Dr. Carmen Angela Cvetkovic

PROJECT

Defining the Holy: Textual Representations of Sacred Bodies, Sounds, and Spaces in Late Ancient Christianity

My project addresses materially-mediated practices of the making and unmaking of the religious. In particular, it deals with textual representations of material religious forms, in particular sacred bodies, sounds, and spaces, in the works of Latin Christian authors, Ambrose of Milan (c. 340–397), Niceta of Remesiana (c. 335–c. 414), and Paulinus of Nola (c. 354–431). It explores how, why, and by whose authority are bodies, sounds, and spaces invested with or deprived from holiness; what role is ascribed to them in late ancient Christian communities; how are these material religious forms viewed in regard to the divine as the ultimate source of holiness and in regard to the rest of the world. Highlighting the role of human agency in orchestrating the holiness of bodies, sounds, and spaces, this project argues that their holiness emerges not as something fixed and immutable, but as something highly dynamic, and a process always in the making and unmaking due to the fact that divine intervention in the physical world constantly needs to be signalled, communicated, and interpreted.

ACADEMIC EDUCATION

2005–2010 PhD studies, Classics, University of St Andrews, UK
2000–2001 MA studies, Classics and Theology, Durham University, UK
1996–2000 undergraduate studies Classics, West University of Timisoara, Romania
1998–1999 MA studies, French Studies, West University of Timisoara, Romania
1994–1998 undergraduate studies in French and Romanian, West University of Timisoara, Romania

SCIENTIFIC DEGREES

2010 PhD, Classics, University of St Andrews, UK
2001 MA, Classics and Theology, Durham University, UK
2000 BA, Classics, West University of Timisoara, Romania
1999 MA, French Studies, West University of Timisoara, Romania
1998 BA, French and Romanian, West University of Timisoara, Romania

PROFESSIONAL CAREER AFTER COMPLETING DEGREE

2016–present Post-Doc Researcher, Forum for interdisciplinary religious Studies (FiReF-FIRSt) Georg August University Göttingen, Germany
2013–2016 Dorothea Schlözer Postdoctoral Fellow, Georg-August University Göttingen
2010–2013 Postdoc, Faculty of Theology and Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Denmark

FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS AND HONORS (SELECTED)

2013–2016 Dorothea Schlözer Postdoctoral Fellowship, Georg-August University Göttingen
2008–2009 Baden Württemberg Doctoral Fellowship, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg
2007 Doctoral Visiting Scholarship, Aarhus University, Denmark
2005–2008 Leverhulme Trust Scholarship, University of St-Andrews, UK
2000–2001 Society of the Sacred Mission Scholarship, Durham University, UK
1997 Tempus Scholarship, UIA Antwerpen, Belgium

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books and articles in journals

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. “Contested authority in the twelfth century Latin west: Bernard of Clairvaux’s reception of origen.” Adamantius (forthcoming).

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela and Gemeinhardt, Peter (eds.). 2019. Episcopal Networks in Late Antiquity: Connection and Communication across Boundaries (Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte). Berlin: De Gruyter.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2017. “Episcopal literary networks in the Late Antique West: Niceta of Remesiana and Ambrose of Milan.” Studia Patristica 85(11). 177–185.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2015. “Memory, language and the making of truth: Towards an hermeneutic of Augustine's conversion narrative.” In: Augustinianum 55(2): 479–513.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2012. Seeking the Face of God: The Reception of Augustine in the Mystical Thought of Bernard of Clairvaux and William of St Thierry. Turnhout: Brepols.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2007. “Re-interpreting Augustine: Self-knowledge and inwardness in Richard of Saint Victor's teaching on the soul's ascent to god.” In: Crkvene studije (Church Studies) 4. 79–92.


Other publications

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. “Si docendus est episcopus a laico, quid sequetur? Ambrose of Milan on the episcopal duty of teaching”. In: Gemeinhardt, Peter, Munkholt, Maria und Lorgeoux, Olga (eds.). Lehrer und Lehrerinnen im spätantiken Christentum. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 92–110 (forthcoming).

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2019. “Niceta of Remesiana’s visits to Nola: Between sacred travel and political mission”. In: Cvetković, Carmen Angela and Gemeinhardt, Peter (eds.): Episcopal Networks in Late Antiquity: Connection and Communication across Boundaries. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2017. “Christianity, Romanitas and the politics of otherness in the Late Ancient West.” In: Lagouanère, Jerôme (ed.): La naissance de l’autrui: De L’Antiquité à la Renaissance. Paris: Classiques Garnier. 149–160.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2017. “Greek thought in Latin language: Niceta of Remesiana's view of the church.” In: Gemeinhardt, Peter (ed.). Was ist Kirche in der Spätantike? Leuven: Peeters. 101–116.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2015. “Change and continuity: Reading anew Augustine's conversion.” In Bøgh, Birgitte (ed.). Conversion and Initiation in Antiquity: Shifting Identities - Creating Change. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. 135–153.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2015. “Learning Greek in the twelfth century Latin West: The early Cistercians and their means of access to Greek sources.” In: Gemeinhardt, Peter and Georges, Tobias (eds.). Theologie und Bildung im Mittelalter. Münster: Aschendorff. 293–311.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2013. “Mysticism (1090-1582).” In: Pollmann, Karla et al. (eds.). The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1434–1440.

Cvetkovic, Carmen Angela. 2009. “Unum and Unus Spiritus: The normative impact of Augustine's interpretation of 1 Cor 6:17 on Bernard of Clairvaux and William of St Thierry.” In: Jacobsen, Anders-Christian (ed.). Religion and Normativity: The Discursive Fight over Religious Texts in Antiquity. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. 192–205.