Meeting Debra Shuger, Richard Strier, and Nicholas Terpstra at SCSC
At the Sixteenth Century Society Conference convention in Minneapolis last week, I had many serendipitous meetings with scholar/authors.
In a Friday session, “Literature and Religion in Early Elizabethan England,” one presenter cited a source claiming God the Father as defending the masculinity of Jesus. I was reminded of parts of Debora K. Shuger’s book, The Renaissance Bible: Scholarship, Sacrifice, and Subjectivity.[1]
During Q&A time, I mentioned how Shuger’s book seemed to offer an alternative view. The presenter replied, “Do you know you are sitting right behind Debora Shuger?”
So that is how I met Debora Shuger,[2] who was kind and generous to talk with me then and later in the conference.
I attended a roundtable on Thursday night called “Crisis And Refuge: Historical Reflections On War, Persecution, And Exile.” I had started reading Nicholas Terpstra’s book, Religious Refugees in the Early Modern World: An Alternative History of the Reformation.[3]
Terpstra[4] was chairing the roundtable, so I was looking forward to it. Instead of viewing the religious allegiances of nations in a mostly binary fashion (with England as Protestant and Spain as Catholic, etc.), Terpstra acknowledges how war refugees and religious refugees made things more complex.
When I met Terpstra later on Saturday, he said that book began as an effort to tell world history in a way that might appeal to 6th graders in Toronto, Canada, which has a high immigrant population, including refugees. We were chatting in a group of three that included a Jesuit professor from Marquette, where my father had attended two years before being drafted into the Korean war, and where a theologian whose book I had read, influenced by Bernard Lonergan S.J., recently taught. My theology teacher in college had been a student of Lonergan, and, small world, Terpstra’s mother had done some housekeeping for Lonergan.
On Friday, I met another of the excellent participants on the refugee roundtable. When he learned of my work in Shakespeare, he said I should read a new book by Richard Strier.[5]
Later I was in a session where one presenter spoke of similarities between ideas of Erasmus and certain preaching guidelines under Mary I. In the Q&A time, one man in the front row raised his hand and noted that Erasmus stressed tolerance, and preferred preaching on Christian morality over doctrinal hairsplitting, but these important themes seemed to be missing from the presenter’s list of similarities to Erasmus.
He was exactly right. I thought: I would like to meet the person who made that observation.
It was Richard Strier, a generous and delightful man. A few pages from Strier’s new book[6] were helpful and influenced last-minute changes to my Saturday presentation.
These experiences made it an especially memorable conference.
NOTES
[1] https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481314862/the-renaissance-bible/
[2] https://english.ucla.edu/people-faculty/shuger-debora-k/
[3] https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religious-refugees-in-the-early-modern-world/7ABAFA0EBBB6B45D71838DC96966F4AB
[4] https://www.history.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/nicholas-terpstra
[5] https://english.uchicago.edu/people/richard-strier
[6] Shakespearean Issues: Agency, Skepticism, and Other Puzzles
https://www.pennpress.org/9781512823219/shakespearean-issues/
IMAGES: See book links in footnotes 1, 3, and 7, above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.
To find the subscribe button, see the = drop-down menu with three lines in the upper left.
During Q&A time, I mentioned how Shuger’s book seemed to offer an alternative view. The presenter replied, “Do you know you are sitting right behind Debora Shuger?”
So that is how I met Debora Shuger,[2] who was kind and generous to talk with me then and later in the conference.
I attended a roundtable on Thursday night called “Crisis And Refuge: Historical Reflections On War, Persecution, And Exile.” I had started reading Nicholas Terpstra’s book, Religious Refugees in the Early Modern World: An Alternative History of the Reformation.[3]
Terpstra[4] was chairing the roundtable, so I was looking forward to it. Instead of viewing the religious allegiances of nations in a mostly binary fashion (with England as Protestant and Spain as Catholic, etc.), Terpstra acknowledges how war refugees and religious refugees made things more complex.
When I met Terpstra later on Saturday, he said that book began as an effort to tell world history in a way that might appeal to 6th graders in Toronto, Canada, which has a high immigrant population, including refugees. We were chatting in a group of three that included a Jesuit professor from Marquette, where my father had attended two years before being drafted into the Korean war, and where a theologian whose book I had read, influenced by Bernard Lonergan S.J., recently taught. My theology teacher in college had been a student of Lonergan, and, small world, Terpstra’s mother had done some housekeeping for Lonergan.
On Friday, I met another of the excellent participants on the refugee roundtable. When he learned of my work in Shakespeare, he said I should read a new book by Richard Strier.[5]
Later I was in a session where one presenter spoke of similarities between ideas of Erasmus and certain preaching guidelines under Mary I. In the Q&A time, one man in the front row raised his hand and noted that Erasmus stressed tolerance, and preferred preaching on Christian morality over doctrinal hairsplitting, but these important themes seemed to be missing from the presenter’s list of similarities to Erasmus.
He was exactly right. I thought: I would like to meet the person who made that observation.
It was Richard Strier, a generous and delightful man. A few pages from Strier’s new book[6] were helpful and influenced last-minute changes to my Saturday presentation.
These experiences made it an especially memorable conference.
NOTES
[1] https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481314862/the-renaissance-bible/
[2] https://english.ucla.edu/people-faculty/shuger-debora-k/
[3] https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religious-refugees-in-the-early-modern-world/7ABAFA0EBBB6B45D71838DC96966F4AB
[4] https://www.history.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/nicholas-terpstra
[5] https://english.uchicago.edu/people/richard-strier
[6] Shakespearean Issues: Agency, Skepticism, and Other Puzzles
https://www.pennpress.org/9781512823219/shakespearean-issues/
IMAGES: See book links in footnotes 1, 3, and 7, above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.
To find the subscribe button, see the = drop-down menu with three lines in the upper left.
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