The Theology of John Donne

John Donne is here treated as an original religious thinker; the evidence for the distinguishing features of his theology is drawn primarily from his extant sermons studied in context beginning with an exploration of what is for Donne the fundamental belief for regulating Christian faith and practice the doctrine of the Trinity. Building on this theological groundwork Johnson goes on to examine such topics as Donne's understanding of common prayer; the pre-eminence of sight and spectacle in terms of religious self-fashioning and the iconoclastic controversy; the doctrine of repentance in conjunction with Donne's own sense of clerical calling; and the doctrine of grace including Donne's views regarding the controversy over the Lord's Supper. JEFFREY JOHNSON is Professor of English at Northern Illinois University.