2016 Annual Conference of Modern Church
Performing the Faith: Shakespeare, the Theatre and Theology Today
11th-13th July 2016
at High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, Herts.
2016 is the 400th anniversary of the death of England’s – some would say, the world’s – greatest playwright.
Read Jonathan Clatworthy's account of the conference here
or click here to view the album of photos on Flickr.
Shakespeare’s links with religion are complex, but his plays contain much implicit (and occasionally more explicit) theology. And the very form of the drama owes much to religious traditions – even if the Church has at times viewed it with suspicion. To this day, whether on stage or on screen, drama – and not least the work of Shakespeare, staged and interpreted in ever-new ways - remains a most powerful medium for exploring truth and meaning. Liberal Christians, who read the books of Scripture, tradition and reason alongside each other, need also to learn to read this cultural phenomenon.
Programme: Click here to download
Keynote speaker: The Most Revd and Rt Hon Lord Rowan Williams of Oystermouth
Chair: Revd Dr Alison Milbank
Chaplain: Revd Dr Paul Edmondson
Speakers (with audio or text where available): |
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Revd Dr Alison MilbankAssociate Professor of Theology and Literature at the University of Nottingham. She contributed a paper on Apocalyptic readings: the Bible and the novel to our 2011 conference: Reading The Bible Today.Introduction & Overview
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Dr Beatrice GrovesLecturer in Renaissance English Literature, Trinity College, OxfordMeasure for Measure and the mystery plays
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Christian CoppaDoctoral candidate at Cambridge in the Faculty of Divinity - his dissertation is on touch and the mediation of grace in Shakespeare's romances.Mannerly Devotion: touches of grace in Romeo & Juliet
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Prof Vittorio MontemaggiAssistant Professor of Religion and Literature, University of Notre Dame, USA.'Speak again': life, love and language in King Lear
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Prof Jem BloomfieldAssistant Professor in Medieval and Early Modern Literature, University of Nottingham Words of Power: Shakespeare & The Bible
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Prof Ronnie MulryneProfessor emeritus, Centre fro the Study of the Renaissance, University of WarwickKing Lear: perception and the price of silence
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Dr Alycia Smith-HowardShakespeare scholar and performance historianThe Gospel according to Shakespeare
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The Most Revd and Rt Hon Lord Rowan Williams of OystermouthFormer Archbishop of Canterbury, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.Our keynote speaker has spoken and written much about the links between Shakespeare and theology.
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Revd Dr Paul EdmondsonHead of Research at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, in conversation withPhilip BreenDirector of the 2016 York Mystery Plays
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Revd Canon Prof Graham WardRegius Professor of Divinity, Christ Church College, OxfordMidsummer Night's Dream
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Panel Discussionwith Christian Coppa, Graham Ward, Alison Milbank, Ronnie Mulryne and Vittorio Montemaggi
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Summing Upwith Chair Alison Milbank & Chaplain Paul Edmondson
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