Rhetoric, Religion, and Politics in Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici

Studies of Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici (1643) are often confronted with a discrepancy between the stylistic qualities of this book and the topicality of its subject matter. This problem is usually solved either by ignoring one of these aspects altogether or by seeking a tepid compromise. Instead, this article traces the interrelations and intersections among the discursive domains of rhetoric, religion, and politics in Religio Medici. It explores the performative dimensions of Browne's writing in order to demonstrate that, viewed in the appropriate historical context, the communicative and epistemological functions of Browne's peculiar style can be reconstructed.