Introduction: Writing Eighteenth-Century Religion

This introduction surveys the methodological approaches, critical categories and vocabularies that have shaped scholarly responses to eighteenth-century English religious writing. Recognising the significance of recent developments in book history for our understanding of the textual reception of religious texts, we argue for renewed attention to literary production in terms of the agency, identity and experience of both authors and readers. Literary-critical analysis offers a productive means to this end, revealing the nuances of religious texts and providing powerful new lines of enquiry at the intersection of literary, theological and historical studies of eighteenth-century religion.