Catechisms and Women's Writing in Seventeenth-Century England
Cambridge University Press, 7/3/2017
EAN 9781107198258, ISBN10: 1107198259
Hardcover, 220 pages, 23.8 x 16.7 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Catechisms and Women's Writing in Seventeenth-Century England is a study of early modern women's literary use of catechizing. Paula McQuade examines original works composed by women - both in manuscript and print, as well as women's copying and redacting of catechisms - and construction of these materials from other sources. By studying female catechists, McQuade shows how early modern women used the power and authority granted to them as mothers to teach religious doctrine, to demonstrate their linguistic skills, to engage sympathetically with Catholic devotional texts, and to comment on matters of contemporary religious and political import - activities that many scholars have considered the sole prerogative of clergymen. This book addresses the question of women's literary production in early modern England, demonstrating that reading and writing of catechisms were crucial sites of women's literary engagements during this time.
Introduction. 'Milk for babes'
catechisms and female authorship in early modern England
Part I. Domestic Catechesis and Female Authorship
1. 'Mother bare me'
catechisms and maternity in early modern England
2. 'A tender mother'
domestic catechesis in the household devotional of Katherine Fitzwilliam, circa 1603
Part II. Female Witness and Inter-Confessional Dialogue
3. 'At Magdalin's house'
maternal catechesis and female witness in the manuscript miscellany of Katherine Thomas (b. 1637)
4. Catholicism, catechesis, and coterie circulation
the manuscript of Barbara Slingsbury Talbot (b. 1633)
Part III. Print and Polemic
5. 'A knowing people'
catechizing and community in Dorothy Burch's A Catechisme of the Severall Heads of the Christian Religion (1646)
6. Prophecy, catechesis, and community in Mary Cary's The Resurrection of the Witnesses (1648
reprint 1653)
Epilogue.