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

by Donna B. Hamilton (Editor), Richard Strier (Editor), Hamilton Donna B. (Editor)

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.

Back Jacket

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.