G.J. (Gooitske) Nijboer, MA

The Inner Sanctum on Display

Catholic Spiritual Biographies in Counter-Reformation France and the Netherlands

I research the early modern biographies of a broad range of early modern Catholic women, against the background of men’s biographies. I inquire how these texts reflected, prescribed, and negotiated various spiritual practices and beliefs and thus played an important part in disseminating the Counter-Reformation. These texts crossed linguistic borders, and catholic spirituality was in this way adapted to local cultures. I analyse the varieties in which female and male spiritual authority were represented. In this way my project challenges perceptions of religious traditions as male-dominated.

Supervisors

Prof. dr. R. M. Esser (Professor of Early Modern History)

Dr. K.E. Knibbe (Associate Professor Sociology and Anthropology of Religion)

This project is funded by the Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG).