Dr. Odile Panetta

Biography

Odile Liliana Panetta is a Koch History Centre Fellow at Wadham College, University of Oxford. Her research primarily focuses on the interplay of moral, political, and religious thought during the early modern period in Europe, with a particular emphasis on Protestant political thought of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. She investigates how ideas were transmitted and reproduced, drawing from various historical fields, including intellectual history, bibliography, print culture, and the history of universities. Odile's doctoral dissertation examined the contributions of Italian Protestant refugees to the debates surrounding the legitimacy of coercing heretics, particularly in relation to the execution of Antitrinitarian Michael Servetus in Geneva in 1553. This research has led to forthcoming articles that re-evaluate established narratives regarding the rise of religious toleration, focusing on the competing ideologies regarding the suppression of heresy espoused by orthodox Reformed and radical Protestants. Her current project on ecclesiastical discipline seeks to explore the justifications within early modern Reformed thought concerning the role of the state in enforcing both corporal and spiritual punishment. Odile's work contributes to ongoing discussions about the processes of confessionalisation and the rise of the modern state.

Research Interests