MEDIA CONTACT: Charles Loebbaka at 847-491-4887 or c-loebbaka@northwestern.edu

July 19, 2005

Kieckhefer Named to Religion Professorship

Richard Kieckhefer, professor of religion and of history, has been named the John Evans Professor in Religion at  Northwestern University.

A historian of Christianity who works mainly on the late Middle Ages in Western Europe, Kieckhefer has conducted research on various aspects of late medieval religious culture, including mystical theology, sainthood, and heresy and its repression. He is widely known for his work on late medieval witchcraft and magic, and currently is developing his interest in church architecture as an area for research.

His most recent book, "Theology in Stone: Church Architecture from Byzantium to Berkeley," is an interweaving of history, theology and aesthetics.  "Magic in the Middle Ages" has been published in nine languages. He is author of five other books including the classic, "European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Popular and Learned Culture, 1300-1500."

A former president of the American Society of Church History and the Societas Magica, Kieckhefer has been awarded a residency at the Bellagio Study in Italy and is a Guggenheim fellow and fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. He has served three terms as chair of the department of religion.