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George Herbert's Sacramental Puritanism*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Robert Whalen
Robert Whalen*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

The relationship in the early Stuart church between doctrine and discipline — between formal theological belief and outward matters including church governance, polity and ceremonial practice — is important for our understanding of George Herbert's devotional lyrics. Eucharistic theories which entertained notions of “real presence “ tended to support a sacerdotal style of divinity in which priest, ceremony and outward conformity were key features. Belief in the centrality of inward spiritual life, on the other hand, was reinforced by a theology in which the external elements are less effectual instruments than mere signs of a strictly invisible grace. This paper elucidates a sacramental poetics through which Herbert sought to reconcile the ideologically contrary imperatives of public ceremony and private religious devotion. The two are brought together successfully in The Temple, but this success consists largely in the drama resulting from the conflict the poems trace. Unmistakably inward in focus, Herbert's devotional enthusiasm is cultivated nonetheless through a fully sacramental and sacerdotal apparatus.

Type
Studies
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 54 , Issue 4-Part1 , Winter 2001 , pp. 1273 - 1307
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 2001

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