Protestant Bodies

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-108-84171-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 371 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 689 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History

Religious worship is an embodied act, consisting not of words alone, but of words and gestures. But what did early modern English Protestants think they were doing when they went through the motions of worship? In Protestant Bodies, Arnold Hunt argues that the English Reformation was a gestural reformation that redefined the postures and motions of the body. Drawing on a rich array of primary sources, he shows how gestures inherited from the medieval liturgy took on new meanings within a drastically altered ritual landscape, and became central to the enforcement of religious uniformity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Protestant Bodies presents a challenging new interpretation of the English Reformation as a series of experiments in shaping and remaking the body, both individual and collective, with consequences that still persist today.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hunt, Arnold

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: windows in the heart; 1. Passion and persuasion: gesture in the pulpit; 2. Repentance: penance and reconciliation; 3. Subjection: bowing at the name of Jesus; 4. Blessing and protection: the sign of the cross; 5. Deference and civility: the gestures of hat honour; 6. Reverence: bowing to the altar; Conclusion: a death of gestures?

Über Autor(innen)

Hunt, Arnold
Arnold Hunt is Lecturer in Early Modern Palaeography at Durham University. His research interests lie in the social, cultural, and religious history of Britain between 1500–1900. His previous book The Art of Hearing: English Preachers and their Audiences 1590–1640 (Cambridge, 2010) was awarded the Whitfield Prize by the Royal Historical Society.