E-mail:Bill Rankin

Areas of scholarship or expertise:

• Middle English literature
• Medieval theology and heretical movements
• Medieval pedagogy
• Literary theory

Courses typically taught:

ENG 221: Major British Writers I

ENG 311: Literary Criticism

ENG 326: Business and Professional Writing

ENG 481: Medieval Literature

ENG 499: Studies in World Literature

ENG 613: Literary Theory

Recent Presentations

"'Out of Ioynt': Lollard Literalism and Transgressive Fleshliness in Hoccleve's 'Remonstrance Against Oldcastle'"; 39th International Congress on Medieval Studies; Western Michigan University; Kalamazoo, Michigan; May 7, 2004.

"'As seynt Austeyn seith': The Role of the Fathers in the 'Virtuous' Exegesis of the Wycliffites"; 14th International Conference on Patristic Studies; Oxford University; Oxford, England; August 22, 2003.

"Reading Arundel's Reading: Hermeneutical Conflict and the Craft of Representation in Thorpe's Testimony"; 37th International Congress on Medieval Studies; Western Michigan University; Kalamazoo, Michigan; May 3, 2002.

Awards

Trustee's Award; ACU Teacher of the Year; 2001-2002.

Classroom Teaching Award; College of Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year; 2000-2001

Professional Associations

• Medieval Academy of America; member; 2000-present.
• Lollard Society; charter member; 1996-present.

Originally from: Chicago, IL

Work of literature you would recommend: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and Silence by Shusaku Endo

What you want to give your students: a trained critical eye and a sense of wonder about--and joy in--the diversity of creation and the diversity of human thought and culture.

Why you are at ACU: I had some wonderful teachers who sacrificed much to set me and others on the path of learning. Given their amazing example, I felt I ought to give something back.