LEM

At the head of the Cluster 2 : "Biblical exegesis, literature and religious history from Antiquity to the modern era" of the Laboratoire d’études sur les monothéismes (LEM-UMR 8584), Marie-Odile Boulnois, a specialist in ancient Christian literature, is professor at the Ecole pratique des hautes études, where she holds the chair "Greek Patristics and History of dogmas".

To see the CV of Marie-Odile Boulnois

Research areas

– History of the methods of interpretation in ancient Christian literature and of their stakes in the genesis of a theological rationality.
– History of the elaboration of theological doctrines and controversies between Christians.
– Controversies between pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity (Celsus, Porphyry and Julian).
– Ancient Christian reception of the Bible.
– The work of Cyril of Alexandria.

Research topics

– Interactions between Platonic philosophy and Christianity in Late Antiquity.
– Theory and practice of patristic commentaries on the Bible.
– Translation and study of Cyril of Alexandria’s Against Julian.
– The union of soul and body as a model for explaining the union of natures in Christ.
– History of the exegesis and iconography of the theophany of Mambre (Genesis 18).

Projects

– Annotated translation of Cyril of Alexandria’s Against Julian, using the Greek text edited by W. Kinzig and Th. Brüggemann (GCS NF 21) for the Collection Sources chrétiennes.
– Edition and annotated translation of the Commentary on the Gospel of John XI and XII of Cyril of Alexandria for the Collection Sources chrétiennes.

Research seminar

Greek patristics and the history of dogmas

Controversies between a pagan and a Christian over the Gospels: a study of the fragments of books XI-XIX of Cyril of Alexandria’s Contre Julien.

Guest lecturer: Rainer HIRSCH-LUIPOLD, University of Berne (Germany):
Plutarch and the Religious World of the New Testament
From November 06, 2024 to June 10, 2025
Resumption date: November 06, 2024
Wednesdays from 2 pm to 4 pm
Sorbonne, Escalier E

Master Class: Introduction to Greek Patristics
Wednesdays from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, Sorbonne (room D064, staircase E)
From November 6, 2024 to June 10, 2025
Resumption date: November 06, 2024
Sorbonne, esc. E

> Seminar on the patristic exegesis of The parable of the rich man and the poor man Lazarus (Lk 16, 19-31) in patristic exegesis, organized by Marie-Odile
BOULNOIS and Isabelle BOCHET
November 22, March 7 and May 23, 2pm to 5pm

The seminar is open to teachers, researchers and doctoral students.

Prizes and awards

– André-Germaine Lequeux Prize:
awarded by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (2022) for the work Cyrille d’Alexandrie, Contre Julien, t. IV (Livres VIII-IX), introduction and annotation by Marie-Odile Boulnois, translation by Marie-Odile Boulnois with the collaboration of Jean Bouffartigue, Greek text by Wolfram Kinzig and Thomas Brüggemann (GCS NF 21), Paris, Cerf, coll. "Sources chrétiennes" 624, 2021.

– Award of the Association des études grecques (1995) for Le paradoxe trinitaire chez Cyrille d’Alexandrie. Herméneutique, analyses philosophiques et argumentation théologique.

Selected books

Cyrille d’Alexandrie, Contre Julien. T. IV (Livres VIII-IX), introduction et annotation de Marie-Odile Boulnois, traduction de Marie-Odile Boulnois avec la collaboration de Jean Bouffartigue, texte grec de Wolfram Kinzig et Thomas Brüggemann (GCS NF 21), Paris, Cerf, coll. "Sources chrétiennes" 624, 2022.

Cyrille d’Alexandrie, Lettres festales I-VI et XII-XVII, introduction, traduction et notes, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, coll. « Sources Chrétiennes» 372 et 434, 1991 et 1998.

Cyrille d’Alexandrie, Contre Julien III-V, introduction et annotation de M.-O. Boulnois, traduction de J. Bouffartigue, M.-O. Boulnois et P. Castan, texte grec de Ch. Riedweg, Paris, Éditions du Cerf, coll. « Sources Chrétiennes » 582, 2016.