Writers and theologians of the early Christian East often depicted the cosmos as harmonious, peaceful, and orderly – a vision icon of the heavenly realm. How did natural disasters fit within the idyllic picture? This talk will examine a liturgical rite created to respond to earthquakes in late antique Constantinople as a way of peeling back the layers of early Christian perceptions and understandings of the beauties and dangers of the natural world.
Mark Roosien is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Yale Institute of Sacred Music for 2019-2020. He researches the connections between early Christian liturgy, thought, and ecology. He is currently working on a book on ritual, theological, and political responses to earthquakes in late antique Constantinople. He received his PhD in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in January, 2019 and was a Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow there for Spring 2019 semester.
To attend, please RSVP by Tuesday, September 17th, to raymond.vogel@yale.edu.