Religion and the Household

The fiftieth volume of Studies in Church History explores the theme 'Religion and the Household'. Comprising papers and communications presented at the annual conferences of the Ecclesiastical History Society in 2012-2013, the volume explores the household from different angles: as a physical location and setting for collective prayer and personal meditation; as a network of people bound together by ties of kinship, emotion, service and obligation; and as a metaphor and symbol of structures and systems of authority that operated essentially outside it. The essays include explorations of the role of the family and household throughout Christian history as well as in other religious traditions, especially Islam and Judaism. Contributions show how the domestic sphere has sustained Christian practice and furthered the spread of Christianity but also how it has contributed to the marginalization of the Church and the rise of secularism. Reflecting growing awareness of the complex relationship between public and private spaces, the volume is an important contribution to research into the family and household as a locus of doctrine and piety.