Biography
Peter Howard is Emeritus Professor at Australian Catholic University, where he served as Director of the Institute of Religion and Critical Inquiry (2019ā2023). Previously, he was a member of the history program at Monash University, Melbourne (1996ā2018), where he was founding Director of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (2012ā2019), Convener of the Prato Consortium for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (2010ā2019), and Director of theĢżBody in the City 1100ā1800 research program (2016ā2019). He also held senior academic leadership roles, including Deputy and Interim Dean of the Faculty of Arts (2013-2017) at Monash University. Earlier in his career, he lectured in church history at the University of Divinity, Melbourne (1986ā1997). He has been a Fellow and also Visiting Professor at Villa I Tatti: The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, a Fellow of the European University Institute, Florence, and a visiting scholar at the Istituto per le scienze religiose, Bologna.Ģż In 2023 he co-chaired with Brendan Wolfe (University of St ĢĒŠÄlogo) the Sixth Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion at the University of St ĢĒŠÄlogo and has facilitated co-operation between ACU and St ĢĒŠÄlogo. He has been awarded several Australian Research Council grants, most recently for his project on the fifteenth-century frescoes of the Sistine Chapel (2019-2026). His contribution to higher education and pedagogy was recognized by awards from Monash University in undergraduate teaching (including 2012 Vice-Chancellor's Award and medal), honours supervision (2017 Vice-Chancellor's Award), and postgraduate supervision (2009 Faculty Award).
Research Areas
Peter Howard is a historian of Renaissance Italy and medieval thought, preaching, and of historical theology more broadly, with a particular interest in developing new approaches to the study of culture, especially its religious and theological dimensions and its visual and oral/aural performative forms.
Selected and recent publications
Theologies of the Piazza: Experiencing Religion in Renaissance Florence
Howard, P., in preparation. London: Routledge.
āPrĆ©dication et rhĆ©torique dans la Florence de la Renaissanceā
Howard, P., forthcoming in 2027,Ģż in Exercices de RhĆ©torique.
Before Michelangelo: Revisioning Sixtusās Sistine Chapel as sensorium
Howard, P. (Editor) & Kuziow, S. (Editor), forthcoming 2026. Turnhout: Brepols, Art and the Sacred Series.
āIntroduction: Revisioning Sixtus IVās Sistine Chapel as Sensoriumā
Howard, P., forthcoming 2026, ,Ģż in Before Michelangelo: Revisioning Sixtusās Sistine Chapel as sensorium, ed. by Peter Howard and Shannon Kuziow. Turnhout: Brepols, Art and the Sacred Series.
āEnvisioning Sixtusās Sistine Chapel as sermo modernusā
Howard, P., forthcoming 2026, Before Michelangelo: Revisioning Sixtusās Sistine Chapel as sensorium, ed. by Peter Howard and Shannon Kuziow. Turnhout: Brepols, Art and the Sacred Series, chapter 3.
āLāalfabetizzazione biblica dei fiorentini nel XV secolo'
Howard, P., forthcoming 2026,Ģż La Porta del Paradiso. Bibbia, Battesimo, Istoria, Verdon, T., Fabbri, L. & Serafini, G. (eds.). ĢżRome: Casa Editrice Viella.
ĢżāāAptum ad praedicandumā: The Reception and Transformation of Scholastic Thinking in Renaissance Florenceā
Howard, P., 2025, The Brill Companion to Renaissance Scholasticism, Edelheit, A. (ed.). Leiden: Brill, p. 35-66 32 p.
ĢżāTheology in Australiaā
Howard, P., 2024. St ĢĒŠÄlogo Encyclopaedia of Theology, Wolfe, B.N. et al. (eds.),
Renaissance Religions: Modes and Meanings in History
Howard, P. (Editor), Saccenti, R. (Editor), & Terpstra, N. (Editor), 2021. Turnhout: Brepols. 400 p.
āApproaching Renaissance Religionsā
Howard, P., 2021., Renaissance Religions: Modes and Meanings in History, Howard, P., Saccenti, R. & and Terpstra, N. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 13-44 32 p.
āThe Language of Dives and Lazarus: Preaching Generosity and Almsgiving in Renaissance Florenceā
Howard, P., 2020, In:ĢżI Tatti Studies.Ģż23, p. 33-52 20 p.
āThe Language of Medicine in Renaissance Preachingā
Howard, P., 2020, Representing Infirmity: Diseased Bodies in Renaissance Italy, Henderson, J., Jacobs, F. & Nelson, J.K. (eds.). London: Routledge, p. 28-46 19 p.
āThe Language of Luxury in Renaissance Florenceā
Howard, P., 2018, Luxury and the Ethics of Greed in Early Modern Italy,ĢżKovesi, C. (ed.). Turnhout: Brepols, p. 47-70 24 p.
āLanguages of the Pulpit: the preacher as translator in Renaissance Florenceā
Howard, P., 2018, City, Court, Academy: Language Choice in Early Modern Italy, del Soldato, E., & Rizzi, A. (eds.).London: Routledge, p. 31-46. 16 p.
āMaking a City and Citizens: The āFruitsā of Preaching in Renaissance Florenceā
Howard, P., 2017, Medieval Urban Culture, Brown, A., & Dumolyn, J.(eds.). Turnhout: Brepols, p. 49-73 25 p.
āPreaching at San Lorenzoā
Howard, P., 2017,ĢżSan Lorenzo: A Florentine Church,ĢżGaston, R. & Waldman, L. (eds.). Cambridge, Mass.: Villa I Tatti Series: Harvard University Press, vol. 2, p. 244-56 23 p.
Word, Deed, & Image: Mendicants to the World
Cornelison, S. (Editor), Debby, N. Ben (Editor) & Howard, P. (Editor), 2016. Turnhout: Brepols, 322 p.
āA Landscape of Preaching: Bartolomeo Lapacci Rimbertini OPā
Howard, P., 2016, Mendicant Cultures in the Medieval and Early Modern World Word, Deed, and Image, Cornelison, S., Debby, N. Ben & Howard, P. (eds.). Turnout: Brepols, p. 45-64 20 p.
Studies on Florence and the Italian Renaissance in Honour of F.W. Kent
Howard, P. (Editor) & Hewlett, C. (Editor), 2016, Turnhout: Brepols. 522 p.
āāA paradise inhabited by devilsā: Bill Kent and His Florentine Renaissanceā
Howard, P., (2016),ĢżStudies on Florence and the Italian Renaissance in Honour of F.W. Kent,ĢżHoward, P. & Hewlett, C. (eds.). Turnhout: Brepols, p.1-32 32 p.
ā āWhere the poor of Christ are cherishedā: Poverty in the Preaching of Antoninus of Florenceā
Howard, P., 2016, Poverty and Devotion in Mendicant CulturesĢż120-1450, Mews, C. J. & Welch, A. (eds.). London and New York: Routledge, p. 198-209 12 p.
ā āIt is a great disgrace for our cityā: Archbishop Antoninus and Heresy in Renaissance Florenceā
Howard, P., 2016, Religion, the Supernatural and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe,ĢżEichberger, D. & Spinks, J. (eds.). Leiden: Brill, p.105-25 21 p.
ā āIn Magnificentiae Cosmi Medicei Florentiniā: Maffei preaching 'against the grainā
Howard, P., 2016, The Badia Fiesolana: Augustinian and academicĢżlocus amoenus in the Florentine hills, DreĆen, A. & Pietschmann, K. (eds.). Zurich: LIT Verlag, p. 21-32 12 p.
āLa legge di natura nei sermoni e scritti di Antonino da Firenzeā
Howard, P., 2016, Legge e Natura. I dibattiti teologici e giuridici fra XV e XVII sec., Sulas, C. & Saccenti, R. (eds.). Rome: Aracne editrice, pp. 52-68 17 p.
āThe Remembered Past as Present Exemplar in Florentine Renaissance Preachingā Howard, P., 2013, in eds., Renaissance Studies in Honor of Joseph Connors, IsraĆ«ls, M. & Waldman, L. (eds.). Florence: Olschki, vol. 2, p. 221-29 9 p.
Aquinas and Antoninus: A Tale of Two Summae in Renaissance Florence
Howard, P., 2013. The Etienne Gilson Series 35, Toronto: The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 30 p.
Creating Magnificence in Renaissance Florence
Howard, P., 2012,ĢżToronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 173 p.
āAntonino e la predicazione nella Firenze Rinascimentaleā
Howard, P., 2012. In: Memorie Domenicane.Ģż43, p. 333-45 13 p.
āPreaching, Brotherhoods, and āBiblical Literacyā: The Case of Pietro Bernardo of Florenceā
Howard, P., 2012, Faithās Boundaries: Laity & Clergy in Early Modern Confraternities, Pastore, S., Prosperi, A. & Terpstra, N. (eds.). Turnhout: Brepols, p. 113-129 17 p.
ĢżāPreaching to the Mobs: Space, Ideas and Persuasion in Renaissance Florenceā
Howard, P., ĢżMobs: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry, Van Deusen, N. & Koff, L. (eds.). Leiden: Brill, p. 203-229 27 p.
āāāDoctrine, when preached, is entirely civicā: the generation of public theology and the role of the studia in Renaissance Florenceā,
Howard, P., 2011, Communities of Learning, Religious Diversity, and the Written Record 1085-1453, Mews, C. and Crossley, J. (eds.). Turnhout: Brepols, p. 295-316 22 p.