Ceri Sullivan
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199547845
- eISBN:
- 9780191720901
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547845.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
Early modern theologians such as William Perkins, William Ames, Jeremy Taylor, and Richard Baxter see the rectified conscience as a syllogism worked out in partnership with God, which compares ...
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Early modern theologians such as William Perkins, William Ames, Jeremy Taylor, and Richard Baxter see the rectified conscience as a syllogism worked out in partnership with God, which compares actions to the law, and comes to a conclusion. It is thus a linguistic act. John Donne, George Herbert, and Henry Vaughan focus on the points where the conversation breaks down. In their poems, hearts refuse to confess, laws are forgotten or mixed up, and judgements are omitted. Between them, God and the poets take decisive action, torturing, inscribing, fragmenting, and writhing the heart in a set of tropes (turnings of meaning) which get the right response: subjectio (answering your own question), enigma, aposiopesis (breaking off speech), antanaclasis (altering the meanings of words), and chiasmus (redoubling meaning).Less
Early modern theologians such as William Perkins, William Ames, Jeremy Taylor, and Richard Baxter see the rectified conscience as a syllogism worked out in partnership with God, which compares actions to the law, and comes to a conclusion. It is thus a linguistic act. John Donne, George Herbert, and Henry Vaughan focus on the points where the conversation breaks down. In their poems, hearts refuse to confess, laws are forgotten or mixed up, and judgements are omitted. Between them, God and the poets take decisive action, torturing, inscribing, fragmenting, and writhing the heart in a set of tropes (turnings of meaning) which get the right response: subjectio (answering your own question), enigma, aposiopesis (breaking off speech), antanaclasis (altering the meanings of words), and chiasmus (redoubling meaning).
Ceri Sullivan
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199547845
- eISBN:
- 9780191720901
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547845.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
Meg Lota Brown and Camille Slights have considered how metaphysical poetry relates to that form of Stuart ethical discussion known as case casuistry, where individual situations are considered in ...
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Meg Lota Brown and Camille Slights have considered how metaphysical poetry relates to that form of Stuart ethical discussion known as case casuistry, where individual situations are considered in detail against a moral law by a well-meaning and well-instructed judge. Early modern theologians habitually see the conscience acting as a syllogism. This chapter considers the features of the conscience operating this syllogism, including its self-reflexive qualities, its effect on the self's agency, its role as spy and recorder, and where the law it refers to is consulted. The three principal faults of the conscience (erring, seared, and blind) are explained from the point of view of Protestant Ramist casuistry rather than that of contemporary Catholic treatises. Judgement should be a practical method of mediating between human perceptions and divine attributes. The latter are a central subject of debate among theologians such as Thomas Jackson and William Ames. Describing as litotes what would be seen as hyperbole if it were not about God is one method poets and theologians alike use for this impossible task. The chapter suggests the five tropes which the book concentrates on provide other means of speaking with God.Less
Meg Lota Brown and Camille Slights have considered how metaphysical poetry relates to that form of Stuart ethical discussion known as case casuistry, where individual situations are considered in detail against a moral law by a well-meaning and well-instructed judge. Early modern theologians habitually see the conscience acting as a syllogism. This chapter considers the features of the conscience operating this syllogism, including its self-reflexive qualities, its effect on the self's agency, its role as spy and recorder, and where the law it refers to is consulted. The three principal faults of the conscience (erring, seared, and blind) are explained from the point of view of Protestant Ramist casuistry rather than that of contemporary Catholic treatises. Judgement should be a practical method of mediating between human perceptions and divine attributes. The latter are a central subject of debate among theologians such as Thomas Jackson and William Ames. Describing as litotes what would be seen as hyperbole if it were not about God is one method poets and theologians alike use for this impossible task. The chapter suggests the five tropes which the book concentrates on provide other means of speaking with God.
Rhys S. Bezzant
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199890309
- eISBN:
- 9780199352630
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199890309.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
The doctrine of the Trinity provides Edwards with ecclesiological categories that allow for dynamism alongside ordered design, for within the life of the Godhead, both freedom and predictability are ...
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The doctrine of the Trinity provides Edwards with ecclesiological categories that allow for dynamism alongside ordered design, for within the life of the Godhead, both freedom and predictability are witnessed. The church is not merely a provisional instrument used by God within time and space to achieve his purposes, but more substantially, the church is also necessary to the life of God, for the Father gives the gift of the church to his Son to be his bride forever. It is the Holy Spirit whose chief work is to bring union within the Godhead, between the natures of the Son, and for the sake of the elect with Christ, who secures the gift. Simultaneously, Edwards downgrades the importance of covenant as the chief coordinating category in Reformed ecclesiological thought.Less
The doctrine of the Trinity provides Edwards with ecclesiological categories that allow for dynamism alongside ordered design, for within the life of the Godhead, both freedom and predictability are witnessed. The church is not merely a provisional instrument used by God within time and space to achieve his purposes, but more substantially, the church is also necessary to the life of God, for the Father gives the gift of the church to his Son to be his bride forever. It is the Holy Spirit whose chief work is to bring union within the Godhead, between the natures of the Son, and for the sake of the elect with Christ, who secures the gift. Simultaneously, Edwards downgrades the importance of covenant as the chief coordinating category in Reformed ecclesiological thought.
Rhys S. Bezzant
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199890309
- eISBN:
- 9780199352630
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199890309.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This section deals with New England debates concerning ecclesiology in the seventeenth century. Drawing on the taxonomy of Janice Knight, it is shown that there were at least two parties among New ...
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This section deals with New England debates concerning ecclesiology in the seventeenth century. Drawing on the taxonomy of Janice Knight, it is shown that there were at least two parties among New World Puritans, one taking its lead from Sibbes and the other from Ames. Though the Sibbesians were the dominant grouping in England, in the colonies, it was the Amesians who were in the majority. Using the Aristotelian language of causation, these colonial debates are investigated under the headings of God’s relationship to the creation, the means of grace in the church, and the eschatological future of the world. The life of the Trinity is connected to these categories.Less
This section deals with New England debates concerning ecclesiology in the seventeenth century. Drawing on the taxonomy of Janice Knight, it is shown that there were at least two parties among New World Puritans, one taking its lead from Sibbes and the other from Ames. Though the Sibbesians were the dominant grouping in England, in the colonies, it was the Amesians who were in the majority. Using the Aristotelian language of causation, these colonial debates are investigated under the headings of God’s relationship to the creation, the means of grace in the church, and the eschatological future of the world. The life of the Trinity is connected to these categories.
