The Theology of John Donne (Studies in Renaissance Literature)

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Summary: The Theological Discourses of John Donne
Review: Jeffrey Johnson, by means of a serious, erudite and documented work, portrays the religious writings of John Donne as texts fruit of a well-founded knowledge of Christian theology, in which the author elaborates, rejects and innovates the discourses of religious dispute of his days. To consider Donne as a full-fledged religious thinker with a personal theological structuring of the Christian creed, is the first pioneering step taken by Donne scholarship to propound a more compelling understanding of his sermons and religious poetry. Johnson's methodology a' la Skinner contextualizes the single thinker in his cultural matrix, and thencewise proceeds to elucidate the ways in which he used and reacted the religious thought of his time. This book, given the heavy theological contents, is useful primarily for Renaissance scholars and students who want to get a feel of the complexity and seriousness of Donne's sermons, localizing them in their context, and perceiving them as answers to the theological problematics of the time.