We tend to think of the problem of paying attention while being bombarded with an overwhelming quantity and variety of information and seduced by ever more invasive forms of distraction as a uniquely contemporary one. But medieval monks and jurists, pious early modern poets, Enlightenment-era reformers, and others from the past developed strategies to focus during their own moments of distraction or information overload. What pious practices of attention did they cultivate? How did they manage information at scale? Through a mixture of lectures and conversations, the aim of this series is to better understand how practices and preoccupations from the past might help us to think critically about focus and distraction today, in both sacred and secular contexts.
