John Donne was indisputably the foremost English preacher of his day. Many
studies have focussed on his instructional methods; fewer have concentrated on how he
tries to move his hearers. Donne especially liked preaching on the psalms. Since Christian
antiquity, the seven psalms known as the penitential psalms have enjoyed a privileged
place in church worship. They are central to the sacrament of penance. By
Donne's time, changes in the Church of England's sacramental theology had all but
eliminated the practice of penance. Nevertheless, Donne considers penance or, as it had
become known, repentance, to be a crucial part of believers' lives. With his sermons on
the penitential psalms Donne contributes to the vast body of literature surrounding the
sacrament of penance, but his contribution is unique. He thinks that since the second
person of the Trinity is identified with the Word of God, the institution of preaching
God's Word is incarnational. In the sacraments, the priest ushers in the Body of Christ;
in the sermon, Donne believes, the preacher's role is similar. For Donne, sermonizing is
sacramental in effect. In his sermons he attempts to bring the real presence of God to his
listeners. Moreover, his sermons display a "sacramental mimesis": they enact their
subject matter by their very words and try to effect change in the listeners as the words
are uttered. Further, Donne thinks that since God established all the ordinances of the
church, none of them should be ignored. Therefore, Donne's twenty-one sermons on the
penitential psalms reveal a preacher who is on the one hand a conservative churchman
and on the other a startlingly innovative preacher. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/6630 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | George, Philip Michael |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 12214313 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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