Katherine Calloway – författare

Guiding readers through the diverse forms of natural theology expressed in seventeenth-century English literature, Katherine Calloway reveals how, in ways that have not yet been fully recognized, authors such as Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, Cavendish, Hutchinson, Milton, Marvell, and Bunyan describe, promote, challenge, and even practice natural theology in their poetic works. She simultaneously improves our understanding of an important and still-influential intellectual movement and deepens our appreciation of multiple major literary works. "Natural theology," as it was popularly understood, changed dramatically in England over the seventeenth century, from the application of natural light to divine things to a newer, more brittle, understanding of the enterprise as the exclusive use of reason and observation to prove theological conclusions outside of any context of faith. These poets profoundly complicate the story, collectively demonstrating that some forms of natural theology lend themselves to poetry or imaginative literature rather than prose.

In the seventeenth century scientific discoveries called into question established Christian theology. It has been claimed that contemporary thinkers contributed to this conflict model by using the discoveries of the natural world to prove the existence of God. Calloway challenges this view by close examination of five key texts of the period.

In the seventeenth century scientific discoveries called into question established Christian theology. It has been claimed that contemporary thinkers contributed to this conflict model by using the discoveries of the natural world to prove the existence of God. Calloway challenges this view by close examination of five key texts of the period.

Faithful Reading: Religious Allegiances in Early Modern Literary Scholarship explores how the religious identities and critical work of literary scholars reciprocally shape each other. The past hundred years of literary scholarship have seen a vigorous correction of the idea that academic study is objective and conducted in a preconception-free vacuum. Despite this climate of increased self-awareness and honesty, scholars are often quite reserved about their own religious or irreligious beliefs and backgrounds. Faithful Reading discusses how these shape which texts scholars choose to study, the questions they ask about them, and the kinds of experientially informed answers they can provide. Contributors include early-career to senior scholars with a variety of religious (Catholic, Jewish, Protestant) and non-religious (secular) allegiances. They consider how these allegiances inform their scholarship on various genres. These include biblical texts (Canticles/Song of Songs; Book of Ruth) and religious prose by Richard Baxter, John Donne, and John Selden. They also include drama and poetry of the period, for example by Aphra Behn, Elizabeth Cary, Richard Crashaw, George Herbert, John Milton, and William Shakespeare. They ask such questions as:- Do particular early modern authors and works attract scholars of certain religions? Which ones, and why? - How do scholars of Jewish backgrounds respond to the Christianization of the Hebrew Bible and its politicization in the Reformation, as well as to emphatically religious early modern texts? - How do scholars bring their denominational identities to bear on the works of their anglophone Christian forerunners? and - How should a religiously diverse community of scholars converse with each other, both in and out of print, about the literary texts we study?

This book advances the conversation about the presence, aesthetic appropriation, and re-interpretation of the foundational English author John Bunyan (1628–1688), whose works and legend have had a vibrant afterlife in visual art.Focusing on the global reach of Bunyan’s works and legend through multiple media and cultural adaptations provides a unique opportunity to discover the varied and generative influence of Bunyan on cultures past and present, promoting a more diverse appreciation of Bunyan's unparalleled reach. The contributors also foster opportunities to discuss the role of intermediality in contemporary re-appropriations of early modern literature in the context of globalization, as well as a critical exploration of Bunyanic presence in global contemporary art via intertextual and intermedial relations.

This book advances the conversation about the presence, aesthetic appropriation, and re-interpretation of the foundational English author John Bunyan (1628–1688), whose works and legend have had a vibrant afterlife in visual art.Focusing on the global reach of Bunyan''s works and legend through multiple media and cultural adaptations provides a unique opportunity to discover the varied and generative influence of Bunyan on cultures past and present, promoting a more diverse appreciation of Bunyan''s unparalleled reach. The contributors also foster opportunities to discuss the role of intermediality in contemporary re-appropriations of early modern literature in the context of globalization, as well as a critical exploration of Bunyanic presence in global contemporary art via intertextual and intermedial relations.