Testimony, Faith and Religion in Early Modern English Literature - Making Belief

The Protestant Reformation placed intense scrutiny on religious belief in early modern England. But how did this belief work? What resources did it draw on? How did such a faith differ from other kinds of assent? In this interdisciplinary study, Joseph Ashmore argues that early modern literature became a key site for handling these questions. Focusing on late sixteenth- to mid seventeenth-century writing, he shows how Protestant authors turned to contemporary legal discourses to represent and analyse faith. Techniques for evaluating courtroom testimony became a powerful tool for investigating what was distinctive about religious belief. Examining the sermons of Lancelot Andrewes and John Donne, the philosophy and prose fiction of Francis Bacon, and the poems of Henry Vaughan, Ashmore shows how legal notions of evidence shaped discussions of faith across a number of different genres, and within a variety of social and political contexts.

List of contents

Introduction: making belief; 1. Witnessing the resurrection in Lancelot Andrewes's preaching; 2. John Donne and the testimony of salvation; 3. Francis Bacon and the testimony of conversion; 4. The assurance of process in Henry Vaughan's poetry; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

Joseph Ashmore is a researcher focusing on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literature. His published work has investigated early modern religious writing, including sermons, devotional poetry and the material culture of post-Reformation England. He has held teaching and research positions at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford.

Product details

• Authors: Joseph Ashmore
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.01.2026
• EAN: 9781009564045
• ISBN: 978-1-009-56404-5
• Weight: 500 g
• Illustrations: Worked examples or Exercises
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; England, Poetry, Theology, Christian theology, Literary studies: general, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, c 1500 to c 1600, C 1600 To C 1700, Early 17th century c 1600 to c 1650, Later 16th century c 1550 to c 1599, Protestantism & Protestant Churches, Protestantism and Protestant Churches, Literary studies: c 1400 to c 1600, Classic poetry / poems