Works in progress…
Monument to William Adair, the Auld Kirk of Ayr, erected 1682
Plagues of the heart: Crisis and covenanting in a seventeenth-century Scottish town
Plagues of the Heart explores the evolution, practice, and performance of protestant identity in Ayr, a seaside town in southwestern Scotland, during the remarkable tenure of minister William Adair (1639-1682). This book, written for scholars and students alike, shows how early modern religion was fashioned through individual and collective responses to crises like pestilence and invasion by a foreign army, as well as predictable challenges like sin and perceived sexual immorality. This is, then, a study not only of what happened inside of Ayr’s parish church, but within the homes and the hearts of its townspeople. Forthcoming with Manchester University Press in 2024.
Gustave Doré, Satan descends upon earth, 1866
The Routledge History of the Devil in the Western Tradition
This volume, co-edited with Richard Raiswell and David Winter, will feature nearly thirty chapters that trace the idea of the devil and its implications and consequences from the early Christian tradition to the twenty-first century. It will argue that the devil has been integral to the construction of “western society” and its sense of itself from the start of the first millennium. This book, then, is an exploration of the devil as a defining feature of the western imagination. It is also a history of the anti-west—the west as seen through its anxieties, fears and attempts to define and police itself and its boundaries. Forthcoming in early 2025.
Statue of John Know, New College, Edinburgh
Mapping the Scottish Reformation
Mapping the Scottish Reformation is a digital prosopography of the Scottish clergy from 1560 to 1689, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Strathmartine Trust. I am co-investigator with Chris R. Langley. Built with data from manuscripts held at the National Records of Scotland, this is the first project to comprehensively chart the growth, movement, and networks of the early modern Scottish clergy. This resource provides crucial framing for inquiries into religious beliefs, political conflicts, and institutional change. You can find the site here, follow the progress on our blog and Twitter feed, and hear more about our work on this podcast from the Ecclesiastical History Society.