Dr. Carmen Angela Cvetkovic
PROJECT
Defining the Holy: Textual Representations of Sacred Bodies, Sounds, and Spaces in Late Ancient ChristianityMy 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 journalsCvetkovic, 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.