Early Modern Catholicism

Early Modern Catholicism makes available in modern spelling and punctuation substantial Catholic contributions to literature, history, political thought, devotion, and theology in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Rather than perpetuate the usual stereotypes and misinformation, it provides a fresh look at Catholic writing long suppressed, marginalized, and ignored. The anthology gives back voices to those silenced by prejudice, exile,persecution, or martyrdom while attention to actual texts challenges conventional beliefs about the period.The anthology is divided into eight sections entitled Controversies, Lives and Deaths, Poetry, Instructions and Devotions, Drama, Histories, Fiction, and Documents, and includes sixteen black and white illustrations from a variety of Early Modern sources. Amongst the selections are texts which illuminate the role of women in recusant community and in the Church; the rich traditions of prayer and mysticism; the theology and politics of martyrdom; the emergence of the Catholic Baroque inliterature and art; and the polemical battles fought within the Church and against its enemies. Early Modern Catholicism also provides a context that redefines the established canons of Early Modern England, including such figures as Edmund Spenser, John Donne, John Milton, William Shakespeare, and BenJonson.

Robert S. Miola's compendious and highly accessible collection of the polemical, biographical, poetic, devotional and historical texts of early modern Catholicism will prove an invaluable resource for students, their instructors, and interested members of the general public., Robert Miola's excellent anthology offers a wide range of writing..., A highly useful set of primary historical sources... a fresh look at the history of the period... this book belongs in every college and university library where students of history and students of religion conduct primary research., Robert Miola's anthology is an extremely valuable collection of sources, wide-ranging, accessible and illuminating, combining familiar texts with fresh material. A welcome resource for university teachers and students alike., This is a rich and timely resource...whether in departments of English, history or religious studies, tutors covering the early modern period will soon find it hard to remember life before this landmark anthology.

Robert S. Miola has been Lecturer in Classics at Loyola College since 1990. He is currently the Gerard Manley Hopkins Professor of English.