Dire l'interdit: the vocabulary of censure and exclusion in the early modern Reformed tradition
Abstract
Church discipline and the Reformed consistory, whether in Hungary, the Swiss world, France, The Netherlands or the British Isles, have become the subject of intense scholarly discussion. The fifteen essays gathered in this volume examine the process of censure and excommunication across Europe from the mid-sixteenth through the late eighteenth centuries. They reevaluate the relationship of women to ecclesiastical authority and explore the complex ways in which exclusion from the Lord’s Supper operated. Several contributors trace the decrease in excommunication over time; others underscore national differences in its nature and the surprising infrequency of application. Together, they offer a fresh, unanticipated and illuminating portrait of the reform of morals associated with John Calvin and his followers.