Mattias Brand | University of Zurich, Switzerland (original) (raw)

Publications by Mattias Brand

Oort, J. van (ed.) – Manichaeism and Early Christianity. Selected Papers from the 2019 Pretoria C... more Oort, J. van (ed.) – Manichaeism and Early Christianity. Selected Papers from the 2019 Pretoria Congress and Consultation (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 99), Leiden-Boston: Brill 2021, XI + 446 pp.

Mattias Brand, (2021) “Ten Steps to Superiority: Manichaean Historical Reasoning and the Formatio... more Mattias Brand, (2021) “Ten Steps to Superiority: Manichaean Historical Reasoning and the Formation of a New Religion”, in: Adrian Braendli and Katharina Heyden eds. Claiming History in Religious Conflicts (Basel: Schwabe Verlag), 111-141 (Open Access).

Mattias Brand, (2021) “‘You being for us helpers, and worthy patrons...’ (P.Kell.Copt 32). Manich... more Mattias Brand, (2021) “‘You being for us helpers, and worthy patrons...’ (P.Kell.Copt 32). Manichaean gift-exchange in the village of Kellis”, in M. Franzmann and M. Scopello eds. Women in Western and Eastern Manichaeism (Leiden: Brill).

Mattias Brand, (2021) “‘For only our lord the Paraclete is competent to praise you as you deserve... more Mattias Brand, (2021) “‘For only our lord the Paraclete is competent to praise you as you deserve’ (P.Kellis I Gr. 63): Identifying a Roman-Egyptian patron of the Manichaeans in Kellis”, in: J. van Oort (ed.,) Manichaeism and Early Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2021), 128-151.

Mattias Brand, Eline Scheerlinck, (2021) “Letter or Petition with Complaint and Request about Gar... more Mattias Brand, Eline Scheerlinck, (2021) “Letter or Petition with Complaint and Request about Garments”, In: Joanne Vera Stolk & Guus A.J.C. van Loon (eds.), Text Editions of (Abnormal) Hieratic, Demotic, Greek, Latin and Coptic. Some People Love Their Friends Also When They Are Far Away: Festschrift in Honour of Franscisca A.J. Hoogendijk (P. L. Bat. 37) (Leiden: Brill), 155-158.

• ‘In the footsteps of the Apostles of Light: Persecution and the Manichaean discourse of sufferi... more • ‘In the footsteps of the Apostles of Light: Persecution and the Manichaean discourse of suffering’, in E. Fournier and W. Mayer eds., Heirs of Roman Persecution: Studies on a Christian and para-Christian Discourse in Late Antiquity (London: Routledge, 2019), 112-134.

Perspectives on Lived Religion: Practices Transmission Landscape, 2019

• “Identifying Christian Burials” in: Perspectives on Lived Religion: Practices Transmission Land... more • “Identifying Christian Burials” in: Perspectives on Lived Religion: Practices Transmission Landscape, Edited by Nico Staring, Huw Twiston Davies and Lara Weiss (Leiden: Sidestone Press) 85-95.
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- see URL link above - New archaeological and papyrological discoveries in the Egyptian desert ... more - see URL link above -
New archaeological and papyrological discoveries in the Egyptian desert are destined to impact the study of religion in late antiquity. This extended review of An Oasis City (2015) will highlight some of most important findings related to the religious diversity of the region. The tremendous wealth of the new discoveries offers insight into the development of religion during the later Roman Empire. Building on this archaeological overview of Amheida (ancient Trimithis in the Dakhleh Oasis), this paper discusses the local situation of Egyptian religion, Christianity, and Manichaeism in late antiquity, with a particular focus on religious diversity and interaction in everyday life.

Full version published as: M. Brand, 'Speech patterns as indicators of religious identities: the ... more Full version published as: M. Brand, 'Speech patterns as indicators of religious identities: the Manichaean community in Late Antique Egypt', in H.F. Teigen and E. Heldaas Seland eds, Sinews of Empire. Networks in the Roman Near East and Beyond (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2017) 105-119.

http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/sinews-of-empire.html

Conference program by Mattias Brand

Invitation Masterclass 10 May 2022 (Zurich) (En)Tangled? Gender and Religion throughout History

Zurich, 31-10-2019 and 01-11-2019 With this Masterclass, we would like to stress the important i... more Zurich, 31-10-2019 and 01-11-2019

With this Masterclass, we would like to stress the important interaction between the historical study of ancient religion(s) and theoretical reflections within the academic study of religion. Brent Nongbri and Nickolas P. Roubekas have both contributed to the volume Theorizing “Re-ligion” in Antiquity (edited by Roubekas and published in 2019 with Equinox). Their diverging positions on the use of the concept of “religion” offer a challenge for everyone working on religion in the past, while raising critical issues of general relevance to the study of religion\s as such. Apart from their theoretical interest, both speakers bring a wealth of experience in the field of Judaism, Early Christianity, Papyrology, Greek and Roman religions.

The aim of this Masterclass is to bring together international and Swiss colleagues working on religion and history—regardless of their precise academic disciplinary background, yet with an interest in the study of religion\s’ disciplinary profile. MA and PhD students are kindly invited to briefly present their research and profit from this opportunity to receive feedback from our invited speakers, as well as from the other participants.

Are you a PhD student or Research Master student and do you plan to attend the 9 th International... more Are you a PhD student or Research Master student and do you plan to attend the 9 th International conference of the Association of Manichaean Studies (IAMS) in Turin (Sept. 11-15, 2017)? We are offering the best opportunity to get feedback on a chapter or article you've just written!

Call for papers: Compassion, Social Engagement, and Discontent: Believing and the Politics of Bel... more Call for papers: Compassion, Social Engagement, and Discontent: Believing and the Politics of Belonging in Europe Today

Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR), Thursday 10 and Friday 11 November 2016

This LUCSoR conference aims to investigate forms and elements of religion in public settings and technologies of belonging in Europe today by taking compassion as a locus. We approach compassion not primarily as an emotion but as a social relation. Compassion may lead to social engagement, but also to the desire not to connect, to refuse engagement, or to turn away.

The conference is intended for scholars of religion of various disciplinary backgrounds interested in exploring new ways of studying religion in public settings.

http://www.hum.leiden.edu/papyrological-institute/news/conference-october.html

Talks by Mattias Brand

EASR Pisa "Resilient Religion" Religion at home has frequently been deemed either extremely cons... more EASR Pisa "Resilient Religion"

Religion at home has frequently been deemed either extremely conservative and resilient to societal change, or the cradle of individual creativity and religious bricolage. This paper will sketch the outlines of a comparative project focused on the interpenetration of the domestic sphere with wider contextual concerns in three historical units: late antique Egypt, Victorian era USA, and contemporary Buddhist practice in the globalized West. These very distinct comparanda offer exciting comparative opportunities that can facilitate specific (mid-range) theory formation, thereby contributing to one of the core tasks (and methodologies) of the discipline of the Study of Religion.
Zooming in on a more specific historical level, this paper will examine changing domestic ideologies and their impact on the way individuals and families bring religious practices into late antique and Victorian era homes. Within the former period, a conceptual shift took place from the household as the crucible of religious socialization to a more ambiguous space of potential religious deviance. This conceptual shift led to changing “domestication strategies,” including secrecy and concealment to safeguard a variety of ritual practices from dominant Christian hegemony. Likewise, the Victorian era witnessed a changing domestic ideology characterized by a desire for comfort and an increasing demarcation of “private life”, which affected religious practices in the context of the growing representational function of the parlor. In both units, therefore, the perceived conservative nature of domestic religion was just one feature of a larger pattern in which domestication strategies navigated the material and imaginary conditions of the home.

DVRW Tagung „RELIGION(SWISSENSCHAFT) IN RELATION“ Most religious practices stand on the edge of ... more DVRW Tagung „RELIGION(SWISSENSCHAFT) IN RELATION“

Most religious practices stand on the edge of what has been called the public and private sphere. In fact, the binary juxtaposition of public/private may well point to one of the most controversial conceptual relationships in the academic Study of Religion\s, underpinning discussions about “magic,” “secularization,” and the place of individual “agency”. But how can we conceptualize religion at home without placing it in relation to a public or institutional sphere? This paper will re-examine conceptualizations of “domestic religion” in the study of late antiquity to identify paths beyond the public/private binary. Following a more processual approach, I will offer “domestication strategies” as focal points for comparative study.

European Association for the Study of Religion conference in Bern (June 2018).

Perspectives on Lived Religion: Practices Transmission Landscape, 2019

http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/sinews-of-empire.html

Invitation Masterclass 10 May 2022 (Zurich) (En)Tangled? Gender and Religion throughout History

Zurich, 31-10-2019 and 01-11-2019 With this Masterclass, we would like to stress the important i... more Zurich, 31-10-2019 and 01-11-2019

Leiden University Centre for the Study of Religion (LUCSoR), Thursday 10 and Friday 11 November 2016

The conference is intended for scholars of religion of various disciplinary backgrounds interested in exploring new ways of studying religion in public settings.

http://www.hum.leiden.edu/papyrological-institute/news/conference-october.html

EASR Pisa "Resilient Religion" Religion at home has frequently been deemed either extremely cons... more EASR Pisa "Resilient Religion"

DVRW Tagung „RELIGION(SWISSENSCHAFT) IN RELATION“ Most religious practices stand on the edge of ... more DVRW Tagung „RELIGION(SWISSENSCHAFT) IN RELATION“

European Association for the Study of Religion conference in Bern (June 2018).

Tri-university research colloquium religious studies (Utrecht, June 2018). This paper starts fr... more Tri-university research colloquium religious studies (Utrecht, June 2018).

This paper starts from the position that the received narrative about the role of
religion in Late Antiquity has to be confronted with the sociological untidiness of
history. As this period witnessed the rise of Christianity, modern Judaism, Islam, and
Manichaeism, it has been defined primarily in religious terms. Stories of religious
competition and conflict have reiterated this centrality of religious ideas, practices,
and groups after Constantine’s rise to power. But what was the impact of religion on
everyday life?
The relatively recently unearthed archive of Manichaean texts from the village of
Kellis in Egypt has the potential to answer this question and change the way we
conceptualize religious groups in Late Antiquity. The papyrus documents include
personal letters and business accounts of ‘ordinary’ people, which have been found
right next to ‘extraordinary’ theological and liturgical Manichaean texts. The
connections between these two sets of documents, and their find location, has yielded
abundant evidence for the daily lives of a small religious community in the Egyptian
desert. By analyzingwhere, when and why religious identifications were considered
relevant, we will not only further our understanding of Manichaeism as a religion of
practice, but also develop a sophisticated framework in which religious differences
and interactions become part of local situations in the (extra)ordinary lives of ancient
individuals.

Introduction & theoretical framework for the conference "Late Antique Religion in Practice: Papyr... more Introduction & theoretical framework for the conference "Late Antique Religion in Practice: Papyri and the Dynamics of Religious Identification" (see link to the program above), Leiden University, November 2017.

Religious identification has sometimes been treated, in modern studies, as if it equaled coming out of the closet: an individual decision to reveal aspects of his or her most inner self-understanding in precarious situations. Alternatively, less tentative explanations have been given for religiously marked language, like the immersion of individuals and scribes in a shared in-group repertoire, or the impact of institutional behavioral norms. This paper aims to examine the various social situations that gave rise to religious identifications, as well as the potential of modern social scientific theory for the study of these processes in ancient papyri. Obviously there is an enormous range of social scientific studies which could potentially shed light on ancient religious identifications. By considering a few recent contributions, I will highlight some valuable approaches for understanding how multidimensional human beings drew upon religious repertoires when they needed to. In particular I would like to shift the focus away from the (linguistic) markers of religious identification to a different set of questions related to the events or situations in which they were deemed relevant.

September 2017, presentation at the 9th IAMS conference, Turin (International Association of Mani... more September 2017, presentation at the 9th IAMS conference, Turin (International Association of Manichaean Studies).

This paper will revisit the classification of Manichaeans by relating academic taxonomy to the everyday practices of fourth century Kellites in the Egyptian desert. Were Manichaeans Christians? What is the explanatory value of the claim that Manichaeans were the ‘true’ Christians of the oasis?
The current consensus to classify Manichaeans amongst Christians has major advantages over all previous interpretations. It highlights the claims on shared ideas and practices, as well as the continuous interaction with Christian literature in various regions and periods. By treating the Manichaean church as one of the traditions within the wider Ancient Christian movement, intra-group competition and interaction are stressed. Theological and rhetorical decisions become apparent as features in a complex process of (group)-identity formation by which Christians are defined in opposition to those wrong, foreign, and foolish.
This perspective of Manichaeans negotiating their Christianness, however, strongly leans on the combination of two types of classification: emic and etic. It is approached through the often ambiguous self-identification of ancient individuals, and the centrality of ‘Christian’ characteristics in their theological and liturgical texts. Both approaches are not without difficulties. Current social-scientific perspectives suggests that on the everyday level, multiple overlapping social affiliations (or identifications) are the norm. Manichaeanness, therefore, becomes only one of the relevant frameworks for the daily interactions of Kellites. On a more general theoretical level, the classification based on Christian characteristics made me wonder (with Rogers Brubaker) whether we run the risk of using pre-constructed categories of religious common sense as our categories of analysis. For this reason we need to revisit the question concerning when something becomes a distinct new ‘religion’, a question also relevant for the modern study of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Duze, and the Baha’is. In this respect, the Kellis evidence offers a local situation on the ground, to revisit some of the driving forces behind classification.

Paper given at the conference 'Shared Ritual Practices and Divided Historiography: Media, Phenome... more Paper given at the conference 'Shared Ritual Practices and Divided Historiography: Media, Phenomena, Topoi' at Erfurt, June 2017

Manichaeism may well have been the most persecuted of all heresies in the later Roman Empire. Wit... more Manichaeism may well have been the most persecuted of all heresies in the later Roman Empire. With its background in Sassanian Persia and its claims on a Christian message, the Manichaean religion was rejected by the traditional Roman elite and despised by Christian bishops and emperors. The legislation following this sentiment may have affected the diffusion of Manichaean communities in the Roman Empire on a fundamental level, but would it have led to forced migration?
Relatively new material from Kellis (Ismant el-Kharab in the Dakhleh Oasis, Western desert in Egypt) offers the opportunity to re-examine the impact of anti-Manichaean attitudes and legislation on the everyday lives of Manichaeans. Was their presence in the oasis, on a multiple day trip from the Nile valley, the result of the Diocletian persecution? Would they have had to conceal their religious identity and beliefs from their neighbors? The documentary papyri from the oasis are ambiguous at best: they include troublesome statements like “the place is difficult” (P.Kell.Copt. 31.47), but also attest to unmarked village relations with Christian presbyters and Roman officials. Taking into account complex legal, papyrological and heresiological sources, this paper will reflect on the desert-setting of the Manichaean community, their connectivity and the impact of Roman legislation on ordinary village life(s).

Paper given at the Forced Movement in Late Antiquity conference, April 2017

Paper given at the 'Mani in Cambridge' seminar, March 2017

Paper during the NGG Autumn Conference 2016 Public Religions and Their Secrets, Secret Religions ... more Paper during the NGG Autumn Conference 2016 Public Religions and Their Secrets, Secret Religions and Their Publics.

What social reality lay behind the discourse of secrecy and revelation in the Manichaean community? What was kept secret and for whom? References to ‘mystery’ abound in the Coptic Manichaean sources and the biography of Mani continuously speaks about the ‘revelation’ of heavenly ‘secrets’. These texts primarily communicate the exceptional status and knowledge of insiders, thus emphasizing the unveiling of mysteries instead of their concealment.

Besides secrecy and revelation as theme in Manichaean texts, the social structure of the Manichaean community could have facilitated different levels of knowledge. The division between the elect and the catechumens, their lay supporters, was a fundamental feature of Manichaean life. What knowledge, if any, was kept back from the catechumens? Could this have stimulated the accumulation of knowledge in the hands of their ascetic holy men and women? Was secrecy and mystery, in other words, more than a rhetorical framework to identify the ‘knowers’?

The relatively new material from the controlled archaeological excavation in Kellis (Ismant el-Kharab, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt) provides insights into the social dynamics of Manichaeans in everyday life, raising even more questions about concealment as strategy in their community. In particular it leads us to reconsider the need for secrecy due to the Roman persecutions under Diocletian and the Christian emperors. Was it necessary to veil their beliefs and practices under the threat of the Roman military presence in the Dakhleh Oasis or have we overestimated the influence of legislation?

In this paper the language of secrecy will be examined with an eye on the social strategies of Manichaean communities in the later Roman Empire. It will address Stroumsa’s theses on increasing ‘sociological esotericism’ and weakening ‘objective secrets’ in late antique Christianity, in light of the only socio-historical evidence for Manichaeans on the ground.

June 2016 conference University of Tasmania (Australia): Amphorae X

How did late antique religious movements like Christianity and Manichaeism deal with transgressio... more How did late antique religious movements like Christianity and Manichaeism deal with transgressions? This paper will introduce almsgiving as a fundamental strategy to cope with transgression in late antiquity. Almsgiving has redemptive qualities in both traditions but was only connected to moral misbehavior in a Christian context. The Manichaean narrative linked it to the escape from a world of conflict instead of the cleansing of (personal) sins. Meanwhile, some insiders and outsiders considered the practice of almsgiving for the daily ritual meal of the elect to contain a transgression of the fundamental Manichaean rules of conduct. Did this ritual contribute to the problem it tried to solve?

The documentary letters from Kellis provide the very first opportunity to study the Manichaean tr... more The documentary letters from Kellis provide the very first opportunity to study the Manichaean tradition ’on the ground’. This paper will highlight some of the transformations which set this material apart from other Manichaean sources. Among the alterations I will stress the absence of ritual specialist and will present the role of lay participation in the ritual dynamics and the formation of a Manichaean community. I will describe the formation of the ’holy church’ in Kellis from a socio-historical perspective, based on the Greek and Coptic material analyzed in my PhD-project. The transformations attested in this village reveal the mechanisms of creating a Manichaean way of life in antiquity; they problematize theoretical approaches which a priori designate Manichaeism as a coherent system whose Urform was designed by Mani himself. Systematization, agency and the adaptation to the local context characterized the formation of this religious community in fourth century Egypt.

Paper during the 2015 conference 'Papyri and Social Networks' at Leiden University

Paper for the 2015 SAMR conference in Erfurt

Paper for the seminar series of the department of Religious Studies, University of Sydney, March ... more Paper for the seminar series of the department of Religious Studies, University of Sydney, March 2016

Paper presented at the centre for Early Christian Studies, Australian Catholic University (Brisba... more Paper presented at the centre for Early Christian Studies, Australian Catholic University (Brisbane, April 2016)

Paper given at the Department for Ancient History and Archaeology, Monash University (Melbourne, ... more Paper given at the Department for Ancient History and Archaeology, Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). May 2016

Paper given at the Department of Ancient History of Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) May ... more Paper given at the Department of Ancient History of Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) May 2016.

Religion and the Everyday Life of Manichaeans in Kellis Beyond Light and Darkness Published in ... more Religion and the Everyday Life of Manichaeans in Kellis
Beyond Light and Darkness

Published in Open Access with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Religion is never simply there. In Religion and the Everyday Life of Manichaeans in Kellis, Mattias Brand shows where and when ordinary individuals and families in Egypt practiced a Manichaean way of life. Rather than portraying this ancient religion as a well-structured, totalizing community, the fourth-century papyri sketch a dynamic image of lived religious practice, with all the contradictions, fuzzy boundaries, and limitations of everyday life. Following these microhistorical insights, this book demonstrates how family life, gift-giving, death rituals, communal gatherings, and book writing are connected to our larger academic debates about religious change in late antiquity.

This volume provides novel social-scientific and historical approaches to religious identificatio... more This volume provides novel social-scientific and historical approaches to religious identifications in Late Antique (3rd-12th century) Egyptian papyri, bridging the gap between two academic fields that have been infrequently in full conversation: papyrology and the study of religion.

Through eleven in-depth case studies of Christian, Islamic, "Pagan", Jewish, Manichaean, and Hermetic texts and objects, this book offers new interpretations on markers of religious identity in papyrus documents written in Coptic, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. Using papyri as a window into the lives of ordinary believers, it explores their religious behaviour and choices in everyday life. Three valuable perspectives are outlined and explored in these documents: a critical reflection on the concept of identity and the role of religious groups, a situational reading of religious repertoire and symbols, and a focus on speech acts as performative and efficacious utterances.

Religious Identifications in Late Antique Papyri offers a wide scope and comparative approach to this topic, suitable for students and scholars of Late Antiquity and Egypt as well as those interested in Late Antique religion.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003287872/religious-identifications-late-antique-papyri-mattias-brand-eline-scheerlinck