Dr Brittany Schorn writes:
The ‘Converting the
Isles’ Research Network held its fifth and final colloquium in Cambridge on
September 19–21. The theme of ‘The Isles
and the Wider World’ was fitting, as we sought to situate our findings on
Insular conversion in a broader geographical, chronological and disciplinary
context and to look forward to new directions for future research. That said, the work of the Network is far
from finished. Two edited volumes are
well under way. These will incorporate
material from not only the colloquia, but also the special lectures and Leeds
IMC sessions sponsored by the Network. Together with the website, these volumes
will represent the most visible legacy of the Network.
Another part of the
Network’s legacy is less tangible, but certainly no less valuable. The ‘Converting the Isles’ colloquia were
designed to facilitate discussion between scholars who work in adjacent but not
always intersecting fields. This has led
to productive conversations and new collaborations that will advance the
discipline in years to come.
‘The Isles and the
Wider World’ left many of us inspired by new questions as well as new answers. The
Right Honourable Rowan Williams opened the colloquium by posing the question of
what we, and medieval writers like Bede, actually understand by
‘conversion’. Chris Wickham’s keynote
lecture then articulated especially well the complexities inherent in the
subject and the advantages and potential pitfalls of a comparative approach.
The second keynote
lecture, by Jean-Michel Picard and Sébastien Bully, used recent archaeological
discoveries at Luxeuil and Annegray to question the reliability of hagiography
and illuminate literary tropes. The other ten speakers presented papers which
ranged widely across the conceptual and historical phenomenon of conversion:
from converts from Islam to Christianity through to anthropological
considerations of religious conversion in the modern world; and from liturgical
and literary witnesses to conversion in early medieval northern Europe, to
archaeological traces of paganism in southwest Germany.
A full programme
remains available on the Network’s website (http://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/conversion/),
where podcasts of papers from the conference are now accessible, along with
podcasts from past colloquia and other resources for the study of conversion
which will continue to be developed and updated. News about forthcoming and
past events can be found on our homepage.
Please do get in touch with Brittany Schorn (bs321@cam.ac.uk), Roy
Flecher (roy.flechner@ucd.ie) or Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (mnm21@cam.ac.uk) with any
questions, comments or suggestions for the website or if you wish to be added
to our mailing list.
