Patterns of Piety

Women, Gender and Religion in Late Medieval and Reformation England
Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-521-09344-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 409 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 594 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History

This book offers an interpretation of the transition from Catholicism to Protestantism in the English Reformation, and explores its implications for an understanding of women and gender. Central to this is an appreciation of the significance of medieval Christocentric piety in offering a bridge to the Reformation, and in shaping the nature of Protestantism in the period up to the Civil War. Not only does this explain much of the support for Protestantism, but it also suggests the need to question assumptions that the 'loss' of the Virgin Mary and the saints was detrimental to women. The Reformation undermined the ritual role of the Catholic godly woman but its definition of the representative frail Christian as a woman devoted to Christ meant that it was not an alien environment for the weaker sex. Moreover, although scriptural texts could reinforce patriarchy, they were complemented by subtle discussions of the ambiguities of gender and responsibility in the stories of Susanna and Bathsheba. The Christocentric piety of the late medieval parish shaped the Reformation and paved the way for a more subtle understanding of gender.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Peters, Christine

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder England, UK, Irland: Regional & Stadtgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; Part I. 1. Religious roles; 2. Religious choices; 3. The Virgin Mary and Christocentric devotion; 4. The saints; 5. Eve and the responsibility for sin; Part II. 6. Responses to Reformation change; 7. Parish religion in the Reformation; 8. The godly woman; 9. The Virgin Mary and the saints; 10. The return to the Old Testament; 11. Martyrs; 12. Adam's Fall; 13. Godly marriage; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Peters, Christine
Graduating from St Hugh's College, Oxford, the author travelled widely in Eastern Europe on a Leverhulme Scholarship and was a Fellow at the Warburg Institute before transferring to Oxford. She has published articles based on the first part of her doctoral thesis in Past and Present and Continuity and Change. This is her first book.