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Click here for program. The conference takes stock of the study of Renaissance religion and aims to create a path into the future.
It takes inspiration from a path-breaking conference held in 1972, which resulted in the important volume The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Thought. Essays in that volume by Natalie Davis, Richard Trexler, and Charles Trinkaus moved religion from the margins of Renaissance studies and helped drive what might now be termed the 'Geertzian Turn' in the study of religious phenomena. As Robert Scribner later wrote, "Religion is a newly fashionable subject among historians of early modern Europe, but it is a fashion with a difference, for the history of religion is approached with new aims, new methodologies and virtually a new subject matter."
This conference explores how the field has advanced over the last thirty years, particularly in terms of methodology and theoretical framing. Revisionist approaches to humanism and humanists is forcing a re-evaluation of the framing of belief; the boundaries between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are seen to be more fluid and porous; a keen interest in devotion and materiality has lent new voice to 'subaltern' elements in society; sermon studies has emerged as a distinct discipline; art history has undergone profound change; the role of the inquisition has moved to the foreground in the defining of early modern Catholic culture and identity; globalization, mass migration and issues surrounding social inclusion have re-positioned our understanding of reform in the late medieval and early modern period. Speakers will reflect on methodology and conceptual assumptions, and our discussions will focus on current and future directions.
Register below for June 4th. To register for June 5th at Monash Prato click here
A Joint Villa I Tatti - Monash University Prato Centre event
Organized by Peter Howard and Nicholas Terpstra
Villa I Tatti, Florence (4 June) Monash Prato (5 June)
Information: peter.howard@monash.edu
 | renaissance_religions.pdf | 2.01 MB |