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Lynneth Miller Renberg
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor of History
lrenberg@andersonuniversity.edu
(864) 231-2145
Faculty Office Building #11
Academic Background
Lynneth Miller Renberg is an associate professor of history. Her research interests include religion, gender, emotion, and performance (particularly dance) in northern Europe. Recent publications include a 2021 edited collection with Routledge, “The Cursed Carolers in Context”, articles in “Fides et Historia”, the “Journal of the Northern Renaissance”, and “postmedieval”, and a 2022 book with Boydell, “Women, Dance, and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1600”. This book received three awards, including the Founders’ Prize
BA in History, Oklahoma Christian University
MLitt in Modern History, University of St Andrews
Ph.D in History, Baylor University
Fast Facts
My interest in history and teaching developed from intensive faculty mentorship and investment in my growth as both a scholar and a Christian during my time as an undergraduate student. I love that AU’s class sizes make active and innovative pedagogy possible, and that having students across multiple semesters (as well as in the Honors Program and in the honors society Phi Alpha Theta) makes mentorship possible.
You can do so much more than teach with a history degree! It’s great preparation for any career that involves putting together complex pieces of a narrative, writing, arguing a position, or analyzing information and data to better understand it.
I have won several book and article awards, including the Founders’ Prize from the Sixteenth Century Society, the Guittard Prize from Baylor University, the Sponsler Award for Best First Book from the Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society, and the Judith R. Walkowitz Article Prize from the North American Conference on British Studies. I was named a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in May 2023 for my contributions to historical study, and received the Michael Boles Excellence in Teaching Award in May 2024.
Medieval and early modern studies, Reformations, religion, church history, dance and performance, women’s and gender studies
Academic Books
Women, Dance and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640: Negotiating the Steps of Faith. Boydell Press, November 15, 2022. https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783277476/women-dance-and-parish-religion-in-england-1300-1640/
Co-editor, The Cursed Carolers in Context. Routledge Press, March 22, 2021. https://www.routledge.com/The-Cursed-Carolers-in-Context/MillerRenberg-Phillis/p/book/9780367742225?srsltid=AfmBOoqzCd9ZkiH0y4PkIgWpqTc3GgJP0Fc6ddBKIRzbEJUwtD-TI4-B
Trade Books
Co-editor and author, Waiting for the Light: Advent with the Early Church. Under contract with IVP Academic for publication in 2026.
Journal Articles
“Dancing Heresy: Gender and Religion in Dancing Manias” (accepted as part of special issue with Medieval Feminist Forum; forthcoming 2025)
“Sacrilegious Bodies: Gender, Race, and Medieval Dance in Constructing Empire.” postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies (July 2023). Link here.
“From Pulpit to Parish: Preaching Dance and Parish Dances in England and Scandinavia.” Journal of Northern Renaissance (May 2023). https://jnr2.hcommons.org/2023/7677/
“Reforming the Classroom: Games in a Reformation History Course.” Fides et Historia 55.1-2 (2023): 147-154.
“‘A Right Down Regular Queen’: Performance and Monarchy in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers.” Liminalities 18.1 (2022): 74-99. http://liminalities.net/18-1/monarchy.pdf
“Project-Based Pedagogy in a Pandemic.” Sixteenth Century Journal 51.S1 (2020): 231- 234. https://www.escj.org/blog/project-based-pedagogy-pandemic.html
“‘An Outward and Visible Sign of an Inward and Spiritual Grace: Stewart Headlam on the Ballet.” Church History and Religious Culture 99 (August 2019): 248-269.
“Divine Punishment or Disease? Medieval and Early Modern Approaches to the 1518 Strasbourg Dancing Plague.” Dance Research Journal 35.2 (November 2017): 149- 164.
Book Chapters
“Priests, Cursed Carolers, and Pastoral Care in Handlyng Synne, Of Shrifte and Penance, and Instructions to His Son,” in The Cursed Carolers in Context (Routledge: March 22, 2021).
“Introduction” in The Cursed Carolers in Context (Routledge: March 22, 2021).
Other Peer-Reviewed Publications
“The 1518 Dancing Plague in Strasbourg: From Miracles to Medicine.” Under contract with Routledge Resources Online: The Renaissance World (anticipated publication in 2025)
Roundtable Introduction, “Gaming Pedagogy and Teaching Virtue in the College Classroom.” Fides et Historia 55.1-2 (2023): 132-133.
Barr, Beth Allison; Miller, Lynneth J. “John Mirk.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Medieval Studies. Ed. Paul E. Szarmach. New York: Oxford University Press, October 25, 2018. DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195396584-0259
Selected Podcasts, Interviews, Blogs, and Trade Publications
Monthly contributor to The Anxious Bench on Patheos, February 2023-present.
“Christianity and Dance.” The History of Christianity Podcast. 2 episodes. Released February and March 2023.
“Women, Dance, and Parish Religion.” Ecclesiastical History Society Podcast. Released November 2022.
Interviewed for Discover Magazine and quoted in “Dancing ‘Till Death: The Mystery Behind the Dancing Manias.” (Oct. 28, 2021) (https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/dancing-till-death-the-mystery- behind-dancing-manias)
“Dancing Through the Archives: Dance, Manuscripts, and Medieval Religion.” North American Conference on British Studies Blog. (http://www.nacbs.org/blog/dancing-through-the-archives-dance- manuscripts-and-medieval-religion/) Published June 12, 2018