> CALL FOR PAPERS
>
> "DAVID IN MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE CULTURE"
>
> THE 18TH BIENNIAL BARNARD COLLEGE MEDIEVAL/RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
>
> SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2002
>
> Sweet singer of Israel and "sacred psalmograph" (as he was sometimes
> called in Renaissance England), King David was also a shepherd and
> lion-slayer; a courtier forced to fight his royal patron; a king chosen by
> God but a man of blood whose sins were scarlet; a father whose lament for
> his rebel son Absolom has moved millions; the friend of his persecutor
> Saul's son, Jonathan, for whom he felt an affection "surpassing the love
> of women"; the lover of Bathsheba who sent her husband into battle to die
> and upon being rebuked by the prophet Nathan lamented in poetry still
> associated with penitence and self-scrutiny; and the Lord's annointed from
> whose house, in Christian story, eventually came the Messiah of whom he
> had been a figure.
>
> David's story and accomplishments, to say nothing of his sins, can be
> found everywhere in Medieval and Renaissance theology, Jewish and
> Christian biblical scholarship, sculpture, painting, glass, illustration,
> music, poetry, and the political mythology created by both monarchs and
> those who flattered or advised them. Translating the psalms was often an
> act of simple piety but often, too, it was an effort to regain David's
> mysterious Orphic powers, to merge one's own voice with his (and
> Christ's), to send a political or theological message, to rival mere pagan
> poets, and to bypass the cultural restrictions that often threatened to
> silence women. Singing the psalms was often an act of worship and joy, but
> also, after the Reformation, an act of defiance and even intimidation. To
> control and shape psalmody was a matter of religious and political
> urgency. And, in our own century, to study David and the psalms is to
> study the dynamic heart of Medieval and Renaissance culture.
>
> Abstracts or proposals for 20-minute papers and/or for whole panels on any
> aspect of David in Medieval and Renaissance culture are welcomed. Please
> send TWO copies of proposals, abstracts, and/or queries to the conference
> co-directors: ONE to Professor Anne Lake Prescott & ONE to Professor
> Paula Loscocco, Department of English, Barnard College, New York, NY
> 10027. Email submissions to both anneprescott@hotmail.com and
> ploscocco@barnard.edu are equally welcome. Deadline: June 1, 2002.
>
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