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Chapter 19 - Chaucer’s God

from Part III - Humans, the World and Beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2019

Ian Johnson
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews, Scotland
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Summary

Chaucer’s God considers how characters invoke God, both in terms of the everyday language of late medieval England and in the ways that the idea of God is reflected in Chaucer’s fiction. Conventional, non-theological utterances of the names for God by Chaucer’s characters as part of their, by turns, outwardly pious and unthinkingly impious phraseologies are discussed in the opening section, God Woot – ‘God knows’. Under the heading God Forwoot – ‘God foreknows’, some of the more challenging invocations of God are considered, such as the implications of divine foreknowledge and predestination on human free will in the Knight’s Tale, the Nun’s Priest’s Tale and Troilus and Criseyde. The concluding section, God in a Cruel World, asks whether in the Clerk’s Tale and the Franklin’s Tale, if Chaucer allowed his tales to reflect, and characters to reflect upon, the heretical notion of a God lacking in compassion for humanity.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Chaucer’s God
  • Edited by Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews, Scotland
  • Book: Geoffrey Chaucer in Context
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139565141.020
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  • Chaucer’s God
  • Edited by Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews, Scotland
  • Book: Geoffrey Chaucer in Context
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139565141.020
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Chaucer’s God
  • Edited by Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews, Scotland
  • Book: Geoffrey Chaucer in Context
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139565141.020
Available formats
×