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The sorrows of the Quaker Jesus : James Nayler and the Puritan crackdown on the Free Spirit / Leo Damrosch.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1996.ISBN:
  • 0674821432
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 289.6092 20
LOC classification:
  • BX7795.N3
Contents:
Introduction: Receding Echoes of a Cause Celebre -- 1. The Quaker Menace. Puritans, Seekers, and Quakers. Quaking and Solemnity. Itinerants and Hireling Priests. Forms, Hats, and Pronouns. The Apolitical Apocalypse -- 2. God in Man: Theology and Life. Doctrine, Prophecy, Truth. Words, Silence, and the Word. Christ Within. Sin and Perfection. The Abolition of Self -- 3. Nayler's Sign and Its Meanings. Leadership and Charisma. Turbulent Women and the Erotics of Belief. Exeter Jail and the Breach with Fox. The Entrance into Bristol. What Did It Mean? -- 4. Trial and Crucifixion. The Politics of Toleration and Repression. The Committee Report. Parallel Languages: The Example of Catholic Penalties. Horrid Blasphemy. Sentencing. Crucifixion -- 5. Aftermath. The Rise of Quakerism and the Reinvention of Nayler. Nayler's "Repentance" and His Afterlife.
Summary: In October 1656 James Nayler, a prominent Quaker leader - second only to George Fox in the nascent movement - rode into Bristol surrounded by followers singing hosannas in deliberate imitation of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. In Leo Damrosch's trenchant reading this incident and the extraordinary outrage it ignited shed new light on Cromwell's England and on religious thought and spirituality in a turbulent period. Damrosch gives a clear picture of the origins and early development of the Quaker movement, elucidating the intellectual foundations of Quaker theology. A number of central issues come into sharp relief, including gender symbolism and the role of women, belief in miraculous cures, and - particularly in relation to the meaning of the entry into Bristol - "signs of the indwelling spirit." Damrosch's account of the trial and savage punishment of Nayler for blasphemy exposes the politics of the Puritan response, the limits to Cromwellian religious liberalism. The Sorrows of the Quaker Jesus is at once a study of antinomian religious thought, of an exemplary individualist movement that suddenly found itself obliged to impose order, and of the ways in which religious and political ideas become intertwined in a period of crisis. It is also a vivid portrait of a fascinating man.
Holdings
Item type Home library Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Two Week Loan Two Week Loan de Havilland Learning Resources Centre Main Shelves 289.6092 DAM (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 4403967731
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-313) and index.

Introduction: Receding Echoes of a Cause Celebre -- 1. The Quaker Menace. Puritans, Seekers, and Quakers. Quaking and Solemnity. Itinerants and Hireling Priests. Forms, Hats, and Pronouns. The Apolitical Apocalypse -- 2. God in Man: Theology and Life. Doctrine, Prophecy, Truth. Words, Silence, and the Word. Christ Within. Sin and Perfection. The Abolition of Self -- 3. Nayler's Sign and Its Meanings. Leadership and Charisma. Turbulent Women and the Erotics of Belief. Exeter Jail and the Breach with Fox. The Entrance into Bristol. What Did It Mean? -- 4. Trial and Crucifixion. The Politics of Toleration and Repression. The Committee Report. Parallel Languages: The Example of Catholic Penalties. Horrid Blasphemy. Sentencing. Crucifixion -- 5. Aftermath. The Rise of Quakerism and the Reinvention of Nayler. Nayler's "Repentance" and His Afterlife.

In October 1656 James Nayler, a prominent Quaker leader - second only to George Fox in the nascent movement - rode into Bristol surrounded by followers singing hosannas in deliberate imitation of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. In Leo Damrosch's trenchant reading this incident and the extraordinary outrage it ignited shed new light on Cromwell's England and on religious thought and spirituality in a turbulent period. Damrosch gives a clear picture of the origins and early development of the Quaker movement, elucidating the intellectual foundations of Quaker theology. A number of central issues come into sharp relief, including gender symbolism and the role of women, belief in miraculous cures, and - particularly in relation to the meaning of the entry into Bristol - "signs of the indwelling spirit." Damrosch's account of the trial and savage punishment of Nayler for blasphemy exposes the politics of the Puritan response, the limits to Cromwellian religious liberalism. The Sorrows of the Quaker Jesus is at once a study of antinomian religious thought, of an exemplary individualist movement that suddenly found itself obliged to impose order, and of the ways in which religious and political ideas become intertwined in a period of crisis. It is also a vivid portrait of a fascinating man.