Regina Schwartz
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Regina Schwartz is a scholar of English literature and elements of Jewish and Christian religion. Editor's note: Parts of this news service report appear to have been drawn, near to verbatim, from the title subject's self-published faculty biography, and so may not be a truly independent biographical source. A Professor of English and Religion at
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
, she has been known historically for her research and teaching on 17th-century literature (e.g.,
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
and
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
), on the Hebrew Bible, and on the interface of literature with the subjects of philosophy, law, and religion.


Training and career

After undergraduate studies resulting in a B.A. (1975) and a subsequent M.A. (1978), both at
Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...
, Schwartz earned a Ph.D. in English (1984) from the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
. She also taught at
Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
and the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...
, before moving to Northwestern. She has also taught at the University of Pisa, and Northwestern University's Law School. Schwartz was the Visiting Tipton Distinguished Chair of Religion at
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
in 2015.


Written work and recognition

Schwartz won the James Holly Hanford Award from the Milton Society of America for that year's "distinguished... critical monograph" for her 1988 work on Milton, ''Remembering and Repeating: Biblical Creation in Paradise Lost''. She followed this work by ''The Book and the Text: The Bible and Literary Theory'' in 1990, ''Desire in the Renaissance: Psychoanalysis and Literature'' in 1994, and ''The Postmodern Bible'' in 1995. Her 1997 work, ''The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism,'' described by the Episcopal News service as "a study of monotheism, national identity, and violence in the Hebrew Bible", was lauded as a "stunningly important book" by Walter Brueggemann in ''Theology Today'' and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Her 2007 book, ''Sacramental Poetics at the Dawn of Secularism: When God Left the World'' on "the Eucharist in Renaissance literature" was published as a part of the
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
series, "Cultural Memory in the Present". The monograph has been called a "tour de force", and "one of the most important studies of our critical moment." Schwartz's scholarship includes further published essays: *on postmodern theology, in ''Post-secular Philosophy, Questioning God, and Transcendence''; *on Milton and Renaissance literature, in ''The Blackwell Companion to Milton'', and ''The Oxford Handbook of Milton''; and *on Shakespeare and law, in ''Triquarterly''.


Appearances and other work

Schwartz gave the paper, “Questioning Narratives of God”, at the second “Religion and Postmodernism” conference in October 1999 at
Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...
in northwest suburban
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, a conference that featured
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...
; her ideas, which appeared subsequently in the conference proceedings, "explore her suspicion surrounding the adequacy of narratives about God... here shesuggest dthat as important as narrative is, we must recognize that it, like visual representation, is a form of idolatry." She has subsequently been a featured speaker at: *the Adelaide Festival of Ideas in 2001, on issues related to sustainability and the environment, in the session "The 21st Century: How much water, how many people?"; *the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs; *The Castelli Colloquium in Rome; and at *the University of Lugano, on free speech; and at *Notre Dame University, on human rights. Schwartz was the 2014 Respondent to the Tanner Lectures given by
Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of W ...
, the 104th
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. Schwartz wrote the libretto for composer John Eaton's opera, ''Paradise Lost'' based on Milton, and the separate stage adaptation, "John Milton's Paradise Lost", performed in May, 2010 by the Chicago Shakespeare Project.


Organizational leadership positions

Schwartz has served as: *Chair of Northwestern University's Interdisciplinary Hiring Initiative in the Humanities; *Chair of the Religion and Literature Division of the
Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "str ...
; *President of the Milton Society of America; *Director of the Milton Project that honoured the 400th birthday of John Milton; *Co-Director of the Milton Seminar at the
Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities. It is located in Chicago, Illinois, and has been free and open to the public since 1887. The Newberry's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of our wo ...
;Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture website, profile page
/ref> and as *Co-Director of the "Academy for the Advanced Study of the Renaissance".


Research and publications

Schwartz's research has been supported by the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
, the MacArthur Foundation, and the University of Virginia's Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture.


Sole author works

*''Loving Justice, Living Shakespeare'' (Oxford University Press, 2017) *''Sacramental Poetics at the Dawn of Secularism: When God Left the World'' (Stanford University Press, 2008) *''The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism'' (University of Chicago Press, 1998) *''The Postmodern Bible'' (Yale University Press, 1995) *''Remembering and Repeating: Biblical Creation in Paradise Lost'' (Cambridge University Press, 1989)


Edited works

*''Transcendence: Philosophy, Literature, and Theology Approach the Beyond'' (Routledge, 2004) *With Valeria Finucci, ''Desire in the Renaissance: Psychoanalysis and Literature'' (Princeton University Press, 1994) *''The Book and the Text: The Bible and Literary Theory'' (Basil Blackwell, 1990)Oxford University Press website
/ref>


References


External links



at Northwestern's English Department
Schwartz's entry
as a subject matter expert, with links to full publications, at Northwestern Scholars

on monotheism and violence
Video of Schwartz's Convocation address
at Yale Divinity School {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Regina Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American literary critics American women literary critics Northwestern University faculty Writers from Illinois Yale University alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni University of Virginia alumni Shakespearean scholars