Ideas and Beliefs
About
The Ideas and Beliefs strand focuses on interpreting and understanding the political and religious values, attitudes and convictions of peoples in past societies.
The Ideas and Beliefs Research Strand draws together researchers from across the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, and has strong links with other schools from within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and beyond. The strand is dedicated to the understanding of ideas and beliefs across historical periods and geographical boundaries, and does so by making use of perspectives to studying the past which span History, Classics and Archaeology. We have a wide range of research interests, including Republicanism, Protestant and Catholic belief and practice, revolutionary ideologies, the reception of classical culture in later periods, pagan-Christian relations, ancient divination and providence, and musical theory. These interests span a vast chronological scope – from the Neolithic and the Bronze Age to the twentieth century – an expansive geographical range – including Britain, Europe, Russia and Japan – and a variety of methodological approaches – including material culture, the study of landscape, and a consideration of rituals and texts.
The strand's research focusses on the following areas:
- Civil Religion (we run a reading group on this theme and are organizing a range of workshops and conferences)
- the ways in which belief manifests itself in the landscape, space and in rituals (a range of scholars attached to the McCord Centre For Landscape work in this area)
- the study of intolerance, how it forms and is sustained and the role it plays in animating historical action; and how peoples of different belief systems interact (we have hosted several conferences on this theme and published widely on intolerance in a range of historical context)
- the role of ideas and beliefs in provoking, as well as resolving, historical action (such as conflict, revolution, state formations).
These research strengths are also reflected in the teaching on offer in the School. The themes of Ideas and Beliefs are an integral part of many of the School’s Team Taught modules at Stage 1 – such as Aspects of British History and Themes in European History – and are the focus of a number of Second and Third Year Modules – such as Religion and Politics in Tudor England and The European Enlightenment. The study of Ideas is an important part of the MA in British History, where two thematic modules like Ideas and Influences in British History and Pathways in British History involve a focussed study of the ideas and beliefs of peoples in the past, as do a range of modules in Classics and Archaeology, including Roman Egypt and The Archaeology of Byzantium and Its Neighbours.
There are synergies between the work of this strand and other areas of research strength within the School, in particular the Conflict and Revolution and the Empires and After research strands. Researchers active in Ideas and Beliefs are also heavily involved in the Medieval and Early Modern Study Group (MEMS) at Newcastle, and work collaboratively with scholars in English Literature, Music and French. The strand fosters a supportive research environment for developing research projects in these fields and is highly keen to offer Research Supervision in these areas, and to provide a home for Post-doctoral projects, and visiting scholars. We have a proven track record in these areas.
2017
Dale R. 'Being a Real Man': Masculinities in Soviet Russia during and after the Great Patriotic War. In: Peniston-Bird C; Vickers E, ed. Gender and the Second World War: The Lessons of War. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp.116-134.
Manolopoulou V. Sensing Heaven on Earth: landscape, religious movement and sacred identity. In: Morris, C. and Papantoniou, G, ed. Unlocking Sacred Landscapes. Aström Editions, 2017.
Dr Joan Allen
Visiting Fellow
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6701
Dr Jonathan Andrews
Reader in the History of Psychiatry
Email: jonathan.andrews@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5756
Dr Scott Ashley
Lecturer in Medieval History
Email: scott.ashley@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5075
Professor Claudia Baldoli
Visiting Fellow
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5755
Professor Jeremy Boulton
Professor of Urban History
Email: jeremy.boulton@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6492
Dr Fergus Campbell
Reader in Social & Cultural History
Email: fergus.campbell@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6694
Dr Nicola Clarke
Lecturer in the History of the Islamic World
Email: nicola.clarke@ncl.ac.uk
Dr David Creese
Lecturer in Classics
Email: david.creese@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)191 208 6473
Dr Robert Dale
Lecturer in Russian History
Email: robert.dale@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7853
Dr Katie East
Lecturer in History
Email: katherine.east@ncl.ac.uk
Dr Philip Garrett
Lecturer in Japanese History
Email: philip.garrett@ncl.ac.uk
Dr James Gerrard
Senior Lecturer in Roman Archaeology
Email: james.gerrard@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5502
Dr Rachel Hammersley
Senior Lecturer in Intellectual History
Email: rachel.hammersley@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6698
Dr Matthew Haysom
Lecturer Ancient History & Archaeology
Email: matthew.haysom@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 2224
Dr John Holton
Lecturer in Ancient History
Email: john.holton@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)191 208 3132
Dr Sophie Hueglin
Visiting Fellow
Dr Mark Jackson
Senior Lecturer in Archaeology
Email: m.p.c.jackson@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5240
Professor Tim Kirk
Professor of European History
Email: tim.kirk@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5078
Dr Vicky Manolopoulou
Guest Member of Staff
Email: vicky.manolopoulou@ncl.ac.uk
Dr Adam Morton
Lecturer in the History of Britain
Email: adam.morton@ncl.ac.uk
Dr Caron Newman
Teacher 19/20
Email: caron.newman@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: c/o 0191 208 7846
Dr Luc Racaut
Lecturer in History
Email: luc.racaut@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 8614
Anne Redgate
Lecturer in History
Email: anne.redgate@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 6697
Dr Thomas Rütten
Reader in the History of Medicine
Email: thomas.rutten@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 3547
Professor Federico Santangelo
Professor of Ancient History
Email: federico.santangelo@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7978
Dr Joseph Skinner
Lecturer in Ancient Greek History
Email: joseph.skinner@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)191 208 8996
Dr Rowland Smith
Lecturer in Ancient History
Email: rowland.smith@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5057
Professor Sam Turner
Professor of Archaeology / Director, McCord Centre for Landscape
Email: sam.turner@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 8110
Dr Sally Waite
Lecturer in Greek Art and Archaeology
Email: sally.waite@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5330
Dr Jane Webster
Senior Lecturer in Historical Archaeology
Email: jane.webster@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7575
Professor Jakob Wisse
Professor of Latin Language & Literature
Email: jakob.wisse@ncl.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7974
PhD students
Lauren Emslie – 'The Gods and the Intellectuals: Theological discussions of the late Roman Republic in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum'
Victoria Hughes – 'The culture and political world of the fourth century AD: Julian, paideia and education'
Meg Kobza - 'Ulterior Identities: Anonymity in the London and Transatlantic Public Spheres'
Emily Mitchelson – 'Agrarian Land Law and the Commonwealth Tradition'
Chris Mowat – 'Engendering the Future: Divination and the Construction of Gender in the Late Roman Republic'
Sam Petty - 'That Colonies have their Warrant from God'- English Protestant thought and theories of colonisation in the seventeenth-century'
Jen Scammell – 'Comparative Responses to Royal Deaths in the Atlantic World, 1751-1817'
Amy Shields - 'Republicanism in a European Context: The Influence of the Dutch and Venetian Republics on Seventeenth-Century English Thought'
Tom Whitfield - 'An Historical Archaeology of Later Eighteenth-Century Popular Protest in England'
Recent graduates
Andrew Newton - 'The location of early medieval churches in Northumbria: conversion to a Christian landscape in northern England'
2017
Workshop: Re-assessing R. I. Moore's Formation of a Persecuting Society (1987)
Friday 15 September 2017
This event intends to celebrate and assess the contemporary relevance of R. I. Moore’s ‘Formation of a Persecuting Society’, first publishes in 1987, for the current historiography of mediaeval and early-modern Europe. The workshop will be divided into four sessions: firstly on the relevance of the concept of a persecuting society in contemporary mediaeval studies; second its impact on the scholarship of early-modern Europe; third on the use of the concept beyond the chronology and geography of the original work; and finally on the legacy of R. I. Moore’s scholarship on the historiography of exclusion, orthodoxy / heterodoxy and identity politics in general. The event celebrates Newcastle's contribution to these fields of scholarship, and the continued importance of a retired member of the School, his contribution to scholarship worldwide, and the impact of his work through translation and adaptation in other contexts than mediaeval history.
Speakers include: Professor R. I. Moore (Newcastle, Emeritus), Professor Mark Pegg (Washington, St Louis), Professor Robin Briggs (Oxford, Emeritus), Professor Mark Greengrass (Sheffield, Emeritus), Dr Julien Théry-Astruc (Lyon II), and Dr Simon Yarrow (Birmingham).
For more information please email Dr Luc Racaut.
Workshop: Early Modern Civil Religion
Thursday 14 September 2017
Recent scholarship has reintegrated the religious perspective into how the intellectual culture of the early modern period, particularly in the political sphere, can be understood. This has opened up new avenues of enquiry for those working on the role of scholarship (biblical, patristic, and classical) in intellectual engagement, scholars of philosophy and theology, as well as historians of culture, books, and political thought, consequently providing a much more varied understanding of how ideas were formed and justified. Yet in the midst of these developments, the reality of how the Church-State relationship was envisaged by those writing on politics and religion in this period remains under-explored. The notion of a ‘civil religion’ was a prominent feature of the discourse, but its ambiguity and the contradictions and difficulties involved in its practical realisation has left it as something of a by-stander in the intellectual history of the period. The arguments that were made for civil religion have been used by scholars as evidence for established interpretations of the period, whether that be for the existence of a ‘Radical Enlightenment’, or for the Christian Reformist tendencies of these so-called radicals, or as proof of continuity with existing traditions in republican, patristic, or classical ideologies.
This one-day workshop proposes to examine civil religion in early modernity on its own terms, rather than as a subsect of existing scholarly narratives. It seeks to bring together scholars from different disciplinary spheres in order to encourage reflection on this notion of ‘civil religion,’ and to construct an understanding of its specific contribution to its intellectual and cultural context. Possible points of discussion include:
What is ‘early modern civil religion’? Can a clear and unified understanding be established?
What intellectual arguments were used to justify a ‘civil religion’? How were the counter-arguments constructed?
How were ancient precedents utilised to create a tangible vision of a ‘civil religion’? How was the historical development of episcopal authority represented in the debate?
How developed were ideas for how such a religion might work in practice? For example, the selection of priests, their role in the community, and the conduct of religious practice?
What relationship did the notion of civil religion have with republican ideology as it developed from antiquity to the early modern world?
Did civil religion have an impact beyond political and religious discourse? How was it represented and used in editorial practices, literature, art, rhetoric, or biographical writing?
For further details please contact Dr Katie East (Katherine.East@newcastle.ac.uk).
Workshop: Intellectual Biographies
Tuesday 4 July 2017
The genre of the intellectual biography has recently come back into vogue. It has been reinvigorated by two recent developments. First, the construction of large digitised data sets that allow published pamphlets, newspapers and government documents to be searched by name, date, and theme, making it possible to uncover new information even about the lives of very well known figures. Secondly, the growing receptiveness of intellectual historians and literary critics to utilise methods drawn from political, social and even economic history, which has encouraged and facilitated the combination of archival research on an individual’s life with textual analysis of their works. Substantial volumes have recently appeared on the life and work of Edmund Burke, David Hume and Karl Marx. Richard Bourke’s Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke (2015), in particular, has revolutionised the way in which that complex political thinker and actor has been viewed. With great skill Bourke integrates Burke’s life with his writings, demonstrating the intimate connection between the two and enriching our understanding of both late eighteenth-century politics and the political thought of the period in the process. The trend for intellectual biography is now moving back into the seventeenth century, with major studies of John Milton, James Harrington, John Lilburne and John Locke currently in preparation. It is, therefore, an ideal moment to consider the benefits of this approach to intellectual history and other related disciplines, as well as the opportunities and challenges that writing an intellectual biography presents.
This one-day workshop will combine presentations by scholars who are currently producing intellectual biographies on leading early-modern figures with a round table facilitating wider discussion on the genre. The approach will be explicitly interdisciplinary and although the workshop will be grounded in the early modern period, the discussion will also explore the relevance of the genre to both earlier and later periods. The workshop will explore themes such as:
- What are the best ways of integrating biographical detail with analysis of the subject’s thought and writings?
- How can an author do justice to both the archival and textual aspects of the project?
- Does an intellectual biography have to adopt a chronological structure?
- In what ways can an individual life illuminate a period more generally?
- What are the particular opportunities and challenges associated with writing intellectual biographies of early-modern figures?
- How does the construction of an intellectual biography fit within the broader field of Life-Writing?
Speakers will include Professor Mike Braddick (Sheffield); Professor Mark Goldie (Cambridge); Professor Sarah Hutton (York); Professor Nick McDowell (Exeter); Dr Gaby Mahlberg (Journalist and Independent Scholar, Berlin).
For more information please contact Dr Rachel Hammersley.