Overview

This rhetorical study of the persuasive practice of English Puritan preachers and writers demonstrates how they appeal to both reason and imagination in order to persuade their hearers and readers towards conversion, assurance of salvation and godly living. Examining works from a diverse range of preacher-writers such as William Perkins, Richard Sibbes, Richard Baxter and John Bunyan, this book maps out continuities and contrasts in the theory and practice of persuasion. Tracing the emergence of Puritan allegory as an alternative, imaginative mode of rhetoric, it sheds new light on the paradoxical question of how allegories such as John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress came to be among the most significant contributions of Puritanism to the English literary canon, despite the suspicions of allegory and imagination that were endemic in Puritan culture. Concluding with reflections on how Milton deploys similar strategies to persuade his readers towards his idiosyncratic brand of godly faith, this book makes an original contribution to current scholarly conversations around the textual culture of Puritanism, the history of rhetoric, and the rhetorical character of theology.

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9781350280625

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Readable and engaging ... It will benefit a range of general readers interested in literature, church history, and theology. Most importantly, for those who have ears to hear, it will help in the ongoing rekindling of the fires of imagination that have always carried the church. --Christianity Today Rich, scholarly, and impressively wide-ranging. --The Seventeenth Century The Rhetoric of Conversion in English Puritan Writing from Perkins to Milton' reexamines the evolving rhetoric of England's godly - from Perkins and Sibbes, through Baxter and the Quakers, to Bunyan and Milton. It shows how in developing a rhetoric of conversion they also effected a conversion of rhetoric, reshaping English literature with singular invention and creativity. --Professor John Coffey, University of Leicester, UK

Readable and engaging ... It will benefit a range of general readers interested in literature, church history, and theology. Most importantly, for those who have ears to hear, it will help in the ongoing rekindling of the fires of imagination that have always carried the church. * Christianity Today * Rich, scholarly, and impressively wide-ranging. * The Seventeenth Century * The Rhetoric of Conversion in English Puritan Writing from Perkins to Milton' reexamines the evolving rhetoric of England's godly - from Perkins and Sibbes, through Baxter and the Quakers, to Bunyan and Milton. It shows how in developing a rhetoric of conversion they also effected a conversion of rhetoric, reshaping English literature with singular invention and creativity. * Professor John Coffey, University of Leicester, UK *

Author Information

David Parry is a member of the Department of English and Film at the University of Exeter, UK. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Allegory (forthcoming) and has published on early modern literature in journals, including SEL and Christianity and Literature and essay collections from various publishers. David also serves as Reviews Editor for Bunyan Studies.

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