Attachment and God in Medieval England: Focusing on the Figure (Brill Research Perspectives in Religion and Psychology)

This book brings together the disciplines of history and psychology. It is the first study to apply attachment theory to self-narratives of the past, namely examples of life-writing (letters and proto-autobiographies) from medieval England, written in broad religious contexts. It examines whether God could appear as an adequate attachment figure in times of high mortality and often inadequate childrearing practices, and whether the emphasis on God’s proximity to believers benefited their psychological reorganisation. The main method of enquiry is discourse analysis based on the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) coding.

Juliana (Julie) Dresvina, Ph.D. (2007), is a member of the History Faculty, University of Oxford. She has published widely on medieval religiosity and cultural history, and has recently co-edited Cognitive Sciences and Medieval Studies: An Introduction (University of Wales Press, 2021).