Lay Readings of the Bible in Early Modern Europe

November 24, 2015 - November 26, 2015
Conference

CESR (Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance), Salle Rapin
59 Rue Néricault Destouches
37000 Tours
France

Presentation

Convenors

  • Pr Erminia ARDISSINO , LE STUDIUM® RESEARCH FELLOW

on leave from University of Torino (Italy), in residence at CESR (Centre d'Etudes Supérieures de la Renaissance - UMR CNRS 7323 - University François-Rabelais of Tours) - Tours, France.

  • Dr Elise BOILLET
    CESR (Centre d'Etudes Supérieures de la Renaissance – UMR CNRS 7323 - University François-Rabelais of Tours) - Tours, France.

Main topics of the conference

  • Bible
  • Early Modern Europe
  • Reading, Interpreting, Translating, Rewriting
  • Communication and Printing
  • History of Ideas: Secularization, Tolerance and Scepticism
  • Knowledge and Professions (Political Science, Medicine, Natural History, Music)
  • History of Religion: Catholicism, Protestantism, Radicalism

Introduction

Throughout a period of dramatic change in Europe, characterized by the development of printing, the literary affirmation of vernacular languages, the discovery of formerly unknown places and cultures, the definition of intellectual professions and political theories of government, and the spread of new religious doctrines, the Bible remained a book of reference for ecclesiastics and laics alike. Even in Catholic countries, in which Biblical translations were forbidden, the laity drew upon the Bible as a source of ethical, cultural and professional inspiration. The aim of the international symposium, that will mark the culmination of LE STUDIUM-CESR project entitled The Laity and the Bible: Religious Reading in Early Modern Europe (1470-1650), is to illustrate recent comparative research studies of the contribution that Biblical readings made to the evolution of some of the essential aspects of modernity. Interpreting the Sacred Scriptures represented a means of reinforcing critical perspectives and autonomous behavior, and the symposium will provide an opportunity to clarify the connections between the laity and the Bible that had an impact on different aspects of early modern European countries/cultures and explore how they helped or hindered their evolution towards modernity.

CONFIRMED Invited speakers

  • Pr Gordon Campbell, Department of English, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
  • Dr Margriet Hoogvliet, Faculty of Arts, Medieval History Research Centre for Historical Studies University of Groningen, Groningen, NL
  • Pr Ignacio Javier Garcia Pinilla, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, ES
  • Pr Wim François, Research Unit History of the Church, Katholic University, Leuven, BE
  • Pr Max Engammare, Institut d’Histoire de la Réformation University of Geneva, Geneva, CH
  • Pr Stefano Gattei, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia, USA
  • Pr. Concetta Pennuto, Centre d'Etudes Supérieures de la Renaissance Université F. Rabelais, Tours FR
  • Dr Xavier Bisaro, Centre d'Etudes Supérieures de la Renaissance Université François-Rabelais, Tours, FR
  • Pr Sabrina Corbellini, Faculty of Arts, Medieval History Research Centre for Historical Studies University of Gröningen, Gröningen, NL
  • Dr. Tadhg Ó hAnnracháin, Head of School of History and Archives University College Dublin, IE
  • Pr François Dupuigrenet Desroussilles, Department of Religion Florida State University, Tallahassee FL-USA

Practical informations

Documents

Partners of the event