
Visions of Sodom
Religion, Homoerotic Desire, and the End of the World in England, c. 1550-1850
H. G. Cocks(Author)
University of Chicago Press
Published on 29. March 2017
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-226-43866-5 (ISBN)
Description
The book of Genesis records the fiery fate of Sodom and Gomorrah a storm of fire and brimstone was sent from heaven and, for the wickedness of the people, God destroyed the cities "and all the plains, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." According to many Protestant theologians and commentators, one of the Sodomites' many crimes was homoerotic excess. In Visions of Sodom, H. G. Cocks examines the many different ways in which the story of Sodom's destruction provided a template for understanding homoerotic desire and behaviour in Britain between the Reformation and the nineteenth century. Sodom was not only a marker of sexual sins, but also the epitome of false usually Catholic religion, an exemplar of the iniquitous city, a foreshadowing of the world's fiery end, an epitome of divine and earthly punishment, and an actual place that could be searched for and discovered. Visions of Sodom investigates each of these ways of reading Sodom's annihilation in the three hundred years after the Reformation.
The centrality of scripture to Protestant faith meant that Sodom's demise provided a powerful origin myth of homoerotic desire and sexual excess, one that persisted across centuries, and retains an apocalyptic echo in the religious fundamentalism of our own time.
The centrality of scripture to Protestant faith meant that Sodom's demise provided a powerful origin myth of homoerotic desire and sexual excess, one that persisted across centuries, and retains an apocalyptic echo in the religious fundamentalism of our own time.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
590 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-226-43866-5 (9780226438665)
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Additional editions

Cocks H. G. Cocks
Visions of Sodom
Religion, Homoerotic Desire, and the End of the World in England, c. 1550-1850
E-Book
03/2017
1st Edition
University of Chicago Press
€72.99
Available for download
Person
H. G. Cocks is associate professor of history at Nottingham University, UK. He is the author of Nameless Offences: Homosexual Desire in Nineteenth-Century England and Classified and coeditor of The Modern History of Sexuality.