Reformation Hermeneutics and Literary Language in Early Modern England: Faith in the Language

The expressive and literary capacities of post-Reformation English were largely shaped in response to the Bible. Faith in the Language examines the convergence of biblical interpretation and English literature, from William Tyndale to John Donne, and argues that the groundwork for a newly authoritative literary tradition in early modern England is laid in the discourse of biblical hermeneutics. The period 1525-1611 witnessed a proliferation of English biblical versions, provoking a century-long debate about how and whether the Bible should be rendered in English. These public, indeed institutional accounts of biblical English changed the language: questions about the relation between Scripture and exegetical tradition that shaped post-Reformation hermeneutics bore strange fruit in secular literature that defined itself through varying forms of autonomy vis-a-vis prior tradition.

Author: Jamie H. Ferguson
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 03/30/2023
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.77lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9783030817978
ISBN10: 3030817970
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Modern | General
- Religion | Biblical Studies | General
- Literary Criticism | Poetry

About the Author
Jamie H. Ferguson is Associate Professor of Honors and English at the University of Houston.