The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature

This Companion explores the Bible's role and influence onindividual writers, whilst tracing the key developments of Biblicalthemes and literary theory through the ages. An ambitious overview of the Bible's impact on Englishliterature – as arguably the most powerful work of literaturein history – from the medieval period through to thetwentieth-century Includes introductory sections to each period giving backgroundinformation about the Bible as a source text in English literature,and placing writers in their historical context Draws on examples from medieval, early-modern,eighteenth-century and Romantic, Victorian, and Modernistliterature Includes many 'secular' or 'anti-clerical' writers alongsidetheir 'Christian' contemporaries, revealing how the Bible's textshifts and changes in the writing of each author who reads andstudies it