Reading Genesis in the Long Eighteenth Century: From Milton to Mary ShelleyRoutledge, 2016 M12 5 - 217 pages In a reassessment of the long-accepted division between religion and enlightenment, Ana Acosta here traces a tissue of readings and adaptations of Genesis and Scriptural language from Milton through Rousseau to Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. Acosta's interdisciplinary approach places these writers in the broader context of eighteenth-century political theory, biblical criticism, religious studies and utopianism. Acosta's argument is twofold: she establishes the importance of Genesis within utopian thinking, in particular the influential models of Milton and Rousseau; and she demonstrates that the power of these models can be explained neither by traditional religious paradigms nor by those of religion or philosophy. In establishing the relationship between biblical criticism and republican utopias, Acosta makes a solid case that important utopian visions are better understood against the background of Genesis interpretation. This study opens a new perspective on theories of secularization, and as such will interest scholars of religious studies, intellectual history, and philosophy as well as of literary studies. |
From inside the book
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... Adam, Eve, and the fall—is not told until the second chapter, and it contradicts in many ways the version of creation told in the first chapter. The six days of creation are truly utopian: there is no conflict; man and woman are created ...
... Adam, Eve, and the fall—is not told until the second chapter, and it contradicts in many ways the version of creation told in the first chapter. The six days of creation are truly utopian: there is no conflict; man and woman are created ...
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... Adam and Eve , born without umbilical cords , knew what to do nonetheless during the delivery of Cain , their first - born.2 In the apparent eccentricity of his insistence on taking scripture literally as medical evidence , Astruc ...
... Adam and Eve , born without umbilical cords , knew what to do nonetheless during the delivery of Cain , their first - born.2 In the apparent eccentricity of his insistence on taking scripture literally as medical evidence , Astruc ...
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... Adam is created first , " And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground , and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life " ( 2 : 7 ) , and Eve is created fourteen verses later . The text reads as follows : And the Lord God ...
... Adam is created first , " And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground , and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life " ( 2 : 7 ) , and Eve is created fourteen verses later . The text reads as follows : And the Lord God ...
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... Adam and Eve are to be vegetarian and will have no need to kill in order to eat , suggesting a life wholly unlike that of the culture whose origin it represents , free of the need to dominate nature in order to survive : " And God said ...
... Adam and Eve are to be vegetarian and will have no need to kill in order to eat , suggesting a life wholly unlike that of the culture whose origin it represents , free of the need to dominate nature in order to survive : " And God said ...
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... Adam and Eve are inextricably connected to the social system to which they belong, and are described and defined in accordance with this system. Later I will examine in more detail the ways in which P can be seen as ideological, and in ...
... Adam and Eve are inextricably connected to the social system to which they belong, and are described and defined in accordance with this system. Later I will examine in more detail the ways in which P can be seen as ideological, and in ...
Contents
Dr Miltons Guide or the Utopia Within | |
The Passion of JeanJacques Rousseau or the Dystopia Within | |
Wollstonecrafts Body Politics or Philosophy in the Bedroom | |
Other editions - View all
Reading Genesis in the Long Eighteenth Century: From Milton to Mary Shelley Ana M. Acosta Limited preview - 2006 |
Reading Genesis in the Long Eighteenth Century: From Milton to Mary Shelley ANA M. ACOSTA No preview available - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
Adam and Eve aesthetic allegory argued argument Astruc authority autobiographical Bible biblical bourgeois Cambridge Casanova Chapter Christian concept Confessions consequently contrast created creation creature creature's criticism critique death defined depiction divine documentary hypothesis dystopia Emile Enlightenment eschatological essay Eve's evil example fact fall fiction Frankenstein garden goal happiness Hebrew Bible Hobbes human Icosameron ideal ideology individual interpretation Jean Jean Astruc Jean-Jacques Rousseau Kant Kant's labor language literally London Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Mégamicres metaphor moral Moses myth mythic narrative Oeuvres Origin of Inequality Pandaemonium Paradise Lost perfect philosophical Plutarch poem poetics political prelapsarian prophetic voice rational reading reason relationship religion religious Rêveries rewrite Genesis rewriting of Genesis Satan scatology scripture second Discours secular sensuality Shelley's social society Sophie story structure teleology theodicy thou tradition trans truth University Press utopia Vindication Volney Werther Woman women words writings York