Richard Kieckhefer (born 1946) is an American

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, religious historian, scholar of

church architecture Church architecture refers to the architecture of Christian buildings, such as Church (building), churches, chapels, convents, and seminaries. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly ...

, and author. He is Professor of History and John Evans Professor of Religious Studies 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 ...

Education

After an undergraduate education at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

, Kieckhefer earned a PhD in history from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

in 1972, spending a year in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

at the

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The (Latin for "Historical Monuments of Germany"), frequently abbreviated MGH, is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of parts of Northwestern, Central and Souther ...

Institute with the support of the

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee. Organisa ...

(DAAD).

Career

Kieckhefer has written on

sainthood In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

, medieval

ritual magic Ceremonial magic (also known as magick, ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitione ...

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

, medieval and contemporary

hoopoe Hoopoes () are colourful birds found across Africa, Asia, and Europe, notable for their distinctive "Crest (feathers), crown" of feathers which can be raised or lowered at will. Two living and one extinct species are recognized, though for many y ...

s, and mystical literature; he has also edited and translated important texts from medieval Latin. He has taught at Northwestern University since 1975. His ''Magic in the Middle Ages'', first published in 1989, has been translated into Spanish, German, Polish, Czech, Italian, and Greek, and is forthcoming in Turkish, Portuguese, and Korean. He was President of the American Society of Church History in 1997 and of the Societas Magica from 1995 to 2004.

Awards

In addition to the DAAD, his research has been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and 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 ...

. In 2006, he was elected a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Works

''European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300–1500''
(1976)
''Repression of Heresy in Medieval Germany''
(1979)
''Magic in the Middle Ages''
(1989)
''Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century''
(1997)
''Theology in Stone: Church Architecture From Byzantium to Berkeley''
(2004)
''There Once Was a Serpent: A History of Theology in Limericks''
(2010)

References

External links

Kieckhefer's publications on Northwestern Scholars

Richard Kieckhefer on Library Thing

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kieckhefer, Richard American medievalists Northwestern University faculty Living people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers University of Texas at Austin alumni Saint Louis University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Writers from Illinois Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Western esotericism scholars Presidents of the American Society of Church History 1946 births