The Old Enemies Catholic and Protestant in Nineteenth-Century English Culture [Hardcover]

This wide-ranging, well-illustrated study explores how the ancient divisions between Catholics and Protestants continued in the Victorian age.Divisions between Catholics and Protestants have been a feature of English history since the Reformation. The Old Enemies asks why these ancient divisions were so deep, why they continued into the nineteenth century and how novelists and poets, theologians and preachers, historians and essayists reinterpreted the religious debates. Michael Wheeler, a leading authority on the literature and theology of the period, explains how these theological conflicts were a source of inspiration and creativity in the arts. This wide-ranging, well-illustrated study sheds much new light on nineteenth-century history, literature and religion.Divisions between Catholics and Protestants have been a feature of English history since the Reformation. The Old Enemies asks why these ancient divisions were so deep, why they continued into the nineteenth century and how novelists and poets, theologians and preachers, historians and essayists reinterpreted the religious debates. Michael Wheeler, a leading authority on the literature and theology of the period, explains how these theological conflicts were a source of inspiration and creativity in the arts. This wide-ranging, well-illustrated study sheds much new light on nineteenth-century history, literature and religion.Even in the industrial nineteenth century, age-old theological disagreements were the cause of religious and cultural conflicts between Catholics and Protestants. This book asks why these ancient divisions were so deep and have prevailed and how novelists and poets, theologians and preachers, historians and essayists reinterpreted the religious debates. Michael Wheeler explains how each side misunderstood the other's deeply held beliefs about history, authority, doctrine and spirituality, and, conversely, how these theological conflicts inspired creativity in the arts.1. Introduction: lsª