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Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe

Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe

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About This Event

A talk on 'Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe' will be presented at St Edmund Hall on 30 September 2026. This event will explore trans-regional perspectives on the topic. Entry is free.

Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe:

Trans-Regional Perspectives

A two-day workshop to reflect on how ideas, models, and paradigms about Church-state relations and the role of civil authorities in matters of religion travelled across regional borders in early modern Europe.

Venue: Doctorow Hall, St Edmund Hall, Oxford

Programme:

29 September

14.00-14.30 Welcome and registration

14.30-14.45 Opening remarks

14.45-16.00 Panel 1 – The Anglo-Dutch connection

Sarah Mortimer (Oxford) – ‘The Remonstrants and the Church of England’

Polly Ha (Duke) – ‘Dualism before Descartes? Revisiting Anglo-Dutch ecclesiastical politics’

16.00-16.30 Coffee

16.30-18.15 Panel 2 – Thinkers, texts, and their reception

Marco Barducci (Pavia) – ‘Entangled contexts of Grotius’s jus circa sacra: sources, receptions, and comparisons’

Francesco Quatrini (Firenze) – ‘Johann Crell's Vindiciae pro religionis libertate (1637) from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the European context’

Colin Donnelly (Oxford) – ‘"We ought moare to obey God then men": authority in the early English and German Reformations’

18.15-19.00 Drinks reception

30 September

10.45-12.00 Panel 3 – Crossing confessional traditions

Atsuko Fukuoka (Tokyo) – ‘What does the “state of nature” concept obscure? Grotius’s attempt to systemize sources of law between the perspectives of the Salamanca School and mos geometricus’

Chiara Petrolini (Bologna) – ‘A corsair's Qur'an: Sarpi and the jurisdiction of the critic’

12.15-13.30 Lunch

13.30-14.45 Panel 4 – Trends in European Catholicism

Ian Campbell (Belfast) – ‘Scotists, Jansenists and the state of nature: Bonaventure Baron on the origins of human society’

Stefania Tutino (UCLA) – ‘How long was Rome’s arm? Enforcing authority across early modern Catholic Europe’

14.45-15.15 Coffee

15.15-16.30 Panel 5 – Roots and dissemination of Reformed political ideas

Lorenzo Paoli (Geneva) – ‘Prisca politica: Pre-Roman antiquities and the origins of spiritual and temporal power in Reformation Europe’

Odile Panetta (Oxford) – ‘Higher education and the dissemination of political theology in Reformed Europe’

16.30-17.00 Coffee

17.00-18.00 Roundtable discussion

Description supplied by the event organiser.

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Frequently asked questions

Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe takes place on Wednesday, 30 September 2026 at 10:30.

Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe is held at St Edmund Hall in Oxford (Queen's Lane, Oxford, OX1 4AR).

Entry to Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe is free.

The forecast for Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe is Clear · 19°C.

Yes — hotels within walking distance of St Edmund Hall can be compared using the accommodation search further down this page.

Tickets for Spiritual and Secular Authority in Early Modern Europe can be booked via Eventbrite using the "Check Tickets & Live Prices" button on this page, which opens the official booking site in a new tab.

Price

Free Entry

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