Peter Van Nuffelen: Ecclesiastical Historiography in the Sixth Century

Interest in Late Antique Historiography has been increasing steadily in recent years. Research has, however, tended to focus on traditional points of reference (in particular the classicising historians and the preserved ecclesiastical historians). This workshop wishes to draw attention to an as yet  largely neglected field. The importance and breadth of sixth-century ecclesiastical historiography in the East beyond Evagrius Scholasticus remains still underestimated, because of its largely fragmentary state and the absence of translations for many texts. Discussing Greek, Latin, and Syriac authors, this workshops hopes to provide the basis for a reassessment of ecclesiastical historiography in the sixth century. Its specific focus will be on how these texts function not just as reporters on, but also as actors in the doctrinal debates of the period.

Speakers are (30 minute papers):
Muriel Debié (Paris, France): The parting of the ways and the writing of History: 6th C Historiography in the light of Post-Chalcedonian Church Politics
Geoffrey Greatrex (Ottawa, Canada): Théodore le Lecteur et l'histoire profane dans l'historiographie ecclésiastique au VIe s.
Philippe Blaudeau (Angers, France): Liberatus  de Carthage et ses sources: entre travail historiographique et conscience géo-ecclésiologique
Peter Van Nuffelen (Ghent, Belgium): Writing ecclesiastical history in the sixth century: the politics of periodisation

Treating different (sets of) authors from various angles, the four papers show that literary and methodological choices (the search for documents and their inclusion; the (lack of) interest in profane matters; the insertion into or distancing from a literary tradition) are driven by the desire to take a stance in the doctrinal disputes of the sixth century. As such, they question our modern views of this period, which are often determined by historiographical sources.

See the individual abstracts for further details.