Event Date: May 8-11, 2014
Event Location: Kalamazoo, MI
Submission Deadline: September 15, 2013
Episcopus is pleased to sponsor three panels at next year’s International Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo, to be held :
1. Rethinking Reform I : The Portrayal of Religious Change in Gesta and Vitae Episcoporum and Abbatum (organized by Maureen Miller, UC Berkeley, and William North, Carleton College; please send an abstract and a Participant Information Form directly mcmiller@berkeley.edu and wnorth@carleton.edu.)
Research on reform in the eleventh and twelfth centuries has, for some time now, expressed dissatisfaction with our standard narratives of this period in ecclesiastical history. In attempting to formulate more compelling interpretations, the Rethinking Reform panels at the 2012 and 2013 Congresses have identified the need to focus closely on the medieval vocabulary (corrigere, emendare, rinnovare, repristinare, etc.) often interpreted as “reform” and the varied purposes for which it is used. Building on the productive discussions sparked by our 2013 sessions on narratives of reform in individual sources (Textual Perspectives), we invite proposals for 2014 focused on the language and narratives of religious change found specifically in the genres of episcopal vitae or gestae episcoporum or abbatum. When and how does language denoting correction, emendation, renovation, or reform appear in these genres? What tropes of rebirth, improvement, or return to ancient ideals recur, and what actions and qualities are characterized or associated with such rhetoric? To what ends or purposes is such language deployed: why are discourses of reform invoked? Comparisons of examples within one genre or between the two are welcome, as are papers considering change and continuity across a wide chronology.
2. Bishops and Secular Clergy in the Diocese of Lincoln, ca. 1209-1521 (co-sponsored with The Bishop’s Eye Research Network, Universities of Lincoln and Huddersfield, UK)
The diocese of Lincoln was not only the largest in England — spread over eight counties — but an ongoing focal point of ecclesiastical change in administrative, spiritual, and political development in the country. This session will trace some of these developments across three hundred years in the diocese, bringing together scholars from North America and the UK, under the auspices of both Episcopus and The Bishop’s Eye, a UK research network based at the Universities of Huddersfield and Lincoln devoted to the medieval diocese of Lincoln and the relationship of masculinity and religion. Participation by members of The Bishop’s Eye research group is expected. The session will encourage papers which not only focus on particular clergy and clerical communities, but also situate them in broader political, cultural, gendered, and/or economic contexts.
3. Milestones and Watersheds in the Scholarship and Study of the Medieval Church and Secular Clergy from the Nineteenth Century to the Present.
The study of medieval bishops and the secular clergy has undergone tremendous development and refinement over the last century. At the same time, much research still remains to be done on all aspects of church history (Van Engen, 2002). How have our views evolved and changed over time? What works and/or scholars have been instrumental in pushing the field in different directions, and why? Where do we go from here? This panel invites papers that explore specific historiographical milestones, catalysts, and watersheds in the field of medieval church history (with a focus on the secular clergy), their legacy, and the past and present implications for scholarship. Historiographical contributions from non-anglophone scholarly traditions are warmly encouraged.
These sessions are listed in the PDF that contains the full ICMS CFP.
Paper proposals are due September 15, 2013. Please send an abstract and a Participant Information Form to ott@pdx.edu unless otherwise directed in the session listing.
Source de l’information : Episcopus
L'Agenda des Médiévistes 