Just yesterday, The Atlantic published an article by Shannon Chamberlain about fan fiction and sexuality. The article is a smart piece, linking fan fiction practices in the eighteenth century with current pop culture trends. A previous iteration of the article was titled "The Surprising 18th-Century Origins of Fan Fiction," which betrays some of the author's … Continue reading A Response to Shannon Chamberlain on Fan Fiction
I've been thinking for a while about posting my talk from Kalamazoo 2019, and I've finally gotten around to doing that. I was invited to present about my work on apocrypha for a session titled "Old English Homilies I: New Discoveries, New Insight," sponsored by the Dictionary of Old English (DOE) and Electronic Corpus of … Continue reading Preaching Apocrypha in Early England: Historiographic Currents
My book The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Nativity of Mary is now available from Cascade Books! I've written about these texts and my work on them before, and I'd like to take the opportunity of the book's release to talk a bit about translation. I've been interested in both the practice of translation and … Continue reading Translating the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
This week in my graduate seminar (for new MA students), as an introduction to literary criticism and theory, we're reading Erich Auerbach's "Odysseus' Scar," the first chapter of his book Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature (1946; translated into English in 1953). At the same time, I've been working recently on an article engaging … Continue reading Auerbach: Against Nationalism
Almost two years ago I wrote a post about the intertwining of literature and culture. I started composing this post at the same time, but I never published it. I've gone back to it over the past few years, revising and reconsidering it. Finally, it's time for me to publish this. I want to explore an assumption that … Continue reading All Scholarship Is Autobiographical
This morning I was pleasantly elated to discover a fact of the calendar and a trio of celebrations coming together. Today, on May 25, 2017 we get to commemorate three major events simultaneously: Bede's Day, the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, and Ascension Day! This is just a happy coincidence in the way that these celebrations fall in the calendar. … Continue reading Bede, Star Wars, and Ascension Day
[This post is part of an ongoing series, inspired by the upcoming presidential election in the United States, seeking to answer the question: What does the medieval period have to tell us about Christianity and political engagement? For previous posts, see Part 1 and Part 2.] When we think of the medieval period and religion, one of the … Continue reading Medieval Religion and Political Engagement, Part 3: Monasticism
[This post is part of an ongoing series, inspired by the upcoming presidential election in the United States, seeking to answer the question: What does the medieval period have to tell us about Christianity and political engagement? For an introduction to the series, and some general examples, see Part 1; for the next post in the series, … Continue reading Medieval Religion and Political Engagement, Part 2: Biblical Precedents
I recently had a conversation with two of my pastor friends, Andrew and Rick, about the tensions between religion and politics, both in America and across history. A large part of this conversation revolved around the upcoming presidential election in the United States. At one point in the conversation, Andrew posed a question to me about … Continue reading Medieval Religion and Political Engagement, Part 1
Scrolling through my social media feeds this morning, I was reminded that today is #InternationalTalkLikeAPirateDay; and, serendipitously, I'm reading various accounts of Viking ships and sea-battles as I prep for my class on Vikings. When I made the schedule, I didn't realize this happy coincidence, but I am glad for it. This is one of our … Continue reading Viking Ships & Piracy
Brandon W. Hawk 