"Glory in time: A History of the Desire of the Cosmos to Return
to God"
Thursday, March 7, 1991
Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall
University of California, Santa Barbara
Professor Jeffrey Burton Russell of the Department of History is
a distinguished medieval historian who has been producing scholarly work
of internationally recognized merit for more than a quarter of a century.
When he came to UCSB in 1979, he brought with him a distinguished reputation
as a social and intellectual historian who had written fundamental works
on the "dark side" of Christianity, most notably Dissent and Reform
in the Early Middle Ages (1965), which was reprinted in 1983, and Witchcraft
in the Middle Ages (1972), which has gone through five printings. He also
wrote Medieval Civilization (1968), A History of Medieval Christianity:
Prophecy and Order (1968 and now in its 10th printing), and a host of decisive
reviews for such distinguished academic publications as Speculum and The
Catholic Historical Review.
This stream of publication, continuing unabated, now includes A History
of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, Pagans (1980), Medieval Heresies: A
Bibliography, 1960-1979 (1982), and the masterwork on which we primarily
base this award, his five volume study of the history of evil that began
with the publication of The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to
Early Christianity in 1977 and concluded in 1988 with The Prince of Darkness,
a distillation of his own insights born of more than two decades of intensive
study into the way evil has been personified in different cultures. Russell's
next book, to be published in July 1991, is Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus
and the Historians.
In an age of increasingly narrow specialization, Jeffrey Russell has held
true to the great humanistic vision of integrated knowledge. Leave aside
the command of historical materials required to study a problem that stretches
over 5,000 years, and simply consider that Professor Russell's study of
evil also required a command of the disciplines of literature, religion
and folklore, of psychology, philosophy and theology. As Yale's Jaroslav
Pelikan-one of the few living scholars qualified to assess Professor Russell's
work- has written, Professor Russell's treatment of the topic of evil breaks
out of "the chronological boundaries that normally define the baronial
territorialities of historical scholarship." The result, he writes,
"is a set of books that art historians and students of literature,
as well as philosophers and theologians, can read, as the old saw has it,
with pleasure and profit." [Commentary 85 (1987), 64]
In order to undertake such a massive study, Professor Russell had to invent
a new subdiscipline, one that he calls "the history of concepts,"
which he proposes as an improvement on the new well-established field of
"the history of ideas." The difference is that, whereas one studying
the "idea" of evil soon runs into metaphysical snares-needing
to give equal consideration to radically aberrant definitions of evil, for
instance, simply because they, too, are "ideas"-the student of
"the history of concepts," by studying the tradition of a particular
thought, is able (in Professor Russell's own words) "to integrate 'high'
thought with 'low' thought, theology and philosophy with myth and art, the
products of the unconscious with the products of the conscious" without
losing the thread of a coherent narrative. Professor Russell has put the
problem more simply: "If you define a cat as a pachyderm with wings,"
he has written, "your idea is not helpful in understanding cats."
["History and Truth," The Historian 50 (19B7), 9]
Few scholars can claim to have created a new field of study. But with the
"history of concepts," Jeffrey Russell has, in fact, created something
that is uniquely his own. In developing this methodology, he has consciously
incorporated and critiqued several of the epistemological positions that
are enlivening and challenging the humanistic disciplines, drawing equally
upon traditional Kantian phenomenology and contemporary theories of the
sociology of knowledge. This selfconscious engagement with theoretical and
philosophical approaches to knowledge has resulted in a powerful conceptual
tool for analyzing the ideas and values of society. It has earned for Professor
Russell a brilliant international reputation, and it led to his election
in 1985 as a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America-a rare honor, reserved
for only the most distinguished scholars in a field that is not limited
to History, but that embraces as well medievalists in Literature, Philosophy,
Theology, Music, Church History, and Art History.
THE ANNUAL FACULTY RESEARCH LECTURE
Historical Statement
In May 1954, the Committee on Research of the University of California,
Santa Barbara, presented a report to the faculty that recommended instituting
a Faculty Research Lectureship on the Santa Barbara campus. The Committee's
report was adopted. It provides that the faculty of the Santa Barbara campus
shall annually elect one of its members who is distinguished by scholarly
research in a chosen field of activity as Faculty Research Lecturer. The
Faculty Research Lecture is coordinated by UCSB Arts & Lectures.
Faculty Research Lecturers
1955-ELMER R. NOBLE, Professor of Zoology, Emeritus
1956-WILBUR R. JACOBS, Professor of History, Emeritus
1957-CORNELIUS H. MULLER, Professor of Botany, Emeritus
1958-WILLIAM H. ELLISON, Professor of History, Emeritus
1959-HUGH KENNER, Professor of English
1960-DEMOREST DAVENPORT, Professor of Zoology, Emeritus
1961-WILLIAM D. ALTUS, Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
1962-JOHN E. GUSHING, Professor of Immunology, Emeritus
1964-PHILLIP DAMON, Professor of English, Emeritus
1965-C. WARREN HOLLISTER, Professor of History
1966-GARRETT HARDIN, Professor, of Biology, Emeritus
1967-ALEXANDER DeCONDE, Professor of History
1968-C. A. BUNTON, Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus
1969-KY FAN, Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus
1970-THOMAS C. BRUICE, Professor of Chemistry
1971-IMMANUEL C. Y. HSU, Professor of History
1972-ELLIS ENGLESBERG, Professor of Microbiology
1973-STUART P. ATKINS, Professor of German, Emeritus
1974-DAVID PREMACK, Professor of Psychology
1975-C. HERMAN PRITCHETT, Professor of Political Science, Emeritus
1976-HERBERT P. BROIDA, Professor of Physics
1977-HERBERT FINGARETTE, Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus
1978-DONALD CRESSEY, Professor of Sociology
1979-JOHN A. CARBON, Professor of Biochemistry
1980-PETER R. FRICKER, Professor of Music
1981-GEORGE R. TILTON, Professor of Geochemistry
1982-WILLIAM DOLE, Professor of Art
1983-DOUGLAS J. SCALAPINO, Professor of Physics
1984-RICHARD EXNER, Professor of German
1985-HERBERT KROEMER, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
1986-PETER MERKL, Professor of Political Science
1987-HORIA METIU, Professor of Chemistry
1988-VINCENT JACCARINO, Professor of Physics
1989-BERT STATES, Professor of Dramatic Art
1990-GUENTER AHLERS, Professor of Physics
