For Marcia L. Colish, the fascination of history lies between the collapse of Rome and the blooming of the Renaissance. Medieval Europeans increased their agricultural output from subsistence levels to surplus, she said, and figured out how to translate high culture into the vernacular. Colish, the Frederick B. Artz professor of history at Oberlin College , will receive the 2000 Marianist Award from the University of Dayton on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Admission is free and open to the public.
At a time when many people have thought that the study of the medieval period was only for antiquarians, she has shown how its scope and form continue to shed light on questions still asked in our own time. Colish first connected with the Middle Ages and intellectual history as a college sophomore. Ideas are things that people do, they define people as much as social class or wealth or politics. My fate was sealed. Although the term was yet to be coined, it was an interdisciplinary course of study Colish pieced together, featuring philosophy, religion, culture, art and history.