The Old Enemies: Catholic and Protestant in Nineteenth-Century English Culture [Hardcover]

Michael Wheeler (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521828104 | ISBN-13: 978-0521828109 | Publication Date: March 6, 2006 | Edition: First Edition

Even in the industrial nineteenth century, age-old theological disagreements were the cause of religious and cultural conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. This book asks why these ancient divisions were so deep and have prevailed and how novelists and poets, theologians and preachers, historians and essayists reinterpreted the religious debates. Michael Wheeler explains how each side misunderstood the other's deeply held beliefs about history, authority, doctrine and spirituality, and, conversely, how these theological conflicts inspired creativity in the arts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book sheds additional light on one of the most perplexing aspects of ecclesiastical history - its literature and theology."
-Choice

"Wheller is a professor of English, but this book reveals also an impressive knowledge of the history and theology of the period. Pointing out that just as Darwin was searching for the origin of species, so too Catholic and Protestant theologians sought to prove that the origins of their religion lay in early Christianity."
-Ian Ker, University of Oxford, The Catholic Historical Review

"Michael Wheeler has written an important book about an important subject...A short review cannot do justice to this rich book, especially because Wheeler is alive to the contradictions and ambiguities of Victorian society...It is a pleasure to read the fruits of a scholar's erudition and thought, and to see how a colleague from another discipline approaches a common problem. Gracefully written, admirably structured, richly illustrated, and empirical rather than theory-driven, his book is essential reading for anyone, whether university scholar or parish priest, who wishes to understand an important Victorian cultural legacy."
-Denis Paz, Anglican and Episcopal History

"The mixture of literary with historical sources is refreshing, and there are features of the texts under discussion that a literary scholar notices but that a historian might have missed...The book also benefits from a large number of telling illustrations that give the reader a feel for the issues at stake and the way in which they were ventilated. It will be much harder for future scholars to neglect the polemics over Catholic issues now that Professor Wheeler's book has appeared."
-D.W. Bebbington, University of Stirling, UK, Church History

Book Description

Divisions between Catholics and Protestants have been a feature of English history since the Reformation. The Old Enemies asks why these ancient divisions were so deep, why they continued into the nineteenth century and how novelists and poets, theologians and preachers, historians and essayists reinterpreted the religious debates. Michael Wheeler, a leading authority on the literature and theology of the period, explains how these theological conflicts were a source of inspiration and creativity in the arts. This wide-ranging, well-illustrated study sheds much new light on nineteenth-century history, literature and religion.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Edition edition (March 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521828104
• ISBN-13: 978-0521828109
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,309,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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