Dialogues of Nonconformity Across the British Atlantic World, 1500-1800

Friday 12 September 2025, in person at the University of Birmingham

We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the Dialogues of Nonconformity across the British Atlantic World, c. 1500-1800 Conference.

The Conference will take place at the University of Birmingham on 12 September 2025, and is supported by the Birmingham Centre for Reformation and Early Modern StudiesLink opens in a new window, the Warwick Early Modern and Eighteenth Century CentreLink opens in a new window, and the Doctoral Training Partnership AHRC-Midlands4CitiesLink opens in a new window.

Keynote address by Professor Alec RyrieLink opens in a new window (Durham University).

From Jesuits priests who scorned Protestants for not being able to ‘maintain their doctrine in disputation’, to the sectaries of the mid-seventeenth century, such as Quakers, Baptists, and Independents, who disputed each other publicly, early modern nonconformist groups and people posed a challenge to each other as much as they did to the wider societies in which they lived. We are interested in examining how different forms of nonconformist beliefs, ideas and practices spoke to each other in the British Atlantic World. We aim to explore the interactions between religious, social, and political dissent, and examine what it meant to be nonconformist in the early modern British Atlantic. We define ‘nonconformist’ in its broadest meaning, and encourage papers from across the whole field of arts and humanities. Papers from researchers of all career stages are welcome.

Deadline for abstract submission is 1 July 2025.

We are accepting abstracts of 250 words, for 20-minute papers on (but not limited to) the suggested groups and topics:

·Non-conforming elements within the State Churches (e.g. Presbyterianism, early Methodism)

·Dissenting Protestant groups (e.g. Baptists, Quakers, and Unitarians

·Non-Protestant religious groups (e.g. Catholic Recusants, practicing Jewish people)

·Socially nonconforming political movements (e.g. republicanism, egalitarianism)

·Socially nonconforming theologies, philosophies, and practices (e.g. anti-trinitarianism, materialism, divorce and polyamory)

·Nonconforming lifestyles (such as travellers, outlaws, hermits, and those living beyond the parish system)

·The presence of nonconformity and dissent in contemporary literature and art

·The relationship between different types of nonconformist belief and practices and how competing nonconformist groups interacted with each other

·New theoretical and methodological approaches to nonconformity

Please email paper title, abstract, and a short bio to Jacob HydeLink opens in a new window (JMH854@student.bham.ac.uk) & Evie NashLink opens in a new window (Evie.Nash@warwick.ac.uk)

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