emerged in traditions such as the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Georgian and Syrian. In addition, contributions on the spiritual heritage of the Early Church as manifested in later centuries are welcome.

Within the overall scope of the conference, papers are invited in areas such as: art, liturgy and devotional practices; asceticism; the bible; dogmatics; dreams; visions and philosophy; exegesis and homiletics; methods of prayer; monasticism; moral life; mysticism, and popular religiosity.

The language of the conference will be English, but papers may be delivered in any major language. Conditional upon their acceptance by a board of internationally selected referees, papers will be published after the conference.

Date & Location

  • Date: 7-10 July 2010
  • Location: St Patrick's Campus, ACU
  • St Patrick's Campus, Melbourne
  • 115 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, Victoria

Brochure & Registration

Keynote Speakers

  • Professor Sarah Coakley
    Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity
    Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge, England
  • Professor Hal Drake
    Department of History
    University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Professor Sean Freyne
    Director of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus Professor of Theology
    Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland

Further Enquiries