‘Religion and the Life-Cycle, 1500-1800‘

The Queen Mary Centre for Religion and Literature in English has announced that its first conference, ‘Religion and the Life-Cycle, 1500-1800‘ will take place on Friday 6 July 2018 at QMUL Mile End Campus with keynote lectures from Prof. Elaine Hobby and Dr. Adam Sutcliffe.

The Call for Papers is now open:

The Queen Mary Centre for Religion and Literature in English (QMCRLE) welcomes proposals for twenty minute papers on the theme ‘Religion and the Life Cycle, 1500-1800’ for a one-day interdisciplinary conference. They interpret the term ‘Life Cycle’ broadly, to include biological transition points such as birth and death, social transition points such as coming of age ritual, marital and employment status, life-stages such as childhood or adolescence, and indeed the passage of time and the process of aging. This conference seeks to explore institutional religious ceremonies and prescriptions relating to the life cycle, as well as more personal and informal religious beliefs and responses.

Suggested topics for papers include, but are not limited to:

• ‘Rites of passage’ ceremonies such as baptism, circumcision, confirmation
• Spiritual writing / personal writing / prayer which reflects upon Life-Cycle events
• Religious prescriptive literature relating to Life-Cycle events
• Representations of religious Life-Cycle processes within literature, art, or material culture

Keynotes
Professor Elaine Hobby (Loughborough): “We have an example in Scripture” (Jane Sharp, The Midwives Book): Women, Religion, and the Early Modern Life-Cycle

Dr Adam Sutcliffe (King’s College London): The Children of Israel and the Passage to Adulthood in Early Modern Europe

Please do consider submitting a paper. See this link for further information: https://religionandthelifecycleconference.wordpress.com/