Jessica Martin – författare

This book argues that Walton's practice, in his Lives, was crucial in shaping modern expectations of biography: how it should be organised, how it should treat evidence, how seriously it should regard narrative coherence, and most particularly in the modern expectation of an intimate relationship between author, reader, and subject. Dr Martin considers Walton's biographical ethics in relation to the tributary genres influencing him as they emerged from post-Reformation commendatory practice after 1546, most particularly classical funeral oratory and the emergent Protestant funeral sermon, the Plutarchan parallel, the didactic Character, martyrological narrative, and finally Walton's direct model, the exemplary biographical commemoration of the conformist minister. Dr Martin considers how Walton develops his literary inheritance, arguing that his lay status required him to initiate a different kind of mediation between reader and subject from the straightforwardly imitative. Walton presents himself as a channel for the words and acts of an authoritative subject, a preference implicitly followed both in his stress on personal connections with his subjects (which spectacularly particularizes his portraits) and in his very extensive use of their own writings. His Lives attempt posthumous autobiography. They are also considered as prominent and accomplished examples of the many politically intended narratives which exploit a consensual interpretation of private virtue to support, without having to argue for, a sectarian interpretation of public rectitude.

Scholars increasingly recognise that understanding the history of religion means understanding worship and devotion as well as doctrines and polemics. Early modern Christianity consisted of its lived experience. This collection and its companion volume (Worship and the Parish Church in Early Modern Britain, ed. Natalie Mears and Alec Ryrie) bring together an interdisciplinary range of scholars to discuss what that lived experience comprised, and what it meant. Private and domestic devotion - how early modern men and women practised their religion when they were not in church - is a vital and largely hidden subject. Here, historical, literary and theological scholars examine piety of conformist, non-conformist and Catholic early modern Christians, in a range of private and domestic settings, in both England and Scotland. The subjects under analysis include Bible-reading, the composition of prayers, the use of the psalms, the use of physical props for prayers, the pious interpretation of dreams, and the troubling question of what counted as religious solitude. The collection as a whole broadens and deepens our understanding of the patterns of early modern devotion, and of their meanings for early modern culture as a whole.

How can we make sense of intensifying gender inequalities amid the growing visibility of popular, media-driven feminism? Can domestic cultures offer a space for feminist response and resistance to austerity?Feminisms and Domesticity in Times of Crisis seeks to address these questions, exploring how the revival of traditionally feminine domestic activities, such as crafting, baking and sewing exemplified by cultural figures such as the “trad-wife”, has coincided with the re-politicisation and heightened visibility of domestic culture during an era of austerity. Jessica Martin offers an in-depth analysis of public figures who have forged ‘austerity celebrity’ personas that blend domesticity with activism, producing a popular but complex strand of neoliberal feminism.Examining figures like Kirstie Allsopp, Justine Roberts, Jen Gale, and anti-austerity blogger and cook Jack Monroe, Martin examines how each figure develops a distinct form of politicised domesticity. Their responses span the political spectrum—from Allsopp’s promotion of the ‘Big Society’ and conservative individualism to Roberts’ transformation of motherhood into parliamentary activism.Martin also considers how this nostalgic turn to domesticity intensified during the COVID-19 crisis, reinforcing narratives of white femininity, patriotic stoicism, and the so-called British blitz spirit, while helping to obscure the escalating inequalities of austerity-era Britain. Martin argues that the convergence of nostalgia and femininity has produced new discourses of performative thrift, feminized labour and aspirational domesticity which are key resources for the justification of austerity policy.

Scholars increasingly recognise that understanding the history of religion means understanding worship and devotion as well as doctrines and polemics. Early modern Christianity consisted of its lived experience. This collection and its companion volume (Worship and the Parish Church in Early Modern Britain, ed. Natalie Mears and Alec Ryrie) bring together an interdisciplinary range of scholars to discuss what that lived experience comprised, and what it meant. Private and domestic devotion - how early modern men and women practised their religion when they were not in church - is a vital and largely hidden subject. Here, historical, literary and theological scholars examine piety of conformist, non-conformist and Catholic early modern Christians, in a range of private and domestic settings, in both England and Scotland. The subjects under analysis include Bible-reading, the composition of prayers, the use of the psalms, the use of physical props for prayers, the pious interpretation of dreams, and the troubling question of what counted as religious solitude. The collection as a whole broadens and deepens our understanding of the patterns of early modern devotion, and of their meanings for early modern culture as a whole.

We live in a world that prizes gratification of desire. But what if this pressure to satisfy our wants instead makes us settle for lesser imitations? What if the problem with desire is not that we want what we can’t have, but that we don’t want it enough? What if desire itself - the gap between wanting and having - is the key to living well?Holiness and Desire explores these questions and the challenges they pose to modern living. Drawing on sources from the Bible to literature and social media, Jessica Martin considers what a distinctive holiness might look like within the distorting pressures of our highly sexualized modern culture.Nominated for the 2023 Michael Ramsey Prize.

The Eucharist is common Sunday fare in most Anglican churches, and the point in ritual where God and humanity most closely meet. It nourishes the soul, deepens and extends community, reaches deeper than any other Christian practice. But collective worship has been in steep decline and Eucharistic practice has been further disrupted by the pandemic.In The Eucharist in Four Dimensions, Jessica Martin considers the place of the Eucharist today using four approaches:· The Point of the Eucharist – its essence, story and what it is for in contemporary culture; the divine value it gives to the weak and the broken;· Flat Eucharist – the meaning of the Eucharist in a world of written liturgy and screened worship;· The Eucharist as event - the role of physical gathering and communal eating in the Eucharistic drama of communal feast; how this works when we are physically absent;· The Eucharist in time – how memory brings together Jesus’s past physical present with the meetings and partings of our own lives.This is an essential guide to the Eucharist for all ministering in a world of streamed services and remote worship.

This collection features five peer-reviewed literature reviews on ensuring animal welfare during transport and slaughter.The first chapter examines the impact of transport on beef and dairy cattle, as well as the effects of transport on carcass quality issues, such as bruising and dark cutting beef. It details how conditions can be optimised to ensure the welfare needs of the animal are met during all stages of transport.The second chapter reviews the legislation and codes of practice surrounding the transport and slaughter of cows to be culled as a result of disease or the development of health conditions such as lameness.The third chapter considers the effects of transport, handling and slaughter practices on pigs as well as physiological effects on carcass and meat quality.The fourth chapter explores current approaches used to stun poultry before slaughter, including electrical stunning and controlled atmosphere stunning. The chapter reviews the associated risks and benefits of each approach to overall bird health and welfare.The final chapter reviews the main welfare issues associated with management of sheep once they leave the farm, including transport by road and sea, use of holding facilities as well as handling and stunning of sheep at abattoirs.

The traditional landscape of Anglican parish ministry is irrevocably changing. Priests have traditionally understood themselves as maintaining centres of prayer and spiritual care for people in a particular place, but urgent pressures on parish ministry are changing this. For God's Sake seeks to discern what priests are called to do in the new shape the church is taking. It looks for signs of God’s kingdom in today’s signs of the times, and ways of being both faithful and creative in the face of an uncertain future. A range of contributors explore first-hand the contradictions and paradoxes of a priest’s daily life, reflecting on how the wisdom of the past and the new initiatives of evangelization are shaping their vocation to prayer, study and speaking the good news of Jesus Christ.