Through a Glass Darkly Symposium
About the Symposium
The study of humankind's fascination with the apocalyptic worldview is a vast field which has increased in interest over the last three decades with the approach and passing of the start of a new millennium. It is a subject that spans cultures, religions, time, and space, and one that resists easy categorical definition. In Through a Glass Darkly, scholars and artists gather each year to deliver presentations and engage in dialogue.
Through a Glass Darkly was founded in 2015 and is directed by UCCS Humanities Program Director Colin McAllister. In 2018, Lorenzo DiTommaso of Concordia University Montréal joined as Co-Director. Through a Glass Darkly is underwritten by the UCCS Humanities Program, the Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, the UCCS LAS Dean’s Office, the Department of Religions and Cultures at Concordia University Montréal, and the School of Religious Studies at McGill University.
Schedule & Presenters
Call for Papers: Through a Glass Darkly Symposium
24-25 February 2027
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
The 11th edition of the Through a Glass Darkly symposium will take place 24-25 February 2027 at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. For the first time, TAGD will partner with the Revelation Reception Network to sponsor two papers. Proposed papers may address any aspect of the long reception of the Revelation of John. Potential directions of exploration may include literature, art history, political thought, cinema, music, and theology.
Travel, lodging, and meal expenses for these two papers will be funded up to $500 per participant. Paper proposals (including name, institution, paper title, and short abstract) should be sent to the attention of Colin McAllister, Director of TAGD, at cmcallis@uccs.edu. Proposals are due by 1 October 2026.
The Revelation Reception Network is a scholarly research network and seminar focused on the academic study of the historical and modern reception of John's Apocalypse (Revelation). Started by Nathan Betz (Regensburg), Régis Burnet (Louvain-la-Neuve), Cristian Cardozo Mindiola (Mayagüez), and T. C. Schmidt (New Haven). The network and its seminar series is carried out in cooperation with the University of Regensburg and the Beyond Canon Centre and is underwritten by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
Information
Locations
Heller Center for Arts & Humanities
1250 North Campus Heights
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Contact
For questions regarding the Through a Glass Darkly Symposium, please contact Colin McAllister:
Symposium Directors
Colin McAllister
Symposium Director
Colin McAllister is Director of Humanities and an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.
His publications include the Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literature, a translation of the Cambridge Glossa in Apocalypsin (Brepols) and—with Lorenzo DiTommaso—Music in the Apocalyptic Mode (Brill, 2023). His most-recent work will appear in 2027 in the forthcoming John’s Revelation and Its Long Reception: Explorations from Antiquity until Today (BETL, Peeters).
Lorenzo DiTommaso
Symposium Director
Lorenzo DiTommaso is a Professor of Religions & Cultures at Concordia University Montreal. He studies apocalypticism from biblical apocalypses to contemporary apocalyptic manga and anime.
Among his current projects is the medieval Antichrist, for which he has received a five-year grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His new book, The Architecture of Apocalypticism, the first volume of a trilogy, is forthcoming for Oxford University Press.
Symposium Program Archives
Photos from Past Symposia
