Culture in Translation – History, Literature, and the Transcultural Movement of Ideas

Call for Papers

The historical understanding of ancient literature, especially the religious writings of Judaism and Christianity, and of Classical sources, is conditioned broadly by the impact which they have exerted across history and which has brought them into many societies’ consciousnesses until today. Especially since these kinds of literature have been able to exert an immense influence on constructions of meaning and culture across the centuries, historical perspectives on ancient sources are frequently refracted through the prism of reception aesthetics.  

In light of this phenomenon, and its productive understanding within academic discourses and beyond, the following questions especially impose themselves, which will be investigated and discussed in the context of this conference: 

Literature

• Which linguistic, rhetorical, and textual phenomena can explain the impact of the most prevalent and lasting ancient cultural, religious, and literary traditions? Why and how did they succeed at creating an impact across millennia?
• How can we productively understand – from historical vantage points – the transmissions, translations, adaptations, transformations, and selections of those materials of antiquity which predominated the discourses of their time, and have remained particularly influential in culture until today? How can the authority and development of such traditions be understood both within antiquity but also beyond?

History

• Where lie the origins of specific literary traditions (historiography, philosophy, prophecy, law, wisdom, myth, politics, etc.)? How were these traditions developed, transformed, and interconnected in Biblical and Classical traditions as well as in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Persia, and elsewhere?
• How can these developments of literature be integrated into wider cultural histories and the history of ideas? 

For the exploration of this subject of the history and literary manifestations of “Culture in Translation”, the University of Zurich is organising an international and interdisciplinary conference, which will be held at the Aula Minor of UZH from Thursday, 1st October until Sunday, 4th October 2026. The conference is organised by Moritz F. Adam, Jörg Frey, and Daniel Maier. We seek to discuss aspects of research with the aforementioned two areas of focus. The conference is organised in cooperation with partners at the University of Copenhagen. It is supported financially by the Swiss Society for Ancient Near Eastern Studies and the Faculty of Theology and Religion. 

The conference aims to facilitate interdisciplinary exchange between established researchers and early career scholars from any field whose interests relate to the histories of ideas and literature from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Classical World, including but not limited to Ancient History, Biblical Studies, Classics, the History of Judaism and Christianity, Ancient Near Eastern studies, and related disciplines. Further, attention will be placed also specifically on reception historical studies focused on late antique, medieval, or modern languages and literature. Invited guests include speakers from Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, among others. 

The open Call for Papers aims to supplement the invited main lectures with shorter papers and to provide a balance between contributions by established academics and early career scholars. Moreover, proposals by women as well as by researchers of marginalised backgrounds and fields of study are particularly encouraged.

The deadline for the submission of proposals for papers is March 31, 2026.