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Protestant Theology and Apocalyptic Rhetoric in Roger Ascham’s The Schoolmaster
- Journal of the History of Ideas
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Volume 69, Number 4, October 2008
- pp. 517-532
- 10.1353/jhi.0.0018
- Article
- Additional Information
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I argue that Roger Ascham was a more vehement Protestant that is ordinarily assumed. Inheriting from the Reformation notions of apocalypse, Catholic witchcraft, and mass demonic possession, Ascham teaches English eloquence primarily so that students might defend themselves against the Devil's and Rome's rhetoric before the world ends, for the sake of their own salvation as well as England’s. More broadly, I demonstrate that scholars require a neglected theological category—eschatology—in order adequately to discuss the rise of modern English eloquence.