Daily Archives: 9 April 2015

Experiences of Charity, 1250-1650, ed. Anne Scott – Out Now!

Dear members, please find below the abstract and flyer for the new collection, Experiences of Charity, 1250-1650, edited by Anne Scott. Congratulations to Anne and all those involved in this excellent collection, including ANZAMEMS members Susan Broomhall, Nicholas Dean Brodie, Dolly MacKinnon, and the late Philippa Maddern.

Experiences of Charity, 1250-1650, ed. Anne M. Scott

For a number of years scholars who are concerned with issues of poverty and the poor have turned away from the study of charity and poor relief, in order to search for a view of the life of the poor from the point of view of the poor themselves. Great studies have been conducted using a variety of records, resulting in seminal works that have enriched our understanding of pauper experiences and the influence and impact of poverty on societies. If we return our gaze to ‘charity’ with the benefit of those studies’ questions, approaches, sources and findings, what might we see differently about how charity was experienced as a concept and in practice, at both community and personal levels?

In this collection, contributors explore the experience of charity towards the poor, considering it in spiritual, intellectual, emotional, personal, social, cultural and material terms. The approach is a comparative one: across different time periods, nations, and faiths. Contributors pay particular attention to the way faith inflected charity in the different national environments of England and France, as Catholicism and Calvinism became outlawed and/or minority faith positions in these respective nations. They ask how different faith and beliefs defined or shaped the act of charity, and explore whether these changed over time even within one faith. The sources used to answer such questions go beyond the textual as contributors analyse a range of additional sources that include the visual, aural, and material.

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Perth Medieval and Renaissance Group Annual General Meeting and Lecture

A CMEMS/PMRG Public Lecture, “A Renaissance Man in his [sixth-century Gaza] Monastery” by Dr Michael Champion (UWA), will follow the PMRG (Perth Medieval and Renaissance Group) Annual General Meeting:

Date: Wednesday 15 April
Time: AGM starts at 6pm, lecture at 6.40pm
Venue: Arts Lecture Room 6 (G.62, Ground Floor, Arts Building, UWA)

All welcome – come to both or just rock up for the lecture! No RSVP required.

The writings of Dorotheus of Gaza illumine life and thought in the monasteries of sixth century Palestine. Together with an extensive set of letters from two holy men in his monastery, they give a picture of the hopes and fears of the monastic community and its interactions with local officials, other religious groups, lay people, sophists and doctors. We catch glimpses of kleptomaniac monks, incipient drunkards, inter-religious friendships, medical practices, and a thriving exchange of commerce and ideas between the city of Gaza and its surrounding monasteries. Dorotheus’ continued use of classical rhetoric and medicine demonstrates close connections between classical and monastic education, and his writings continued to resonate in western monasticism and into early modern humanism. This talk will introduce Dorotheus and Palestinian monasticism, and trace some of its influence.

Sydney Medieval and Renaissance Group Annual General Meeting and Lecture

Sydney Medieval and Renaissance Group Annual General Meeting and Lecture
“The medieval Irish otherworld: a holistic approach to a diverse motif”, Prof. Jonathan Wooding (University of Sydney)

Date: 15 April, 2015
Time: 7:00pm for 7:30pm

Non-members who would like to attend (and possibly join the society) please contact: Luke Kendall (lukekendall@optusnet.com.au) or Dr Lorna Barrow (lorna.barrow@mq.ed.u.au)