Book contents
- Jonathan Swift in Context
- Jonathan Swift in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Part I Personal
- Part II Publishing History and Legacy
- Part III Literary Background
- Part IV Genres
- Chapter 16 Satire
- Chapter 17 Pamphleteering and Political Journalism
- Chapter 18 Familiar Verse
- Chapter 19 Fables and Fantasy
- Chapter 20 Parody and Hoax
- Chapter 21 Sermons
- Chapter 22 History
- Chapter 23 Correspondence
- Chapter 24 The Novel
- Part V The External World
- Part VI Social and Intellectual Topics
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 21 - Sermons
from Part IV - Genres
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 May 2024
- Jonathan Swift in Context
- Jonathan Swift in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Part I Personal
- Part II Publishing History and Legacy
- Part III Literary Background
- Part IV Genres
- Chapter 16 Satire
- Chapter 17 Pamphleteering and Political Journalism
- Chapter 18 Familiar Verse
- Chapter 19 Fables and Fantasy
- Chapter 20 Parody and Hoax
- Chapter 21 Sermons
- Chapter 22 History
- Chapter 23 Correspondence
- Chapter 24 The Novel
- Part V The External World
- Part VI Social and Intellectual Topics
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
During his long professional career as a clergyman in the Church of Ireland, Swift was obliged to preach sermons. This chapter analyses the dozen sermons attributed to him that have been preserved. Sermon culture in Swift’s lifetime was strongly politicised and Swift, like other preachers, took sides. He was a partisan polemical divine. His extant sermons inveigh against Protestant dissenters, rebellion, faction, regicide, fanaticism, and disobedience. While doctrinally orthodox and written in the plain style of contemporary Anglican homiletics, this chapter argues that Swift’s sermons are nevertheless idiosyncratic, occasionally strange and sometimes even amusing performances.
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- Information
- Jonathan Swift in Context , pp. 165 - 172Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024