Suspicious Moderate

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"In this ambitious and meticulously researched work, Anne Ashley Davenport has reintroduced historians to the life and writings of the English Catholic theologian Francis a Sancta Clara in her intellectual biography. . . . Davenport's undoubted enthusiasm for the religiointellectual writings of Sancta Clara and his contemporaries makes what could have been dull and tedious theological reading into a vibrant chronicle of a forgotten man and his significant contribution to the zeitgeist of the seventeenth century." -Sixteenth Century Journal

"Christopher Davenport, or Sancta Clara, is a figure who has slipped to the margins of many treatments of English Catholicism. This book does an excellent job in making the case for his recovery. Suspicious Moderate: The Life and Writings of Francis a Sancta Clara (1598-1680) is a significant and worthwhile contribution to the historiographies of English Catholicism, the politics of seventeenth-century England, and early modern philosophy and natural science." -Jeffrey Collins, Queen's University

"Anne Davenport has opened a new window onto the intellectual and spiritual history of England in the seventeenth century. Her passionate account of Francis a Sancta Clara's life and ideas restores religious discourse and controversy-Catholic and not just Protestant or Puritan-to the world that witnessed the emergence of the Scientific Revolution. It is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the mentality of that turbulent period." -Steven P. Marrone, Tufts University

"This is the full-length scholarly study of Sancta Clara's life and writings that early modern historians have needed for so long. Richly contextualized, painstakingly researched, and brimming with fascinating insights, this book offers a comprehensive and convincing portrait of the career and ideas of one of the most intriguing religious figures of the seventeenth century." -Anthony Milton, University of Sheffield