The Critique of Sola Scriptura in <span class='italic'>A Tale of a Tub</span> and STEM in <span class='italic'>Gulliver’s Travels</span>

doi:10.1017/9781009182881.011

Chapter 9 - The Critique of Sola Scriptura in A Tale of a Tub and STEM in Gulliver’s Travels

from Part III - Invention

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2023

Sean Moore

Edited by

Margaret Kelleher and

James O'Sullivan

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Margaret Kelleher: Affiliation:
University College Dublin
James O'Sullivan: Affiliation:
University College Cork

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Summary

This chapter considers Swift’s scepticism of the written and printed word from the perspective of his fear of Dissenting Protestant scriptural exegesis and the putative transparency of print culture. Sola scriptura is the Protestant doctrine, embraced most by evangelical Christians like the Dissenters, that texts alone convey meaning without interpretation (what we call ‘textualism’ in legal interpretation and literary criticism). This essay examines his close personal and intellectual relationship with the Catholic poet Alexander Pope, who was also of the Church most sceptical of sola scriptura, and their joint attack with the rest of the Scriblerus Club against the Whig ideology of textualism and the cult of scientific empiricism (often referred to by critics as ‘naïve empiricism’). This chapter offers both a historical and contemporary perspective on literature and technology, examining Swift’s doubts concerning the printing press as the new information technology of the time and extending this vein of criticism to new digital humanities platforms for Swift’s texts.

Keywords

Sola scriptura STEM Jonathan Swift A Tale of a Tub Gulliver’s Travels Dissenting Protestantism digital humanities

Type: Chapter
Information: Technology in Irish Literature and Culture , pp. 154 - 167

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009182881.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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