Brenda Deen Schildgen


Brenda Deen Schildgen is a distinguished professor emerita and former chair of comparative literature at the UC Davis specializing in the European Middle Ages, the Bible as Literature, Dante, the relationship between history and fiction, and Jewish, Christian, and Moslem relations in the European Middle Ages.
Brenda Deen Schildgen was born to the family of naturalized immigrants to Great Britain, Anna Friedman and Nasir Din, Jewish mother and Muslim father, married in London in 1942.

Education

Deen Schildgen received a PhD in Comparative Literature from Indiana University Bloomington. Her thesis was entitled The Theophilus ''Legend: Three Versions''. M.A., Comparative Literature, Indiana University Bloomington; M.A., Religious Studies, 1989, University of San Francisco; B.A., English and French, University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Books

  • 2021: Dante and Violence: Domestic, Civic, Cosmic
  • 2012: Divine Providence: A History: The Bible, Virgil, Orosius, Augustine, and Dante
  • 2008: Heritage or Heresy: Destruction and Preservation of Art and Architecture in Europe
  • 2003: A World of Fables
  • 2002: Dante and the Orient
  • 2001: Pagans, Tartars, Jews, and Moslems in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
  • 1999: Power and Prejudice: Reception of the Gospel of Mark
  • 1998: Crisis and Continuity: Time in the Gospel of Mark
She is also the co-editor of several books.

Awards

  • 2022: Helen and Howard Marraro Prize for Dante and Violence; award quotation: "This persuasive, well-written, and meticulously researched work explores how Dante’s Commedia Divina approached the impact of violence, broadly conceived from warfare to forced marriage, on the household, especially women, 'civic and political domains,' and on 'the divine or cosmic realm.'"
  • 2008: University of California, Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement
  • 1999: recipient of a Best Academic Book Choice award for ''Power and Prejudice''