eBook

The literary culture of the reformation : grammar and grace

Cummings, Brian

2002,2003

Overview

This book examines the place of literature in the Reformation, considering both how arguments about biblical meaning and literary interpretation influenced the new theology, and how developments in theology in turn influenced literary practices. Part One focuses on Northern Europe, reconsidering the relationship between Renaissance humanism (especially Erasmus) and religious ideas (especially Luther). Parts Two and Three examine Tudor and early Stuart England. Part Two describes the rise of vernacular theology and Protestant culture in relation to fundamental changes in the understanding of the English language. Part Three studies English religious poetry (including Donne, Herbert, and, in an Epilogue, Milton) in the wake of these changes. Bringing together genres and styles of writing that are normally kept apart (poems, sermons, treatises, commentaries), the author offers a re-evaluation of the literary production of this intensely verbal and controversial period.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press,Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Subject: Early modern, 1500-1700 / England / English literature / English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism / History and criticism / Literary Studies (1500 to 1800) / Literary Studies (Civil War and Restoration) / Literary Studies (Early Modern) / Literary Theory and Cultural Studies / Reformation / Reformation -- England / Reformation in literature / Religion and Art, Literature, and Music / Religion and literature / Religion in literature / Religious literature, English / Religious literature, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism
• ISBN: 0198187351, 9780198187356