Parish Communication
Twenty-Third Warwick Symposium on Parish Research
Saturday 17 May 2025, 10.30-18.00
Institute of Advanced Study, Zeeman Building (Ground Floor)
University of Warwick, Central Campus, Coventry (hybrid)
Hosted by Beat Kümin with Angus Crawford, Kristi Flake & Lynn Marriott (Warwick History/My-Parish)
THANKS TO ALL PARTICIPANTS - REPORT COMING SOON
Emanuel de Witte, ’Interior of a Protestant, Gothic Church during a Service’ (oil on panel, 1669).
Extract from the painting in the Online Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Ever since the formation of a local ecclesiastical network in the Middle Ages, communication has been a principal feature of parish life. Clergymen sought to disseminate core teachings (through sermons, writings and personal conversations), artists created paintings / sculptures / compositions, lords used churches to publicise regulations, bells announced service times / warned of imminent danger, while congregations instrumentalized religious gatherings for sociability and the exchange of news. The 2025 Symposium sought to explore a wide range of verbal, written, visual, musical, ritual, symbolic, environmental and material media linked to parish cultures in multiple regional and chronological contexts, welcoming contributions on theoretical / conceptual approaches (from different disciplines), methodological aspects, case studies of particular contexts / sources / figures / periods as well as issues relating to audience response.
The day featured 11 presentations in 3 sessions with 33 participants
(For full programme details click here)
(For List of Participants click here)
1. Directing
Nicholas Ringwood (Auckland), ‘Incorrigibly Scandalous: Combatting Recidivist Sexual Misbehaviour in Late Medieval English Parishes’
Ashley Armstrong (University of East Anglia), 'England’s Canons and their Place in the Church: a Typographical Study of the Seventeenth Century’
Kristi Flake (Warwick), ‘Preaching the Homilies ... or not? Evaluating the Reception of the Homilies, 1547-c1860’
George Palmer (Cambridge), ‘Parish Magazines and Political Communication in England, 1885-1914’
2. Liaising
Robert Swanson (Shaanxi), ‘Parishes and Communication in the Bureaucratic and Disciplinary Structures of the Pre-Reformation English Church’
Marion Hardy (Independent), ‘Demands, Duties, Rates, Taxes, Tithings … Who Would be an Unpaid Parish Official in Early Modern England?’
Marek Słoń (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin), ‘The Role of the Parish in Urban-Rural Communication’
Felicita Tramontana (Roma Tre), ‘Communicating the Parish: Information Flows between Syro-Palestinian Parishes and Rome in the 17th Century’
3. Signalling
Christian Owen (Cambridge), ‘The Parish as a Battleground: Contested Visions of the English Reformation in East Anglia’
Melchior Jakubowski (Warsaw), ‘Multilingualism of Parishes in Latgale (Eastern Latvia) from the 1670s to the 1930s’
Béla Mihalik (Budapest), ‘The Jews of the Parish: Communicating the Otherness’
The Symposium has always been an inclusive forum of exchange between anyone with related research interests from whatever background or career stage. The hybrid 2025 meeting took place at the Institute of Advanced Study, located on the ground floor of the Zeeman Building on Warwick's Central Campus (visiting information).
IN-PERSON DELEGATES
could register for a fee of £25 (regular) / £15 (student / unwaged), which includes lunch & refreshments.
VIRTUAL PARTICIPANTS
were requested to book a place for a registration fee of £5. A TEAMS joining link was sent shortly before the event.
SPEAKERS & HELPERS
ALL accepted speakers & helpers could register in advance (free of charge).
Registrations closed on Friday 9 May 2025
Booking Terms and Conditions including Cancellation/Refund Policy
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Warwick Network for Parish Research, Warwick’s Humanities Research Centre & the History Department. Any updates will be published on the Symposium homepage at:
http://go.warwick.ac.uk/my-parish/parishsymposia/communication/
! SYMPOSIUM REPORT COMING SOON !
Social Media Impressions: #PaSymp25
For information: Call for Papers, Call for Registrations
