15 – 17 July 2013
Charterhouse Square, Queen Mary, University of London
psalmculture.com

We invite paper and session proposals for an
interdisciplinary conference on English responses to
the Psalms, from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Civil
War. Keynote addresses to be given by Daniel
Anlezark (Sydney), Brian Cummings (Sussex), Vincent
Gillespie (Oxford), Hannibal Hamlin (Ohio State),
James Simpson (Harvard) and Eric Stanley (Oxford).
The Psalms have been at the centre of English
religious life, language and identity since the
Augustinian mission. This conference aims to bring
together scholars working in different periods and
disciplines to open up new avenues of discussion and
debate. We are interested in all aspects of the English
Psalm tradition, from the conversion to the Civil War,
and possible areas of exploration might include:
• The authority of the vernacular, and the controversy
of translation
• Specific contexts for translation (monastic
production, translations by prisoners, etc.)
• Psalms as political commentary
• Musical settings of Psalms, on the page and in
performance
• Psalm books as physical objects and works of art
• Iconography
• Ecclesiastical and private devotion
• Psalms and the formation of an English literary
canon
• Literary borrowings and intertextuality
• Reading, annotating and glossing
• Comparative analysis of individual Psalms across
languages and periods
• The Psalms as a site of inter-cultural dialogue
(between faiths, between countries)

Proposals
We welcome proposals for papers (no more
than 20 minutes) and panels (of 3 papers)
from both established scholars and graduate
students. It is envisaged that selected papers
will be considered for publication in an edited,
peer-reviewed collection.

Proposal forms can be downloaded via the conference website: psalmculture.com

Please submit all proposal forms and
correspondence to psalmculture@gmail.com.
Deadline for proposals: 1 December 2012