The annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Association of Religion takes place in San Antonio, Texas, on November 19-22. The REECR members are taking part and one of the sessions that we are looking particularly forward to is a joint session organized by the research units Mind, Society, and Religion in the Biblical World and Ritual in the Biblical World.

The theme of the session is “New Books on Cognitive and Ritual Approaches to the New Testament and Early Christianity” and during the session a panel of distinguished researchers will discuss two recent publications. One of them is written by our project leader, Risto Uro: Ritual and Christian Beginnings (Oxford University Press, 2016). And the other is written by our external advisor Istvan Czachesz, Cognitive Science and the New Testament: A New Approach (Oxford University Press, 2016).

You can read more about the conference here.

The REECR is co-hosting a two-day workshop on mortuary ritual in Helsinki on Thursday October 27-Friday October 28.

The workshop is a cross-disciplinary gathering, where scholars working within the fields of archaeology, religious studies and biblical studies will meet and discuss aspects of mortuary ritual practices, such as funerary rituals, mourning rituals, ancestor worship and other kinds of ritual behavior related to the tomb of the deceased such as habitual visits or what one could call the care and feeding of the dead.

The workshop is organized and funded in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions (CSTT).

See the workshop program and sign up for the workshop here.

Contact: Anne Katrine de Hemmer Gudme (anne.gudme@helsinki.fi)