British Literature and Religion, 1550-1700 (LIT 358), spring 2021

TF 9:30-10:50

 Dr. Jean E. Graham

 Email address: graham@tcnj.edu

What are the roots of current controversies over the separation of church and state, the ordination of women, and whether we should trust science or nonscientific explanations? This semester we will begin with Humanism (reading from Sir Thomas More’s Utopia) and move into the Protestant Reformation (reading from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs). Emphases for the semester include the Protestant knight (with consideration of the cult of Sir Philip Sidney); the debate over women (and that looming figure of womanhood, Elizabeth I); the supernatural and the miraculous; religious pluralism; and Britain’s civil and internal wars (including England’s campaigns in Ireland).  We will read two plays–Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary (Viscountess Falkland)–as well as metaphysical poetry and selections from Milton’s Paradise Lost. 

Theoretical perspectives will include gender and postcolonial.

“[A] distinction between religion and politics was a largely meaningless one at this time: all ‘political’ discourse . . . was articulated in overtly religious terms, and all ‘religious’ discourse . . . had political implications and even agendas.”  (Hilary Hinds)

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”  (Mark Twain)

Prerequisites: none.

Course units: 1 (4 semester hours).  Some years ago, the majority of undergraduate courses at TCNJ were “transformed” from 3-credit to 4-credit learning experiences, without necessarily adding an additional hour of class interaction per week.  As the equivalent of the fourth hour in this course:

f) the students are assigned additional learning tasks that make the semester’s learning experience more deeply engaged and rigorous, and no additional classroom space is needed.

You should plan for an average of 10 hours a week of work for this course, including class meetings. (That is, 4 courses at TCNJ = a full-time job.)

Place in the Curriculum: LIT 358 counts toward:

1) the English major, as a course in pre-1660 literary history, or as a 300- or 400-level English elective;

2) the English minor, as an elective;

3) Liberal Learning Option C, as a course in literary, visual, and performing arts; and

4) the following Interdisciplinary Concentrations (Liberal Learning Option A): Classical and Early Modern British Literary Studies, European Literary Studies, Religious Studies.

5) toward a Religious Studies major or minor.

Summary of Work:  There are four formal essays and regular quizzes in the course.  Additionally, I will expect consistently thorough preparation and participation in class activities.

Required texts (available in the college bookstore):

Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Vol. 2 The Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century, edited by Joseph Black et al., 3rd edition, including an access code for online readings.

Cary, Elizabeth. The Tragedy of Mariam, edited by Stephanie Hodgson-Wright, Broadview.

Spring 2021: This course will be virtual, with a mix of synchronous and asynchronous experiences. TCNJ is closed on Tuesday March 30, and we will not meet or have any assignment due. On Friday April 2, we will observe TCNJ Recharge Week by meeting synchronously, with no class preparation expected. There will be no final exam.

Syllabus: in Canvas