Call for Papers Fathers and Fatherhood in Early Christianity Workshops at the XIX International Conference on Patristic Studies at Oxford (August 5-9, 2024)

Call for Papers

Fathers and Fatherhood in Early Christianity

Workshops at the XIX International Conference on Patristic Studies at Oxford (August 5-9, 2024)

On the occasion of the upcoming 2024 Oxford Patristics Conference (August 5-9, 2024), we are pleased to announce the Call for Papers “Fathers and Fatherhood in early Christianity”.

Abstract: Although the subject of God as a father and spiritual fatherhood has been discussed many times, the physical side of fatherhood, or issues related to conception, birth, protection, upbringing, education, offspring, the father’s life and death were rarely dealt with in the researches on the theology of the Church Fathers. The goal of the workshop is to present the physical fatherhood and related issues in the works of the Church Fathers and early Christian writers. Some of early Christian writers were fathers themselves (Augustine, Paulinus of Nola), many experienced the unique atmosphere of father’s home and fatherly authority in their lives (Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa), but there were also those who lost their fathers early on (John Chrysostom, Ambrose, Origen) or whose fathers were sometimes not the best examples of a good father (Augustine), and they also included their experiences of fatherhood and sonship in their works. In our workshop we want to present their views on the very process of conception and childbearing, upbringing and education, the characteristics of a father, the obstacles to becoming a good father, issues of the recognition of fatherhood, the physical presence of a father with offspring, issues of a father’s influence on his offspring and their choices, issues of a father’s old age and infirmity, and finally his passing away, death and any testamentary issues related to the father. We are going to see what in early Christianity “to be a father” meant.

 

Papers delivered at this workshop will be published in the separate volume on the fatherhood in one of the renowned publishing houses.

 

Abstract Submission Deadline: August 15. Please submit a title and 250-word abstract to patristic@kul.pl by August 15. We will review submissions and notify applicants of decisions by August 18. Individual abstracts, which have been selected, are still required to be submitted by the invited participants by August 31, using the Oxford submission system, but they must be connected to this workshop (note that the submission portal refers to workshops as "symposia"). We will also submit a separate proposal for the whole workshop that outlines the rationale, speaker names, and paper titles. We are expecting to receive communication by October 31 on the definitive acceptance of this workshop.

 

NB:

Please register for OPC as early bird registration ends July 31. Registered colleagues whose paper is rejected will be fully refunded.

If your proposal is not accepted to this workshop, you may still submit it through the general submission portal by the August 31 deadline.)

 

Organizer: Prof. Marcin Wysocki (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland) with the project team.

Email: patristic@kul.pl