About

Deeana C. Klepper is a Professor of History and Religion at Boston University, holding a PhD in Medieval European History from Northwestern University. Her teaching encompasses courses on Christianity, Judaism, and medieval and early modern European religious history. Her research focuses on medieval religious identities, cultures, and interreligious encounters. She authored the book 'The Insight of Unbelievers: Nicholas of Lyra and Christian Reading of Jewish Texts in the Later Middle Ages,' which examines Christian scholars' attitudes toward Jewish tradition and highlights Nicholas of Lyra's role as a mediator of Hebrew and Jewish tradition for Christian Europeans. Her second book, 'Pastoral Care and Community in Late Medieval Germany: Albert of Diessen’s “Mirror of Priests,”' analyzes a Latin manual for German parish priests written between 1370-77, providing insights into medieval religious culture and how religious ideals were adapted locally. Currently, she is working on two projects: one comparing advice manuals for parish priests concerning interactions with Jews and Muslims across Europe, and another exploring the concept of demonic obsession as an explanation for mental illness in medieval Europe, with a focus on pastoral and medical literature. In 2024, she was elected to the Society of Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America, recognizing her significant scholarly contributions to the interdisciplinary field of Medieval Studies.

Research topics

• Sociology
• History
• Art
• Archaeology
• Political Science
• Philosophy
• Computer Science
• Law
• Communication
• Epistemology
• Genealogy
• Classics
• Visual arts
• Theology
• Art history
• Linguistics

Selected publications

• :<i>Heresy and Citizenship: Persecution of Heresy in Late Medieval German Cities</i>

  Speculum · 2023-10-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Making a Mirror for Priests

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2022-12-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter discusses the text in <italic>Mirror for Priests</italic>, which was written by priest Albert of Diessen. It highlights the malleability of Christian pastoral expectations, especially when many authors wrote many works that are addressed to different audiences. Albert made authoritative texts available to less-educated clerics to provide a succinct and manageable guide to the essential aspects of the care of souls and the management of a parish community. The chapter lists some of Albert's sources and references for the <italic>Mirror for Priests</italic>, such as Augustine, Gregory the Great, and John of Freiburg's <italic>Summa</italic>. It elaborates on the structures of the different versions of <italic>the Mirror</italic>.

  PublisherDOI

• Pastoral Care and Community in Late Medieval Germany

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2022-12-15

  book1st authorCorresponding

  This book explores how local religious culture was constructed in medieval European Christian society through close study of a set of neglected, late fourteenth-century manuscripts. The <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic> is a pastoral work written by Albert, an Augustinian canon from the Bavarian market town of Diessen, to guide local priests in their work with parishioners. Multiple versions of the text in Albert's own hand survive and, by comparing them, the book shows how ostensibly universal religious ideals and laws were adapted, interpreted, and repurposed by those given responsibility to implement them, thereby crafting distinctive, local expressions of Christianity. The vision of Christian community that emerges from Albert's pastoral guide is one in which the messiness of ordinary life is evident. Albert's imagined parish was marked out by geographic and legal boundaries—property and jurisdictional rights, tithes, and sacramental responsibility—as well as symbolic realities. By situating the <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic> within Albert's physical and conceptual spaces, the book affirms the centrality of the parish and its community for those living under the rubric of Christianity, especially outside of large cities. Pivoting between the materiality of texts and the sociocultural contexts of an overlooked manuscript tradition, the book offers fresh insights into the role of parish priests, the pastoral manual genre, and late medieval religious life.

  PublisherDOI

• Albert of Diessen and the Augustinian Canons at Diessen am Ammersee

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2022-12-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter tackles the influence of Albert of Diessen and his work, <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic>. The work reflects the fusion of monastic and priestly calling embraced by the Augustinian canons regular, reinforced by a distinctive Augustinian approach to education. Moreover, the <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic> showcases German regionalism since the priest was aiming for priests serving rural parish communities. The chapter expounds on Albert of Diessen's life and legacy, which were preserved through his writing and administrative labors on behalf of the Augustinian canons at Diessen. Built through spatial imagination, Albert's vision of the ideal Christian community as depicted in the <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic> reflects a constructed religious space.

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• Abbreviations

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2022-12-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• Constructing (and Reconstructing) Christian Community

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2022-12-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter covers how Christian–Jewish interaction, superstition and magic, and eschatology affected Albert of Diessen's revision process through the <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic>. It acknowledges magical practices, demonic spirits, and Jews existing within the circle of the Christian community. The revisions with the concepts on hand showcased Albert's priorities and beliefs as he constructed and reconstructed notions he thought were important to his readers and their parishioners. Moreover, Albert wrote and rewrote the <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic> on the cusp of a dramatic shift in clerical attitudes towards sorcery, witchcraft, and superstition across Europe, especially in German-speaking territories. The chapter also mentions how Albert referenced celestial glory for the <italic>Mirror</italic>'s conclusion.

  PublisherDOI

• Exile

  2022-11-04

  dataset1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Pastoral Care and Guides for Priests in Late Medieval Europe

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2022

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • History

  This chapter elaborates on the genre of pastoral literature as it developed throughout the twelfth through fourteenth centuries. The genre arose in line with the development of scholastic culture and new expectations for Christian clergy and laity. The most important factor of pastoral literature's development was the sacrament of penance through regular confession and a new commitment to doctrinal education for laypeople. The chapter looks into the proliferation of comprehensive confessors' manuals in schools. It also considers Albert of Diessen's credibility which comes from his mastery of the scholastic tradition of pastoral literature and the specific Augustinian tradition of pastoral care.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2022-12-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter explores pastoral literature and lived religion in Medieval Christian societies. Lived religion depends on theories of embodiment and materiality to claim that whatever intellectual, moral, theological, legal, or cosmological frameworks might be part of a particular religious tradition. Additionally, pastoral literature served as a common ground between the intellectual tradition of medieval Christian scholars and the parish clergy responsible for maintaining, monitoring, sustaining, and building Christian communities on the ground. The chapter discusses how priest Albert of Diessen's <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic> influenced the ways Christianity shaped and was shaped by local circumstances. It then considers the <italic>Mirror</italic> as an Augustinian project and an Upper Bavarian project.

  PublisherDOI

• Making a Mirror for Priests

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2022

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Computer Science
  • Visual arts

  This chapter focuses on the autograph manuscript for Albert of Diessen and his work, <italic>Mirror of Priests</italic>. It details how object and text in the <italic>Mirror</italic> are inextricably intertwined. According to the documentary record, Albert of Diessen was knowledgeable about history, landed and moveable property, and the art of negotiation. The chapter notes the value of manuscripts as they communicate much about the experience of composing, circulating, and reading a text. It acknowledges how Albert of Diessen's work provides valuable insight into the nature of Christianity as imagined for parish communities. Due to the nature of an autograph manuscript, a multidirectional conversation about the ideal Christian community becomes clear.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Euan Cameron

  Union Theological Seminary

  4 shared

• Bruce Gordon

  3 shared

• Alastair Hamilton

  2 shared

• Mary Dove

  1 shared

• Philippe Buc

  1 shared

• Emidio Campi

  1 shared

• Bernard Chédozeau

  1 shared

• Philip D. Krey

  1 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Medieval European History

  Northwestern University

Awards & honors

• Society of Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America (2024)