RICERCA ITALIANA     

Christianity and the Mediterranean World : Religious Plurality, Cohexistence and Conflicts. Towns and Peripheries (1th-8th Centuries)

Università degli Studi di Bologna

Abstract

Objective of the research
The research aims to contribute to the knowledge of religious conflicts in terms of the dialectic between city and periphery.
The research will concentrate on late Antiquity, from the 1st to the 8th century, in the belief that this period witnessed the development of models of coexistence and conflict that have conditioned relations among religions for a very long time.
The objective of the research is the specific study of some late Antique great cities (Jerusalem, Antioch, Gaza, Alexandria, Rome) and the Southern Italian dioceses, seen as cases of urban and rural Christianization.
The main questions that the research sets out to answer are the following.
a) What were the origins of the conflicts between early Christians and Judaism, and among the different Christian groups? How were such conflicts regulated prior to the affirmation of Christian orthodoxy and of the theological and institutionalized systems that developed from the 4th to 6th century?
b) Which theological, institutional and juridical models did the churches from the 4th to 6th century formulate to oppose and marginalize Judaism and traditional religions?
c) How did the Islamic conquest of several traditionally Christian areas in the 7th and 8th centuries bring about the transformation of the theological and juridical models generated by Christianity from the 4th to 6th century?

2. The basis of departure is constituted by the results obtained in various fields of enquiry:
a) Studies on religious plurality in late Antiquity.
b) Studies on the plurality of early Christianities.
c) Socio-anthropological theories of religious conflict.
d) Theories on relations between religious minorities and majorities.
e) Studies on relations between Christians, Jews and other religious groups in the cities of late Antiquity.
f) Studies on dioceses in southern Italy.

3. Description of the research
a. One of the chief tasks of the research will be to trace each text to its group of origin, in order to better define its identity, and to understand the differences between one group and the other, in the context of each city
b. The transition of Christianity from a minority to a majority religion, before and after the 4th century will be studied.
c. With regard to the cities, the enquiry will focus on:
- late-Antique Jerusalem, between the 4th and 7th century;
- the contraposition between Jews and Christians in Antioch at the time of Ignatius and John Chrysostom;
- Gaza in late Antiquity (3rd-6th century) as an emblematic case for reconstructing the dynamics of religious transformation in urban areas;
- Aquileian hagiographic production as the literary expression of the relation between different religious and geographical realities.
d. With regard to Rome and Alexandria, the research will investigate:
- how the two megalopolises claimed to represent their peripheries, and how such claims met with resistance;
- the evolution and marginalization of the traditional religions;
- the troubled history of the relationship between the two megalopolises and their mutual recognition.
e. With regard to the dioceses of southern Italy, the investigation will concentrate on the types of diocesan organizations, and the relationship between urban and rural environments. Finally, attention will be devoted to the evolution of conflictual relationships between Christians and Jews, and Muslims, and to the construction by Christians of theological and juridical models to regulate coexistence with Jews and Muslims.

4. Two annual conferences are planned (October 2006 and 2007), whose proceedings will be published in 2007 and 2008, respectively. International meetings are envisaged with the Paris research group, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the group GERICO. The involvement of scholars of Haifa and Jerusalem is foreseen. The publication of a series of texts and articles, are planned, as specified in the description of the research. <<<

Principal Investigator

Mauro Pesce Università degli Studi di BOLOGNA

Research Objectives

1. The research aims to contribute, from the perspective of studies on Antiquity, to the knowledge of religious conflicts. We have chosen to study this phenomenon in terms of the dialectic between city and periphery. The great cities (the capitals, and those most representative either as frontier towns or concentrations of economic and cultural power) are places in which religious conflicts have arisen at times in extremely acute and long-lasting forms. Cohabitation or conflict arises in cities between traditional urban majority groups, who represent the cultural and political center, and immigrant peripheral minorities. However, conflict can often arise among the various religious peripheries that converge on the great cities, struggling among themselves to attain better conditions of integration.

2. The project intends to bring together five research units from important Italian universities, involving a large number of scholars: one hundred and one, more than forty of whom are young researchers. The great number of specializations represented (Ancient Christian literature, Hebrew literature, Archeology, Iconography, Epigraphy, Papyrology, History of ancient Christianity, History of religions), coupled with the wide range of expertise in the ancient areas and languages (not only Greek and Latin, but also Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Hebrew) well equip the group to analyze topics as complex as the development of models of cohabitation and conflict between the principal religions during the first crucial eight centuries of their relations.
The specialists brought together by this research have a number of different previous experiences of joint work in large-scale research projects. We merely mention that the work of this group has always led to the prompt publication of results in monographic issues of Annali di Storia dell'Esegesi (Bologna), which has published annually the proceedings of our October conferences.
A further objective is the training of young scholars. For this reason, numerous young scholars (graduates, post-graduates, research associates) have been included in the project. In addition, young Italian and non-Italian scholars will be offered a Study Week, centering on issues closely linked to the research project, which will be held annually in April in Trani.
An additional objective of the proposed research is to set up links with similar research undertakings at an international level. The selected projects and institutes are principally: Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes of Paris, 5th section, the U.S. Society of Biblical Literature, the University of Haifa, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the group GERICO (Eureopan Group for Interdisciplinary Research on Christianity of the Origins). Each of these collaborative efforts will give rise to jointly organized conferences and seminars.

3. The research will concentrate on Late antiquity, from the 1st to the 8th century, in the belief that this period witnessed the development of models of coexistence and conflict that have conditioned relations between religions for a very long time, indeed up to the present day.
In these eight centuries there were four particular periods during which the relations of religious coexistence and conflict between cities and peripheries underwent major upheavals and changes: 1. the rift between Christianity and Judaism, especially in the second half of the 2nd century, with the creation of interpretative models of their respective identities that are often based on the necessity of reciprocal conflict; 2. the establishment of Christian orthodoxy between the end of the 2nd century and beginning of the 3rd century, and the ensuing conflicts between the Great Church and the so-called heretics, with the consequent elaboration of theoretical and practical normative models that gave rise to exclusion and marginalization; 3. the rise of Christianity as a majority religion, during which it elaborated a new type of theological and juridical relationship with the traditional religious minorities and Jewish communities; 4. finally, the confrontation between the new emergent religion, Islam, and Christian communities. This event left a profound mark on relations of Christianity with Islam and Judaism, giving rise to experiences and models that would be perpetuated for centuries to come.

4. The objective of the research is the specific study of some great cities. We have chosen Jerusalem, as the central city of Christianity, Judaism and Islam; Antioch, perhaps the first city in which Christianity spread but maintained a plurality of forms, with a highly significant relationship with Judaism; Gaza, as a place in which the conflict with traditional religions can be satisfactorily observed; Alexandria and Rome, for the vital relevance that these two cities assumed during the first eight centuries of Christian history, especially with regard to relations between majorities and minorities and between center and periphery. Finally, Aquileia provides a privileged observation point on the north-eastern confines of the Adriatic area.

5. The main questions that the research sets out to answer are the following.
a) What were the origins of the conflicts between early Christians and Judaism, and among the different Christian groups? How were such conflicts regulated prior to the affirmation of Christian orthodoxy and of the theological and institutionalized systems that developed from the 4th to 6th century? The research aims to cast light upon both actual experiences and the theoretical elaborations of conflict and coexistence. Theoretical formulations are never in fact an exact or adequate reflection of concrete experiences. The conflictual projects expressed in texts may at times conceal experiences of coexistence and osmosis. <br />b) Which theological, institutional and juridical models did the churches from the 4th to 6th century formulate to oppose and marginalize Judaism and traditional religions? The research aims to address this interrogative specifically by studying the processes of Christianization of several large Mediterranean cities and dioceses. The analysis will address, for example, the concrete strategies adopted for the organization of urban spaces and the symbolic organization of time. It is the actual Christianization of the cities that show how coexistence and conflict were historically experienced and re-elaborated at the theological and juridical level.
c) How did the Islamic conquest of several traditionally Christian areas in the 7th and 8th centuries bring about the transformation of the theological and juridical models generated by Christianity from the 5th to 7th century? Here too, the research aims to distinguish between anti-Islamic theological structures and actual experiences of coexistence, taking into account specifically the fragmentation and diversity among the churches subsequent to the Council of Chalchedon, as well as the numerical entity of the Christian groups who continued to live in many of the cities conquered by the Arabs. While the historical experiences of coexistence have left little trace in documents, the theoretical elaborations of conflict have been preserved and passed down over the centuries, to influence considerably the subsequent history of Christianity.

6. A further objective involves the critical analysis of the very concepts on which the research proposal is founded: in particular, the oppositions, city-periphery, minority-majority, coexistence-religious conflict. The five local research units have chosen to concentrate their efforts on one of the three contrapositions (Bari and Roma, city-periphery; Bologna and Udine, conflictual relations; Turin, minority-majority). These general, although not exclusive, choices have also determined the way in which the methodological and theoretical work has been divided among the various groups. <<<

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

Premise.
The national basis of departure is chiefly constituted by the research experience of the said national group that, for some twenty years, has dealt with a large number of literary and historiographic aspects of ancient Christianity. The group's work is witnessed by the proceedings of its national conferences published in the journal “Annali di Storia dell'Esegesi”.
Presented briefly below are a number of points that reflect the state of Italian and international research, providing the basis of departure of this research project.

1. Studies on religious plurality in Late Antiquity.
The national research group has produced four collective volumes on related themes, the product of two previous research projects of national interest. The first concerned “The construction of Christian identity from the 1st to the 7th century” , and published its findings in two monographic editions of the journal Annali di Storia dell'Esegesi, entitled, “La costruzione dell'identità cristiana” (2001), and “La pluralità delle identtià cristiane” (2002). The second project dealt with “The transformations of Christianity from the 1st to the 7th century ”, giving rise to two monographic editions of the journal Annali di Storia dell'Esegesi, the first entitled, “La trasformazione del cristianesimo” (2005), while the second volume of Proceedings is due to be issued in a few months under the title “Trasformazioni culturali del cristianesimo antico”. It should be added that the theme of religious plurality in the Late-Antique world has also been the focus of two international research projects, each of four-year duration (1996-2000; 2001-2005), organized in Paris at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes 5th section, coordinated by N.Belayche and S.C.Mimouni (both of whom are also currently collaborating with the Bolognese research group). These research efforts have adopted an analytical approach to throw light specifically on identitary differences among religious groups of the period spanning from Alexander the Great to Justinian (4th century BC - 6th century AD). They highlight very clearly the need for a new methodological perspective, which does not confine itself to the problem of defining identity intended as a rather static phenomenon, but should attempt to penetrate the interrelations among diverse religious groups. Such interrelations may assume a number of forms, from osmosis among similar environments, to exchanges, inter-communication, and conflicts.



2. Plurality of early Christianities.
The plurality and diversity of Christianities have been widely accepted by historical research on the first two centuries, at least since W.Bauer's book of 1934 (cfr. today also Simonetti 1994; Mimouni 1998; Blanchetière 2001; Vouga 2001). F.Vouga affirms that as early as the period between Jesus' death and the beginning of Paul's activities, different groups can be distinguished: itinerant preachers in Galilee, a sapiential group also in Galilee, a Judeo-Christian group in Jerusalem and a Hellenist group, first in Jerusalem, and later in Antioch (Vouga 2001, 36-52; cfr. 60-67). S.C.Mimouni (1997 and 2004) and Blanchetière (2001) have attempted to identify and name a large number of so-called Judeo-Christian groups (Nazareans, Ebionites, Elchasaites, etc.). P.Lampe has succeeded in describing a complex multiplicity of Christian groups active in Rome during the 2nd century: Valentinians, Marcionites, Carpocratians, Theodosians, Modalists, Monarchians, Montanists, Quartodecimans, Millenarists, etc. (Lampe 1995).
The step forward that the research must accomplish with respect to this basis of departure lies in collocating different writings among the different early-Christian groups, who were often ideologically diverse and in bitter conflict with each other. For a preliminary attempt in this direction cfr. Destro - Pesce 2005.


3. Socio-anthropological theories of religious conflict.
As G. Simmel observed as far back as 1908, conflict is always a means of attaining some form of reconciliation of divisions, i.e. a way of seeking unity. The Manchester school (M.Gluckman 1956 and 1965) theorized a close inter-dependence between dispute and agreement, an alternation between states of cohesion and states of conflict. One aspect of conflicts theory centers on the fact that - precisely because of their function of integration (for example, with respect to the external environment) - conflicts often have a codified solution. The application of conflicts theory to the field of early Christianity has already thrown light on some theoretical aspects of the question (see also some of our own studies on earliest Christianity: Destro-Pesce 2003 and 2005): the structural rules of social conflict (cfr. Schroeder-Schmidt 2001, 1-24), the cognitive function of conflict (cfr. Brown, 2001, 17-23), and its power of transformation (cfr. Bowman, 2001). From the cognitive perspective, in particular, it is important to stress a highly relevant aspect for our research, also in view of its contribution to current issues relating to religious conflicts within cities. The production of knowledge that takes place during a sharp conflict represents a crucial phase of memory construction, of "destruction of knowledge" of the past, accomplished as a function of its re-construction in the light of the outcomes of the conflict (Halsbwach 1950, A. Assmann 1999). It engenders, therefore, not only the “re-invention of history” (Destro-Pesce 2002), but also the construction of the future.

One of the most central issues for the historical understanding of religious conflicts concerns the analysis of specific socio-religious and juridical mechanisms for the solution of conflicts arising in particular historical situations. Historical and socio-anthropological research has made clear that the outcome of an action of conflict is perpetuated in a series of reactions that ultimately involve different groups from those originally active in the conflict (Gluckmann 1962). The victory of one religious group over another triggers chain-reactions that sometimes have disastrous repercussions for very long periods of time. Religious phenomena are in fact very long lasting, while religious memory, with its mechanisms, continues to enact the conflict symbolically in daily repeated rituals.

4. Theories on relations between religious minorities and majorities.
Broadly speaking, the term “minority” is used to refer to a human group whose members perceive themselves and/or are perceived by the outside as existing apart from the rest of the society (ROSE, 1978, 365-71), as a consequence of established subjective and/or objective social borders, generally on the basis of quantitative data. Members of a minority group are usually view in a negative light, and, always as isolated and marginal to the social fabric as a whole. Additionally, they have weak relationships with the dominant groups and are discriminated on the basis of language or race. The emergence of a religious minority can have various causes: for example, the rise of a new religion which progressively breaks away from a preceding tradition; or, in the case of the universalistic religions, their missionary thrust, which leads them to found isolated groups of believers in many parts of the world. Their presence is often related to a more general phenomenon - not necessarily modern - (M. PYE-R. STEGERHOFF, 1987): coexistence or religious plurality. In some political and religious conditions - like those arising in an imperial state, such as the Achaemenid or Roman empires - religious groups must confront with the public cult of the dominant power, and are required to live together and/or compete with other groupings. In different historical contexts, such pluralism has given rise to various and complex strategies of adaptation, assimilation, control or expulsion by the dominant power and, at the same time, to coexistence, syncretism and rejection by religious minorities, who are continuously seeking to renegotiate and redefine their own identities (CAVAGLION, 2001).

5. Studies on relations between Christians, Jews and other religious groups of in the cities of Late Antiquity.

Recent research has expended considerable effort on studying the great cities of the Antique world e.g. Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople. Some crucial studies have therefore been produced, such as that of P.Lampe on Rome (1987). The review “Adamantius”, entirely devoted to the Alexandrine tradition, provides a systematic up-date on the vast number of studies existing in this field. Some cities are more neglected, Antioch, for example, which, more than Jerusalem and Rome, played a major role in the birth and development of Christianity. A fundamental reference point for this topic is the study by R.E.Brown - J.P. P. Meier of 1982.
The volume edited by L.I.Levine, Jerusalem. Its Sanctity and Centrality to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, of 1999 is the starting point on Jerusalem. The book edited by G.Stoumsa and O.Limor, of 2006 Christians and Christianity in the Holy Land. From the Origins to the Latin Kingdoms constitutes the focal point of more recent research. Among the published contributions, of particular note are L.Perrone, on “Christianity in the Holy Land during the Byzantine Era”. A.Jakab, Ecclesia alexandrina. Evolution Sociale et institutionnelle du Christianisme alexandrin (II-III siècles), Peter Lang Frankfurt-Bern, 2001 offers an outline of the gradual marginalization of Christian groups in favor of the formation of a centralized institution toward the end of the 2nd century. C.B. Smith, No Longer Jews. The Search for Gnostic Origins, Hendrickson, 2003, provides an up-dated overview of research on relations between Jews and Christians up to 115. Ch.Haas, Alexandria in late Antiquity, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins univ. Press, 1997 constitutes the most up-to-date representation of the situations of tension and conflict occurring among Christians and Jews, and between Christians and so-called “pagans” between the 4th and 6th centuries.
Methodological suggestions concerning the relationship of conflict and competition between megalopolis and periphery can be derived not only from general works dealing with geopolitics, but also from monographs concentrating specifically on the religious situation in the Roman Empire. They include the writings of Gaudemet and Blaudeau, as well as collective works such as those edited by C. Nicolet - R. Ilbert J.-Ch. Depaule. Such works highlight the necessity of investigating the roles that the great ecclesiastical capitals wished to attribute to themselves, and to the territories over which they exercised direct power or influence.
The monographs of Lampe, Dal Covolo, Brent and Pietri, as well as encyclopedias (Enciclopedia dei papi)and the proceedings of many conferences, have redefined the general vision of the history of Christianity in Rome from the early centuries to the end of late Antiquity. Within the context of high-level international scientific production, certain problems and perspectives have emerged which merit further investigation, and to which the proposed research aims to contribute.
Starting from the period of Constantine, increasingly clear and well defined is the role played by the community of Rome within the context of Western Christianity and in the broader one of the Mediterranean basin. Twentieth-century research has extensively investigated the role of the popes and their personnel, devoting special attention to the production of canons and to archives. Suffice it to note the recent works of Boesch-Gajano and Cavalcanti, which have clarified a great number of institutional and ideological aspects of the papacy, from Leo the Great to Gregory the Great. There remain, however, various questions relating to the institutional and ideological relationships between Rome and its periphery - in the first instance southern Italy, in the second, Illyricum and Africa.
The research on the plurality of Christian groups in Antioch and on conflicts with Jewish communities has resulted in the publication of a series of important monographs and collective studies, including the work that paved the way for recent research (Jews and Christians in Antioch In the First Four Centuries of the Common Era, by Wayne A. Meeks and Robert L. Wilken, Scholars Press for the Society for Biblical Literature, 1978), and the recent monograph issued in 2003: M. Zetterholm, The Formation of Christianity in Antioch. A Social-Scientific Approach to the Separation Between Judaism and Christianity, New York - London, Routledge, 2003, which sets out to understand how Christianity became a non-Jewish religion at the beginning of the 2nd century, even though it had been born as an internal current of Judaism.
Studies on relations and conflicts between Jews and Christians from the 1st to the 8th century have proliferated in recent decades. The present perspective is specific and aims to probe an aspect that is still in need of in-depth analysis: that of the urban context of the conflicts. The state of research was presented in an article of 2003: A.Destro- M.Pesce, Conflitti di integrazione: la prima chiesa e la comunità ebraica nella polis, , in: L.Padovese (editor), Atti del IV Simposio di Efeso su S.Giovanni apostolo (Turchia: La Chiesa e la sua storia, VI), Roma, Pontificio Ateneo Antoniano, 1994, 105-138. A monographic issue of the review Annali di Storia dell'esegesi is devoted to this topic: Ebrei e cristiani nelle città, edited by M.Pesce, Annali di Storia dell'Esegesi 16/2, 1990.

6. Studies on dioceses in southern Italy.
Lanzoni's book (Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII, Faenza 1927) is a fundamental and inexorable benchmark for research even today: his critical historical method, based on a meticulous examination of sources, enabled a distinction to be made between historical information and traditions or hearsay. Lanzoni's research was also characterized by his reconstruction of the history of Antique Christianity in Italy on a territorial basis, divided into Regiones Augusteae and diocesan sees. He examined the historical evolution of the diocesan structures up to the age of Gregory the Great (590-604), with a focus also on peripheral centers.
Since 1927, the year in which Lanzoni's book was published, tremendous advances in research have been made: there have been a great many general and local studies, and continuing epigraphic and archeological discoveries have thrown up new findings. Within this perspective, the history of early Christianity can be profitably studied in relation not only to the large urban centers, but also to outlying areas. The renewed interest in these areas is also a part of the more general historiographical interest in regional characteristics and local specificity. Over the last few decades, a great deal of research has been done on the Christianization of the Italian peninsula. This has revealed the existence of huge differences between annonarian and suburbicarian Italy: in the patterns of distribution of the new religion, the kinds of diocesan settlements, the types of community organization, the proliferation of cults, the consequences of Christianization in urban and rural environments. <<<