Kirk Essary

Kirk Essary is Associate Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at UWA. He teaches in both the History and Classics departments. He holds a PhD in Religion (Florida State University, 2014), an MA in Religions of Western Antiquity (Florida State, 2010), an MA in Classics (Texas Tech University, 2008), and a BA in Philosophy (Oklahoma State University, 2006). From 2018-2022, he served as Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. His research focuses on religious and intellectual history in late medieval and early modern Europe, with a special interest in Christian humanism, reception history (of classical and biblical texts), the Protestant Reformation, the relationship between philosophy and theology, and the history of emotions. His current preoccupation is Erasmus, and his most recent monograph, The Renaissance of Feeling: Erasmus and Emotion, was published with Bloomsbury in 2024. 

Associate Professor, History and Classics

Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (2018-2022)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (2015-2018)