Biography

Cecilia Antonelli is “Senior SNSF researcher” (Chercheuse FNS Senior) at the Institut romand des sciences bibliques (IRSB) of the University of Lausanne (Unil). She is currently preparing the major electronic critical edition of the Lives of the Prophets (BHG 1585-1590) and related texts for the Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum (CCSA) as part of the project “Éditer numériquement la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (ENLAC)", funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

After studying Classics with a particular focus on Ancient Christianity at the “Roma Tre” University (Bachelor of Classics, 2006; Master in Ancient Philology, Literature and History, 2008), she obtained a PhD in Greek and Roman Civilization and Tradition at the “Roma Tre” University and in Protestant Theology at the University of Geneva (2012), in joint supervision. She first worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Geneva (Swiss Confederation Scholarship, 2012-2013), then at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Section des sciences religieuses (SSR) in Paris (“Doc. Mobility” Scholarship from the SNSF, 2013-2014). She then worked as a research and teaching associate in History of Early Christianity at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Geneva (2014-2017).

A member of the Association pour l'étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (AELAC) and of the Société pour l'étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (SELAC), she attends national and international conferences, seminars and scientific meetings, which she also contributes to organize.

She studies Christian “heresies” and ancient heresiology, the “construction” of memory of Christian origins, the systems of authority in the first Christian centuries, as well as Biblical writings, scriptural testimonia, Christian and Jewish apocryphal literature, the establishment of the New Testament canon.

Her editio princeps of the Acts and Martyrdom of the Apostle Bartholomew in Greek (Weimar Q 729 or “Codex Froehner”), with introduction, Italian translation and commentary, will be published as a volume of the Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum (CCSA), including the text and translation of the ancient Armenian version of this Christian apocryphal text (publication planned: end of 2021). A monograph which develops and expands the results of her PhD Thesis on the fragments of the early Christian author Hegesippus (2nd century) is being prepared and will be published under the title La mémoire oubliée des originnes chrétienne. Les fragments d'Hégésippe entre histoire et légende (Instrumenta patristica et medioevalia (IPM)), Brepols (publication planned: 2022).