Seminars on Early Modern Preaching: King David

A One-Day Colloquium

University of Reading, Saturday, 6th November, 201

No biblical figure provided early modern preachers with such various material for their sermons as King David: from the young champion to the king ‘old and full of days’, David was the loyal subject who would not ‘touch the Lord’s anointed’, and the broken-hearted father of Absalom. Through the stories of David and Jonathan, David and Saul, David and Michal, David and Bathsheba, and David and Absalom, early modern preachers could explore relationships that were public and political, and those that were intimate and passionate. God said of David that he was ‘a man after my own heart’, and yet David’s flaws were revealed by Nathan the prophet, who said ‘you are the man’. David, as the reputed author of the psalms, lies in the background of the most popular source of biblical text for early modern preachers, and his stories are often invoked to explain the expressions of piety, fear, anger, and joy that the psalms contain.

We invite papers on any aspect of King David in early modern preaching: David in political sermons (on obedience or rebellion); David in penitential sermons; David in marriage sermons; David in sermons on the doctrine of grace; David as a ‘type’ of Christ; David as the author of biblical texts, and David’s example of the ‘literary’ styles suited to prayer, liturgy, and preaching.

This colloquium is the third in the Seminars in Early Modern Preaching series, which aims to provide a scholarly forum for all those working on all aspects of early modern English sermons. We invite proposals for 30-minute papers. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words. Please e-mail submissions to Dr Mary Morrissey (m.e.morrissey@reading.ac.uk) and Dr Hugh Adlington (h.c.adlington@bham.ac.uk).

Due date for submissions: 15 June.