2013

Mike Chin

  • Associate Professor
  • University of California, Davis
Picture of Catherine Michael Chin

Project

Incarnate Language in Christian Late Antiquity

Program

Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowships for Recently Tenured Scholars

Department

Religious Studies

Location

For residence at the American Academy in Rome during academic year 2013-2014

Abstract

Late ancient Christians were preoccupied with the biblical idea of ‘the Word made flesh.’ This project is to research and write the second volume, and begin on the third volume, of a three-volume project on the force and effects of language in Christian late antiquity. It analyzes the historical and cultural effects of late ancient language practices in three different categories: the imaginative force of language in late ancient literary education, the eschatological and transformational force of language in Christian controversies over text transmission and biblical translation, and the use of efficacious or magical language in both early Christian political action and the development of early Christian liturgical, ethical and theological discourse.