FORMS: Using Medieval Disputations to Resolve Liminal Paradoxes in St. Erkenwald

Please join The Forum for Research in Medieval Studies (FoRMS) on Monday, February 23rd, in 1014 Tisch for a presentation from Chelsea Parsons (English) about the liminal relationship between body and soul in the anonymous Middle English alliterative poem St. Erkenwald (c. 1400) reveals its reception of and contention with medieval theories of the intellect that attempt to reconcile classical philosophy with Christianity. The poem resembles a quodlibetal question about the limits of hylomorphism in a resurrection. Diverging from previous scholarship that draws theological conclusions, this paper discusses the poem’s philosophical diction and argues that Thomas Aquinas’s (d. 1274) definitions of corruption and identity resolve contradictions that the poem raises as it lingers with intermediate ideas of death and limbo.


Lunch will be provided.