Helen Parish
Biographic Data
| ID | 1147313 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Helen Parish |
| GIVEN NAMES | Helen |
| FAMILY NAME | Parish |
| SIGNATURE | PARISH H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Reading |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
“Think of It No Longer as a Broken Yew-Tree…but as a Living Witness”
Across the centuries, trees have been recognised as one of the oldest lifeforms on earth, witnessing and subject to the passage of time on a scale that far exceeds human life, telling us who we are in the world. This paper explores the intricate nature of human interactions with trees across a broad chronological and conceptual range, and the cultural, symbolic, and ecological meaning of “iconic” trees, drawing upon a selection of case studies to…
A Church ‘without stain or wrinkle’
This article examines the reception and application of arguments developed during the Donatist controversy in later debates over clerical celibacy, marriage and continence in the medieval and early modern church. It explores the collision of inspiration and institution in this context, arguing that the debates over sacerdotal celibacy in the medieval Latin church and Reformation controversy over clerical marriage and continence both appropriated …
The Absence of Presence and the Presence of Absence
The response of churches to the challenges presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic invites a closer examination of the relationships between virtual and embodied religious communities during a time of social distancing. The speed and the scale of the closure of church buildings during Easter 2020 sheds light upon the multiplicity of practical, emotional, and spiritual responses to a relationship between church and people that is increasingly do…
Every Living Beast Being a Word, Every Kind Being a Sentence”
The ability of animals to convey meaning, either sacred or profane, features prominently in the dialectic of natural knowledge and sacred histories. Animals, particularly those that exhibited irregularities of nature, symbolised and revealed God’s wrath and favour, fulfilling a polemical and pastoral purpose in the communication of God’s anger and assiduous care for humanity. The language of readable nature ran through the ancient natural histori…
Paltrie Vermin, Cats, Mise, Toads, and Weasils
This article explores the role played by the relationship between witch and familiar in the early modern witch trials. It positions animal familiars at the intersection of early modern belief in witchcraft and magic, examining demonologies, legal and trial records, and print pamphlets. Read together, these sources present a compelling account of human-animal interactions during the period of the witch trials, and shed light upon the complex belie…
The Search for Authority in Reformation Europe
Contents: Introduction the search for authority in the Protestant Reformation, Elaine Fulton and Peter Webster 'Arguing about religion': Luther's ongoing debate with Islam, Adam S. Francisco The authority of scripture and tradition in Calvin's lectures on the prophets, Jon Balserak Spiritual authority and ecclesiastical practice: John a Lasco and the Forma ac ratio, Michael S. Springer 'History as authority: Johann Sleidan and his De statu religi…
Search for Authority in Reformation Europe
Clerical Celibacy in the West
The debate over clerical celibacy and marriage had its origins in the early Christian centuries, and is still very much alive in the modern church. The content and form of controversy have remained remarkably consistent, but each era has selected and shaped the sources that underpin its narrative, and imbued an ancient issue with an immediacy and relevance. The basic question of whether, and why, continence should be demanded of those who serve a…
Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies
Michael David Bailey. Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies: The Boundaries of Superstition in Late Medieval Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. xv + 296 pp. $55. ISBN: 978-0-8014-5144-7. - Volume 67 Issue 2
It Was Never Good World Sence Minister Must Have Wyves”
The impact of the Reformation was felt strongly in the nature and character of the priesthood, and in the function and reputation of the priest. A shift in the understanding of the priesthood was one of the most tangible manifestations of doctrinal change, evident in the physical arrangement of the church, in the language of the liturgy, and in the relaxation of the discipline of celibacy, which had for centuries bound priests in the Latin tradit…
New Perspectives on the Reformation
'Monks, Miracles and Magic'
English evangelical writers in the sixteenth century argued that the age of miracles had long since passed. In part, this argument served as a defence against the allegation that the Protestant Church could adduce no evidence that it enjoyed divine approbation, given the apparent lack of wonders and miracles associated with its members. However, the denunciation of the miracles of the medieval Church also helped to cast the Roman Catholic Church …
"Impudent and Abhominable Fictions"
This article explores the growth of polemical controversy over the nature of the English church and its history in the sixteenth century. It examines the work of a number of sixteenth-century Protestant history writers, with particular focus upon their treatment of medieval ecclesiastical history. Their rewriting of the Life of Dunstan is indicative of the shift in perceptions of holiness that took place not only between the tenth and sixteenth c…
By this mark you shall know him’
‘Antichrist’, wrote William Tyndale in 1528, ‘is not an outward thyng, that is to say a man that should sode[n]ly appeare with wonders as our fathers talked of him. No, verely, for Antichrist is a spirituall thing. And this is as much to say as agaynst Christ, ye one that preacheth against Christ.’ Such a definition of Antichrist marked a departure from the traditional medieval legend, which was based upon the prophecy of a single future figure o…
The Absence of Presence and the Presence of Absence
The response of churches to the challenges presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic invites a closer examination of the relationships between virtual and embodied religious communities during a time of social distancing. The speed and the scale of the closure of church buildings during Easter 2020 sheds light upon the multiplicity of practical, emotional, and spiritual responses to a relationship between church and people that is increasingly do…
It Was Never Good World Sence Minister Must Have Wyves”
The impact of the Reformation was felt strongly in the nature and character of the priesthood, and in the function and reputation of the priest. A shift in the understanding of the priesthood was one of the most tangible manifestations of doctrinal change, evident in the physical arrangement of the church, in the language of the liturgy, and in the relaxation of the discipline of celibacy, which had for centuries bound priests in the Latin tradit…
By this mark you shall know him’
‘Antichrist’, wrote William Tyndale in 1528, ‘is not an outward thyng, that is to say a man that should sode[n]ly appeare with wonders as our fathers talked of him. No, verely, for Antichrist is a spirituall thing. And this is as much to say as agaynst Christ, ye one that preacheth against Christ.’ Such a definition of Antichrist marked a departure from the traditional medieval legend, which was based upon the prophecy of a single future figure o…
"Impudent and Abhominable Fictions"
This article explores the growth of polemical controversy over the nature of the English church and its history in the sixteenth century. It examines the work of a number of sixteenth-century Protestant history writers, with particular focus upon their treatment of medieval ecclesiastical history. Their rewriting of the Life of Dunstan is indicative of the shift in perceptions of holiness that took place not only between the tenth and sixteenth c…
'Monks, Miracles and Magic'
English evangelical writers in the sixteenth century argued that the age of miracles had long since passed. In part, this argument served as a defence against the allegation that the Protestant Church could adduce no evidence that it enjoyed divine approbation, given the apparent lack of wonders and miracles associated with its members. However, the denunciation of the miracles of the medieval Church also helped to cast the Roman Catholic Church …
New Perspectives on the Reformation
It Was Never Good World Sence Minister Must Have Wyves”
The impact of the Reformation was felt strongly in the nature and character of the priesthood, and in the function and reputation of the priest. A shift in the understanding of the priesthood was one of the most tangible manifestations of doctrinal change, evident in the physical arrangement of the church, in the language of the liturgy, and in the relaxation of the discipline of celibacy, which had for centuries bound priests in the Latin tradit…
Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies
Michael David Bailey. Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies: The Boundaries of Superstition in Late Medieval Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. xv + 296 pp. $55. ISBN: 978-0-8014-5144-7. - Volume 67 Issue 2
The Search for Authority in Reformation Europe
Contents: Introduction the search for authority in the Protestant Reformation, Elaine Fulton and Peter Webster 'Arguing about religion': Luther's ongoing debate with Islam, Adam S. Francisco The authority of scripture and tradition in Calvin's lectures on the prophets, Jon Balserak Spiritual authority and ecclesiastical practice: John a Lasco and the Forma ac ratio, Michael S. Springer 'History as authority: Johann Sleidan and his De statu religi…
Search for Authority in Reformation Europe
Clerical Celibacy in the West
The debate over clerical celibacy and marriage had its origins in the early Christian centuries, and is still very much alive in the modern church. The content and form of controversy have remained remarkably consistent, but each era has selected and shaped the sources that underpin its narrative, and imbued an ancient issue with an immediacy and relevance. The basic question of whether, and why, continence should be demanded of those who serve a…
Every Living Beast Being a Word, Every Kind Being a Sentence”
The ability of animals to convey meaning, either sacred or profane, features prominently in the dialectic of natural knowledge and sacred histories. Animals, particularly those that exhibited irregularities of nature, symbolised and revealed God’s wrath and favour, fulfilling a polemical and pastoral purpose in the communication of God’s anger and assiduous care for humanity. The language of readable nature ran through the ancient natural histori…
Paltrie Vermin, Cats, Mise, Toads, and Weasils
This article explores the role played by the relationship between witch and familiar in the early modern witch trials. It positions animal familiars at the intersection of early modern belief in witchcraft and magic, examining demonologies, legal and trial records, and print pamphlets. Read together, these sources present a compelling account of human-animal interactions during the period of the witch trials, and shed light upon the complex belie…
The Absence of Presence and the Presence of Absence
The response of churches to the challenges presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic invites a closer examination of the relationships between virtual and embodied religious communities during a time of social distancing. The speed and the scale of the closure of church buildings during Easter 2020 sheds light upon the multiplicity of practical, emotional, and spiritual responses to a relationship between church and people that is increasingly do…
A Church ‘without stain or wrinkle’
This article examines the reception and application of arguments developed during the Donatist controversy in later debates over clerical celibacy, marriage and continence in the medieval and early modern church. It explores the collision of inspiration and institution in this context, arguing that the debates over sacerdotal celibacy in the medieval Latin church and Reformation controversy over clerical marriage and continence both appropriated …
“Think of It No Longer as a Broken Yew-Tree…but as a Living Witness”
Across the centuries, trees have been recognised as one of the oldest lifeforms on earth, witnessing and subject to the passage of time on a scale that far exceeds human life, telling us who we are in the world. This paper explores the intricate nature of human interactions with trees across a broad chronological and conceptual range, and the cultural, symbolic, and ecological meaning of “iconic” trees, drawing upon a selection of case studies to…
Philosophy (12 works) · History (11 works) · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Literature (7 works) · Theology (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · History (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Celibacy (4 works)