Religion and Literature at MLA 2007

This just in from the MLA:

Dear Members of the Division on Literature and Religion,

The Executive Committee of the Division on Literature and Religion would like to invite you to join a conversation about our mutual interests that stretches beyond the four-day Convention each December. This email is being sent to all of you who listed the Division on Literature and Religion on your annual dues form. We hope throughout the year to use this means to keep you informed about upcoming events and other matters of interest.

The Division-sponsored sessions at the 2007 Convention in Chicago are on holy beauty and the teaching of world literature:

HOLY BEAUTY: concept and function of beauty in sacred texts and religious literature, representations of the divine and their legitimacy, taste and exclusivity, devotional uses, ontology of beauty, aesthetics. 300-word abstracts by March 1 to Susan Felch (felch@calvin.edu) and Achsah Guibbory (aguibbor@barnard.edu).


RELIGION AND THE TEACHING OF WORLD LITERATURE: Bridging divide between religious and secular; the use of sacred texts; all genres and cultural traditions; one traditional session, one roundtable format. 200-word abstracts by March 15 to patricia.a.ward@vanderbilt.edu.

We encourage you to submit abstracts for these sessions and look forward to a robust conversation in December.

For the convention in 2008, we would like to address "the current state of the field in religion and literature." If you have suggestions for specific sessions or papers on this topic, or would like to propose a speaker, or have ideas for other topics, please contact the Chair of the Division.

Please do feel free to correspond with any member of the committee regarding your concerns and suggestions.


All the best,

Susan M. Felch, Chair (felch@calvin.edu)
Dennis Taylor, Secretary (taylor@bc.edu)
David Damrosch (dnd2@columbia.edu)
Patricia Ward (patricia.a.ward@vanderbilt.edu)
Achsah Guibbory (aguibbor@barnard.edu)