Sessions of Interest at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 12–15, 2016
/Kalamazoo is upon us!
The 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies runs from May 12–15, 2016, and contains a multitude of papers that may be of interest to scholars engaged in the study of Thomas Aquinas, his predecessors, his contemporaries and the legacy of his thought.
https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress
Of special note is Denys Turner speaking on translating medieval philosophy in Session 439 on Saturday at 3:30, and the hands-on introduction to the Arabic Astrolabe on Friday at 9:30 in Valley III, Stinson Lounge, with a free astrolabe to the first fifty participants. The astrolabe presentation will likely be a standing-room only affair, so make sure to get there VERY early if you would like your own astrolabe.
The sessions of the Thomas Aquinas Society on Friday and the Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas on Saturday are down in Valley I this year, down the wooded path and away from the book-displays and cafeteria, so be prepared to do more walking than our usual Valley II location required.
Sadly, there seems to be no mead-tasting event on Saturday afternoon; perhaps next year.
Here is a selection of sessions that may be of particular interest to readers of this site:
Thursday- 10:00
Session 7- Valley I, Ackley 106
The Medieval Tradition of Natural Law I
Organizer: Harvey Brown, Western Univ.
Presider: Harvey Brown
- Tierney, Ockham, and the Ideological Context of the Discourse on Natural Rights
Takashi Shogimen, Univ. of Otago
- Making Sense of “Indifference”: A Puzzle in Tierney’s Account of Permissive Natural Law
Paul J. Cornish, Grand Valley State Univ.
- Permission and Liberty: The Ambiguity
Richard Friedman, Independent Scholar
- Francisco Suarez and Permissive Natural Law
Toy-Fung Tung, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
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Session 8- Valley I, Shilling Lounge
From Physics to Metaphysics: Change and Causation in Medieval Philosophy
Sponsor: Center for Medieval Philosophy, Georgetown Univ.
Organizer: Robert Joseph Matava, Christendom College, Graduate School of
Theology
Presider: Therese Scarpelli Cory, Univ. of Notre Dame
- William Ockham on Divine Power and Possibility
Joshua Blander, King’s College
- Peter of Palude on Secondary Causes and Divine Concurrence
Zita Tóth, Fordham Univ.
- Epistemic Conditions on Causal Agency
Sydney Penner, Asbury Univ.
Thursday- 1:30
Session 62- Fetzer 2020
Dante II: Philosophical Questions
Sponsor: Dante Society of America
Organizer: Alison Cornish, Univ. of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Presider: Albert Russel, Univ. of California–Berkeley
- “Il mal seme d’Adamo”: Soul, Body, and Original Sin in Dante
Dana E. Stewart, Binghamton Univ.
- Curiosity and the Excess of Prudence
Gabriel Pihas, St. Mary’s College of California
- The Piccarda Donati Thought Experiment: Dante’s Self-Forming Absolute Will
Humberto Ballestero, Columbia Univ.
- Heresy and Faith as Matters of Praxis rather than Belief in the Divine Comedy
Jason Aleksander, St. Xavier Univ.
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Session 92- Sangren 1730
Teaching Arabic Sources in Translation (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: TEAMS (The Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages)
Organizer: Sally Hany Abed, Univ. of Utah; Doaa Omran, Univ. of New Mexico;
Thomas A. Goodmann, Univ. of Miami
Presider: Sahar Ishtiaque Ullah, Columbia Univ.
- Teaching the Quran in the Ancient World Literature Class
Doaa Omran
- Teaching Averroes’s “Decisive Treatise” in a Freshman Sequence
Coeli Fitzpatrick, Grand Valley State Univ.
- Teaching Tales of the Marvelousin the Writing Classroom: A Rhetorical Approach
Maha Baddar, Pima Community College
- Teaching the Arabian Nights : A Living Tradition
Sally Hany Abed
- Muslim Travelers and Muslim Migrants: Ibn Battuta’s World Today
Margaret Aziza Pappano, Queen’s Univ. Kingston
- Teaching Arabic/Islamic Philosophy: Using Arabic-English and Latin-English Translations to Put Another Nail in the Coffin of “Orientalism”
Richard C. Taylor, Marquette Univ.
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Session 94- Sangren 1750
The Scientific Works of Robert Grosseteste
Sponsor: Ordered Universe Research Project
Organizer: Giles E. M. Gasper, Durham Univ.
Presider: Nicholas Everett, Univ. of Toronto
- “But first: are you experienced?”: Robert Grosseteste’s Experiential Epistemology
Sigbjørn Olsen Sønnesyn, Durham Univ.
- Robert Grosseteste: Heir to the Severn Valley Mathematical School
Kathy Bader, Durham Univ.
- Science and Arts: Robert Grosseteste on the Liberal Arts
Giles E. M. Gasper
Thursday- 3:30
Session 102- Valley I, Ackley 105
Wisdom Literature
Sponsor: Society for the Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (SSBMA)
Organizer: Aaron Canty, St. Xavier Univ.
Presider: James M. Matenaer, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
- Vanity in Bonaventure’s Commentary on Ecclesiastes
Aaron Canty
- Scientia secundum Pietatem : Albert the Great on the Book of Job and the Nature of Theology
Franklin T. Harkins, Boston College
- Robert Holcot, O.P., and Fourteenth-Century Skepticism: Evidence from His Commentaries on Wisdom and Ben Sira
Kimberly Georgedes, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
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Session 104- Valley I, Shilling Lounge
Matthew A. Tapie, Aquinas on Israel and the Church(A Panel Discussion)
Sponsor: Academy of Jewish-Christian Studies
Organizer: Lawrence E. Frizzell, Seton Hall Univ.
Presider: Lawrence E. Frizzell
- Reflection: Aquinas on Israel and the Church
Matthew Levering, Univ. of St. Mary of the Lake
- Medieval Franciscan Perspectives on Israel and the Church
Steven J. McMichael, OFM Conv., Univ. of St. Thomas, Minnesota
- Response: Matthew A. Tapie, St. Leo Univ.
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Session 118- Schneider 1160
Franciscan Theology: The Implications of a Good Creation
Organizer: Richard A. Nicholas, Univ. of St. Francis, Joliet
Presider: Andrew Salzmann, Benedictine College
- The Similitude of All Things: Halensian Incarnational Anthropology and Soteriology
Ty Monroe, Boston College
- The Role of the Good Creation and New Covenant in the Eucharistic Thought of Saint Francis
Richard A. Nicholas
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Session 122- Schneider 1245
Nicholas of Cusa’s Theology of the Word
Sponsor: American Cusanus Society
Organizer: Peter J. Casarella, Univ. of Notre Dame
Presider: Donald F. Duclow, Gwynedd-Mercy Univ.
- Nature and Art in the Cusan Conception of the Word
José González Ríos, Univ. de Buenos Aires
- Logos-Verbum : The Word in Nicholas of Cusa and Gadamer
Michael Edward Moore, Univ. of Iowa
- A Dialogical Theology of the Word: Nicholas of Cusa’s Idiota de sapientia
Peter J. Casarella
Thursday- 7:30
Session 151- Valley I, Shilling Lounge
Classical Philosophy in the Lands of Islam and Its Influence (A Workshop)
Sponsor: Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’ International Working Group
Organizer: Richard C. Taylor, Marquette Univ./DeWulf Mansion Centre, KU Leuven
Presider: Richard C. Taylor
- The Comparison of al-Kindi’s and al-Farabi’s Metaphysics: Similarities and Differences
Cevher Sulul, Harran Univ.
- Are We Certain We Are Virtuous? Al-Farabi on First Principles and Demonstration within Ethics
Nicholas Oschman, Marquette Univ.
- God as the Necessary Being in Avicenna and Aquinas
Jacob Andrews, Loyola Univ. Chicago
Friday- 10:00
Session 178- Valley I, Ackley 106
Thomas Aquinas I
Sponsor: Thomas Aquinas Society
Organizer: John F. Boyle, Univ. of St. Thomas, Minnesota
Presider: Paul Gondreau, Providence College
- Aquinas’s Comic Cosmos: Goodness, Happiness, and Luck
Maria Devlin, Harvard Univ.
- How Theology Judges the Principles of Other Sciences
Gregory F. LaNave, Dominican House of Studies
- “And We Will Make Our Home with Him”: Saint Thomas Aquinas on the Invisible Missions and the Action of the Trinity in the Economy
Katie Froula, Ave Maria Univ.
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Session 202- Schneider 1275
De lingua Latina vivente in studiis mediaevalibus huius temporis (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study; Pontifical Academy Latinitas
Organizer: Jason Pedicone, Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study
Presider: Daniel B. Gallagher, Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study
- A roundtable discussion with Nancy Llewellyn, Wyoming Catholic College; Diane Warne Anderson, Univ. of Massachusetts–Boston; and Alexander Andrée, Univ. of Toronto.
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Session 222- Bernhard 212
Hylomorphism and Mereology
Sponsor: Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics
Organizer: Alexander W. Hall, Clayton State Univ.
Presider: Alexander W. Hall
- Boethius of Dacia on the Differentiae and the Unity of Definitions
Rodrigo Guerizoli, Univ. Federal do Rio de Janeiro
- What Has Aquinas Got against Platonic Forms?
Turner C. Nevitt, Univ. of San Diego
- Mereological Hylomorphism and the Development of the Buridanian Account of Formal Consequence
Jacob Archambault, Fordham Univ.
Friday- 1:30
Session 231- Valley I, Shilling Lounge
Thomas Aquinas II
Sponsor: Thomas Aquinas Society
Organizer: John F. Boyle, Univ. of St. Thomas, Minnesota
Presider: Paul Jerome Keller, OP, Athenaeum of Ohio
- Saint Thomas on the Subtlety and Spirituality of the Glorified Body
Christopher M. Brown, Univ. of Tennessee–Martin
- Verbumas a Proper Name of the Son in Saint Thomas Aquinas
David Liberto, Notre Dame Seminary
- The Faith of Doctoresin the Thirteeenth Century: Hugh of Saint-Cher, Thomas Aquinas, and the Vocation of the Lay Theologian
Jacob W. Wood, Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville
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Session 234- Fetzer 1040
The Teachings of Bernard of Clairvaux
Sponsor: Center for Cistercian and Monastic Studies, Western Michigan Univ.
Organizer: Susan M. B. Steuer, Western Michigan Univ.
Presider: Elias Dietz, OCSO, Abbey of Gethsemani
- Bernard of Clairvaux and the Three Stages of Charity
Margaret Blume, Univ. of Notre Dame
- The Beginning of All Sin Is Curiosity: The Pivotal Role of Curiositas in Bernard of Clairvaux’s Overarching Vision of the Spiritual Life
James Upton DeFrancis, Jr., Christendom College
- “Diversa sed Non Adversa”: Saint Bernard’s Christological Development of Image and Likeness from On Grace and Free Choiceto the Sermons on the Song of Songs
Jonathan M. Kaltenbach, Univ. of Notre Dame
- Bernard of Clairvaux: Scientia Inflans and Its History
Marvin Döbler, Ev.-luth. Landeskirche Hannovers
Friday- 3:30
Session 284- Valley I, Ackley 106
The Abbey of Saint-Victor: Theology in Summae , Sequences, and Sermons
Organizer: Grover A. Zinn, Jr., Oberlin College
Presider: Grover A. Zinn, Jr.
- The Mutation of Hugh of Saint-Victor’s On the Sacramentsand the Nascence of Peter Lombard’s Sentences
Robert J. Porwoll, Univ. of Chicago
- Human Love an Echo of the Divine: Adam of Saint-Victor on Christian Love
Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ, Aquinas Institute of Theology
- A Most Useful Spirit: “Utilitas” as a Pneumatological Attribute in the Theology of Achard of Saint-Victor
Nicole Reibe, Boston College
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Session 285- Valley I- Shilling Lounge
Thomas Aquinas III
Sponsor: Thomas Aquinas Society
Organizer: John F. Boyle, Univ. of St. Thomas, Minnesota
Presider: Robert J. Barry, Providence College
- Saint Thomas’s Understanding of the Role of Christ in the Moral Life
Jeffrey Froula, Ave Maria Univ.
- Three Kinds of Opposition of Good and Evil in De malo
Jordan M. Blank, Catholic Univ. of America
- Eye Has Not Seen: Aquinas’s Use of 1 Corinthians 2:9 in Relation to Nature and Grace
Daniel M. Garland, Jr., Christendom College
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Session 312- Schneider 1330
“Antitheta quae sententiae pulchritudinem faciunt” (Isidore): Contrasts in Medieval Texts and Images
Sponsor: Dept. of Medieval Studies, Central European Univ.
Organizer: Gerhard Jaritz, Central European Univ.
Presider: Gerhard Jaritz
- “Imagines in Ecclesiis”: Bonaventure’s Defense of Sculpture in Thirteenth- Century France
Brandon L. Cook, Univ. of Notre Dame
- “Sub Una, Sub Utraque”: Contrasting Visions of Religious Communities in Post-Hussite Bohemia
Katerina Hornickova, Univ. Wien
- Negotiating Female Chastity: Self-Fashioning In Late Medieval German Cosmographies
Irina Savinetskaya, Independent Scholar
- Contrasting Images from the Edges of the World: Eastern European Lands in the Fifteenth to the First Half of the Sixteenth
Alena Kliuchnik, Central European Univ.
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Session 320- Bernhard 204
The Medieval Franciscans and the Virgin Mary
Sponsor: Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure Univ.
Organizer: Steven J. McMichael, OFM Conv., Univ. of St. Thomas, Minnesota
Presider: Steven J. McMichael, OFM Conv.
- Saint Francis of Assisi: The Model for Bonaventure’s Meditation on Spiritual Motherhood
Yongho Francis Lee, Univ. of Notre Dame
- Reflecting on Mary: Pietro Lorenzetti’s Madonna dei Tramonti (Madonna of the Sunsets) in the Lower Church, San Francesco (Assisi)
Darrelyn Gunzburg, Univ. of Wales Trinity St. David
- Francis Mayron and the Immaculate Conception: Sources, Context, and Doctrine
Christiaan W. Kappes, SS. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Friday- 9:30 p.m.
Valley III , Stinson Lounge
A Hands-On Introduction to Islamic Astrolabes(A Workshop)
Organizer: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State Univ.
Presider: Kristine Larsen
A hands-on workshop on the basic parts and usage of an Islamic astrolabe, including how to calculate the times of prayer and estimate the direction of Mecca from a given location. Each of the first fifty attendees will receive a free cardboard astrolabe and instruction sheet.
Saturday- 10:00
Session 339- Valley I, Shilling Lounge
Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas I: Gifts, Councils, and Virtues
Sponsor: Center for Thomistic Studies, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
Organizer: Steven J. Jensen, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
Presider: Steven J. Jensen
- The Gift of Counsel: A Key to Moral Theology
Eric M. Johnston, Seton Hall Univ.
- How Faith Perfects Prudence: The Importance of the Gift of Counsel and Why Aquinas Devoted a Very Long Section of the Summa of Theology to the Judicial Precepts of the Old Law
Randall B. Smith, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
- To Become Poor: Saint Thomas on the Virtue of Poverty
Anne Frances Ai Le, OP, St. Mark’s and Corpus Christi Colleges
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Session 357- Schneider 1160
Medieval Franciscan Women as Theologians
Sponsor: Women in the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition (WIFIT)
Organizer: Diane Tomkinson, OSF, Neumann Univ.
Presider: Diane Tomkinson, OSF
- Women with Ordinary Faith: Writing the History of Secular Franciscans from Sparcely Documented Lives
Darleen Pryds, Franciscan School of Theology
- “Pregnant with God”: Creation and the Natural World in Angela of Foligno’s Theology
Joy A. Schroeder, Trinity Lutheran Seminary/Capital Univ.
- Caritas Pirckheimer: Freedom of Conscience
Pacelli Millane, OSC, Women in the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition
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Session 366- Schneider 1325
Theology and Literature in Medieval Asia Minor, Central and South Eastern Europe
Sponsor: Romanian Institute of Orthodox Theology and Spirituality of New York
Organizer: Theodor Damian, Metropolitan College of New York
Presider: Daniela Anghel, Romanian Institute of Orthodox Theology and
Spirituality
- De Hominis Dignitatein Gregory of Nazianzus’s Poetry
Theodor Damian
- The History and Transmission of “On Watchfulness and Holiness” by Hesychius of Sinai: A Reappraisal
Daniel VanderKolk, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
- “He who pays attention to them is illumined”: Peter of Damaskos, Repetition, and Lectio Divina
Nathan John Haydon, Univ. of Arkansas–Fayetteville
- Nilus of Ancyra on the Song of Songs: A Link in the Catena
Clair W. McPherson, General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church
Saturday- 1:30
Session 392- Valley I, Shilling Lounge
Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas II: Man in the Universe
Sponsor: Center for Thomistic Studies, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
Organizer: Steven J. Jensen, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
Presider: R. Edward Houser, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
- The Three Universes of Saint Thomas Aquinas
John G. Brungardt, Catholic Univ. of America
- Being and Time in Thomistic Metaphysics: On an Exchange between Lawrence Dewan and Joseph Owens
Kevin White, Catholic Univ. of America
- Aquinas and the Identity of Intellect and Intelligibles
Therese Scarpelli Cory, Univ. of Notre Dame
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Session 418- Schneider 1320
Hildegard von Bingen: Bridges to Infinity
Sponsor: International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies
Organizer: Pozzi Escot, New England Conservatory
Presider: Conrad Herold, Hofstra Univ.
- Hildegard von Bingen’s Concept of Truth compared to Saint Augustine’s Analysis of the Nature of Truth
Bern Manoushagian, Pers Press
- What Is the Soul of a Man
Alice Gebura, Independent Scholar
- Hildegard’s Paintings Today
Francesca Ulivi, Independent Scholar
- Body as Bridge/Body as Barrier: Subjectivity and Metaphor in Hildegard’s Scivias
Abigail Owen, Univ. of Toronto
- Sacred Geometry: The Visions of Hildegard von Bingen, from Liber divinorum operum, compared with Native American Indian Spirituality
Gwendolyn Morgan, Le Moyne College
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Session 421- Schneider 1335
Issues in Metaphysics, Logic, and Epistemology in Medieval Philosophy
Sponsor: Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy
Organizer: Jason Aleksander, St. Xavier Univ.
Presider: Jason Aleksander
- Aquinas on Secondary Causation
Julie Swanstrom, Armstrong State Univ.
- Analogy Problems in Primitive Thomism: The Solutions of Hervaeus Natalis and Thomas Sutton
Domenic D’Ettore, Marian Univ.
- The Third Mode of Equivocation in Ockham’s Mental Language
Milo Crimi, Univ. of California–Los Angeles
Saturday- 3:30
Session 439- Valley III, Stinson 303
Medieval Translation Theory and Practice II (A Practicum)
Organizer: Jeanette Beer, Univ. of Oxford
Presider: Jeanette Beer
- Translating the Icelandic Sagas
Arni Blandon Einarsson, Fjölbrautaskóli Su›urlands
- Translating the Roman de Troie
Maud Burnett McInerney, Haverford College
- Translating Medieval Philosophy
Denys Turner, Yale Univ.
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Session 443- Valley I, Hadley 102
Augustine on the Body: Metaphysical, Biblical, and Empirical Approaches
Organizer: Marianne Djuth, Canisius College
Presider: Marianne Djuth
- “An Obedient Servant to Some People . . . beyond the Normal Limitations of Nature” (De civ. dei14.24): Augustine and the Extreme Body
Nancy Weatherwax, Western Michigan Univ.
- Two Images of God: Augustine on Male/Female Equality in Human Substance
Robert N. Parks, Univ. of Dayton
- Augustine’s S.O.S.
Thomas Losoncy, Villanova Univ.
- Augustine’s Early Understanding of the Body
Thomas Clemmons, Univ. of Notre Dame
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Session 445- Valley I, Shilling Lounge
Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas III: Love and the Good
Sponsor: Center for Thomistic Studies, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
Organizer: Steven J. Jensen, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
Presider: Mary Catherine Sommers, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
- The Objective Relativity of Goodness: A Rapprochement between Peter Geach and Thomas Aquinas
Catherine Peters, Univ. of St. Thomas, Houston
- Avital Wohlman and the Existence of Love of Friendship at the Sub-rational Level
Jordan Olver, St. Thomas More College
- Does Taste Matter for Thomists?
Margaret I. Hughes, College of Mount St. Vincent
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Session 474- Schneider 1335
Perspectives on Reason, Revelation, Beatific Vision, and Apophatic Experience in Medieval Philosophy
Sponsor: Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy
Organizer: Jason Aleksander, St. Xavier Univ.
Presider: Donald F. Duclow, Gwynedd-Mercy Univ.
- Reason and Revelation in Three Traditions in the Middle Ages: “Sense” versus “Value”
Robert J. Dobie, La Salle Univ.
- Aquinas on the Relationship between the Vision and Delight in Perfect Happiness
Joseph Stenberg, Univ. of Colorado–Boulder, Karrer Travel Award Winner
- Feminine Apophasis of “Knowing” in Marguerite Porete’s The Mirror of Simple Souls
Anne Spear, Univ. of Mississippi
Sunday- 8:30
Session 493- Valley II, LeFevre Lounge
The Medieval Reception of Augustine of Hippo I
Organizer: Thomas Clemmons, Univ. of Notre Dame
Presider: Thomas Clemmons
- The Quality of Mercy: Gregory the Great’s Development of Augustine on Mercy’s Likeness to God
Jordan Wales, Hillsdale College
- A Tale of Two Readers: Multiple Augustines in a Single Carolingian Manuscript
J. David Schlosser, Lee Univ.
- The Reception of Augustine of Hippo on Holy Violence during the Investiture Contest by Anselm II of Lucca and Bonizo of Sutri
John A. Dempsey, Westfield State Univ.
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Session 519- Bernhard 211
Science, Nature, and Scholarship in the Early Middle Ages
Sponsor: Dept. of Theology and Religion, Durham Univ.
Organizer: Helen Foxhall Forbes, Durham Univ.
Presider: Guy Halsall, Univ. of York
- Thunderbolts and Lightning Really Aren’t That Frightening: Reporting the Weather in Carolingian Annals
Julie A. Hofmann, Shenandoah Univ.
- Thinking about Theology and Science in the Insular World
Helen Foxhall Forbes
- Fractions of Sound: The Philosophical and Practical Function of Duodecimal Fractions, as Witnessed by a Mathematical Fragment from Twelfth-Century Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland
Mary Kelly, Univ. College Dublin
Sunday- 10:30
Session 521- Valley II, LeFevre Lounge
The Medieval Reception of Augustine of Hippo II
Organizer: Thomas Clemmons, Univ. of Notre Dame
Presider: Michael S. Hahn, Univ. of Notre Dame
- Augustine and Anselm on Necessity and Ontological Arguments
Michael Vendsel, Tarrant County College
- Illuminating Abstraction: Bonaventure’s Reception of Augustinian Epistemology
Benjamin P. Winter, St. Louis Univ.
- Augustinian Influence in Meister Eckhart’s German Sermons: The Word and the Image in the Soul
Breanna Nickel, Univ. of Notre Dame
