ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores social and historical connections and disjunctions between all three fields, without assuming that an historical homogeneity can be obtained between them. It talks about the individual historians who have been writing about emotions since the nineteenth century, when the idea that emotions may have a history was first articulated. The book shows how the word ‘emotion’ was used figuratively to refer to an agitation or disturbance of the mind, that is passion, from the late sixteenth century, but was not in common use in this sense until the nineteenth century. It draws attention to the importance of debates over predestination versus free will for shaping early modern discourse about emotions, by considering the long-term effect that shifts in attitudes towards this complex issue could have on the inner life of a particular faith community.