The fifth Early Modern British and Irish Catholicism conference - EMBIC V

Conference Director: James Kelly (Durham University)

Conference Secretary: Maddy Keightley-Phillipps (Durham University)

Conference Organizing committee: John McCafferty (University College Dublin), Susannah Monta (University of Notre Dame), Liam Temple (Durham University)

Confirmed speakers include:

Liam Chambers (Mary Immaculate College)

Freddy Domínguez (University of Arkansas)

Jaime Goodrich (Wayne State University)

John McCafferty (University College Dublin)

Susannah Monta (University of Notre Dame)

Call for Papers

The fifth triennial Early Modern British and Irish Catholicism conference, jointly organized by Durham University and the University of Notre Dame, will concentrate on the relationship between British and Irish Catholicism and the devotional life. This theme will be considered in the widest possible framework, including in terms of literature, gesture, music, space, sound, poetry, language, liturgy, architecture, landscape, material culture, pilgrimage and performance. Papers may also consider the question of how the devotional life might relate to identity, gender, loyalty and belonging, or how it might impinge upon political debates and differences between English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh Catholics, as well as with the global Church. It will consider issues both local and international, even as it centres the experience of British and Irish Catholics on the peripheries of the Catholic Reformation. The timeframe being considered is broad, from c.1530 to 1800.

The conference is interdisciplinary and welcomes papers from researchers in fields including History, Literary Studies, Theology, Philosophy, Musicology and Art History.

We invite proposals for 20-minute communications on any related theme from any field. Panel proposals consisting of three speakers are also encouraged. Priority will be given to those papers/panels touching upon the above theme, but proposals are also welcome on any topic relating to early modern British and Irish Catholicism more broadly.

Please send proposals (c. 200 words) by email to Maddy Keightley-Phillipps
(madison.c.keightley-phillipps@durham.ac.uk) by 21 January 2026 at the latest.