"Patricia Crawford argues in this study that religion in the early modern period cannot be understood without a perception of the gendered nature of its beliefs, institutions and language." "The book focuses on women and their apprehensions of God in early modern England. Contemporary religious ideology reinforced the assumption that women were inferior to men but, as Patricia Crawford shows, it was possible for some women to transcend these beliefs and profoundly influence history within a social structure which was not of their making. The book is organized around three broad themes: the role of women in the religious upheaval of the Reformation, civil wars and Commonwealth; the significance of religion to contemporary women, and the range of their practices and beliefs; and the role of gender in the period." "This wide-ranging synthesis incorporates the most recent scholarship on gender with the author's original research. It opens up the question of gender and religion in the early modern period to the non-specialist reader, and will also be of considerable interest to students and teachers of religious history, early modern England and women's history."--Jacket.