Apologies for cross listing, please find attached Hagiography-Society Session for the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 2015. Please feel free to circulate.
"Approaches to Miracle Collections II: Miracles and Medicine" - The Hagiography Society wishes to sponsor several sessions on miracle collections for next year's IMC at Leeds, and is looking for papers for the session entitled, 'Miracles
and Medicine'. We invite 250-word abstracts from scholars researching any aspect of sickness, disability or healing in Christian miracle accounts from late antiquity to c1500. Papers giving consideration to how miracle stories have shaped perceptions (both
modern and medieval) of sickness and health in the Middle Ages are especially welcome. Please send abstracts to Anne Bailey ([log in to unmask]) on or before Monday 15 September 2014.
Holy Heroes of Reform: Saints and their Roles in Medieval Reformation Movements, from Late Antiquity to the Protestant Reformation - Hagiography-Society Session for the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 2015
Whether involved in local reformations of monastic houses, larger-scale regional reformations such as the Anglo-Saxon Benedictine Reform and the Cistercian movement, or the global Protestant Reformation, throughout the medieval period saints played a variety
of roles as monastic and ecclesiastical institutions cleaned house. This session seeks papers that will explore the myriad ways in which saints – including ex- and would-be saints – might be implicated in the many reform movements of the Middle Ages. Papers
from a wide array of disciplines, including art history, music history, literary studies, economic history, etc will be considered, and researchers taking an interdisciplinary or cross-cultural approach will be particularly welcome. Papers should be 20 minutes
in length, delivered in English. Proposals including abstracts of about 250 words and a CV should be sent by 15 September to Kathryn Gerry; email is preferred: [log in to unmask] but hard copy proposals will also be accepted: Kathryn Gerry, Assistant Professor
of Art History, Memphis College of Art, Gibson Hall, 1930 Poplar Ave, Memphis TN 38104, USA; informal enquiries are also welcome.
Reform and Renewal in medieval Theology of Sanctity - Hagiography-Society Session for the International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 2015
Sanctity was an integral part of social, religious, cultural, and theological understanding of the medieval world. Scholarship across disciplines in recent decades has taught us much of social history by examining hagiographic sources – we have expanded our understanding of gender, family, authorship, literature, food, disability, economy, urban life, lay piety, etc. These social roles intersected, sometimes quite uncomfortably, with doctrinal positions on the saints.
This interdisciplinary panel seeks to explore the theology of sanctity, particularly how it was renewed and reformed during the Middle Ages. How did medieval theologians conceptualize the intercessory powers or didactic roles of the saints? How was the theology on saints and sanctity reformed or renewed during the medieval era? Did these notions change in response to the needs of the Church or the faithful laity? How the laity understand the theology of saints? Can we discover the theology of sanctity in hagiographical materials such as saints' Lives, liturgy, exempla, and miracle collections? Was the theology of sanctity present in other sources, such as books of hours or manuals of confession? What were changes to how the theology of sanctity was presented to the laity, clergy, or monastic orders? Papers are welcome from all disciplines within medieval studies.
Papers will be 20 minutes in length, to be delivered preferably in English. Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words by email to Marita von Weissenberg, [log in to unmask] Informal inquiries are welcome. Deadline for abstracts: September 15th, 2014.
Best,