Christian Bull

My main interests are the religions of the Hellenistic, Roman Imperial, and Late Antique periods, and in particular encounters between different religious traditions. I have mostly focused on Egypt, and the encounter between traditional Egyptian religion and Greek culture and philosophy, as represented by the so-called Hermetic treatises. I also do research on early Christianity in Egypt, especially the Coptic Nag Hammadi-treatises, as well as other apocryphal and Gnostic texts. I also work on monasticism, late antique Platonism, magic, alchemy, astrology, and universal historiography. My theoretical interests revolve around the issues of myth, ritual, experience, cultural memory, and power.