Professor Howard Hotson
BA, MA, DPhil
Lecturer (CUF) in Modern History, Professor of Early Modern Intellectual History
Email: howard.hotson@history.ox.ac.uk
Research Interests
Professor Hotson works in the field of early modern European intellectual history, with particular attention to central Europe and the international Reformed world c.1550-1660. Thematically, he has written on the histories of science, philosophy, religion, education, and political theory and their relationship to broader social, political, and confessional developments. At the heart of his interests are the gradually expanding reform movements of the post-Reformation period culminating in the pansophism of Comenius, the universal reform programme of Samuel Hartlib, and the audacious philosophical projects of Leibniz. He is currently working on pedagogical innovations linking Ramus to Comenius and Leibniz and a book on the revival of millenarianism in early modern Europe.
Selected Publications:
- 'Philosophical Pedagogy in Reformed Central Europe between Ramus and Comenius: A Survey of the Continental Background of the Three Foreigners' in Samuel Hartlib and Universal Reformation: Studies in Intellectual Communication. (Cambridge, 1994) pp. 29-50
- Johann Heinrich Alsted 1588-1638: Between Renaissance, Reformation and Universal Reform. (Oxford, 2000) 271pp.
- Paradise Postponed: Johann Heinrich Alsted and the Birth of Calvinist Millenarianism. (Dordrecht, 2000) 227pp.
- 'Arianism and Millenarianism: The Link between Two Heresies from Servetus to Socinus' in Continental Millenarians: Protestants, Catholics, Heretics. (Dordrecht and Boston, 2001) pp. 9-35
- 'The Conservative Face of Contractual Theory: The Monarchomach Servants of the Count of Nassau-Dillenburg' in Politische Begriffe und historisches Umfeld in der Politica methodice digesta des Johannes Althusius. (Wiesbaden, 2002) pp. 251-89
- 'Irenicism in the Confessional Age: the Holy Roman Empire, 1563-1648' in Conciliation and Confession: The Struggle for Unity in the Age of Reform, 1415-1648. (Notre Dame, 2004) pp. 228-85
- 'The Instauration of the Image of God in Man: Humanist Anthropology, Encyclopaedic Pedagogy, Baconianism, and Universal Reform' in The Practice of Reform in Health, Medicine, and Science 1500-2000: Essays for Charles Webster. (Aldershot, 2005) pp. 1-21
- Commonplace Learning: Ramism and its German Ramifications, 1543-1630. (Oxford, 2007) 333pp.
- 'Central Europe, 1550-1700' in Reformation and Early Modern Europe: a Guide to Research III. (Kirksville, Mo., 2008)
- 'Anti-Semitism, Philo-Semitism, Apocalypticism and Millenarianism in Early Modern Europe: A Case Study and some Methodological Reflections' in Seeing Things Their Way: Intellectual History and the Return of Religion. (Notre Dame, 2009) pp. 91-133
Future Publications:
- The Reformation of Common Learning: Post-Ramist Method and the Reception of the New Philosophy, 1618-1670 . (Oxford, 2011)
Research Interests and Activities
Selected Links to External Websites
