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This interdisciplinary volume of essays brings together a team of leading early modern historians and literary scholars in order to examine the changing conceptions, character, and condemnation of 'heresy' in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Definitions of 'heresy' and 'heretics' were the subject of heated controversies in England from the English Reformation to the end of the seventeenth century. These essays illuminate the significant literary issues involved in both defending and demonising heretical beliefs, including the contested hermeneutic strategies applied to the interpretation of the Bible, and they examine how debates over heresy stimulated the increasing articulation of arguments for religious toleration in England. Offering fresh perspectives on John Milton, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and others, this volume should be of interest to all literary, religious and political historians working on early modern English culture.
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H E R E S Y, L I T E R AT U R E , A N D P O L I T I C S I N E A R LY M O D E R N E N G L I S H C U LT U R E This interdisciplinary volume of essays brings together a team of leading early modern historians and literary scholars in order to examine the changing conceptions, character, and condemnation of “heresy” in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Definitions of “heresy” and “heretics” were the subject of heated controversies in England from the English Reformation to the end of the seventeenth century. These essays illuminate the significant literary issues involved in both defending and demonizing heretical beliefs, including the contested hermeneutic strategies applied to the interpretation of the Bible, and they examine how debates over heresy stimulated the increasing articulation of arguments for religious toleration in England. Offering new perspectives on John Milton, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and others, this volume should be of interest to all literary, religious, and political historians working on early modern English culture. David Loewenst ein is Marjorie and Lorin Tiefenthaler Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His publications include Milton and the Drama of History: Historical Vision, Iconoclasm, and the Literary Imagination (Cambridge, 1990), Milton: Paradise Lost, in the Landmarks of World Literature Series (Cambridge, 1993; 2nd edn, 2004), and Representing Revolution in Milton and His Contemporaries: Religion, Politics, and Polemics in Radical Puritanism (Cambridge, 2001). He is also co-editor, with Janel Mueller, of The Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature (Cambridge, 2002; paperback edn., 2006). John Mar sh all is Professor of History at The Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of John Locke: Resistance, Religion, and Responsibility (Cambridge, 1994) and John Locke, Toleration, and Early Enlightenment Culture (Cambridge, 2006), and articles in leading historical journals and collections of essays. H E R E S Y, L I T E R AT U R E , A N D P O L I T I C S I N E A R LY MODERN ENGLISH C U LT U R E e d i t ed by D AV I D L O E W E N S T E I N A N D JO H N MA R S H A L L c amb rid ge univers it y p ress Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, S˜ao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521820769 C Cambridge University Press 2006 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2006 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue