Programme
The program unit explores how those who were perceived as “others” were differentiated, excluded and devalued in various early Christian sources, both inside and outside the New Testament canon. Inter-disciplinary approaches addressing the emergence and function of social stereotypes and prejudice help to understand better the early Christian polemic against “others” and, therefore, make it possible to give marginalized others a fair hearing in the study of Christianity. We welcome especially proposals that apply social scientific or cognitive theories to explain how images of “otherness” constructed and solidified early Christian identities. Also welcome are papers that address the function of favourable portraits of “others” for Christian identity construction or portraits of Christians as “others” in non-Christian sources.