Nineteenth-Century Religion and Literature: An Introduction by Mark Knight and Emma Mason
Book Description Recent scholarship in nineteenth-century
literary studies consistently recognizes the profound importance of
religion, even as it marginalizes the topic. There are few, if any,
challenging yet manageable introductions to religion and literature in
the long-nineteenth century, a factor that serves to fuel scholars'
neglect of theological issues. This book aims to show how religion,
specifically Christianity, is integral to the literature and culture of
this period. It provides close readings of popular texts and integrates
these with accessible explanations of complex religious ideas. Written
by two scholars who have published widely on religion and literature,
the book offers a detailed grounding in the main religious movements of
the period 1750-1914. The dominant traditions of High Anglicanism,
Tractarianism, Evangelicalism and Roman Catholicism are contextualized
by preceding chapters addressing dissenting culture (primarily
Presbyterianism, Methodism, Unitarianism and Quakerism), and the
question of secularization is considered in the light of the diversity
and capacity for renewal within the Christian faith. Throughout the
book the authors untangle theological and church debates in a manner
that highlights the privileged relationship between religion and
literature in the period. The book also gives readers a language to
approach and articulate their own 'religious' readings of texts, texts
that are often concerned with slippery subjects such as the divine, the
non-material and the nature of religious experience. Refusing to shut
down religious debate by offering only narrow or fixed definitions of
Christian traditions, the book also questions the demarcation of sacred
material from secular, as well as connecting the vitality of religion
in the period to a broader literary culture. (Amazon.com)