The Symposium of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

CFP: What is Boethian? Problems in Interpreting the Prisoner’s Philosophy

Conference: The Symposium of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Location: Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO
When: June 19-21, 2017
Website: http://smrs.slu.edu/

What makes a narrative Boethian, beyond mere inclusion of an allusion? What implications are there for interpretation of Boethius’s philosophy in a given narrative’s approach to incorporating The Consolation into its telling? When can a philosophy or theology which appeals to Boethius be deemed Boethian, and what degree of weight should we give to interpretations provided of Boethius by later thinkers, such as Aquinas in the Summa theologica?

Given the wide variety of things which fit into discourse about Boethius (the liberal arts, theology, philosophy, narrative, and beyond), what is it for such a topic to be Boethian? Papers from scholars working in literature, philosophy, history, art history, theology, music and beyond are all welcome. Abstracts should be 300 to 350 words and sent to Anthony G. Cirilla, acirilla@niagara.edu, no later than December 10th, 2016.

For more information, please see our Conferences page and visit the Symposium website: http://smrs.slu.edu/.

Boethius at Kalamazoo 2017

The International Boethius Society will sponsor a session on “Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae: Reception, Translation, and Influence” at the 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, May 11-14, 2017. Congratulations!

Philip Edward Phillips (Middle Tennessee State University), Organizer and Chair

1. Chancing Analogic Thought in Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae
Sister Lucia Treanor, FSE (Grand Valley State University)

2. Chaucer’s Boethian Humility: Escaping Celebrity in Boece and The House of Fame
Gillian Adler (Saint Peter’s University)

3. “Jewels in a Crown of Lead”: The Consolatory Structure of Coleridge’s Boethian Biographia Literaria
Anthony G. Cirilla (Niagara University)

Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr. (Troy University), Respondent

The Society will host its annual business meeting & wine reception at the Congress. All IBS members and fellow Boethians are cordially invited to attend. More details to come soon.

Boethius in Kalamazoo 2016

The International Boethius Society hosted the panel described below, followed by our annual reception and business meeting on Saturday, May 14, 2016, at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo:

I. Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy through the Ages (Session 490, Bernhard 213, 3:30 PM)

Sponsor: International Boethius Society

Organizer: Philip Edward Phillips, Middle Tennessee State Univ. 

Presider: Philip Edward Phillips 

Boethius as Anti-Boethius: A Re-evaluation of the Role of Boethius in Maximianus’s Third Elegy 

Sean Tandy, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington 

“If chance will have me king”: The Alfredian and Boethian Context of Macbeth’s Weird Sisters 

Brian McFadden, Texas Tech Univ. 

Teaching “the Holesome Doctryne of Philosophye”: Comfort and Instruction in George Colvile’s 1556 Translation 

Kenneth C. Hawley, Lubbock Christian Univ. 

Respondent: Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr., Troy Univ. 

(IBS Secretary Philip Phillips, Sean Tandy, Brian McFadden, Kenneth Hawley, and Executive Director Harold Kaylor)

(Harold Kaylor opening up the IBS Business Meeting)

  (Anthony Cirilla and Brandy Brown)

 (Kenneth showing Brandy and Anthony Bax's 1897 edition of Colvile's 1556 translation--from the Boethius Center)

 (Joey McMullen and Erica Weaver with vol. 23, featuring papers from their 2013 Harvard conference)

(Rhonda McDaniel and IBS President Paul Szarmach)

Earlier in the conference, we enjoyed excellent presentations from IBS members Brooke Hunter and Anthony Cirilla, as well as the release of our new book from Medieval Institute Publications: Vernacular Traditions of Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae, edited by Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr., and Philip Edward Philips.

(Brooke Hunter, Villanova University, presenting on "Rewriting Boethius: Boethian Forgery and Forging Boethius")

(Anthony Cirilla, Niagara University, presenting on "Venus and the Grammar of the Trivium in Lydgate's Temple of Glas")

(Harold Kaylor and Philip Philips, with the newly released volume from Medieval Institute Publications)

Carmina Philosophiae

'Lost' Medieval Music Performed for the First Time in 1,000 Years

Researchers and musicians at Cambridge reconstruct songs from The Consolation of Philosophy

By Jason Daley, April 25, 2016 

Something unusual happened at the Pembroke College Chapel in Cambridge, England, over the weekend: A trio of musicians performed songs that hadn't been heard in over 1,000 years. But playing the music, which came from the Roman philosopher Boethius’ influential work The Consolation of Philosophy, was not just a matter of just reading its notation. Rather, getting Boethius' work to the public's ear involved solving a decades-old library theft, not to mention the arduous process of deciphering the symbols representing musical notation in the Middle Ages.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/lost-medieval-music-performed-first-time-1000-years-180958892/?no-ist 

View a Performance: https://youtu.be/PwAKPIUKAyM

Boethius in Kalamazoo 2016

51st International Congress on Medieval Studies

May 12-15, 2016

The International Boethius Society (IBS) will host the following two events on Saturday, May 14, 2016, at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo:

I. Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy through the Ages (Session 490, Bernhard 213, 3:30 PM)

Sponsor: International Boethius Society

Organizer: Philip Edward Phillips, Middle Tennessee State Univ. 

Presider: Philip Edward Phillips 

Boethius as Anti-Boethius: A Re-evaluation of the Role of Boethius in Maximianus’s Third Elegy 

Sean Tandy, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington 

“If chance will have me king”: The Alfredian and Boethian Context of Macbeth’s Weird Sisters 

Brian McFadden, Texas Tech Univ. 

Teaching “the Holesome Doctryne of Philosophye”: Comfort and Instruction in George Colvile’s 1556 Translation 

Kenneth C. Hawley, Lubbock Christian Univ. 

Respondent: Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr., Troy Univ. 

II. International Boethius Society—Business Meeting and Reception with open bar (Evening Event, Bernhard 213, 5:10 PM)

We look forward to seeing you there!