Medieval women instructed not to eat feast (amedievalwomanscompanion.com)
It was really while I was at UW that my research took off and I found my true ‘voice’.
Bynum was the first scholar to critically analyze the role of gender in medieval religious practice, and in doing so revealed the significance of women-and non-elites- in shaping the practice and understanding of faith in the medieval past.
Beginning with her article “Jesus as Mother,” produced soon after her arrival in Seattle in 1976, Bynum helped establish a body of feminist scholarship on religion and history that established her as an important scholar of gender, medieval history, and religious studies.
Religious woman in the Middle Ages (medievalart.org)
Medieval women eating (www.medievalists.net)
Bynum was the first to give credence to austere expressions of piety through bodily practices, such as fasting and self-mutilation, particularly as practiced by women. Her collaborations with other UW faculty produced the edited volume Gender and Religion, a widely used collection of essays looking at how women practiced religion and how religious symbols were gendered.
Bynum’s work earned her numerous awards, including the Berkshire Prize for historical scholarship on women, the Governor’s Award of the State of Washington, and a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.”
A committed teacher, Bynum created an introductory history course on the social history of medieval Europe at UW and she went on to win a university Distinguished Teaching Award.
Additional Resources
Roger Adelson Interview with Caroline Walker Bynum
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-6563.1996.tb00981.x?journalCode=rhis20
Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520063297/holy-feast-and-holy-fast
Bynum, Jesus as Mother
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520052222/jesus-as-mother
Bynum, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-resurrection-of-the-body-in-western-christianity-2001336/9780231185295
