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dc.contributor.authorHunter, EKen_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-22T09:04:16Z
dc.date.available2014-05-07en_US
dc.date.issued2015-04-21en_US
dc.date.submitted2016-04-08T15:29:22.355Z
dc.identifier.issn1462-2459en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/13610
dc.description.abstractThat suicide was a damnable sin in Reformation England has been emphasized so far in the historiography of self-killing, but in practice the clergy were equivocal over the question of whether all self-killers were damned. This article re-examines English Protestant beliefs about suicide and salvation from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. It suggests that clerical statements about the damnableness of suicide need to be understood in the context of the threat posed by Stoic philosophy. Religious writers rejected the notion of noble suicide and reiterated Augustinian theology that premeditated self-killing was a form of murder. However, the harsh rhetoric was mitigated by a number of factors that brought into question the idea that all suicides were destined for Hell. These included changing medical opinion about mental states, evidence of the good character of many suicides, belief in the overpowering influence of demonic forces and basic Christian charity and compassion.en_US
dc.format.extent237 - 257en_US
dc.relation.ispartofReformation & Renaissance Reviewen_US
dc.subjectsuicideen_US
dc.subjectHellen_US
dc.subjectpredestinationen_US
dc.subjectmelancholyen_US
dc.subjectpuritanismen_US
dc.title‘Between the bridge and the brook’: suicide and salvation in England c. 1550-1650en_US
dc.typeArticle
dc.identifier.doi10.1179/1462245914Z.00000000038en_US
pubs.author-urlhttp://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/profile/dr-elizabeth-hunteren_US
pubs.issue3en_US
pubs.notesNo embargoen_US
pubs.publication-statusPublisheden_US
pubs.volume15en_US
dcterms.dateAccepted2014-05-07en_US
qmul.funderPredestination and Religious Melancholy in Early Modern England::Arts and Humanities Research Councilen_US


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