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5 - The Sermon and the Essay

from Part I - Forming the British Essay

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2024

By
Noam Reisner
Edited by
Denise Gigante  and
Jason Childs
Denise Gigante
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
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Summary

This chapter surveys the contingencies and forces of influence between the two prose genres ofearly modern sermons and essays. With reference to the sermons of Lancelot Andrewes and John Donne, it argues that essayists who turned to printed sermons for inspiration found in them unique modes of rhetorical self-fashioning. Sermons bring to the fore questions of style that reveal how learned preachers attempted to construct a sacred authorial persona, whose aim was not just to convey the force of an idea, but frequently to evoke its experiential consequences in the pursuit of a religious life. It also considers how the Montaignian essay form offered itself as a model for preachers seeking to perfect, or essay, their voice in preparation for their religious vocation as divine mediators.

Keywords

T.S. EliotsermonsBishop Lancelot AndrewesprosepreachersMichel de MontaigneJohn DonneChristianSt AugustinePeter McCullough
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the British Essay , pp. 63 - 76
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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