Steven Vanderputten

Background

About Steven Vanderputten

I am an historian specializing in the society and culture of the Middle Ages, particularly the period between ca. 800 and 1200. I have published extensively on such subjects as the experience and shaping of the collective past, communicative and ritual practices, conflict management, institutional and religious leadership and various aspects of ecclesiastical institutionalism, and have led several major funded research project on these topics. A significant part of my research looks at the institutional development, cultural attitudes and societal behavior of religious, particularly monastic communities. This thematic focus derives from the double realization that these communities can be regarded as ‘laboratories’ for the study of group dynamics, institutional development and various other subjects relevant to the study of past societies. My work on the problems involved with the study of reform – both as a historical given and as an interpretative tool for modern scholarship – is a good example of this. Recently I have also become involved in the study of bishops’ literary production and self-representation; female religious movements, and heresy. Recently I have also become interested in the study of early modern discourse of religious identity and reform, and in the study of the of memory cultures from the medieval era to the beginning of the nineteenth century. For more information and a full cv, see http://ugent.academia.edu/stevenvanderputten and https://research.flw.ugent.be/nl/steven.vanderputten.