Robert Bast
See Also: Curriculum Vitae
Field Specialties
Late Middle Ages, Early Modern Germany, Renaissance (teaching), Reformation
Professor Robert Bast is a specialist in Early Modern European history, with an emphasis on Late Medieval and Reformation Germany. He earned his PhD under Prof. Dr. Heiko A. Oberman at the University of Arizona's Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies, and spent two years as a research scholar at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Among his many research interests, the politics of religion features prominently. He regularly presents papers at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, the International Medieval Studies Conference, and Frühe Neuzeit Interdisziplinär at Duke University. His articles and book reviews have appeared in the Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, Medieval Encounters, The Renaissance Quarterly, The Sixteenth Century Journal, and The Catholic Historical Review. He is a past recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and from the Fulbright Foundation, and is currently at work on a monograph entitled "Prophets of God: Identity and Strategy in Reformation Germany."
Dr. Bast was recently awarded the University’s highest honor for teaching, the National Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award. His courses include the introductory surveys to Western Civilization and to Medieval Studies; upper-division undergraduate courses like The Renaissance, Reformation Europe, Medieval History and Film, and Deviance and Persecution in the Christian West (1100-1700); and a graduate colloquium with varying content on topics in Early Modern European history.
In addition to his responsibilities at the University of Tennessee, in the fall of 2000 Dr. Bast became Editor-in-chief of the prestigious international monograph series Studies in the History of Christian Thought, issued by Brill Academic Publishers.
Education
- Ph.D. University of Arizona, 1993
- M.Div. Western Theological Seminary, 1984
Selected Publications
- Continuity and Change: The Harvest of Late-Medieval and Reformation History. Essays Presented to Heiko A. Oberman on his 70th Birthday. Ed. Robert J. Bast and Andrew Colin Gow. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2000.
- Honor your Fathers: Catechisms and the Emergence of a Patriarchal Ideology in Germany, c. 1400-1600. Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought 71. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997.
- "Strategies of Communication: Late-Medieval Catechisms and the Passion Tradition." The Broken Body: Passion Devotion in Late-Medieval Culture. Ed. Alasdair MacDonald et al. Groningen: Egbert Forsten Press, 1998.
- "From Two Kingdoms to Two Tables: The Ten Commandments and the Christian Magistrate." Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 89 (1998): 79-95.
- "Honor your Fathers: Reform Movements, Catechisms and 'the Civilizing Process' in Late Medieval and Early Modern Germany. Amsterdams Sociologisch Tijdschrift 21.4 (1995): 116-125.
- "Je Geistlicher Je Blinder: Anticlericalism, Ethics and the Law in Luther's Sermons on Matthew 22:34-40." Anticlericalism in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Ed. Peter Dykema and Heiko A. Oberman. Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought 51. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993, 367-78.
Selected Honors and Awards
- The University of Tennessee Jefferson Prize, 2002
- National Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award, 2001
- James R. and Neill W. Cunnigham Outstanding Teaching Award Nominee, University of Tennessee, 2000
- University of Tennessee Exhibit, Performance, Publication Expense Award, University of Tennessee, 1999; 1997
- National Endowment for the Humanities Grant, Council of Basic Education, Humanities Scholars Program, 1999
- Fulbright Fellowship, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tübingen, Germany, 1990-92
Contact Information
Robert Bast
Professor of History
915 Volunteer Boulevard
6th Floor, Dunford Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4065
Office: (865) 974-7083
Fax: (865) 974-3915
E-mail: rbast@utk.edu