News and Events 2007

Seventh-Century Popes and Martyrs by Bronwen Neil was published by Brepols. This collection of Latin texts, published in a new edition with an English translation, draws on the rich hagiographical corpus of Anastasius, papal diplomat, secretary and translator in late ninth-century Rome. The texts concern two controversial figures: Pope Martin I (649-653), whose opposition to the imperially-sponsored doctrines of monoenergism and monthelistism saw him exiled to Cherson where he died in 655, and Maximus the Confessor, an Eastern monk condemned to suffer amputation and exile to Lazica for similar reasons in 663. The author seeks to place these works in their political context, namely the growing hostility between the eastern and western churches in the late ninth century, and to assess Anastasius’s contribution to the deteriorating relations between the two through his translations of hagiography.

The Centre published Early Christian Studies monograph series vol. 10, The Apostolic Church Order by Alistair Stewart-Sykes, and Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church vol. 4: The Spiritual Life.

The Prayer and Spirituality volume covers a diverse topics and wide variety of perspectives, geographic regions and periods from the New Testament to the early Middle Ages and Byzantium.

In this monograph series volume, Alistair Stewart-Sykes presents an entirely new Greek text, the first to take full account of ancient Syriac and Latin versions. The text is accompanied by the first translation of the entire document into a modern language and is prefaced by an extensive introduction in which the consensus of a fourth-century Egyptian date and provenance is challenged, as the author argues that the work is ante-Nicene and more probably from Syria or a neighbouring region.

Research Visits

On 1 April 2006 Professor Shigeki Tsuchihashi of Cho University, Tokyo, took up residence as sabbatical scholar on the McAuley campus. For the next year he will be working on a translation into Japanese of the works of Ps. Macarius, and early Byzantine spiritual writer.

Professor Kazuhiko Demura of Okayama University was awarded an ACU Honorary Distinguished Visiting Research Fellowship of August and September 2006. Professor Demura’s speciality is Augustine of Hippo, and he devoted his time on the McAuley campus to completing a book on the subject of the heart in Augustine. During his fellowship Kazuhiko presented his latest research on Augustine and the philosophy of the heart at members of the Centre and the School of Theology at our Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne campuses. In 2001- 2002 Professor Demura spent a sabbatical year in the Centre.

Conferences

Nine members of the Centre presented papers at the third conference of the Western Pacific Rim Patristics Society, held at Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan, from 29 September – 1 October, 2006. This was the largest group of scholars from a single university present at the conference. The theme was “The Use of the Gospels in Early Christianity.” The following members delivered papers:
David Sim (St. Patrick) – “The Gospel of Matthew and the Papias Tradition: A Strong Chain of Transmission or the Weakest Link?”
Damien Casey (McAuley) – “Inclusive and Exclusive Salvation in Patristic Readings of John’s Gospel”
Raymond Canning (Signadou) – “The humble God and ‘the least of these’ (Mt. 25:40): Incarnation and Christ’s self-identification with the needy in Augustine of Hippo”
Wendy Mayer (Honorary Research Associate) – “John Chrysostom’s Use of Lk. 16:19-31”
Geoffrey D. Dunn (McAuley) – “Augustine’s Use of Lk. 16:19-31”
Pauline Allen (McAuley) – Augustine’s Use of Jn. 2:1-11 to portray Mary”
Bronwen Neil (McAuley) – “Blessed are the Rich: The Use of the Beatitudes in Leo the Great’s Sermons”
Lawrence Cross (St. Patrick) – “Early Christian and Patristic Origins of the Icon of the Protection of the Virgin”
James McLaren (St. Patrick) – Commemorating the Death of Jesus: The Use of Scriptures in the Quartodeciman Dispute”.

The ability of so many members of Australian Catholic University to attend this conference was made possible by the very generous financial support of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, for which we are grateful. The Centre’s commitment to developing connections with East Asian scholars of early Christianity already has witnessed two Japanese professors (Kazuhiko Demura and Shigeki Tsuchihashi) spending a sabbatical year with us, and as a result of this conference this seems likely to continue into the future.

On December 2006, Dr Lawrence Cross was promoted to Associate Professor, Dr James McLaren to Associate Professor and Reader, and A/Prof Raymond Canning to Professor.