1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910154580503321

Autore

Killeen Kevin

Titolo

Biblical scholarship, science and politics in early modern England : Thomas Browne and the thorny place of knowledge / / Kevin Killeen

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London : , : Routledge, , 2016

ISBN

1-315-26156-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (269 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Literary and scientific cultures of early modernity

Disciplina

828.409

Soggetti

English prose literature - Early modern, 1500-1700 - History and criticism

Literature and science - England - History - 17th century

Religion and literature - England - History

Knowledge, Theory of, in literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

First published 2009 by Ashgate Publishing.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction : the thorny place of knowledge -- 2. 'The inconsiderable salarie of Judas' : Biblical historiography and law -- 3. The community of this fruit : commentary, curiosa and chronology -- 4. Subtle seeds and agile emanations : natural philosophy, religion and witchcraft -- 5. 'The doctor quarrles with some pictures' : Browne's Fabulous animals -- 6. The politics of painting -- 7. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

Kevin Killeen addresses one of the most enigmatic of seventeenth century writers, Thomas Browne (1605-1682), whose voracious intellectual pursuits provide an unparalleled insight into how early modern scholarly culture understood the relations between its disciplines. Browne's work encompasses biblical commentary, historiography, natural history, classical philology, artistic propriety and an encyclopaedic coverage of natural philosophy. This book traces the intellectual climate in which such disparate interests could cohere, locating Browne within the cultural and political matrices of his time. While Browne is most frequently remembered for the magnificence of his prose and his temperamental poise, qualities that knit well with the picture of a detached, apolitical figure, this work argues that Browne's significance emerges most fully in the context of contemporary battles over interpretative authority, within the intricately linked fields of



biblical exegesis, scientific thought, and politics. Killeen's work centres on a reassessment of the scope and importance of Browne's most elaborate text, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, his vast encyclopaedia of error with its mazy series of investigations and through this explores the multivalent nature of early-modern enquiry.