ONLINE - Political Theology of the Early Church from its Formation to Justinian

The course addresses an important topic in the history of Late Antiquity and Early Christianity: the theories of legitimacies, namely that of the Empire and the Church, and their struggle over the first six hundred years (from the first century to Justinian).
 
What were the reasons for the conflict and how did it play out in Late Antiquity? The relation of Christianity to the secular political sphere has been a constant concern for two millennia, starting with a rejection of the legitimacy of the Roman Empire and then accepting the Christian Roman Empire, symbolized by Constantine, the pagan Emperor, who convened the first Ecumenical Synod in Nicaea. What happened before and after the “Christian turn” of the fourth century, when Christianity moved slowly from being a persecuted “sect” to the privileged religion of the Empire? How did it impact the legitimacy of the political order and how did this change affect Christian conceptions of the secular polity and the Christian Church itself?
 
This seven-day summer school examines the dynamics of the interrelation of the political and the various ecclesiastical theories from the first century until another turning point which arrived with Emperor Justinian. The course focuses on the theoretical aspects, which had been often neglected in the accounts of the political history of this period, thus providing the students with new research tools.
 
The course is primarily addressed to MA and PhD students interested in Late Antique political thought and Patristic Studies, since it will take place two years after the Oxford Patristic Conference (19-24 August 2019), the most significant scholarly event of Patristic Studies, organized every four years, but inaccessible to MA and PhD students despite its importance. The source persons are distinguished international scholars working on philosophy, the social and political history of Late Antiquity, Patristic, canon law, liturgy, and monasticism. 
 
The online course (since the COVID-19 pandemic still requires it) would represent a unique opportunity to examine a problem from a multidimensional perspective which has always remained challenging in the following centuries up to the present, in every region where Christianity spread.  
 
The summer school will consist of seven days of seminars and tutorials (on demand) and virtual visits to the National History Museum of Budapest, to Aquincum, and to Pécs to the early Christian cemeteries.