Events in Early Christian Textual Studies (July & August 2026)
Shirley Paulson shares significant events of interest to Bible and Beyond's subscribers.
July 20 – 23, 2026: European Association of Biblical Studies Annual Conference
Leuven, Belgium (and hybrid)
A major international forum for research on the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and early Christian traditions, often including sessions on apocryphal literature and early Christian history.
EABS is a registered scholarly society for the academic study of biblical and cognate areas that is open to scholars from all over the world, from senior scholars to graduate students. The society holds an annual conference and a separate annual student conference in Europe. EABS hosts research units and workshops that meet regularly at the annual conferences.
Research in the society particularly reflects European flavors of biblical studies from scholars whose expertise is in biblical and related areas. These scholars work in a range of settings and departments utilizing various disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. EABS is committed to reflecting this diversity. We particularly encourage interdisciplinary sessions and the active participation of scholars from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of study with an interest in biblical themes.
Almost from the society’s inception, scholars in areas such as archaeology, history, the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, the Talmud, the New Testament, early Christianity, and Patristics have all worked together in the EABS. Recently we have also had sessions and multi-year research programs including social scientists, art historians, literary historians, and filmmakers. The range of research presented or developed by colleagues at the EABS is becoming constantly wider and, for that reason, more nuanced and more compelling at the same time.
August 10 – 14, 2026: International Conference on Origen Studies (Colloquium Origenianum)
2026 Focus: Origen and the Development of Christian Thought
Boston College, USA
A major specialized gathering devoted to Origen of Alexandria and the development of early Christian theology, including scriptural interpretation and philosophical influences. This conference often includes research on Alexandrian theology, early cosmology, and Gnostic debates.
Origen of Alexandria played a crucial role in the development of Christian thought. It is possible to distinguish two aspects of his role. On the one hand, many early Christian doctrines achieved definitive formulation in the writings of Origen. In contrast, his teaching was the starting point for further development. For example, many early intuitions about biblical interpretation acquired a coherent theory in Origen’s writings; it is also possible to understand later theological controversies as struggles between competing versions of, or reactions against, Origen’s theology.
Therefore, the Colloquium Origenianum Quartum Decimum welcomes two categories of papers: those that examine the reception of earlier Christian thought in Origen and those that study the influence of Origen on later Christian thought. Consequently, the conference will not have a specific theme but rather a general perspective, namely, the place of Origen in the dynamic processes involved in the formation of Christian thought.