Publisher Description

This Companion explores the Bible's role and influence on individual writers, whilst tracing the key developments of Biblical themes and literary theory through the ages.

• An ambitious overview of the Bible's impact on English literature – as arguably the most powerful work of literature in history – from the medieval period through to the twentieth-century
• Includes introductory sections to each period giving background information about the Bible as a source text in English literature, and placing writers in their historical context
• Draws on examples from medieval, early-modern, eighteenth-century and Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist literature
• Includes many 'secular' or 'anti-clerical' writers alongside their 'Christian' contemporaries, revealing how the Bible's text shifts and changes in the writing of each author who reads and studies it

Back Cover

The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature offers a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary examination of the Bible's role and influence on English Literature, from Old English poetry through to T. S. Eliot. Including examples from medieval, early-modern, eighteenth-century and Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist literature, the book demonstrates how writers from across these periods have been influenced by the Bible in their work. The Companion builds on an existing body of criticism committed to recovering the doctrinal and faith commitments of individual writers, by turning instead to their uses of the Bible as a shared textual focus. This attention to text (rather than belief) means that many 'secular' or 'anti-clerical' writers are included alongside their 'Christian' contemporaries, revealing how the Bible's text shifts and changes in the writing of each author who reads and studies it. Written by leading scholars in the fields of religion, theology and literature, this collection offers readers a detailed introduction to the Bible in English literature, and traces the key developments of biblical themes and literary theory across the canon.

Flap

The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature offers a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary examination of the Bible's role and influence on English Literature, from Old English poetry through to T. S. Eliot. Including examples from medieval, early-modern, eighteenth-century and Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist literature, the book demonstrates how writers from across these periods have been influenced by the Bible in their work. The Companion builds on an existing body of criticism committed to recovering the doctrinal and faith commitments of individual writers, by turning instead to their uses of the Bible as a shared textual focus. This attention to text (rather than belief) means that many 'secular' or 'anti-clerical' writers are included alongside their 'Christian' contemporaries, revealing how the Bible's text shifts and changes in the writing of each author who reads and studies it. Written by leading scholars in the fields of religion, theology and literature, this collection offers readers a detailed introduction to the Bible in English literature, and traces the key developments of biblical themes and literary theory across the canon.

Author Biography

Rebecca Lemon is an associate professor of English literature at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Treason by Words: Literature, Law, and Rebellion in Shakespeare's England (2006), as well as articles on Mary Wroth and Petrarchism, Shakespeare and Agamben, and Hayward and censorship. Emma Mason is a senior lecturer in English at the University of Warwick. She is the author of Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century (2006), Nineteenth Century Religion and Literature: An Introduction (with Mark Knight, 2006), and The Cambridge Introduction to Wordsworth (2009). Jonathan Roberts is a lecturer in English at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of William Blake's Poetry (2007), The Bible for Sinners (with Christopher Rowland, 2008), the forthcoming Blake. Wordsworth. Religion. (2009) and is co-editing the forthcoming Oxford Companion to the Reception History of the Bible (2010). Christopher Rowland is Dean Ireland's Professor of Holy Exegesis at the University of Oxford. He has written on radical Christian writings including those of Gerrard Winstanley and William Blake and the Bible. He is the author of a number of books, including The Nature of New Testament Theology (2006), Revelation Through the Centuries (with Judith Kovacs, 2003), and Radical Christian Writings: A Reader (with Andrew Bradstock, 2002), all published by Wiley-Blackwell. Together with John Sawyer and Judith Kovacs he also edits the Blackwell Bible Commentary series.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors ix Part I Introduction 1 1 General Introduction
Rebecca Lemon, Emma Mason, and Jonathan Roberts 3 2 The Literature of the Bible
Christopher Rowland 10 3 Biblical Hermeneutics and Literary Theory
David Jasper 22 Part II Medieval 39 4 Introduction
Daniel Anlezark 41 5 Old English Poetry
Catherine A. M. Clarke 61 6 The Medieval Religious Lyric
Douglas Gray 76 7 The Middle English Mystics
Annie Sutherland 85 8 The Pearl-Poet
Helen Barr 100 9 William Langland
Sister Mary Clemente Davlin, OP 116 10 Geoffrey Chaucer
Christiania Whitehead 134 Part III Early Modern 153 11 Introduction
Roger Pooley 155 12 Early Modern Women
Elizabeth Clarke 169 13 Early Modern Religious Prose
Julie Maxwell 184 14 Edmund Spenser
Carol V. Kaske 197 15 Mary Sidney
Rivkah Zim 211 16 William Shakespeare
Hannibal Hamlin 225 17 John Donne
Jeanne Shami 239 18 George Herbert
John Drury 254 19 John Milton
Michael Lieb 269 20 John Bunyan
Andrew Bradstock 286 21 John Dryden
Gerard Reedy, S.J. 297 Part IV Eighteenth Century and Romantic 311 22 Introduction
Stephen Prickett 313 23 Eighteenth-Century Hymn Writers
J. R. Watson 329 24 Daniel Defoe
Valentine Cunningham 345 25 Jonathan Swift
Michael F. Suarez, S.J. 359 26 William Blake
Jonathan Roberts and Christopher Rowland 373 27 Women Romantic Poets
Penny Bradshaw 383 28 William Wordsworth
Deeanne Westbrook 397 29 S. T. Coleridge
Graham Davidson 413 30 Jane Austen
Michael Giffin 425 31 George Gordon Byron
Wolf Z. Hirst 438 32 P. B. Shelley
Bernard Beatty 451 Part V Victorian 463 33 Introduction
Elisabeth Jay 465 34 The Brownings
Kevin Mills 482 35 Alfred Tennyson
Kirstie Blair 496 36 The Brontës
Marianne Thormählen 512 37 John Ruskin
Dinah Birch 525 38 George Eliot
Charles LaPorte 536 39 Christina Rossetti
Elizabeth Ludlow 551 40 G. M. Hopkins
Paul S. Fiddes 563 41 Sensation Fiction
Mark Knight 577 42 Decadence
Andrew Tate 587 Part VI Modernist 601 43 Introduction
Ward Blanton 603 44 W. B. Yeats
Edward Larrissy 617 45 Virginia Woolf
Douglas L. Howard 629 46 James Joyce
William Franke 642 47 D. H. Lawrence
T. R. Wright 654 48 T. S. Eliot
David Fuller 667 49 The Great War Poets
Jane Potter 681 Index 696

Review

"An extremely useful volume." (The Year's Work in English Studies, 29 August 2011)

"Probably what comes across most clearly is how, and that, many of the writers chose deliberately to draw on the Bible, and for students increasingly unfamiliar with the Bible, this approach challenges as well as informs." (Reference Reviews, December 2009) "This is indeed a true companion, one that succeeds in its aim of being both scholarly and accessible to all lovers of English literature. In short, all students of English literature ought to put aside a month to read and study this book before going up to university." (Church Times, August 2009)

Long Description

The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature offers a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary examination of the Bible's role and influence on English Literature, from Old English poetry through to T. S. Eliot. Including examples from medieval, early-modern, eighteenth-century and Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist literature, the book demonstrates how writers from across these periods have been influenced by the Bible in their work. The Companion builds on an existing body of criticism committed to recovering the doctrinal and faith commitments of individual writers, by turning instead to their uses of the Bible as a shared textual focus. This attention to text (rather than belief) means that many 'secular' or 'anti-clerical' writers are included alongside their 'Christian' contemporaries, revealing how the Bible's text shifts and changes in the writing of each author who reads and studies it. Written by leading scholars in the fields of religion, theology and literature, this collection offers readers a detailed introduction to the Bible in English literature, and traces the key developments of biblical themes and literary theory across the canon.

Review Text

"An extremely useful volume." (The Year's Work in English Studies, 29 August 2011)

"Probably what comes across most clearly is how, and that, many of the writers chose deliberately to draw on the Bible, and for students increasingly unfamiliar with the Bible, this approach challenges as well as informs." (Reference Reviews, December 2009) "This is indeed a true companion, one that succeeds in its aim of being both scholarly and accessible to all lovers of English literature. In short, all students of English literature ought to put aside a month to read and study this book before going up to university." (Church Times, August 2009) "This magnificent collection completely re-imagines the vast and well-trodden field of the Bible and Literature. From Chaucer to T.S. Eliot, The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature offers a compelling narrative of how the English literary tradition has itself used, re-written and re-visioned sacred texts. In my view, the result is indispensable reading ? a Bible no less ? for students and scholars alike."
?Dr Arthur Bradley, Lancaster University "This is an extremely valuable resource for students, scholars, and anyone else interested in the relationship between the Bible and English Literature. Through a series of stimulating essays, the editors and contributors highlight the unparalleled importance of the Bible within the literary tradition. They explore the multitude of ways in which this sacred text has both shaped and been shaped by the imagination of writers. Our thinking will be much richer as a result of what this book has to say."
?Dr Mark Knight, Roehampton University

Review Quote

"An extremely useful volume." (The Year's Work in English Studies, 29 August 2011) "Probably what comes across most clearly is how, and that, many of the writers chose deliberately to draw on the Bible, and for students increasingly unfamiliar with the Bible, this approach challenges as well as informs." ( Reference Reviews , December 2009) "This is indeed a true companion, one that succeeds in its aim of being both scholarly and accessible to all lovers of English literature. In short, all students of English literature ought to put aside a month to read and study this book before going up to university." ( Church Times , August 2009)

Promotional "Headline"

"This magnificent collection completely re-imagines the vast and well-trodden field of the Bible and Literature. From Chaucer to T.S. Eliot, The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature offers a compelling narrative of how the English literary tradition has itself used, re-written and re-visioned sacred texts. In my view, the result is indispensable reading - a Bible no less - for students and scholars alike." Dr Arthur Bradley, Lancaster University

Feature

• 
  
• A ambitious overview of the Bible?s role and influence on English literature - as arguably the most powerful work of literature in history - from Antiquity up to the 21st century
• 
  
• Brings together a comprehensive collection of newly-commissioned essays, written by leading scholars in the fields of religion, theology, and literature
• 
  
• Explores the influence of the Bible on individual writers, whilst tracing the key developments of Biblical themes and literary theory through the ages
• 
  
• Includes introductory sections giving background information about the Bible as a source text in English literature, and placing writers in their historical context
• 
  
• Sets a new standard for our understanding and appreciation of the Bible, and will restore it to its rightful place in the forefront of our cultural consciousness

Details