Piers Plowman and the Books of Nature

by Rebecca Davis

Piers Plowman and the Books of Nature explores the relationship of divine creativity, poetry, and ethics in William Langland's fourteenth-century dream vision. These concerns converge in the poem's rich vocabulary of kynde, the familiar Middle English word for nature, broadly construed. But in a remarkable coinage, Langland also uses kynde to name nature's creator, who appears as a character in Piers Plowman. The stakes of this representation could not be greater: by depicting God as Kynde, that is, under the guise of creation itself, Langland explores the capacity of nature and of language to bear the plenitude of the divine. In doing so, he advances a daring claim for the spiritual value of literary art, including his own searching form of theological poetry. This claim challenges recent critical attention to the poem's discourses of disability and failure and reveals the poem's place in a long and diverse tradition of medieval humanism that originates in the twelfth century and, indeed, points forward to celebrations of nature and natural capacity in later periods. By contextualizing Langland's poetics of kynde within contemporary literary, philosophical, legal, and theological discourses, Rebecca Davis offers a new literary history for Piers Plowman that opens up many of the poem's most perplexing interpretative problems.

290 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2016

About the author

Rebecca Davis is a biblical scholar, writer, and advocate for abuse survivors. She has written over 400 articles at Here's the Joy and has published over 20 books, including the Untwisting Scriptures series.

With an understanding of trauma and a deep desire to explore and explain what the Bible really means in its full context, Rebecca’s goal is to help abuse survivors see what the Scriptures really mean, free from the twisted teachings that enabled their abuse.

Her work combines rigorous biblical scholarship with compassionate, accessible writing for those on the healing journey.

Before writing for adults, Rebecca authored nonfiction for children and young people, including biographies of great Christians and true stories of "hidden heroes" from around the world.

Connect with Rebecca at heresthejoy[dot]com.