How do critics, religious scholars and historians in the early twenty-first century view Chaucer's relationship to religion? And how can he be taught and studied in an increasingly secular and multi-cultural environment? The essays here, on [the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, lyrics and dream poems, aim to provide an orientation on the study of the the religions, the religious traditions and the religious controversies of his era - and to offer new perspectives upon them. Using a variety of theoretical, critical and historical approaches, they deal with topics that include Chaucer in relation to lollardy, devotion to the saint and the Virgin Mary, Judaism and Islam, and the Bible; attitudes towards sex, marriage and love; ethics, both Christian and secular; ideas on death and the Judgement; Chaucer's handling of religious genres such as hagiography and miracles, as well as other literary traditions - romance, ballade, dream poetry, fablliaux and the middle ages' classical inheritance - which pose challenges to religious world views. These are complemented by discussion of a range of issues related to teaching Chaucer in Britain and America today, drawn from practical experience.
Contributors: Anthony Bale, Alcuin Blamires, Laurel Broughton, Helen Cooper, Graham D. Caie, Roger Dalrymple, Dee Dyas, D. Thomas Hanks Jr., Stephen Knight, Carl Phelpstead, Helen Phillips, David Raybin, Sherry Reames, Jill Rudd.
Reviews
[T]he collection [is] interesting and engaging at every turn, with its thorough and detailed discussion of a broad range of religious topics [...] a thought-provoking book, that will serve as an excellent sourcebook and a starting point for a renewed reading of Chaucer's works. REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES
A welcome new set of assessments of the place of religion within Chaucer's writings. [...] Wide-ranging in their address of late medieval religious practices and institutions and broadly attentive to Chaucer's texts, these essays will be a go-to source for graduate students or for teachers looking to brush up on the literature. MEDIEVAL REVIEW
Everyone of these essays contains trenchant analysis of Chaucer's works that is accessible, informative and suggestive. [...] Students will learn from this collection, most importantly because they will learn to make up their own minds about informed treatment of religion in the works of a poet whose opinion is famously difficult to determine. JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
