A Winner! "Plague Time" Essay Contest

It is past time--you have all been waiting with bated breath--to announce the winner of our "Plague Time" Essay Contest. And we have one! The Department of History and Political Science is pleased to announce that the winner of the contest, for his essay "Plague Time: God's Judgment?", is...

...Blythe Gilbert! Blythe is a rising senior, a double major in History and Political Science, and he will be writing a senior honors project next fall on Italian Fascist foreign policy under Mussolini.

In his winning essay, Blythe ponders the fact that earlier generations of Christians, in the face of plague and pandemic, would have wondered what brought this terrible judgment of God down upon them. Drawing upon examples from Byzantium and the Puritans, he concludes--inspired by Martin Luther's experience with the plague--that Christians today, facing the coronavirus pandemic, should ask themselves not, "Why is God punishing us like this?," but rather, "What does God want us to do in the face of this trial?"

The department plans to make Blythe's essay available later in the summer. Shoot me an e-mail to reserve your advance e-copy of the winning essay.

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A Warning Against Drink

I have gotten several things read over the last few days, but I keep forgetting to post any of it. Some more Gotthelf, but also a couple of other things. I'll try to break them up in order to get a few more posts out of them! Last Friday I finished another Gotthelf novella, Wie fünf Mädchen im Branntwein jämmerlich umkommen . That title does not translate very well into English, or at least I don't think so. Something like, How Five Young Women Perish Miserably Due to Brandy (or literally "in brandy"). It is an early work of Gotthelf's and a piece of social criticism. When Gotthelf was writing (1838), the canton of Bern had recently liberalized its system for granting licenses to operate a pub. At the same time, new methods of producing cheap brandy from different sources, including even the ubiquitous potato, were developed. As a consequence, inns and pubs sprang up throughout the countryside, creating a new temptation for poor...

"Plague Time" Essay Contest

If you are a major or minor in History, Political Science, Augmented History, Humanities, or German Studies, you are eligible to enter a brand-new essay contest being sponsored by the Department of History and Political Science. Details available here . And if you aren't a major or minor in one of those areas... it is not too late to become one now !

Titian Exhibition at the National Gallery, Live on BBC

London's National Gallery currently has an exhibition of Titian's work -- one that unfortunately cannot be seen right now due to the coronavirus shutdown. But on Saturday, the BBC will air a one-hour documentary about the exhibition -- a chance to "see" it in spite of the plague. According to the webpage, it should be available shortly after its broadcast. Update (4/4): Rats--it looks as though you can only see it in the UK. Very disappointing.

Plague Time

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