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Protestant Bodies

Gesture in the English Reformation

Protestant Bodies

Gesture in the English Reformation

This item is a print on demand title and will be dispatched in 1-3 weeks.

Hardback

£105.00

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781108841719
Number of Pages: 371
Published: 27/02/2025
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.
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?

Arnold Hunt (University of Durham)

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.