Inventing the Secular by Erik Tonning

Inventing the Secular by Erik Tonning

This book explores how literature has actively shaped, rather than merely reflected, ideas of "the secular". Bringing together leading scholars from medieval to modern studies, it traces the imaginative, moral, and political inventions through which Western secularity emerged from within religious cultures. The volume offers new genealogies of belief, power, and aesthetics, showing how literary forms—from Chaucer’s tales to modernist cityscapes—test and transform inherited theologies. By revealing the secular as a creative, contested, and emotionally charged construction, the book reframes long-standing debates about modernity, faith, and the literary imagination.

Erik Tonning, DPhil (Oxon), is a professor of English at NLA University College, Professor II at the University of Bergen, and Honorary Fellow of the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. He has co-edited three previous volumes with Brill.

Fionnuala O’Neill Tonning, PhD (Edinburgh), is a Visiting Fellow of the Literature and Religion research group at the University of Bergen. With Erik Tonning and Jolyon Mitchell she co-edited The Transformations of Tragedy: Christian Influences from Early Modern to Modern (Brill, 2019).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9789004737853
ISBN 10	9004737855
Title	Inventing the Secular
Author	Erik Tonning
Series	Studies In Religion And The Arts
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Brill
Year published	2026-08-27
Number of pages	424
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.