'If I could be equall with Solomon...' - Ecclesiastes and English practical divinity c.1590, with particular reference to Henry Smith & George Gifford

Thesis

The book of Ecclesiastes is a scripture that has been notoriously vexing and endlessly inspiring to Christians and students of Christianity through the ages, and it has been a standout text in the diachronic study of biblical reception. Nevertheless, there is no dearth of problems, questions, potential advances, and needful correctives that remain outstanding.

One such set of issues relates to the reception of the scripture in sixteenth century England. When the Tudor dynasty began, interest in Ecclesiastes was limited, mainly to humanist scholars and the upper echelons of English society. By the end of Elizabeth’s reign, it had emerged as a focus of engagement, worldly application, and personal emulation for all, from puritan and conformist divines to London liverymen and independent craftswomen, from governing intellectuals like Francis Bacon to social outliers like the author(s) of Hæc-Vir. To date, the relevant historiographies have largely bypassed this arc of change.

The present thesis is an interdisciplinary study that identifies bands added to this arc of change by the generation of certain scripted prayers and sermons delivered c.1590 by the puritan ministers Henry Smith and George Gifford. Treating these materials as events of the imagination as well as texts, it also ascertains specific modes of their enduring influences, and argues that they were the vanguard of historically significant evolutions in the reception of Ecclesiastes that both deepened the scripture’s role in English practical divinity and had wider, abiding effects on English thought and expression well into the seventeenth century. Refinements to current scholarship are also offered, such as further pruning to the origins of the Victorine (Hugh of St Victor) influence on Reformed exegesis of vanitas. Certain bibliographical correctives are suggested as well, such as the place and importance of The Books of Homilies in the pre-1590 reception of Ecclesiastes.

Authors: Heimos, MA

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-zg55n7d2k
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Ecclesiastes; Qoheleth; koheleth; Henry Smith; Jean de Serres; Solomon; sermons; George Gifford; prayers
• Subjects: Ecclesiastes; Reformation--England; Christian life--Puritan authors; diachronic biblical reception; Early modern, 1500-1700; Calvinism; Great Britain--History--Tudors, 1485-1603