What did it mean to premodern English folk to be “hot for God”? While we might assume that Christian devotion requires the disciplining of sexual desire and even, in extreme cases, the suppression of sexuality tout court, for the devotees of medieval and early modern England love of God could be the site of a startlingly vivid eroticism. Frequently, the forms of this desire eschewed the limits set by institutionalized marriage and sexual procreation, opening instead onto distinctly queer propositions. But the course of love never did run smooth, and in the mystical texts of the medieval period and the devotional lyrics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, poets wrestle with pain, despair, anger, and doubt when confronted with the inaccessibility and perceived indifference of their holy lover. In this course, we will consider the historical forms desire takes by exploring erotic practices and behaviours tied to medieval and early modern Christian devotion.