Quis est qui ligno pugnat?
Missionaries and Evangelisation in Late Antique and Medieval Europe (4th – 13th centuries)
Responsible: Emanuele Piazza, University of Catania
Scientific Committee: Luigi Andrea Berto (Western Michigan University); Alfredo Buonopane (University of Verona); Maria Clara Rossi (University of Verona); Biagio Saitta (University of Catania); Carmelina Urso (University of Catania)
Beginning with the fundamental Constantinian turning point of 313, the Church had the opportunity to extend its message inside the imperial territories as well as outside, thus giving life to a great work of evangelisation that then found in the crusader ideal an ‘instrument’ not only to ‘export’ the faith, but also to defeat the adversaries of the Church itself that lurked within the Christian ecumene. The research is conducted by favouring an approach that, in the light of the most recent historiography, places different perspectives – literary, hagiographic, anthropological and material – in dialogue with each other, offering an original analysis of the missionary phenomenon in its diachronic development, with reference to concepts such as: the affirmation and diffusion of Catholicism within the Roman Empire; evangelisation and pagan resistance; material evidence of missionary activity; analysis of documentary sources; diachronic evolution of the missionary phenomenon.
These different fields of investigation are transversally traversed by a common theme, namely that of the interaction between peoples – both spiritually and culturally – that missionaries, with their incessant wandering, made possible, bringing different societies and religions into contact with each other.
In July 2016, the collected volume edited by E. Piazza was published by Alteritas, bringing together contributions from scholars in the international academic sphere.
For information: epiazza@unict.it
