John Donne and Religious Authority in the Reformed English Church

John Donne has never seemed a simple figure. For his contemporaries, the poet and preacher, the courtier-turned-convert-turned-celebrity defied definition and strained the bounds of decorous conventionality. In the centuries since his death, Donne has remained enigmatic. This book offers a new and important perspective on his work and thought. It extends the existing state of scholarship by focusing on the importance of theological conviction in Donne's thought. It addresses poetry and prose, the sermons, and the polemical and controversial works. This results in a new understanding of John Donne and his relationship to the religious and political debates of the period.