Title: Christians as Classicists: A Literary and Archaeological Analysis of Christian Invented Tradition
Final Presentation is linked here.
A statue of Emperor Constantine outside the St. John Lateran Basilica
For my final capstone project, I wanted to integrate the major themes of the previous research I have conducted for this major. As such, I knew I wanted to create an integrative approach which would include both literature and archaeological evidence.
Since a significant portion of my previous research has been on Early Christianity in Rome, I felt it was only fitting to continue with this theme. In a previous research project (available here), I had analyzed the concept of invented tradition and its influence on Christian persecution narratives. I have wanted to explore the possibility of invented tradition in Christianity further, and saw this capstone as an opportunity to do just that.
I therefore decided to examine a primary source for Early Christianity, Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History, along with an architectural feature common in churches, spolia, to attempt a more holistic understanding of invented tradition in Early Christianity.