“Collecting, transmitting, and (re)using sermons”

Nijmegen, 1-5 July 2026

Hosted by Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)

Organising committee: Shari Boodts, Pietro Delcorno, Patricia Stoop, Patrick Outhwaite 

Sermons have a life beyond the moment of their creation and performance. Over the course of the Middle Ages, sermons were rewritten, recycled, translated, and repurposed to fit different monastic, liturgical and communal settings. Authoritative patristic author names were appropriated, model sermons were copied, and bestselling collections were produced and distributed. Sermons also permeated other genres, outside of the context of preaching. This dynamic medieval reception of sermons continued beyond the Middle Ages into Early Modern times. This conference will put the spotlight on the varied and influential ways in which sermons were received and (re)used, often long after they were first spoken aloud, and on the compilers, editors and collectors who mediated this process.

The International Medieval Sermon Studies Society invites early career researchers and established scholars to submit proposals for 20-minute papers on the subject of “Collecting, transmitting, and (re)using sermons”. We welcome papers from all areas and religious traditions for the period of ca. 500–1500 CE. We also encourage proposals for the poster session.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

• The transmission of sermons and sermon collections
• Rewriting, recycling, and adapting (model) sermons
• The practice of collecting and disseminating sermons
• Sermon collections from the patristic to the early modern period
• Compilers, copyists, editors, collectors
• Indirect access to or reuse of sermons
• Translations and cross-lingual connections
• Sermons as connectors across religious and cultural contexts

Proposals should include paper or poster title, your name, institutional affiliation (if applicable), and e-mail address. Proposals for papers should additionally include an abstract of max. 350 words and an indication whether you plan to come in person or present virtually. Although attendance in person is preferred, the committee is willing to consider a limited number of virtual presentations.

Please send proposals before 1 November 2025 to Shari Boodts ([email protected]).