Episcopus is excited to offer the following session at the upcoming Annual Symposium On Medieval and Renaissance Studies, hosted by St. Louis University, June 15-17, 2020, in St. Louis, MO, USA

Please submit a paper title, abstract, along with your name and brief biography/CV to the session organizer, Benjamin Wand. / Deadline for submissions: December 31, 2019 / Submit to: benjamin.wand@slu.edu

Session Information
Sponsor: Episcopus: Society for the Study of Bishops and Secular Clergy in the Middle Ages
Clergy in their Communities: Charisma, Compassion, Conflict

From the village priest to metropolitan bishop, secular clergy were often at the center of their communities. Or were they? To what extent were clergy acting as spiritual guides, and how did their guidance impact their relationships with others? What role – social, pastoral, judicial, political, or other – did individual clergy prioritize in their own parish or diocese? To which social groups did clergy owe allegiance to, and how did they prioritize these allegiances? How did their judicial, economic, and political concerns impact their place in their parish, communities, or dioceses?

As spiritual guides, political actors, and members of families and social groups, secular clergy interacted with, managed, and often represented, members of their communities. These interactions were layered with expectations which impacted relationships, stemming from the often complex role clergy played in society.

This session hopes to examine the variety of ways secular clergy throughout Europe interacted with their families, friends, and communities, along with the tensions, expectations, and contexts accompanying such interactions. Furthermore, it hopes to illuminate the strategies and mechanisms clergy used to manage their relationships, conduct pastoral care, or accomplish secular aims. Papers should address roles, interactions, kinship, social bonds, expectations, along with cultural or other views of these relationships, from late antiquity through the early modern period. Studies utilizing geographic or chronological comparisons are encouraged.

Conference Information can be found at www.smrs-slu.org

Source : Episcopus