Debating the faith : religion and letter writing in Great Britain, 1550-1800

Abstract

The first book to address the role of correspondence in the study of religion, Debating the Faith: Religion and Letter Writing in Great Britain, 1550-1800 shows how letters shaped religious debate in early-modern and Enlightenment Britain, and discusses the materiality of the letters as well as questions of form and genre. Particular attention is paid to the contexts in which letters were composed, sent, read, distributed, and then destroyed, copied or printed, in periods of religious tolerance or persecution. The opening section, 'Protestant identities', examines the importance of letters in the shaping of British protestantism from the underground correspondence of Protestant martyrs in the reign of Mary I to dissident letters after the Act of Toleration. 'Representations of British Catholicism', explores the way English, Irish and Scottish Catholics, whether in exile or at home, defined their faith, established epistolary networks, and addressed political and religious allegiances in the face of adversity. The last part, 'Religion, science and philosophy', focuses on the religious content of correspondence between natural scientists and philosophers. Part 1. Protestant Identities -- Scribal Networks and Sustainers in Protestant Martyrology / Mark Greengrass -- Thomas Browne, the Quakers, and a Letter from a Judicious Friend / Reid Barbour -- Writing Authority in the Interregnum: The Pastoral Letters of Richard Baxter / Alison Searle -- Letters and Records of the Dissenting Congregations: David Crosley, Cripplegate and Baptist Church Life / Anne Dunan-Page -- Introduction / Gary Schneider. Part 2. Representations of British Catholicism -- 'For the Greater Glory': Irish Jesuit Letters and the Irish Counter-Reformation, 1598-1626 / David Finnegan -- Negotiating Catholic Kingship for a Protestant People: 'Private' Letters, Royal Declarations and the Achievement of Religious Detente in the Jacobite Underground, 1702-1718 / Daniel Szechi -- 'Every Time I Receive a Letter from You It Gives Me New Vigour': The Correspondence of the Scalan Masters, 1762-1783 / Clotilde Prunier. Part 3. Religion, Science and Philosophy -- Utopian Intelligences: Scientific Correspondence and Christian Virtuosos / Claire Preston -- Debating the Faith: Damaris Masham (1658-1708) and Religious Controversy / Sarah Hutton -- Evangelical Calvinists Versus the Hutcheson Circle: Debating the Faith in Scotland, 1738-1739 / James Moore -- Questioning Church Doctrine in Private Correspondence in the Eighteenth Century: Jean Bouhier's Doubts Concerning the Soul / Ann Thomson.