Theologies of Pain - (New Directions in Religion and Literature) by Lucas Hardy (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Investigating a broad transatlantic archive of religious literature, historical medical science, and philosophies of sensation from the middle of the 17th-century, this book explores how Puritan America contemplated pain and ascribed meaning to it in writing at this time. Focusing on pain as it emerged from spaces of inchoate settlement and colonial violence, he provides new understandings of early American nationalism and connected racial tropes which persist today"--

Book Synopsis

With the arrival of Puritan settlers in New England in the middle decades of the 17th-century, accounts of sickness, colonial violence, and painful religious transformation quickly emerged, enabling new forms of testimonial writing in prose and poetry. Investigating a broad transatlantic archive of religious literature, historical medical science, and philosophies of sensation, this bookexplores how Puritan America contemplated pain and ascribed meaning to it in writing.

By weaving the experience of pained bodies into popular public discourse, Hardy shows how Puritans imagined the pained Christian body, whilst simultaneously marginalizing and vilifying those who expressed suffering by different measures, including Indigenous Americans and unorthodox colonists. Focusing on pain as it emerged from spaces of inchoate settlement and colonial violence, he providesnew understandings of early American nationalism and connected racial tropes which persist today.

Review Quotes

Hardy curates a compelling archive of writing about pain from antiquity to the present that creates a rich interpretive context for New England Puritan writing. His examination of discourses of pain offers a fresh approach to familiar Puritan authors, genres, and tropes.
Elisabeth Ceppi, Professor of English, Portland State University, USA

About the Author

Lucas Hardy is Associate Professor of English at Youngstown State University, USA.