Julianne E. Sandberg

Associate Professor of English at Samford University in Birmingham, AL

Education

2016    Ph.D. in English, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX

2014    M.A. in English, Southern Methodist University

2008    B.A. in English, summa cum laude, Cedarville University, Cedarville, OH

Academic Appointments

2018–present   Assistant Professor of English, Samford University, Birmingham, AL

2016–17  Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of English, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

Book Manuscript

Flesh Like Mine: Early Modern Literature and the Bodies of the Reformed Eucharist

How did bread and wine teach early modern readers how to read? Answering this question depends, I argue, on how the Protestant Reformation redefined the Eucharist as an allegorical text. The effects of this ritual were as much literary as theological. Whereas the Catholic Church believed that Christ’s literal body existed under the form of bread and wine, most Protestants saw these same elements as signs that demanded allegorical reading and that renegotiated the place of the body within this interpretive encounter. Thus, Protestantism did not spurn allegory, as most scholars assert, but rather saw it as a source of sacramental efficacy that empowers reading. As a result of this radically reconceived ritual, writers as diverse as Spenser, Shakespeare, Lanyer, and Donne make the body the site of allegorical reading and weight this reading practice with the stakes of the sacrament. Beginning with the controversies of the Reformation and extending through the revolutionary era of Milton and Bunyan, I argue that the bodies of allegory become explicit texts that demand allegorical reading, a phenomenon made possible not just by the rise of print culture but also by the reading practice embodied in the Protestant Eucharist.

Dissertation

“Flesh Becoming Word: Eucharist and Allegory in Early Modern England”

Committee: Timothy Rosendale (chair), Daniel Moss, Rajani Sudan, Debora Shuger

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters

“The Georgic Mode and ‘Poor Labours’ of George Herbert.” Renaissance Studies 30.2 (April 2016)

“Book, Body, and Bread: Reading Aemelia Lanyer’s Eucharist.” Philological Quarterly 96.1 (Winter 2017).

 “Utopian Literality: Thomas More and the Faith of Catholic Reading.” Forthcoming in Studies in Philology (Spring 2020)

“Anthony Copley and the Paradoxes of Parody.” Renaissance Studies 35.5 (June 2021).

“Ecclesiological Unity and the Enlargement of Scripture: Richard Sibbes and Figural Reading.” All Thy Lights Combine: Figural Reading in the Anglican Tradition. Eds. Ephraim Radner and David Ney. Lexham Press: 2022.

Entries and Reviews

Introduction to King Lear, in To This You Are Called: A Reader on Vocation in Christian Education (Zondervan Academic). Anthology forthcoming in 2023.

Review of Debating the Sacraments (Oxford UP, 2019) Renaissance Quarterly (2020).

Review of Allegory and Enchantment (Oxford UP, 2016). Renaissance Quarterly 71.1 (Spring 2018)

Presentations

2021                “King Lear, James Baldwin, and the Wisdom of Tragedy.” Association of Core Texts Conference (ACTC). April 15.

2020                “The Sermons of Richard Sibbes and the Enlargement of Scripture.” South Central Renaissance Conference. Dallas, TX, March 2020. Canceled one week prior because of COVID-19 lockdowns.

2019                “Empowering Students through Slow-Reading.” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference. St. Louis, MO, October 17–20.

2019                Practical Pedagogy: Proven Strategies for Teaching Texts. Panel session at the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference. St. Louis, MO, October 17–20.

2019                “Jacke Jugeler, Shakespeare, and the Lost Bodies of Eucharistic Performance.” Annual Meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America. Seminar: ‘Minor’ Dramatists. Washington DC, April 18–20.

2018                “Getting Rid of the Body: The Eucharist and Bodily Erasure in Catholic Allegory.” Symposium of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. St. Louis MO, June 18­­–20.

2017                “When Paradise Gets Political: Teaching Milton’s Satan Through the Reformation.” NEH-Sponsored Panel. Sixteenth Century Society and Conference. Milwaukee WI, October 26–29.

2017                The Five Senses in Pre-modern English Literature. International Congress on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo MI, May 11–14. Panel moderator.

2017                “A Parody of Reformation: Anthony Copley and the Language of Catholic Reform.” Renaissance Society of America. Chicago IL, March 30–April 1.

2016                “Shakespeare, Calvin, and the Limits of Reading.” Conference on Christianity and Literature. Riverside CA, May 13–14.

2016                “Staging Lear: Change and Chaos on the Early Modern Stage.” Guest Lecturer, ENGL 251, British Literature I. Biola University, La Mirada, CA, May 12.

2016                “Shakespeare, Calvin, and the Limits of Reading.” Conference on Christianity and Literature, Riverside, CA, May 13-14.

2015                “A ‘charming allegorical utterance’: The Protestant Eucharist and the Question of Allegory.” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, October 22–25. Upcoming.

2015                “John Donne’s Body and Eucharistic Allegory.” Domestic Devotions in the Early Modern World, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, July 9–11.

2015                “Re-reading Literal Reading: Thomas More, the Eucharist, and Utopia.” Symposium for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, St. Louis, MO, June 15–17.

2014                “The Georgic Environment and Fruitful Labor of George Herbert.” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, New Orleans, LA, October 16–19.

Awards and Fellowships

  • Teaching and Learning Seminar. Samford University (2018–19).
  • Faculty Seminar on Vocational Mentoring. Wheaton College (Fall 2017).
  • Faculty Development Grant. Wheaton College (May 2017).
  • National Endowment for the Humanities. Summer Institute. “Teaching the Reformation After 500 Years” (July 2016).
  • Hughes Dissertation Fellowship, Southern Methodist University (2015­–16).
  • Pueppke Prize, Best Graduate Student Essay, SMU Department of English (2015).

Teaching Interests

British poetry, drama, and prose; early modern literature; Shakespeare; Milton; dramatic literature; poetry; literary theory/criticism; Medieval and Renaissance history, theology, and culture; humanities; composition (first-year, research-based, and advanced)

Teaching Experience

Assistant Professor, Samford University

  • ENGL 208: Christianity and Literature
  • ENGL 211: Introduction to Literature
  • ENGL 215: Survey of British Literature I
  • ENGL 375: Majors Authors (Shakespeare Seminar)
  • ENGL 205: Fiction and Film (Shakespeare)
  • CA 102: The Power of Stories
  • CA 102: Liberal Education

Visiting Assistant Professor, Wheaton College

  • ENGL 115, Modern Global Literature
  • ENGL 111, Western Literature: Faith and Doubt
  • ENGL 111, Western Literature: Watch the Throne
  • ENGL 111, Western Literature: Power and Politics
  • ENGW 103, Composition and Rhetoric
  • ENGW 104, Composition and Rhetoric (accelerated)

Instructor, Southern Methodist University

  • DISC 2306, Honors Humanities Seminar: Human Responsibility
  • DISC 2305, Honors Humanities Seminar: Questions of Knowledge
  • DISC 1302, Composition: Cultural Myths and Mythologies
  • DISC 1301, Composition: Rhetorics of Culture, Other, Self
  • ENGL 1302, Introduction to Research Writing
  • ENGL 1301, Introduction to College Writing and Rhetoric

Co-Instructor, Southern Methodist University

  • ENGL 1380, Introduction to Literature: British and American Poetry, Drama, and Short Fiction

Adjunct Instructor, Cedarville University

  • ENGL 1400, English Composition

Professional Affiliations

Modern Language Association
Renaissance Society of America
Shakespeare Association of America
Sixteenth Century Society and Conference