John Bale and Religious Conversion in Reformation England

Wort presents a study of conversion in the sixteenth century by focusing on the life and work of the evangelical reformer John Bale (1485-1563). Bale wrote several accounts of his conversion over a twenty-year period. Through a scrupulous examination of these published and unpublished works, Wort reinterprets Bale's conversion, moving away from standard assumptions of a 'clean break' towards a gradual metamorphosis where both aspects of Bale's character and beliefs can be seen to coexist. Wort uses this case study to establish a new set of critical perspectives on the subject of religious conversion and so offers a novel way of thinking about the English Reformation.