Profs & Pints Baltimore: Of Gods and Monsters
Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Of Gods and Monsters,” a big-picture discussion of the world’s mythologies and religious traditions, with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, medievalist and visiting assistant teaching professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
[Doors open at 3. The talk starts at 4:30. The room is open seating.]
Across the centuries, societies have developed stories to explain the world around them. Some we call mythology. Others we call scripture. One society’s myth might be another’s religious belief. Yet most share themes and patterns and spring from common social concerns. Their heroes, gods, goddesses, monsters, and supernatural entities have ended up sharing similar characteristics.
Are there universal human experiences and ideas from which such narratives emerge?
Hear that question tackled by Professor Kat Tracy, who has built up a loyal following among Profs and Pints by giving excellent past talks on medieval myths, legends, folklore and practices.
She’ll trace myths’ relationship with religion and the arts across cultures and across time. We’ll take a scholarly journey from Ancient Greece and Rome to prehistoric Ireland and England, to the Indigenous Americas and the northern realm of the Vikings, across the Silk Road to the Far East, and down the Nile into Egypt and other African nations.
You’ll learn how the religious beliefs of our modern age were shaped by centuries of conquest, displacement, adaptation, and synthesis. Christianity evolved from a mixing pot of North African, Persian, Roman, and Judaic cultures. Saxons and Danes settled in England and introduced new gods to be shared by later Viking raiders. Colonialism introduced conquered Indigenous people to European traditions, and enslavement mixed them all together into new religions. The Irish and Welsh adapted Christianity to suit their own legends.
We’ll look at how images from different religious traditions are mixed even at sites and in manuscripts considered holy. Norse gods like Heimdall appear on Christian cross slabs in the Isle of Man. Foliate faces associated with paganism grin from the roofs of Christian churches. Serpents that could be dragons struggle with heroes who could be archangels.
Among the questions the talk will tackle: How different are Odysseus and Aeneas from Beowulf, Cu Chullain, or even King Arthur? Why do so many traditions have supernatural tricksters like Loki, Anansi, and Coyote? Or shapeshifters like werewolves? Or witches? (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)
