Kaartinen, Marjo 1964–

(Marjo Tuulikki Kaartinen)

PERSONAL:

Born July 5, 1964, in Multia, Finland. Education: University of Turku, B.A., 1989, M.A., 1990, Lic.Phil., 1993, Ph.D., 1999.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—marjo.kaartinen@utu.fi.

CAREER:

University of Turku, Turku, Finland, lecturer, 1991-95, assistant in cultural history, 1995-2001, 2000-07, senior assistant in cultural history, 2003, adjunct professor, 2003—, senior lecturer, 2004-05; Academy of Finland, Helsinki, research fellow, 1997-99, senior research fellow, 2000-01, academy research fellow, 2005-10. Visiting scholar, University of California at Los Angeles, 2001-02; honorary research fellow, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London, 2005-06.

MEMBER:

International Society for Cultural History (founding member), Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies, Finnish Historical Society, Turku Historical Society.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Scholar of the Year in Finland, 2006; Villa Karo Cultural Award, 2007.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Anu Korhonen) Bodies in Evidence: Perspectives on the History of the Body in Early Modern Europe, University of Turku (Turku, Finland), 1997.

Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, Palgrave (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS:

Marjo Kaartinen is a scholar at the University of Turku in Finland and the Academy of Finland. Her book Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation describes the world of nuns, friars, and monks in Europe during the reign of Henry VIII, often using their own words. Of particular interest to Kaartinen is the region's transition from Catholicism to Protestantism, and why some religious ideas survived while others did not. The result is intended to provide a glimpse into the diverse spiritual life of the time in terms of what was natural to them and what required rules and explanations.

Kaartinen uses court records, the sermons of Thomas More and Richard Whitford, as well as the words of lesser-known writers of devotionals and pamphlets, to explore four key components of religious life: obedience, poverty, chastity, and stability. One of Kaartinen's major concerns is the dissonance surrounding Henry VIII's great dissolution, in which the ruler single-handedly dissolved the monasteries. Since monks had vowed to remain obedient to both the Church and the king, Kaartinen wonders why the monks chose to obey Henry VIII over the Church and walk away from their cloisters without a fight. Partly it may have been that he took the people by surprise—they were not in a position to fight the decree. Ultimately, she believes that the evangelicals, though they valued those who devoted their lives to the Church, refused to support the notion that a monastic life was superior to a secular life. Ronald H. Fritze, writing in the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, rejected this notion. "Kaartinen does not provide a satisfactory answer to her question as to how Henry VIII was able to get away with dissolving the monasteries. Her book actually seems to explain why something that actually happened, should not have happened." But Helen M.E. Evans, writing in Albion, concluded that "Kaartinen succeeds in drawing out the common ground between supporters and detractors of the religious life throughout the book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Albion, winter, 2004, Helen M.E. Evans, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 634.

American Historical Review, December, 2003, Peter Marshall, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 1517.

Choice, January, 2003, C. Lindberg, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 841.

History, October, 2004, James G. Clark, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 639.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, January, 2005, Ronald H. Fritze, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 107.

Journal of Modern History, June, 2005, Susan Wabuda, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 417.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 2002, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 21.

Sixteenth Century Journal, spring, 1998, Michael T. Walton, review of Bodies in Evidence: Perspectives on the History of the Body in Early Modern Europe, p. 304; spring, 2004, Rudolph P. Almasy, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 263.

Times Literary Supplement, February 28, 2003, Bernard Green, review of Religious Life and English Culture in the Reformation, p. 33.