• The church eloquent: Thomas Rogers, Philip Sidney, and the Reformed Body visible
• The sound of silence: Elizabeth Cary and the Christian hero
• The "Book of virtue": reading the royal body in The New Arcadia and Eikon Basilike
• The Church (P)articulate: breaking the Body visible in Eikonoklastes.

In Imitatio Christi: The Poetics of Piety in Early Modern England, Nandra Perry explores the relationship of the traditional devotional paradigm ofimitatio Christi to the theory and practice of literary imitation in early modern England. While imitation has long been recognised as a central feature of the period's pedagogy and poetics, the devotional practice of imitating Christ's life and Passion has been historically regarded as a minor element in English Protestant piety. Perry reconsiders the role of the imitatio Christi not only within English devotional culture but within the broader culture of literary imitation. She traces continuities and discontinuities between sacred and secular notions of proper imitation, showing how imitation worked in both contexts to address anxieties, widespread after the Protestant Reformation, about the reliability of "fallen" human language and the epistemological value of the body and the material world.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• A THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF HERMAN BAVINCK'S TWO ESSAYS ON THE IMITATIO CHRISTI: Between Pietism and Modernism; Copyright Page; Dedication; Table of Contents; Foreword; Preface;
• Chapter 1
• Introduction;
• Chapter 2
• The Imitation of Christ I;
• Chapter 3
• The Intervening Years: Herman Bavinck as Neo-Calvinist Thinker;
• Chapter 4
• The Bavinck System: A Trinitarian Cultural-Ethical Ideal;
• Chapter 5
• The Imitation of Christ II (1918);
• Chapter 6
• Conclusion: Bavinck, Kuyper, and The Imitation of Christ; A Concluding, Truly Scientific Postscript; Appendix A; Appendix B; Bibliography; Index.

This is an exploration into the mind of Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) whose name is still revered as one of the prominent leaders in the revival of Dutch Neo-Calvinism in the Netherlands that profoundly affected not only theology and the church but also education, politics and society more broadly. A new world of Bavinck thoughts have opened up with this first ever English translation of his two articles on the Imitation of Christ.

• Contents: Introduction--The Imitatio Christi in the context of late medieval devotion-- The Imitatio Christi and the Devotio Moderna-- From manuscript classic to early printed bestseller: the Imitatio Christi in Europe, c.1470-c.1530-- Nourishing lay hunger for devotional works: English and French translations of the Imitatio Christi, c.1480-c.1530-- The printed world of the Imitatio Christi, 1531-1620: Protestant editions in Latin and the vernacular-- The translation of the Imitatio Christi by Protestants-- The place of the Imitatio Christi in the Protestant world-- The printed world of the Imitatio Christi, 1531-1620: Jesuit editions in Latin and the vernacular-- 'The partridge of spiritual books': Ignatius Loyola, the Spiritual Exercises and Jesuit appropriation of the Imitatio c.1522-c.1620-- The place of Thomas a Kempis's Imitatio Christi in the ministry of Jesuit spirituality-- Conclusion-- Appendix-- Bibliography-- Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The Imitatio Christi is considered one of the classic texts of Western spirituality. There were 800 manuscript copies and more than 740 different printed editions of the Imitatio between its composition in the fifteenth century and 1650. During the Reformation period, the book retained its popularity with both Protestants and Catholics; with the exception of the Bible it was the most frequently printed book of the sixteenth century.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
"The Imitatio Christi" is considered one of the classic texts of Western spirituality. There were 800 manuscript copies and more than 740 different printed editions of the "Imitatio" between its composition in the fifteenth century and 1650. During the Reformation period, the book retained its popularity with both Protestants and Catholics; with the exception of the Bible it was the most frequently printed book of the sixteenth century. In this pioneering study, the remarkable longevity of the "Imitatio" across geographical, chronological, linguistic and confessional boundaries is explored. Rather than attributing this enduring popularity to any particular quality of universality, this study suggests that its key virtue was its appropriation by different interest groups. That such an apparently Catholic and monastic work could be adopted and adapted by both Protestant reformers and Catholic activists (including the Jesuits) poses intriguing questions about our understanding of Reformation and Counter Reformation theology and confessional politics. This study focuses on the editions of the "Imitatio" printed in English, French, German and Latin between the 1470s and 1650. It offers an ambitious and comprehensive survey of the process of translation and its impact and contribution to religious culture. In so doing it offers a fresh analysis of spirituality and devotion within their proper late medieval and early modern contexts. It also demonstrates that spirituality was not a peripheral dimension of religion, but remains at the very heart of both Catholic and Protestant self-perception and identity.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)