The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature

The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature offers a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary examination of the Bible’s role and influence on English Literature, from Old English poetry through to T. S. Eliot. Including examples from medieval, early-modern, eighteenth-century and Romantic, Victorian, and Modernist literature, the book demonstrates how writers from across these periods have been influenced by the Bible in their work. 

The Companion builds on an existing body of criticism committed to recovering the doctrinal and faith commitments of individual writers, by turning instead to their uses of the Bible as a shared textual focus. This attention to text (rather than belief) means that many ‘secular’ or ‘anti-clerical’ writers are included alongside their ‘Christian’ contemporaries, revealing how the Bible’s text shifts and changes in the writing of each author who reads and studies it.

Written by leading scholars in the fields of religion, theology and literature, this collection offers readers a detailed introduction to the Bible in English literature, and traces the key developments of biblical themes and literary theory across the canon.