John Donne

One of the most celebrated thinkers of the Renaissance, Erasmus (c1466-1536) is best known for his works of classical and religious scholarship, and for his infamous theological dispute with Martin Luther (1483-1546) over free will and the Church. In this archive episode, first r ...  Show more

In 1516, the publication of one small book would coin a new word and give rise to centuries of literature, theory, and thought. In his most influential work, the lawyer and Tudor politician Thomas More (1478-1535) described a seemingly perfect – but entirely fictional – island ca ...  Show more

A recusant Catholic turned Protestant, a rake turned priest, a scholar, lawyer, politician, soldier, secretary, sermonizer, and of course, a poet— John Donne’s biography contains so many scuttled identities and discrete lives, perhaps its no wonder that his great subjects were mo ...  Show more

Just three years before Anne Bradstreet's death, this weary Puritan penned verses describing a longing for eternity and escape from the cares of this world. On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols reads from his wife's book on Bradstreet, America's fir ...  Show more

John Donne, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. John Donne came of age in a high culture whose notions of love were shaped by writers like Philip Sidney. Donne’s own love poetry, though, was very different. Scandalously frank, experimental, intellectually complex, Donne disdains ...  Show more

Across the 65 years of his life, writer John Milton packed a lot in: poet, polemicist, political operator – engaging with ideas that often challenged the status quo. In today's Life of the Week episode, Professor Islam Issa speaks to Matt Elton about the life and legacy of this 1 ...  Show more