The early modern 'public sphere' emerges out of a popular 'culture of persuasion' fostered by the Protestant Reformation. By 1600, religious identity could no longer be assumed as 'given' within the hierarchical institutions and elaborate apparatus of late-medieval 'sacramental culture'. Reformers insisted on a sharp demarcation between the inner, subjective space of the individual and the external, public space of institutional life. Gradual displacement of sacramental culture was achieved by means of argument, textual interpretation, exhortation, reasoned opinion, and moral advice exercised...

The open-air pulpit within the precincts of St. Paul's Cathedral known as 'Paul's Cross' can be reckoned among the most influential of all public venues in early-modern England. Between 1520 and the early 1640s, this pulpit and its auditory constituted a microcosm of the realm and functioned at the epicentre of events which radically transformed England's political and religious identities. Through cultivation of a sophisticated culture of persuasion, sermons at Paul's Cross contributed substantially to the emergence of an early-modern public sphere. This collection of 24 essays seeks to...