Eleventh Annual REFORC Conference on Early Modern Christianity

May 4-6, 2022, the Eleventh Annual REFORC Conference on Early Modern Christianity will take place in Berlin, hosted by the Sonderforschungsbereich 980 Episteme in Bewegung of the Freie Universität Berlin.

Plenary Lectures

Body and Soul
Comparative Studies on the Body-Soul Concept in the Pre-Modern Era

In the tradition of Greco-Roman antiquity and the monotheistic religions as well as in so-called pagan, non-monotheistic religions, the concept of the soul is associated with notions of spirituality, reason, volition, imagination, but also of affectivity and passions. How is the relation of the soul to the body to be thought and what determines the self? Is the soul bound to the mortal body, like a vehicle of the soul, so that the true life begins only in an extracorporeal spirituality? How do bodily and spiritual existence relate to each other and what models play a role in this in pre-modern times? How do theological concepts of freedom, guilt, sin, and self-failure on the one hand and immortality, life after death, redemption, a promise of salvation and afterlife, or immortality of the soul on the other hand intertwine? What models of corporeality, bodiliness, and affectivity play a role in this?

The international conference aims to discuss the relationship between body and soul from a transcultural comparative perspective in the early modern period. We will include positions from different disciplines, e.g. medicine, art history, philosophy, literature, theology, and religious studies because of the plurality of pre-modern cultures.

Plenary Speakers

Simone De Angelis (University of  Graz, Center for the History of Science)
Florentina Badalanova (Royal Anthropological Institute London)
Iris Brahms (Kunsthistorisches  Institut Berlin)
Eveline Goodman-Thau (Jerusalem), reading session
Hana Gründler (Max Planck Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Florence)
Jochem Kahl (SFB 980 „Episteme in Bewegung“, FU Berlin)
Katja Krause (Max Planck Institut Berlin)
Lukas Mühlethaler (FU Berlin)
Carmen Schmechel (FU Berlin)

Short Papers, Panels, and General Attendance

The (in-person) conference is open to individual short paper presentations (20-minute presentations) and to thematic sessions of two or three short papers. Papers can focus on all disciplines related to Early Modern Christianity, ca. 1400-1700, such as philosophy, law, history, theology, etc., independent of the theme of the plenary papers.

It is also possible to attend the conference without giving a paper.

Short Paper Submission

Short paper submission closed on April 1, 2022.

Registration/Registration Fee

Registration becomes effective on receipt of payment of the registration fee. If your short paper proposal has been accepted, please see to it that the amount of the registration fee is on our account before April 1, 2022, so that we can include your paper in the program. Registration closes on May 3, 2022.

REFORC Members (Individual and Institutional) will receive a discount on the registration fee, as indicated in the registration form. Go here for the benefits for Individual REFORC Members and here for the benefits for Institutional REFORC Members.

Deadlines

Short paper submission: April 1, 2022 (extended deadline)
Registration: May 3, 2022

Language

Preferred language for papers is English, but papers in  French and German are also welcome. Presenters who prefer to give their paper in French or German are invited to provide the audience with an English summary of about 150-200 words.

Conference Proceedings

The conference volume will be published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in the series Refo500 Academic Studies (R5AS) and will contain plenary papers and a selection of short papers. Another publication venue is the Journal of Early Modern Christianity (JEMC).

Manuscripts for the conference volume can be submitted to the editors (to be announced). All other manuscripts can be submitted to editor-in-chief of the JEMC, Wim François.

Editors will decide on publication.

Visual: Anatomical Man in the Duke Berry’s Très Riches Heures