Astrology and Religion in the Long Reformation: "Doctor Faustus in Swadling Clouts"

John Calvin and other religious moralists wrote against astrology in the sixteenth century, yet the astrological arts flourished over the course of the long Reformation in England. This essay confronts that paradox through an analysis of the representation of astrology, free will, and predestination...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jensen, Phebe (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group [2019]
In: Reformation
Year: 2019, Volume: 24, Issue: 2, Pages: 92-106
IxTheo Classification:AZ New religious movements
CD Christianity and Culture
KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance
KBF British Isles
KDE Anglican Church
NBL Doctrine of Predestination
Further subjects:B Astrology
B John Calvin
B Philip Melanchthon
B William Fulke
B Christopher Marlowe
B Predestination
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:John Calvin and other religious moralists wrote against astrology in the sixteenth century, yet the astrological arts flourished over the course of the long Reformation in England. This essay confronts that paradox through an analysis of the representation of astrology, free will, and predestination in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and in contemporary sermons, Protestant religious tracks, and polemical works for and against astrology. The essay demonstrates how astrological and theological controversial works disputed a similar Gordian knot concerning fate and free will, as they denied that the Stoic concept of fatal necessity described the apparent determinism of astrological fortune (on the one hand) and Calvinist predestination (on the other). It argues that one reason astrology and religion became strange bedfellows in the long Reformation is that they both worried similar questions concerning fate, free will, fortune, and man's moral culpability for sin.
ISSN:1752-0738
Contains:Enthalten in: Reformation
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13574175.2019.1665269