Article ID: CBB780727634

Against Melancholy: Robert Blakeway and the Anglican Definition of an Orthodox Sorrow in Early Eighteenth-Century England (2023)

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Scholars have long recognized the significance of the concept of ‘enthusiasm’ in eighteenth-century British culture. Its association with melancholy made it a powerful tool for dealing with religious and political dissent by dismissing enthusiasts' claims to divine inspiration as the delusions of their troubled minds. However, the medicalization of enthusiasm also meant that many Christians felt the need to defend their own faith against accusations that it caused melancholy. By examining and contextualizing Robert Blakeway's essay on religious melancholy, this article explores this latter concern. It suggests that such a preoccupation was related both to the fear of enthusiasm and to the fear of irreligion. Blakeway's essay is presented as an example of a broader effort by Anglican clergy to define an ‘orthodox sorrow’ as a middle way between enthusiastic melancholy and lukewarm indifference. Finally, the article emphasizes the polemical dimension of the vocabulary of sorrow in eighteenth-century England.

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Authors & Contributors
Apel, Thomas
Arecco, Davide
Belzen, Jacob A.
Burns, W. E.
Finnegan, Diarmid A.
Guicciardini, Niccolò
Journals
History of Psychology
Asclepio: Archivo Iberoamericano de Historia de la Medicina
British Journal for the History of Science
History of Psychiatry
Journal of the History of Biology
Minerva: A Review of Science, Learning and Policy
Publishers
Pennsylvania State University Press
Ashgate
Carocci Editore
Oxford University Press
Riverhead Books
Southern Illinois University Press
Concepts
Science and politics
Science and religion
Natural philosophy
Psychology
Melancholy
Darwinism
People
Darwin, Charles Robert
Ashmole, Elias
Bacon, Francis, 1st Baron Verulam
Bentley, Richard
Bianchini, Francesco
Charles II, King of England
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
Medieval
Places
Great Britain
United States
Spain
Rome (Italy)
Europe
France
Institutions
Royal Society of London
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