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Church-Making by Spacing: Processions and the Transformation of Urban Space in Late Antiquity

Open Lecture with Florian Wöller, Copenhagen, followed by reception (eftersits till självkostnadspris), organised by Collegium patristicum lundense
At the centre of the talk stands a contested text, the De terrae motu by (Ps.-) Chrysostomus. As I will argue, it is the result of two homilies that were delivered in the aftermath of possibly two earthquakes, possibly around the year 400, possibly in Constantinople. These sermons convey a turbulent atmosphere, with an agitated urban populace in motion through what the text calls the agora.
My analysis of the text distinguishes three levels: What happened, how the events were experienced, and how the text contributes to what results in a re-fashioning of the city from agora to ekklesia. Drawing on theories of walking (De Certeau) and Spacing (Löw et alii), I will show how and by way of which strategies processions transformed urban space in late antiquity.
Florian Wöller is Associate Professor of Church History at the Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen. He works on late medieval history of theology and cultural history of late antique Christianity. His current book project is on late antique cultures of street processions.