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The Social Universe of the English Bible: Scripture, Society and Culture in Early Modern England

Research output: Book/Report/ProceedingsBook

Published
Publication date10/2010
Place of PublicationCambridge
PublisherCambridge University Press
Number of pages224
ISBN (print)9780521769716
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

How can we explain the immense popularity of the English Bible? This book argues that the vernacular Bible became so influential in early modern English society and culture not only because it was deeply revered, widely propagated, and resonant, but also because it was – at least in some ways – Anglicised. It focuses in particular on the rendering into English of biblical terms of social description and demonstrates the emergence of a social universe through the processes of translation from ancient and medieval texts to successive and inter-related English versions. It investigates the dissemination of these terms in early modern society and culture, focusing on community ties, gender and labour relations, and offices of state. The result is an important contribution to the history of the English Bible, biblical translations, and to early modern English history more generally.
Shorlisted for the Longman History Today Best Book of the Year Prize

Bibliographic note

Naomi Tadmor is Professor of History at Lancaster University. Her publications include Family and Friends in Eighteenth-Century England: Household, Kinship, and Patronage (Cambridge, 2001).