Can I read William Blake's Religious Vision : There's a Methodism in His Madness on EtoBox?

William Blake's Religious Vision : There's a Methodism in His Madness by Jennifer G Jesse is a book available to read on EtoBox.

What is William Blake's Religious Vision : There's a Methodism in His Madness about?

"In this innovative study, Jesse challenges the prevailing view of Blake as an antinomian and describes him as a theological moderate who defended an evangelical faith akin to the Methodism of John Wesley. She arrives at this conclusion by contextualizing Blake's works not only within Methodism, but in relation to other religious groups he addressed in his art, including the Established Church, deism, and radical religions. Further, she analyzes his works by sorting out the theological "road signs" he directed to each audience. This approach reveals Blake engaging each faction through its most prized beliefs, manipulating its own doctrines through visual and verbal guide-posts designed to communicate specifically with that group. She argues that, once we collate Blake's messages to his intended audiences--sounding radical to the conservatives and conservative to the radicals--we find him advocating a system that would have been recognized by his contemporaries as Wesleyan in orientation. This thesis also relies on an accurate understanding of eighteenth-century Methodism: Jesse underscores the empirical rationalism pervading Wesley's theology, highlighting differences between Metho

Author

Jennifer G Jesse

Publisher

Lexington Books/Fortress Academic

Published

2013

Language

EN

ISBN

9781498511780

Subjects

Literary Criticism, Poetry, Literary Fiction