Discovery Themes Lecture by Ellen Muehlberger

Written between 512 and 518 CE, John Rufus's Plerophories seems to look toward the past. Its ostensible purpose is to demonstrate that the fifth-century imperial Council of Chalcedon was an error, heretical because of the theology it confirmed. At the same time, Muehlberger will demonstrate, the text subtly casts a future, imagining a anti-Chalcedonian polity that has an identifiable ritual structure, divinely authorized scriptures, and a robust and growing membership. In her talk, Muehlberger will consider the effect of this forecasting on the growth of anti-Chalcedonian networks in the fifty years after the appearance of the text. 

 

Ellen Muehlberger is Associate Professor of Christianity in late antiquity in the Departments of Near Eastern Studies and History at the University of Michigan.
 
This event is part of the Humanities and Arts Discovery Theme project, which seeks to engage students and interdisciplinary groups of faculty in signature scholarship across the humanities and the arts. Ohio State is initiating a university-wide conversation focused on defining the humanities and the arts, exploring current topics and trends, and addressing today's most important concerns.