Academic Conferences
One of the wonderful things about being a professor are the
opportunities to travel to various cities in the world to present
papers at academic conferences. Many of these papers become
incorporated and published in conference volumes and edited books. I
have been lucky enough to travel most recently to colloquia held in the
Sorbonne (Paris), Eisenach (Germany), Esalen (California), and Davis
(California).
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October 27-28, 2006, Sorbonne, Paris. The Gospel of Judas: The Historical and Literary Context of a New Apocryphal Text. This was a very thrilling conference since it was the first time that scholars have gathered to discuss the newly discovered Gospel of Judas, convened by Madeleine Scopello. It was a conference were a wide array of very diverse papers were given. One of the outstanding things about the conference for me was that I found that I was not alone in my interpretation of the Gospel of Judas. My paper, "What the Gospel of Judas Really Says," called into question the translation and interpretation that National Geographic has suggested. I concluded in my paper that Judas was the hinchman of the demiurge, Ialdabaoth. He was no good guy, let along a Gnostic. Professors Emmel, Turner, and Painchaud presented papers with similar criticisms and interpretations. All of the papers from this conference will be edited and published by Madeleine Scopello in a volume for the Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies series early next year.
Participants in this conference were (in the order of appearance) Gregor Wurst, Jean-Pierre Mahé, Stephen Emmel, Cécile Dogniez, Louis Painchaud, April DeConick, Madeleine Scopello, Anna van den Kerchove, Mauro Pesce, Glenn Most, Christian Amphoux, James Robinson, Simon-Claude Mimouni, Patricio de Navascès, Johannes van Oort, Seon-Yeong Kim, Marvin Meyer, José Montserrat Torrents, Jean-Daniel Dubois, Ezio Albrile, John D. Turner, Bernard Pouderon, Adriana Destro, and Fernando Bermejo Rubio.
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| Paris, 2006, Photo by DeConick |
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October 1, 1-4, 2006, Eisenach, Germany. The Gospel of Thomas in the Context of Early Christian and Late Antique Literary and Religious History. This conference was convened by Enno Edzard Popkes, Jorg Frey, and Jens Schroter. While there, I spoke about the Gospel of Thomas as an early Christian
mystical gospel created by the first Syrian Christians in Edessa.
Contrary to the famous characterization of the Gospel of Thomas as a
Gnostic or Wisdom gospel, this text in fact preserves an early form of
Eastern Christianity with many similarities to later Eastern Orthodoxy.
My paper was called, "The Mystical Thomas and the Beginnings of Eastern Orthodoxy." It will be published in the conference proceedings which will be put out by Mohr-Siebeck later this year.
Participants in this conference were (in order of our presentations) Stephen Emmel, Larry Hurtado, Simon Gathercole, Jörg Frey, April D. DeConick, Uwe-Carsten Plisch, Stephen J. Patterson, Takashi Onuki, Hermut Löhr, Peter Nagel, Niclas Förster, Jutta Leonhardt-Baltzer, Enno Edzard Popkes, Jürgen Dummer, Christian Tornau, and Jens Schröter.
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| Eisenach Conference on the Gospel of Thomas, 2006, Photo by DeConick |
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April 3 to 8, 2005, Esalen, Big Sur, California. Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in Western Esotericism. This conference was convened by Jeffrey Kripal and Wouter Hanegraaff. Over the course of a week, we presented our papers following a historical chronology that began in the ancient world, proceeded to the
medieval, and ended in the modern. The goal of the conference was to determine if, over time, esoteric thought and practices have become increasingly oriented toward
embodiment and the life of the flesh. My paper, "The Passion of Sophia," made some waves since I argued that Valentinian marriages were considered a sacrament that included the sacred and erotic intercourse for procreative purposes. Although the Valentinians argued against carnal passion within sexual relations, they did allow for eros within the setting of contemplative sex between married partners. The papers from the conference are being edited by Jeffery Kripal and Wouter Hanegraaff, and will be released later this year.
Participants in the conference (in order of their appearance) were April DeConick, Pierre Lory, Claire Fanger, Eliot Wolfson, Wouter Hanegraaff, Antoine Faivre, Larry Principe, Allison Coudert, Cathy Gutierrez, Arthur Versluis, Marco Pasi, Hugh Urban, Hans Thomas Hakl, and Jeff Kripal.
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| Esalen, Big Sur, 2006, Photo by DeConick |
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Presentations Given at Previous Conferences
Scripture and Skepticism Conference, University of Davis, California, January, 2007
"Apocryphal Christianity"
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Washington, D.C., 2006
“Ideology Concerns Discourse: Inspiring Ideas from Vernon Robbins about Early Christian Tapestries, Textures and Pre-gospel Traditions”
“The Tenth Anniversary of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Group”
“Matthew 22:23-33,” New Testament Mysticism Project
L’Evangile de Judas: Le contexte historique et littéraire d’un nouvel apocryphe,Colloque international, CNRS-Université Paris IV-Sorbonne, October 28-29, 2006
“He Handed Him Over to Them: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says”
Das Thomasevangelium im Kontext der frühchristlichen und spätaniken Literatur- und Religionsgeschichte, Eisenach, Germany, October 1-4, 2006
“The Mysteries in the Gospel of Thomas”
Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in Western Esotericism, International Conference, Esalen Institute, April 3-8, 2005
“The Passion of Psyche: Marriage and Gnostic Spirituality in Early Valentinian Traditions"
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Philadelphia, 2005
Book Review by Birger Pearson: Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and Its Growth
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, San Antonio, 2004
Book Review Session, R. Elior, “The Three Temples,” Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Group.
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Denver, 2001
"The Original Gospel of Thomas”
“Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism: A Working Definition”
Taking Off the Holy Shroud: 2000 Years of Gender in the Body of Jesus, New York University, March 23-25, 2001
“The Sexual Savior: Images of Jesus in Valentinian Gnosticism"
Religious Studies Conference, Edgewood College, February 17, 2001
Keynote Address, “The New Testament Beyond the New Testament”
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Nashville, 2000
“‘Go to James the Righteous’ (Thomas 12): A Preliminary Sketch of the Christian Jewish History of the Gospel of Thomas”
Book Review by Elaine Pagels and Harold Attridge: Voices of the Mystics: Early Christian Discourse in the Gospels of John and Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Orlando, 1998
“Entering God’s Presence: Sacramentalism in the Gospel of Philip”
International Conference on
the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus, The University of St. Andrews, Scotland, June 13-18, 1998
“Esoteric Temple Traditions and Valentinian Worship: A Case for First-Century Christology in the Second Century”
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, San Francisco, November, 1997
“‘Here Comes the Bride’: Transformational Mysticism and Valentinian Gnosticism”
Respondent to Vernon Robbins, “Rhetorical Composition and Sources in the Gospel of Thomas”
Respondent to Jon Ma. Asgeirsson, “Arguments and Audience(s) in the Gospel of Thomas”
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, New Orleans, November, 1996
"'He who sees me sees him who sent me' (John 12:45): The Johannine Theologian and Early Christian Mysticism"
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Philadelphia, November, 1995
"Becoming God's Body: The Kavod in Valentinianism"
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Philadelphia, November 1995
"'Blessed are those who have not seen' (John 20:29): Johannine Polemic Against the Mystical Thomas Tradition"
Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism: Vision and Audition, International Symposium, University of Michigan, December, 1994
"Becoming God's Body: The Kavod in Valentinianism"
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, November 1994
"The Dialogue of the Savior: A Commentary on the Mystical Tradition Associated with Thomas Christianity"
Annual Society of Biblical Literature Conference, Washington D.C., November 1993
"Logion 50 of the Gospel of Thomas and Its Relationship to Gnosticism"
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