Women and Religion in England

Patricia Crawford explores how the study of gender can enhance our understanding of religious history, in this study of women and their apprehensions of God in early modern England. The book has three broad themes: the role of women in the religious upheaval in the period from the Reformation to the Restoration; the significance of religion to contemporary women, focusing on the range of practices and beliefs; and the role of gender in the period. The author argues that religion in the early modern period cannot be understood without a perception of the gendered nature of its beliefs, institutions and language. Contemporary religious ideology reinforced women's inferior position, but, as the author shows, it was possible for some women to transcend these beliefs and profoundly influence history. 1. Apprehending the Divine: Gender and the History of Religion Part 1. Religious Changes, 1500-1640 2. The Reformation 3. The Social Teachings of the Protestant Church: Women, Marriage and the Family 4. Anglicans, Puritans, and Catholics, 1558-1640 Part 2. Women's Religious Beliefs and Spirituality, 1500-1720 5. Piety and Spirituality 6. Dangerous Beliefs: Magic, Prophecy and Mysticism Part 3. Women and Radical Religion in the English Revolution, 1640-1660 7. Radical Religion: Separatists and Sectaries, 1558-1660 8. Separatist Churches and Sexual Politics 9. Sex and Power in the Early Quaker Movement: the Case of Martha Simmonds Part 4. Restorarion to Toleration, 1660-1720 10. Anglicans, Catholics and Nonconformists after the Restoration, 1660-1720 11. Conclusion