BULL 2011 AC - AIEP IAPS

Dear Colleagues,
VIE DE L’ASSOCIATION
De la part du Secrétaire / From the Secretary
My term as general secretary of AIEP / IAPS, and with it my task as editor of the
Bulletin, comes to an end with the 16th Patristic Conference in Oxford. The job of a
general secretary, in any international association, is a real challenge. I was aware
of this when I assumed my task in 2007, but of course not quite what it would entail.
Initially I especially tried to increase membership in countries which were still
missing or not yet so active in our association, but in the course of the years my
energies have been more and more absorbed by the preparation of the Bulletin.
At the end of my period I am perhaps not as happy with the results as I would like. I
became acutely aware that potential information on the state of patristic studies
throughout the world is much greater than what I could ever assemble. Sometimes I
also felt that my efforts did not meet the kind of reactions I had expected, either of
support or criticism, but were perceived in the framework of a more or less
traditional routine.
Nevertheless there are now reasons for being more optimistic. Through the creation
of an efficient website, which already provides the Annuaire, the time of the printed
Bulletin has probably come to an end: hopefully the new possibilities for a database
will soon gradually make possible a move to an electronic format. At all events, even
an enterprise of this kind will demand much engagement from the future general
secretary and the national correspondents. Inasmuch as our association expands its
membership (and it did it considerably since 2007), the Bulletin either in its old or
in the new format will represent an increasing amount of work that will be
sustainable only with a renewed involvement from members.
While wishing my successor a fruitful and cooperative period of office, I would like
to thank our President Carol Harrison and my colleagues of the Executive
Committee for their constant support and encouragement in the past four years. I
would also like to thank the national correspondents and individual members who
kindly supplied me with the applications for new members and with bibliographic
records or other information.
You will find in this issue the general index of the authors contained in the
bibliographies of the last four years. It has been made possible through the work of
my former student, Dr. Paolo Bernardini, whom I would like to include in my thanks.
7
Lorenzo Perrone