The Reformation raised doubts about centuries-old church doctrines. Did this contribute to the emergence of atheism in the modern world? Or was it the violence of religious wars and the oppression stemming from the marriage of religion and government? St Luke's Education Coordinator John Ericson takes a look in this episode at Atheism in the 17th century.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Naomi Pullin, a Professor at Warwick University in the UK, about the Quaker story on both sides of the Atlantic. The Society of Friends was persecuted for their beliefs but held fast to their ethics of equality and nonviolence in one of the most violent centuries in Western history. Join us as we discuss this fascinating story of perseverance and the Quakers' important role in the history of religious freedom.

Naomi Pullin is an Associate Professor of Early Modern British History at the University of Warwick. She is the author of Female Friends and the Making of Transatlantic Quakerism, 1650-1750 (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and editor of Negotiating Exclusion in Early Modern England, 1550-1800 (Routledge, 2021). She has also published a number of other chapters and articles on different aspects of early Quaker culture and facets of women’s identities and experiences, including forthcoming articles in the English Historical Review and Journal of Early Modern History. She is currently working on a new monograph entitled A Social History of Solitude in Early Modern Britain, which was funded by a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship.

Today we often talk about the impact of social media on forming public opinion, its effect on elections, and how it fuels division. In 17th century England, the printing press and the proliferation of pamphlets were doing similar things. In this Episode, we speak with public historian and historic book binder, Hunter Willis, on the Pamphlet Wars.

Hunter Willis is an amateur historian and has been researching and practicing the art of bookbinding for a decade. He has conducted extensive research and delivered historical lectures on various topics, including bookbinding, printing, and literary history. In addition to bookbinding, Hunter has over two decades of experience as a historical interpreter of 19th, 18th, and 17th century history. His full-time career is in cloud Product Marketing for IBM.