Grace Overwhelming
type: Dataset
description: This study is a reappraisal of John Bunyan in the light of the dissenting religious culture of the late-seventeenth century. Charges of schism and fanaticism were repeatedly levelled against Bunyan, both from within the dissenting community and without, but far from being chastened by these accusations, Bunyan responded with a religious discourse marked by a rhetoric of excess. The focus of this book is therefore upon Bunyan's overwhelming spiritual experiences, especially the representation of torment, in his literary and polemical works. The believers' suffering was an obsessive concern of dissenting ministers, even to the point where their writings are often remembered today for little else. Hitherto, most scholars have termed all the mental states that they invoke 'despair', but this simplifies the experiences at issue. A wealth of contemporary material helps to restore the nuances of seventeenth-century physical and spiritual conditions, from enthusiasm to melancholy and madness; from fear to desertion and sloth. These chapters explore fresh ways in which this subtle typology of torment and its extreme manifestations form the core of the literary expression of Restoration dissent, challenging Bunyan to represent spiritual equilibrium as the ultimate quest of the earthly pilgrimage.
identifier: ISBN: 978-3-03910-055-2
issued: 2026-05-07T16:08:58.539798
language: en
modified: 2026-05-07T16:08:58.539802
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: baptistes
keyword: baptists
keyword: books
keyword: dissent
keyword: dissenters
keyword: dissidence-religieuse
keyword: dissidents
keyword: early-modern
keyword: epoque-moderne
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsbook
keyword: john-bunyan
keyword: le-voyage-du-pelerin
keyword: non-conformisme-religieux
keyword: nonconformity
keyword: pilgrims-progress
keyword: religion
keyword: shshisthumanities-and-social-scienceshistory
keyword: shslitthumanities-and-social-sciencesliterature
keyword: shsrelighumanities-and-social-sciencesreligions
landing page: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00923407

Grace Overwhelming
type: Distribution
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-07T16:08:58.549962
modified: 2026-05-07T16:08:58.520292
access URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00923407

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent