A Study of the Gunpowder Plot Sermons by Puritan Preachers during England of the Seventeenth Century

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02324
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Niigata University of International and Information Studies
• Principal Investigator: Takahashi Shohei 新潟国際情報大学, 経営情報学部, 特命研究員 (70075810)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 火薬陰謀事件説教 / 英国国教会説教家 / ピューリタン説教家 / ピューリタン革命

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Gunpowder Plot sermons were conducted by the Anglican preachers soon after the plot. They were exclusively directed to the criticism of the Jesuits who caused the Gunpowder plot. I came to know that Puritans also preached on the plot. Strictly speaking, Puritans' sermons were not Gunpowder plot sermons. They didn't discuss the plot itself and take up James I and more than anything else they rarely blamed or denounced the Jesuits. What did they preach on, then? They appealed to the audience the achievement and victory of the on-going revolution. Their duty is to celebrate Puritans' victory over the Royalists and to encourage Puritans to the revolution. Puritans' sermons are remarkably different from Anglicans'. To Puritans the Gunpowder Plot was an event far from their age, and the urgent matter was how to win the revolution. The Gunpowder sermons are not necessary for the times. The revolution itself was their only concern, and their sermons are sermons for the revolution.

Free Research Field

十七世紀イギリス文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで17世紀のイギリスにおける火薬陰謀事件説教研究は行われておらず、英国国教会説教家による火薬陰謀事件説教研究は国内では初めてあった。その後のピューリタン説教家による火薬陰謀事件説教研究は国内はもちろんのこと国外でもそれほど論じられていない分野である。英国国教会説教家の火薬陰謀事件説教とピューリタン説教による火薬陰謀事件説教の比較はこれまで誰も論じたことがない研究で、その意味では学術的意義が十分にあると思われる。