Mateusz Kusio

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REMINDER
IMC '26 CfP for a new strand

Future Insight and Its Discontents in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages (200–900 CE)

Proposals of ca. 200 words, along with a short academic bio, should be sent to Mateusz Kusio (mateusz.kusio@kuleuven.be) by 15 September, 2025.

Draft cover for "Commodianus: Introduction, Text, Translation, Commentary", edited and translated with scholarly commentary by Mateusz Kusio, fortcoming in the Oxford Early Christian Texts series with Oxford University Press

It's beginning to look a lot like the publishing process is slowly coming to an end! My edition of Commodianus hopefully out next year with OUP

Proposals of ca. 200 words, along with a short academic bio, should be sent to Mateusz Kusio (mateusz.kusio@kuleuven.be) by 15 September, 2025.

– strategies of verifiability;
– strategies of coping with non-fulfilment;
– divination;
– magic and its use for ascertaining the future;
– cross-cultural and cross-regional approaches and comparisons;
– insights from gender studies and cognitive psychology. +

The (non-exhaustive) list of topics to be considered includes:
– traditional pagan oracles in late antiquity;
– perceptions of future uncertainty;
– prophecy;
– apocalypticism and eschatology;
– astrology;
– philosophical (neo-Platonic, patristic, early scholastic) discussions of mantic knowledge; +

This new session at IMC 2026 will create a space for a joint investigation of late antique and early medieval mantic techniques, prophecy, apocalypticism, astrology, magic, and the like. +

However, the need to circumscribe future uncertainty remained, creating a space for new and renewed technologies and discourses intended to offer humans future insight. +

The period in question, marked by the rise of Christianity and later Islam, saw a considerable shift in how future was conceptualised and interacted with. +

IMC '26 CfP for a new strand

Future Insight and Its Discontents in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages (200–900 CE)

We invite proposals for papers interrogating the methods and outcomes of acquiring future insight in the cultures of Late Antiquity and early Middle Ages. +

Thanks for your paper!

Thank you!

The project is jointly supervised by Professors Johan Leemans from the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies and Geert Roskam from the Faculty of Arts to whom I am immensely grateful for their support and guidance.

On the other hand, ancient Jewish literature talks about prophets, whose predictions failed, and reinterprets earlier oracles to ensure their relevance. Early Christians relied on and enriched this wider discourse in their thinking about the delay of the Parousia." +

My research will show that some of these ways were derived from the broader cultural context. Greeks and Romans had to come to terms with the fact that their oracular consultations and divinatory practices often yielded manifestly false results. +

Ancient Christian literature does not display an overwhelming anxiety about the fact that Jesus’ Second Coming (Parousia) had not occurred as predicted (although some traces of such a concern do survive). This suggests that Christians found ways of dealing with this issue. +

From the abstract: "My project, will answer the following question: how was it possible that early Christianity, founded on the belief that its key figure, Jesus of Nazareth, would soon return to earth, survived the failure of this prediction and became a major religion? +

Very happy to announce that I have received a senior postdoctoral fellowship funded by @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social which will allow me to continue at KU Leuven on my project on the delay of the Parousia for the next three years!

Lecturer in Biblical and Early Christian Studies at The University of Manchester Explore an exciting academic career as a Lecturer in Biblical and Early Christian Studies. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.

Lecturer in Biblical and Early Christian Studies- The University of Manchester - Humanities - Religions and Theology - School of Arts, Languages and Cultures #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMQ554/l...

Warsaw Late Antique Seminar on 13 March: Nicola Holm (UW): Constantius II and Ecclesiastical Politics: Creeds, Councils and Troublesome Bishops. As always on 4.45 p.m. Warsaw time, in person and on Zoom.

The table of contents to pique your interest

www.brepols.net/products/IS-...

The cover of the volume "Boundaries of Holiness, Frontiers of Sainthood: Negotiating the Image of Christian Holy Figures and Saints in Late Antiquity" (ed. Julia Doroszewska, Mateusz Kusio, Brepols, 2025), including a detail from the painting "Project of an Icon" by Jerzy Nowosielski

Very glad to see this volume, which I had the honour and the pleasure of co-editing with Julia Doroszewska, the prime mover of the project, from the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw, being released today by @brepols.bsky.social

The Ukrainian historian Natalia Yakovenko translating Livy while at home in Kyiv during the Russian invasion in March 2022.

Three years ago today, the criminal full-scale invasion of #Ukraine by Russia has begun. This photo of the historian Natalia Yakovenko translating Livy in Kyiv during the Russian offensive in March 2022 will remain a testament to the human spirit resisting cruelty and darkness. #СлаваУкраїні! 🇺🇦

...and let me repost the full Warsaw Late Antique seminar programme. Also, take a look at our website: lateantiqueseminar.historia.uw.edu.pl

Acceptance email for an abstract of a paper on apocalyptic literature to be presented at the European Association of Biblical Studies/International Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting 2025.

Hoping to see some of you at EABS/ISBL in Uppsala this June!

Congratulations!

It was fun! Thanks for having me @tetraseminar.bsky.social

Tomorrow! If you want to attend online and are not yet on the mailing list, contact @andyhilkens.bsky.social to receive the Zoom link!

Join us on Thursday 6 February at 10 AM for a conversation with @mateuszkusio.bsky.social on the early Christian Latin poet Commodianus