Annual Marco Symposium

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17th Annual Symposium: “Visions of the End”

NOTE: In order to guarantee the safety of our students, faculty, staff, presenters, and the public during the coronavirus pandemic, we postponed our 2020 Symposium (originally scheduled for April 3-4, 2020). We are planning to hold the event, featuring the same topic and speakers, on 5-6 March 2021, in a virtual format. We will update this page with more information as it becomes available.

The 17th annual Marco Symposium will explore the theme of Apocalypse. During the course of two days, eleven leading scholars will discuss medieval and Renaissance responses to the Book of Revelation written by John of Patmos. Completed around 100 C.E., John’s Book of Revelation anticipates a final judgment by analyzing such foreboding precursors as terrifying beasts and natural disasters. Recoiling from frightful threats and aspiring for eternal salvation, medieval and Renaissance writers and artists balanced fears about the final days with promises of renewal.

Program Information:

Featured Speakers:

• Robert Bast, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
  “Apocalyptic Augsburg: Prophecy, Piety and Politics in the Early Sixteenth Century”
• Kathryn Beebe, University of North Texas
  “Imagined Pilgrimage to the Celestial Jerusalem in the Late Middle Ages “
• Richard Emmerson (Keynote Speaker), Florida State University:
  “The Apocalypse of the Duc de Berry and the Apocalyptic Great Schism”
• Jennifer Feltman, Univesity of Alabama
  “Ecclesiology and Typology in the Apocalypse Sculptures of Reims Cathedral”
• Mayte Green-Mercado, Rutgers University, Newark
  “Prophecy as Diplomacy in the Fifteenth-Century Mediterranean”
• Jennifer Jahner, Cal Tech
  “Apocalypse Unfurled: End-Times Management from Codex to Roll”
• Benjamin Saltzman, University of Chicago
  “Enigmas Near the End”
• Stephen Shoemaker, University of Oregon
  “The Apocalypse of Ps.-Shenoute: Imperial Apocalypticism and Early Islamic Jerusalem”            
• Laura Ackerman Smoller, Rochester
  “Reading the End in Late Medieval Augsburg:  Wolfgang Aytinger’s Commentary on the Revelations of Pseudo-Methodius”
• Brett Whalen, University of North Carolina
  “The End Times and the Medieval Cosmos”
• Roger Wieck, Morgan Library and Museum
  “Visions of the Beginning:  The Parliament of Heaven”

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Registration Information:

The Marco Symposium is free and open to the public. Our 2021 Symposium will be hosted online and will require advance registration. Details forthcoming.

Please email our Program Coordinator, Dr. Katie Hodges-Kluck, at marco@utk.edu, with questions.

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About the annual Marco Symposium

The Marco Symposium is held every year in March or April. The Symposium brings 10 leading experts in their field to the University of Tennessee for two days of talks on that year’s theme. A round-table discussion by all the participants concludes the weekend.

The Symposium is Marco’s signature event of the year, and typically attracts members of the larger Knoxville community in addition to students and faculty at UT and scholars from across the region. The theme of the Symposium changes each year. Faculty who are interested in submitting a proposal should contact marco@utk.edu

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Guest Parking Information:

Visitor parking is located in the Volunteer Hall Garage (1545 White Ave.). Further details about UT visitor parking are available at the Parking & Transit Services website.

Free street parking is available in the neighborhoods around campus (e.g. Fort Sanders), but cannot be guaranteed. Guests can also get to campus via the free trolley from downtown.

The campus map is available online here.

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