2008-2016

Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia

The aim of the research program has been to investigate the role of early monasticism, in particular in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, in the transformation of classical intellectual culture in late Antiquity and revise a scholarly tradition that has largely seen the rise of monasticism as a new and radical Christian anti-cultural movement on the fringes of ancient society. Against , a sharp dichotomy between the desert and the city, the unlettered monk and the classical philosopher, and on a broader scale, between Christianity and paganism the program has had its focus on education and literary production and worked with a hypothesis that the emergence of monasticism ought to be understood in continuity with classical paideia and school traditions.

The aim has been to look at and evaluate evidence for education in early monasticism, to see it in light of classical educational practices, to read early monastic texts as part of a reorientation within the rhetorical and philosophical schools, and relate the rise of monasticism to increased social and geographical mobility, and the challenges caused by political, economic, social and religious change.

Although the Greek tradition has remained at the centre of the research program, the transmission of early monastic education into Coptic, Syriac, Latin, Arabic and Armenian (and to some degree Georgian and Ethiopic) has been included. The aim has been to study all levels of educational literature, from syllabaries and school texts, to maxims, anecdotes, biographies, historiography, philosophical treatises and commentaries.

Although the overall aim has remained the same, three major changes have been made. The first is the development of an advanced research tool and an internet platform (APDB and Monastica) for the study of the most important material, the collections of sayings and anecdotes of the so-called desert fathers. This has added to the program an unforeseen methodological component from the rapidly growing field of digital humanities. The second is a crucial methodological turn towards what is termed "new" or "material" philology, that is an emphasis on the individual manuscripts and their users rather than the authorship and originals of the texts studied. The third change is an additional archaeological input relating our research to a broader spectrum of material evidence including a detailed analysis of finds from one of the oldest monasteries in Egypt.

Main results

The results of the research have not only confirmed our hypothesis and substantiated the on-going revision of previous scholarship. They have also provided new evidence for remarkable continuity between the educational traditions of Antiquity and the emerging monastic tradition, as well as a striking continuity into medieval monastic traditions in a variety of cultural and linguistic contexts. Our research has proven that it is no longer possible to regard the rise of monasticism as simply a development within Christianity, detached and independent from the intellectual traditions of late Antiquity.

The analysis of educational texts from what can be identified as monastic sites in Egypt proves that education was an important aspect of early monastic life, confirming accounts in a variety of literary sources, both descriptive and normative. In classical education the practice of imitation and repetition was essential and maxims and short stories were used to acquire skills of reading and writing, as well as grammar and rhetoric, but also used to develop virtues, combat vices, and add authority to ideals being taught. Not only have we found the same practices and techniques documented in archaeological finds and in the monastic sayings tradition, as well as in other early monastic texts, but also a regular use of the same school terminology. Comparative study of how biblical texts and how sayings were used in three monastic authors of Gaza, shows, likewise affirms shifts in such practice - reflected in an increased use of monastic sayings relative to biblical texts..

Even for virtues and practices that have been considered typically monastic, it has been possible to find antecedents in classical philosophy or indirectly via the re-use of philosophy in pre-monastic Christian philosophical texts. Using the theory of conceptual blending we have been able to describe how classical philosophy and pre-monastic and biblical sources were combined for example for monastic virtues like withdrawal, repentance, obedience, and the virtue of being uneducated, and also repetitive meditative prayer (the Jesus prayer). Comparisons between the systematization of the monastic sayings material into steps of moral progress, with those of classical authors, has revealed unexpected similarities.

Studies of the contemporary historical accounts of the early monastic movement have likewise shown the use of older literary traditions, including classical myths, to make sense of and defend the rise of monasticism. Among these we find the image of the single founder and lawgiver, as well as an image of the monastic community as a city. In monastic biographies, as in classical counterparts, education is an aspect of defining the hero, and in particular, identifying to which social network or school he belongs.

Our studies of the textual transmission of the sayings further illustrates the continuity with the past. Although the collections of sayings vary greatly in size and organization, the sayings attributed to the first generations of Egyptian monks remain central throughout the period. In spite of extensive rearrangements and rather common reattributions of sayings, the individual saying remains fairly stable even when changes in context alter the meaning. Through the advanced research tool APDB - in itself an important results of the program - it has been possible to map the transmission of the material in ways unthinkable before. This has revealed that the so-called "normal" collections - regularly used as a basis for research - only cover a limited part of the transmitted tradition. Less systematized Syriac and Latin collections, as well as neglected Greek ones, are often as important channels. The persistent fluidity of the material has given further support to a foundational research premise that the texts were regarded as educational material easily adapted to new contexts, rather than unchangeable authoritative sayings of or authentic narratives about normative figures in the past.

The study of the reception of the sayings in medieval translations, for example into Georgian, Armenian, Arabic and Ethiopic has revealed strong continuity but also interesting examples of such adaptation. The same goes for the archaeological work on the finds from the Monastey of St. Antony, one of the oldest monasteries in Egypt. The finds from this monastery witness to strong egalitarian ideas and local self sufficiency, as well as interaction with other monastic contexts (as far off as Ethiopia) and the society at large.

In contrast to what has often been stated the rise of monasticism was not the creation of a totally new culture or way of life. The models used and the specific ideals promoted were part of the society in which they emerged. The new texts, first the biblical, and then the monastic collections of sayings and edifying stories were read and used in accordance with classical models. The driving force was neither anti-cultural nor anti-educational and not a flight from the world, but a transformation of the culture, and the world, through an educational program which although based on classical paideia, but had its reference not to the gods and heroes of Graeco-Roman society, but to the god and heroes of the Bible, and of the emerging monastic tradition itself.

New research issues

In answering the research questions mentioned in the application, the program has also come up with a number of new issues. Our research tool, the development of which in itself is at the forefront of on-going developments in digital humanities, has opened up completely new areas of research - including theoretical and methodological issues related to the use of digital tools. Through APDB and Monastica, it is for the first time been possible to trace developments through a study of how each manuscript represents a conscious step in the selection, rearrangement, and reattribution of a given body of material, and to map a variety of factors relative to a text's transmission. As the sayings' centrality to the development of education in various early Christian cultures has been demonstrated through project research, it has afforded new insight into how educational texts were transmitted and transformed. Within this frame, a specific issue dealt with in relation to the Arabic reception is the issue of adapting the sayings to a new culture and language and its impact on the transmission of ideals and practices.

A research issue that the program has provoked but has likewise not been able to address, in depth, is the relation between early monastic educational practices and literary production in contemporaneous Jewish settings. Here work began by scholars working on Talmudic literature is important in particular in relation to developments in the Syriac Christian tradition. Other issues that ought to be given more attention than has been possible within the program include the question of children in the monasteries, and the relations between monasticism and family traditions - including issues of property, inheritance and lineage, a broader study of the relations between edifying stories and anecdotes in Christian and in classical texts, and more detailed studies of a larger number of monastic manuscripts, transmitting the early monastic sayings and interrelated literature with close attention to patterns of use. Research data from the program as well as the digital tools developed will be used in a new research project in which the medieval reception of the sayings in Slavonic and Nordic culture will be compared.

International relations

Already at the outset, the program was firmly founded in an extensive network of international scholarship. During the program this network has been used extensively and also expanded considerably. In addition to Lillian Larsen, a core member of the program from its inception, three international experts (Chiara Faraggiana di Sarzana, Jason Zaborowski and Anahit Avagyan) have been invited to Lund, as team members and/or resident guest scholars. A large number of others have contributed to our regular workshops and shared their material and analyses. Partial results have been presented by the group at workshops in Uppsala (2010), Jerusalem (2010 and 2014), Leuven (2012), Hamburg (2014), and Halle (2014) and at large international conferences in Oxford (2011, 2015) and San Fransisco (2011). Individual research members have presented at a large number of conferences, both in Europe and the United States. Four field trips (Jerusalem 2010 & 2014, Istanbul 2013 and Egypt 2014) have further increased our international network. A major international conference in Lund in 2013 proved crucial in relating our research to international scholarship in a variety of fields.

Impact

Through the website of the program and its progress, including its various workshops and research trips, has been visible. Our joint presentations, in particular at the Oxford and San Fransisco conferences have generated great interest. In addition to our joint presentations, members of the research team have presented their work and lectured on emergent research issues and results in a large variety of settings. Important primary material has been edited from the Greek, and translated into Swedish at open translation seminars for publication in a series of booklets (Paradiset I-VII). Most significantly our dynamic library and research platform Monastica provides an open access tool for future research and digital publication world-wide.

Selected publications

The program has produced an impressive number of articles in scholarly journals, as well as edited volumes (see below). Among the most important contributions are those published in our two collected volumes, Early Monastic Paideia (Leuven: Peeters 2013) and Rethinking Early Monastic Education (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016). The first volume contains contributions that lay a solid foundation for results presented in the second. This includes studies of the transmission of sayings (Rubenson, Dahlman, Holmberg, Larsen), the evidence for school texts in monasteries (Larsen) and the pre-history of monastic moral teaching (Rydell Johnsén). In the second volume the results of six of the research members (Dahlman, Larsen, Rubenson, Rydell Johnsén, Westergren, Zaborowski) are presented together with contributions by ten international scholars; the latter contributions affording important contextualisation of the program research within a wider field of scholarship. Three monographs by core members of the team will, additionally, treat major aspects of our research in depth. These include Lillian Larsen's work on material evidence and monastic sayings traditions as school texts, Britt Dahlman's work on editing sayings, and Henrik Rydell Johnsén's study of early monastic teaching in continuity with philosophical practices. A lengthy article by Jesper Blid Kullberg - with contributions by other team members - presents crucial, monastic archaeological evidence for the first time. A further publication is Monastica - a dynamic, open access, library and research tool available via the internet. This database provides access to substantial parts of our source material in editions and manuscript transcriptions, presented both in original languages and modern translations. It includes the results of one hundred years of previous scholarship, as well as our analyses of the interrelations between different texts and versions. A rich cross-section of indices likewise affords access to linked data that connects our sources to major international databases.

Publication strategy

Due to its interdisciplinary character the program has adopted a diversified publication strategy in order to make an impact in a wide variety of disciplines. Two collected volumes, one with external contributions, relate the various aspects of project investments to one another and present a comprehensive picture. A growing awareness of the need for open access publication of results and research data has, in turn, prompted the development of Monastica, our web-based dynamic library and research tool. This hybrid strategy has proven very effective. It has made the research program - as well as our host university and the Riksbanken Jubileumsfond, as funding agent - visible in international scholarship, and accessible to the broadest possible audience.

Publications

UBLIKATIONER, forskningsprogrammet
“Det tidiga klosterväsendet och den antika bildningen”

Elin Andersson, “Brussels, KBR 9850-52 [transkription]”; Munich, Clm 18475”, Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se
Elin Andersson, “Munich, Clm 18475 [transkription]”, Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se
Avagyan, Anahit, ”HS-Grigor-Yohannis”, Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se
Avagyan, Anahit, ”Yer_MM_787”, Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se
Blid Kullberg, Jesper, ”Excavations at the Monastery of Saint Antony by the Red Sea, Egypt”, Opuscula: Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome 2016 (forthcoming)
Dahlman, Britt, “Textual fluidity and authorial revision: The case of Cassian and Palladius”, in: L. I. Larsen & S. Rubenson (eds.), School and Monastery: Rethinking Early Monastic Education, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016 (forthcoming)
Britt Dahlman, “The Collectio Scorialensis Parva: an Alphabetical Collection of Old Apophthegmatic Hagiographical Material”, in Rubenson, Samuel & Markus Vinzent (eds.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia (Studia Patristica 55:3), Leuven: Peeters 2013, 23–33.
Dahlman, Britt, “The Sabaitic Collection of the Apophthegmata Patrum”, in: D. Searby, E. Balicka Witakowska & J. Heldt (eds.), ΔΩΡΟΝ ΡΟΔΟΠΟΙΚΙΛΟΝ: Studies in Honour of Jan Olof Rosenqvist (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia, 12), Uppsala 2012, 133–146.
Dahlman, Britt, “The Book of the Elders: Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Systematic Collection. Translated by John Wortley. Foreword by Bernard Flusin. Cistercian Studies Series, 240. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2012” Review in: Patristica Nordica Annuaria, 27 (2012), 108–112.
Dahlman, Britt, “Georgiska versioner av Apophthegmata Patrum”, in: Vetenskapssocieteten i Lund. Årsbok 2009, Lund: Vetenskapssocieteten 2009, 5–13.
Dahlman, Britt & Per Rönnegård, Paradiset. Ökenfädernas tänkespråk. Den systematiska samlingen, 7: Olika berättelser som tränar oss i uthållighet och mod. Silentium Apophthegmata, 7, Sturefors: Silentium 2016 [Greek text edited by Britt Dahlman].
Dahlman, Britt & Per Rönnegård, Paradiset. Ökenfädernas tänkespråk. Den systematiska samlingen, 6: Om fattigdomen och nödvändigheten av att även akta sig för rikedomen. Silentium Apophthegmata, 6, Sturefors: Silentium 2015 [Greek text edited by Britt Dahlman].
Dahman, Britt & Per Rönnegård, Paradiset. Ökenfädernas tänkespråk. Den systematiska samlingen, 5: Olika berättelser till skydd när otukten ansätter oss. Silentium Apophthegmata, 5, Sturefors: Silentium 2014 [Greek text edited by Britt Dahlman].
Dahlman, Britt & Per Rönnegård, Paradiset. Ökenfädernas tänkespråk. Den systematiska samlingen, 4: Om självbehärskningen, inte bara i fråga om mat, utan även de andra böjelserna. Silentium Apophthegmata, 4, Sturefors: Silentium 2012 [Greek text edited by Britt Dahlman].
Dahlman, Britt & Per Rönnegård, Paradiset. Ökenfädernas tänkespråk. Den systematiska samlingen, 3: Om botfärdigheten, Silentium Apophthegmata, 3, Sturefors 2011
Dahlman, Britt,  “Athos, Protaton 86 (ch. 5–8)” Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se
Dahlman, Britt, “Parisinus graecus 2474 (ch. 4)” Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se
Dahlman, Britt, “Parisinus Coisl. 127 (4 units)” Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se
Holmberg, Bo, “The Syriac Collection of Apophthegmata Patrum”, in Rubenson, Samuel & Markus Vinzent (eds.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia (Studia Patristica 55:3),  Leuven: Peeters 2013.
Holmberg, Bo, ”Moberg, Axel (1872–1955)”, in: S. P. Brock et al (Ed.), Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press 2011, 293.
Holmberg, Bo, ”Education and Learning in the Context of Early Islam”, in: Patristica Nordica Annuaria 26, 2011, 19–36.
Holmberg, Bo,  Främlingarnas bok: nostalgisk graffiti på arabiska/Abu l-Faraj al-Isfahani; översättning, ordförklaringar och efterskrift av Bo Holmberg, Furulund: Alhambra 2009.
Holmberg, Bo, “Sinai Syriacus 46”, Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se
Larsen, Lillian I. & S. Rubenson (eds.), School and Monastery: Rethinking Early Monastic Education, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016 (forthcoming)
Larsen, Lillian I., “‘Excavating the Excavations’ of Early Monastic Education”, in: L. I. Larsen & S. Rubenson (Eds.), School and Monastery: Rethinking Early Monastic Education, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016 (forthcoming)
Larsen, Lillian I., “Monastic Paideia: Textual Fluidity in the Classroom”, in:  L. I. Lied & H. Lundhaug (eds.), Snapshots of Evolving Traditions: Jewish and Christian Manuscript Culture, Textual Fluidity, and New Philology (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur), Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 2016 (forthcoming).
Larsen, Lillian I. & Stephen Benzek. “Min(d)ing the Gaps: Digital Refractions of Ancient Texts”, in: C. Clivaz, P. Dilley, D. Hamidović (eds.), in collaboration with A. Thromas, Ancient Worlds in a Digital Culture (Digital Biblical Studies 1), Leiden: Brill,  2016, (forthcoming).
Larsen, Lillian I., “Early Monasticism and the Rhetorical Tradition: Sayings and Stories as Schooltexts”, in: P. Gemeinhardt & P. Van Nuffelen (Eds.), Religion and Education in Late Antiquity, Farnham: Ashgate (forthcoming).
Larsen, Lillian I., “Education, Early Church”, in: J. M. O’Brien (Ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Gender Gender Studies. New York:  Oxford University Press 2014.
Larsen, Lillian I., “Re-drawing the Map: Monastic Education as Civic Formation in the Apophthegmata Patrum”, in: Coptica 22, 2014, 1–34.
Larsen, Lillian I., Review of Andreas Westergren, On Sketching the Invisible, in:  Patristica Nordica Annuaria 29, 2014, 147–150.
Larsen, Lillian I., “On Learning a New Alphabet:  The Sayings of the Desert Fathers and the Monostichs of Menander”, in: Rubenson, Samuel & Markus Vinzent (eds.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia (Studia Patristica 55:3), Leuven:  Peeters, 2013, 59–77.
Larsen, Lillian I., “Meals and Monastic Identity”, in: M. Klinghardt (Ed.), Meals and Religious Identity. Texte und Arbeiten zum Neuestestamentlichen Zeitalter,  Tübingen:  A. Francke 2012, 307–328.
Larsen, Lillian I., “Resisting a Reclining Culture” in: D. E. Smith & H. Taussig (eds.), Meals in the Early Christian World.  Social Conflict, Experimentation and Formation at the Meal,  New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2012, 245–260.
Larsen, Lillian I.,  “Early Christian Meals and Slavery” in: D. E. Smith & H. Taussig (eds.), Meals in the Early Christian World. Social Conflict, Experimentation and Formation at the Meal,  New York:  Palgrave Macmillan 2012, 191–203.
Larsen, Lillian I., Review of Alexandria: A Cultural and Religious Melting Pot, Eds. G. Hinge & J. A. Krasilnikoff, in: Meddelanden från Collegium Patristicum Lundense 25, 2010, 102–103.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Monasticism in the Oriental Orthodox Churches”, in: Oxford Handbook of Monasticism, Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming)
Rubenson, Samuel, “Antonius Abba”, in: Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming)
Rubenson, Samuel, “Textual fluidity in early monasticism: Sayings, Sermons and Stories”, in:  L. I. Lied & H. Lundhaug (eds.), Snapshots of Evolving Traditions: Jewish and Christian Manuscript Culture, Textual Fluidity, and New Philology (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter (forthcoming).
Rubenson, Samuel, “Early Monasticism and the Concept of a ’School’”, in: L. I. Larsen & S. Rubenson (Eds.), School and Monastery: Rethinking Early Monastic Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rubenson, Samuel, “The letter-collections of Antony and Ammonas: Shaping a Community”, in: B. Neil & P. Allen (Eds.), Collecting Early Christian Letters: From the Apostle Paul to Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2015, 68–79.
Rubenson, Samuel, “A Database of the Apophthegmata Patrum”, in:  T. Andrews & C. Macé (eds.), Analysis of Ancient and Medieval Texts and Manuscripts: Digital Approaches. (Lectio: Studies in the Transmission of Texts & Ideas, 1) Turnhout: Brepols 2014, 203–212.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Transformative Light and Luminous Traditions in Early Christian Mysticism and Monasticism”, in: Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 90 (2014), 179-187.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Response. To Tell the Truth: Fact and Fiction in Early Monastic Sources”, in: Cistercian Studies Quarterly 48 (2013), 317–324.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Apologetics of Asceticism. The Life of Antony and its Political Context”, in: B. Leyerle & R. D. Young (eds.), Ascetic Culture. Essays in Honor of Philip Rousseau. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013, 75–96.
Rubenson, Samuel, “The Formation and Reformations of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers”, in: Rubenson, Samuel & Markus Vinzent (eds.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia (Studia Patristica 55:3).  Leuven: Peeters 2013, 5–22.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Mönchtum”, in: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, 24, Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 2012 sp. 1009–1064.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Monasticism and the Philosophical Heritage”, in: S. F. Johnson (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012, 487–512.
Rubenson, Samuel, “The Apophthegmata Patrum in Syriac, Arabic and Ethiopic. Status Questionis”, in: Actes du 10e Symposium Syriacum in Parole de l’Orient 36 (2011), 319–327.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Antony and Ammonas. Conflicting or Common Tradition in Early Egyptian Monasticism”, in: D Bumazhnov et al (eds.), Bibel, Byzanz und Christlicher Orient. Festsschrift für Stephan Gerö. Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 187. Leuven: Peeters 2011, 185–201.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Athanasius und Antonius”, in: P. Gemeinhart (ed.), Athanasius Handbuch. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2011, 141–145.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Det gyllene Athen. Vältalighetens lockelse och bildningens förförelse i den tidiga kyrkan” in:  M. Ahlqvist, A. M. Laato & M. Lindqvist (eds.), Flumen saxosum sonans. Studia in honorem Gunnar af Hällström. Åbo: Åbo Akademi förlag 2010, 211–225.
Rubenson, Samuel, “Power and politics of poverty in early monasticism”, in: G. D. Dunn, D. Luckensmeyer & L. Cross (eds.), Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church. Vol. 5 Poverty and Riches. Strathfield: St Pauls Publications 2009, 91–110.
Rubenson, Samuel, “‘As Already Translated to the Kingdom While Still in the Body’. The Transformation of the Ascetic in Early Egyptian Monasticism”, in: T. Karlsen Seim & J. Økland (eds.), Metamorphoses Resurrection, Body and Transformative Practices in Early Christianity. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 2009, 271–289.
Rubenson, Samuel & Markus Vinzent (eds.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia (Studia Patristica 55:3). Leuven: Peeters 2013.
Rubenson, Samuel & Per Rönnegård, Paradiset: Ökenfädernas tänkespråk, den systematiska samlingen, 2: Om nödvändigheten av att hängivet sträva efter stillheten. Silentium Apophthegmata, 2. Sturefors: Silentium 2010.
Rubenson, Samuel & Per Rönnegård, Paradiset: Ökenfädernas tänkespråk, den systematiska samlingen, 1: De heliga fädernas råd för den som söker fullkomlighet. Silentium Apophthegmata, 1. Sturefors: Silentium 2009.
Rydell Johnsén, Henrik. “Repentance and Conversion: Teaching Practice in Ancient Philosophy and Early Monasticism,” in: Studi Medievali (forthcoming)
Rydell Johnsén, Henrik, “The Virtue of Being Uneducated: Attitudes towards Classical Paideia in Early Monasticism and Ancient Philosophy”, in: L. I. Larsen & S. Rubenson (Eds.), School and Monastery: Rethinking Early Monastic Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016 (forthcoming).
Rydell Johnsén, Henrik, “The Early Jesus Prayer and Meditation in Greco-Roman Philosophy”, in: H. Eifring (Ed.), Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Cultural Histories. London: Bloomsbury 2013, 244–249.
Rydell Johnsén, Henrik, “Renunciation, Reorientation and Guidance: Patterns in Early Monasticism and Ancient Philosophy”, in: Rubenson, Samuel & Markus Vinzent (eds.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia (Studia Patristica 55:3), Leuven: Peeters 2013, 76–94.
Rydell Johnsén, Henrik, “Dödssyndernas genealogin: Evagrios Pontikos åtta onda grundtankar och det antika arvet”, in: M. Lindstedt Cronberg & C. Stenqvist (eds.), Dygder och laster: Förmoderna perspektiv på till på tillvaron. Lund: Nordic Academic Press 2010, 23–38.
Rönnegård, Per, “Melétē in Early Christian Ascetic Texts”, in: H. Eifring (ed.), Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Cultural Histories 2013. London: Bloomsbury 2013, 79–92.
Rönnegård, Per, Dorotheos av Gaza. Undervisande tal och brev: i urval, transl. P. Rönnegård. Skellefteå: Artos 2012.
Rönnegård, Per, “The Use of Scripture in Apopthegmata Patrum in Light of the Ergasia Patter", in: Rubenson, Samuel & Markus Vinzent (eds.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia (Studia Patristica 55:3).  Leuven: Peeters 2013, 35‒42.
David Westberg, ”Rhetorical Exegesis in Procopius of Gaza’s Commentary on Genesis”, in: Rubenson, Samuel & Markus Vinzent (eds.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia (Studia Patristica 55:3), Leuven: Peeters 2013, 95–108.
David Westberg, ”A Rose-Bearing Bough of Piety: Literary Perspectives on the Life of Theodore of Sykeon”, i: D. Searby–J. Heldt–E. Balicka-Witakowska (red.), ΔΩΡΟΝ ΡΟΔΟΠΟΙΚΙΛΟΝ: Studies in Honour of Jan Olof Rosenqvist (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia 12). Uppsala 2012, 239–49.
Westberg, David, ”The Rite of Spring: Erotic Celebration in the Dialexeis and Ethopoiiai of Procopius of Gaza”, i: I. Nilsson (red.), Plotting with Eros: Essays on the Poetics of Love and the Erotics of Reading. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press 2009, 187-211.
Westergren, Andreas, “Monastic Space: The Ascetic Between Sacred and Civil Spheres in Theodoret of Cyrrhus”, in: J. Day m.fl. (Ed.), Spaces in Late Antiquity: Cultural, Theological and Archaeological Perspectives. Farnham: Ashgate (forthcoming).
Westergren, Andreas. “Paideia and Monastic Piety in Socrates’ Church History”, in: L. I. Larsen & S. Rubenson (eds.), School and Monastery: Rethinking Early Monastic Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (forthcoming)
Zaborowski, Jason, ”Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: Approaching Arabic Recensions of the Apophthegmata Patrum”, i: L. I Larsen & S. Rubenson (eds.), School and Monastery: Rethinking Early Monastic Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016 (forthcoming)
Zaborowski, Jason, ”Strasb_or_4225 [transcription]”, Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se.
Zaborowski, Jason, ”Vat_ar_71 [transcription]”, Monastica A dynamic library and research tool, http://monastica.ht.lu.se.
Åhlfeldt, Johan, ”Monastica: scholarly collaboration on a digital platform”, i: F. Kruse & J. B. Thestrup (red.), Research Data management – An European perspective. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter (forthcoming).