Religion

‘The Farewell Sermons of..., Preacht Decemb: 28 1662’, unknown artist, c.1662. National Portrait Gallery London.

The Church of England’s Great Ejection

On 24 August 1662 those clergy who refused to accept the Book of Common Prayer were to be ejected from the Church of England. How many paid the price for their non-conformity?

Printing office, woodcut after Jan van der Straet, c.1589-93. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

The Hunt for Martin Marprelate

Who was Martin Marprelate, seditious pamphleteer and enemy of the Elizabethan Church and state? And, more importantly, how could he be stopped?

Pope Leo X presenting a baton to Federigo II Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua, on his appointment as captain general of the Church in 1521, Nicola da Urbino, c.1525-30. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

What’s in a Pope’s Name?

Pope Leo XIV’s choice of name reveals much about the direction of the Church.

Cyrus restores the vessels to the Temple of Jerusalem, by Gustave Doré for the Bible de Tours, 1843. Bridgeman Images.

The Great Destroyer: Cyrus, Babylon, and Jerusalem

The ancient world found him to have achieved greatness and thrust it upon his name, but was the destruction of Babylon Cyrus’ divinely ordained destiny?

Pope Innocent III declaring the crusade against the Cathars and an attack on the Albigensians, miniature from the Grandes Chroniques de France ou de Saint Denis, 14th century. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Hunting Heretics: Inside the Medieval Inquisition

More than 5,000 people were interviewed during the Great Inquisition of medieval Toulouse. What did this mean for those ordinary people called to give evidence?

Arabian American Oil Co drilling rig in the desert, Saudi Arabia, by Robert Yarnall Richie, 1948. DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. Public Domain.

‘Saudi Arabia: A Modern History’ by David Commins review

How did a Gulf backwater become a global powerbroker? Saudi Arabia: A Modern History by David Commins explores the uneasy alliance between oil, autocracy, and Wahhabism.

St Matthew writing, the Lindisfarne Gospels, 710-20. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Artificial Inspiration

Poets across the ages have sought help with their writing – but AI bears no comparison with the divine.

Bonfire Celebrating Midsummer Night, by Nikolai Astrup, 1912-26. Nasjonalmuseet/Børre Høstland. Public Domain.

Gods at the Margins: How European Paganism Survived

By the 14th century Christianity had swept many of Europe’s indigenous religions aside, but not all. At the continent’s peripheries paganism survived and, in some cases, thrived.