Rethinking Science and Religion in Early Modern Culture
Rethinking Science and Religion in Early Modern Culture
For information on how we process your data, read our Privacy Policy
Description
Early modern Europe provides a rich context from which to challenge the rigid opposition between science and religion in this bold new edited collection. Contributors reveal how modes of science or natural philosophy, and religion, were mutually interdependent, even if they were also fluid and contested. Essays break new ground by situating texts and artefacts of early modern science and religion in terms of contemporary scholarly developments, including ecocriticism, postcolonial, race and affect studies. By foregrounding questions of gender, embodiment, evidence and the historical formation of scientific colonialism, this collection locates the early modern body and its empirical study as a source of both religious and scientific knowledge.
Essays cover the soteriological body at the heart of Andreas Vesalius' seminal studies of anatomy, depictions of the hymen in Shakespeare and medical texts and forms of empiricism in John Donne. Where some of the essays address non-literary works, many chapters explore the role of imaginative literature and aesthetics more broadly. Beyond the centrality of Protestant Christianity to early modern European science, some contributors consider the influence of hermetic writings on Francis Bacon and read the Mayan K'iche' epic of creation known as the Popul Wuj alongside Milton's Paradise Lost. These inquiries demonstrate the value of comparative perspectives in a period in which radical social, political and religious changes caused a series of epistemic ruptures.
Accessibility Information
Additional accessibility information
- Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
- WCAG level AA
- WCAG v2.2 compliant
- Accessibility request contact
Support for non-visual reading
- No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
- Has alternative text descriptions for images
Visual adjustments
Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified (font, spacing, colors)
Navigation
- Page list to go to pages from the print source version
- Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
- All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
- Content is enhanced with ARIA roles to optimize organization and facilitate navigation
- Purposes of all links are made clear
Rich content
Language tagging provided
Table of Contents
Part I: Divine Matter: Embodiment in Early Modern Science
Chapter 1. Vesalius, Anatomy, and Salvation History, Sarah S. Keleher (University of California, Berkeley)
Chapter 2. Strange Evidence: Hymens Between Science and Religion, Margaret Ferguson (University of California, Davis)
Chapter 3: Hamlet's Soul: Science, Religion, and Theatrical Subjectivity, Aaron Kitch (Bowdoin College, USA)
Part II: Legacies of Early Modern Science and Theology
Chapter 4. Versions of Negative Theology: Kenelm Digby and Margaret Cavendish, Peter Remien (Lewis Clark State College, USA)
Chapter 5. The Religious Origins of Colonial Science: Hans Sloane as Bacon's New Solomon, Amy Cooper (US Air Force Academy, USA)
Chapter 6. Counting Time: Then and Now, Jonathan Sawday (Saint Louis University, USA)
Part III: “Poesy” and the Mediation of Religion and Science
Chapter 7. Spouse, Heir, and Handmaid: Composing Natural Philosophy in Bacon, Cowley, and Dryden, Mingna Cheng(Donghua University, China)
Chapter 8. A 'Goldmine of Inspiration': Literature's Role in the Science and Religion of Richard Dawkins and Thomas Sprat, Jacqueline Cowan (Red Deer Polytechnic, Canada)
Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | May 28 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 9781350511637 |
| Imprint | The Arden Shakespeare |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Related Titles
