The volume highlights how the Fourth Gospel and First Epistle of Saint John the Evangelist were leading apostolic texts during the early modern period in England, and the importance of Johannine theology to early modern religious poetry.

• Introduction: The Johannine Renaissance


• 1: The Flesh Profiteth Nothing: John 6, the Bread of Life, and Devotional Poetry of Belief


• 2: Noli Me Tangere and the Reception of Mary Magdalene in Early Modern England


• 3: Spiritual Comfort and Assurance: The Role of the Paraclete in Seventeenth-Century Poetry and Polemic


• 4: God is Love: Johannine Agape and Early Modern Devotional Poetry


• 5: Johannine Dualism, Antinomianism, and Early Modern English Radical Dissent


• 6: Discipleship Misunderstanding and Johannine Irony in the Poetry of George Herbert and Henry Vaughan


• Afterword: The Johannine Enchantment of the World


• Selected Bibliography: Primary Works


• Selected Bibliography: Secondary Works

Paul Cefalu is the Frank Lee and Edna M. Smith Professor in the Department of English at Lafayette College.