Welcome!

‘Beyond the Fathers’ is an online platform devoted to the NWO project of the same name. It provides information on the project, partners, and workshops, and aims to present the individual and collaborative research input of the project group and its guests.

The project includes a sequence of four international colloquia (2012-2014), funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and organized by Hagit Amirav under the aegis of the Faculty of Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in collaboration with Guy Stroumsa (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford), Christoph Markschies (Humboldt University, Berlin), and Istvan Perczel (CEU, Budapest).

The project has the overarching theme In Search of New Authorities: The Development of New Literary and Artistic Genres in Late Antique and Early Islamic Eastern Mediterranean (5th-8th centuries). By launching this project, we hope to stir a renewed appreciation of the legacy of the vast and versatile literature of this period, and its societal impact in later periods. Prominent guest scholars who already confirmed their participation in the first workshop are, among others, Averil Cameron and Nicholas de Lange.

Project Director, Prof. dr. Hagit Amirav

(Photo: ©Riechelle van der Valk, StudioVU)

During the duration of the project and the preparation of its research output, the PI also enjoyed the support of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the European Research Council.

The project is carried out under the aegis of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Centre for Religious History (ACRH).