Looking East

A Window on the Eastern Christian Traditions of Epiphany

November 10- 11 2011

ISM Great Hall

PRESENTERS and PAPERS (download bios)

11th century Orthodox Church. Photo: Vasileios Marinis.

Introduction

Bryan D. Spinks teaches courses on marriage liturgy; English Reformation worship traditions; the eucharistic prayer and theology; Christology, and liturgy of the Eastern churches; and contemporary worship. Research interests include East Syrian rites, Reformed rites, issues in theology and liturgy, and worship in a postmodern age. His most recent books are Early and Medieval Rituals and Theologies of Baptism: From the New Testament to the Council of Trent (2006); Reformation and Modern Rituals and Theologies of Baptism: From Luther to Contemporary Practices (2006); and Liturgy in the Age of Reason: Worship and Sacraments in England and Scotland, 1662–c. 1800 (2008). The Worship Mall: Liturgical Initiatives and Responses in a Postmodern Global World was published by SPCK (London 2010; New York 2011). He coedited, with Teresa Berger, The Spirit in Worship: Worship in the Spirit (2009). Other recent publications include “Liturgical Theology and Criticism—Things of Heaven and Things of the Earth: Some Reflections on Worship, World Christianity, and Culture” in Christian Worship Worldwide: Expanding Horizons, Deepening Practices; “Renaissance Liturgical Reforms: Reflections on Intentions and Methods” in Reformation & Renaissance Review; “Eastern Christian Liturgical Traditions, Oriental Orthodox” in The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity; and “The Growth of Liturgy and the Church Year” in The Cambridge History of Christianity, Vol. II: Constantine to c. 600. He is currently writing a book on the eucharist and working on the Syriac Liturgy of St. James. Professor Spinks is coeditor of the Scottish Journal of Theology, a former consultant to the Church of England Liturgical Commission, president emeritus of the Church Service Society of the Church of Scotland, and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of Churchill College, Cambridge. He is a regular Sunday Presbyter in the Middlesex Area Cluster Ministry. Professor Spinks is a fellow of Morse College.

Liturgy

Mary K. Farag is a doctoral student in the Ancient Christianity program at the Religious Studies Department of Yale University. As a fellow of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, she completed a masters degree in 2009 with a specialization in liturgical studies at Yale Divinity School. Farag subsequently specialized in Coptic studies as a DAAD fellow at the University of Münster in Germany. During the summer of 2011, she will offer an intensive Coptic language course at the Coptic Orthodox Seminary in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. Herself a Coptic Orthodox Christian, Farag’s research interest lies in the history and theology of Coptic liturgy. Her interests also lie in late antique Egyptian monasticism, in patristic theology, and in Christian Arabic literature. Farag has published articles on the history of liturgical invocations and on Eucharistic prayers.

A Shared Prayer Over Water in the Eastern Epiphany Rites

With the exception of the Maronite tradition and the so-called Assyrian or Nestorian tradition, all eastern Christian traditions share one prayer in common in their respective Epiphany rites: the prayer for the sanctification of the waters. This shared prayer has no title, but is referred to by its incipit, “Great art Thou.” This paper discusses the basic structure of “Great art Thou” and its context in five otherwise different Epiphany rites: the Armenian, Byzantine, Coptic, Syrian, and Ethiopic. The paper then highlights two Hellenistic philosophical aspects of the prayer and remarkable parallels in the fourth-century church order Apostolic Constitutions (books seven and eight). Since “Great art Thou” is addressed entirely to Christ, the paper concludes with a brief discussion of how “Great art Thou” can inform currently debated issues regarding prayer to Christ.

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Martha Moore-Keish grew up in Tallahassee, Florida.  She attended Harvard College and Union Theological Seminary in Virginia (now Union Presbyterian Seminary), where she met and married her husband Chris.  She earned the Ph.D. in theology from Emory University, and then worked for three years in the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  During 2003-04 she taught liturgical studies at Yale Divinity School and the ISM, before moving to Atlanta in summer 2004 to take the position as Assistant Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary.  She has published two books: Do This in Remembrance of Me: A Ritual Approach to Reformed Eucharistic Theology (2008) and Christian Prayer for Today (2009). Martha co-chairs the current international ecumenical dialogue between the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, focusing on issues of justification, sacramentality, and justice. Martha and Chris have two daughters, Miriam and Fiona, three cats, and a flock of chickens.

Music

Alexander Lingas is a Senior Lecturer in Music at City University London, a Fellow of the University of Oxford’s European Humanities Research Centre, and Founding Artistic Director of the vocal ensemble Cappella Romana. Formerly Assistant Professor of Music History at Arizona State University’s School of Music, he received his Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from the University of British Columbia. His awards include Fulbright and Onassis grants for musical studies with cantor Lycourgos Angelopoulos, the British Academy's Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship, and the St Romanos the Melodist medallion of the National Forum for Greek Orthodox Church Musicians (USA). Having contributed articles to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, Dr Lingas is now completing two monographs: a study of Sunday Matins in the Rite of Hagia Sophia for Ashgate and a historical introduction to Byzantine Chant for Yale University Press.

The Worship of the Trinity Made Manifest: Byzantine Psalmodia for Theophany

This musically illustrated presentation will trace the development of the repertories of Byzantine chant (psalmodia) for Theophany, the feast of God's manifestation at the Baptism of Christ celebrated on 6 January. It will begin by comparing the texts and music used for this feast in the rites of Constantinople and Palestine, contrasting the liturgically conservative psalmody of the former with the hymnody developed for the latter by Patriarch Sophronios of Jerusalem and his successors. The remainder of the presentation will address the synthesis and further development of these regional traditions during the later Middle Ages, noting in particular the contribution of Stoudite monks and late Byzantine composers Xenos Korones and St John Koukouzeles.

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Calvin Stapert received a BA degree from Calvin College and MA and PhD degrees in musicology from the University of Chicago.  For thirty-eight years he was a member of the music faculty at Calvin College where he taught music history and theory and directed the collegium musicum.  He has been retired since 2007.  His main area of interest is the intersection of music and theology.  He served on the planning committee during the founding and early years of the Forum for Music and Christian Scholarship.  His publications include four books:  My Only Comfort: Death, Deliverance and Discipleship in the Music of Bach (Eerdmans, 2000), a New Song for an Old World: Musical Thought in the Early Church (Eerdmans, 2007), J. S. Bach (Lion Hudson, 2009), and Handel’s Messiah:  Comfort for God’s People (Eerdmans, 2010).

Art & Architecture

Linda Safran received her Ph.D. in art history from Yale. Trained as a Byzantinist and medievalist, she also became a classicist to serve as Chair of the Department of Greek and Latin at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. More recently she has taught at the University of Toronto and York University, and she is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto. In addition to holding several fellowships in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, she has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Kress Fellow, and a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada multi-year grant recipient. She edited Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium, now in its fifth printing (Penn State, 1998), and co-edited The Early Christian Book (CUA Press, 2007) and Confronting the Borders of Medieval Art (Brill, 2011). She has published several articles on late antique art and many more on cultural interactions among Jews, Orthodox Christians, and Roman-rite Christians in medieval southern Italy. Her book on Art and Identity in the Medieval Salento will be published in 2012.

Orthodox Baptism: Sites and Scenes

This illustrated lecture surveys spaces, objects, and images associated with the sacrament of baptism in the eastern Mediterranean region.  Despite the archetypal open-air Baptism of Christ in the Jordan, specific types of fonts in dedicated spaces soon monumentalized the baptismal experience, and visual representations of Christ’s baptism incorporated complex symbolism and iconographic features not found in the Gospel texts.  This paper addresses the evolving iconography and spatiality of Epiphany from late antiquity through the late Byzantine era.

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Vasileios Marinis has been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships including the Aidan Kavanagh Prize for Outstanding Scholarship at Yale, a Junior Fellowship at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., the S.C. and P.C. Coleman Senior Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He has published on a variety of topics ranging from early Christian tunics decorated with New Testament scenes to medieval tombs and Byzantine transvestite nuns. He is currently preparing a monograph on the interchange of architecture and ritual in the medieval churches of Constantinople. Before coming to Yale he was the first holder of the Kallinikeion Chair of Byzantine Art at Queens College, CUNY. During the 2011-12 academic year he is on sabbatical leave as a member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton.

Teaching Coptic Chant

Margot Fassler is a music historian who gives the liturgy primary emphasis in her scholarly publications and her teaching.   Fassler's books, edited volumes, and articles focus on the Latin Middle Ages from around 800-1300, but she has strong interests in contemporary sacred music and ritual, and in American song, singers, and song collections.  Fassler is a documentarian, and has made films of a variety of musical/liturgical practices, including studies (with Jacqueline Richard) of the St. John Passion of JS Bach, and the teaching of the music in the Coptic tradition: "Where the Hudson Meets the Nile."  Her most recent book, The Virgin of Chartres: Making History through Liturgy and Arts (Yale University Press, 2010), demonstrates how the past was constructed in medieval Christian communities, arguing for the centrality of the liturgy and liturgical arts. It has been named a finalist for the Ace Mercers' International Book Award.  She is now writing a book on Hildegard of Bingen and completing a textbook on medieval music.  Fassler's American Music and Worship course has a strong fieldwork component involving local religious communities,and potential film making ventures.

Courses in her rota include: "Making History with the Saints"; "Christian Repertories and Worship Traditions in the USA"; "Getting Medieval:  Music and Technology in the Latin Middle Ages (800-1400)"; "Hours of Prayer in the Christian Tradition"; "Music, Ritual, and the Documentary"; and (in the First Year Curriculum) "Songs and Songsters in the USA: from Indians to Indie."

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