عنوان

Domestic religion in seventeenth century English Gentry Households

Number

TLets810433

Title Proper

Domestic religion in seventeenth century English Gentry Households

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Counsell, Fiona Ann

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Birmingham

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2017

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Thesis (Ph.D.)

Text preceding or following the note

2017

Text of Note

This research focuses on domestic religion: those activities through which everyday devotion and the worship of God were performed. It encompasses both the daily communal practices of family religion (prayer, psalm singing, catechising and sermon repetition) and the personal devotions of individuals (prayer, mediation and self-examination) in domestic space. It also considers the extraordinary religious practices of preparation for communion, days of fasting and humiliation, and the experience of sickness and death. The textuality of domestic religion is highlighted in a chapter on reading and writing. The published prescriptive advice is related to the reality of lived experience as revealed through the archives of seventeenth century families, most significantly those of the Harleys of Brampton Bryan in Herefordshire. Domestic religion was a highly complex contiguous cycle of enmeshed interrelated practices. The links were not only between domestic practices but also with public worship. A related theme challenges the supposed interiority of Protestant, and more particularly Puritan, piety, as it highlights the sociable nature of domestic religion. Domestic religion provides a useful lens throughout to explore consensus and division in seventeenth century religious politics and culture. The domestic religion was vital in the construction and projection of family identity.

BR Christianity; DA Great Britain; HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform

University of Birmingham

University of Birmingham

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y