12th Annual SMRS - 2025 CFP

Boethius at the 12th Annual Symposium of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Saint Louis University

June 9-11, 2025

The International Boethius Society seeks papers for panels on Boethian scholarship to be hosted by the Symposium of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, at Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, MO, on June 9-11, 2025. We are particularly interested in papers which examine The Consolation of Philosophy in translation and literary reception, as well as papers which explore teaching Boethius in a variety of contexts. However, papers exploring any aspect of Boethius's corpus and influence are welcome. 

Please submit paper abstracts of about 300 words to Anthony G. Cirilla at acirilla@cofo.edu by December 25, 2024. Also please consider joining the International Boethius Society to help support our efforts to promote Boethius scholarship.

11th Annual Symposium on Medieval & Renaissance Studies

 Boethius 2024: The 1500 Year Memorial Conference

St. Louis University - June 10-12, 2024 

We had some wonderfully insightful and engaging presentations at our Boethius Mini-Conference.

Below are a few photos, and the program for our sessions is provided on our Conferences page.

Plenary Address, Stephen Blackwood, Ralston College

William Christian, Anthony G. Cirilla, Jane Maschue, & Gary Hartenburg

Discussion

Ethan Smilie, Madeline Fox, & Camarie Cirilla

Ian Johnson, Jennifer Arch, Abigail Palmisano, & Nicholas Babich

Jane Maschue, William Christian, Joshua Keatley, & Savannah Xaver

Megan Murton, Ian Johnson, Melinda Nielsen, & Ian Cornelius

Lea Luecking Frost

Margaret Trenchard-Smith

Boethius 2024: The 1500 Year Memorial Conference at SMRS

11th Annual Symposium on Medieval & Renaissance Studies

Boethius 2024: Mini-Conference Sponsored by the International Boethius Society

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In 524, Boethius authored the Consolation of Philosophy on the eve of his unjust execution. Fifteen centuries later, Boethius remains a figure of inspiration and fascination in his own right, and as a profoundly influential figure through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and beyond. In 2024, this memorial conference will consider that wide ranging legacy, hosted at the Symposium of Medieval and Renaissance Studies held annually at St. Louis University in June. The International Boethius Society has had a presence at the SMRS since the symposium started and is pleased to organize this memorial to the life, works, and influence of a writer who shaped medieval and Renaissance thinkers so profoundly.

We look forward to this special mini-conference at the Symposium and will be providing updates soon on the featured presentations and sessions that the International Boethius Society is organizing for this event.

58th International Congress on Medieval Studies (2023)

Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae in the Middle Ages

Sponsoring Organization: International Boethius Society

Organizer: Philip Edward Phillips (Middle Tennessee State University)

Presider: Philip Edward Phillips (Middle Tennessee State University)

Lindsay Ruth Ragle-Miller (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill), Fate and Fortune: Word Choice in the Old English Boethius

Ricardo Matthews (California State University - Fullerton), The Missing Song: Boethius and the Prosimetric Tradition

Matthew W. Brumit (University of Mary), Boethius's Four Modes of Knowing in Pearl

Sarah R. Kyle (Iowa State University), "To mount the narrow seat": A Physician's Transformation of Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae in a Fifteenth-Century Illustrated Herbal

It was so rewarding to be back in person on the Western Michigan University campus--what a great and enjoyable session! The presentations were just fantastic, and they fit together so very well. Here are a few photos of our session: the preliminary remarks about the Society, the panel taking Q&A, and the presenters posing with our organizer and presider, Dr. Philip Phillips. 

Kenneth Discussing our Journal, Carmina Philosophiae

Q&A with Ricardo, Lindsay, Sarah, and Matthew

Philip, Ricardo, Lindsay, Sarah, and Matthew

57th International Congress on Medieval Studies (2022)

The Alfredian or Old English Boethius: Authority, Authorship, and Influence - In Memory of Paul E. Szarmach

Sponsoring Organization: International Boethius Society

Organizer: Philip Edward Phillips (Middle Tennessee State University)

Presider: Rhonda L. McDaniel (Middle Tennessee State University) 

Ruta Sileikyte Zukiene (Vilniaus University/Vytauto Didžiojo University), The Authority of Reason in the Old English Boethius

Kenneth C. Hawley (Lubbock Christian University), The Power and Personality of the Eternal God in the Alfredian Boethius

We had a wonderful Zoom session again this year and enjoyed a lively and interesting discussion with our attendees after the presentations. We are grateful for the support staff who made this remote gathering possible.

Call for Papers - 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies

57th International Congress at Kalamazoo

Online, May 9-14, 2022

Call for Papers

The Alfredian or Old English Boethius: 

Authority, Authorship, and Influence in Memory of Paul E. Szarmach 

Contact Person: Philip Phillips philip.phillips@mtsu.edu

Principal Sponsoring Organization: International Boethius Society

Proposals for twenty-minute papers addressing the issues of "authority" or "authorship" in respect to the Alfredian or Old English Boethius and/or the subsequent reception or influence of the work are invited for presentation in a session dedicated to the memory of Paul E. Szarmach.

Deadline for New Submissions: Wednesday, September 15, 2021

 

2021 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON MEDIEVAL STUDIES

The Literary & Philosophical Influence of Boethius in the Middle Ages

Sponsoring Organization: International Boethius Society

Organizer: Philip Edward Phillips (Middle Tennessee State University)

Presider: Kenneth C. Hawley (Lubbock Christian University)

Clelia Vittoria Crialesi (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies), Exigetical and Philosophical Uses of Boethius’s De arithmetica in the Carolingian Age: Rabanus Maurus and John Scotus Eriugena on Sap. 11:21

David Sharp (Carleton University), Boethian Counsel and Richard the II’s Minority in Chaucer’s Parliament of Fowls

Noel Harold Kaylor, Jr. (International Boethius Society), Teaching the Consolation of Philosophy in the Context of World Literature

We are grateful to the Medieval Institute and to their support staff for making this unusual format work so well. We had a stimulating set of presentations and an engaging discussion following. Although we missed our gathering in Kalamazoo, we enjoyed connecting with those from across the globe who joined our session panelists, who happened to log on from Ontario (David), Texas (Kenneth), Montana (Harold), France (Clelia), Tennessee (Philip), and Michigan (IT Support).

Below are 2 screenshots of our Zoom session--the first featuring our presenters and session leaders during the pre-session preparation and the second showing our panel audience.