"The Body in Medieval Culture," Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

“The Body in Medieval Culture,” Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, 10-11 March 2006. The last fifteen years have produced both some of the best and some of the worst critical approaches to medieval understandings of the body. These range from anachronistic projections of modern constructions of gender and sexuality onto medieval texts to more nuanced studies that take into account both medieval and modern frameworks in assessing the representation, function, and cultural import of the body. This conference, “The Body in Medieval Culture,” will focus on the ways in which conceptions of the body rooted in theological and medical discourses are manifested in the cultural production of the Middle Ages.

Invited plenary speakers include Peter Biller, Dyan Elliott, and Nicholas Watson.

We invite submissions by scholars working in a range of disciplines, including (but not limited to) history, literature, philosophy, religion, history of science, and art history. To facilitate the exchange of ideas across disciplinary boundaries, sessions will be organized in five strands:

1. devotional or theological discourse
2. medical (especially humoural) discourse
3. rhetorical and literary discourse
4. discourses of gender and sexuality
5. civic and political discourse

Please send 250-word abstracts, together with a one-page C.V., to the co-organizers (Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Jill Ross) at bodyconf@chass.utoronto.ca. Abstracts should be received by 20 September 2005.

Jacques Maritain Center at University of Notre Dame

This web site is obvious to those of us here in North America. The Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame is a storehouse of interesting links, including those that point to the Summer Thomistic Institutes that Ralph McInerny has sponsored over the years (with on-line and downloadable copies of fine papers), a recorded interview with Maritain from the 1940’s (MP3 files), and many, many other links (to dissertations directed by McInerny, River Forest [i.e., Dominicans in Chicago] archives, and more).

thomasinternational.org (a web site devoted to Aquinas)

It’s amazing what you’ll find when you hunt around websites that Ralph McInerny of Notre Dame has a role in. In looking through the website for the Jacques Maritain Center at Notre Dame, I discovered that there is an international web site on Thomas’s legal theory, which describes itself as follows:

Thomas International aims at reigniting the classical tradition of philosophy and theology – which is the cultural root of Western civilization – by promoting international scholarship focused especially (though not exclusively) on the thought of Thomas Aquinas. This commitment is not of merely historical interest, but is meant to promote engagement between classical thought and modern and contemporary thought, in all branches of human knowledge, in order to confront the perennial questions of the human heart and to seek solutions to the problems facing our society.

Thomas International is especially committed to promoting a new International University with the main campus in the United States, which will subsequently become the new center for its broad cultural enterprise.

Thomas International fulfills its mission through the joint activity of various Research Institutes, and through scientific collaboration with other universities and educational institutions.

There are also many links, especially to sites in Italy, that touch upon Aquinas.

Fabulous on-line list of medievalia

I just found a great on-line resource of medieval links (to journals, libraries, other websites, etc.). You’ll find it at:

http://www.ulb.ac.be/philo/urhm

which is run by the people at the Free University of Brussels (l’Université Libre de Bruxelles). It’s wonderful. The site also points to a consortium of other medievalist sites, and a portal for medievalists that is as thorough as I have yet seen.

Scotus Commission call for papers for 7th Centenary

This is a bit of a stretch for a Thomistic web site, but:

The Commissio internationalis scotistica is compiling a series of original scholarly articles on the Blessed John Duns Scotus and on the various aspects of the Scotism. The volume is intended to be an early contribution to the 7th centenary of Scotus’ death and also a homage to the memory of father César Saco, who unexpectedly died last February, after being a member of the Commissio scotistica for forty years.

Scholars who wish to participate, are kindly requested to send the proposed title of their article together with their address. On September 2005, we will give further details to those who have adhered to this initiative.

Contact address:

Martín Carbajo Núñez, ofm
Pontificia Università Antonianum
Via Merulana 124 b
00185 Roma (Italia)

E-mail: cnmartin@ofm.org / antonianumfacteol@ofm.org

Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics

I found this link a while back (as an offshoot from Gyula Klima’s fine personal web site), and simply forgot to post it:

The Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics (S.M.L.M.) is a network of scholars founded with the aim of fostering collaboration and research based on the recognition that:

• recovering the profound metaphysical insights of medieval thinkers for our own philosophical thought is highly desirable, and, despite the vast conceptual changes in the intervening period, is still possible;
• but this recovery is only possible if we carefully reflect on the logical framework in which those insights were articulated, given the paradigmatic differences between medieval and modern logical theories.

The Society’s web site is designed to serve the purpose of keeping each other up-to-date on our current projects, sharing recent results, discussing scholarly questions, and organizing meetings.

Medieval Tradition of Natural Law at Kalamazoo

Harvey Brown, in the Deptartment of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario (Canada) is calling for papers for the sessions devoted to the Medieval Tradition of Natural Law at the medievalists’ conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan for next spring (May 4-7, 2006). There will be two sessions:

1. Natural Law and Virtue
2. Natural Law as Ethics in Governance

Please send proposals to Harvey Brown by September 16, 2005 at: hbrown2@uwo.ca.

Proceedings from Dutch-Flemish SITA conference on Aquinas (from Sept. 2004)

The Dutch-Flemish section of the SITA (http://users.skynet.be/thomisme), presided over by Leo J. Elders svd, organized its first conference on September 25, 2004 at the former Abbey of Rolduc (the Netherlands). The topic of the conference was “The actuality of Saint Thomas Aquinas.”

The proceedings of this conference, together with other essays, are now published in the series ‘Doctor Humanitatis.’

This first publication contains 13 essays, written in Dutch, English and German. The president of the International SITA, Abelardo Lobato op, opens the volume with an article on themes of the ‘quaestiones quodlibetales’. The president of the Dutch-Flesmish section, Leo Elders svd, investigates the presence of Plato in the writings of Aquinas. Bonifacio Honings ocd (Rome) shows how the Catechism of the Catholic Church is deeply indebted to Aquinas moral theology. Romanus Cessario op writes about the influence of Aquinas on Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’. The Dutch scholar Jozef Wissink, member of the ‘Thomas Instituut’ in Utrecht, articulates the highly interesting links between the mental state of dementia patients and Aquinas’ theory of knowledge, Victor Ravensloot argues for the validity of hylemorphism, David Berger talks about the actuality of the Tertia Pars of the Summa.

Next, the volume reprints an influential article by the late Dutch Dominican, Johannes van der Ploeg, who died in 2004, on the role of Scripture in Thomistic theology. The doctrine of God is the topic of the essay by Harm Goris, member of the well-known ‘Thomas Instituut’ in Utrecht. The Polish Thomist, Tadeusz Guz, compares the anthropology of Aquinas and Hegel. Jörgen Vijgen, Vice-President of the Dutch-Flemish section, investigates the role of philosophical reasoning in Aquinas’ articulation of the dogma of the resurrection of the body. The volume closes with a critical review of the recent French volume by the so-called ‘School of Toulouse’ on the actuality of Saint-Thomas.

De actualiteit van Sint-Thomas van Aquino, ed. J. Vijgen (Boekenplan, Hoofddorp, 2005), pp. 215 [ISBN 907179491-1] (Doctor Humanitatis I), can be ordered through the publisher’s website: http://www.boekenplan.nl.

The University of Toronto Colloquium in Mediaeval Philosophy 2005

The University of Toronto Colloquium in Mediaeval Philosophy for 2005 will take place from September 23-24, 2005, at the University of St Michael’s College. The colloquium is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, Department of Classics, and Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto; University of St. Michael’s College; Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. Its organizers are: Deborah Black, Peter King, Martin Pickave. All sessions will be held in Alumni Hall, Room 400 (St. Michael’s College, 121 St. Joseph Street). The sessions are free and open to the public.

Friday, 23 September:

4:30 - 6:30 opening remarks

SESSION I: Chair, Jennifer Ashworth (University of Waterloo)

• Scott MacDonald (Cornell University): “Aquinas on Prudence: From Personal Virtue to Natural Law”
• Thomas Williams (University of Southern Florida), commentary

6:30 reception

Saturday, 24 September:

10:00 - 12:00

SESSION II: Chair, Robert Pasnau (University of Colorado, Boulder)

• Richard Cross (Oxford University): “Scotus on Substance and Identity”
• Timothy Noone (Catholic University of America), commentary

lunch break

2:30 - 4:30

SESSION III: Chair, Jack Zupko (Emory University)

• Claude Panaccio (Universite de Quebec a Montreal): “Ockham on Conceptual Similitudes”
• Gyula Klima (Fordham University), commentary

7:00 Conference Dinner (reservation required)

If you plan to attend please let us know: medieval.philosophy@utoronto.ca. Accomodations: The Quality Hotel Midtown (to be rebranded as the Holiday Inn Midtown) in Toronto, located next to the St. George campus, is offering rooms at a reduced rate for the conference if you reserve before August 23rd: call (416)-968-0010, and use the Group ID #102835 or the Group name “Toronto Colloquium in Mediaeval Philosophy”.

A new blog about "Le manuscrit médiéval"

A sign that the end-times are upon us (): Jean Luc Deuffic, of pecia fame, now has a blog devoted to the medieval manuscript. Check it out here. Really, really neat. And packed with links to other resources in medieval textual production and paleography.

3rd annual Midwestern Conference in Medieval Philosophy (Marquette University)

The Third Annual Midwestern Conference in Medieval Philosophy will be held at the Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 16-17 September 2005. The conference is intended to provide a formal occasion and central location for philosophers and scholars of the Midwest region (and elsewhere!) to present and discuss their current work in medieval philosophy. Plans are for 9-10 sessions with 75 minutes allotted for presentation and discussion. If you wish to present, please send a title of the proposed paper to Richard Taylor at richard.taylor@marquette.edu. Conference sessions will take place in the Raynor Library Friday and Saturday 16-17 September, 2005.

Arrangements have been made for a block of 12 reserved rooms just a few blocks down the avenue from Marquette University at:

The Holiday Inn Milwaukee City Center
611 West Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53203. Tel. 1-414-273-2950
Rate: $89/nt. single or double

Reservation deadline: August 15, 2005

Conference Website: http://homepage.mac.com/mistertea/Personal32.html.

Chronical for Higher Education job-listings in RSS

The people in the Careers Section of the Chronicle for Higher Education have made the contents of their job-listings available on-line, which you can access by clicking here. In addition, they’ve also made those listings available in an RSS newsfeed. Here are the addresses for the philosophy newsfeed, and the religion newsfeed:

• Philosophy: http://chronicle.com/jobs/100/500/5000/rss.xml
• Religion: http://chronicle.com/jobs/100/500/6000/rss.xml

You’ll be getting these items one week later, I believe, than those who subscribe to the on-line service or to the Chronicle itelf. But since the due-dates for applications are usually a month or two in the offing, you’re not suffering for it.

Update on 2005-05-31 15:11 by Mark Johnson

As of this writing (May 31, 2005) the RSS link to the Philosophy section is broken. I’ll post a follow-up when it’s working.

Update on 2005-06-01 11:55 by Mark Johnson

Okay, the philosophy RSS feed is now working. Phew.