Areas of interest
My research and teaching at 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø explored the history of belief, broadly understood, in the
late medieval and early modern period. This includes the history of the
European Reformations, church and clergy, as well as ideas about magic,
witchcraft and the supernatural, and the connections between religion and
natural history.
Understanding
the multiple lenses through which the world was viewed in this period enables
us to ask informed questions of the past, and interrogate the broad range of
evidence and ideas that have shaped the world around us today.
My
own research is informed by my training as a historian, but also by the
multi-disciplinary approaches to the past that have shaped the study of early
modern history. Early projects and publications focused on the Reformation in
England and Europe, including debates over clerical celibacy and marriage,
miracles, the lives of the saints and their relics, and concepts of authority
in the post-Reformation churches. Co-editing a collection of essays on ideas
about superstition in the era of the Reformation encouraged me to explore
further the often permeable boundary between religion and belief, writing on
magic and priestcraft, witchcraft and familiars, and the reading and writing of
natural history.
Awards and honours
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Research Funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Leverhulme Trust.
Websites/blogs
I write for The Conversation, engaging a wider audience with historical research. Recent articles include a historical analysis of debates over clerical celibacy in the modern church, the history of Christmas, early modern ideas about miracles, magic and meteorology, and the origins of the modern calendar. Readership for these is in excess of 120,000, and two articles have been translated into Japanese and Indonesian languages.
I have also written for the 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
I have engaged in a range of media work, including a (BBC) television series on the history of Christianity in England, and radio interviews on topics linked to beliefs, traditions and superstitions, as well as the history of the church and the history of witchcraft (BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Berkshire, BBC Radio London, BBC Radio Three Counties, BBC Radio Somerset, BBC Radio Orkney, BBC Radio Surrey, BBC Radio Solent, BBC Radio Gloucester, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Scotland, Radio Sputnik)
In 2020, I delivered the inaugural 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø half-term Childrens’ Lecture .
