Intersections: Yearbook for Early Modern Studies (Leiden: Brill)

Call for Papers for Volume 22

The Turn of the Soul: 
Representations of Religious Conversion in Early Modern Art and Literature

Although conversion has always featured prominently in Christianity, the 
religious upheavals of the early modern period gave the idea an unprecedented 
urgency.  The European colonial expansion into Africa, Asia and the New World 
created an industry for the training of missionaries with a central focus given 
to methods of conversion. The Ottoman colonial expansion, on the other hand, 
made Europe feel the threat of Islam, something that was personified in the 
considerable numbers of Christians “turning Turk.”  The period of the 
Reformation, during which the population of entire states were required to 
adopt the religion chosen by their prince, also raised important questions 
about the process of conversion.  These diverse circumstances led to a 
reconsideration of the meanings of conversion, as well as corollary issues such 
as its agency, (social) consequences and the nature of the internal spiritual 
processes. Poets, playwrights and artists often reflected on these issues and 
it is through their textual and visual renderings that we can explore 
contemporary cultural ideas about the complex nature of religious conversion.  

The volume in preparation aims to examine the rhetoric and aesthetic 
experiences of conversion in texts and the visual arts. The editors welcome 
contributions in English from multiple disciplines (literature, history, art history, 
language studies, etc.) that address the theme in a wide-range of 
geographical regions Topics may include:

1.	Agents of Conversion: Is conversion the work of God or of individuals 
themselves? What is the role of vision (or blindness) in this process? What is 
the role of free will? The church? How do images, texts, plays, etc. function as 
vehicles for conversion?

2.	Authentication of Conversion: How exactly do converts differ from 
their former selves? Is this described in terms of sinfulness versus holiness or 
ignorance versus wisdom? Is it a radical transformation, gradual development, 
a reformation or a restoration?  How can the genuine spirit of conversion be 
tested?  

3.	Representations of Conversion:  Are representations of conversion 
instruments of propaganda? Or, are they a medium of (autobiographical) 
expression and reflection? Could the expressive character of a painting or play 
itself cultivate a sensory experience for the viewer that enacts conversion? 

Selected authors will be invited to participate in a panel on the topic of 
religious conversion, to be proposed for the Renaissance Society of America 
conference in 2010 in Venice.  The final collection of essays will appear in 
2011.  The editors are Harald Hendrix, Todd Richardson and Lieke Stelling. 
Proposals (300 words) for contributions should be sent electronically no later 
than January 1st 2009 to:

Harald Hendrix (Utrecht University), [log in to unmask]
Todd Richardson (University of Memphis), [log in to unmask]
Lieke Stelling (Leiden University), [log in to unmask]

see also: 
http://www.brill.nl/brochures/Intersectionscallforpapers22.pdf