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Gifford Lectures

4 May @ 5:00 pm - 14 May @ 7:00 pm

How did Christianity become global? Join Paula Fredriksen for six fascinating lectures on its early rise.

The University of Edinburgh is delighted to host Professor Paula Fredriksen for the 2026 Gifford Lectures Series.

Conversions of Christianity
In its earliest form, belief in the coming Kingdom of God emerged within late Second Temple Judaism. Yet within a few generations, this message spread far beyond its Jewish roots, forming predominantly Gentile movements and reshaping ideas of belief, power, and identity. How did “orthodoxy” emerge, and with what political and social consequences? How did one god come to dominate an empire filled with many gods? Across six lectures, this series traces Christianity’s dramatic transformation—from a small Jewish messianic movement to a force at the heart of the late Roman state—by situating it within the vibrant religious, cultural, and political world of the ancient Mediterranean.

  • Monday 4th May 2026: Lecture 1 – A World Full of Gods
  • Tuesday 5th May 2026: Lecture 2 – Israel Abroad: Jews among the Gods
  • Thursday 7th May 2026: Lecture 3 – From Jesus to Christ
  • Monday 11th May 2026: Lecture 4 – The End, and New Beginnings
  • Wednesday 13th May 2026: Lecture 5 – When does Christianity become Christianity?
  • Thursday 14th May 2026: Lecture 6 – The Conversions of Christianity

Paula Fredriksen is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Aurelio Professor of Scripture emerita at Boston University. She is also Distinguished Visiting Professor emerita in the Department of Comparative Religions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2018.

Educated at Wellesley College, Oxford University, and Princeton University, Fredriksen is a leading historian of ancient Christianity and the Roman world. Her scholarship explores the social and intellectual history of early Christianity and the complex relations between pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire.

She is the author of many influential works, including From Jesus to Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (winner of the 1999 National Jewish Book Award), Augustine and the Jews, and SIN: The Early History of an Idea. Her book Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle received the 2018 Prose Award from the American Publishers’ Association. Her most recent study, When Christians Were Jews, situates the Jesus movement’s Jewish messianic message within the wider cultural, political, and religious world of the ancient Mediterranean.

For more information and to reserve your FREE ticket, head to the eventbrite page: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gifford-lectures-2026.

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  • University of Edinburgh