The Annual Franz Bibfelt Lecture

a brave, new moment in Bibfeldt studies

Richard Rosengarten

Anne K. Knafl preparing brats for Franz Bibfeldt lecture in the cloister outside Swift Hall.
Photo from Circa, Spring 2005, 12.
Anne K. Knafl preparing brats for Franz Bibfeldt lecture in the cloister outside Swift Hall.

"The Return of Franz Bibfeldt" By Richard A. Rosengarten, April 6, 2022

Bibfeldt’s return invites us to remember that there is an essential place for the occasional fit of laughter in even the most scholarly house.

Before 2022, the last known Bibfeldt lecture was in Spring of 2013 by Tom Willadsen, MDiv’90, “It Could Be Wurst: Franz Bibfeldt: The Lost Years of Gastronomic Theology.” in "Letter from the Dean," Circa no.39, Spring/Summer 2013, 1.

You can listen to earlier lectures in the Franz Bibfeldt series on Panopto (requires UChicago login credentials):

  • CAC-0452 Dennis Landon and Joseph Price, "The Quest for the Historical Bibfeldt," 9/26/1976.
  • CAC-0530 Dennis Landon, Robert M. Grant, and Jerald Brauer, "Franz Bibfeldt's Year-Late Discovery of the Bicentennial," 3/26/1978.
  • CAC-0582 Otto Dreydoppel and Janet Summers, "The 1979 Franz Bibfeldt Symposium" 3/25/1979.
  • CAC-0687 Robin Lovin, Martin E. Marty, and Robert M. Grant, "The 1981 Franz Bibfeldt Symposium," 3/29/1981.
A 50 something white man with black hair and a beard, holding a book and check wearing a silly hat and scarf
Jim Robinson (Interim Dean; Caroline E. Haskell Professor of the History of Judaism, Islamic Studies, and the History of Religions; also in the College) receiving his honorarium of $29.95 for giving the Annual Franz Bibfeldt Lecture in 2006.