Religion

Simon Lemieux provides an overview of 16th-century Catholicism, focusing on the key issues often selected by examiners.

Stella Rock sees a renaissance of religious traditions at what was one of Russia’s most vibrant monasteries before the Soviet purge.

The conflict between supporters of Darwin’s theory of evolution and Creationists is often portrayed as the latest skirmish in an age-old struggle between science and religion. It is anything but, claims Thomas Dixon, who argues that Creationism, and its pseudo-scientific offspring, ‘Intelligent Design’, are products peculiar to US history.

Edna Fernandes visits a madrassa in northern India founded in the wake of the Indian Mutiny. One of the first Islamic fundamentalist schools, its influence has spread into Pakistan and Afghanistan, among the Taliban and followers of Osama bin Laden.

By positioning him firmly within the changing context of his times, Lucy Wooding sees coherence in Henry VIII’s religious policies.

R.E. Foster emphasises the threat to Elizabeth’s regime.

Graham Noble assesses the significance of one of the earliest Marian Martyrs.

More than 900 people perished in the Jonestown mass suicide of November 18th 1978.

John Paul II was elected on October 16th, 1978. He was the first non-Italian pope to be elected in four centuries.

R. E. Foster puts the dissolution of the monasteries into historical context.