Speaker, Mark Sheridan, O.S.B., professor and rector emeritus of the Pontificio Ateneo Sant' Anselmo, Rome

Wednesday, 30 October 2024

5:00 p.m.

The Eighth Annual Bellet Lecture will be delivered by Father Mark Sheridan.

Lecture Title: "The Arabic Translation of the Encomium of John of Lycopolis by Constantine of Assiut"

Abstract: As Sebastien Lenain de Tillemont observed over three centuries ago, among all the solitary saints in Egypt “there is after St.Antony no one whose renown is greater than that of St. John of Lycopolis” (Tillemont 1732, vol. 10: 9). Tillemont also observed that, besides the principal accounts of John of Lykopolis found in the Historia Monachorum and in Palladius’ Historia Lausiaca, information regarding him or knowledge of him was to be found in the works of Sulpicius Severus, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, John Cassian, and the Apophthegmata. On the basis of these sources he attempted to give an integrated account of the life of John. Since the time of Tillemont, much progress has been made in sorting out these various sources and their interconnection with one another. But other lives have also come to light, including a life by Constantine of Assiut in Arabic. This lecture will highlight one such manuscript of this life and discuss hundreds of other Arabic manuscripts which are translations of Coptic originals or original works in Arabic and which remain unpublished.

Location: McInerney Auditorium (Father O'Connell Hall)

Buffet dinner in the Craves Family Alumni Center immediately following the lecture

Please RSVP at: https://forms.gle/X4WLTbSEATmH3H3k6

This event is free and open to the public.

To request disability accommodations, contact cua-semitics@cua.edu or 202-319-5084.

 

Speaker, Dr. Christian Askeland, Museum of the Bible

Wednesday, 25 October 2023 5pm

Caldwell Auditorium, Caldwell Hall

Fakes, Forgeries and Felonies: Cautionary tales related to Greek and Coptic Papyri

Coptic is the new Greek, and the only thing more exciting than a sensational Coptic manuscript… is a forged or stolen Coptic manuscript. This lecture will explore some recent and sensational instances in which ancient material culture has attracted international attention from media outlets and legal authorities.

A buffet dinner will follow the lecture.

Please RSVP here.

To request disability accommodations, contact cua-semitics@cua.edu or 202-319-5084.
Open to the public and free.

Speaker, Prof. David Brakke, The Ohio State University

Wednesday, 9 November 2022

2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Dr. David Brakke meets with students in the Christian Near East seminar room (Mullen 036).

5:00 p.m.

The Sixth Annual Bellet Lecture will be delivered by Dr. David Brakke, Professor and Engle Chair in the History of Christianity, The Ohio State University.

Lecture Title: "Soldiers of God, Soldiers of the World: Monks and Military Men in Late Ancient Egypt and Palestine."

As violence increased on the eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire in the fifth and the sixth centuries, monks in Egypt, Palestine, and the Sinai faced dangers from raiders and invaders, but they also interacted with the soldiers who came to defend the areas in which they lived. Although monks expressed ambivalent, even hostile views of soldiers and the military life, they formed diverse relationships with military men, sometimes based on their shared identities as men who fight enemies, whether demons or "barbarians." This lecture will describe and analyze these relationships, attending to the spiritual, economic, and social benefits that monks and military men gained from one another, as well as to the tensions between them. Key monastic figures include Isidore of Pelusium, Shenoute of Atripe, and Barsanuphius and John of Gaza. We will see the value of integrating evidence in Coptic and Syriac into the religious and social history of late ancient Rome.  

Location: McInerney Auditorium (Father O'Connell Hall)

Buffet dinner immediately following, Heritage Hall.

Please RSVP at: https://nest.cua.edu/event/8368378

This event is free and open to the public.

To request disability accommodations, contact cua-semitics@cua.edu or 202-319-5084.

 

Speaker, Dr. Stephen Davis, Professor of Religious Studies and of History, Yale University.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Prof. Stephen Davis meets with students in the Christian Near East seminar room (Mullen 036).

5:00 p.m.

The Fifth Annual Bellet Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Stephen Davis, Professor of Religious Studies and of History, Yale University.

Lecture Title: "Mudbricks and Monks: Earth as a Vital Material of Early Egyptian Monasticism."

In the lives of late ancient Egyptian monks, earth was everywhere. The homes they inhabited were typically built of mudbrick. The pottery they used for storing, cooking, and serving both food and water was formed and fired from Nile clay. Broken pieces of clay pottery were also used in the architecture of their cells, embedded in walls and ceilings as air shafts and used to form low walls, door pivots, and floor edges. In this context, it is striking that monastic literature from the period marks a close correspondence between the bodies of monks and their earthen physical environments. In this lecture, Stephen Davis draws on the perspectives of "vital materialism" and "animacy" to show how earth mattered to monks.

Location: McInerney Auditorium (O'Connell Hall).

Buffet dinner immediately following, Heritage Hall.

Speaker, Dr. Sofía Torallas Tovar, Professor of Classics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

2:10 p.m. - 3:25 p.m.

Prof. Torallas Tovar meets with the Syriac Literature class (SEM 631) in the CNE Seminar Room (Mullen 036). Limited seating is available for other students who may wish to attend. Please contact Prof. Jeremy Brown (30brownj@cua.edu).

5:00 p.m.

The Fourth Annual Bellet Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Sofía Torallas Tovar, Professor of Classics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago.

Lecture Title: "Scroll vs Codex: The Distribution of their Cultural Space in Late Antique Egypt."

It is often said that with Christianity the codex book-format replaced the scroll. In fact, the scroll continued to be used for many purposes. This talk will describe the contest between codex and scroll for space in the literary, religious, political and cultural spheres in Late Antique Egypt.

Location: McInerney Auditorium (O'Connell Hall).

Reception immediately following in Heritage Hall.

This event is free and open to the public.

To request disability accommodations contact cua-semitics@cua.edu or 202-319-5084.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

12:40 p.m. - 1:55 p.m.

Prof. Torallas Tovar meets with the Readings in Coptic class (SEM 781) in the Coptic Seminar Room (Mullen 031). Limited seating is available for other students who may wish to attend. Please contact Prof. Janet Timbie (timbie@cua.edu).

 

 

Speaker, Alberto Camplani, Professor of Ancient Christian Literature, Sapienza Università di Roma.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018

2:10 p.m. - 3:25 p.m.

Prof. Camplani is joining the Ethiopic Seminar in the CNE Seminar Room (Mullen 036); the topic of the discussion will be of wide interest to students in the Christian Near East. Limited seating is available for other students who may wish to attend. Please contact Prof. Aaron Butts (buttsa@cua.edu) for information.

5:00 p.m.

The Third Annual Bellet Lecture will be delivered by Alberto Camplani, Professor of Ancient Christian Literature, Sapienza Università di Roma.

Lecture Title: "Setting a Patriarchate / Building the Memory of the Past: Use of Documents and Creation of Symbols within the Bishopric of Alexandria between the Fourth and Fifth Centuries."

This lecture will deal with the documentary and literary tools—including civil and ecclesiastical documents, tales, and symbols—used by the episcopal chancery of Alexandria to preserve the memory of the past and to give the bishopric's history its main points of articulation.

Location: Keane Auditorium (McGivney 106), CUA campus.

Reception immediately following in McGivney Hall Foyer, 1st floor.

This event is free and open to the public. To request disability accommodations, contact cua-semitics@cua.edu or 202-319-5084.

Speaker, David G. K. Taylor, Associate Professor of Aramaic and Syriac, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford.

 Wednesday, October 18, 2017

 2:10 p.m.--3:25 p.m.

Prof. Taylor meets with the Syriac Literature class (SEM 631) in the CNE Seminar Room (Mullen 036). Limited seating is available for other students who may wish to attend. Please contact Prof. Aaron Butts (buttsa@cua.edu) for information.

5:00 p.m.

The Second Annual Bellet Lecture will be delivered by David G.K. Taylor, Associate Professor of Aramaic and Syriac, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford.

Lecture Title: "The Purgatorial River of Fire in Sixth-Century Syriac Theology."

The developed doctrine of purgatory, familiar from Dante, emerged in western Europe in the twelfth century. It is often said that eastern Christianity had no concept of purgatory, but this talk will focus on teachings that are attested in certain sixth-century Syrian Orthodox writers about a physical and spiritual purging in a river of fire that would be obligatory for all before the Last Judgment. These writers were drawing on earlier Greek thought, and biblical imagery, although there are also some fascinating parallels with certain Iranian eschatological texts.

Location: Keane Auditorium (McGivney 106), CUA campus.

Reception immediately following in McGivney Hall Foyer, 1st floor.

This event is free and open to the public. To request disability accommodations, contact cua-semitics@cua.edu or 202-319-5084.

Speaker, Mark Sheridan, O.S.B., CUA alumnus, professor and rector emeritus of the Pontificio Ateneo Sant' Anselmo, Rome.
 
Wednesday, October 26, 2016

 
12:40 p.m.—2:00 p.m.
 
Fr. Sheridan meets with students in the Coptic and Syriac classes (SEM 531/631/681 combined) in the CNE Seminar Room (MUL 036); a limited number of students not enrolled in the class may attend. Contact Dr. Janet Timbie (timbie@cua.edu) for information.
 
 
Thursday, October 27, 2016
 
10:30 a.m.—12:00 noon
 
Fr. Bellet's Research Collections will be available to visitors in the CNE Seminar Room (MUL 036).
Contact Dr. Monica Blanchard (blanchard@cua.edu) for information.
 
5:10 p.m.—6:15 p.m.
 
The first annual Bellet Lecture will be delivered by Mark Sheridan, O.S.B., CUA alumnus, professor and rector emeritus of the Pontificio Ateneo Sant' Anselmo, Rome.
 
Lecture Title: "Late Antiquity in Upper Egypt: Rufus of Shotep, a sixth century bilingual bishop in Upper Egypt, learned in both the Alexandrian exegetical tradition and the Greek rhetorical tradition"
 
Location: Aquinas Hall Auditorium, CUA campus
 
The lecture is open to the public. A light reception will follow.
 
7:30 p.m.
 
The Semitics faculty will join Fr. Sheridan for dinner at an off-campus location.