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Biblical Readings and Literary Writings in Early Modern England, 1558-1625
The Bible had a profound impact on early modern culture, and bible-reading shaped the period's drama, poetry, and life-writings, as well as sermons and biblical commentaries. This volume provides an account of the how the Bible was read and applied in early modern England. It maps the connection between these readings and various forms of writing and argues that literary writings bear the hallmarks of the period's dominant exegetical practices, and do interpretative work. Tracing the impact of biblical reading across a range of genres and writers, the discussion demonstrates that literary reimaginings of, and allusions to, the Bible were common, varied, and ideologically evocative.
The book explores how a series of popularly interpreted biblical narratives were recapitulated in the work of a diverse selection of writers, some of whom remain relatively unknown. In early modern England, the figures of Solomon, Job, and Christ's mother, Mary, and the books of Song of Songs and Revelation, are enmeshed in different ways with contemporary concerns, and their usage illustrates how the Bible's narratives could be turned to a fascinating array of debates. In showing the multifarious contexts in which biblical narratives were deployed, this book argues that Protestant interpretative practices contribute to, and problematize, literary constructions of a range of theological, political, and social debates.
The book explores how a series of popularly interpreted biblical narratives were recapitulated in the work of a diverse selection of writers, some of whom remain relatively unknown. In early modern England, the figures of Solomon, Job, and Christ's mother, Mary, and the books of Song of Songs and Revelation, are enmeshed in different ways with contemporary concerns, and their usage illustrates how the Bible's narratives could be turned to a fascinating array of debates. In showing the multifarious contexts in which biblical narratives were deployed, this book argues that Protestant interpretative practices contribute to, and problematize, literary constructions of a range of theological, political, and social debates.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published June 5, 2018
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Victoria Brownlee
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 21, 2025
DNF at p. 133.
Shame. I was excited about the topic of this book, enough to buy it, and not cheaply. In retrospect, the vagueness of the title could have put me off.
The book is quite impressively researched and footnoted. Scads and scads of references, to the appropriate secondary and primary sources. So many primary sources. One suspects many bloodshot hours in front of the EEBO interface. The book's primary scholarly usefulness seems to me to be in collation, particularly of interesting primary sources. Hadn't seen the Luther quotation that allegory is a "beautiful harlot who fondles men" (p. 40). Glad I have, now.
The problems the book points out excitedly are the obvious problems. Yes, Protestants needed to expand the literal sense they claimed was the only one. Yes, when Protestants read the Song of Songs, they had difficulty taking it literally. Yes, if you think of Lear as a Job-like figure, his end does not correlate with Job's positive end. Yes, Christian thinkers grapple with questions of theodicy. Pointing out that reading King James typologically as Solomon had to screen out Solomon's thousand-wived idolatrous end--OK, that was pretty funny.
The book seems to me to be written by or for someone with little biblical literacy, or essential unfamiliarity with the common Christian experience of living in a world constituted by the Bible. On p. 79, a footnote points out, "While the Book of Job is the Bible's most extended account of human suffering, examples of suffering appear in a variety of other biblical books," and goes on to register something like twenty-five biblical passages. That is a remarkable footnote. Its collation is admirable, its point banal enough to be unnecessary.
As an introduction to the Bible and its literary influence on the titular time period, the book could work competently. As a contribution to serious scholarship, its insights are reduced to a little wheat that requires sifting through a lot of chaff.
Shame. I was excited about the topic of this book, enough to buy it, and not cheaply. In retrospect, the vagueness of the title could have put me off.
The book is quite impressively researched and footnoted. Scads and scads of references, to the appropriate secondary and primary sources. So many primary sources. One suspects many bloodshot hours in front of the EEBO interface. The book's primary scholarly usefulness seems to me to be in collation, particularly of interesting primary sources. Hadn't seen the Luther quotation that allegory is a "beautiful harlot who fondles men" (p. 40). Glad I have, now.
The problems the book points out excitedly are the obvious problems. Yes, Protestants needed to expand the literal sense they claimed was the only one. Yes, when Protestants read the Song of Songs, they had difficulty taking it literally. Yes, if you think of Lear as a Job-like figure, his end does not correlate with Job's positive end. Yes, Christian thinkers grapple with questions of theodicy. Pointing out that reading King James typologically as Solomon had to screen out Solomon's thousand-wived idolatrous end--OK, that was pretty funny.
The book seems to me to be written by or for someone with little biblical literacy, or essential unfamiliarity with the common Christian experience of living in a world constituted by the Bible. On p. 79, a footnote points out, "While the Book of Job is the Bible's most extended account of human suffering, examples of suffering appear in a variety of other biblical books," and goes on to register something like twenty-five biblical passages. That is a remarkable footnote. Its collation is admirable, its point banal enough to be unnecessary.
As an introduction to the Bible and its literary influence on the titular time period, the book could work competently. As a contribution to serious scholarship, its insights are reduced to a little wheat that requires sifting through a lot of chaff.
Displaying 1 of 1 review