Talk by Dr Kevin Killeen: The cusp of life and death: Sir Thomas Browne and the religion of a physician

A talk by Dr Kevin Killeen
6.30pm for 6.45pm start
The cusp of life and death: Sir Thomas Browne and the religion of a physician
Collector of curiosities, debunker of myths, inspiration to writers and doctors alike, coiner of words, owner of a live ostrich and expert witness at a witch trial. Sir Thomas Browne is probably the greatest British genius the vast majority of British people have never even heard of. He was also a renowned physician, wrote some of the most beautiful prose in English and has long figured in the history of medicine and the humanities. His most famous work, Religio Medici, 'the Religion of a Physician', deals with the relation between the body and soul, the cusp of life and death.

In his talk Dr Kevin Killeen will address Browne's intellectual world, his experiments and how he understood the mesh of science, humanities and the religious.

The talk will be approximately 45 minutes with time for questions and discussion afterwards, plus tea, coffee and biscuits (and maybe a little wine!)
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Pay what you can on entry - suggested £3-£5. Proceeds to the Chapel
www.sirthomasbrowne.org.uk

The Chapel
The Chapel is a lovely intimate venue in Park Lane Norwich, halfway down on the right handside from Unthank Road or on the left from Earlham Road. There is no parking at the Chapel apart from limited on street spaces, although the Black Horse pub on Earlham Road provides excellent food and drink and also has a car park! Buses run regularly along Unthank Road, and of course taxis are handy if you are too far to walk or cycle. The Chapel is a 5-10 minute walk from the city centre in the Golden Triangle area of Norwich

​About Dr Kevin Killeen
Dr Kevin Killeen is a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of York. He is one of the editors of the Oxford Works of Sir Thomas Browne. He has written several books, on Browne, on seventeenth century politics and religion and on the history of science including a new edition of Sir Thomas Browne in paperback published earlier this year.

New Edition of Sir Thomas Browne
For many years now it has been difficult to find the writings of Thomas Browne, except in second hand shops. A new edition of Browne has recently come out in paperback from Oxford University Press, at a wholly affordable price. Thomas Browne, Selected Writings, edited by Kevin Killeen, contains all of Browne’s major writings, Religio Medici, Urn-Burial, and The Garden of Cyrus, and generous selections from Pseudodoxia Epidemica, as well as a selection of writings published after his death.  The volume is part a new series, ‘21st Century Oxford Authors’, and is ‘lightly modernised’ – the original spelling is generally retained, but punctuation is clarified when necessary. It includes an introduction to Browne, explanatory notes and commentary at the end of the book.
Kevin Killeen is part of the team editing The Complete Works of Sir Thomas Browne, in 8 volumes, also from Oxford University Press, albeit in expensive format. He has written extensively on Browne, including the prize-winning Biblical Scholarship, Science and Politics in Early Modern Culture: Thomas Browne and The Thorny Place of Knowledge (2009). 
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/thomas-browne-9780198797654?lang=en&cc=gb



The Chapel | 64 Park Lane | NR2 3EF Norwich | United Kingdom
Wednesday, 27 June 2018 from 18:30 to 21:30 (BST)