International Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Thought
"A celebration of all things medieval and renaissance."
Thursday, April 4th
THURSDAY AFTERNOON
3:00-6:30 pm: Registration will begin in the lobby of the University Hotel, University Campus. (Attendees may pick up registration packets and other conference essentials.)
Pre-Conference Excursions:
1:00-5:00 pm: Rare Books Excursion, Thomason Room, Fourth Floor, Newton Gresham Library, University Campus (N. B. : The special collections librarians have graciously assembled a number of volumes to be on display for your viewing pleasure during Thursday and Friday of the Conference.)
1:00-4:30 pm: Sam Houston Memorial Museum excursion, Sam Houston Avenue
THURSDAY EVENING: 6:30-7:30 pm
Soirée, Austin Hall, University Campus
THURSDAY EVENING: 7:45-9:00 pm
Concert of Medieval and Renaissance Harp by Guest Artists Dr. Cheryl Fulton and Ms. Theresa Honey, Peabody Library, University Campus
Friday, April 5th
FRIDAY MORNING: 8:30-9:30 am, Walker Education Center (Lone Star Auditorium)
Opening Remarks: Dr. Jamie Hebert, Provost, Academic Affairs, Sam Houston State University
Keynote address: Professor Richard North: “Giving Them the Steer: Literature versus History in the World of 'Old and Middle'”
FRIDAY MORNING SESSION A: 9:45-11:00 am, Walker Education Center
I. Lone Star Auditorium: Linguistic Concerns
Chair: Dr. Kimberly Bell, Sam Houston State University
James Frankki, “The Heavener Rune Stone Revisited: Did Scandinavian Explorers Visit Oklahoma in the 8th Century?” Sam Houston State University.
John Thornburg, “The Case of Kennings: Beowulf, Aristotle, and Case Grammar,” San Jacinto College.
Helena Halmari, “Codeswitching in a Late Medieval Sermon Collection,” Sam Houston State University.
II. Governor Houston Room: Historical, Religious, and Epistemological Concerns
Chair: Dr. Terry Bilhartz, Sam Houston State University
David J. Davis, “Godly Knowledge: Platonism, Alchemy, and Religious Epistemology in England, 1530-1640,” Houston Baptist University.
James Early, “Theodore of Tarsus: The Syrian Archbishop of Canterbury,” Sam Houston State University.
Maria Margarita Tascón González, “The Strength of Queen Isabella the Catholic: The Power, Knowledge and Leadership of an Accomplished Monarch,” Universidad de León.
III. General Houston Room: Women in the Middle Ages & Renaissance
Chair: Dr. Genevieve Brown, Sam Houston State University
Suanna Davis, “Women’s Roles in Early Medieval Literature: Defining and Limiting by Text,” Abilene Christian University.
Anne Babson, “’Un Nouvel Royaume de Femenie’: Christine de Pizan’s Construction of a Kingdom Come for Women,” University of Mississippi.
Katherine Echols, “Old Angels, Wasted and Spent: Representations of the Wanton Widow in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Popular Culture and ‘The Boke of Mayd Emlyn,’” University of Houston.
FRIDAY MORNING SESSION B: 11:15-12:30 pm, Walker Education Center
IV. General Houston Room: Philosophy and Life from Classical Rome to the Middle Ages
Chair: Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, University of the Incarnate Word
Cayla Clinkenbeard, “The Noblest Roman’s Death: Brutus’s Justification for Suicide,” Angelo State University.
Joshua Farris, “What is Augustine’s View of the Human Soul?” University of Bristol.
Brian Harding, “The Philosophical Life in Boethius of Dacia’s de Summo Bono,” Texas Woman’s University.
V. Governor Houston Room: Explorations in Dante’s Great Poem
Chair: Dr. Douglas Krienke, Sam Houston State University
Mith Barnes, “A Theology of Eating in The Divine Comedy,” Bellarmine University.
Romana Cortese, “Dante’s Tree of Life: Argument and Image in The Divine Comedy,” Lone Star College.
Kevin West, “Dante and Orpheus: Ovidian Intertext in Inferno 5,” Stephen F. Austin State University.
VI. Lone Star Auditorium: Theoretical Approaches to Renaissance Music and Architecture
Chair: Dr. Wayne Barrett, Sam Houston State University
Jamie Weaver, “The Persuasive Difference: Acknowledging Diversity in Rhetorical Approaches to Music of the 16th Century,” Stephen F. Austin State University.
Elizabeth Nogan Ranieri, “The Central Plan, the Architectural Treatise and Leonardo,” University of Texas at Dallas.
Benjamin Dobbs, “Understanding the Origins of Musica poetica in the Sixteenth Century,” University of North Texas.
Lunch: 12:30-1:30 pm - (Box lunch graciously provided by Old Main Market, Sam Houston State University—Enjoy a picnic in the park and walk over to the Evans Complex for the afternoon sessions.)
Surprise event for all conference attendees: 1:30 pm N. B. - To experience this event, everyone should be seated in Evans Auditorium
(room 105) by 1:30 pm
FRIDAY AFTERNOON SESSION C: Workshops 1:50-2:50 pm, Evans Complex
VII. Evans Complex, Room 212
Chair: Dr. Ralph Norris, Sam Houston State University
Robert Adams, “A Demonstration of the Research Capabilities of the Piers Plowman Electronic Archive, Using MS Rawlinson Poetry 38 for Examples,” Sam Houston State University.
VIII. Evans Auditorium, Room 105
Chair: Dr. Maria Botero, Sam Houston State University
David Schmitt, “Medieval Philosophy to the Rescue: a Thomistic Neuroscience & the Mind-Brain Opportunity,” Independent Scholar. Independent Scholar
FRIDAY AFTERNOON SESSION D: 3:00-4:15 pm, Evans Complex
IX. Evans Auditorium: Essays in Philosophical Theology
Chair: Carol Gardosik, Sam Houston State University
John Boyer, “Eternal God Divinity: Atemporality in Thomas Aquinas,” University of St. Thomas.
Phuc Luu, “Traversing the Difficulties: An Explanation of Aquinas’s Fourth Way,” Sam Houston State University.
John Skalko, “Avicenna’s Argument Against Infinite Regress as Step in Proving the Existence of God: Is it Successful?” University of St. Thomas.
X. Evans Complex, Room 417: Issues in Medieval Literature and Culture
Chair: Dr. Ralph Norris, Sam Houston State University
Tara Sewell, “Common Misconceptions of the Medieval Period in Modern Popular Culture,” Texas A&M University.
Ron Heckelman, “’Promyse is Dette’: The Subversive Rhetoric of Promising and Death in ‘Everyman’ and Medieval Religious Drama,” Lone Star College.
Kimberly Bell, “Playing the Wheel of Fortune in Somer Soneday: Serious Fun,” Sam Houston State University.
XI. Evans Complex, Room 251: Heroism and Milton’s Great Poem
Chair: Dr. Ralph Pease, Sam Houston State University
Timothy Ponce, “The Heroic Struggle: Classical and Christian Heroism in Paradise Lost,” Sam Houston State University.
Christopher Marek, “Satan as Calvinist Tragic Hero in Paradise Lost,” Sam Houston State University.
Matthew Bennett, “Teaching Paradise Lost: Let’s Be Honest,” Sam Houston State University.
Shakespeare Film I: Hosted by Dr. Ralph Pease - 4:30 pm, Evans Auditorium, Room 105
“Throne of Blood,” Japan, 1957, is Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation into a visually stunning version of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
Banquet: 7:00 pm, Walker Education Center, President Houston Room
Opening remarks: Dr. John de Castro, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sam Houston State University
Professor Richard North, Keynote speaker: “Medieval Stand-up: Postprandial Divagations on the Art of Knowledge Transfer”
Shakespeare Film II: Hosted by Dr. Ralph Pease - 9:15 pm, Evans Auditorium, Room 105
“King Lear,” Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy with England’s greatest actor, Laurence Olivier.
Saturday, April 6th
SATURDAY MORNING SESSION E: 8:30-10:00 am, Walker Education Center
XII. Governor Houston Room: Issues in Renaissance Drama and Epic
Chair: Dr. Diane Dowdey, Sam Houston State University
Rochelle Bradley, “Wiping ‘the table of [his] memory’: The Conflict of Memory and Will in Hamlet,” Blinn College.
Matt Brumit, “The Inheritance Plot of Jonson’s Volpone,” University of Dallas.
Alexandra Hopkins, “Romeo and Juliet’s Quarto 1 and Implications of Suicide in 3.3,” Angelo State University.
Katelyn Quinley, “Distortions of Chastity in the House of Busyrane,” Loyola Marymount University.
XIII. General Houston Room: Explorations in Renaissance Literature
Chair: Dr. Erin Ashworth-King, San Angelo State University
Amanda Fowler, ‘“Soul Exhaled’: Anxiety of the Soul in Donne’s ‘Valediction,”’
Angelo State University.
Matthew Elrod, “Milton’s Precursors and Epic Contribution,” Sam Houston State University.
Edward Plough, “Titus Andronicus Underwater,” Mississippi Delta State University.
Reuben Sanchez, “’The Sad Prophet Jeremiah’ as an Icon of Renaissance Melancholy,” Sam Houston State University.
XIV. Lone Star Auditorium: Issues in French Law and Literature
Chair: Rebecca Cobo, Sam Houston State University
Bernard Ribémont, “Compiling and Writing a Legal Treatise in French: The Livre de justice et de plet,” Université d’Orléans.
Rosalind Brown-Grant, “Visualizing the Law in Literature: The Case of Burgundian Prose Romance,” University of Leeds.
Bruno Méniel, “Tragedy as Conflict of Rights: The Case of Robert Garnier’s Antigone,” Université de Rennes.
Myriam White-Le Goff, “Le Roman de Silence by Heldris de Cornouailles: Speech, Truth and Beauty,” Université d’Orléans.
SATURDAY MORNING SESSION F: 10:10-11:25 am, Walker Education Center
XV. Lone Star Auditorium: Medieval Festivals, Saints in Art and Liturgical Dance
Chair: Patrick Lawler, Sam Houston State University
Martha Ann Kirk, “The Feast of Fools: Putting Down the Mighty and Raising Up the Lowly,” University of the Incarnate Word.
Donna LaRue, “Theatrical and Musical Forms of Thought: Their Recension and Reception in Certain Liturgical Documents,” Independent Scholar.
Katharine Scherff, “Saint Quiteria: Virgin and Martyr,” University of Texas at San Antonio.
XVI. Governor Houston Room: Reflections on Milton and Marlowe
Chair: Dr. Reuben Sanchez, Sam Houston State University
Leann Fischel, “The Devil Within: The Psychology of Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost,” Sam Houston State University.
Jennifer Gauntt, “Rereading Culture: Revisiting the Depiction of Barabas in Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta,” Sam Houston State University.
Margaret Sellers, “Paradise Lost: Milton’s Compromise in the Spirit of Individualism,” Sam Houston State University.
XVII. General Houston Room: Explorations in the Viking Age
Chair: Dr. James Frankki, Sam Houston State University
Clinton Hale, “Anglo-Saxon Christianity: Militant and Violent,” Blinn College.
Justin Vance Tyree, “The Malleable Viking: Life Between the Raids,” Sam Houston State University.
Edward Thomas, “What Europe’s Renaissance Owed to Islamic Civilization: The Case of Astronomy,” Institute of Medieval and Post-Medieval Studies.
Lunch: 11:30-12:30 pm - Walk a hundred paces and experience a gourmet picnic for only $10, specially prepared for conference attendees by Huntsville’s premiere restaurant, The Homestead on 19th. You may pay for your Saturday picnic at the Registration table.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON SESSION G: 12:30-1:45 pm, Walker Education Center
XVIII. Governor Houston Room: Enduring Issues in Philosophy
Chair: Dr. Diana Buccafurni-Huber, Sam Houston State University
Daniel DeHaan, “The Priority of Necessary and Possible Existence: Avicenna’s Innovation on Aristotelian Act and Potency,” University of St. Thomas.
Lucian López, “Retribution Miracles of Late Antique Gaul and the Metaphysics of Transference,” St. John’s Abbey and School of Theology.
John Macias, “John Finnis and the Political Community,” University of St. Thomas.
XIX. Lone Star Auditorium: Instrumental Music of the Renaissance
Chair: Dr. Sheryl Murphy-Manley, Sam Houston State University
Brendan Kinsella, “The Hopeless Romantic: Girolamo Frescobaldi’s (1583-1643) Keyboard Toccatas and the Music of the Future,” University of Texas - Pan American.
John Romey, “The French Renaissance Viol Consort: Reevaluating the Sources and Reclaiming the Music,” Case Western Reserve University.
Nico Schűler, “Cornelia Schroder-Auerbach (1900-1997) and Her Contributions to Early Music Research and to Historical Performance Practice,” Texas State University.
XX. General Houston Room: The Body in Renaissance Drama
Chair: Dr. Diane Dowdey, Sam Houston State University
Audrey Murfin, ‘“Let not Your Sorrow Die, though I am Dead’: Corpse as Commodity in Titus Andronicus,” Sam Houston State University.
Ashlie Contos, “Dispossession of Language and Sense: Interrogation of Women in Titus Andronicus and King Lear,” University of Texas at Tyler.
Kate Stevenson, “Gender and Self-Murder in Renaissance Tragedy,” University of Texas at Austin.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON SESSION H: 2:00-3:00 pm, Lone Star Auditorium
Panelists: Dr. Richard North, Dr. Robert Adams, Dr. James Frankki, Dr. Erin Ashworth-King, Dr. Kimberly Bell, Dr. Sheryl Murphy-Manley
Topic: “The Place of Medieval and Renaissance Scholarship in the Academy”
Closing remarks: Dr. Helena Halmari, Chair, Department of English, Sam Houston State University.