Doubting the Divine in Early Modern Europe: The Revival of Momus, the Agnostic God

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George McClure (University of Alabama)

Doubting the Divine in Early Modern Europe

The Revival of Momus, the Agnostic God

George McClure (University of Alabama)

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English

Cambridge University Press
21 June 2018

Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700; Social & cultural history; Agnosticism & atheism

In this book, George McClure examines the intellectual tradition of challenges to religious and literary authority in the early modern era. He explores the hidden history of unbelief through the lens of Momus, the Greek god of criticism and mockery. Surveying his revival in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and England, McClure shows how Momus became a code for religious doubt in an age when such writings remained dangerous for authors. Momus ('Blame') emerged as a persistent and subversive critic of divine governance and, at times, divinity itself. As an emblem or as an epithet for agnosticism or atheism, he was invoked by writers such as Leon Battista Alberti, Anton Francesco Doni, Giordano Bruno, Luther, and possibly, in veiled form, by Milton in his depiction of Lucifer. The critic of gods also acted, in sometimes related fashion, as a critic of texts, leading the army of Moderns in Swift's Battle of the Books, and offering a heretical archetype for the literary critic.

By: George McClure (University of Alabama)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 160mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 550g
ISBN: 9781108470278
ISBN 10: 1108470270
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 21 June 2018
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

George McClure is Professor of History at the University of Alabama, where he has taught since 1986. He is the author of Sorrow and Consolation in Italian Humanism (2016), which won the Marraro Prize of the Society for Italian Historical Studies and The Culture of Profession in Late Renaissance Italy (2004).

Reviews for Doubting the Divine in Early Modern Europe: The Revival of Momus, the Agnostic God

'This study is most valuable in its masterful interpretations of ancient and early modern texts, and it concludes by showing how Momus 'became a useful trope in the emergence of a self-conscious art of literary criticism'. McClure skillfully captures the subtleties of complex works and draws engaging connections between diverse authors.' Anton M. Matytsin, Renaissance Quarterly