Religion, Literature, and Politics in Post-Reformation England, 1540-1688

by Donna B. Hamilton, Richard Strier

Overview

This collection of essays by historians and literary scholars treats English history and culture from the Reformation to the Glorious Revolution as a single coherent period in which religion was a dominant element in political and cultural life. It explores the close linkage between religion and politics in the period through the examination of a wide variety of literary and nonliterary texts. Normal period and disciplinary distinctions are broken down, as post-Reformation culture is shown struggling with major issues of belief and authority.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521060875
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/24/2008
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

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.

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher