Free Hybrid Lecture Event
Location: Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Speaker: Rune Nyord, Associate Professor and Chair, Art History Department, Emory University
Could some of our familiar ideas about the ancient Egyptian afterlife be more Christian than Egyptian? Recent studies suggest that themes we often assume to be central, such as judgment, salvation, and eternal life, were profoundly shaped by the Christian expectations of early Egyptologists. This poses a significant challenge for contemporary Egyptology: how should we think about ancient Egyptian religion when our basic framework has been shaped so strongly by Christianity rather than by Egyptian evidence? Rune Nyord proposes a new way forward that re-centers the social setting of the ancestor cult and considers funerary texts such as the Book of the Dead as ritual texts—continuous with other Egyptian ritual practices—rather than as “guidebooks” to the afterlife.
Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage starting at 5 pm.
Advance registration is recommended.
About the Speaker
Rune Nyord is Associate Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology at Emory University, where he is also Chair of the Art History Department. His research focuses on conceptions and experiences of representation, ontology, and personhood in ancient Egypt, especially as evidenced in funerary culture. He is also interested in the history of the discipline of Egyptology and the ways in which it continues to influence contemporary practices and interpretations. He is the author, editor, or coeditor of several books, the most recent being the monograph Yearning for Immortality: The European Invention of the Ancient Egyptian Afterlife (University of Chicago Press, 2025) and coeditor of a special issue of Interdisciplinary Egyptology titled Egyptology in Dialogue (University of Vienna, 2025).
