Prayer, despair, and drama
Book Description
In the depths of spiritual struggle lies unexpected healing. Peter Iver Kaufman reveals how Elizabethan Calvinists transformed their profound religious anguish into a powerful form of spiritual therapy, challenging common assumptions about fear-based faith.
This illuminating exploration uncovers the intricate connections between religious devotion and literary expression in Tudor England. Rather than viewing Calvinist soul-searching as mere spiritual torment, Kaufman demonstrates how the practice of examining one's inner darkness served as a therapeutic process for believers seeking divine connection.
The author traces this spiritual psychology through the era's most compelling literary works, showing how the rhetoric of self-examination and spiritual wrestling shaped masterpieces like Hamlet and The Faerie Queene, as well as Donne's deeply personal Holy Sonnets. These texts reveal how writers channeled their religious introspection into profound artistic expression.
Through careful analysis of sermons, poetry, and dramatic soliloquies, Kaufman illustrates how Tudor Calvinists developed sophisticated methods for processing spiritual despair. Their approach to godly sorrow emerges not as destructive self-flagellation, but as a deliberate practice of inner work that fostered genuine spiritual growth.
This scholarly yet accessible study offers fresh insights into how religious communities have historically transformed suffering into wisdom, providing valuable perspectives for modern readers exploring the relationship between spiritual struggle and personal transformation.
Who Is This For?
📖 Reading Level: Short (< 200 pages) (~5 hours)
🕉️ Tradition: Christianity
📄 Length: 166 pages
What You'll Discover
- ✓ Explore Church of england, doctrines
- ✓ Explore Church history
- ✓ Explore Church of England
- ✓ Explore Great britain, church history, 16th century
- ✓ Explore Anglican Communion
- ✓ Deepen your spiritual understanding
- ✓ Explore Doctrines
- ✓ Explore Calvinism
