Author Description

A fundamental aspect of culture in all ages, religion was a particularly crucial issue in the Renaissance. Religion and imagination, or “faith and fantasy”, represent the theme of this volume. These essays explore the intersection between religion and the creative forces of the individuals who wrote about sacred matters, practised their religion, or fashioned religious themes in their artwork. They touch upon different currents of religious thought-not only Catholic and Protestant beliefs, including the devotio moderna and Calvinism- but also Judaism and ancient Hebrew traditions, and even popular superstitions. The focus is not on the doctrines, but rather on the impact that religion, in its various manifestations, had on the literature, art, and other cultural aspects of the period, and, conversely, the influence of human creativity and imagination on interpretations of religion through cultural manifestations.