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
Over the past several years, I’ve become increasingly involved in the long-standing project known as the Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture (SASLC). First, I joined the project as a contributor, working on a series of entries (Pseudo-Bede) that seemed, at the time, untouchable. In 2014, I took on a role to help the project increase … Continue reading Diversifying SASLC
Commemorating events that occurred #OnThisDay (or #OTD) in history has become increasingly popular on social media. This practice can also bring appropriate reminders of how that past intersects with our present. Historical events that occurred around the week of July 18th are particularly linked with acts of violence against Jewish people throughout history. Of course, … Continue reading Anti-Judaism, Histories of Diversity, & the Present
Several months ago the Scholarly Communication Institute (SCI) put out a request for proposals for participation in the 2017 theme "Scholarly Storytelling: Compelling Research for an Engaged Public." I jumped at the chance to bring together medievalists and organized a team who helped me to write a proposal. Our team recently received word that our proposal was accepted, … Continue reading Storytelling for Medievalists: A Proposal
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 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
Recently the following came across my Twitter feed: I do love the idea of applying the Bechdel test to the Bible... https://t.co/aEEKyX7xuK— Kate Cooper (@kateantiquity) April 9, 2016 Intrigued, I read the article and also began wondering what we could gain from thinking about the Bible through the lens of the Bechdel (or Bechdel-Wallace) Test. So … Continue reading Does Judith Pass the Bechdel Test?
In the June 8 issue of The New Yorker, a story appeared by Robyn Creswell (Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Yale) and Bernard Haykel (Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton) about reading the poetry of Muslim extremists (known as ISIS) in order to understand them. The tagline of the article suggests, "Want to understand the jihadis? … Continue reading Literature and Culture: Reflections
Brandon W. Hawk 