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Katy Barnett's avatar

I love all your medieval history work, but I really do think this is my absolute favourite of your papers. I find your analysis of kin-groups compelling, as someone who does comparative legal history, including in Asia.

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Lorenzo Warby's avatar

Thanks muchly!

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Michael Magoon's avatar

Very interesting article. The topic of warrior slaves is fascinating.

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Awesome F Welles's avatar

Typo in Locke’s DOB: “and Locke (1732-1704)”

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Lorenzo Warby's avatar

Well-spotted and ta.

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Paul McNamara's avatar

"Christianity has a long history of being antipathetic to kin-groups. Even today, much of the appeal of Pentecostalism in Africa is that its congregations provide both refuge from the demands of kin-groups and an alternative support network."

This comment is somewhat besides the point of this paper, so apologies in advance. I sometimes think that the Christian suppression of kin-groups and the subsequent decline of Christianity in the West has led to a generalized form of alienation. Much of the social work of the state is a very poor substitute for the work of churches. A church can give one a sense of identity and purpose within a larger community as well as material support. The state can give only material support.

I suspect the suppression of kin-groups worked only so far as the Church was able to replace the identity formation of kin-groups with the larger, universal identity of Christianity along with the obligations and duties pertaining to such.

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Lorenzo Warby's avatar

I would say that the issue was the congregation, which provided a local network connecting people. There is also just more connections when so much of what people did was within walking distance.

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