Early Modern Women and Religious Innovation

The Advent of the European Enlightenment

Katherine O’Donnell, Francesco Quatrini

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350510579
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Modern Philosophy

An innovative and groundbreaking study into women's contribution to the development of religious, metaphysical, and political concepts in early modern Europe.

By examining the engagement of women in both the daily practice of religion, and theological and political discussions following the Reformation, this collection expands our understanding of women's position in post-Reformation churches and their participation in theological debates.

What role did women play in these congregations and what social interactions did they have with each other and their male fellows? What literary genres did they choose to convey new ideas and new approaches to religion and society? Did religious authorities use universal strategies when dealing with religious dissent, or was there a gendered bias towards dissenting women?

A team of scholars from philosophy, early modern studies, intellectual history and theology address these questions and more, providing a multidisciplinary exploration of women's active participation in religious communities. Focusing on their contribution to foundational Enlightenment concepts, they shed light on the development of democracy, egalitarianism, freedom of conscience and of expression, and tolerant co-existence.

Covering countries such as Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Italy between 1500 and 1700, this is a much-needed comparative overview. We see how a different approach to the history of European women and their religious engagement can challenge the accepted view of an avowedly secular Enlightenment.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Contributors
• 1 Early Modern Women and Religious Innovation: The Advent of the European Enlightenment* Katherine O’ Donnell and Francesco Quatrini
• 2 Reform and Resistance in the 1540s, or How the Diest Beguines Tried to Get Rid of Their Priest Sarah Moran
• 3 The Dominican Nuns of San Mattia of Bologna facing Rome. Year 1606 Isabel Harvey
• 4 Port-Royal Nuns’ Resistance in Seventeenth-Century France: The Confession of Sister Gertrude Dupré Giada Silenzi
• 5 Maternal Mysticism and Radical Protestantism in Seventeenth-Century England Sarah Apetrei
• 6 Early Quaker Women’s Theology and Practice: Gender, Freedom, Equality and the Inward Light Hilary Hinds
• 7 In the Name of Freedom: Female Oppositionto the Reformed Church in the Dutch Republic (c.1650–1700)* Francesco Quatrini
• 8 Theological Blackness in the Visions of Jane Lead William Cook Miller
• 9 Nec Contra Rationem, Nec Supra Rationem: Du Châtelet’s Critical Approach to Faithand to Reading the Bible Christian Henkel
• 10 The Motif of the ‘Domineering woman’ in Dutch prints (1566–1700) Emmanouela Kyriakopoulou
• Index