Mgr. Juraj Franek Ph.D.
franek@ics.cas.cz, j.franek@mail.muni.cz
+420 549 494 636
Department of Biblical Studies
postdoc
ASEP
Bibliography
Research focus
- earliest Greek Christian apologetics
- epigraphy and ancient Greek magic, esp. so-called curse tablets (defixiones)
- method and theory in the study of religions
- philosophy of religion
Academic websites profile (academia.edu etc.)
Education
2016: Ph.D. in Philosophy (dissertation thesis: "Critique of Religion from the Antiquity to the Present Times", FF MU)
2010: M.A. in Classical Studies (diploma thesis: "Aristophanes' Clouds", FF MU)
2009: M.A. in Philosophy (diploma thesis: "Reception of Socrates in Hellenistic and Patristic Philosophy", FF MU)
Employment history
from 1. 1. 2019 - now: Centre for Classical Studies at the Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
from 1. 9. 2012 - now: Department of Classical Studies, Masaryk University
Teaching
Assistant professor at the Department of Classical Studies, Masaryk University.
Conference papers and lectures abroad
Apotropaic Amulets in Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium. Department of Byzantine Philology and Folkloristics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece, 9. 3. 2020.
Bilingual Bronze Amulet from the Collection of Gustave Schlumberger (BNF Schlumberger.190). Magic in Late Antiquity: Objects, Texts and Contexts. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, 1.-3. 3. 2020.
Solomonica Magica (SoMa): Hacia corpus de los amuletos mágicos griegos. Departamento de Filología Clásica e Indoeuropeo, Facultad de Filología, Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain, 4. 12. 2019.
Inducing and Warding Off Fever in Graeco-Roman Magic. Magic and Medicine in the Ancient World: Interactions, Convergences and Divergencies in a Complicated Romance. Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea - Universidad de Zaragoza. Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, 18.-19. 9. 2019.
Adjuration Formula with ὁρκίζω/adiuro in Greek and Latin Epigraphical Documentation. Symposium Classicum Peregrinum: Blessings and Curses in Antiquity. Lonato di Garda, Italy, 21.-24. 6. 2018 (co-author: Daniela Urbanová).
ὁρκίζω in griechischen epigraphischen Zeugnissen. Institut für Papyrologie, Universität Heidelberg. Heidelberg, Germany, 11. 4. 2018.
Magic on Lead: Simile-Formula on Ancient Greek and Latin Curse Tablets. 15th International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy: Languages – Culture of Writing – Identities in Antiquity. University of Vienna – Austrian Academy of Sciences. Vienna, Austria, 28. 8. - 1. 9. 2017 (co-author: Daniela Urbanová).
Cognitive Science of Religion, Ontological Commitment and Evolutionary Debunking Arguments. 5th International Kraków Study of Religions Symposium: Understanding and Explanation in the Study of Religions, in the Memory of Walter Burkert (1931-2015). Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, 7.-9. 11. 2016.
Vrah, alebo hrdina? Recepcia Bruta mladšieho v talianskom renesančnom humanizme. Ideológia v premenách času v pamiatkach gréckej a latinskej tradície: Medzinárodná konferencia pri príležitosti sedemdesiatin profesora Daniela Škovieru. Univerzita Komenského, Bratislava, Slovak Republic 18.-19. 11. 2016.
Naturalistic Theory of Religion in Pomponazzi's De Incantationibus and its Significance. Portuguese and European Humanism: 5th Centenary of Cicero Lusitanus, Jerónimo Osório (1515-1580). University of Coimbra – University of Lisboa, Coimbra – Lisboa, Portugal, 9.-10. 12. 2015.
Return of the Prodigal Son: Cognitive Science of Religion and the Re-Emergence of the Problem of Explanation in the Study of Religions. Religious Ideas & Scientific Thought: McGill Centre for Research on Religion 7th Annual Graduate Student Conference. McGill University, Montréal, Canada, 25.-26. 9. 2015.
Muse in Homeric Epics: A Cognitive Perspective. Seminars on Ancient Greek Literature and Culture. European Cultural Centre of Delphi, Delphi, Greece, 2.-12. 8. 2014.
Naturalistic and Sui Generis Approaches to the Phenomenon of Religion. Seminars on Ancient Greek Literature and Culture. European Cultural Centre of Delphi, Delphi, Greece, 2.-12. 8. 2014.
Il campo semantico di 'nomen' nelle tavole defixionum. Latin Vulgaire – Latin Tardif, 11th International Conference on Late and Vulgar Latin. Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain, 1.-5. 9. 2014 (co-author: Daniela Urbanová).
Conference papers and lectures in the Czech Republic
Seal of Solomon in Greek Epigraphy. Hellenism, Early Judaism and Early Christianity: Transmission and Transformation of Ideas, Vila Lanna, Centre for Classical Studies at the Institute of Philosophy, Prague, 12.-13. 9. 2019.
Naturalismus a protekcionismus ve studiu náboženství. Vědecké setkání Ústavu religionistky FF MU, Masaryk University, Brno, 31. 10. 2017.
Omnibus Omnia: The Reception of Socrates in Early Christian Literature. Laetae segetes IV. Masaryk University, Brno, 19.-21. 11. 2014.
Presocratic Philosophy and the Origins of Religion. Laetae segetes III. Masaryk University, Brno, 13.-16. 11. 2012.
Some Methodological Remarks on the Phonology of Ancient Greek. Moderní teorie v klasické filologii a filologii starých jazyků. Masaryk University, Brno, 4.-5. 11. 2011.
Lucretius and the Modern Interdisciplinary Critique of Religion. International Conference on Classical and Byzantine Literature: "Literary crossroads". Masaryk University, Brno, 19.-22. 9. 2010.
Current projects
- earliest Greek apologists, Greek defixiones
