Playing Saints
Unmasking an audacious saintly fraud in early modern Naples.
Religion
Devadatta in Hell
One of Buddhism’s most reviled villains was crucified in the Buddhist underworld. When French Christians arrived in Siam in the 17th century, venerating images of Christ on the cross, dialogue between the two religions reached an impasse.
Take me to the Church
The medieval parish church was the meeting point of many different things, both sacred and secular.
Whose Authority?
The separation of politics and religion has its roots in discourses over whether or not Pontius Pilate could be held guilty of having ordered ‘the death of God’.
The Long Legacy of a Short Life
A young Anglo-Saxon woman with a taste for the finer things in life is the unlikely inspiration for a new pilgrim route.
What Makes a Puritan Society?
Are we living in a new age of puritanism? And how would we know if we were?
Luther & Co.
Confronting Martin Luther’s ugly side.
Just a Book?
The story of Thomas Jefferson’s bible, his own version of the Gospels.
Blood, Stones and Holy Bones
The spiritual power of medieval relics meant that Jerusalem, or a dragon, could be remade anywhere.
Popes: Power to the People
In the aftermath of the Reformation, the authority of the pope depended ever more upon the will of the people.