Metaphysics and Theology Workshop (Department of Philosophy, Harvard University)
Friday, December 5 | 8:30am - 4:30pm (Emerson 211)
Saturday, December 6 | 8:30am - 1:30pm (Robbins Library)
Speakers:
Julia Borcherding (Cambridge University), "Divine Minds: Leibniz on the imago Dei Thesis and the Commonwealth of Spirits"
Therese Cory (University of Notre Dame), "A Puzzle about Intellectual Memory: Three States of Mental Forms in Aquinas"
Sam Newlands (University of Notre Dame), "Panentheism, Idealism, and Monism"
Dominik Perler (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), "One Substance and Many Attributes: Spinoza and the Scholastic Background“
Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra (Oxford University), "What Kind of Trope Theorist Was Hume?"
Stephan Schmid (Universität Hamburg), "Spinoza’s Attributes as Ways of Being"
Organizers:
Clara Carus (Harvard University)
Jeff McDonough (Harvard University)
Co-Sponored by the Abigail Adams Institute and the Harvard Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities.
Friday, December 5, 2025, 8:30 AM – Saturday, December 6, 2025, 1:30 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY; Emerson Hall Rm. 211 & Robbins Library.
Gregg E. Gardner (University of British Columbia)
"How Matter Matters: Material Culture, Sabbath Lamps, and the Making of Rabbinic Judaism"Abstract: Kindling flames to mark the onset of the Sabbath is one of the most well-known Jewish rituals. Lighting a wick soaked with olive oil in a clay lamp at a prescribed time provides a case study for examining the roles of material culture in late antique Judaism. Drawing on early rabbinic texts from the second-third century CE (Mishnah, Tosefta), archaeology from Roman Galilee, and scholarship on material religion, ritual studies, experimental archaeology, and theoretical Roman archaeology, this talk demonstrates that the material culture that surrounded the early rabbis influenced how they formulated religious traditions that would later become central to Judaism.
Monday, December 8, 2025, 4:00 PM.
HARVARD MUSEUM OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST, Room 201, 6 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
Simcha Gross (University of Pennsylvania)
"Jews on the Roman-Sasanian Frontier: The Politics of Belonging"Abstract: Late antiquity culminated in shocking episodes of violence both against and by Jews, accompanied by the spread of stories and rumors that would profoundly shape Jewish reputations among Christians and, in time, Muslims. This lecture situates these events within the longue durée dynamics of inter-imperial competition in the Near East and its deep insinuation into everyday social relations, intensifying long-standing intergroup hostilities and producing novel solidarities. Jews occupied a prominent place in both the lived realities and imaginative constructions of these encounters, decisively shaping their fortunes in late antiquity and their legacy in the centuries that followed. Speaker biography: Simcha Gross is currently an AvH Experienced Researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin, on leave from the University of Pennsylvania. He has published widely on the history of Jews in the Near East over the first millennium CE. His recent…
Wednesday, December 10, 2025, 4:00 PM.
HARVARD MUSEUM OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST, Room 201, 6 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
Ishay Rosen-Zvi (Tel Aviv University)
"Are the Rabbis Part of Wisdom Literature?".
Thursday, December 11, 2025, 2:30 PM.
HARVARD MUSEUM OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST, Room 201, 6 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138.
Mavericks: Three Visionary Pharaohs of Egypt
Wednesday, October 15, 6:00–7:00 pm ET, Advance registration recommended for online and in-person attendance
Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Speaker: Lawrence M. Berman is John F. Cogan, Jr. and Mary L. Cornille Chair, Art of Ancient Egypt, Nubia, and the Near East, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III, and Akhenaten each ruled Egypt for long periods, leaving a lasting impact on its art, politics, and religion. Though all were powerful leaders, each tells a distinct story. In this lecture, Lawrence M. Berman explores the reigns and legacies of these three remarkable Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs, considering questions such as: What made them successful—or controversial? How were they viewed in their own time, and how have archaeologists and the public interpreted them since? The talk also examines broader themes—from the power of images and identity to iconoclasm and the writing of history—inviting reflection on who gets to shape history, and why it still matters…
Event contact to appear in listing: hmscpr@hmsc.harvard.edu.
Monday, December 15, 2025, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA.
For more info visit hmsc.harvard.edu. Walter Scheidel (Stanford University)
"Ancient History as Universal History".
Event contact to appear in listing: Contact: classics@fas.harvard.edu. Event Series: Harvard Classics Departmental Seminar Series.
Tuesday, January 27, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker 133 (tentative), 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Methods and Practice Workshop
TBD.
Event Series: Methods and Practice in Classics Workshop.
Friday, January 30, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.
Boylston 237.
Workshop: Scott McGill and Susannah Wright (Rice University)
Dr. Susannah Wright and Dr. Scott McGill will talk about their new translation of the Aeneid, published by W. W. Norton in August 2025, and lead a public workshop.
Event Series: Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Rethinking Translation.
Thursday, February 19, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:45 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBD, Cambridge, MA 02138.
For more info visit mahindrahumanities.harvard.edu. Lecture: Scott McGill and Susannah Wright (Rice University)
Dr. Susannah Wright and Dr. Scott McGill will talk about their new translation of the Aeneid, published by W. W. Norton in August 2025.
Event Series: Mahindra Humanities Center Seminar: Civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome.
Thursday, February 19, 2026, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, TBD, Cambridge, MA 02138.
For more info visit mahindrahumanities.harvard.edu. Methods and Practice Workshop
TBD.
Event Series: Methods and Practice in Classics Workshop.
Friday, February 20, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.
Boylston 237.
Panagiotis Roilos (Harvard University)
"The Cultural Politics of Imagination: From 'Paganism' to Christianity".
Event contact to appear in listing: Contact: classics@fas.harvard.edu. Event Series: Harvard Classics Departmental Seminar Series.
Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Barker 133 (tentative), 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
I-Kai Jeng (Yenching Institute)
I-Kai Jeng, a fellow at the Yenching Institute, will give a lunchtime/brown-bag talk on his fellowship project, which features Plato and Aristophanes.
Thursday, February 26, 2026, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Boylston 203, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138.