The Q hypothesis has long dominated the study of the Synoptics. It is often heralded as the key to Synoptic interpretation, yet it is simultaneously challenged at nearly every juncture. Regarding parable study, the Q hypothesis offers much by way of identifying redaction, but the impact of identifiable redaction is often overvalued. Those choosing…[Read more]

The Q hypothesis has long dominated the study of the Synoptics. It is often heralded as the key to Synoptic interpretation, yet it is simultaneously challenged at nearly every juncture. Regarding parable study, the Q hypothesis offers much by way of identifying redaction, but the impact of identifiable redaction is often overvalued. Those choosing…[Read more]

A theory of the atonement is outlined which is grounded in an appropriation of the Platonic doctrine of participation, and an Irenaean theodicy. The purpose of Christ’s life and death was to enable humans to destroy the sinful aspects of their character, and to manifest Christ’s righteousness, by means of participation in the same Form. The the…[Read more]

“The Other Close at Hand: Gerald of Wales and the ‘Marvels of the West,’” in The Monstrous Middle Ages, eds. Robert Mills and Bettina Bildhauer (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2003), 97-112

“Inconceivable Beasts: The Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript,” with Susan Kim, in Dark Reflections, Monstrous Reflections: Essays on the Monster in Culture, ed. Sorcha Ní Fhlainn (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press E-Book, 2008)

“The Exposed Body and the Gendered Blemmye: Reading the Wonders of the East,” with Susan Kim, Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture, v. 3, The History of Sexuality in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ed. by Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008)

“Ungefraegelicu deor: Monsters and Truth in the Wonders of the East,” Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art, vol. 2 (2009), with Susan Kim

The dominant literate culture of early medieval England – male, European, and Christian – often represented itself through comparison to exotic beings and mon- sters, in traditions developed from native mythologies, and Classical and Biblical sources. So pervasive was this reflexive identification that the language of the mon- strous occurs not…[Read more]

An ancient Sumerian proverb may be read as “good fortune [is embedded in] organisation and wisdom.” The present centennial survey is solely about organizing the last one hundred years of scholarship for a Sumerian afterlife myth named “Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld.” The initial discovery of artifacts with snippets of the myth can be dated…[Read more]

The dominant literate culture of early medieval England – male, European, and Christian – often represented itself through comparison to exotic beings and monsters, in traditions developed from native mythologies, and Classical and Biblical sources. So pervasive was this reflexive identification that the language of the monstrous occurs not onl…[Read more]

“Answering the Call of the Severed Head,” Heads Will Roll: Decapitation Motifs in Medieval Literature, ed. Larissa Tracy (Leiden: Brill, 2012)

“Introduction: The Impact of Monsters and Monster Studies,” in Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous, ed. Asa Simon Mittman, with Peter Dendle (London: Ashgate, 2012), 1-14

Abstract: This essay attempts to draw connections between medieval maps and their
many monsters, digital cartographical interfaces, and modern experiences of the world.
Each impacts our understandings of the others. The medieval notion of speculum – the
metaphorical mirror that allows us to see our worlds and ourselves more clearly – dra…[Read more]

Contemporary engaged Buddhist scholars typically claim either that Buddhism always endorsed social activism, or that its non-endorsement of such activism represented an unwitting lack of progress. This article examines several classical South Asian Buddhist texts that explicitly reject social and political activism. These texts argue for this…[Read more]

This essay considers the use of the modern term ‘monstrous races’ to describe the wondrous beings found in Herodotus, Pliny, The Wonders of the East, world maps and elsewhere. Considering the etymology and history of the word ‘race,’ a series of modern definitions are tested out on figures found in the images and texts of the British Library…[Read more]

The story of Lough Derg in Ireland’s County Donegal is arranged around clusters of sectarian narratives in juxtaposition, synthesis and conflict. The Sanctuary of Saint Patrick sits on Station Island, a small rocky islet set within the waters of the lake. The site became well known in the early Middle Ages as the place of Saint Patrick’s del…[Read more]

The eleventh-century Old English Illustrated Hexateuch, probably produced in the second quarter of the eleventh century, in or near St. Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, houses a wealth of imagery, including several images of giants that appear throughout the manuscript’s approximately 400 images and 156 folios. These giants form a primary point of…[Read more]

Monstrous iconography was a major, even central, element of the visual arts throughout the entire medieval period, Early Christian through late Gothic, east and west, north and south. There are few—if any—medieval cultural traditions that do not rely on monstrous imagery for vital cultural functions. Within this catchall category, often def…[Read more]

A short introduction to an artist book on history and ecology and loss.

In this article, we bring to light a text that foregrounds listening to the monster, in this case the Blemmyes, by making available to scholarly readers a previously unknown Middle English poem of great historical and literary significance. Our discovery was made possible through the generous funding of the NEPS (National Endowment for the…[Read more]