533: Renaissance: The Bible Matrix Spring 2004
Though it is not a truth universally acknowledged, it is nonetheless true that,
in England, virtually all Early Modern discourses were inflected by the
discourse systems of the Bible. Another way of making this point is to say, as
Deborah Shuger has, that “in practice social and religious existence formed a
continuum at least up to the English Civil Wars.” This course proposes to
extend her “partial exploration of the cultural work done by the Renaissance
Bible—or rather by Renaissance biblical discourses.” Taking the early
translations of the Bible by William Tyndale as our starting point and bringing
our investigation forward to the Civil Wars and their aftermath, we shall
explore some of the ways in which Biblical authority was invoked to underwrite
various discourses about language itself (competing theories of translation),
about ecclesiastical polity (church government–Episcopal, Presbyterian,
Congregational) and theology (Calvinist, Arminian), and about economy (national
and domestic), class, gender, and race.
The course will be organized in units that combine specific Biblical texts (like the Psalms) with certain crucial issues and texts from the Early Modern Period (like the poetry of Aemelia Lanyer), or the Book of Judges with Milton’s Samson Agonistes. Such units may be further organized in and super-units defined by reading strategies—in this case typology.
The emphasis here is on futurity. I have begun mapping a unit on translation, from Tyndale through Miles Coverdale and the Geneva Bible to the King James (“Authorized”) Version of 1611; I have not yet chosen Biblical texts on which to focus. One of my hopes is that students will participate actively in selecting the materials of the course and shaping our approaches to them. I would like all of our interests to come freely into play, so far as possible in the context of a common scholarly enterprise. I’ll begin with a few paradigmatic arrangements and invite collaborative construction of the syllabus thereafter.
The only structure so far determined for the course is the expectation of a final conference paper, to be presented to the class and written up as if in progress toward Journal submission. The number, length, and nature of other reports (primarily oral rather than written) will be determined by the number and aptitudes of the students taking the class. Students are encouraged to develop projects on which they have already begun to work. (You know who you are.)
Clearly one problem with defining an audience for this class is that it calls for competence in two diverse areas of study, in which few students will be equally well versed. I shall try to design matters so that students reasonably familiar with biblical material (You know who you are!) will be able to use that knowledge as an entree into the literature and culture of the Early Modern period. Conversely, students already working in the period may expect to expand and refine their knowledge of texts and contexts. Students with concerns about the appropriateness of their preparation should consult with the instructor. Email: jcu@email.arizona.edu.