The Book of Books

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"Essential...Fulton's Book of Books traces early modern biblical translations from Erasmus and Tyndale through the King James version, looking at both the texts and their accompanying glosses and annotations...[A] most impressive achievement and a valuable resource for those studying early modern history, religion, or literature."" (Choice) "Thomas Fulton's latest monograph provides a rich selection of insights into the interpretation
of the early modern Bible...Steeped in historical, theological, and literary contexts, the book has much to
offer the newly invigorated field of early modern biblical scholarship...This will no doubt prove an important work in understanding the impact and uses of early modern bibles, as well as bridging gaps between historical, theological, and literary approaches to its study.

" (Church History) "[A] rich and important study...Fulton's book should stand for generations as a work of deep, lasting value for scholars across a multitude of disciplines in early modern studies." (Modern Philology) "Fulton's magisterial study shows the complex and reciprocal ways in which the English Bible informed the early modern political imagination. Challenging long-held assumptions about early translations, Fulton moves from Erasmus to Tyndale to the Geneva Bible, before offering a series of dazzling new insights on how biblical reading shaped literary form and meaning for Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton. The Book of Books is a model of thorough and superb scholarship in every respect." (Laura L. Knoppers, University of Notre Dame) "The Book of Books explains in refreshing detail how early Protestant readers of the English Bible praised its 'literal' sense, but applied the scripture in all kinds of non-literal ways to justify their political ideas. Thomas Fulton shows how early modern authors from Tyndale to Milton drew creative inspiration from the dynamic interplay between the texts of early printed Bibles and their printed glosses. His findings constitute a tour de force in the study of early modern biblical and literary culture." (Mark Rankin, James Madison University) "This is an impressive and important book on a topic that continues to generate interest from a variety of directions-literary and political history, the history of the Bible-as-book, Reformation studies and the history of religion. In moving between the big picture and insightful case studies, Thomas Fulton demonstrates the fervor and political stakes around biblical interpretation in the Reformation and the century and a half following, moving from the more specifically theological arena into a wider literary and cultural field." (Kevin Killeen, author of The Political Bible in Early Modern England)