CFP: Society for the Study of Anglo-Saxon Homiletics at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI)
May 12-15, 2016
Preaching Texts in Early England: Homiletics and Beyond
For over ten years at the ICMS, the Society for the Study of Anglo-Saxon Homiletics has thrived in its aims to promote scholarship related to the sources, compositions, appropriations, and early studies of Anglo-Saxon homilies. Over the years, the Society has fostered a wide range of interests and methodologies both old and new: for example, source studies, Anglo-Saxon theologies, rhetoric and style, linguistics and philology, the interplay of Christian and pagan practices, paleography and codicology, afterlives of Anglo-Saxon homilies, translation theory, gender studies, and digital initiatives.
For this year’s session, we invite papers on the theme of “Preaching Texts in Early England,” broadly construed. This theme includes papers about not only homilies and sermons in a specific sense but also preaching and related subjects beyond traditional generic boundaries. Furthermore, the title affords the play of double meaning, indicating texts related to preaching as well as ways of thinking about preaching conceptually—and the interplay between these ideas. We hope that participants interpret this theme broadly, to ask nuanced questions about myriad meanings of “preaching” and “preaching texts”: What are preaching texts? How do we look beyond generic boundaries to consider other related texts and contexts? Who preached, how and why? What were the roles of preaching, texts, and contexts? How do we situate all of these ideas in our studies of Anglo-Saxon culture? We look for papers that might address these and other questions on this subject from voices of all stages of experience—ranging from early career to established scholars.
Please send abstracts of no more than 500 words with a completed Participant Information Form (available here) to Brandon Hawk by September 15, 2015.
Abstracts not accepted for this session will be forwarded to the Congress Committee for consideration in general sessions. For more information, please visit the conference website here.
