Gowing, Laura

Laura Gowing is a British historian specializing in gender, social relations, and religious culture in early modern Europe. Currently Professor of Early Modern History at King's College London, she has made significant contributions to understanding the intersection of faith, gender, and social bonds in pre-modern societies. Her work "Love, Friendship and Faith in Europe 1300-1800" (2005), co-edited with Michael Hunter and Miri Rubin, examines how religious belief shaped intimate relationships and social networks across late medieval and early modern Europe. The volume demonstrates how Christian theology and practice fundamentally structured emotional life, friendship patterns, and concepts of love during this period. Gowing's broader scholarship on women's religious experiences, particularly in Protestant England, illuminates how ordinary people understood and practiced faith within their daily social relationships, contributing to debates about lived religion and the social history of belief.