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• 31 mar 2013

  Ghent

  Call for papers - Science studies

  The Christian Mystery

  Early Christianity and the pagan mystery cults in the work of Franz Cumont (1868-1947) and in the history of scholarship

  Cumont was a pioneer of the scientific study of the oriental religions. Many of his publications (e.g. The Mysteries of Mithras, 1900) fuelled the early 20th century debates about Christianity’s dependence on the pagan cults through the similarities they suggested between these religious traditions. Cumont expressed his opinion only indirectly and ambiguously, but other scholars have been more explicit in demonstrating or denying such influences.The theme of this international conference, hosted by Franz Cumont’s alma mater Ghent University, is the way Cumont and his contemporaries conceived the relationship of Early Christianity to the pagan mystery cults. We will also include predecessors and more recent scholarship on this topic.

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