Erasmus Lecture Probes the Sacred, Desire

Cary Howie, assistant professor of romance languages at Cornell University lectures about “Small Hands, Broken Fingers: Poetry, Theology and the Mysteries of the Body” at a free, public lecture on Thursday, Jan. 26, from 4-5:30 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge at Westmont’s Kerrwood Hall. The Erasmus Society lecture is cosponsored by the Westmont Gender Studies Program. A reception will follow.

Howie, who graduated from Bard College and earned a master’s degree and doctorate from Stanford, authored “Claustrophilia: The Erotics of Enclosure in Medieval Literature” and co-authored “Sanctity and Pornography in Medieval Culture: On the Verge.”

He has researched extensively in medieval devotional literature and practice, in Christian theology, and in medieval art and sexuality. His latest book, “Sanctity and Pornography,” demonstrates his interest in the complex intersections between the sacred and the sexual. “His work continues to explore connections between medieval representations of desires and the desires of our contemporary culture, whether for the divine, or for each other, or for as yet unarticulated experiences,” says Cheri Larsen Hoeckley, Westmont professor of English.