Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Naomi Baker

@drnaomibaker.bsky.social

3K followers 1.4K following 510 posts

Senior Lecturer in English Lit, U of Manchester| Assoc. Editor Literature & Theology 📚Voices of Thunder: Radical Religious Women of the Seventeenth Century (Reaktion Books, 2025) https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/voices-of-thunder

reaktionbooks.co.uk

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · Jun 27

“the most accessible, detailed and well-informed study to date of the 17th-century women preachers and prophets … many will find it an eye-opening revelation”

Am thrilled with this wonderful endorsement of VOICES OF THUNDER by Prof. Nigel Smith

@reaktionbooks.bsky.social #earlymodern

2 18

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 1d

#earlymodern

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 1d

It was a privilege to talk about the radical C17th women in my book with @sixteenthcgirl.bsky.social for Not Just the Tudors. We had a brilliant and wide-ranging discussion about a Yorkshire maidservant who met the sultan of the Ottoman Empire … and much more!

shows.acast.com/not-just-the...

Voices of Thunder: Radical Women of the 17th Century | Not Just the Tudors

How radical women of the English Revolution reshaped faith, gender, and political power

shows.acast.com

1 5 14

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 1d

It sounds sensational.

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 1d

No, please don’t dump the prose! I would love to read your chapter on life writing

1 2

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you, I hope you enjoy it!

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! 🙏

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! 🙏

Reposted by Naomi Baker

David Hayden @seventydys.bsky.social · 1d

I had the great pleasure of editing Naomi Baker’s Voices of Thunder, her groundbreaking book on radical religious women in the 17th century, which arrives with these emphatic endorsements. Out today from @reaktionbooks.bsky.social. #earlymodern

In Voices of Thunder Naomi Baker gives us the most accessible, detailed and well-informed study to date of the women preachers and prophets of the seventeenth-century, a time when nearly all women were meant to stay home and be quiet. Baker shows us how very many women were involved and influential in the early Baptist and Quaker movements and beyond, and how sharply they saw gender and class oppression, while often enduring harsh persecution, usually by men, at home and abroad. With notable biographical skill and sympathy, the author shows us how the women prophets saw and experienced their world. All can benefit from this book, and many will find it an eye-opening revelation.'
Nigel Smith, Princeton University, author of Andrew Marvell: The Chameleon
Voices of Thunder offers a ground-breaking account of the radical women who, during the political, social and religious turmoil of seventeenth-century Britain and Ireland, found voice and vocation. Naomi Baker is an outstanding guide to this complex, challenging and extraordinary culture.
Crawford Gribben, Professor of History at Queen's University Belfast and author of J. N. Darby and the Roots of Dispensationalism
This book crackles and fizzes with the energy and bravado of the many overlooked women who metaphorically hitched up their skirts to challenge forms of authority that sought to marginalise them. Naomi Baker brings deft erudition to her narrative and stylishly synthesises the complex histories of religious radicalism in the seventeenth century. This elegantly written and lively book has much to teach us about belief, politics and activism in both the seventeenth century and the contemporary moment.
Danielle Clarke, Professor of English Renaissance Language and Literature, University College Dublin
Her timely book reminds us of the urgent need to listen to the voices of those who disrupt our social and moral commonplaces.'
Adrian Streete, Professor of Early Modern Literature and Religion, U of Glasgow

1 10 20

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you so much David - for this and for your wonderful editing

1 1

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 2d

That’s lovely to hear, thank you!

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 2d

It looks fantastic, and what a great course!

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks @tomasstanger.bsky.social for this lovely review of Voices of Thunder!

The Gothic Revival @thegothicrevival.bsky.social · 2d

@tomasstanger.bsky.social review of Voices of Thunder: Radical Religious Women of the Seventeenth Century by @drnaomibaker.bsky.social published by @reaktionbooks.bsky.social is on our website now:

thegothicrevival.com/voices-of-th...

#Booksky #writingcommunity #bookreviews #cats #folklore

Voices of Thunder by Naomi Baker

I find the subject of women in religion an absolutely fascinating subject, to the extent that I dedicated a large part of my own research

thegothicrevival.com

1 1 6

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 2d

#earlymodern @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 2d

It’s PUBLICATION DAY!! 🌟⭐️💫 I’m very happy to see Voices of Thunder going out into the world 📚

3 9 71

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 2d

RIP Diane Keaton, what an absolute star in all senses of the word. I sometimes try to copy her style just a little bit - no-one could come close of course 💔

Reposted by Naomi Baker

Creative Manchester @uomcreativemcr.bsky.social · 4d

Huge congratulations to our friends at @mcrlitfest.bsky.social as this year’s Manchester Literature Festival begins! 🎉 This year celebrates 20 years of literary magic - and once again @manchester.ac.uk is the proud official HE partner.

Explore the full programme: manchesterliterature...

3 4

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 5d

Image: A Woman Asleep over a Book, Jan de Bray, 1660. British Museum

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 5d

Anne Wentworth (1630-c.1693) endured years of abuse at the hands of her husband. She knew speaking out would alienate her from the Baptist church of which they were both members, but she went ahead and published 4 accounts of the abuse. I tell her remarkable story in Voices of Thunder #earlymodern

1 1 17

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 6d

One of the most daring theological works of the C17th, published by Elizabeth Avery in 1647. It reconsiders every mainstream Protestant teaching about the apocalypse, and caused her to be denounced as a heretic, including by her own brother. I tell Avery’s story in Voices of Thunder #earlymodern

14 37

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 7d

Several of the women I write about in Voices of Thunder were accused of being witches - it was done to silence and shame them because they were uncomfortably outspoken and nonconformist. Great to see someone advocating for women like them! #earlymodern #witch

Maidstone council requests pardon for 17th Century 'witches'

Maidstone Borough Council says alleged witches are "victims of a huge injustice rooted in misogyny".

www.bbc.com

1 11

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 8d

Spotted in the wild for the first time!! 🤩 At Blackwells on Oxford Rd in Manchester - so exciting to see it making its way into the world after so long in my head 🧡

1 3 45

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 8d

Had a great time today chatting with @sixteenthcgirl.bsky.social for the Not Just the Tudors podcast on History Hit. Watch out next week for the episode on Voices of Thunder and radical 17th-century women!

1 6

Reposted by Naomi Baker

Valeria Vescina @valeriavescina.bsky.social · 9d

Thank you, @drnaomibaker.bsky.social. 👏 It really is vital for a wide public to be aware of the path by which we get to real conquests - not just to fully appreciate these, but also not to take them for granted.

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 11d

As the first female Archbishop of Canterbury is appointed, it’s worth remembering that dissenting women were preaching to mixed sex congregations in London as early as 1645. My book Voices of Thunder has a whole section on 17th-century “she-preachers”

#earlymodern

2 5

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 9d

#earlymodern #quaker

Naomi Baker @drnaomibaker.bsky.social · 9d

Hester Biddle was a Quaker preacher who was imprisoned 14 times, often simply for preaching. She was enraged by the growing inequalities of C17th London and warned that God would judge those who ignored the needs of those begging for food on the streets. Ch 7 of Voices of Thunder tells her story

3 4 24