Religion, Literature, and Politics in Post-Reformation England, 1540–1688
Religion, Literature, and Politics in Post-Reformation England, 1540–1688
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This collection of essays by historians and literary scholars treats English history and culture from the Henrician Reformation to the Glorious Revolution as a single coherent period in which religion is a dominant element in political and cultural life. It seeks to explore the centrality of the religion-politics nexus for this whole period through examining a wide variety of literary and non-literary texts, from plays and poems to devotional treatises, political treatises and histories. It breaks down normal distinctions between Tudor and Stuart, pre- and post-Restoration periods to reveal a coherent (though not all serene and untroubled) post-Reformation culture struggling with major issues of belief, practice and authority.
- Restores religion to a central place in the politics and culture of post-Reformation England
- Brings new coherence to the period 1540–1688
- Offers interdisciplinary appeal: literary, cultural and historical scholars and subjects
Reviews & endorsements
"The volume offers a promising sampling of larger studies to come from an able team of contributors from three disciplines who have a variety of valuable things to say about the persistence of religion amid the tangle of English politics." Sixteenth Century Journal
"...this volume succeeds brilliantly in showing how ecclesiology cannot be segregated from politics....this collection represents a sure step toward our fuller understanding of the period." Richard Mallette, Journal of English and Germanic Philology
"...each essay shows polish and sophistication" Albion
"Hamilton and Strier's compilation is an important interdisciplinary addition to the fields of Tudor-Stuart history, religious studies, and literary criticism." Cecile Zinberg, Studies in Chirstianity and Culture
"The collection of twelve essays edited by Donna Hamilton and Richard Strier is exemplary. Evenly divided between English and history departments, contributors from both sides of the Atlantic investigate how religion, literature, and politics intertwine." Charles A. Huttar, Religion & Literature
"...each essay shows polish and sophistication..." C. John Sommerville, Albion
"The essays are refreshingly free of trendy jargon." D.G. Paz, Religious Studies Review
Product details
April 2008Paperback
9780521060875
296 pages
229 × 152 × 17 mm
0.43kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction Donna B. Hamilton and Richard Strier
- 1. Sir John Oldcastle as symbol of Reformation historiography Annabel Patterson
- 2. The 'sacred hunger of ambitious minds': Spenser's savage religion Andrew Hadfield
- 3. Subversive fathers and suffering subjects: Shakespeare and Christianity Debora K. Shuger
- 4. Kneeling and the body politic Lori Anne Ferrell
- 5. Donne and the politics of devotion Richard Strier
- 6. Catholic, Anglican or Puritan? Edward Sackville, Fourth Earl of Dorset, and the ambiguities of religion in early Stuart England David L. Smith
- 7. Crucifixion or apocalypse: refiguring the Eikon Basilike Laura Blair McKnight
- 8. Marvell, sacrilege, and Protestant historiography: contextualising 'Upon Appleton House' Gary D. Hamilton
- 9. Entering The Temple: women, reading and devotion in seventeenth-century England Helen Wilcox
- 10. Contextualising Dryden's Absolom: William Lawrence, the laws of marriage and the case for King Monmouth Mark Goldie
- 11. Reformation in the Restoration crisis, 1679–1682 Gary S. De Krey
- 12. Shadwell's dramatic trimming, Steven Pincus.
