God and Nature in the Thought of Margaret Cavendish

Brandie R. Siegfried is Nan Osmond Grass Professor of English Literature at Brigham Young University, USA. Lisa T. Sarasohn is Emeritus Professor of History, Oregon State University, USA.

"This collection of essays by some of the most prominent established international scholars of early modern women writers offers insight into the work of Margaret Cavendish (1623-73) ... Because Cavendish is a fascinating but often complex writer, this book is required reading for those interested in her work. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty."- Choice "God and Nature in the Thought of Margaret Cavendish will appeal to a variety of readers. Historians of science will appreciate the contributors' work on Cavendish's views of Nature and their relationship to the development of early modern science. Religious studies scholars will find a fine collection of essays about theology and diverse spiritual traditions. Finally, literary theorists will read excellent analyses of different games and narrative forms."- Seventeenth Century News"This collection provides a thorough examination of Cavendish’s views, not only in the context of contemporary philosophers, but also in relation to her own writings. (...) The book will have a broad appeal beyond specialist Cavendish scholars; its cross-disciplinary approach will make it of interest to scholars of the seventeenth century and the history of ideas."- Tessa Morrison, The University of Newcastle, Australia in Parergon: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, volume 33.1 (2016).

• Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Claims to Orthodoxy, Hilda L.Smith; Chapter 3 The God of Nature and the Nature of God, SaraMendelson; Chapter 4 Darkness, Death, and Precarious Life in Cavendish’s Sociable Letters and Orations, Joanne H.Wright; Chapter 5 God and the Question of Sense Perception in the Works of Margaret Cavendish, Brandie R.Siegfried; Chapter 6 Paganism, Christianity, and the Faculty of Fancy in the Writing of Margaret Cavendish, JamesFitzmaurice; Chapter 7 Fideism, Negative Theology, and Christianity in the Thought of Margaret Cavendish, Lisa T.Sarasohn; Chapter 8 Brilliant Heterodoxy, LineCottegnies; Chapter 9 “A double Perception in All Creatures”, StephenClucas; Chapter 10 Natural Magic in The Convent of Pleasure, JohnShanahan; Chapter 11 Margaret Cavendish’s Cabbala, C. PerrinRadley; Chapter 12 Margaret Cavendish and the Jews, SaraMendelson; Chapter 13 “Soulified”, Brandie R.Siegfried;