Protestant Bodies
Gesture in the English Reformation

Explores the history of the English Reformation through the gestures of public worship.

Arnold Hunt (Author)

9781108841719, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 February 2025

372 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm, 0.67 kg

'The advent of Protestantism is conventionally understood to have initiated a shift from a (premodern) form of religiosity that focused primarily on practice and liturgy to a (modern) conception of religion that denigrated 'empty' ritual in favor a logo-centric and interior religiosity. This book makes an important contribution to this narrative by drawing attention to the ongoing importance of gesture in the English Reformation. … It not only shows us what the English Reformation can reveal about the importance of gesture in early modern religion but how attending to gesture can also shed new light on the history of the English Reformation.' Karl Gunther, The American Historical Review

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?

Subject Areas: British & Irish history [HBJD1]