Constrained by Zeal

This book investigates the neglected area of nonconformist female spirituality. Drawing primarily on obituaries, but also using a variety of other sources, it explores the experience of women from four denominations: Particular Baptist, Congregationalist, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist during the period 1825-1875. Religion was an integral part of many women's lives in the nineteenth century, and this is the first serious study of their experiences within these churches. Thus, through the lives of these ordinary women, and a comparative sample of men, insight is provided into the relationships in the mid-nineteenth century among evangelicalism, femininity, and separate spheres.