The Genealogies of Modernity Project seeks to motivate and organize a critical, cross-disciplinary inquiry into influential narratives of the origins of “modernity” in the humanities, with a special focus on theological genealogies.

Genealogies of Modernity is a project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities in collaboration with the Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture (University of Pennsylvania) and Beatrice Institute (Pittsburgh). The project recognizes that the stories we tell ourselves about the passage to modernity are many and often conflicting. Attention to the complexity of the intertwined genealogies of modernity opens the possibility to forge new relations to the past and discover resources for life-giving responses in the present.

Our journal and podcast offer a place for graduate students, early career academics, and established scholars to parse these stories and to make legible the intellectual and cultural "kinships" that often unconsciously subtend these narratives. This exploration is conducted through a variety of genres, voices, and disciplines, taking the form of accounts of genealogy, critical reviews, and more. You can follow these resource on this website or our Genealogies of Modernity Substack.

The Genealogies of Modernity Project has also included colloquia, workshops, and week-long summer seminars for graduate students. Past support for some of these activities has come from the University of Pittsburgh’s Humanities Center, Early Modern Worlds Initiative, and Special Initiative to Promote Scholarly Activities in the Humanities.