The Literary Culture of the Reformation
Grammar and Grace
Brian Cummings
Reviews and Awards
"Brian Cummings' book exhibits the admirable ambition--amply justified by the results, to inquire anew into how humanism with its concern in the arts and sciences of language, was implicated in the theological controversies of the Reformation period. To this task he brings a high degree of expertise in a number of fields: literary criticism, cultural history, theological controversy, the history of grammar, linguistics, and post-structuralist textual theory. Cummings makes them cohere and , even better, illuminate one another with remarkable ease." --Religion & Literature
"A groundbreaking and immensely important book. Cummings links an impressive knowledge of sixteenth-century theology and humanist culture to a penetrating analysis of linguistic issues and problems to produce literary criticism of the highest order."--Times Literary Supplement
"Cummings's detailed attention to humanist biblical scholarship, and his wide-ranging account of the myriad ways this scholarship affects the production of religious discourse and devotional literature, make this big book one of the truly important publications of the year."--Studies in English Literature 1500-1900
"Cummings' book is a major contribution to the history of humanism and of The Reformation, the history of the signifier and of argument, language and literary culture and religion and society, and the study of Calvin, Donne, and many more giants of The Renaissance. Highly recommended. It shines with wisdom no computer can provide."--Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance