In late May, EXPRECCE hosted a session Encounters Between Humanities and
Natural Sciences in the Study of Religion at the Research Conference in
Theology and Religion in Turku. Nina delivered a presentation on the concept of
consilience, Harri gave an introduction to cultural evolutionary theory as a
framework for biblical studies, and Pasi discussed applying computer-assisted
methods in manuscript research. We were also honored to witness Risto Uro, a
“godfather” of our project, present his latest book project, Early Christian
Practices.
In June, EXPRECCE travelled to Oxford for the 9th Biennial Meeting of the
International Association for the Cognitive and Evolutionary Sciences of
Religion 2024. There Nina and our collaborator Zdeňka Špiclová gave a
presentation titled Intergroup Hostility as a Cultural Attractor in Early
Christian Texts. Additionally, Harri participated in his first-ever poster session
with his dissertation project, presenting his poster Cognitive and Evolutionary
Perspectives on the Popularity of the Early Christian Martyr Phenomenon.
Our conference summer culminated in July in the heat of Sofia, where the
European Association of Biblical Studies held its annual conference. EXPRECCE
contributed to the Cognitive and Cultural Evolutionary Perspectives on the
Biblical World research unit. Nina and Zdeňka gave a presentation titled Every
Story Needs a Villain: Polemical Descriptions of Ingroup Deviants and Outgroup
Enemies as Cultural Attractor Positions in Early Christian Texts, and Harri
presented on Quantifying the Cultural Evolution of Early Christian Martyrdom:
Prospects, Challenges, and Preliminary Results.