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Overview

Professor Alec Ryrie

Professor

Affiliations
AffiliationTelephone
Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion+44 (0) 191 33 43926
Departmental Rep (Theology) in the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies+44 (0) 191 33 43942
Professor of the History of Christianity in the Centre for Catholic Studies

Biography

I am Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham: my field is the history of the Reformation and of Protestantism more widely, including how those histories have made themselves felt down to the present. My first book, twenty years ago, was on the early history of the English Reformation, but I have since ranged further into the history of the Protestant tradition in England, Scotland and internationally. Persistent themes in my work have been the emotional history of religion; religion and politics, war, violence and martyrdom; the Protestant encounter with other faiths, with empire and with the wider world; the relationship between Protestantism and Anglicanism; the history of pious practice and devotion; and histories of religious unorthodoxy, including magic, radical dissent and ‘atheism’, issues that were explored in my most recent major book, Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt (2019), the fruit of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship I held from 2015-18.

I am currently engaged on two main research projects. I am completing a major history of how Protestantism became a missionary religion in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and in January and February 2024 I will be delivering the James Ford Lectures at Oxford on that theme, under the title The World's Reformation.

I am also working on a shorter and more polemical history of how our supposedly 'secular' age, with its many peculiarities, has come about and where it might go next. I delivered the Bampton Lectures at Oxford on this theme in 2022, under the title The Age of Hitler.

I studied History at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (1990-3) and Reformation Studies at St Andrews (1993-4) before completing a DPhil in Theology at Oxford (1996-99) under the supervision of Diarmaid MacCulloch. I taught in the History department at the University of Birmingham from 1999-2006 before moving to Durham in 2007. I served as Head of Department here from 2012-15. I am now the lead convenor of the History of Christianity seminar. I was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2019.

In addition to my role in Durham, I was Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, London, for 2018-22, and am now a Fellow of the College; I am one of the co-editors of the Journal of Ecclesiastical History and am president of the Church of England Record Society. In 2019-21 I was president of the Ecclesiastical History Society. I have held research fellowships at the Folger Shakespeare Library (three times), the Huntington Library and the Leibniz Institute for European History. I have also done a wide range of work on radio, television and podcasts, including six series of lectures for Gresham College, and both print and online journalism. I am a licenced Reader (lay minister) in the Church of England.

In Durham I teach modules including Introduction to the History of Christianity, The Reformation and its Legacy and The Globalisation of Christianity, and I find I derive a lot of my energy as a historian from working with our excellent students on these and other modules. I have also been lucky enough to supervise some outstanding research students here and am always on the lookout for more. My current and recent students’ topics include:

  • Church and child in early modern England
  • The emergence of early evangelical beliefs in the English Reformation
  • The careers of chantry clergy in the sixteenth century
  • The reformation of the liturgy under Henry VIII
  • The metrical psalms in the English Reformation
  • The Church of England's official Homilies and their impact
  • The printing industry and religion in the reign of Edward VI
  • The material culture of the sixteenth-century parish church
  • Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant views of Lollardy
  • The historiography of Lollardy and Wyclif in the 18th-20th centuries
  • The diplomatic and political history of the Scottish Reformation
  • The theology of death and dying in early modern Scotland
  • Calvin's eucharistic theology
  • The material culture of seventeenth-century English Catholicism
  • Pastoral theology in sixteenth-century Lutheranism
  • Studies of various early modern English theologians including Richard Hooker, Thomas Goodwin, Ralph Venning and John Flavel

Research interests

  • History and theology of the English Reformation
  • History and theology of the Scottish Reformation
  • Piety, prayer and spirituality in Protestantism
  • Moderation in the Reformation era
  • Magic and faith in early modern Europe

Publications

Authored book

Chapter in book

  • Two Ways to Read the Bible in the (Very) Long Reformation
    Ryrie, A. (2023). Two Ways to Read the Bible in the (Very) Long Reformation. In A. French (Ed.), Reading the Reformations: Theologies, Cultures and Beliefs in an Age of Change (pp. 308-326). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004521247
  • The Ecumenical Council of Dordt
    Ryrie, A. (2022). The Ecumenical Council of Dordt. In H. van der Belt, K. W. de Jong, & W. van Vlastuin (Eds.), A Landmark in Turbulent Times: The Meaning and Relevance of the Synod of Dordt (1618–1619) (pp. 23-36). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
  • The Vernacular Scripture Fallacy and the Failure of Early Protestant Mission
    Ryrie, A. (2022). The Vernacular Scripture Fallacy and the Failure of Early Protestant Mission. In A. der Weduwen & M. Walsby (Eds.), Reformation, Communication and the Book in Early Modern Europe: Essays in honour of Andrew Pettegree, Volume 1 (pp. 150-164). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004515307_012
  • Seven conceptualisations of the English Reformation
    Ryrie, A. (2022). Seven conceptualisations of the English Reformation. In K. von Greyerz & A. Schubert (Eds.), Reformation und Reformationen: Kontinuitäten, Identitäten, Narrative. Gütersloher Verlag (De Gruyter).
  • The Myth of the Church of England
    Ryrie, A. (2021). The Myth of the Church of England. In E. Gebarowski-Shafer, A. Null, & A. Ryrie (Eds.), Contesting Orthodoxies in the History of Christianity: essays in honour of Diarmaid MacCulloch. Boydell and Brewer.
  • The Liturgical Commemoration of the Reformation, 1534-1625
    Ryrie, A. (2020). The Liturgical Commemoration of the Reformation, 1534-1625. In A. Walsham, B. Wallace, C. Law, & B. Cummings (Eds.), Memory and the English Reformation. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108900157
  • The Missionary Problem in Early Modern Protestantism: British, Irish and Scandinavian Perspectives
    Ryrie, A. (2020). The Missionary Problem in Early Modern Protestantism: British, Irish and Scandinavian Perspectives. In J. E. Kelly, H. Laugerud, & S. Ryan (Eds.), Northern European Reformations: Transnational Perspectives (pp. 377-403). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54458-4_15
  • Protestants
    Ryrie, A. (2019). Protestants. In A. French (Ed.), Early Modern Childhood: An Introduction. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315177380
  • Facing Childhood Death in English Protestant Spirituality
    Ryrie, A. (2017). Facing Childhood Death in English Protestant Spirituality. In K. Barclay, C. Rawnsley, & K. Reynolds (Eds.), Death, emotion and childhood in premodern Europe. (pp. 109-127). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57199-1_6
  • Reformations
    Ryrie, A. (2017). Reformations. In K. Wrightson (Ed.), A social history of England, 1500-1750. (pp. 107-128). Cambridge University Press.
  • Scripture, the Spirit and the Meaning of Radicalism in the English Revolution
    Ryrie, A. (2017). Scripture, the Spirit and the Meaning of Radicalism in the English Revolution. In B. Heal & A. Kremers (Eds.), Radicalism and dissent in the world of Protestant reform. (pp. 100-117). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. https://doi.org/10.13109/9783666552588.100
  • Religion and religious change
    Ryrie, A. (2016). Religion and religious change. In L. Sangha & J. Willis (Eds.), Understanding early modern primary sources. (pp. 170-186). Routledge.
  • The Nature of Spiritual Experience
    Ryrie, A. (2016). The Nature of Spiritual Experience. In U. Rublack (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the Protestant Reformations. (pp. 47-63). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199646920.013.3
  • Introduction
    Ryrie, A., & Schwanda, T. (2016). Introduction. In A. Ryrie & T. Schwanda (Eds.), Puritanism and emotion in the early modern world. (pp. 1-12). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137490988_1
  • The fall and rise of fasting in the British Reformations
    Ryrie, A. (2013). The fall and rise of fasting in the British Reformations. In N. Mears & A. Ryrie (Eds.), Worship and the parish church in early Modern Britain. (pp. 89-108). Ashgate Publishing.
  • Sleeping, waking and dreaming in Protestant piety
    Ryrie, A. (2012). Sleeping, waking and dreaming in Protestant piety. In J. Martin & A. Ryrie (Eds.), Private and domestic devotion in early modern Britain. (pp. 73-92). Ashgate Publishing.
  • The Afterlife of Lutheran England
    Ryrie, A. (2010). The Afterlife of Lutheran England. In D. Wendebourg (Ed.), Sister reformations : The Reformation in Germany and England = Schwesterreformationen : die Reformation in Deutschland und in England. (pp. 213-234). Mohr Siebeck.
  • The slow death of a tyrant: learning to live without Henry VIII, 1547-1563
    Ryrie, A. (2009). The slow death of a tyrant: learning to live without Henry VIII, 1547-1563. In M. Rankin, C. Highley, & J. N. King (Eds.), Henry VIII and his afterlives : literature, politics and art. (pp. 75-93). Cambridge University Press.
  • Les îles Britanniques et l'Irlande
    Ryrie, A., & Ó hAnnráchain, T. (2008). Les îles Britanniques et l’Irlande. In W. Kaiser (Ed.), L’Europe en conflits: les affrontements religieux et la genèse de l’Europe moderne vers 1500-vers 1630 (pp. 287-319). Presses Universitaires de Rennes.
  • Counting sheep, counting shepherds : the problem of allegiance in the English Reformation
    Ryrie, A. (2002). Counting sheep, counting shepherds : the problem of allegiance in the English Reformation. In P. Marshall & A. Ryrie (Eds.), The beginnings of English Protestantism. (pp. 84-110). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.2277/0521802741

Edited book

Journal Article

Supervision students

Claire Marsland

PhD Student

Reverend John Livesley

John Pearson (1613-1686): the renewal of English Theological Discourse in the Age of Reason?

Louise-Aurore Ebongue Bonny

Maddy Keightley-Phillipps

PhD student

Reverend Peter Moss

Yaling Peng

William Laud's Thought of ‘Enriching the People’ and His Religious Reform