6-9 July 2015

Session Title:

Ascetic Conversion and Ascetic Networks in Late Antiquity

Abstract:

This session employs social network analysis to investigate the most innovative renewal of Christian lifestyle in late antiquity: conversion to asceticism. How did social networks of ascetics contribute to the spread of the concept? In what ways were late antique ascetic communities shaped by their members’ social networks, also beyond ascetic circles? And in turn, how did individual ascetics’ networks shape relationships with the ‘outside’ world and the social significance of ascetic communities? Paper a) looks at the role social networks of individuals played in the construction and wider impact of one of the most influential ascetic communities in the late antique West, the monastery at Lerins; Paper b) investigates how their social and intellectual networks influenced the experiences and opportunities of late antique female ascetics; Paper c) explores the role ascetic networks played in the collaboration between late antique state authorities and ascetic communities to ensure religious conformity.

Moderator/Chair: Jamie Wood, School of History & Heritage, University of Lincoln

Paper -a

Brothers in Prayers: The Monastic Network of Lerins, 410-450 (Language: English)
Speaker: David Natal Villazala, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Abteilung Byzanzforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien

Paper -b

‘Like a safe tower on a steady rock’: Wives and Mothers in the Ascetic Networks of Late Antiquity (Language: English)
Speaker: Veronika Wieser, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien

Paper -c

Forced Ascetic Conversion and Ascetic Networks in Late Antiquity (Language: English)
Speaker: Julia Hillner

Session Time: Tue. 07 July – 16.30-18.00