Date: Thursday 23 April 2026
Venue: All Souls College
The role of the universities in the intellectual transformations of seventeenth-century Europe has been recognised more widely in recent scholarship. Learned divines in English universities are now seen as active participants in European-wide controversies as well as more local disputes, which could be intellectual, administrative, or personal in nature. Taking Thomas Barlow (1608/9-1691) as a central figure through which these broader themes can be examined, this conference seeks to explore the relationship between university and society, Anglo-European intellectual networks, and the logics of knowledge production in early Enlightenment Oxford and beyond.
We invite papers of 20-25 minutes that address the lives of university divines, academic theology, conventional or emerging pedagogies, and learned reading habits in the age of early Enlightenment (c. 1630-). We particularly welcome papers that engage with material, textual, or biographical aspects of Thomas Barlow, but we will also consider presentations focusing on the universities in early Enlightenment intellectual culture more generally.
To apply, please submit a 250-word abstract and a brief biographical statement to
barlow.europe2026@gmail.com. Travel bursaries are available, but may not cover the full
cost of attendance.
Keynote speaker: Professor Anthony Milton (Sheffield)
Conveners: Jacob Chatterjee (Oxford), Ben Card (Yale), and Hannah Dongsun Lee (Tokyo Metropolitan)
