Over 15 years in the making, an unprecedented one-volume reference work. Many of today's students and teachers of literature, lacking a familiarity with the Bible, are largely ignorant of how Biblical tradition has influenced and infused English literature through the centuries. An invaluable research tool. Contains nearly 800 encyclopedic articles written by a distinguished international roster of 190 contributors. Three detailed annotated bibliographies. Cross-references throughout.

This book considers the use of the Bible by dissenters in Britain from the mid-17th to the mid-20th centuries. It reconsiders the divided history of Protestantism: dissenters were people drawn together by the belief that they were truer to the Bible than any other Christians, yet still divided by differences in how they read it.