Prof. Dr. Marievonne Schöttner as Chair of a Workshop at an International Academic Conference in Leuven

The annual conference of the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) was held in Leuven, Belgium, from 20 to 23 July. Around 400 scholars exchanged their ideas in approximately 70 research groups covering a broad range of topics and questions in biblical studies (see programme).

As part of this international academic conference, Prof. Dr. Marievonne Schöttner co-chaired the workshop “Strategies of Collective Identity Constructing in Biblical Texts” together with Maira Rehr (Ruhr University Bochum). The workshop focused on the strategies biblical authors employ to construct and convey collective identities in narrative texts. Participants engaged in intensive discussions on the possibilities and limitations of such identity constructions, as well as their literary and historical contexts. These questions were explored through selected biblical writings, including Ezra–Nehemiah, the Second Book of Maccabees, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Letter to the Ephesians. As part of the workshop, Prof. Dr. Schöttner delivered a paper entitled “Telling the Founding of Early Christianity: Narrative Constructions of Collective Identity in the Acts of the Apostles.”