Preachers, Hearers, Readers, and Scribes Conference

Preachers, Hearers, Readers, and Scribes conference will include a diverse range of panels and keynote speakers considering sermons in manuscript from 1530 to 1715.

The conference will take place Thursday, 3 October, to, Saturday, 5 October 2024 at Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA, and the Congregational Library, Boston, MA.

Featured keynote speakers are:

Dr. Frank Bremer (Millersville University of Pensylvania) on “John Winthrop and his Sermon Notebook.”

Dr. David Hall (Harvard University) on “Beyond ‘Doctrine‘: What was Being Said in Early New England?”

Professor Ann Hughes (Keele University) on “‘The Churches cordiall in her fainting fitts‘: Lay People Recording Sermons in the English Revolution.”

Join us to explore early modern sermon manuscripts from the British Isles, including Scotland and Wales, and North America, including present-day Mexico. Speakers will consider a wide range of sermon manuscripts, from full sermons, sermon notes and notebooks, to mock sermons, sermon parodies, and sermons reports. They will consider the perspectives of not only preachers from a range of persuasions, both Protestant and Catholic, but also of lay readers and hearers, women preachers, and indigenous preachers and auditors.

Conference participants will reflect on the use of sermons at different occasions, such as at communion, elections, university ad clerum, and civic events; at moments of conflict and controversy, such as the period of the English Revolution and debates about doctrine and orthodoxy; and on different themes, such as godly mourning, poverty, sacriliege, and community affection. Further, papers will consider the occasional and performative context of preaching events, the relationship of print and manuscript sermons, and the reception of sermons by hearers and readers.

The conference also will consider on how resources like the GEMMS database allow researchers to ask new questions about sermon manuscripts to further our understanding of early modern sermons and preaching.

Host or Publisher GEMMS Lecture Series