Early Modern Protestant Listicles: God’s ‘Done’ and George Herbert’s ‘To Do’ Lists

Abstract

Abstract Protestant devotional writing from the turn of the seventeenth century uses the list to appeal to the reason, the emotions, and the will. Though as common a device as the dialogue, meditation, catechism, or homily, the list mostly goes unnoticed because of its humble pragmatism. This article looks first at the affordances of the list per se, then at how the period’s devotional writing characteristically entices readers with lists to argue, meditate, and act. Finally, the article argues that George Herbert’s The Temple (1633) uses the list to bring out the opportunities and comedy in the solifidian paradox.